Entries this day: play_i-group

play i group

10 October 1998

Okay, this entry is a teeeeny bit different from my others because I actually wrote it in an ICQ chat session with my friend Jen who lives somewhere in the arctic circle or something (Okay, New Hampshire) and I only mention that now because she replied in a portion of the text and it makes it so much funnier!

I met my Play I-Group (non-competitive play men's group) today 
at the Hill at Miller Outdoor Theater.  "Hill" because it's the
only hill in Houston just about and definitely man - made.  I
brought a cooler of ice and two big things of Gatorade and grapes
and my frisbee.  I told the other men to bring balls or frisbees
or whatever they had for good outdoor play!

I was the first one there, and some youth were there with their
school and they motioned for my frisbee.  So I threw it to them
and they and I tossed it around a bit until David arrived and I
was talking to him and would without warning break the 
conversation to catch the frisbee when it came near me.

Then Dick arrived and he brought some stale-ish bread (for duck
feeding) and a football.  *Immediately* the youth were all, 
"hey!" and they ditched the frisbee in 2 seconds and within 5
minutes they had a football game set up.  I was glad because I
can barely throw a football at all, but I am great with a disc!
  
So Tony arrived and the four of us played frisbee on the side of
the hill with about 20 youth playing touch football..  probably
about 30 minutes we played and our game kinda dissolved at the
same time the youth were called in to "put your shirts back on!"
and board the busses.

Then I was all, "hey guess what?"   and I opened the cooler to
reveal my cell phone (that wasn't the "guess what," but it was
kinda funny that it responded less quickly when I pushed the
buttons.  but it did in fact work fine. )

What I really wanted to show them was the big block of ice I had
in the cooler.  about 9x9 inches and 5 inches thick, a nice big
clear block of ice.  

Now "where" you may ask, "did you get such a block of ice?"
Good question.
And "why" you may ask, "did I have such a block of ice out here?" 
JEN: I asked those in my head when I read it :)

I'm glad you asked.
If you've read a particular one of my 
previous journal entries

JEN: About the sliding on blocks of ice??

:-) yes yes yes!!!! 
I still had the same block of ice!!

JEN: You STILL HAD IT????? 

yes!!!

JEN: Pardon me while I LAUGH MY ASS OFF!

I had been keeping it in my freezer just for this type of opportunity!!!  

JEN: Oh my....I can see where this is going!

downhill fast!
hahahhahahahaahahahahaaaa
So, yes.  I was like, "blah blah blah and we slid down the hill on the blocks of ice."  

"I'd like to see this" was their general response.
So I showed them.  It took a few tries to get the right what..
um.  the right parameters the right slipperiness?    but after a
few tries I slid almost all the way down the hill as far as I had
the first day I did it.  

So, "who's next?" I asked.  

Tony was all, "I don't want to get all wet"  

"Oh you won't get too wet if you use my frisbee"   so he sat on
my frisbee on the ice and I must say it didn't work too well.. 
since the frisbee was all slick the frisbee kept sliding off the
ice instead of the ice sliding down the hill.  but he got about 5
feet down..  

Then a girl walked by and they were all, "hey is that a camera?"
and paid her a couple bucks (like 3 dollars) and took about 2 or
3 shots of me sliding down the hill!  Maybe we'll see the pics
again and maybe not, but it sure was fun..  

My butt was soaked, but we had a great time and Tony and I
carried the cooler back to my car (and the ice is safely back in
my freezer again, though a bit smaller, and I can see a lot of
stress fractures developing in it..

Back to the hill we met Dick and David and walked over toward the
duck pond to feed the ducks.   I hadn't done that in a really
long time.. We were visited by about 100 pigeons who were all
very careful of the ducks' bills put everyone (we and the birds)
had a good time.  I even threw a piece to a squirrel who snuck
down a tree behind us to see if he could get a piece of bread
action.

I was impressed that the ducks could nab bread out of the air..
but I guess I've seen dogs do it.. but then again, the duck bill
is way smaller than the gaping maw of a dog..  good precision and
three of the ducks were consistently catching bread out of the
air.

Then we ran out of bread and walked back and hugged and left.
On the way back, I was driving and "CRUNCH" I heard a something
beside me and a car on the other side of the street wheel didn't
go flat, but was all dragging as the axel had broken and the
wheel well of the car was sitting on the tire.  Yipes!!

I did a quick U-turn and moved my car in behind her but durn if
she wasn't in both lanes..  I moved my car off the street and
called a wrecker (which took proverbially forever to get there)
and made sure she got towed before I went home.