IKEA’s Neverland

I often sit back and wonder where did time go.  One minute it’s Thursday, and now it’s Monday.  If I were a weekend binge drinker, perhaps I could blame these gaps on alcohol.  (Actually, I remember most everything in drunken, vibrant detail when I’ve been drinking, so I couldn’t really use that excuse.)

After the news about Diane, I guess I was a little blue.  It’s funny, but the only time I really shed a tear o two, was when I was thinking about Jack, her dog.  I wondered what would become of him, and what he must be thinking.  How often he will go searching for Di when he hears a car door, or the key in the front door.  The unconditional love that dogs can give is what overwhelmed me.  Dog owners are the luckiest people in the world, and when I look at our two dogs (Bosley and Colby), I just feel so good, and at the same time, so sad.  I don’t travel well if my dogs aren’t around.  In a sense they are my children, and I miss them terribly when I don’t have access to them.  Being apart is a terrible, depressing feeling, and if you add being forcibly kept apart, then that – to me – is a form of torture.  Anyway …

Friday was a much better day. I worked some, then headed home to work on a computer for a friend, and at the same time, work on getting the Linux box I have been “planning” to work on up and running.  Layton then headed over, and he was soon joined by Ian.  We then went off to eat at Campisi’s, and decided to go see a movie – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  What a great film.  I liked it more than the original film with Gene Wilder, and really thought that Johnny Depp was fantastic in the role.  You were always wondering when he was going to snap, which I never really thought about with Wilder playing the character.  I loved the stories as a younger person, and relived that story as I watched it on Friday night.

On Saturday, Chris had secured some pre-opening passes to the IKEA Friend’s and Family Sale, so we had invited a few friends to go with us to that.  So we headed to Camille’s for lunch, where I got an odd call from this very Australian woman asing to speak to Brian or James.  It was Kirsty, one of Diane’s oldest (as in longest known) friends, who was calling to let me know that Diane had died.  After explaining that we had already known, we caught up about life in Oz, and how things are going with Diane’s parents (I hadn’t realized Di’s mum was so incapacitated) and Jack (see above).  Kirsty is not the most technological person (her own admission), so it was intersting trying to find a way to get her to let us know about the funeral arrangements.  After settling this, I pass the phone over the Brian and snorted my lunch in. Chatted some more with Kirsty as we headed to IKEA and was saying my goodbyes as we approached the blue and yellow temple.

Scott, Jonas, Layton, Brian, Jeff, Chris and I were set to hit the store.  Sadly, Bobby and Ian were not able to join us as they were in East Texas at Bobby’s grandmother’s funeral.  It was amazing.  So much stuff, and so practical in every sense of the word.  We were there for four hours, and there were times when I overheard people making similar observations like “Oh my lord, we’ve been here two hours, and we have’t even finished the first floor.”  There was one couple – as Chris pointed out – that were keeping an eye on our group (and I’m sure others), and seemed to be comforted that IKEA does attract gay people.  Chris seemed to think that it validated that this was a real IKEA (if the gays go, then it has to be good).  We bought a good amount of things, but didn’t go crazy.  The pre-sale did not have the sale prices that are advertised to start on the 3rd, so I made my notes on what to leave off our trolley.  We did get this very cool side table, wine rack for our breakfast nook – which had played home to our dog’s boxes – and so after a bit of rearranging, dismantling and cleaning (not to mention the labor of Chris and Layton), we now have a very cute area to look at in that part of the house.  Chris also bought some bookshelves for his office.  After, we cooked some steaks and chicken and ate like kings (well one king, four queens).  Bobby and Ian joined us for dessert, and then we tormented Layton with Sordid Lives.

Sunday, was a quiet day, and Chris spent a good part of the afternoon putting together his bookshelves and installing them into his office.  They look fantastic!  I think the color suits his office really well, and he has all this space now to put things up onto.  It really is amazing how one piece of furniture can totally transform a room.  Chris grilled some hamburgers and then we watched Finding Neverland (it was a Johnny Depp weekend).

Overall, it was a very relaxing weekend with just the right amount of excitement.