July 1st in Richmond VA

This weekend was a lot of fun.

I drove the 7 hours to Virginia after working the night shift, and visited my aunt at her house. By the time I arrived in Richmond at about 6pm, I had been awake for over 24 hours. We had made plans to go to the local pool and relax. I'm so glad that the plans involved laying on a lounge chair!

Upon arriving at my aunt's house, I had the pleasure of meeting her brother, whom I had never met before. Since she's my aunt by marriage I guess that makes him my uncle-in-law. We went to a local convenience store and bought a 6-pack of beer and headed to the pool. This pool is on the grounds of a private boys school with a Tudor inspired design. It's not quite a real tudor design, but it leaves that impression, and it's perfect for the neighborhood where it is located. It is surrounded by lounge chairs and umbrella shaded tables and there were several people laying out, eating pizza, and drinking beer. There was a floating bar in the pool, and most of the people in the water were actually congregated around that styrofoam bar. It was obviously a place to relax and have a good time.

I met two more of my aunts friends at the pool and we had a pleasant conversation about Alaska cruises as they had been on one 2 years ago and I had been on the cruise ship with my girlfriend for 2 weeks last fall. We also talked about Monterey and teaching foreign languages. It was a nice conversation; but I was tired and about ready to pass out. I took a few baby sips of my beer, lay down on the lounge chair, and promptly fell asleep.

My aunt ordered a cheese and a pepperoni pizza; and twice I was roused from my sleep by different pizza guys from different pizza restaurants delivering somebody else's pizza. Ours arrived and they were tasty. I stayed awake just long enough to eat a couple of pieces, take a few more sips of my beer, before falling back to sleep.

At 9pm my aunt woke me up and we left for her house. The couch was ready for me, and I have to say that her couch (which was wonderful to sleep on) is probably the most comfortable thing that I've slept on since I've been on the east coast, except for the guest bed at my dad's house. The bed in the apartment that the government is providing for me is definitely uncomfortable to say the least.