Evenings with Good Friends
I am really fortunate. I have many wonderful friends and I've been lucky enough to know a lot of them for many years now. I don't want to actually do the math on how long in some cases because it makes me feel old.
Friday night, it was Chick Poker with my former bookselling mates. I met most of them in 1994 when we worked at Bookstar. It was one of my favorite jobs but I can't live in the lifestyle that I would like to be accustomed to on a bookseller salary. None of us could, so we've moved on to other pursuits.
They're great buds for many reasons, not the least of which is I can count on them to supplement my beer money with poker winnings. I turned my $20 into $41.50 but Angela was the big winner with $44. I missed the last two outings and Chris was a little bummed at my return because she'd been the big winner in my absence.
Another nice thing they do is keep track of every one's birthday. I so don't think about birthdays mostly because I try not to think about mine. Not only do they keep track, they take turns shopping for group gifts. I get to show up and just hand over money to the buyer. Sweet and dang convenient.
We had three birthdays to celebrate this time and one was mine. I had actually hoped it was going to go by without comment but I got great loot so I'm happy it didn't. They gave me an awesome collection of cat stuff. Cat treats, toys, a collar, a stand alone vinyl container to hold food, a scratching pad that hangs from the doorknob, a recipe for making cat treats (yeah, like I'm likely to do that) and a carrying case. It's very Paris Hilton like in that it looks like a leather handbag only it has mesh openings so George can look out of it and straps so you can hook it into a seat belt for travelling. Very cool and George has been jumping in and out of it since I brought it home.
Saturday night, it was an evening at the Dog Track with the high school gang, Chris the bookseller and Sugar Daddy. We were celebrating Cindy's birthday. She's trying to go for 29. As Sugar Daddy and I were walking back from a bet, he whispered to me, "What's the real number?" I told him she's the same age as I and he said, "Oh, 45." No! I quickly corrected him on that one.
We don't do scientific studies of the track sheet to make our bets. Pretty much, it's about the dog's name. I started out with $20 for betting and ended up with $15.80. I stopped betting after a while because I wasn't feeling it. I did win three bets on Savvy Potter, Kathy's Clown and Tricky Dixie (Dixie is one of The Rocket Scientist's cats). The Potter theme didn't carry forward because Gilderoy Lockhart was a total bust. Kind of like the actual character.
Cheryl had put together little gift bags (like you do for a kid party) and we got plastic tambourines, writing pads, horns and the girls got gaudy plastic gemstone rings and necklaces. A couple people got miniature Magic 8 Balls and rubber band powered planes. For a bunch of alleged grownups, we had a lot of fun with our toys.
Cheryl kept adding more and more jewelry then started sticking star shaped confetti on her face as she went up to make bets. I imagine she will be talked about for a while. We also did a bunch of inapropriate cheering and actually played our tambourines and horns. Silly for alleged grown ups but it was fun.
Friday night, it was Chick Poker with my former bookselling mates. I met most of them in 1994 when we worked at Bookstar. It was one of my favorite jobs but I can't live in the lifestyle that I would like to be accustomed to on a bookseller salary. None of us could, so we've moved on to other pursuits.
They're great buds for many reasons, not the least of which is I can count on them to supplement my beer money with poker winnings. I turned my $20 into $41.50 but Angela was the big winner with $44. I missed the last two outings and Chris was a little bummed at my return because she'd been the big winner in my absence.
Another nice thing they do is keep track of every one's birthday. I so don't think about birthdays mostly because I try not to think about mine. Not only do they keep track, they take turns shopping for group gifts. I get to show up and just hand over money to the buyer. Sweet and dang convenient.
We had three birthdays to celebrate this time and one was mine. I had actually hoped it was going to go by without comment but I got great loot so I'm happy it didn't. They gave me an awesome collection of cat stuff. Cat treats, toys, a collar, a stand alone vinyl container to hold food, a scratching pad that hangs from the doorknob, a recipe for making cat treats (yeah, like I'm likely to do that) and a carrying case. It's very Paris Hilton like in that it looks like a leather handbag only it has mesh openings so George can look out of it and straps so you can hook it into a seat belt for travelling. Very cool and George has been jumping in and out of it since I brought it home.
Saturday night, it was an evening at the Dog Track with the high school gang, Chris the bookseller and Sugar Daddy. We were celebrating Cindy's birthday. She's trying to go for 29. As Sugar Daddy and I were walking back from a bet, he whispered to me, "What's the real number?" I told him she's the same age as I and he said, "Oh, 45." No! I quickly corrected him on that one.
We don't do scientific studies of the track sheet to make our bets. Pretty much, it's about the dog's name. I started out with $20 for betting and ended up with $15.80. I stopped betting after a while because I wasn't feeling it. I did win three bets on Savvy Potter, Kathy's Clown and Tricky Dixie (Dixie is one of The Rocket Scientist's cats). The Potter theme didn't carry forward because Gilderoy Lockhart was a total bust. Kind of like the actual character.
Cheryl had put together little gift bags (like you do for a kid party) and we got plastic tambourines, writing pads, horns and the girls got gaudy plastic gemstone rings and necklaces. A couple people got miniature Magic 8 Balls and rubber band powered planes. For a bunch of alleged grownups, we had a lot of fun with our toys.
Cheryl kept adding more and more jewelry then started sticking star shaped confetti on her face as she went up to make bets. I imagine she will be talked about for a while. We also did a bunch of inapropriate cheering and actually played our tambourines and horns. Silly for alleged grown ups but it was fun.
