How I Spent My Thanksgiving Vacation

This Thanksgiving break has been pretty relaxing, though not without its ups and downs.  On the down side is the fact that I spent the holiday alone.  This was kind of a drag, but that's okay.  I got to talk on the phone with my family, or most of it, anyway.  And yeah, I did have a standing invitation to a co-worker's house for dinner, but that's not something I'm terribly comfortable with.  I was also urged to go over to the home of my D&D friends, but declined that, as well... though it was tempting.

Didn't do much on Friday, but again, that was by design.  It's a vacation, after all.  I treated it as such.  I did run some errands, including stopping by Brew It Up to pay for our upcoming brewing session this week.  Picked up the maple syrup for the beer, too.  Sure hope this turns out okay.

Speaking of alcohol, I was supposed to do the bartending school again this weekend, but I just didn't feel up to it.  Truthfully, I'm not impressed by the place.  Yeah, it's great to have buttloads of bottles of colored water with which to practice.  But, with half the classes behind me, there's really been no actual education about alcohol itself.  And I'm sorry, but I think that's something a good bartender needs to know.

I mentioned before about the inaccuracies given (both orally and in our text) about beer.  It was ridiculous.  I even talked to the school's manager one day about it.  And I've written up a full page of explanations about all the things wrong with the book's material.  His reaction was... well, I don't think he put much stock in it.  He said no one ever brought this up before, and they've been using that text for years.  It's no wonder, of course.  The majority of the students are college kids out to make some extra bucks.  They don't know squat about beer aside from how to order a Corona.  I'm sure I'll go back for the rest of the classes (and probably take my earlier ones over again, too), but I'm thinking now it'll be after the new year.

Yesterday evening, my friend Alex and his friend Mike came over to hang out.  Alex is Kassi's boyfriend, and is in our role-playing group.  Apparently, Mike is joining, as well.  They're young.  Eighteen-ish.  And I honestly find it very gratifying that guys that age think I'm fun enough to hang out with.  Certainly, hanging out with them makes me feel younger.  Then again, much of our evening was spent sitting around talking about our OCD traits.  Mike has 'em bad.  It's almost funny.

We went out for pizza at Chicago Fire... Mike making sure to step between the sidewalk cracks the whole way.  There was about a half-hour wait, and this was after 8 p.m.  But it was a Saturday, so that wasn't too bad. 

Regular readers will know that I'm constantly searching for primo pizza, here in Sacramento.  Chicago Fire has two styles: the typical deep-dish style that Chicago is known for, and the thin style that Chicagoans eat regularly.  We had the latter, of course.  My assessment was that, while it was certainly tasty, it sure pales by comparison to real NY style pizza.  And (speaking of OCD), ladyluck wouldn't have enjoyed it.  Why?  Because it's a round pizza... but cut into squares.  (Go ahead.  Ask her about it.)

But the nice thing is that it's within walking distance from my place (only eight blocks), and is far from mediocre.  So I'll probably go there again.  Not that I eat much pizza, these days.  (And my waistline can attest to that.)

After the guys left, I went to a Shannon Curtis show.  Unlike most of her shows, this one actually had an opening act I'd enjoy seeing again.  They're from Sacramento, and are called All on Seven.  It was just a guy with a Stratocaster and a (quite cute) girl on drums.  Good sound!  I chatted with them briefly after the show and look forward to seeing them again.  They seem to play in town quite often.  I checked out their MySpace page when I got home and was shocked (understatement!) to find that the drummer is eighteen.  EIGHTEEN!  Jesus.  I am such a godawful judge of age, it's scary.

This afternoon, Kate is having a post-Thanksgiving potluck.  Not sure how many people she's expecting, yet.  Last I heard, it was about half a dozen.  Since I obviously have no leftovers to take, I'll be arriving with some apple cider and some Amber liqueur (which is maple & pecan flavored).  The two together make an awesome hot beverage for this time of year.

And that's about it.  Thank you for being kind enough to be bored with such a mundane entry.  At least I didn't go into detail about my grocery shopping or laundry washing...