I woke up late this morning. Left to my own circadian rhythm, I would sleep in until noon and stay up until 4 am. But I can't do that due to having a family and a job, so I have a weekday alarm set for 6:45 and a weekend alarm set for 8:30. Somehow the latter got turned off, and I didn't realize it, so I just slept in, long after S had awakened (5:45; she just got back from England and went to bed at 8:05 last night), and I surely would have kept sleeping had Lil' S2 not banged on our bedroom door and shouted at me at 9:45: "Dad! It's almost ten o' clock! You need to get out of bed now!" S took Lil' S1 to a friend's house to go to a ren faire, so they were both gone, and I think Lil' S2 was just bored and wanted me to get up for company.
I heard S pull up as I was getting dressed, so I hustled and made it look like I didn't just wake up. She wouldn't really care—and I had just spent the week with the kids by myself, so surely I had accrued some marital equity—but still... She told me that we had Mr. L.'s thing in a few hours, which I had completely forgotten about. Our elderly nextdoor neighbor died a few months ago—while we were in India, I believe—and his memorial was this afternoon. We had gotten to know him and his wife quite well, so we definitely wanted to pay our respects, but we had no idea as to what type of event this was going to be. His wife only told us via text that it would be today from 12:30-3:00 at a restaurant because he didn't want a big sad funeral. Was it an open house or something we needed to be there right on time for? Should we plan on being there the entire time? Was it formal attire? We didn't know.
I decided to wear nice jeans and a button-up shirt—basically what I wear when I go to the office. I got the suit jacket out and put it on and looked at myself in the mirror, but I didn't love the vibe. Everything is just so informally nowadays. I never lived in the time when men wore suits and ties every time they left the house but I definitely lived in the time they wore suits and ties to a memorial. The times have changed, though, and at many events in which formal attire used to be the norm, you will look out of place if you are wearing it now. On the other hand, this memorial was sure to be filled with people from that older, more formal generation, so I was slightly worried I would be underdressed.
I needn't have been. When we arrived (about 12:45), I quickly realized that this was not at all a formal event. Very few men had on ties or suit jackets and many were dressed even more casually than me. It also was not a very well-organized event (by the admission of one of the organizers). Actually, that's not exactly true—the program looked cool and they had a little jazz band there and good food was on the way—it just wasn't at a big enough venue. Apparently, many more people came than they were expecting, so there were a lot of people standing (including us), and there wasn't even much room to stand. It became clear that we weren't going to make it through the entire event. I mean, how could we eat when we could barely lift our arms up without bumping the people next to us?
We listened to everybody give their mini eulogies—it was all very touching; he was a good dude with many friends and family members who remembered him warmly—and then when there was a lull in the program, we followed an old lady through the tightly packed network of tables and chairs to his wife Mrs. L, figuring we would just pay our respects and leave. The other standers (including our neighbor across the street, who arrived shortly after us) apparently had similar ideas because a little makeshift procession line formed behind us. We went though and gave Mrs. L hugs and well-wishes, and then we met her sons and their families (one of whom is moving in with her, next to us, soon), and then we headed out. We were probably only there for about 20 minutes, but it was good.
Since we were hungry and (kinda) dressed up we decided to go out for lunch. Only Lil' S2 was with us (ren faire, remember), and for some reason S told him that we would go wherever he wanted. But he picked Chipotle, and I vetoed it. I would not have wanted to go to a nice Chipotle, and the Chipotle near us is not nice. It's fine for carryout, but the restaurant area is disgusting. There is always food on the table and napkins on the floor, and it's frequently filled with obnoxious teenagers (which probably explains the other two things). Thankfully, we were able to talk Lil' S2 into a different Mexican restaurant, one with servers and bussers who wipe down the tables, without too much of a fight. It helped that this place has a big TV in it, so he could kinda watch the Ohio St.-Indiana game while we ate. Football is a good salve for him, just like it is for me.
Speaking of which, I have a Zoom audition Tuesday evening for a spot on ESPN Jeopardy!. I didn't even know there was such a thing as ESPN Jeopardy! until a few weeks ago when my friend (who was once a champion on actual Jeopardy!) sent me an advertisement for their online any-time test. I took it last Wednesday, and I felt like I did pretty well on it (45 out of 50 or so), and apparently I did because I got an email the next day inviting me to submit an application with photos and information about me and all that. So, I filled that out and submitted it, and then the next day I got an email telling me I had advanced to the next round and needed to schedule a live audition.
It's pretty exciting, but I'm trying (and mostly succeeding, I think) to not get my hopes up. I know a ton of people who made it to the audition stage of Jeopardy!, and they didn't get chosen. It's still a long shot. On the other hand, I also know a lot of people who made it to the audition stage and did get chosen, and I have to imagine the ESPN version is less competitive, so... who knows?
Alright, gotta go. I think S wanted to do something as a family tonight, and I'm running out of time to go upstairs and say, "Hey, are we gonna do something tonight?" with any credibility.
Until next time...
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