Jailbreak

November 27, 1998

I should know better than to hope that I'll get to sleep in when visiting Blue Bell. This morning I woke up to the sound of a thud. Moments later Jean informed me that Maggie, my parent's golden retriever, had pushed the door to our bedroom open. Pasta and Neon, who spend each night in our bedroom, had escaped with Maggie.

Since my dogs are used to going outside pretty soon after getting up, I knew that I would have to get up and let them out. After I let them out, I checked in with mom, dad and Stacy, who were already in the kitchen (at six o'clock, on a day off!). I don't remember exactly what I said, but I went back up to the bedroom (with the dogs following me) and went back to sleep.

Most of the day was slow. We sat around and talked. I showed Brendan Descent, which I had loaded onto mom and dad's computer last time I visited. Hopefully he'll enjoy the game. At some point I'll have to give him the cheat codes. Jean and Brendan and I went out to Burger King for lunch. Since I don't like turkey or ham or any of the other Thanksgiving foods, I wanted to have something to eat that I enjoyed. Jean and I got a little bit to eat; Brendan got three sandwiches and fries.

One of the nice things about vacations in Blue Bell is that I eventually stop checking my watch. There's no schedule here, other than general plans to get together from time to time. Shane, Joanna, Sabrina and Molly came over for dinner. Before dinner Sabrina and Colette and I went outside and danced and jumped around in the cold November night.

I have no idea where that two-year old gets all that energy. At least twice while we were running all over the back yard I thought to myself that she must be getting tired. No way. Even when the pizza arrived, she was still animated.

Dinner was good. The best pizza I've had comes from Philadelphia. Richmond doesn't have enough pizza places to have its own pizza style. The pizza we had for dinner was great: a thin, crunchy crust; tangy sauce, and a healthy splash of olive oil.

Before going up to Blue Bell I purchased some AA batteries for the camcorder. I've had the camcorder for two years but rarely used it because the special rechargeable battery is temperamental. After our pizza dinner I taped Sabrina playing basketball in the driveway with Colette and Brendan.

The evening ended with a viewing of The Fifth Element, which I'd never seen. It's not a bad movie but Bruce Willis is essentially playing his Die Hard character in a sci-fi movie with silly costumes. I did enjoy the movie, and Shane remarked afterwards that it was probably the first movie all five of us (Stacy, Shane, Kevin, Colette and Brendan) had watched together in twenty-five years or so. He's probably right, even if Stacy dozed once or twice.