| Milford and I always found Howie to be the most classful and upstanding person. |
People, please! When leaving obituary sentiments is not the time and place to make up words! Classful?
I was up and at ’em early this morning, catching the 8:19 bus, and arriving at the Center for Excellence in Curricular Engagement (CECE) at just after 8:30AM.
Myra and I worked on the new CECE website structure and content for about an hour or so, and then I spent about 20 minutes or so moving several boxes and crates into the storage closet, and emptying a couple of them into a filing cabinet drawer.
While on campus, I stopped over at the NCSU Bookstore, where I took advantage of no-sales-tax weekend to buy my books for the upcoming semester.
They had three of the four books I needed, so I bought those and later ordered the fourth one online, which still allowed me to purchase the book without paying sales tax. Sales tax aside, don’t get me started about the price of text books. Let’s just say the words, “Rip off!” come to mind.
I did experience one great feeling and thought while buying them, however: “These are the last books I’m going to be buying toward my degree. Finally, in December, I’ll have my master’s degree.”
At home, I prepared the shrimp that I took to Courtney’s party tonight. Good thing I checked on it when I did, because it required two-hours of refrigerator time after rinsing it under running water for five minutes to thaw.
Joe called me mid-afternoon from JCPenny’s asking me if I wanted him to buy a black, 100% cotton (so it said), t-shirt for me that they had on sale for $8.00.
“Do they have more than one of them?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“Buy me two of them, then. For that price, if I don’t like ’em, I can use ’em for dust rags.”
I picked up (E-Ching’s) David over off Oberlin near Glenwood at about 5:45, picked up Robert in Durham at about 6:15, and we got to Courtney’s between 6:30 and 6:40. Will pulled up right behind us.
We had a great time seeing Courtney’s sister’s new home, meeting George, eating shrimp, and collaborating on the making of dinner, which consisted of skewered chicken, sausage, onions, and red peppers. Amelia brought a cheese tray, which complimented that nicely, and we had a killer dessert of roasted peaches with Bryers Vanilla ice cream. It was all good.
I dropped off Robert at around 10:30, and on the way to Flex, I had two calls—one from Joe and one from Chris (zinnian), both of whom were just then on their way to Flex as well.
When I saw Joe, I asked him if he had my shirts with him, and he yelled, “Yes! And guess how much those shirts ended up being at the register!?! $5.00 a piece! ” Dust rags, indeed!
By the time we got there, “Show Tunes” night was over and their “120 Minutes” show had started. The past, I guess it’s maybe four now, times they’ve done this it’s been from midnight until 2AM.
Tonight, since I didn’t get there until a few minutes after 11, and it had already started, I assumed that it started at 11. However, 1:00AM came and went and it didn’t stop, and to me (and several others, actually) it was getting a little tiresome. I looked at the face of my watch, tapped it a couple of times and said, “Uh, what part of 120 minutes would this be?”
The 120 Minutes done at Flex consists of two hours (purportedly!) of “alternative music” that is usually played on independent radio stations with a lot of focus on that played on “school” or “university” radio stations. They also show videos along with it. It draws a lot of straight people and a lot of Goth people, speaking both of which, my two-doors-down-neighbor was there again.
Not that there’s anything wrong with straight people, but when they get to be the majority in a gay bar, well it sort of takes away from one of the biggest advantages of being in a gay bar. But I digress bitterly…
Joe and I left shortly after realizing that that music wasn’t going to stop at (or near) 1:00AM. Joe wanted to stop at Shanghai Express, but I was still plenty full from the party, so I passed.