Great Weekend

I should have been making entries as the days passed. Instead I will give an outline and hopefully fill in the details of my great weekend later. But honestly, I probably won't.

My weekend began at about 9:40 Thursday morning. This was when I completed my Actuarial Exam but still had another 50 minutes to check it. Either the exam was easy or I missed something big. I redid all of my questions. I think I rocked the exam. Because it's graded on a curve I may not have passed if everyone did well, but either way I did my best and I am happy with my effort.

I picked up Ray from the airport directly after the exam. Man, I miss having him around. He constantly reminds me of what's important in life. He reminds me not to take life so seriously and to just relax. Have fun. And one's priorities should be God, family, friends, and then the rest. I should save a Ray entry for another day (or year) because I could go on about him for quite a while. As Tyler said the other day - I'm the leading authority on Raymond, having spent the most time living with him, and yet I still haven't figured him out.

Thursday night we saw the Riverwest Accordion Club at Art Bar for its Polka in the Street Party. What a blast! The music ranged from traditional polkas (the Pennsylvania Polka) to TV themes (Laverne & Shirley) to Johnny Cash to an ABBA medley. Some of my Milwaukee friends came out with Ray and me. They included Mike, who just bought a big screen HDTV, Simon, the Belgian, Ann & Andy, sister & brother, April, who makes skirts out of T-shirts, Sarah, who works with plants, Laura -banker/constant-party. It was a great group of people to be out together; we all had a lot to talk about. We danced a lot too. I didn't know it but I think Art Bar is somewhat of a gay bar. This wasn't too awkward, unless you are bothered by old men dancing the polka together. I thought it was sort of funny. And the band had a bubble blower - and a bowling pin motif. It was sweet. But my favorite part of the evening was when the band played Do, a deer... from Sound of Music. Of course, Ray sang along but then Simon joined in as well. Pretty funny seeing the two of them belting out Julie Andrews songs. We fit in just fine at the gay bar.

On Friday, Ray and I went on the Harley-Davidson tour. It sort of sucked. We then tried to find a Cabela's (so that Ray could look for cheap ammunition) to no avail. But we did go to two Targets and I stocked up on some cheap Life Cereal. This would be a great peace slogan: "Cereal, not guns." That evening, Ray, Simon, and I went to the Lakefront Brewery for its tour and fish fry. Again, plenty of beer and more polka. We stopped to visit April, but even the allure of three handsome guys couldn't convince her to come out. One more bar and we headed home. I don't want to talk about the annoying woman who wouldn't leave us alone at the bar. At one point she accused me of voting for W. Apparently she hadn't noticed that we were drinking Belgian beer and taking tequila shots.

Saturday was a lazy day. We slept in, walked to the downtown Borders, and had lunch at a pub. As soon as we made it to the park to read our books, it began to rain. Back to my apartment for a Simpsons marathon. Ray and I then went to Miller Park to see the Astros beat the Brewers. But we only paid $6 for our tickets. And we did have a good time. Later that evening, Simon caught up with us and we went bowling. Almost everyone broke a hundred. I was only 1 point away.

On Sunday I took Ray to the airport. I did not do much else that day. But I did have a nice run in the afternoon. I have to prepare for my big Alaskan trip. I want to be in my best shape. And preferably that shape will not be a circle. Simon stopped by in the evening and we planned our Memorial Day. He wanted to go to Six Flags. I warned him that I'm a wimp when it comes to big rides. I stay away from anything that dangles. Wooden coasters are cool and I'll even do the water flumes, but no way am I doing Batman or Superman or even the ferris wheel. I have no problem with waiting and watching, but I don't want him to be upset if he has to go on some rides alone. He agreed. And we bought the tickets.

This morning we drove to Six Flags - about an hour's drive away. Beautiful weather. We went on the water rides and managed to dry off. Not too crowded. Towards closing time we were walking directly onto some coasters. We did American Eagle five times. I'm really surprised that I enjoyed the one on which you stand up. I thought that one would freak me out. I did learn a little about Simon's evilness. He convinced me to go on the Raging Bull. This is a metal coaster with minimal car. You sit in a seat and with a plastic "holder" (for lack of a better word) on your lap to keep you in place. Your feet don't reach the ground and you don't have a bar to hold onto or walls to a car. I was nervous as we waited in line. As soon as I was strapped in though he turned to me and said, "Gee, there's really not much keeping us from falling out." and then he laughed. If I had been brave enough to release my death grip from the "holder" I would have hit him. Anyway I thought this ride was great and I would have done it again if the line weren't so long. The day was great. I'm glad he made me go