Weekend wrap-up, and a slight change in plans

I went to the funeral for the lady who lived next door to my grandmother yesterday morning. It was nice. She's being buried in New Jersey, alongside a granddaughter who died young.

I went to Free Comic Book Day in the early afternoon with a friend and her son. I managed to save her a few bucks by showing her that the bagged individual collector's item comics she was about to buy were actually available in a single softcover collection. Even though the store was sold out of Adam Felber's Skrull Kill Krew #1 (I'll be going back on Thursday to see if they have it) I did manage to buy four or five other comics. I also picked up four or five free comics. I'm hoping the shop, and comic book shops across the nation and around the world, did good business.

After that I went to church, and then went directly to Mark's Pub in Wilkes-Barre for the bloggers' gathering. I couldn't find any available parking near the bar, so I wound up parking down the block and around the corner. When I went into the bar I was overwhelmed: it was jam-packed with people - adults, kids (kids?), a band, a gift table that I managed to overlook... How was I ever going to find the people I was looking for here? But there they were at the far end of the bar, where we have gathered before. Just a small gathering - I fear that more might have entered the bar and, unable to locate specific unfamiliar faces in a crowd of unfamiliar faces, turned and left.

We drank, we ate, we watched baseball, and some twenty minutes after we thought it was to begin, we watched the Kentucky Derby. The bar erupted into shouts of "Come on, Alpo!" "Take the lead, Gluepot!" and "It's Girdle in the stretch!", until a horse from far back in the pack began to surge forward, prompting cries of "What the hell is this?"And, unbelievably, Mine That Bird kept on going, leaving the frontrunners behind by several lengths to win the race.

Afterwards, several of us took in a late dinner, where topics of conversation ranged from "Why are these salt and pepper shakers so small?" (each was a cube less than an inch on each side) to "What the hell are Pine Nuts?" (a question I first asked in 1990 or so.) Nothing escapes the scrutiny of bloggers!

I got home to check the layoff recording and discovered that, yes, I would be having a thirteenth day off. Unfortunately, by this point I had already thrown the metabolic "commit" switch, which meant I would soon be falling asleep, and sleeping late. This is unfortunate - I have been glorying in the fact that my regular paychecks have been allowing me to pay my bills, gradually dig my way out of debt, and even boost the economy by making some purchases which are not, strictly speaking, necessities. But it sounds like I will be working tomorrow night. Fingers crossed - baby needs a new pair of everything!