One of the best parts of being an uncle is finding where the “acceptably unacceptable” is and dancing all over that line.
For example: my sister is a respectable woman married to a respectable man raising two respectable children in a respectable home. There are rules in the house about screentime, about what language is allowed, and the various noises that one can make with one’s body. She’s the only woman in a house full of guys and, dang it, she shouldn’t have to put up with such things as having to put the toilet seat down or the boys wrestling with the dog or two for flinching.
So, when I go over, I try to provide juuuuuust a little bit of chaos.
My preferred method is to belch loudly (I bring over a Diet Rite (no sugar, no caffeine, no sodium) and drink it within a minute of showing up). I can then tell the boys that it is very important that they say “excuse me” after they burp. My sister knows that the extent of her jurisdiction doesn’t *QUITE* extend to yelling at me for burping… but she has only a limited toolkit after that. She can’t tell the boys to not laugh (not that she hasn’t tried). The boys are smart enough to cheerfully say “excuse me!” if they happen to burp in response. Ignoring it kind of works, so subsequent belches need to be louder and have more interesting follow-ups. “Nephew, my boy…”, I said to one of them, “I regret burping.” “Oh, jeez”, my sister says. One of the Grammas is a former nurse. Belching and then asking whether holding belches in for too long could cause damage got an “it could”.
In any case, the visit to the sister’s in order to provide avuncular chaos was successful. I introduced the boys to One Night Ultimate Werewolf and it was a *HUGE* hit. Like, we agreed that we could try out *ONE* game before we opened presents and I had the grammas sit at the end of the table and I told them that the game was a little too complex to explain to everybody’s satisfaction so I’d just play with the boys and their parents (and, seriously, the game is as much fun to watch as it is to play) and, while they were skeptical, they agreed to watch and, after the game, everybody yelled that they wanted to play a second and then a third rather than open presents. The grammas said that, yes, they would much rather watch than play (and give away all their lying tells and/or give away that they knew everybody else’s lying tells) and it was only by everyone agreeing that, yes, it was The Birthday Thing and We Should Open Presents that we pulled ourselves away from the game.
So, seriously, if you have a gathering of four or more coming up, get yourself a copy of One Night Ultimate Werewolf (up to eight or nine can reasonably play… the only problem is people being that close to each other without moving and jostling when it’s their turn to do something).
Seriously, you won’t believe how quickly the time passes nor how much fun it is to watch a game even if you aren’t playing. Let’s face it, watching people play board games is usually just this side of watching paint dry. This game is different. You seriously want to see how it plays out.
That’s what happened last weekend. This weekend is going to be somewhat more low-key. Sure, we’ve got a gaming night on Saturday but that’s with seasoned gamers. The main thing is batchin’ it for one last weekend before Maribou comes home on Tuesday night. And then looking forward to sinking, slowly, into the return to normalcy.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Photo is Morning concert III: Boris Prýgl by Jana Nagy-Juhász from Mezinárodnà hudebnà festival Pražské jaro. Picture is used under a creative commons license.)
No big plans this weekend. My son and I both need haircuts. We have the usual chores planned. Other than that, probably just watching Netflix and playing Monster Hunter World. I may try to watch the Impact (formerly TNA) PPV this Sunday. I have not watched their show in a while, and I am curious how things are going with the current management.Report
I have no real plans.
It’s Homecoming here, but I have no school spirit whatsoever (I am not an alum of the place where I teach) and we’re not being asked to do any alumni events (we have done stuff like “recent grads who are in grad school doing mini symposia on their research” in the past) and we’re supposed to get something like 3″ of rain so I’m going to pick up the few groceries I need from the OTHER grocery store in town (I did my big grocery run yesterday) after I get out of class, and then I think I just stay home this weekend. Maybe I do a “film festival of movies I don’t need to watch too hard* but that provide nice background noise and color” and work on my various knitting projects
(*AKA movies I have seen before: Zootopia, and Guardians of the Galaxy, and Big Hero Six….or maybe not Guardians of the Galaxy, it can be kind of loud and violent and I am feeling especially jangled right now and just need sort of quiet soothing things where I know nothing bad will happen and if a character “dies” there will be a save-point so they can come back….)
This is the first weekend in a while I’ve had no commitments so I think I am justified in taking Saturday off and doing what I want.
I may also do some “spa day” type stuff, do a mud masque, do the “foot treatment” that allegedly helps break down calluses….this summer was hard on me, physically.Report
I don’t know what we’re doing. We were supposed to go to a friend’s house for his 50th birthday on Saturday, but my sister in law died on Thursday, so we’re not really in a mood to party. She had been in a rehab facility, but was then sent to the hospital on Tuesday, and then the hospital sent her to a hospice center on Wednesday. Fucking cancer, man. It’s good that she didn’t have a lot of time suffering and was able to have a peaceful death with her husband and son by her side.
So the wife and I will probably hang out–maybe do the netflix thing. I might play some Star Wars Legion or maybe work on painting some of the minis.Report
I’m sorry for your loss, and will be thinking of your family.Report
Thank you–it came so sudden that my wife and I are still in shock. I think her husband and son both knew the severity of her situation, so they’ve had longer to prepare. They didn’t share many details about her cancer this summer, so we kind of wondered if they were trying to spare us worrying.Report
That sucks, dude. I have no idea how people get through such things. I’ve even gone through vaguely similar and I have no idea how people get through such things.Report
Monday was the wife and I’s anniversary, but that isn’t a fun night to celebrate, so tomorrow we will get slightly dressed up, walk the 10-12 blocks down to one of the nicer restaurants in our little town, have a few drinks with dinner and then walk home. Which reminds me, I need to get a haircut.Report
Happy Anniversary, many more happy years to you both.Report
Congratulations on your anniversary and congratulations on still needing haircuts.Report
Ha, just went to a new barber, and she changed me half, saying I have so little hair that it didn’t feel right to charge me the full amount. It’s like Christmas in October!Report
The headcold I’ve been fighting all week is starting to make progress into my chest, so I’m taking a vacation from my vacation for the day, to be sick. Drinking Coca-Cola on my sister’s couch at the moment. My mom might make me casserole for later or she might not come over at all.
Bleah.
I hate being sick.
But until I got to this point, it was a fun vacation. And I’m sure if I get better soon it will be a fun vacation again.Report
A few weeks ago we had a plumbing issue with a toilet in a bathroom that is (luckily) positioned above the garage. Diagnosis involved me ripping down a few square feet of (damp) sheet rock and a few square feet of (soggy) insulation, after which the pros were called in to fix the problem. This weekend involves a trip to Home Depot to pick up a few square feet of sheet rock and insulation so I can eliminate the exposure to the coming winter temperatures I’ve created for the water pipes I exposed.
Other than that? Vet visits for both dogs and gaming on Saturday night.Report
Baseball playoffs begin this weekend. There is no better sport than playoff baseball, even if you don’t have a team to root for. I’m calling a Brewers – Astros World Series.
Lots of football officiating for me this weekend, which won’t be as much fun given how cool it’s turned here in Chicago.
Happy anniversary, Aaron. Condolences to you and yours, Jason.
Has the tagging feature in comments disappeared?Report
Just as well the Rockies got knocked out early. If there were a game scheduled for Sunday in Denver, it would set a new record for coldest MLB playoff game by several degrees — assuming that there wasn’t too much snow to play.Report
I’m halfway with you — it’ll be the Brewers versus the Red Sox, I think. Seven-game serieses from here on out, all of it top-notch ball.
Note that I still root for the Dodgers as well as the Brewers, so at this point, I can’t lose the NLCS.Report
I wouldn’t bet against you, but as an L.A. emigre in New England, I’m really pulling for Dodgers-Red Sox. It would pit me against my son, but he’s old enough now to be able to enjoy the friendly rivalry.Report
I may just take Pearl, my brand-new Prius, out to the Coast for a shakedown cruise. And I may just bring along a friend. A lady friend….
Thanks to our very own @miss-mary for hooking me up with her referral to the best guy at the dealership.Report
Aren’t middle age years suppose to get you to buy a Shelby Cobra or a Jaguar or some other sporting vehicle? And you go out and buy a Prius? Jeez what a coastal liberal 🙂Report
Go towards Astoria Burt! It is beautiful up there this time of year. And I have been meaning to ask, how are you settling in? Though it sounds good from your comment…Report
Writing this morning, going to the supermarket, cat chores, writing tomorrow morning, possibly putting together the astronomy club newsletter, going to Exit 117A to game, and finally completing that BoneQuest HiFi production.Report
Everything that could freeze outdoors has been closed off and drained — low temperature Sunday night may get down to single digits °F (-13 °C or so). Could get a few inches of snow tonight and tomorrow.Report
I’m sitting in my basement with the windows open. I can’t believe that we’re going to have a couple of inches of snow this time tomorrow.Report
If the Denver Broncos had played this afternoon, it was 64 and sunny. Since they play tomorrow, they get 24 and snow flurries. As I mentioned in response to someone’s MLB playoffs comment, imagine playing a Saturday-Sunday pair of games under those two sets of conditions. Eventually, MLB will regret having a team in Denver.Report
We got a few flakes in the uppermost Appalachians today (people rarely remember they are in NB and Quebec) but nothing serious. Weird that y’all are having so much more snow there when I’m so much norther… I made it almost to 49 degrees north today! Y’all are below 40….
(Not sure if I’m jealous or smug.)Report
Altitude and proximity to real mountains create strange effects. Most of the major metro areas in the American West have some peculiar features: Denver’s upslope cold fronts, Phoenix’s haboobs, the Santa Anna winds in Southern California, etc. I’m waiting for Burt’s write-up after his first encounter with Portland’s supercooled freezing rain.Report