St. Patrick's Weekend

Friday afternoon, I called my friend K who's up here for the parade. She belongs to a Queens group based in Laurel. I talked to her for awhile and then called up TD to see what the plans were for that night.

He said he'd call back at 9. At 7 pm, I head off to Jackson. I call K, but there was no answer. I go to Barnes & Noble and browse for a little while. I then go to the Wal-Mart in Ridgeland. While there, I get a phone call from TD, but it's really LA. She tells me that people are going to be at TD's, and so I head over there once I make my purchase.

Shortly after I arrive at TD's place, several of my friends and acquaintances appear. Sally and I talk briefly. Otherjay arrives. We talk about various things.

He also suggested that I should post a link to my match.com profile so people who read the blog have a little bit more of an idea what I'm like or make fun of the profile-- one or the other, perhaps both. I figure, what the heck why not, besides I know that TD spent some time searching for my profile after December's post regarding Hate Mail Gal. I also know he emailed the link to the profile to quite a few of my friends here in the Jackson area & beyond, and so it's mostly friends I know who read the blog (as well as some lurkers-- Otherjay told me Friday night he's introduced at least a couple people to the blog). Most of my friends have also seen my profile.

I was one of the last people to leave TD's house. I left at 1:45 a.m. and made it back to the house a little after 2. I fell asleep shortly after 3 a.m. and got up at 9:30. Normally, I'd be sleeping in, but with Saturday being Parade Day I wanted to be there by the time it started.

I left the house at 10:15. I wanted to get a quick bite to eat. I stopped at Shoney's in Clinton and the IHOP off highway 18 in Jackson, but both were packed. I wound up eating at a Wendy's near Metrocenter. I had Chili, a Double Stack, some fries, and washed down the meal with a Dr. Pepper.

While driving on I-20 eastbound from Robinson Road, I noticed that traffic was stopped. Fortunately, I could pull over to the far right lane and exit at Ellis Avenue. I took 80 eastbound to State and then turned at Silas Brown, Jefferson, and Mississippi before I pulled in to the Eudora Welty parking lot a little after 11:30.

I went inside the library, checked out some books, and took them to the car. I then walked from the library to the Governor's Mansion. I made it in front of the Mansion at about 11:55. There weren't many people there. A few minutes after I arrived, friends began appearing a bit at a time.

By this time, I noticed that K's Queens group had passed me by. I walked over to in front of them and then shouted out K's name. She heard me & shushed me. She came over, kissed me, and gave me some humoungous beads. She called out another friend's name who's in the same Queens group. She kissed me on the cheek and also gave me some beads.

The rest of the parade was cool. We all got bunches o'beads. We took our time heading over to the street party. When we arrived over there, I looked for K. It took me a few minutes but finally found her. TD took some pics of K & me.

We socialized at Don's for awhile then gradually made our way over to La Cazuela where most of us had Mexican food. I'd not been there before. I think that surprised some people, but considering I'm one of the rare non-Jacksonians in this circle of friends, it's not all that surprising to me.

After we ate, I went back to Don's. I spent most of the time going back and forth between Don's and Martin's. Goodman County performed at Don's. Taylor Grocery Band performed at Martin's. While at Martin's, I ran into Ted and Rob from the Scissormen. Ted performed at Martin's last fall. Scott Albert Johnson was there, and we talked.

I needed a night out. I've mentioned this before in previous posts, so I won't bore you with too much detail (which means that instead of a eighteen paragraph post, this note has fifteen paragraphs). I had fun.

I slept in-- waking up a little before 11 Sunday morning. I stayed in the house. The weather's really too dreary for me to go out.

It's now a little after 1:15 a.m. Monday morning. I have to be at work in twelve hours. Spring Break is over. The Project is over, and my attention is now focused on library matters.