Your Annual Update
Oh, the things we’ve been up to that I haven’t been writing about.
We went to ATLX, the Atlanta Lindy Exchange, last weekend. (My photos here.) Kingsized played the first night and did a smashing job, and Saturday night’s orchestra had socks-knocked-off power. Both really made the Georgia Tech swing nights really, well, suck by comparison. We met a number of friendly folks and had a great time, even though I danced about 10 minutes total of lindy hop, being one of those east-coaster types.
Monday I took the day off; it’s been Jessica’s spring break. We started the day with an impulse buy PS2 and Katamari Damacy, which we’ve been wanting to play for some time now. We played about 5 hours of it before breaking for dinner at a local Japanese steakhouse (appropriate, no?). Then it was off to Metalsome Monday (the 10-High’s kick-ass live band karaoke act) with Joe, Mike, Kelly, Tom, and Castro.
Tuesday, we played more Katamari Damacy.
At Wednesday’s swing night (our first in quite some time; teaching 8th-graders means we wake up early, so dancing until midnight on a school night is usually out of the question) we were mistaken for dance instructors by some enthusiastic businessmen. Jess because she is an incredible dancer, and me because I was dancing with her to Little Less Conversation (Elvis!) and pulled off a beautiful spin-and-dip right at one of The King’s build-up verses:
Don’t procrastinate, don’t articulate, Girl it’s getting late, gettin’ upset waitin’ around… WOOO!
The dip was at the WOOO! part. Probably the best music-synchronized dance move I’ve ever pulled off.
On Thursday our pinball machine arrived! Police Force, made by Williams in 1989. As you might imagine, we’ve played the crap out of it so far. Is there anything better than flashing lights and solenoids and ramps and chutes and switches? (Well, yes, but…)
On Friday we went to the classic city, Athens, where Jess went to school. After lunch with Scott@brother and Jennifer, we visited the botanical gardens (a few photos), which were beautiful, and then headed downtown to have a cookie and wander amongst the more interesting stores, Junkman’s Daughter’s Brother being the most interesting in my book. Dinner was at the incredible Café Cuba, a low key Cuban/Columbian joint on Prince Avenue. Jess had her long-longed-after arroz con pollo (chicken+vegetables+rice), a subtle but delicious meal, and I had the cuban sandwich. The real start of the meal, in my mind, was their green hot sauce. Outstanding. Great friendly service, too.
On Saturday we headed to our local hardware store, Handy Hardware to buy some replacement bulbs for the pinball (which we have still been playing the crap out of), which has to be the coolest store in all of Tucker. They have everything. We also met Marty, who helped us pick out the bulbs, and who actually worked on electro-mechanical pinballs in the distant past. Perhaps hardware stores have always been like this — aisles jammed with every little item you ever needed in your house, or neighbor’s house, or grandparent’s house) — but this has been the first like it I’ve ever seen. I think I’ll try to go there rather than Home Depot when possible.
Saturday night was Random Movie night, when Jeff came over beforehand for Moe’s and proceeded to whoop ass on the pinball. His first game was above 2 million, and his second game set a high score, knocking my previous high off the chart. Amazing. That boy has got some quick hand-eye coordination. (I guess playing a lot of video games can help you out in life!) By the end of the evening Jess had topped him by winning the 4 million point Jackpot. I have a lot of practicing to do.
And finally on Sunday we took Colin, Jennifer, and Chap sailing on a Hunter 27 at Lake Lanier. It was a beautiful day, sunny with a cool breeze that wasn’t quite as strong as I would have liked, but at least it was better than the time I took Chap out and we sat and marveled at the distortion-less reflection in the water.
And there you have it!