Not so fast

So just when Cha and I were resigning ourselves to a contented old age alone together--it had been weeks, literally, since we'd done any socializing with another couple, or gone to a movie or an event with another couple--we got a couple calls.

Saturday Julio rang and left a message asking about dinner at Thai One On--Yo! Adrienne yelling in the background that she knew we were screening, and to pick up goddamnit. We weren't screening, we were, well, let's just say unable to pick up the phone, or at least uninterested at the time. And yes, Julio and Leesha have some sort of mysterious radar, and often call at just the wrong time. But I called him back a bit later and we met them for dinner and had a very pleasant time, and they came back to our place and we shot the shit for a while and Cha showed Yo! Adrienne our wedding pictures because she wanted to see old pix of Julio, and she kept hinting about marriage and what I would do for revenge at Julio's bachelor party, and I thought all that was strange given that they aren't engaged, though they have, in fact, reached a remarkable durability. And big news: she intends, given a few adjustments (such as the satisfactory resolution of a debate over a doggie weight limit allowing them to take Smeller to Qatar), to take the gig as conservator for the Sheik of Qatar's collection of dagguerotypes and other early photographic images for somewhere in the neighborhood of 200k per annum with housing and a car thrown in for good measure. Fucking A! I think that's great--they'll be able to pay off their house if they do it for a year or two, and we'll be able to visit them there, and perhaps do a short stopover in Dubai as well. The Sheik is building a 500 million dollar museum/research institute for his collection--he could be hoarding it all in his basement but he wants to attract scholars and experts to Qatar for this project, and he wants Yo! Adrienne. Julio will be free to paint, which he's always free to do anyway, but in a new setting. Yes, it's sad to have good friends on the other side of the globe, but it's also cool.

Tonight we're off to Sluggo's--he rang the other day and asked if we wanted to journey up to New Freedom for the Super Bowl, and I thought "no, not for the Super Bowl, but to hang out with the old crew would be great," so we're going despite the fact I'm not off at the Liberry until halftime.

Friday I was at Yahtzee's during the afternoon--his kitty's got some health issues (she is 16, after all), and he needed moral support and a wine-swilling companion for a couple hours. The lucky bastard got himself an Ionic Breeze from his folks--it works wonders for his allergies and sinus problems, apparently, so I fear I'll be dropping $400+ on one for Cha.

More later--time for me to go try and finish off another chunk of the Bound Journals shift.