2003-02-28 - 4:02 p.m.

On the internal soundtrack: "There's a Light", from RHPS

Well, I am back. It is cold here, and we are grumpy about it. Plus, WHERE'S MY FUCKING SNOW?! Why does Virginia get it all?! I did not move from there to put up with colder weather and get LESS SNOW!

We were supposed to go back to work today, but that didn't happen. Poor Poindexter, unbeknownst to me at the time, was up in the middle of the night with belly troubles. He suspects a bad "chicken salad wrap". Stupid Phoenix airport. There was NOTHING TO EAT in our terminal but these wraps or warm roast beef sandwiches. I want something RIGHT OUT OF THE DEEP FRYER, please, at temps of 170+ degrees! Fuckers.

Anyway, so he slept past his usual time, which was distressing since he NEVER sleeps in, so I finally said, "What are you DOING?!?! WHY did you CHANGE the PLAN!?" at 8am, found out he'd had troubles, and decreed, "OK, *I* am making the plan now. We are going back to sleep." So he called his office ("I'm home from my travels, but caught a stomach bug along the way, so I won't be in today") and then we slept until noon. WOOOOOOOOO! That was nice. Right after I wrote I haven't slept that late in years. In my defense, it was only 10am in Arizona.

Plus, Poindexter felt fine after some more sleep. And we had an extra day off. He even went grocery shopping with me, which he almost never does. VERY NICE!

So, as Jason and Gonzolawyer have mentioned, we all got together for lunch last Saturday. This was really just too cool. Everybody is so CUTE! And SWEET! And gives such great hugs I wanted more! I don't know what I was so nervous about. We all know that the two couples (Gonzo&Jess and Jason&Heather) are nuts about each other, but it's another thing to see it in person, the friendly teasing and the little attentions that they pay to each other. Unlike me, who almost totally ignored Poindexter the entire time because I was too busy staring at everyone else.

There were 8 people in the group, which made me very nervous at first because in large groups it's hard for me to keep track of a conversation. Besides the three couples, we had Phlegmato, whose journal I have somehow been missing out on, and Jessica's sister. But everybody was GREAT -- I was astonished at how everyone consistently remembered to make sure I could see them when I was talking, even when they were talking more to someone else at the table. Wow. Thank you, guys.

We had, unsurprisingly, an INCREDIBLY GOOD TIME with our friends. I could never see enough of them. They're talking about driving out to the east coast later this year when the baby is a little bigger.

Poindexter met his friend Lou in community college. Lou used to give Poindexter rides to and from school in an orange '72 bug. When Poindexter ended up with his own house for a short period after his step-grandmother died, Lou was an unofficial roommate. After college, Lou met Louanne, and they had a son, Kyle. Ten years later (last Halloween, to be exact), they had a little girl, Anna. Anyway, Lou is a libertarian, and when Poindexter first told me this a few years ago, I went running to the internet to find out what a libertarian was, and found out that it was, well, me. Amazing.

Anyway, since Lou is one of two people (the other being Justin) that Poindexter considers a best friend, it shouldn't be too surprising that I hit it off instantly with him and Louanne when we first went out there last year. I was very nervous when we went out there last year, and then as soon as I got there I felt like I'd known them for years. It was even better this time because I wasn't nervous. You'd think I'd never left. It is so amazing when that happens.

Drat. I want to describe how much I love being with them, and I can't. It is so EASY. We can talk about anything, or we don't have to talk. There's nothing awkward about it. I told Louanne we'd probably make great roommates -- quite a thing to say for a bunch of introverts -- and she agreed. We just talk and talk and talk and it's GREAT.

Anna has the CUTEST CHEEKS EVER, with tiny little dimples, and I kissed her about five million times. Her older brother is JUST AS CUTE, but I refrained from kissing him except hello and goodbye, since he seemed so embarrassed. Kyle is incredibly smart -- he's only 10, but he reads at a post-HS or post-college level and is an information junkie. We are both Pictionary freaks, who have to beg other people to play. So we spent an afternoon drawing Pictionary words for each other ("practicing"), and then we beat the pants off the other adults that evening. He is GOOD. Even with the "Difficult" ones.

OK, put your sunglasses on so you're not blinded by my pasty, pasty legs. And no, I will not go spend time in the sun, because I don't like it. You can nag me about my posture, though. This is me at the Phoenix zoo. I saw orangutans. One of them was eating the phone book.

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