So. . .it's October now?

Bewildered, Bewildered...
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain't what you ain't
So listen up Buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood
--"Dear Abbey" by John Prine

Whew! quite a weekend. quite a weekend.

I should be going to sleep, and I'm going to try to in a minute or so :) Just wanted to type in some bits of the last couple of days.

So as you know, Dave and I travelled home with my mom to the glorious hometown of Amber Pollack: Wheeling, WV. Geesh, this is going to take awhile unless I pare it down a bit, so watch this!

My brother is doing well at WVU, although they don't baby them there like they do here, so when he was late for class and missed a pop quiz. . .he had to bite the bullet and take a zero for it. ouch. Well, he's got a rec center with a 20-person hottub, so he's doing alright. We stayed up friday night playing Golden Axe 2 on the computer. My sister was off being social at the Sadie Hawkins Dance. Dave, mom, and I went up to Oglebay to watch my dad's bluegrass band, "The Cabin Fever String Band" play live music for a squaredance. It's a whole different culture, ladies and gentlemen, and I forget how much I miss it. I introduced Dave to some of mom's friends as, "This is Dave, everybody"

So what did he get called all weekend? "Dave Everybody"

On Saturday, Dave, Don (my younger brother), Liz (my younger sister), and I wandered about Oglebayfest. We saw the baby tigers tackle eachother and look exceedingly cute, although they are the size of large dogs now. I enjoyed seeing everyone coo over cute little maneaters. We went to the Ohio County Fair and saw the alpacas shaved like poodles, and made the looooong hike up to the top of the hill to sample all the salsas and wines at the food tents (Liz and Don didn't get to sample the wine, much to underage Don's dissapointment). THEN we checked out the crafts, and retreated to the garden center for hot soup and sandwhiches . . . ahhhhh. Of course, then we had to share a funnel cake. had to. funnel cakes are too fantastically fried and unhealthy to pass up. It was nice being able to hang out with my siblings AND Dave. Those two have grown up so much, sometimes it's scary. But mostly it's nice, because now we can all be friends and, for the most part, stop beating eachother up.

We made one last pass at the food tents to buy mead (YES MEAD), salsa, popcorn, applebutter, and cider before heading back to mom and dad's cabin party central for dinner. There Dave got to meet all mom and dad's friends, and after being quizzed by the male contigent on his ethnic background and his mother's maiden name, they left him reasonably unharassed. Mr. Krellis slow-cooked a spaghetti sauce ALL day, and it was very very very delicious. After dinner, and some rum cake that almost knocked me out with fumes alone, mom's friends were starting to get rowdy, and since it was homecoming for the local highschool, all the ladies were taking turns oohing and aaaahing over the daughters all dressed up and hairsprayed. It was just getting crazy, so Dave and I retreated to the lake to watch a fountain show, and soon realized we had a Don tagging along with us (he hates crowds).

(WARNING, CUTE ALERT, GAG WORTHY)You know, I've seen about a million fountain shows at Oglebay Park, and for a long time I wished somebody would take me on a date there. I mean, sure, it's fun to watch water get sprayed in creative fashions to the Oldies, but I always wanted to cuddle up with someone and feel all romantic. And Saturday night I finally got the chance. We stayed for the fireworks show that happened afterwards, and just stared up at the sky. It was just. . . so nice, even if my brother was acting as chaperone.

Twas' then that we had to rendevouz with everyone at the Rathskeller Shelter (how's that for a german name?) to listen to "Smoke Daddy and the Crawfish" play some tunes. It's an experience unique to Oglebayfest: two tents and a park shelter's worth of white folks from age nine to over fifty crammed together and acting sociable, and in the more legal portion of the crowd, varying stages of drunk. I'd see folks my parent's age dancing on the picnic tables. Let's just say there's not alot to do in Wheeling, so when this rolls around, it's THE place to be. For the first time, I drank a pitcher of beer in front of my parents. Now, I didn't drink it all by myself, but it WAS totally weird at first. I mean, here I am, drinking beer, in front of my parents. . . . a new experience for me. I must be getting older, eh? Dave drank most of it for me--he's such a nice guy!--and he finally got to try the dreaded Uzo ( a licorice-flavored liquor that mom and dad's friends bring out for special occasions. . . I doubt I spelled it right). They were hiding the hard stuff in a shopping bag. That's the kind of party it was. We stayed for awhile, but it was getting loud and crowded beyond our even dulled-by-drink apprehensions. Back to the cabin, and eventually back home.

Sunday was a quiet day, because mom and dad didn't come home to drive us to hiram until 5PM. Got here late, and gave them something to think about before they made the long trek home.

So what do you say life? For now the worst is over? Can we just relax with the good memories of the weekend, and all that promise it holds? I'll buy you candy if you say ok :)

I have the best boyfriend ever.