I'm back from a fun weekend with my buddy Mike and his son, whom Mike calls "the Wee Villain" over his fine blog. I had a brief chance to see the ladies (Mike's wife and two daughters, one of whom is my goddaughter) when they returned from their weekend outing earlier today.
As Mike noted, the weekend could have been spent chopping wood, but we opted to just hang, which turned out to be the perfect thing to do. Mike's family has a Wii, which I was able to try for the first time ever: I've been a Wii virgin* since the console came out. The Wee Villain, all of four years old, beat my ass at several games... but I knocked him out at boxing in the very first round, which made me feel like a child batterer when the fight was over. Luckily, the Wee Villain was having a blast the entire time, so he was a good sport about his loss. Along with the Wii, we played a few video games on the family's Xbox 360; here, too, the Wee Villain beat me at a few different games, though I did manage to win one racing game against him, mainly because he was more interested in driving his car in drunken arcs than in actually following the course.
Much of Saturday was also spent thumb-wrestling and tickle-fighting; the Wee Villain was a bit nauseous this morning, and I guiltily wondered whether the tickling might have had something to do with the boy's matinal distress. One form of tickling, prevalent in my own home when I and my brothers were young, involves having the victim lie on his back while you place your foot on their stomach and vibrate it violently enough to shake any blood clots loose. I passed this tradition on to the Wee Villain yesterday, and am thankful I didn't cause any poop or snot to shoot out (of him, I mean).
Mike and I hung out in the downstairs family room when his son was put to bed. We caught the most recent BSG episode (Mike wondered aloud whether BSG has jumped the shark), watched that dude on "Man Versus Food" eat the hottest curry in America, and cast aspersions on the movie "Forrest Gump" while watching the last half of it on cable.
Mike's family has a beautiful dog named Maia, whom I adore. Maia is half whippet and half black Labrador, which turns out to be a gorgeous combination for a dog. Alas, I'm slightly allergic to pet dander, so I spent some of my time sneezing or blowing my nose or rubbing dried muck out of my eyes. When I got home this evening and helped Mom prepare a chicken-and-couscous dinner, I ended up sneezing yet again because Mom had been transferring ground black pepper from one bottle to another. I'm very sneeze-prone, and I just know that, one day, I'm going to sneeze hard enough to expel one or both brain lobes.
But not yet. I survived my trip-- and tonight's dinner back at home-- with my brain more or less inside my skull. A good time was had by all. Thanks, Mike and Family, for the books, the Kierkegaard mug, and the always-appreciated Nutella. I'll be walking over to your place at some point before I head back west.
*Good Lord, that sounds bad when you say it out loud.
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