From Chicago to Miami with a quick stop in Catalyst

The last time I blogged I was out in Chicago.. That night I went to see a friend of mine in a burlesque show. The show was not till 10 so I went to Chicago Diner for dinner and then wandered around the city for a bit. I had a mock pastrami sandwich with mock bacon, it had banana peppers and sprouts on it and was very good and very large. All the mock meat at the Chicago diner is made with gluten so if you have gluten alergies don't even think about going there.. :(

Afterwards I was wandering around and stumbled upon a guy on a crazy bike trying to drumb up money to do a trick. The bike's frame has a circle above the rider and has a tire attached to the frame, he does a trick in which he pushes forward and rolls the bike over. If you pay him $5 he will do a single roll, for $10 he will do a double roll. The crowd he was talking to had already given him most of the money and I contributed to the pot to get it up to the $10 needed. He rode down the street a bit and came back doing his rolls as he passed us, I got a real good video of it and posted it to youtube.

Met my friend at 9pm and hung out with her before the show. It was the first time we met face to face after years of talking on IM. She is as cool in person as she is on IM, no strike that, she's cooler in person.. :) Speaking of firsts, it was the first time I went to a burlesque show and I really enjoyed myself. There was eight dancers and each one did a song/act. I can't say all burlesque shows are awesome but Chicago's Vaudzilla certainly is, if you're ever in the city you need to make time to see them. I am going to make a point to see other burlesque shows to see if they are as cool.

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Saturday I went to see Iron Man 2 with Jessie and dad, it was very well done and I loved the fact that they tied in the Avengers movie. Two of the Avengers comes to Iron Man and evaluates him for membership in the Avengers. There was not as much action as the first movie but they did a great job of showing the political and business aspect of Iron Man.

Sunday me, Badger and Jessie went back to the Robin Hood Springtime Festival with her friend Drew. The weather was amazing and it was great to be able to have time to just wander the faire a bit without having to worry about running from plot show to plot show. Me and Jessie did a vow renewal ceremony with Friar Tuck.. :D After the show I went with Lynz to JD Coopers for dinner and pool.. All in all, a great weekend home..

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Most of the week was working with Kevin trying to get everything ready for Future Imperfect, we got everything but Kevin's new chest plates done. Still want to make small changes to mine like put brown leather around the whole thing instead of the black tape that I put there for the time being. Kevin got his armor wearable but still has a long way to go to make it the way he wants it.

Thursday night me and Jessie met John, Lynz and Anja at 3rd Thursday in Willimantic. We ate some dinner and watched a folk band in the beer garden.

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Future Imperfect was just as good again, I know I've said it before but that game really is awesome! The guy who runs the game setup a module for the players to gather food for the cooks to make for dinner. He actually went out Friday night and dug holes and buried potatoes and carrots, he also made "boar poo" that had resources in it. The poo was so realistic we were avoiding stepping in it and at one point Kevin was getting close to it so we decided to move it so people could dig without worrying about it. I grabbed a stick and when I stabed it to move it I found a resource and that's when we realized it was fake! What a site to see the colony officials breaking apart poo to get resources!

This weekend coming up is Laire, I hope it can be half as fun as Future Imperfect..

Circles and Lines

Last night me and Jessie went over to "3rd Thursday" in Willimantic. 3rd Thursday is a street festival in Willimantic that they do on the 3rd Thursday of every month during the summer, they have street vendors, food and live entertainment. We met up with Lynz, Anja, Lynz's friend Berk, and her daughters. It was good to finally meet Berk, she is very cool. After meeting up we had some dinner and some ice cream before heading to the beer garden to have a drink and watch a good blues band called the Kingpins (http://www.willimanticstreetfest.com/entertainer.htm?id=wgb4bktx).. We hung out there for a bit before walking Lynz and Berk out so they could get the kiddies to bed..

On the way back to the car we saw a fire dance show and of course had to check it out.. Jessie's comment to me when we saw the fire from afar was "try not to sleep with any fire dancers on the way to the car" - LOL! I can understand her concern because of my past fire dancing experience and desires.. The girl was wearing pink camouflage pajama pants that were way to big for her, they looked like Hammer pants so she really didn't turn me on.. The guy however was pretty hot.. We watched them for a bit before finishing the walk to the car.

After they (Lynz, etc) left me and Jessie went back to watch the rest of the fire dance show. The girl ended up dancing with a flaming hula hoop which was really hot. After the fire dance we went into a store called Bench Shop and I got a new sticker for my car and a really awesome patch. I have to figure out where to put the patch, any ideas? I was thinking of maybe putting it in my car on the dashboard but I don't know how realistic that is. I could also put it on my laptop bag.. But, I am really up for ideas...

After the festival we went to a drum circle.. There was a nice lady who was showing people how to hit notes on the drum. I drummed for one song before switching to a Tail Shaker (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13122972) which was much more my style and my hand was already hurting from drumming on one song.. Jessie however took very well to the drum, her arm hurts now but she had a great time. Apparently the guy who owns the Bench Shop holds drum lessons every Wednesday for $5! Possible future plans?

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So, lately I've been thinking about Lines.. My cousin and her boyfriend are talking about shifting their relationship to a poly relationship. I am talking to them trying to show them the benefits of poly and the pot holes of it. This brings up a good point about Lines, the line between friend and girlfriend/boyfriend is one that comes up.. Is that line sex? If you have been friends with someone for a long time and have sex with them once are they now your girlfriend/boyfriend? Is there an amount of sex you need to have with a friend before they are a boyfriend/girlfriend? I am friends with Jessie but obviously there is more, is that "more" a paper that says we're married? I am friends with Lynz but obviously there is more there too, what makes the difference between friends and boyfriends/girlfriends? Does distance make the difference? I guess it's safe to say that whoever you don't have sex with is just a friend, but just because you have sex with someone does not really mean they are more than a friend.. I guess this is why Jessie hates labels.. :D One thing that I will say for certain, if you are having sex with someone and are NOT their friend you're just having random sex (which is not a bad thing if everyone is ok with that)..

In the same vein where is the line between friend and acquaintance? I have been told that I call too many people friends when what I really mean to call them is an acquaintance.. I tend to put the friend label on almost everyone I hang out with, I think it's because I feel that everyone I enjoy hanging out with is a friend. If you bring joy to my life and I enjoy spending time with you then you are a friend right?

Random quote I just heard on the Daily Show "John McCain, the only P.O.W. who was brainwashed after his release"

---- Comic of the day
http://mchat.comicgenesis.com/d/20070917.html

---- Thought of the day
What's the point of labels? Do you feel better if you can call someone who you care about a girlfriend/boyfriend?