A Whole Bunch of Weekend Stuff

Yesterday was post #2500 here at Reporting on Marvels and Legends. Which makes this my 2500th post, since Papafred has one in there.

One of the worst things is when my conscience nags me into doing something I don't want or have to do, and it turns out to be a really good idea. Today I have a mildly sick coworker and even though they hadn't specifically said, "Please come help me," they hadn't said not to, and the conscience kicked in, and I went, and yeah, they looked pretty bad. So it turned out well for them, and was a minor annoyance for me. But now my conscience is going to be such a smug git the next time it starts in. "Oh, you don't want to listen? Well I was right about you needing to help last time, wasn't I?"

Anyway, the lack of posts over the weekend was me being away visiting Alex, rather than lack of inspiration. OK, Friday's would probably have been lack of inspiration. I thought about trying something for Saturday, but the only person in Alex' apartment who knew the password for their Internet was on a float trip.

On a large scale, the weekend consisted of lots of drinking. Not by me, but everyone around me. The bonfire on Thursday, followed by hitting a bar until closing. Two more bars on Friday, followed by a trip to Clint's house for more drinking and another attempted bonfire. Saturday had a trip to a club called Roxy's for a show, which meant more drinking, then people came to Alex' apartment afterward for still more drinking. Too many expensive meals that weren't worth the price. Really wish I'd just gone to Five Guys at some point.

A few details. The highlight of Thursday's bonfire was Alex lighting the charcoal with his cigarette lighter, which led to him losing all the hair on his right forearm. He does have a tempestuous relationship with fire. Friday, my planned breakfast with my dad went out the window when his back did, so i got a haircut and bought Red Dead Redemption: Game of the Year edition. Funny thing, the used version had a higher price than the new one. Go figure. Alex did work Friday, so I dropped him off and went to run other errands. Hit Village Books, was sad to see I was the only customer. Sure most people have other things to do than look at books on Friday night. It's still sad to see a store selling new books for 25% off, to say nothing of used books for half-price. I bought a few things, discuss one briefly further down.

Would have gone to Rock Bottom Comics, but the price of parking in downtown Columbia is such I wasn't going near there until after 6 p.m., when it's free to park. By then the store was closed. Oh well, too bad for those nice small businesses. Excellent planning, city of Columbia! I didn't find anything for myself downtown, but did find a copy of Paperboy for a coworker, to replace the one that was stolen last year. Yes, someone stole a 20+ year old Nintendo cartridge. Let's see, the highlight of the second bonfire was Alex' failure to get it working, even with gasoline involved. Or it was that ember that landed on the ear of one of the pugs, causing Alex to freak and rush towards it, causing the pug to run, causing me to reflect on how I should have brought my camera to record a pug combusting.

Look, it was 3 a.m., I was exhausted, cut me some slack. Saturday, the overpriced lunch did lead to the hilarity of Jackie's oversized Long Island ice tea. Apparently, Houlihan's has two sizes: pint glass or pitcher, but I don't think the waitress explained that until after she brought Jackie her pitcher. Probably good she didn't accompany us on the target-shooting expedition. Which didn't go as planned, because the range segregates shotguns off by themselves, and their section is really just for shooting clay pigeons. Except none of us are any good at hitting moving targets, especially when none of us know how to throw them well by hand. it felt pointless to me, but everyone else had a good time, and I'll have the expression on that one guy's face when Alex trudged out there to stick a paper target on a downed tree limb. I'm not sure I've seen a more perfect dumbfounded/exasperated "What the hell?" in my life.

Sunday, we had Chinese buffet, which I liked, and we even got real fortunes. Alex' told him his courage would guide his future. Mine told me to assert myself because my ideas were worthwhile 'at this time'. Most backhanded complimentary fortune ever. We visited his grandmother, which was nice, and since it was in the area, I decided we'd drop in our my dad. Then the heavens opened and Alex nearly had a panic attack. We made alright, I got to talk to my dad for a couple of hours, drop off some stuff I bought for him, receive another shipment of books (so when the historical reviews start popping up in a couple of weeks, you know who to blame). Then we ran back into the storm on the way home. Zero visibility conditions at times. It was kind of cool being the only car in the passing lane on 63. Relatively little drinking on Sunday night, no bar hopping or loud parties. Did not feel bad only staying awake until midnight. Got up Monday morning, drove back to the boonies. Had almost no traffic. Lovely day. And now here's a book.

Made my way through The Regulators, by Richard Bachman over the weekend. It's not bad, but some of the violence, profanity, etc., feels indulgent. I know Bachman was usually King's method for getting some of the darker stuff out of his system, but I think past stories had more to them. This felt like it was just death and violence, excepting the bits about Audrey and Seth. There was a decent core there, about their love for each other, the struggle between that and the horror their lives are. In a way it sort of works, if you consider Audrey's safe place that Seth made for her, away from the hell Tak's created, and the relationship between them is a contrast to a lot of the ugliness in the neighbors once Tak starts in on them.

The saddest scene in the book was during the first "fire corridor" sequence, when Mrs. Carver shoves her daughter Ellen away, instead preferring to protect her son, Ralphie. For whatever reason, the book really played up how Ralphie was the apple of both his parents' eyes, so they let him get away with anything, even though every one else can see he's a miserable little shit who needs his ears boxed. You get the feeling Ellen has always had to deal with this, Ralphie giving her shit and her not being able to do anything about it because her parents dote on him so. The moment where the mother drops any pretense of caring about Ellen, tossing her aside as bullets fly, it was hard to read. There's not even an attempt to portray it as her believing Ellen can fend for herself, she just doesn't want this child in her arms, she wants that child. I wasn't sorry at all to see Mrs. Carver join Mr. Carver in death, even though I know it wouldn't end anywhere good for Ellen or Ralphie. I honestly wonder if Tak had stashed a little piece of itself inside Ralphie, both as an explanation for why the parents dote on him so (Tak's manipulating them subtly, more so than he bothers to with Audrey), and for his vow of revenge at the end.