Corner of Bourbon & Division

I went to tcaptain's bachelor party last night, and it was a blast. We spent the whole time at Hurley's.

There was a really neat band called Squidjigger there, comprising a guitar, a bass, and a guy who played the fiddle and the mandolin. They were a fun band, talented (and they had a bodhran!), and definitely responded to the energy of the crowd. They took our good-natured heckling in stride, gave back almost as much as they took, and did a hilarious cover of The Barenaked Ladies' "If I Had a Million Dollars" by re-writing the lyrics. I don't remember all of the new lyrics, but they included such gems as:

( Wacky lyrics behind cut ) and tcaptain. We got out a little past 02:00 and went to Kojax to sober up with some souvlaki. I was three sheets to the wind, which probably had something to do with the fact that I hadn't had anything to eat since noon and had four pints in about three hours. Oops. The souvlaki helped. We giggled, shared police-related anecdotes, and finally poured ourselves into taxis to go home.

So now I am mildly hungover. I think the fact that I drank lots and lots of water last night is the only reason I'm not currently in worse shape than I am. I have to figure out how the rest of my day is going to go, because it's obvious that all the errands I had planned are not going to happen at this point. It looks like rain, but if it holds off and this hangover gets vanquished by breakfast, Tylenol and coffee, then I may just spend the whole day in the garden. Laundry will happen, and groceries and cooking can happen tomorrow.

Hurley's was a blast yesterday. A million people were there, including a few I hadn't expected, like grimmwire, and some semi-surprises like silly_imp and her Man (he was a surprise: I hadn't seen him since the summer of 2006, since I had my housewarming barbecue), and le_maistre_e, who had made indeterminate noises about showing up.

There was Kielkenny, and scotch (though I abstained from the scotch, sadly), and good food, and MUCH giggling. We worked ourselves into hysterics a few times, discussing books and geekdom and corsets and many other topics that are really only funny if you're there. :D

It was a great time, and we all to a man crashed hard at about 20:00. I was home and in bed by about 22:00, and it was a bit of a struggle to get up this morning. In retrospect, that second beer was probably a bad plan, although it was reeeeally nice while I had it.

Today is another work day. I'm hoping it won't be as crazy as yesterday. I worked all through my lunch hour yesterday, which was not very much fun.

It's probably a bit too early for booze, right?

I'm going to bed. Gotta go to work in nine hours. Busy busy busy.

I had the Parental Units over to dinner tonight, my first honest-to-goodness Grown-Up Dinner since I moved in here, and frankly the second Grown-Up Meal I've served since moving out of my parents' place six and a half years ago. Having a proper dining room table helps with that. The only other time I've had people over for a properly cooked meal was when joane and shenlo came by on New Year's Day 2007 and I fed them lunch.

I made a similar menu today, actually. At least, I made lemon-tarragon roasted cornish hen and wild rice with almonds and raisins, which is the same thing I made last time. This time I varied things a little bit in terms of the entrée, the side dish, and dessert. I made a squash soup the way I learned from ai731 the last time I went to visit her and the_exclamation at the Coalition stronghold: made directly inside the shell of the squash. Delicious. I also improvised a side dish of steamed green beans sautéed with garlic and pine nuts in olive oil, which added a touch of colour to the plate but didn't overwhelm what was otherwise meant to be a fairly subtle main course.

For dessert I made brownies for the first time in about ten years, and they turned out delicious and moist and squidgy. My parents like them with walnuts, so I obliged by putting them in this time. I also served sliced pear with the brownies, as a way to cleanse the palate somewhat.

Overall, as meal planning goes, this was an unmitigated success. Nothing was overcooked, and in spite of some anxiety on my part the timing on everything was perfect. The only thing that went "wrong" was that I had way too much food. It all got put away in Tupperware, and will serve as my lunches this week, so it's all good, really.

I also got a really nice white wine to go with the meal. It was a bit of an educated shot in the dark, but I ended up with a Willm Riesling (2007), which is an Alsatian wine. Nice and dry, it complemented the food beautifully. I'm putting it on my list of wines to look out for in the future. It's a wee bit pricy ($20 or so), but well worth it. I had three glasses and was a wee bit giddy for a while, though nothing to write home about.

My parents were in good form, although a bit tired, as they'd hosted a dinner party of their own for some people from my father's university last night. I think my mother enjoyed not having to cook for once, although she insisted on helping me clean up, which was actually really great. If she hadn't, I'd still be cleaning now instead of updating my LJ.

My father spent most of the time rummaging in my bookcases, exploring my library, which has expanded considerably since he last looked at it seriously. He's quite impressed with the Ikea bookcases, as they look a lot nicer than he expected. He found one of my books of limericks, and spent a long while giggling at some of the funnier ones, while my mother and I dealt with dishes and leftovers.

They left in very good spirits, which was all to the good. As a practice run for the other Grown-Up Dinner Parties I want to have in the future, it went really well. It has shown me that I can definitely pull this off, although I will have to plan further in advance if I want to have more than two or three people over at the same time.

I am now going to go fall over dead. I only got about four hours of sleep this morning, as I had to go food shopping and then prepare said food. I've been on my feet and running around since noon, after four hours of sleep and a twelve-hour shift behind me.

I'm going into work tomorrow for an evening shift, and will be doing swing shift most of the week (or variants thereof). No news yet on whether or not my weekend is toast.

Not necessarily in that order. Tonight was fun. The Canadiens won, and I had a lot of beer to celebrate. Apparently I am now officially a Habs fan. At least, so the people at work tell me. Oh well, at least they're the home team. I am also committing the cardinal sin of posting while inebriated.

I think the sentence I'm looking for is: "I'm not as think as you drunk I am!"

We went dancing at a local club, which made me feel old and unhip, which is sad because I'm not even thirty yet. All the people there were twenty years old at most and looked about twelve. There's nothing like getting checked out by a boy barely out of diapers to make one feel really out of it. I've never been "cool" so it was unsettling at best.

It was fun, overall. Dinner at La Cage Aux Sports was lots of fun, and I had a good time dancing too.

So all is well. Tomorrow ought to be a busy day. I'm being switched to a different site because they're sending someone back to Montreal early tomorrow. The OCC in Montreal is apparently really suffering because Litigious!Coworker and Big!Bear are both off on sick leave, which leaves too few operators to man the posts. They've already asked me twice more for overtime this week, and I've said no both times. They may force me to come in, but I've told them I'm not coming in unless they force me.

Okay, bed. Water first, then bed.

In an effort to be a more informed voter, I have been reading the platforms of the four major contenders in the election (yes, I'm counting the Green Party, because even though they're doomed because of our stupid first-past-the-post electoral system, they still get a significant percentage of votes).

I thought I had properly braced myself, having consumed the better part of a disappointing Blanche de Chambly, but it turns out I need more than one beer to withstand Canadian politics.

In fact, I highly suspect there may not be enough beer in the world for this.

And I haven't even begun looking at the economic fiasco happening in the States. Egads.

I totally forgot that I was planning on starting a potted-herbs garden this year. I shall have to remedy that either next week or the following week, depending on how sleep-deprived I am. ai731 has already planted a bunch in the garden, but I'd like to try my hand at some on my own, as well.


One thing I've noticed about working night shift is that I no longer have the option of having a drink at the end of the day when I get home, since it's, like, 07:30. I almost never drink when I get home at the end of the day anyway (maybe once or twice a year), but I resent not having the option. It also means I can't have a drink in the evening, since I have to go to work shortly thereafter. So, night shift means a lifestyle free of booze for the most part.

Y'know, 'cause I drink so much to begin with.

I am declaring this morning a write-off. Not only am I not feeling 100%, I am also really, really tired.

So, in spite of how this is going to f*ck up all my plans, I am staying home this morning. I am not going out to do my grocery shopping, I am not going to the YMCA the way I'd planned, and I am not stopping by Frigo Vert to check out the shiny bee product elanya and curtana recommended. I am not going to the bank to pay my Bell bill.

Don't ask me how I'm going to work all of that into next week's schedule, because I just don't know. I wasn't sure how I was going to get it all done today, for that matter. I do know that it involved getting up much earlier than I did, and not being on the brink of collapse.

I am going to do nothing for the next two hours except have breakfast, and putter. The cat pans have to be cleaned, dishes have to get done, and lunch has to be made (yes, technically it's dinner since I work late, but I still call it lunch. Go figure.).

I have made blueberry pancakes. Rather, I made pancakes and then added frozen blueberries. They turned my batter purple. I am amused. :)

I would like the world to stop for a minute, please. I'd like to get off the ride. Thank you for your understanding.

If it weren't 11am, I might dump some Bailey's in my coffee. I never mentioned that I got another bottle for my birthday, did I? I think it was fearsclave who enabled that particular time, but my memory is fuzzy these days. Thank you, generous benefactor, purveyor of Irish cream. :)

Going to stagger off and collapse now. Maybe I'll read some more John Seymour. I'm very amused that he seems to think everyone can easily keep a Jersey cow on their one-acre holding. :) Still, lots of interesting stuff in there, and he has a good writing style. I love how he never uses the word "manure" without qualifying it with "lovely."

I have eggnog again. I have Bailey's in my eggnog. My bed awaits.

Life is good. :)

My characters are still alive.

There are zombies outside.

I have amaretto and sour mix to hand.

Phear.