The weekend, part two:

Saturday was quite a day. It was beautiful out. We slept in, had breakfast, then went shopping. I love not paying sales tax on clothing. I should do this more often. I bought two shirts, and there was some promotion going on, so I spent only $25 to get two shirts that were worth about $60. What was amazing fun was taking L & J's son G to the mall. He's a laugh riot. L went into a shoe store, and he came in to say "shut your sasshole," left off the first s, and shouted "shut your asshole!" Needless to say, it was funny. After that, it was time to meet up with the fam for dinner, and to surprise my father. My grandparents and I were at the restaurant waiting for my dad to show up when I noticed a balloon animal creator going around the restaurant, making animals for kids. I asked our waitress to make sure that he came around to my table in about half an hour, so I could further embarrass my father.

When he did show up, he had no idea we were going to be there. It was hilarious. My father is so hard to fool, and we completely pulled it off. He was surprised and happy to see us, and we had a delightful dinner. The balloon guy came by, and made a birthday crown for my dad, which he was a real sport about and wore for a while. Afterwards, L had a friend who was having a housewarming party, who she wanted to set me up with, and we had a great time. There was singing, the Jesus cheer, all kinds of wackiness. We didn't get home until after 4, and wow was I tired on Sunday.

Sunday was brunch with my mother and stepfather, along with my host family. It was nice, but we were exhausted, except for little G, who wasn't up all hours Saturday night. That's when people started asking my least favorite question: "when are you going to start having kids?" I don't know, folks. I'm not in charge of that right now. I don't even have a girlfriend, much less a wife, to have a kid with, and there's no way I can adopt a kid right now, what with no money and no place for them to stay and all. I will say that it is a goal of mine, just not a priority right now. I've got other fish to fry. After brunch, J and I went CD shopping, to a place called Extreme Noise, a non-profit, volunteer run punk rock music store. It was great. Hard to find stuff all over. I could easily have dropped $200 there, but resisted. I still got a t-shirt, though. After that, it was time to visit my old college favorite, Cheapo Records. All in all, I spent less than $50, but I was close to really busting the bank.

After that, it was surprise dad time again. My stepmom had arranged for us to go to Chanhassen Dinner Theatre where many of dad's friends and in-laws were waiting, again, surprising and embarrassing him. It was great, or it was great until we sat down for the horribly small portions, and, as you may have guessed, my own personal version of hell: Cats. I'm no longer a fan of the theatre, despite being involved in it when I was in Junior High, and dating many, many, many theatre folks since then. I don't like to go to plays, and I absolutely hate musicals. It was really bad, frankly.

After narrowly escaping before gauging my eyes out, I drove my grandparents and two step sisters back to my dad's house for a champagne and cake gathering, where I was the second person to give a speech, which I have to give some dialog to:

My step mother: Dave, go ahead
My dad: Yeah, let's hear from the 30-year-old!
Me: Said the 30-year-old, 'better you than me.'
Everyone: Laughing
Me: I know I'm going to pay for that one later on in life....

I went on for a bit. It was nice. My friend from high school came over and then drove me home. We talked a bit. It was nice.

Coming up next: Monday, the day that lasted forever!