minus the beer

the 4th of july came and went and here i go waxing retrospective, like i do...



most of the day was spent doing minor calisthenics while my sweetums made potato salad. the plan was to go to el jeffe's to tailgate out of his van, the princess fluffernutter. being that i come from arizona, the word tailgate puts a foul taste in my mouth. it reminds me of football, raw jocks, and tall cans of various sub par beer. no offense to the people who identify with anything listed above. it's just that arizona has a special way of giving such things a white trashy edge. to say the least, i was skeptical of the good times to be had, especially considering we were to be venturing the crapitol hill and parking is a nightmare at best on non-special occasions. i could not bring myself to fathom what it was going to be like on this most sacred of days. also, what would getting home be like? would it be the vehicular equivalent to michael jackson's thriller video? i shuddered at this thought.
we arrived on the hill with ease, but drove around for what seemed like a lifetime looking for parking. in actuality, it was probably more like 15 minutes. either way i was getting to the point where i was ready to call of the holiday. it was then that i saw a lot with empty space which had the option of paying by phone. to this, i resounded a great big "fuck it. we're parking here." anyone who knows me well should know that i will eat my arm before paying to park my car. this is how desperate i had gotten and i was still dubious as to how rock n' roll this gala was going to be.
harpo and i happened to be in the mood for some good old fashioned 4th of july grilling. as a side note, good things to remember while preparing for impromptu BBQing with friends. if there is anything you think you might need (like cups, plates, napkins, plastic wear, beer, food, charcoal, grill) bring them yourself. in some circles impromptu BBQing seems to mean not actually BBQing. i somehow had an innate sense of this and brought everything needed, minus the beer. i left that up to others. i know my friends, if there is no food it may not be a problem. however, no beer = problem and that problem typically gets solved and very quickly at that.
i don't normally eat my hat, but the whole evening turned out to be big fun. we had good conversations, good beer and good old fashioned 4th of july grilling. as well, we were perfectly situated to see the fireworks show near the space needle, which blew, and the show at lake union, which rocked me like a hurricane. then on the way home, all the traffic i had imagined battling like unearthed zombies, was not traveling in the direction we were. so that, in and of itself, made the evening great. i might actually remember this year's 4th, unlike last year's when i have no blasting clue what i did...
in the end, we all had a really good time--even those in our party who typically always have a bad time. we were together, celebrating the day we disentangled ourselves from the tentacles of tyranny, attempting to create justice for all. it's fun to celebrate that notion. it's even more fun to imagine achieving that lofty dream. either way american is just alright with me.

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