Do we still party? Well, Dewey? Hell Yeah!!

What an interesting weekend.
Went up to DC to help out my best friend JP with some stuff on Friday and wound up doing some neat things that I haven't in a long time. Went out in Bethesda on Friday and bounced to a couple of bars - met some new fun people and caught the US Under-20 soccer team beating Brasil!! Saturday morning saw me hopping into a pool to test a new dive gear setup before my big tripola. Pretty light and it works well,, just the bulkiness. Hard to plan for the backpack. Don't know what I'm gonna do...

Then JP drags me to Dover to hang out with his Mom and his Brother's family. Now I love JP's Mom (I even call her Mom,) to her I'm one of her boys and she is the absolute nicest! But they were having a crab feast and that always makes me feel bad. I like crabs, it's just I never learned how to get the meat out and every time I try, I get all cut up and go seriously hungry. So I usually just let people think I don't like them and eat something else while sneaking the occasional claw - even I can open those! But, in typical Filipino Mom style, she has to cook all sorts of special stuff to take care of me - so she makes about three different meat options for starters and it gets worse from there. I feel so bad about her effort I wind up trying to eat everything!
JP warned me his two nieces - Julianna & Sofia - don't like strangers, and I just smiled but didn't say anything (how dumb would I look saying "all kids love me," and then they don't?) Of course, Uncle Clement became the human jungle gym. Plus, instead of playing with matchbox cars and legos like with CJ, I was in Barbie-land. How fun! Seriously though, they are two wonderful and beautiful little girls.

That night, we're sitting around and JP decides we are going to Dewey Beach to catch some bands and have some fun. I used to love Dewey, had great times there, got drunk, toasted, wasted, and seriously laid there all through college. But if you haven't noticed that was quite a while ago. "Don't worry," JP says, "there's lots of people older than us acting even stupider..." Soon after we're rolling into the B&C after finding parking (!!! - good karma!) and Love Seed Mama Jump is playing! This is a band that got popular right as we were graduating and they were back on kind of a reunion thing. Good times. We poked around the Starboard, too and had just missed the Running of the Bull. Had a f**ing great time all-around - good music, drinks, people - the works. Just like old times except now I'm 39. Swell.
Roll back to his Mom's place after 4AM, I think, and crashed out. Up early to get JP to work and I hung at the pool with his roommates and did some laps.

Monday was my last vaccination before my trip, Yeah!! Those Japanese Encephalitis germs don't stand a chance! And then I drove back to the Lake just in time for my Dad's interesting Mahi-Mahi with green peppers and blueberries. Seriously. I love jazz cooking, I think I must get my knack from him, but even I would never have tried that one. It was fine btw.

Today I went for a loooooong strenuous hike on the Appalachian Trail with about 40 lbs. in my pack. Did some pretty good ups and downs for 5 hours, got rained on hard for 2 and I'm really whipped now. Saw several families of deer crossing the trail, some woodchucks, and got the shit scared out of me by an old tree rubbing or creaking in the wind - hey, it sounded kind of like Chewbacca who looks sort of like a bear... Anyway, off to bed soon.

Last thought - I'm doing something BIG on Friday, so stay tuned...

So it goes,
C