Surprise, surprise...we woke to the sound of the birds (and some people talking downstairs). Actually it was around 9:00 am or so and the birds had quieted down a bit. Lynda asked me if I had gotten any sleep, and told me that she didn't think she really slept much at all. I had gotten a few solid hours, and was pretty much ready for Day 2! Lynda must not have a lot of bird sounds where she lives, because she made some more nasty comments about the birds and why they have to wake up so early and make so much darn noise. The noise downstairs was what had awakened me, but all seemed fairly quiet now. Lynda went to see if the bathroom was free (yeah right!). When she found someone in it, I heard her pound on the door and yell, "Get Out of There!!!" From behind the door I heard Chrissy yell something back about this being the first time she was able to shave both legs at the same sitting and she wasn't about to get out til she was done! So Lynda came back in the room and we decided we would go downstairs in our pajamas and get some coffee.
Downstairs Lisa was looking refreshed. She had already taken a dip in the pool! Pretty much everyone was up and still in their pajamas. A second pot of coffee was brewing, so we waited for it to be done. Brenda was sitting at her desk in the family room doing something (can't actually remember, I hadn't had my coffee yet). Everyone was just kind of dragging. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day outside, and some were sitting out by the pool getting sun. I got my coffee and went outside with it. It felt good to sit in the sun. Being the computer geek that I am, I had not been out much that summer. That pretty much seemed to be true of everyone. Besides Lynda, most people didn't have much of a tan at all. (One could tell that Lynda worked hard on her tan!)
We pretty much spent the morning just talking quietly in small groups. There'd be little groups of 3 or 4, and people would come and go and mingle into the different groups. Geoff somehow got drafted into making omelets for everyone, which were delicious! We learned more and more about each other that morning as we talked about our kids, and stuff. Some people decided to go swimming. I think it was Karen, Chrissy, Jeff, and Geoff that went swimming. I thought about going swimming, but I had already come out of the sun, and just wasn't hot enough any more. When they weren't in the pool, Karen and Chrissy and Jeff were sunning themselves that morning. I'm pretty sure a few people mentioned to Karen that she better watch out for the sun (she was the palest).
Inside the house, Brenda had her own personal harem of hair dressers! While I was milling about, I kept seeing Lisa fawning over Brenda's hair trying to make her even more beautiful than she already is. I think Karen was also periodically getting her hands on Brenda's hair. When they had just about finished it and had her all hairsprayed up, I was very tempted to get my hands on it and muss it all up, but I restrained myself, as I had been warned numerous times that just about any one of them could squish me flat as a pancake if I didn't behave!
Those at the hotels, eventually straggled over. The night before we had agreed that breakfast would be at noon, but the stragglers had either forgotten or didn't care! It was well after noon before they arrived. I believe they were served their omelets though, but I'm not quite sure about that. The rest of the day pretty much was spent the same as the morning, just hanging out. Geoff asked either me or Jeff to play ping pong with him, as he hadn't played with either of us yet. Jeff went with him to play and I went to check out the competition. I said I would play the winner, but I didn't stick around to watch their whole game(s). A while later, Jeff came out and told me it was my turn. Apparently he was still the champion! We played 3 games, and he took 2 out of 3. The last game had gotten to 20 - 20 but I guess I choked!
Joey gave us a taste of his musical talents when he found a toy guitar with only 3 strings on it and he actually began to make music that sounded GOOD! I was amazed that he could do anything with just 3 strings, but he did! Eventually, Brenda took Joey and a few others out so he could get three more strings for the guitar, and perhaps he would serenade us later. I think they also spent some more time searching for the illusive Lime Liqueur for Karen...again with no luck!
Brenda broke her no kitchen rule and made sloppy joe's for lunch. Karen had never heard of sloppy joes, but tried one anyway. I never did ask her if she liked it or not. I didn't bother with lunch, as the breakfast was around noon and qualified for lunch to me. The computer had been on-line on the #!Parentsroom Channel for most of the party, although not too many people were coming in (surprise, surprise). I personally had no desire to get on the computer (a first for me) as everyone who I wanted to talk to was there live and in person. At one point in the day, Poem (Gary) got on the channel and some were talking to him. He was told all sorts of lies about what we were doing. Something about skinny dipping, and things like that. He of course was asking the other men at the party which women were the best looking etc. I was surprised how long he stayed on there, I think he wished he had come to the party. Either that or he was believing all the lies and just wanted to hear more!
We decided that we would like to go out for dinner that night. It seemed like it would be fun for all of us to descend upon a restaurant. They wouldn't know what had hit them! But first it was cocktail time! Brenda and I went to the bar Geoff had in the "Outback" and grabbed all the different bottles of liquor, etc. that we could find. I wasn't sure what I wanted to drink, and Todd asked me if I had ever had an Amaretto Sour. He said it was Amaretto mixed with "Squirt" (the soda/pop). It sounded extremely odd to me. I couldn't picture the two tastes together. Then he proceeded to make me one. It tasted about like you'd expect...weird! But not bad, just weird! I let Lynda have a sip, and she asked Todd to make her one too.
A couple of friends of Geoff's came by, parents of a baby who had a babysitter for the night (sorry I can't remember their names!). Most of us sat outside having our drinks. Joey informed us that we were going to play a game. He said he was going to say something, and there would be a pattern that the rest of us would have to guess at. We would go around the circle and each person would say something that would have to be part of the pattern. I had no clue as to what he was talking about. Lynda said she didn't like those kinds of games, so he told her he would let her in on the pattern too. He said a few people really need to know the pattern to help the others guess what it was. I think he also told the pattern to Kim. The game began with Joey saying something like "tree." Then Kim went and said something like "house." I don't think anyone had any idea of what was going on. Each person in the circle would guess a word, and Joey would say, "Nope, that's not right." Everyone was fairly confused. It went around the circle a few times with no one getting anything right except those that knew the pattern already. One time on Lynda's turn she had to repeat hers for some reason. I watched her closely (as she was one who knew the pattern) to see what she did when she said her answer. I noticed that she put her hand on her chin when she said hers, and thought perhaps that was the pattern! So when my turn came, I put my hand on my chin and said my answer (I just said anything, since I figured the pattern was the hand on the chin, not what I actually said.) Joey said, "RIGHT!" so I thought I had figured it out. However, when it was Joey's turn again, I saw that he DIDN'T put his hand on his chin for his answer, and neither did Kim on her answer! UH OH!!! So somehow I had said the right thing and I didn't even know it!!! Now I was frantic when it came to my turn. I was lost again as to what the pattern could be. I tried hard to figure out what Lynda did again when she gave her answer, but she had just put her hand on her chin again. So just guessing, I tried the hand on the chin thing again, but was WRONG! Finally, Joey decided to be a bit more obvious in what the pattern was (at least it seemed obvious to me.) I noticed that he and Kim both said "Ummmm" fairly loudly before their answer, and when it was Lynda's turn, she did too. Ok, I figured, that must be it. Sure enough, I said, "Ummmm Sky" and got it right! Now I knew I had it. Once you know the answer, it is extremely funny to watch the other people who didn't get it! No matter how obvious you make your "UMMM's" there are still some who just don't get it! It took a long time before everyone finally did get it, and it was really funny.
Now it was time to go out to dinner. Brenda had picked a place called "Maxie's" a bar and grill type place where we figured we could be somewhat loud and not be a nuisance. We piled in the cars, but somehow we were missing Gill. We waited and waited and finally I saw Geoff go back in the house. He came back out, and still no Gill. Finally she strutted out knowing full well we were all looking at her and waiting for her. She was so funny...she put her nose in the air, ignored us all and hopped in the car with Todd! Now there's class! (Gill by the way, exudes class from every pore. I think being from Wales some royalty has rubbed off on her!)
I decided to take a chance and go in Chrissy's car. She promised that she now remembered what a flashing red light meant, and that there would be no incidences! I figured if Joey and Kim were willing to ride with her again, that she could be trusted. (Besides, she had a nice big mini-van with lots of room!) I was actually taken aback that she had a mini-van. In the channel she always talked about her "van" and her peace symbols, etc. That and the fact that she claimed to be a "biker-babe" made me expect a full size van with flowers and stuff on it, or at least a VW bus! Shows what parenthood does to even the "coolest" of us!
We descended upon Maxie's without a reservation. Luckily it was fairly early and they had a big area in the back patio section that was empty. We proceeded to take over and move the plastic circular patio tables together as best as we could considering that they were round. I sat down and had Brenda on one side and Jeff on the other. Kim and Joey were within talking distance next to Jeff, and Karen and Lisa were within shouting distance on Brenda's side. The rest were pretty much too far away to be able to converse with without screaming or going over and sitting next to them. The waitress came over and asked how we wanted to tabulate the bills, separate checks or one big one. We decided it would probably be easiest all around if we all paid for our drinks as we got them, and put the food bill all on one check that we would sort out at the end. The waitress seemed pleased with that decision, and took our drink orders. I asked what was on draught, but wasn't happy with any of the domestic beer selections so I ordered a Molson Ice in a bottle. About 10 minutes later, she finished getting everyone's drink order, while we looked at the menu. The menu selections all sounded really good to me and were priced very reasonably. I hadn't eaten since the omelet at noon and I guess I was pretty hungry. I decided on some kind of a Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich which had grilled chicken, swiss cheese and Canadian Bacon. It turned out to be a great choice as it was YUMMY! By the time the waitress came to take Brenda's order, she had forgotten what she wanted. Luckily she had told me what it was, and I was able to remind her! Jeff ordered a large nacho type plate that looked humongous when it came. I was betting to myself that he wouldn't finish it all, but I never did notice if he did or not. I have no idea what anyone else ordered or whether or not they enjoyed it. I did notice a bit of it being thrown from one end of the table to the other though. It was surprising that a full fledged food fight did not break out! I also remember a paper airplane being thrown about too. I even once saw it land on someone else's table that we didn't know. (They threw it back!)
At one point, Brenda took Karen's little pink umbrella from her Shirley Temple, and whispered something in Karen's ear. I saw Karen then hand the umbrella to the person next to her (Lisa?) and whisper something to her. Lisa did the same to the person next to her. Apparently, Brenda had started a game of "Telephone." I saw the umbrella going around the table, and realized that I was going to be last and the one to have to say the phrase out loud. As the umbrella neared my end of the table again, I noticed that the people hearing the phrase for the first time were giving strange looks to those that had whispered it to them. I was getting curious as to what the phrase was going to be. I heard Brenda and Karen talking about "sucking spit." Brenda had been teasing Chrissy since she got there about her sucking spit for a living (she's a dental assistant). I figured that the works "suck spit" were in the telephone phrase when I heard them talking about it. It finally came to me, and Jeff was the one who had to whisper it to me. Oh My GOODNESS!!! It was no longer suck spit, and what it was I tried to say out loud, but could not say it. I never laughed so hard though. You'll have to use your imagination as to what it was because this being a family page, I won't repeat it here. As it turned out, Kim finally blurted it out for me at the restaurant (thanks Kim!), I'm not sure how many others in the restaurant heard it, but I'm pretty sure some did.
Before the food came, a guy passed around these thick books with lists of songs in it. Apparently it was Kareoke Night, and anyone was welcome to sing. Joey was definitely going to sing, as well as Kim. They were planning their songs and writing them down on the special slips of paper to hand in to the Kareoke guy. By this time, I had a few more of the Molson Ice's in me, and although I really didn't feel drunk, I'm sure it was affecting me. I heard Joey mention something about the Jewel song "You Were Meant for Me" which is a family favorite at my house. I asked if he was planning to sing that one. He said he and Kim would if I would sing it with them! Hmmmm...me sing in public? I must have been drunk because I said, maybe. He put it down on the slip of paper and added my name to it! I quickly ordered another Molson. If I was going to get up there and sing with them, I knew it would have to be after I had downed one more beer!
The beer came, and the Kareoke songs started playing. There were some really GOOD people singing. Joey asked if I was ready, that he was going to submit the slip of paper with the song on it. I told him that I would do it once I finished the beer. Brenda told me to pour it in a cup, that I could drink it faster that way! So I poured it in a cup. I really didn't think I would actually go up and do the song, but before I knew it, they had called our names. Before going up, I saw that Karen had been looking at the Kareoke song book and I told her to come up with us. I figured the more voices there, the less mine would be heard. She agreed! So the four of us went up to the mikes and got ready. I never realized how much hearing the person singing the song on the radio keeps you in tune when you sing along with the radio!!! Having nothing to base the key on, besides the music made it very difficult for us to start out correctly. Not to mention that the particular song we picked is VERY hard to sing! After the first verse, I knew that I sure wasn't doing a good job. I decided to shut up for the next verse and just sing the chorus. I felt like I could at least keep the chorus in tune. Unfortunately, when you're singing up at the mike, you really can't hear how it sounds. I had fun, but I sure wondered what it had sounded like. When we got back to the table I knew it must have been baaaaaad! I asked a few people how bad it had sucked, and when they wouldn't even answer I knew it was one of those, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!" things. Oh well...that was my 3 minute claim to fame. I knew I was through with that for the night no matter how many more beers I had! Joey and Kim (who actually could sing) on the other hand were not embarrassed and were planning on doing some more songs. They picked one to do together. I don't remember what it was, but I do know they did a pretty good job! Then Joey even did a solo, which I thought was great! Kim later did a great job on a solo too, and we were all very proud of her. If you know Kim, you know she probably would not have ever dreamed of going up there and singing alone just a few short months ago. She even admitted as much. But you know what? She was AWESOME! It was really cool to see her do it. Before we went home, Joey did one more solo. It was a country music song and he did it great. There were some little "yee-haw" type words in it and during a pause in the singing I went up to him and told him to throw in one of his VERY LOUD YEEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAAAWS (You'd have to hear it to know what I am talking about!). At the next yee haw part, he did it! It was so cool! I think everyone basically agreed that Joey is a very talented guy.
Eventually, after Joey's last Yeehaw we decided to go back to Brenda's house. I think Chrissy was dissapointed that there was no dancing music, and was hoping to go somewhere else, but the rest of us were pretty much beat and just wanted to go "home." We piled back in the cars. At this point, I was glad I was in Chrissy's car, as she does no drink. Being out in the fresh air, I could really feel how much I had drank. In the bar I couldn't really feel it. Back at Brenda's we went straight to the "Outback" to play some games. Brenda challenged me to a foozeball game which she proceeded to slaughter me at. Even with Jeff helping me, and her friend who's name escapes me "helping" Brenda, she still won. I think if Jeff played Brenda solo, he might have had a chance. It was obvious that he's a very competitive guy and with just a bit of practice he might have been able to beat the Brenda the foozeball Queen! Jeff and I got our revenge when we challenged them to a ping pong game.
My fuzzy brain could take no more sporting activities so I wandered outside to see who was around and wanted to chat. I found Joey, who had been telling me that he had wanted to talk to me all weekend. We found a place away from the crowd and began discussing web pages and servers. (He and I had done some business together in the past and some things needed to be ironed out.) As our discussion was almost over (but not quite), suddenly Brenda and Lynda appeared at our side. They said something to me, which I can't recall, and the next thing I knew Brenda had grabbed my arms, and Lynda, my legs. They told me it was time for a dip in the pool!!! Somehow I managed to grab Joey's shirt. I'm not sure what I thought that would accomplish, but I guess I thought maybe I could take him with me. When I realized that holding Joey's shirt wasn't really helping, I started kicking and trying to scratch! I pretty much knew I was going in, but I wasn't going to go quietly. Up and over I went...splash into the pool. Talk about sobering up quick! I didn't stay in long, as it was CHILLY. When I got out I saw Gill snickering at me, and said, "so you think that's funny do ya?" I tried grabbing her, but I'm not too strong. Others must have seen my plight and picked her right up and dumped her in. I looked at Lynda and told her she was next. She proceeded to run and hide in the house (buck buck!) Geoff saw that she was trying to escape and proceed to go after her. It wasn't long before she was all washed up too! I was hoping that we could somehow get Brenda in also, but I figured the only way was if Geoff (her husband) would help. I wasn't sure if he would throw his own wife in or not. Someone found him and asked him. He came over to get her and she made all this big talk about how she'd never forgive him and never talk to him again. It didn't deter him! In she went! I was happy now, my capturers had all gone in. Someone looked at Chrissy "sideways" and rather than getting thrown in, she plopped herself right in, clothes and all! Those that stood idly by and were quiet, managed to escape getting thrown in. There we all stood like wet rags, shivering in the night! I was lucky enough to get one of the last dry towels. I think some of the last to go in had to share towels! I went upstairs to change, and decided I might as well put on my "Hawaii nightshirt." (When my mother bought the nightshirt for me in Hawaii, she told me I could wear it out in public, that they wore them in Hawaii like that, but to me it just looked like pajamas. Little did I know that I would eventually be wearing it in public!) Some who had been hiding in the house during the pool throwing episode were telling me they didn't think it was too nice that I got thrown in the pool like that. But I told them I didn't really mind and took it all in the spirit which is was intended.
After changing, I went back outside to find Geoff toting a great big ladder! He said, "Oh good, your here, we need a female recruit!" Hmmmm, I wondered...what were they up to now? He asked if Lynda had gone to take a shower. The last I had heard, she was indeed planning to do so. Apparently Geoff's plan was to put the ladder up to the bathroom window where she was and have me go up there and peek in at her to scare her! I, who was wearing only a nightshirt, was not too sure about going up a ladder with no pants on. But before I even got a chance to think about it, Jeff had scrambled up the ladder with a camera!!! He got most of the way up, then held the camera up to the window. He wasn't looking in the window himself, just the camera was showing. All of a sudden we could hear Brenda yelling "HEY!" Turns out, Lynda was out of the bathroom and Brenda was in! Luckily for her, she hadn't taken off her clothes yet. Joey tried to coax her to throw her clothes out the window, but apparently, she hadn't had enough to drink to do that! Brenda's husband Geoff wasn't too pleased to think that a picture was actually taken of her, but it turns out that Jeff never did actually take a picture. It was pretty funny listening to Geoff try to explain to Brenda why he let another man up a ladder to watch her take a shower!
After the ladder episode, things mellowed out a bit. People split up in small groups to talk. A deep conversation among Todd, Gianne, Geoff, Lisa's Mom and Lisa, regarding people's "auras," ESP, and reincarnation ensued out on the patio. Normally I would have been very interested in this conversation, but I think due to the lateness of the hour (it must have been around 2:00 am by now, although I'm not sure), and coming off all those beers earlier, I just couldn't get into it. I went inside with another group. I cannot recall what the conversation was about in there, but I don't think I participated too much. I think I was really tired. I saw Brenda one more time and tried to ask her something, but she looked at me as if I was speaking Greek, and she went upstairs to bed. Joey had been on the computer trying to download the Jewel song we had sang at the bar. Brenda's had recently installed the new Netscape Communicator, and it didn't want to cooperate. Joey would get to the right page to download the song, and CRASH would go Netscape. I don't know how many times he kept trying. I told him it just was not going to work and to give up. He refuse to give up. He was going to download that song one way or another! Finally he had an idea. He would go to the Dalnet I think it was, to an MP3 channel and see if someone could DCC it to him. Sure enough, he went there and someone had it. The file was 3 megabytes though, and Brenda had a 14.4 modem. DCC must be slower than downloading via ftp from a web page, because I think it took more than 2 hours for that file to come! I must say, I was inspired by Joey's persistence. During the download time, those that were outside came in and said, "Who's upstairs SNORING????" Well the only one who had gone upstairs was Brenda, so things were pointing in her direction. Geoff went upstairs to check. He came down a few minutes later and said, "It was just the fan and the radio on!" Hmmm...ok, Geoff, we'll leave it at that! (What a guy, huh?)
The rest of the night was spent with Geoff and Joey telling jokes. There were a few good ones and a few bad ones. The only one I can remember had something to do with kneesles and toelio!!! Kim and Joey had checked out of their hotel already and were planning to stay the night at Brenda's. Everyone was trying to figure out where everyone else would sleep. Karen was asleep already next to me on the couch. Lisa was asleep in the recliner. The downloaded song was finally ready to play! Joey put it on and he and Kim were singing it. Right in the middle of a word, Kim's eyes closed and she fell asleep with her mouth still open from singing!!! That was quite amusing. By this time it was after 4:00 AM. I decided that I ought to go up to bed so someone who didn't actually have a bed for the night could take my place on the couch. I figured I wouldn't be up when Kim and Joey had to leave in the morning (8:30 I think), so I said goodbye to them before I went up. Of course, once in bed, I could hear them all still telling jokes and stuff, and wasn't able to sleep. I read my magazine for a bit, then turned out the light. I wasn't quite sleeping yet when Lynda came in to go to bed. Good thing too, she made a LOT of noise! hehe We talked for a few minutes, and then drifted off to sleep.