"When We Dance"

Well, it was a great weekend. A long weekend, to be sure, but a great one nonetheless.

Started out Friday, when I hung out with Jess and Dom. We played some MariKart, and managed to get gold in a couple more Cups (Flower and Star, both in 150cc...this means nothing to anyone who hasn't ever played a MarioKart game, but I don't really care). Then Saturday morning, Beth and I went to Shawnee for an early Easter celebration. Had dinner with the family, and celebrated Scott and I's birthdays with the paternal grandparents. T'was lots of fun, and we had steak to eat. I have the leftovers, and plan to make good use of them.

Anyway, after dinner, Beth and I headed back towards Norman, but it was only to change clothes--we decided to go hear my uncle's band play over in Yukon (a town just west of OKC, and really a part of the Metro Area). We proceeded to spend several hours listening to my uncle rock out on guitar and watch a lot of old people get rather drunk and dance. And some of them could dance quite well. Some of them...could not.

Amusingly enough, Beth even managed to get me out on the dance floor for several tunes. She reminded me how to swing dance, and after a quick tutoring session from my aunt, I was able to teach Beth how to Two Step. Most of the songs my uncle's band plays--though they're rock and roll or country--are played at such a tempo that you can dance to them in one way or another.

So Beth and I listened to my uncle play until about 1.00 am, then headed back to Norman, stopping in at IHOP because we realized we hadn't eaten anything in about 10 hours. After IHOP, it was to our respective apartments and sleep. Oh, glorious sleep. Granted, I had to take a shower (to wash off the overwhelming scent of cigarette smoke that clung to me because I'd been sitting in a bar with two dozen chainsmokers) and then put sheets on the bed, but those tasks were managed on autopilot.

This afternoon (not this morning), I got up and decided to run an errand for Scott (my grandmother had accidentally gotten him something he already had for his birthday, so I said I'd go exchange it and make sure it got to him next weekend). So I drove up to Quail Springs Mall on the north side of OKC (i.e., the opposite side of the City from Norman, which is at the far southern edge of the Metro Area). I got up there easily enough (despite not exactly remembering where the mall was--still, it turned out to be exactly where I thought it might be), and the mall was open. However, the shops in the mall...were not. So I figured, "oh well, I'll take it back later this week. But while I'm up here, I'll check out the Best Buy on May Avenue." Yeah, there's a Best Buy in Norman and another on I-240 not fifteen minutes' drive from where I live, but you never know what one will have than another does not. So I drive to the Best Buy. It's closed. "Well crap," I think. "I guess I'll go to the one in Norman." Yeah, it was closed, too, which I guess I should have known. After that, I hit Hastings in Norman and picked up Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, a collection of outtakes, live recordings, and unreleased songs spanning 1961-1991. It's got some good stuff on it. It's also got a couple songs that make you go, "thank God he didn't release this song/this particular version of this song." That's sorta part of Dylan's genius, though, and part of his canon.

Anyway, went and got gas after Hastings, then headed back to the apartment. Beth gave me a ring and asked me to proofread a paper for her. She brought it over, I read it, then we went and got a pizza and watched a couple of movies (Disney's animated The Sword in the Stone, which was one of the DVD's I got from my grandparents for my birthday--the other being Secondhand Lions--and then the last disk of Those Who Hunt Elves, an anime series we started several months ago and just now got around to finishing). She then headed home, and I did a comic and another page of the Dim Bulb Forum Battle.

So yeah, all in all, a great weekend. I think next weekend will be quite full, too. Originally, I was going to try to go to Ozarks. However, mom kinda squelched that idea with a few commetns about finances, the need to get schoolwork done, and things of that nature. Intead, I'll probably be seeing a lot of my family. My cousin's wife and daughter will be in Oklahoma (he's currently in some former-Soviet-territory-turned-independent-republic-whose-name-I-can't-pronounce), so I'll probably go visit them Friday night. Saturday, I'll probably head up to Ponca City and visit my maternal grandparents and Scott to celebrate Scott's birthday with them (since his birthday isn't really until the 19th). Mom approved of these plans, though I still don't see how going out and doing those things instead uses any less time or allows me to be any more productive than I would've been had I gone to Ozarks. Ah well. I'm still gonna try and make a trip up there sometime soon...just dunno when.

~chaos cricket

Song of the Moment: Bob Dylan, "Series of Dreams"