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twicketfaceThe weekend was a wonderful one, even with a bad start.
I did indeed scamper home and puke and felt quite a bit better for it. I've added mouthwash to the grocery list. Took a brief nap and woke up when Marie got home. She brought me crackers and juice and kissed my forehead. Better than any doctor I've spent time with, hands down.
Got ready and picked up by my parents around 5:15 and headed to Mancino's for dinner. My mom's knee is still bothering her, but she was in pretty good spirits. We dug into dinner and then headed to Fond du Lac. We got to the theater and talked with my aunt and uncle for a while before getting our seats. I have never seen Les Mis before, but we did read sections of it in high school French class. I remembered the part where Valjean moved the wagon off that guys leg and Javert recognized him.
(Side note - during said French class I sat by a girl named Stephanie. She was a borderline "bad girl", but sill popular enough to hang with the cool kids. Anyway, she and I would talk during class and while we were reading Les Mis, we got new nicknames, courtesy of each other. I was Jean Valjean (sounds like "mean" instead of "john") and she was Clos-ette (hey, we were 16 ok?). Long after we were done with reading, we maintained these names. Fast forward to about a few months ago, when Brian, Terry, Danielle, Marie and I went to Appleton and to Park Central (the local dance club). I saw Stephanie with another friend walking past us on the sidewalk. Brian recognized her and turned to watch her walk away and the first thought in my head was "There's Clos-ette!")
The play was fantastic, and while my cousin had a small part (in the chorus, but she did have a line), it was great to see her on stage. Part of me wishes I would've done more with theater beyond my 5th grade portrayal of Hansel. It also helped that she had on a red shawl, since nearly everyone else was wearing drab clothing. My color blindess can be a real handicap at times. Afterwards we congratulated her and talked for a bit before heading home.
Saturday we got up and ready and finalized plans with Julie. We met Julie and Jeremy at Friar Tucks at 10:45 and gave them a copy of the directions to the theater for Bowling for Columbine. Marie and I got to the theater around noon, with a 1:00 start time. Directions were quite good for using Mapquest. We parked and walked to the theater. I noticed a shady looking character smoking right outside the building, and thought it was someone I knew from high school, but not anyone who would remember me, so we were going to enter the theater and get our tickets. I pulled on the door when the guy said "Brian Murton, how are you?". It was my high school classmate Jed. I introduced him to Marie and he told us that he worked at the theater. He gave us a tour and was very friendly. Not that he wasn't in high school, but he was one of the "popular" kids, which meant I figured he didn't know who I was. I guess I was either more popular than I thought I was in high school or that I haven't changed that much since then.
Anyway, Jon showed up shortly there after, as did Amy and Mike. Our cell phone rang and it was Julie, they had gotten lost. I turned the phone over to Jon, who guided them to the theater. They showed up about 15 minutes later. But still no sign of Carrie, Jeremy, Kristie, Matt or Jenny. Carrie did call on our way down and reported a snow storm in Chicago, so she'd be running a bit late. At 12:55, we had to go in and find our seats. It was inspiring to me to see lots of different people at the movie, in terms of age levels. We saw a bunch of great previews and then the movie. It's probably his best work thus far, but I had two reservations about the movie. First, it made me really, really sad. Seeing the evidence of this country's mis-doings was a little too much to take. I wasn't expecting all smiles and sunshine, but it was a bit of a downer overall. Secondly, the movie didn't seem to be put together very well, in terms of chronology. It just jumped from here to there. Maybe it was just me, but it didn't flow very well for my liking. Granted, I think it's a movie that everyone should see and it makes many, many valid points. I only wish we didn't have to travel to Milwaukee to see it, but it was a great theater and experience too.
As I left the movie theater, I heard squealing in the lobby and realized that Carrie had indeed made it. She was about 10 minutes late and arrived in the theater just as the show was starting, but was unable to find us in the Extreme Darkness. We hugged and laughed and such and generally had a mini-reunion of giggles and such. I realize that I hadn't seen her since Christmas of last year, which is a crime I hope to be aquitted of. Julie and Jeremy had to take off, so the remaining six of us went to Pizzaman for lunch/supper (around 3:30 or so). We ordered and then Carrie had to find an ATM machine. I accompanied her and called Jeremy on the cell phone. Turns out they were doing their home re-appraisal at noon and there was a miscommunication about the timing. D'oh!
We returned to the restaurant and chowed down. The food was quite good and we had a nice conversation. Aftewards, Amy and Mike had to split, so it was back to the four of us. I tried Jeremy's cell again, but didn't get an answer. Two doors down from the theater was a bowling alley, so we figured that it was as good as an idea of any. We played in the arcade for a bit and then secured our lane. We were all pretty average bowlers, with Marie coming out on top with a 130 or so. I beat Jon by 4 or 5 pins, which was awesome. Ok, not really awesome, but fun. We parted ways after chewing the rag for a bit and headed back home. Said goodbye to Carrie with the joy that we could see her again in a few weeks with the wedding. And I should see Jon next week before Thanksgiving for some cribbage.
Sunday started off with church and then to my parent's house for their birthdays. We ordered pizzas and before the ladies went off to see a movie, we had them open their present. Fully expecting a gift certificate for dinner, they were shocked upon seeing the photo of the five of us. They both started crying, so I think we found a winner. Nice to make someone's day like that.
Brad put Savannah down for a nap and we settled into the Packer game. I can't say I'm surprised as much as I'm disappointed. The Packers *always* play scared at the Metrodome and I'm glad to have the game done with. Still best record in the league and still (hopefully) on their way to homefield advantage through the playoffs. Too much talent to fail again this year. The ladies came back and we had some dessert (carrot cake or the apple pie that we brought) and we ended up leaving around 4:30 or so. Spent the rest of the night cleaning the apartment and watching FOX. Not bad.
Quite a nice weekend and able to spend time with a lot of my favorite people. Wish it would've been a bigger gathering for the movie, but so it goes.
This week should be a busy one, with Christmas shopping, working out, ironing, getting a haircut, cribbage, spending time with LBEric, and scanning vast quantities of photos.
I did indeed scamper home and puke and felt quite a bit better for it. I've added mouthwash to the grocery list. Took a brief nap and woke up when Marie got home. She brought me crackers and juice and kissed my forehead. Better than any doctor I've spent time with, hands down.
Got ready and picked up by my parents around 5:15 and headed to Mancino's for dinner. My mom's knee is still bothering her, but she was in pretty good spirits. We dug into dinner and then headed to Fond du Lac. We got to the theater and talked with my aunt and uncle for a while before getting our seats. I have never seen Les Mis before, but we did read sections of it in high school French class. I remembered the part where Valjean moved the wagon off that guys leg and Javert recognized him.
(Side note - during said French class I sat by a girl named Stephanie. She was a borderline "bad girl", but sill popular enough to hang with the cool kids. Anyway, she and I would talk during class and while we were reading Les Mis, we got new nicknames, courtesy of each other. I was Jean Valjean (sounds like "mean" instead of "john") and she was Clos-ette (hey, we were 16 ok?). Long after we were done with reading, we maintained these names. Fast forward to about a few months ago, when Brian, Terry, Danielle, Marie and I went to Appleton and to Park Central (the local dance club). I saw Stephanie with another friend walking past us on the sidewalk. Brian recognized her and turned to watch her walk away and the first thought in my head was "There's Clos-ette!")
The play was fantastic, and while my cousin had a small part (in the chorus, but she did have a line), it was great to see her on stage. Part of me wishes I would've done more with theater beyond my 5th grade portrayal of Hansel. It also helped that she had on a red shawl, since nearly everyone else was wearing drab clothing. My color blindess can be a real handicap at times. Afterwards we congratulated her and talked for a bit before heading home.
Saturday we got up and ready and finalized plans with Julie. We met Julie and Jeremy at Friar Tucks at 10:45 and gave them a copy of the directions to the theater for Bowling for Columbine. Marie and I got to the theater around noon, with a 1:00 start time. Directions were quite good for using Mapquest. We parked and walked to the theater. I noticed a shady looking character smoking right outside the building, and thought it was someone I knew from high school, but not anyone who would remember me, so we were going to enter the theater and get our tickets. I pulled on the door when the guy said "Brian Murton, how are you?". It was my high school classmate Jed. I introduced him to Marie and he told us that he worked at the theater. He gave us a tour and was very friendly. Not that he wasn't in high school, but he was one of the "popular" kids, which meant I figured he didn't know who I was. I guess I was either more popular than I thought I was in high school or that I haven't changed that much since then.
Anyway, Jon showed up shortly there after, as did Amy and Mike. Our cell phone rang and it was Julie, they had gotten lost. I turned the phone over to Jon, who guided them to the theater. They showed up about 15 minutes later. But still no sign of Carrie, Jeremy, Kristie, Matt or Jenny. Carrie did call on our way down and reported a snow storm in Chicago, so she'd be running a bit late. At 12:55, we had to go in and find our seats. It was inspiring to me to see lots of different people at the movie, in terms of age levels. We saw a bunch of great previews and then the movie. It's probably his best work thus far, but I had two reservations about the movie. First, it made me really, really sad. Seeing the evidence of this country's mis-doings was a little too much to take. I wasn't expecting all smiles and sunshine, but it was a bit of a downer overall. Secondly, the movie didn't seem to be put together very well, in terms of chronology. It just jumped from here to there. Maybe it was just me, but it didn't flow very well for my liking. Granted, I think it's a movie that everyone should see and it makes many, many valid points. I only wish we didn't have to travel to Milwaukee to see it, but it was a great theater and experience too.
As I left the movie theater, I heard squealing in the lobby and realized that Carrie had indeed made it. She was about 10 minutes late and arrived in the theater just as the show was starting, but was unable to find us in the Extreme Darkness. We hugged and laughed and such and generally had a mini-reunion of giggles and such. I realize that I hadn't seen her since Christmas of last year, which is a crime I hope to be aquitted of. Julie and Jeremy had to take off, so the remaining six of us went to Pizzaman for lunch/supper (around 3:30 or so). We ordered and then Carrie had to find an ATM machine. I accompanied her and called Jeremy on the cell phone. Turns out they were doing their home re-appraisal at noon and there was a miscommunication about the timing. D'oh!
We returned to the restaurant and chowed down. The food was quite good and we had a nice conversation. Aftewards, Amy and Mike had to split, so it was back to the four of us. I tried Jeremy's cell again, but didn't get an answer. Two doors down from the theater was a bowling alley, so we figured that it was as good as an idea of any. We played in the arcade for a bit and then secured our lane. We were all pretty average bowlers, with Marie coming out on top with a 130 or so. I beat Jon by 4 or 5 pins, which was awesome. Ok, not really awesome, but fun. We parted ways after chewing the rag for a bit and headed back home. Said goodbye to Carrie with the joy that we could see her again in a few weeks with the wedding. And I should see Jon next week before Thanksgiving for some cribbage.
Sunday started off with church and then to my parent's house for their birthdays. We ordered pizzas and before the ladies went off to see a movie, we had them open their present. Fully expecting a gift certificate for dinner, they were shocked upon seeing the photo of the five of us. They both started crying, so I think we found a winner. Nice to make someone's day like that.
Brad put Savannah down for a nap and we settled into the Packer game. I can't say I'm surprised as much as I'm disappointed. The Packers *always* play scared at the Metrodome and I'm glad to have the game done with. Still best record in the league and still (hopefully) on their way to homefield advantage through the playoffs. Too much talent to fail again this year. The ladies came back and we had some dessert (carrot cake or the apple pie that we brought) and we ended up leaving around 4:30 or so. Spent the rest of the night cleaning the apartment and watching FOX. Not bad.
Quite a nice weekend and able to spend time with a lot of my favorite people. Wish it would've been a bigger gathering for the movie, but so it goes.
This week should be a busy one, with Christmas shopping, working out, ironing, getting a haircut, cribbage, spending time with LBEric, and scanning vast quantities of photos.
