This weekend was Josh's 21st b-day, so on Friday I met Matt in Royalton and car-pooled the rest of the way up to B-town. After dinner and a brief stopover at Josh's girlfriend's sister's Eagle's Nest place, we ended up at the Pickle Factory, Nisswa's "downtown" bar.

I thought it was an actual pickle factory well into middle school. Inside, well, it was a typical bar, if a surprisingly empty one given all the cars outside. To my surprise, I saw no one that I so much as recognized.

I didn't get Josh any drinks (I'd made him an Intro to Beer Snobbery 6-pack instead, a gift I'm still rather proud of), but there were more than enough volunteers for that duty. And for a novice drinker, he proved quite able to handle himself. We played a few rounds of pool and then just hung around for the rest of the night; this was a weird group for me, but it was a decent time nonetheless.

I need to re-read the instructions on my breathalyser, as it claimed that none of us were drunk when we finally left. Possibly we aren't supposed to take such deep breaths.

Meanwhile, two of my little cousins were staying at my parents' house this weekend. I used to be better with kids — Matt and Josh have fishing at least, but except for frisbee golf, I just don't have any interests that little kids would be entertained by, and I don't have the sort of charm that would make talking to children easy.

My brothers and I played a fair bit of Mariokart and Goldeneye with them. There was also some tennis. Wow, do I enjoy not playing tennis.

My big idea for the night was to see Wall*E, because, well, Pixar, and luckily the kids were excited too. Two previews stand out: Bolt, a movie about a self-deluded puppy who thinks he's a superhero, which actually looks good, and the Beverly Hills Chihuahua trailer, which featured hundreds of CGI chihuahuas. That one left me sputtering, angry, and incredulous.

The feature presentation was great though, really charming. I definitely have to see Ratatouille one of these days, but I usually feel like I need an excuse to watch a kids movie. I tried to watch Cars by myself a while back, but it couldn't hold my attention.

On Sunday the rest of my family had some fishing thing, so I carpooled back to Royalton, jumped in my car (with a bounty of beers and plants), and went back home for some much-needed alone time.

Which I completely squandered, and if you think that I mean I played Halo 3, I assure you that I mean I didn't play nearly enough.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do this weekend, though a get-together at my place on Thursday (the fabled Rum Party?) is in the offing, and on Sunday there's a family event back up north. I'm never sure what to do on the Fourth; I don't really care about fireworks that much, and there's always this sense that the usual cookouts and such could happen on any given summer weekend anyways.