I had such a great weekend! The kids were with their dad, so Anne and I got to have two “date nights” in a row.
Friday night, we went to old town for dinner at the recently-opened Pasadena Brewing Company. The service really needs work, but the food was awesome. I had this stuffed cheeseburger thing that was delicious. It’s hard to improve upon the basic cheeseburger model, but they have done a fine job over there.
During the day onSaturday, I spent some time handling book orders, and mowed the lawn. I have reached the conclusion that I love mowing my lawn. I put on my iPod, and I really take my time. It’s almost a meditation for me, to slowly push my lawnmower across the grass, as I cut my lawn to look like an outfield. Saturday night, Anne and I went out to Sixspace to see Shepard Fairey’s new show “This is Your God,” (it is AMAZING). We had to leave early, though, so we could make our dinner reservation at Amalfi, which is the new restaurant next door to ACME in Hollywood. After dinner, we went to the Bad Taste Show at ACME. I didn’t write for this current show, but after watching it, I’m totally writing for the next one. It is filled with sketches that we’re just not supposed to do: sketches that are really gross, heavily sexual, and incredibly offensive. If you’re even the tiniest bit twisted, you’ll love this show.
Sunday, we went to my brother’s new house for dinner. It was crazy, man, to stand in Jeremy’s living room, and think, My god. My little brother owns his own house! I’m really proud of him and his wife. They’ve made a fantastic life for themselves.

The Guinness joke made it to Fark, and the comments thread there is filled with some of the absolute best “a guy walks into a bar . . . ” jokes of all time. It could quite possibly be the finest collection of bar-related humor on the Internet.
Here’s one of my own, that I’m about to add to the list:

A guy sits alone at a bar, drinking his beer. From out of nowhere, he hears a voice say, “You look great, man! Have you lost weight?” He looks around, and confirms that the only other person in the bar is the bartender, who is all the way at the other end of the bar. He shrugs it off, and takes another drink of his beer.
“That’s a really nice suit. It looks good on you,” the voice says again.
The guy looks around, and before he can say anything, the voice says, “You have very nice eyes.”
The guy freaks out, and shouts, “Hey, bartender! Come here!”
As the bartender arrives, the voice speaks again. “That’s a nice haircut!”
“Who keeps talking to me?!” The guy asks the bartender.
“Oh, that?” The bartender says, “It’s the peanuts. They’re complimentary.”

Thank you, folks. Try the fish.

And now, comedy:

The leaders of the big beer companies meet for a drink. The president of Budweiser orders a Bud, the CEO of Miller gets a Miller, the head of Coors orders a Coors, and so on.

I just got back from Cirque Du Soleil. Some friends took Anne and I to see the current show, which is called “Varekai.”
I guess there was some reality show about the making of this . . . installment? performance? spectacular?
Yeah. Let’s go with Spectacular. Because that’s what it is.
My god. These people are simply amazing. There was so much grace and beauty in this show, it was overwhelming. When the show was over tonight, and we walked back to the train to come home, I regretted all the times I could have seen the other Cirque shows when they were in Los Angeles, but decided to play GURPS or Magic or something else instead.
The performers I saw tonight are some of the most talented on the planet. They can make anything — even a fishing net — beautiful. As a matter of fact, they make it so beautiful, the word beautiful doesn’t come close to describing how beautiful it is.
If you get a chance to see this show, or “O” in Las Vegas (the only other Cirque show I’ve seen), sieze it. I promise you, you won’t regret it.
UPDATE: So many people have written to me with their own tales of beauty, and their own Cirque experiences, I’m going to open comments on this entry, so that hopefully I won’t be the only person who gets to share in their experiences.

Follwing up my “bad beat” story:
I guess it’s been posted to USENet, which is just awesome, because now I know where all the alt.wesley.die.die.die people have been hiding for all these years.
Look, the point of that entry was NOT what a terrible player I am. I know I should have listened to the classic TJ Cloutier advice and moved all in or folded. I know I played the cards wrong. I know that I was trying to keep Ryan in the pot when I should have blown him out or gotten out myself.
Thank you. I know what a lousy card player I am, okay? If I was a better player, I’d be playing in a tournament, and not working on my book.
But the WHOLE POINT of that story was to share something about my relationship with my stepson — a relationship that has been terribly strained over the years, thanks to some wonderful loyalty conflicts not created by me, alright? I absolutely adore both Ryan and Nolan, and the gap that has been placed between us makes me grieve every day. When we played that silly game of cards, Ryan moved to close that gap, and it meant more to me than hitting an inside straight on fifth street ever will. Even if it’s at the final table.
So maybe I could just catch a little break here? Maybe try to look past the trees to see the forest?