I just got back from our cabin up north, where I didn't do much of anything besides read and sit by the campfire. It was really nice to have some time away from electronic entertainment; for about an hour yesterday, my relatives and I did nothing more than watch the dogs chase each other around.

There was fishing, and I have a license, but it was always either too early or too late for me. I live with a fisherman so I'm not too concerned about having missed my chance.

On Saturday I helped — that is to say, "helped" — clean some northerns for a fish-fry. I have no idea was I was suddenly so terrible at cleaning that fish: I just couldn't remember anything I'd learned the last time. Except to wear gloves. That's key.

(Northerns have Y-bones that complicate the process. I'm still fairly confident in my ability to clean walleye.)

The big event was the "Cowboy Up" theme party Sunday night. (Excellent name, btw.) We all wore our Texas best and listened to country music and ate deep-fried steaks. That's right, I now own a cowboy hat. As usual, there are pictures somewhere.

We had a nice assembly line going for making the steaks. I would season two and stick them on a skewer, then my dad would fry them for six minutes and I'd prepare two more steaks.

To supplement my costume I wrote "XXX" on a growler of Rogue Dead Guy and carried that around, but even after I let everyone else try a swig, the half gallon jug proved too much for me to handle. After making some impressive progress, I ended up spending the rest of the night in the cabin.

With that particular group I've no reason to feel ashamed, but I'm disappointed in myself for getting that drunk on good beer, and that quickly. My current drinking habits don't usually involve binge-drinking, and when they do it's cheap beer and hours of fun. This was wasteful, inefficient.

The worst of my drunkenness left after about an hour and by then I was too engrossed in A Fire Upon the Deep to rejoin the festivities. I woke up around five this morning, noticed that my train's next stop was Hangovertown, and turned the switch to change my route.