My parents divorced a few years ago and the response was a sigh of relief after the acrimony of what had been a five year separation process.  My father stopped celebrating anniversaries, exchanging gifts for birthdays, and writing Christmas cards as two lives had become neatly separated but recently, my parents have been spending time together, I think out of entirely practical reasons.  My father’s friends are slowly being picked off and my mother’s are rather static so they’re going out to eat, seeing museums, going to parks and other date-y things that drive my brother and I mad.  Today, I asked my father what he was up to and he said he was going across the street to use some piece of diagnostic equipment our neighbor had.  Later that day, I had car trouble and asked him “how’s the shop?”  he replied “fine” but I distinctly heard my mother’s parrot in the background.  I asked him if he was at my mom’s house and he said “maybe” and started giggling.

What kind of world are we living in where one’s dad can freely date one’s mom?  That’s just weird.

Tomorrow I hope to be in DC and have no expectation that I’ll be within a quarter mile of the presenters of The Rally for Sanity and I’m overcoming this by renting a 100-400mm lens.  When I stopped in I was asked for a copy of my license:

Me: Why?
Sales Person: So we can find you in case there’s a problem.
Me: But you already have my credit card.  What could my license do?
Sales Person: You know, so we’ll have it.  It’s not that big of a deal.
Me: Sure, give me your license.
Sales Person: Why?
Me: That way if you charge me anyway, I can, you know, have it.
Sales Person: *Angry stare*

I went on to camp, theoretically to campmaster, but by and large to see Kevin Ott.  Until he arrived I took pictures with excessive zoom of Chuck’s parrot:

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A Meeting of Minds

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Chuck Gets to First Base with a Parrot

Joe arrived in his Ron Burgundy garb, and I tried very hard to make it look old tymie.

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I should have made it blurrier.

Then Kevin arrived with a friend.  It was swell.