Turmoil, FanFest, And Getting By Sober.

     Let's see, what has happened since Thursday night? A couple of things. I"ll start with the update on the ex-girlfriend thing. I decided to give it a shot, and see if a friendship could develop. I texted her Friday evening, and got the response of "Who is this?". Needless to say, I wasn't to thrilled with that. I tried to overlook it though, but the rest of the conversation was dead, and going nowhere. I deleted the thread. I haven't deleted her contact information yet though. If she reaches out to me, I'll see where it leads, but if she doesn't in a week, then I'm getting rid of everything. I'm beginning to fall back into my phase of not needing companionship again. I go through these random phases of feeling a deep need to have a companion, and then, I have no use for them. Maybe it's some type of defense mechanism that I've developed over the years. I don't know.

     Although disappointed in my ex's response, It didn't really bother me. I needed to go to sleep early on Friday anyway, because I had to be in St. Pete early in the morning for some friends of mine 3yr old daughter's birthday. She is absolutely adorable. Not only did I get to see them and her, I also got to see their new baby girl for the first time. She might be the most precious baby I have ever seen. They did good with both of their daughters. The 3yr old, is bright as a bulb. She speaks in wonderful full sentences, and you can tell she has a total understanding and grasp of what she is saying. It's marvelous to watch. There were quite a few 3yr olds there, and they weren't nearly as smart as she is. there was a definite divide between them in intelligence. That doesn't mean that the other kids were dumb, it just means that they weren't anywhere near her level. If you didn't know her, and only hear her speak, you would think she was a 5 or 6yr old. She is that far ahead.

     The party was fun. It was at a small park near their house in St.Pete, but I had another reason that I was over there, and for once, it wasn't the Dali Museum. Oh believe me, before I knew of the birthday party, I had every intention to go there, but the other reason was, that it was then Tampa Bay Rays FanFest.  They do it every year before the season starts. It gives the fans a chance to walk around the field, and get autographs and other fun things. They have a Kid Zone dance party that goes one, as well as batting cages, giant Jenga, Connect Four, BattleShip, and Operation games. The main reason I was there though, was to hit the charity lawn sale. Every year, the put all kinds of giveaways from the year before on sale for $5 dollars a piece. They always have a bunch of items left over, and if you don't have a chance to make it to a game, you can find things there. They have everything from shrifts, to backpacks, and bobbleheads. I go for the bobbleheads. I got the Chris Archer K counter bobblehead. It has a small counter on it so that you can keep track during a game, or for the whole season. I also got a Kevin Kiermaier Outlaw figurine. He got the nickname of The Outlaw because he doesn't let any balls escape him in centerfield, and he guns down baserunners with a cannon for an arm.

     When we got in the stadium my buddy asked if I wanted to head to the bar and grab a beer. I finally had to officially announce that I had stopped drinking. He was the best one to do it with, because he didn't try to pressure me to "just have one" or anything like that. He accepted it and move on. It worked out real well.  His Father-in-law came along with us, and they are quite good drinking buddies. With me there not drinking they didn't have to worry about how they were going to get home. I could drive, so after the FanFest, we headed over to a local brewery. They were able to cut loose and have a really good time. They hadn't done that in some time, so I think it was good for the both of them. Despite the fact that I didn't drink anything, I had a great time as well. I don't think, I've laughed that hard in a long time. It was great. I had a good time over there visiting. I've always said that if there were anywhere else in Florida that I would live, it would be St. Pete. It is a great place, with a lot going on.

     Today was uneventful. I don't watch the Super Bowl like the rest of the world, so I caught up on a bunch of recorded TV. I nearly forgot to tell you about one more thing on Friday. It slipped my mind, because I couldn't ride Saki on Saturday because I was in St. Pete the whole day, and I didn't ride today, because I was running errands and catching up on TV, but Friday I got to ride for the first time all week. It was a bit cold this week, and Friday it finally warmed up. I rode in to work, and then rode in the evening. It wasn't a very long ride, but it was fulfilling. I went to my new favorite scenic spot, to get a picture of Saki with the new phone. It was right before sunrise, and I think the shots came out pretty good. I'm going to share with you, my favorite one. It's now my phone wallpaper, so here it is.

     I used the flash, just so I could get that little bit of color. It worked out a little better than I thought, because it light up the RIDE apparel sticker. It's made of reflective material, so it really pops because of the flash. As you can see, Melvin is sitting on the seat. It was Melvin's first of many rides, and he like it a lot. Don't tell Fred, but I think Melvin is going to see quite a lot of riding time with Saki.

     Despite the way it started, it was a pretty good weekend. I have rather a decent life at times, and this was one of them. Peace in and goodnight.