When 40+ year olds hijack a kid's water slide birthday party.....

IMG-20130629-00318.jpg, a photo by karlakp on Flickr.

So this happened last night. That is a 2 story inflatable water slide next to my friend Anne's house. There was tequila. And soap.

She hired it for her son's 9th birthday party. They had like, a million kids there on Friday, they stayed (the kids) until almost 11 at night. Anne slept late the next day, then she invited HER friends over for night 2 of the water slide extravaganza. And, lucky me, I am her friend! (One of her oldest, I've known her since we were 11.)

So over I came, armed with bikini and Daisy Dukes. Of course, it being Anne's house there was no lack of booze and tequila and generous helpings of food (they're Greek, they feed people, rather like we Krauts do.)  We noshed and guzzled and giggled. And tried to stay cool....

Because...did I mention it reached 105F in Houston yesterday? It did. It so totally did.  It was so hot I literally could not move. I tried to go shopping and gave up, it was too hot to walk through the air. I did not have the energy to make air move so that i could get through it.

It was HOT. When it's that hot, getting drunk and sliding screaming down a water slide at midnight with a bunch of other drunk 40-somethings seems a really sensible idea. And as you get drunker, adding soap to the water on the slide makes A LOT of sense, because it makes the ride slipperier and faster. It also makes your eyes go bright red and your hair look like it belongs to a hedgehog being pulled backwards through a log as it dries, but hey, the soap did add viscosity to our sliding efforts.  Though next time, if that much lubing of a 2 story water slide is needed, I might suggest this instead. 

Things I learned last night:

1. Don't go down backwards on your stomach if you have lower back problems. That last little dip and upthrust as you launch into the water hurts. 
2. Be careful of your wobbly ankles (I twisted one, though not badly.)
3. If you are heavier or lighter, you will slide much faster. If you are in the middle (like me) you just sort of land on your ass somewhere in the middle. Anne's husband, Nick, man, he was FLYING off that slide, a couple times he overshot the pool and landed in the grass (which was hilariously funny as drunk him was trying to figure out what the hell happened.)
4. I know we are a totally different generation from our parents, now, I mean, can you imagine your  parents, at the age you are now, sliding down a water slide after a night of drinking tequila? The mere idea gives me fits of giggles, thinking of my parents doing that. (My dad might've but not my mom, it would get her hair wet, and that is verboten.)
5. What was cool was that Anne's teenage son and daughter joined in with us at one point. I would've NEVER deigned to join my parents doing something like that. (I mean, all those OLD people acting so WIERD.) Teenage me was an asshole. Anne's kids are cool. 

I wasn't missing Oslo last night....Texas beat Oslo hands down on this occasion. 

There's good bars in Houston.... I like a good dive bar.

IMG-20130622-00293.jpg, a photo by karlakp on Flickr.

Another weekend, another bar.

fixed the photo issue! Presenting: beer!

IMG-20130615-00283.jpg, a photo by karlakp on Flickr.

Well, I think I figured out the disconnect between Flickr and the blog. So  I can send pics again. Good.

So here's a picture from yesterday, I met a friend at the West Alabama Icehouse. It was a bit of a dive bar weekend, 3 icehouses, taco truck tacos, un-airconditioned and sweaty. Really pretty awesome, all told. I do like a good dive bar.

I've been very busy.

So sorry I haven't been posting. I've been so busy, and so many things have changed, it's actually gotten to be too much and when it gets like that, I kinda just go quiet, because how do you write about so many things happening at once?

I just haven't felt like talking about it all. Sorry.

Since Alaska, I also went to Trinidad for work, which was exciting and also very stressful. And my cousin Edward came to visit last week and we did a Tour de Tejas, well, a little one, taking in Austin, the Hill Country, San Antonio, and Houston. It was his first ever visit to the US, and I think he enjoyed it. I gave him the full Texas treatment, including this:

Yep, that is Vard with the cop that stopped me for speeding. I got off with a warning, and Vard got a picture of a lifetime.....note his shit eating grin. The cop was a cool guy. And I deserved to get stopped, I really did. If you pass a cop going 75 in a 60 (though I honestly didn't know the speed limit was 60) you should probably get stopped, if only for being utterly stupid.

I know I keep saying I'll be better, and I am saying it again....I'll be better about posting. One problem I have been having is that for some reason Flickr isn't connecting with my blog anymore and I can't get pictures posted from my phone, like I used to. That is pissing me off. And making me post less regularly because I can't just shoot them over from my phone....