The Dickens has given herself some brand new varicose veins using nothing but a pen and a little imagination. It is warm outside, and the various pollens are either spotting our windshields or making members of our family sniffly and reddish. Despite this, it is nice to sit outside under our backyard trees in the evenings.

This weekend we pretended we had money and went traipsing about in a large group, wantonly spending along the way. Friday we all ended up at R's mom's house in honor of R's 33rd birthday. It was a small gathering mostly consisting of relatives. Nate and Lexy honed in on Steve, who is visiting the area from Ireland. They wrestled and rolled around on the floor while I kept The Dickens occupied. There was pizza, cake, and Brainwash, which dyes your insides blue.

Saturday a bunch of us went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Nate wandered off and got lost almost immediately, but had the presence of mind to find an aquarium employee and have us paged. During our visit, we got to see a diver give an otter some "negative reinforcement training". This consisted of blowing a whistle and spraying water at the befuddled creature, and then, as it turned to get the hell out of there, bestowing upon it a (as R. put it) "big nasty mammal spank" The idea is to get the otters to keep away from divers, because not all divers have the otters' best interest at heart.
Later, at dinner in a nearby restaurant, Steve flipped over Lexy's menu (which featured drawings of fish for kids to color) and drew a large Angler fish which put the ones on the other side to shame. He instructed Lexy to color it in, which Lexy proceeded to do quite nicely. A short time later, The Dickens knocked a glass of water over and ruined it, dashing Lexy's chances of ever being able to sell it on ebay.
Then, after some mandatory fudge, we all went back to our place and had a slumber party. I slept on the top bunk in the kids' room. Jen and all of the kids slept on the bottom bunk. Steve slept in our bed. M. slept on the couch. G. and Dawn slept on the floor. We all got up too early the next morning and Jen made a big batch of eggs and toast. After a bit of hanging out and a quick trip to the record store, we went to the Winchester Mystery House. What a lovely place. I hadn't been there since I was a kid, and found myself appreciating it much more as an adult. I wish it was possible to walk around inside without having to follow an obnoxious tour guide. Oh well.

cds I listened to while for the first time this year not wearing a jacket: Trouble "Manic Frustration" and "Plastic Green Head", Unholy "Gracefallen", Sigillum S "Dispersion: Sliced Carrions and Pixel Handcuffs" and "Live Assault", and Nurse With Wound "Chance Meeting of a Defective Tape Machine and Migraine" (this one is M.'s fault)