7/3/10

Do you see all of those people gathered around the fire?  Of course you don't.  There's nobody around.  It's the middle of the night and I'm the only moron who is awake.  Now you've learned as much about me as you would learn by following multiple years' posts on this web log.  I'm never quite sure when to call it quits.  Story of my life.

After a long, long night last night, I was awake pretty early this morning.  My youngest  brother and my father were going fishing, so they were up at the crack of dawn.  Since I sleep about as soundly as a paranoid cocaine addict before a court hearing, I too was up at the crack of dawn.  I managed to fall back asleep after they hit the road, so that was pretty nice.  Then, after I woke for realsies, Mom made breakfast.  That was really nice.

I spent most of the day hanging around with my niece and nephew.  As many of you already know, I tend to be an absentee uncle for the most part.  Opportunities to spend some time with my sister's kids are more than welcome, even if I do have to bite my tongue sometimes.  Not everybody has been taught in the manner that I would teach things.  They're not my kids though, so I have to restrain myself.  It's a good exercise on both sides.  Seriously.

Tonight's dinner was a combination of burgers and sausages.  Generally speaking, even when I'm the one who has shelled out the money to purchase the meat, my father is the one who does the grilling in this family.  For some reason he wasn't in the mood this evening though, so I wound up doing the cooking.  In completely unrelated news, tonight's burgers and sausages were far more flavorful and juicy than usual.  One of those weird coincidences, I'm sure.

After a delicious dinner, it was time for the transition from day to night.  I'm not entirely oblivious to the plight of many of my fellow Americans who are suffering the effects of a rough economy, so you'll understand that I'm not inclined to discuss dollar figures here.  I'll just say that I spent an awful lot of money on fireworks for this weekend.  You know what's funny though?  Quite a few of the fireworks that I purchased were bottle rockets that would provide some entertainment tonight, before my big show begins tomorrow.  Some were really loud.  Others were really colorful.  The things that caught everyone's attention though, despite their nice cheap price tag, were my sky lanterns.  I ain't gonna bullshit you.  Those things really are awesome.

The night dragged on for a while and, after my brother launched the last bottle rocket, people began to go to bed.  At first it was the usual suspects. My sister's kids were out of commision.  Then my mother.  Then my brother.  The neighbors, who had stopped by for a while, managed to retreat during this time as well.  I was left to sit by the fire with my father, my sister, and her husband.  My brother-in-law... you know... fuck it.  That's a long story.  We'll just say that Dad went to bed and then the other two followed.

And now we're left with me.  I'll have to sleep sooner or later.  It's inevitable.  For now though, the classic rock on the radio and the last few logs of firewood have convinced me to stay awake.  I have issues.