Friday Thoughts On Saturday.

.....Yesterday was actually a good way to end the week, although I started off resistant. I had a lunch scheduled with Richard in Olympia. I fell into my newly usual pattern of watching 'The West Wing' and being rather lazy, which is not good as it means very little gets done. When 10AM rolled around I was having a hard time collecting everything to get into the van to make the drive. I also wasn't looking forward to a drive to Olympia. How's that for epic whining! :-)

.....But thankfully I just did it and the drive was actually quite pleasant. Richard accepted my being late with his usual good grace and we headed out to a Bar-B-Que place located in an off-the-wall turn out of the highways to Aberdeen.

.....Good Bar-B-Que! I had the lunch special of pulled pork, chicken and beef. Very good stuff. And I WAS stuffed by the end of lunch.

.....As is also usual, Richard and I started talking and hours went by without my even noticing it. We've been making this a yearly tradition now. Every year I say I'm going down for an hour or so and I am always still amazed when four or more hours go by. :-) That's what happens when a year's worth of conversation has to be done in a short period of time.

.....I'm not sure why that is, but for some reason I like bouncing my thoughts and ideas off of Richard and listening to his take on life. It helps me see things with a new perspective and usually ends up invigorating me with excitement for the new year and new ideas for me to persue. Richard is a very inspiring person, someone whom I admire. With definitely a few more brain cells than myself, and a surety of spirit that I sometimes lack.

.....I also left his house with a box of Tolkien books! Most of which I already had, but a few titles I didn't. I realized later that the synposis of The Silmarillion was one I didn't have. I have one from a different author. So this was a very cool find! And I was already reading through it before bed. :-)

.....Most of the rest of the books will go into the 'Tolkien Lending Library'. A phenomena I do not promote widely, but which a few select people know. :-)

.....Richard also introduced me to a new Middle Earth Board Game called 'Middle Earth Quest'. It looks really good, and a lot of fun to play! The rules are complex and full of details, but of the intelligent sort. A full game takes about four hours to play, which could be problematic. But still looks fun. Richard sent me a link to the rules online. I think I'll read through them and pass them along to TBT. Maybe we could get a game together sometime over the Holiday Break? Hmmm.....

.....Even though I was horribly late leaving Richard's, I had to stop at the Trader Joe's in Olympia. I sure wish that Kitsap County could have a Trader Joe's. We are so redneck over here though, I am not sure we could convince them to set up a store. But I'm still hopeful. Central Market is always crowded and it is a variation of Trader Joes. So we'll see.

.....I picked up some Jo-Jo's for Rhys and then hit the road. When I realized just how late I was I made frantic cell phone calls to TBT and Brighid to make sure someone got word to Rebecca that it was not on purpose and that I was going to be just a little late in getting over there. We'd been invited over to watch the Christmas Ship's make their passage from the Bremerton Yacht Club through the Port Washington Narrows.

.....I resisted the temptation to speed through Shelton and Belfair (I do not have the Cop and Ticket Karma that TBT has. They always seem to catch me. :-)). But still made it home in pretty good time. We ran over to Rebecca and Tym's in time to watch the festivities. Rebecca and Tym were fantastic hosts and we had a really good time over there. We also learned a lot of the Jewish traditions of the 'holidays' which was interesting in itself.

.....Rebecca gifted me with a stack of Shakespearean Plays in booklets from 1908. I thought that they were way cool and I was happy to receive them.

.....By the time we made it home I was tired but happy. I read a little Tolkien and then fell asleep. :-)

.....Now I have a list of things to get done!

.....Aaron / Arontius.