I may not be writing here very often, but that’s mainly because breaks from the routine are rather unusual anymore. Nobody wants to read post after post about my routine, right? Right. We’re all on the same page, then.
Anyway: Yesterday was a definite change of pace. I left work at 3pm and headed to the kids’ place so I could attend Alex’s birthday party at Ultrazone. I went ahead and gave Alex his present right at the apartment.
He’d been talking about saving up his babysitting money to buy a network adapter for the Playstation 2, so my bright idea was to pick one up for him. Great, but the only places I could find them were either disreputable online venues (uh, NO) or stores that said they carried the devices but were sold out. Never mind that, new, the things go for $99.
For a whopping thirty dollars more, I could just get him the “Silver” edition Playstation 2… which comes with a built-in Ethernet port. Problem solved, and he gets a fresh console into the bargain. Never mind that I can finally take “my” PS2 home… something for everyone, really. It was on what could best be called “indefinite loan” since we kept getting the kids more games, and I wasn’t about to take the console back and leave them nothing, was I?
We left for the party, but the original plan was to take little Bryant to his father’s place in Vancouver first. After 5pm. Through rush hour traffic. Wendi decided to go with another plan after a few minutes in stop-and-go, so Alex and Erica and I were deposited at Ultrazone to await the guests while she made the long slog north and back.
After some initial worry that nobody was going to show up, over the course of half an hour after the party was supposed to start we greeted three of his friends from school (one from the drama group and two from the strategy gaming club, if I have things correct) and two golfing buddies from his church. All together there were nine of us, which made for a good “laser tag” group.
Everyone was astonished to see Alex’s chin, by the way. Wendi insisted that he shave off the thick mat of a beard that he usually sports. He actually looked like a teenager again. Go figure!
There was trouble with the pizza order, so the folks at Ultrazone gave us an additional game round beyond the two that the “party pack” came with. This means that over the course of an hour or so we all ran around in the dark with bulky chest packs, “firing lasers” at one another. (Our host pointed out that the words “shooting” and “guns” are verboten. Oh, political correctness, you’re so adorable.) Everyone had a great time, especially during the second round when our entire group faced off against another entire party group. We took seven of the top eight spots in individual scoring, and I led the pack by several thousand points over the #2 player. Go me!
The third round was just our group playing as three teams of three, but by that point I’d been running myself ragged more than I’m used to and really slowed down a lot. (All that root beer and cake probably didn’t help.) Erica, on the other hand, had her best game ever and came in second place overall. Way to go!
Everyone agreed that it was a great party, and most importantly Alex was completely delighted. I think we’re wrapping up his sixteenth year on this planet in grand style. He deserves it.