2001-09-10 4:16 p.m. Bleh. It's starting to get rainy outside. I like the rain if I can hear it while I'm sleeping. I like it if John Hughes movies and New England clam chowder are involved. I even like it in the middle of a hot summer hike through the woods. But in no way do I like the rain when it happens to interfere with rush hour. Slick roads and in-a-hurry dot-commers does not a stress free commute make. Well, I s'pose by now you've seen my weekend, but I didn't really talk about it at all. Fun. Surprisingly so. I wasn't really looking forward to the weekend to begin with. That, combined with the fact that my sister's boat is comfortable for two, doable with three, but pushing it with four, made me think that I was going to be cramped and unhappy. I was to meet Dad at 8:30 at stepDad's c-store and ride down with him. He got there at nine. Oh yeah, he got there at nine with stepSis#1 and the stepMomster. Who hadn't eaten. And wanted to get breakfast before we hit the road. Like we're goddamn Lewis and Clark and we aren't going to see civilization for months. It's goddamn I-95, people. Congressional mandate ensures a Waffle House every fifty feet. Whatever. So, by the time we hit the road 45 minutes later, I am royally pissed. StepSis#1, sensing this, wisely puts on a movie. (Oh yeah, Dad and stepMomster? Drivers of the Technology Van. I'm seriously considering painting the fucker blue and green and solving crimes from it. Because with all the gadgets this thing has, Scooby and Shaggy wouldn't have to even leave the van to catch Old Man McGillicutty. Zoinks!) So two and a half hours later, I'm all Vertical Limit-ed out, but amazingly more calm. The Sister and the broInLaw are ready to rock and roll, so after the obligatory hugs and pee breaks (not at the same time) we hopped back in the car and headed east toward Urbanna. The boat was there (Ambivalence, what a name! Actually, I'm not sure how I feel about it...) but the wind wasn't. So, we wedged all six of us in and motored out of the harbor. Once we got settled, it was actually easy for each of us to find our own little corner of the boat and make ourselves comfortable. Up went the sails. Although there was enough wind by this point to fill the sails, there wan't really enough to take us anywhere, so we just kinda maintained position while we ate lunch. After we had cleaned up, broInLaw handed the tiller over to me. And, like a woman responding to my tender touch, the wind responded. And not with a bitch slap. The wind was probably blowing 8 or 9 knots, which is a fiar amount of wind, and it was enough to heel the boat way over. When you're sailing like that, you really need something to prop yourself against to avoid either falling over the side or crumpled in the corner of the cabin. I had the helm for a while, but then I surrendered it to Dad and found a place for myself in the hatch down to the cabin. I stood on the ladder and propped myself against the galley sink and the cabin wall and had a great view of the water and the boat and my family. The stepMomster was freaking out, because to her, boats shouldn't do these kinds of things. To her, boats should tow skiers and have stinky exhaust, and return to the dock in time for cocktail hour, dammit! But the Sister and the broInLaw and the Dad and I were in heaven. Goddamn that was fun. Back to my sister's sardine can...err...I mean house and it was steak and bbq chicken for dinner. We had loads of fun teasing the stepMomster and stepSis#1 about getting lost on their pre-dinner walk around the block. (Me: "Lost? It's a left followed by three more. How do you get lost?" Sister: "Y'know, it could've been a right followed by three more." Me: "Oooh, a variation. Now I can see how this got confusing. ") Dinner was followed by brownies which were followed by movies which were folled by teevee watching which was followed by Harry Potter which was followed by blessed, blessed sleep. Until Missy the yellow lab decided I was more comfortable than the floor and decided to sleep on me. And until Jack the black lab decided that the perfect chaser to toilet water is licking my face. Who knew? Sunday morning involved early departures from Richmond, shitty breakfasts at the Johnny Appleseed restaurant, more movies in the Techno-Van, and my car getting dented. But all that was put on the back burner when I remembered that this is the season that sets the world right. Football season. My World Champion Baltimore Ravens beat the Bears, The stupid-assed Redskins were embarrassed and my fantasy team kicked some fantasy ass. Good times. S'what I'm all about. downtown----uptown leave me a note, fool!

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