Friendly Fire weekend

I had the boys this weekend, and kept them at my place (in Creature's house) for the first time. It went well. Creature and Charisse weren't really around at all. We broke out inline skates and the scooter, plus they loved mowing the back lawn with a push-mower. Alex was here, too, and he helps immensely with his little brothers. He's wonderful.

On Saturday he took 'em to Saturday Market until Open Gym. Then we moseyed off and played at the house until Parents' Night Out. I was supposed to be performing at Friendly Fire, but I'd forgotten to take PNO off. :( I finally reached the final non-committed alternate coach (Shaunice) but she has a vertebrae out of place in her back. I hooked her up with Dutch, and he helped her a lot, so that she could spell me off on PNO. Yay!

I hauled the boys down to the venue, and changed into the Spiderman costume that Dutch provided for me. It was awesome! I began climbing things, and people started snapping pictures. I looked at one and it amazed me - normally it's odd and a little neat when I hang from things, but in the Spiderman suit it was spectacular. I climbed on the Groove Bomb and hung from a yardarm up there - sweet. I really hope I can track down a few pictures from that night.

Things were chaotic (amateur fundraising gig) so Kazum didn't get to perform in the early show. I hung out so that the boys could watch fire spinning while I climbed on stuff as Spiderman. I hefted 'em up onto the Groove Bomb to watch, which they enjoyed. Other than that, they were pretty unimpressed by Spiderdad. *sigh* Ungrateful little sods. :)

I ran them home and caught a ride back (with my bike) with Alex's stepdad Michael. He took a few shots, and then I bolted inside to perform with Kazum. I did some handstands in the Spideysuit, which was way fun. Then we gathered at the (split-level) stage to wait. We saw Dave Clay do a killer homeless spongebath routine. Then we were on.

Dutch and I tried to pull down the aerial hoop but we couldn't. So I put Petra up and she took it down quickly. Then Kazum was on - but we had to sweep down the floor with our hands because of staples and other debris. It was a rocky start. Once we started, things went pretty well, though. We did the first portion of Death Blossom. We had to pull the basket-toss a lot, and Miranda and I did a stand-full-down rather than from an extension. Overall it went quite well!

Then we ran off to drink and stuff. Dawn was there, and I danced with her a few times but mostly I was doing my circulate-among-pals thing. I approached several folks with my Spiderman mask on, and made them nervous for a bit. Charisse was the most fun - she finally said, "Dude, you're almost groping me here and I don't even know who the hell you are." I leaned in and said, "I live with you." Then she laughed and hugged me. We talked for quite a bit. She's found a new place, and she's moving forward. I'm really glad - I want her to be happy again.

I stunted with several new folk, which was fun as always. Adrienne kept making me do chairs despite my fuzzy mind, but they kept turning out really good. It was a way fun party. I hung upside down from various things. I really wanna see some of the pictures of that. I also did some testing of the effects of alcohol on balance - I held some killer handstands that defied intoxication. Right on.

I ran into Nicole, though at first I didn't recognize her. She was polite, but reserved and uncomfortable. Made me sad - I wanted to get to know her but now it's all weird. *sigh*

I finally left with Dawn to go to an afterparty with her at Ron & Kathy's super sweet house on the hill. It was fun to meet all of her people, but I was shy and they don't know me at all. They were very nice but I need to spend lots more time with them before they know anything about me so that I can relax a bit.

Then Dawn and I spent the most amazing few hours I can recall ever spending with a woman. Mindblowing. Got no sleep, but that's okay. I called Alex at 6:30 to provide the little boys with access to breakfast. Then I came back home and we played together for a while.

They wanted to go to Jem's place, but I had to bathe and feed them first. I tossed 'Topher in the tub as well, and then we headed out. Creature's car had the van parked in, though, so we had to walk about 2 miles to the MAX stop. Then we missed the transfer 'cause I was reading The Great Hunt to 'em instead of paying attention. We walked back to Pioneer Square, pausing for another meal at Carl's Junior. But when I called Jem to confirm coming out to Beaverton, he was upset. I think it was mostly 'cause it took us 2 hours to walk/MAX to where we could catch a Blue Line. But it also seemed like he was upset that I would ask if Jer & Nathan could bathe or shower at his place. He said something about using him to pretend to Heather that they were in a stable environment. I'm not sure what that's about, but I didn't want to try to figure it out via phone while the boys waited, so we canceled. They were sad, and they didn't want to hang around downtown so I called Dawn and we went out to her place. We rented "Where the Wild Things Are" and had a nice supper at her place. Then Heather picked 'em up and I headed to Circus Class.

It was a great class. I came home afterward instead of finding Wild Fun - I was exhausted and for the first time in a long, long while, I was all Funned out. Mostly I just didn't have any Wild Fun offers, though. I woulda gone out if there had been something to do.

My weekends are so often full of wild excitement and people I love and stunting and limelight. It's a nice contrast with the humdrum of my weekly life. Well, my afternoon and morning life. My evening life is usually full of awesomeness. Even my job is full of awesomeness. I love teaching kids, and they dig me. So do the parents. I really love my life. I wish that I could live it while still holding true to my convictions. But it's a lot better living my life (sans convictions) than it was living a much more sedate version of my life and *trying* to hold to my convictions while failing miserably. Now I just fail in much more enjoyable ways.

I do really miss inner peace and reverence and lasting happiness. Not that I've often achieved these things - but I used to at least be anxiously engaged in seeking after them. Now I'm mostly just engaged in non-impactful hedonism.