New House Party

Last year, on the 4th of July, the beautiful house of Dash and Christina got hit by lightning and burned to the ground.

I really think it was all the fault of the Rocket Man (who's also a wimp because he didn't go to Claxton with us). He got us in trouble in Helen last year. People even called the cops on us. One of his rockets got stuck on the roof of Eric's house.

Last year, Dash and Christina shot off some rockets that Yabu sent them and a few hours later their house was hit by lightning and burned to the ground. Coincidence? You be the judge.

They rebuilt the house on the same slab and it was finished in January and that's when they moved in. I was invited to a pig roast in May for some of their blog friends, but I'm gonna be diving then, so they invited me to the pig roast they were having for neighbors and their Texas friends. That's where I was this past weekend.

I decided to drive. It's a two day drive to Texas and I enjoy driving, especially in my Z3.

I left Atlanta late enough to avoid the worst part of rush hour and I made it to Lafayette, Louisiana the first day. On Friday, I was just arriving in New Braunfels when my cell phone rang. It was Christina wondering where I was. I told her I was almost there. I was only about a mile from my hotel.

After checking in, I went in search of some flowers and wine. Found them both in the same store. It was the least I could do since I had been invited for dinner.

I had offered to take them all out to dinner, but Dash was babysitting a brisket on the grill, so I was invited for dinner. Christina made crawfish fettucine and her mother (not to be undone) made another dish. We also had a salad. Christina forced me to eat this really rich chocolate pie with ice cream for dessert. All I can say is I'm glad I don't live close enoough to eat with them on a regular basis. I would be 60 pounds overweight rather than just the 20 pounds overweight I am now.

I slept in the next morning and was awakened by housekeeping knocking on the door. Got up, took a shower, and read for awhile and I was off to the party. I got there early so I could score a parking spot in the driveway.

Christina's friend Susan (Every time I see Susan I ask her if she's bought a house yet and everytime she tells me no.) had already arrived and was hard at work as were Christina, Chritina's mom, Dash, and Sweet one. Sweet One was making won tons (Is won ton one word or two?) and had been hard at work all morning. Dash was busy finishing up all the meat which besides the hog and briskets including chicken and sausages.

Christina's sister and her family arrived shortly thereafter and she was put on won ton and spring roll detail under the supervision of Christina's mom. Just for the record, Christina's mom thinks everything needs her supervision. That doesn't make her a bad person.

I sat around, drank beer and watched. I'm a cripple ya know. I also talked to Christina's brother-in-law uh, uh, uh, Tom. It's an inside joke.

People started arriving around 1:00 PM and I got introduced to many people whose names I promptly forgot. I had to explain blogging to a few people who asked how I knew Christina and Dash.

"Yeah. I do this thing called blogging and Christina does too and we met that way. What's a blog? Well for some people, it's an online diary. For others it's a way to relieve our tensions by writing about how incredibly fucking stupid liberals are and how all Moo-slimes should be shot!" I didn't say the last part.

Shoe arrived and since her ex opted out of his promised child care this weekend she had her hellions (Just kidding.) boys with her.

The weather turned out nice. The food was awesome and there was a lot of it. Christina said over 120 people showed up.

Yabu had sent some rockets. Sweet One and friends shot them off. One wound up in the very top of a tree. That one will be up there until the leaves fall and there is a nice wind. I don't know what happened to the other one.

Near the end, I got talked into breaking out the guitar and singing a few songs. Yeah. Like it takes a lot of effort to get me to play and sing. Fortunately, a lot of alcohol had been consumed by then so everyone thought I was excellent.

Some guy asked me if I knew any Harry Chapin. Nope. He came back later and asked if I knew any Billy Joel. Nope. He came back a little later and asked if I knew any John Denver. John Denver? I haven't played any John Denver since the 70's. Couldn't remember any of his songs.

All in all it was a great day. Christina and Dash really know how to throw a party. I was so glad I could make it.

I got back to my hotel and found that they hadn't made up my room. Upon checking out the next morning I brought this up. The person at the desk told me that houskeeping had tried twice. Bullshit! I was out of my room at 11:00 AM. She said that when so few rooms are rented, housekeeping only works in the morning. Hmmmm. Could it be the reason that so few rooms are rented is that the Quality Inn in New Braunfels is overpriced and has taken the service out of customer service. This is the third time I stayed in this hotel and it will be the last.

Driving home, I took the north route and spent the night at a Comfort Inn in Vicksburg. When I got up in the morning and started loading up the car, this dude, who was talking to the housekeeping staff grabbed my duffel out of my room and put it in the trunk of my car.

When I went to check out, the employees tried to stuff me full of breakfast. Nope I just want coffee. How about a waffle? Nope I just want coffee. I did take a banana. They carried my coffee out to my car for me. Half the price of Quality Inn and much better service.

Made it home around 4:15 and didn't get stuck in too much Atlanta traffic.

I'm home until Easter, when I'll drive up to South Carolina and will spend it with my sister. My next road trip will be in May for Blodger de Mayo. Holy crap! It's just a little over a month away.

Posted by denny at March 27, 2007 07:18 PM