It was a great week-end.
Dirk's been bringing home mad money lately, so I was able to buy a lot of stuff I've been needing for a while. I spent Friday night at Ikea, shopping for a poster frame for my "Tournee du Chat Noir" poster. I didn't find a cheap one that didn't make me retch, but I did find a cheap pan and a cheap spatula that were decent quality. I fell in love with the children's toys at Ikea. They are cheerfully non-corporate logo. I think I still have a loom that my parents got me at Ikea when I was 9.
Saturday was deeply amusing. Practice went great, and Nick was in top form - he broadly hinted that he wanted to spend the night at our place, and Aaron okayed it. A word about that: the Sarge doesn't like Nick at all, mainly because he's Aaron's only friend (perhaps also because Nick adores antagonizing her by exploiting her stupidity). So Aaron keeps telling her that Dirk & I are the bad guys that insist on bringing Nick over for the night, when Aaron & Nick have always been tight. So when Nick hinted about coming over, we kept our mouths shut and waited for Aaron to dig himself in. We did mention the fact that the Sarge was throwing a graduation party for her best friend after practice, but the importance of this possibly escaped Aaron's notice.
It wasn't until the end of practice that Aaron realized he would have to make it look like Dirk and I were the evil Nick-bearers, so he started saying that Nick had to ride with us. Now, we carry our instruments in the back seat, so for Nick to ride with us, he would need to have a lot of equipment in his lap. Meanwhile, Aaron had a perfectly good passenger's seat ready and waiting. When Aaron tried to insist on Nick riding with us, using the lamest reasons I've ever heard, I finally busted out with, "What's the matter Aaron? Don't you like Nick anymore? I thought he was your friend, too."
Nick, god bless his sensitive soul, was standing right next to me and reacted with the expected outrage. "Yeah, what the fuck's up with that? Why can't I ride with you?"
Aaron had to let Nick ride with him at that point. Dirk and I hurried to pack our stuff and sped home to make certain that we were home when Aaron brought Nick in. We got everything out of the car in one trip, and I was cooking dinner and talking to Dirk in the kitchen when Aaron came through the door with Nick in tow.
Sometimes there are moments that seem to argue for the existence of a benevolent god who likes you. Sometimes there are moments that are so perfect, you could see them happening in a movie. Sometimes there are moments that you only planned in a half-assed sort of way, but end up far exceeding your expectations. This was one of those moments. The Sarge took one look at Nick, cut a glance over at Aaron, got the most betrayed look I've ever seen on her face, and That. Was. It. For. The. Evening.
She pitched a fit my mother would be proud of, cancelled the party, and was making plans to leave Aaron; all this took less than five minutes. The argument in their room lasted several hours - meanwhile, I took the opportunity to learn how to make vegan gravy and we watched wrestling.
I finished the first chapter of my novel that night, and got about halfway through the second. I'm pretty proud of how well it's coming out so far, but I worry that I'm being to ambitious with the themes in this book. I was just bubbling over with weirdness, though, because I wrote "I know the pieces fit" about fifty times on the inside of my arm. Don't ask. I get these impulses.
I finally went to bed long after everyone else was asleep. I woke up the next morning to Aaron & the Sarge coming back from grocery shopping. Tanya flipped out when she found out that Aaron had eaten 3 1-lb containers of strawberries in a week. She then flipped out about Aaron practicing with Nick & Dirk. Third time was a charm when Aaron tried to go online, got knocked off by the Sarge on purpose, had a telephone thrown at him by the Sarge, and ended up putting her in a headlock because she was shoving him around. Aaron then decided it was a good time to workout with Nicky, and Sarge told him, "If we don't work this out right now, it's over."
Aaron's response? "Fine, bye." Hee.
Now, of course she didn't leave for good. She came back and did a little grandstanding, and Aaron became the whipped puppy he is and waited on her hand and food. The problem with Aaron is that he recognizes when a girl has these giant fucking issues that make her an awful person to get into a relationship with, but he's certain that he can help them through their problems. He also excuses any outrageous behavior on the basis of any negative life experiences that the girl might have had. This explains his entire relationship with Sonya, really.
It was a fun week-end, though. My mother even snagged a stray dog that was wandering around their house last night. It was so funny - this was a very friendly dog, not completely grown up, and scared shitless of the cats. Also, and I thought this was doubly amusing, it was a pit bull. My mother has an immature pit bull running around in her back yard. It should be back with its rightful owners by tonight, though, so my amusement will be short lived.
