Sweaty neck

Spent the day today with various family members of the Hicks persuasion, barbecuing, drinking beer, and playing bocci ball. I got my ass firmly handed to me every time I played because quite frankly I have no ability to throw the balls softly. I huck them like I’m bowling. Conversely, I bowl like I’m playing bocci ball. Obviously my brain likes to have fun with me. Now you know why I’ve always been a soccer whore. At least I can control my feet with a relative amount of skill. I miss playing soccer.

Our purpose for gathering today was to celebrate Uncle Alfie, whom none of the cousins have ever met and whom everyone else hasn’t seen in over twenty years (and some in over thirty years). I don’t know why…I never thought to ask. Probably typical familial rifts. And if so, well, at least it’s mended and we can move on.

Uncle Alfie is a hoot. He’s my grandfather’s brother, and where Poppa is tall, heavy, and strapping, Alfie is short, lean, and wispy. He looks like the kind of guy you’d find at some small-town dive bar on a Tuesday afternoon. But oh, he has the sweetest disposition. He’s got the Hicks sense of humor, wicked and sharp, with blue eyes that sparkle and laugh and betray his solemn delivery. He can croon too. Someone put on Sinatra at one point, and Alfie belted out every single song that came out of the speakers. I don’t mind saying that Uncle Alfie could have given Ol’ Blue Eyes a run for his money. I’m proud to be related to a man with a voice like that. Gives me hope that when I reach 78, I’ll finally be able to carry a tune in a bucket.

The weather today was horrible. High 90’s, which doesn’t sound bad, but there was no air movement until around six or seven. The temperature just settled in around us like tule fog, resting on the backs of our necks and tops of our legs while we sat around the backyard, trying to eat dips and cheeses and the odd crudité. At one point we moved to the lawn because the shady grass made the air feel cooler, but the humidity rising up from the damp earth almost made it worse. My rather large aunt and uncle from the Bay Area stayed indoors for most of the time they were there. It was kinda rude if you ask me…I mean, I understand that it’s not the most comfortable environment in the backyard on a hot day…especially for folks who are from a naturally cooler summer climate. But dude, the entire family was in the backyard, eating and talking and having a good time. Them sitting indoors made a couple of others (namely Uncle Alfie, my dad, and my Aunt Denise) feel obligated to go inside and keep them entertained. Rude.

I’m kicking myself now for not taking a few snaps. You have to see Alfie for yourself. You just…you just gotta.

Yesterday marked the end of my Environmental Science class. Thank god. That is the hardest five weeks I’ve ever spent on a class. I blame it on the impacted schedule. Next time I’m going to pay very close attention to the class length before I sign up. I hate fast track courses…I never feel like I’ve learned anything because I’ve had to move through the work so quickly. Right now I feel dumber than when I started. Go figure.

Add insult to injury with the fact that my low midterm grade could not be counteracted by the highly-desirable mojo of my PERFECT SCORE on the final…I ended up with an 89%. Call me crazy, but I somehow don’t see this professor being the type who will be kind enough to eek me over the threshhold into A territory. That’s OK though. I’m comfy with it. And at least the class wasn’t graded on a damn curve. WOO.

So now I will have to rely on my geology grades to be my shining star for UC Berkeley. Hopefully they’ll be dazzled by that…and if not. Um. Oh well?

I ended up dropping my other classes for the summer because I couldn’t be fucked to care. They weren’t necessary for anything other than my own personal knowledge, and I’d already kind of blown them off to focus on EnviroSci. And really, I don’t have time to do anything for school beyond this point. Today starts the final countdown to vacation liftoff. Officially seven more days until I’m outta hhhheeeeeere. And there is so much left yet to be done that writing out pages of database code is just so not in the tea leaves. I’ll be lucky if I even get my house clean before Jenny arrives. Sis, sorry if the place is a sty. I still love ya!

In other news, time for me to shuffle off to Buffalo and play a rousing four hours of World of Warcraft. Yes. I’m a geek. I admit it wholeheartedly. Did you expect differently? Be thankful I haven’t installed the game on my laptop. You can imagine then when I’d be doing the night I stay in Portland on my way to the fest…