Last year I was working at the Apple Store and spent T-day in Vegas alone. By the time my shift ended at the Apple Store, all the places were done serving turkey dinners. So I said, “Fuck it, I’m gonna stop by Jackson’s Bar & Grill to get me an awesomely tasty burger and play video poker.” They were right down the street and had Gambler’s Choice and comped me Heinekens for playing. Then I played PS2. That was my night.

This year — festivities! First stop, parents’ house. It was overtaken by my brother and his fiancée’s family, which was awesome. We all drank beer and hung out and had a grand old time. I stuffed my face with a turkey drumstick, then ate most of the smoked salmon. Why they had smoked salmon I have no idea, but I was stoked because I was craving it for a while (since I had it last at Swan Oyster Depot in SF).  Then I got my back adjusted before I left for phase 2…

Road trip to Palm Desert to see Connie and family. Fucking awesome! I had smoked turkey for the first time outside of a sandwich. Phenomenal! We enjoyed Mad Libs quite a bit; Charlene had the best one. Adjective — yellow. The sentence read something like, “I went to gather all my yellow friends.” Man, ROFL for all of us!

On Black Friday Barrett and I went to GameStop to get Barrett some video games, then Connie and I went to Tilted Kilt, which totally fucking rocks! We found out it’s a chain that started at the Rio in Vegas then moved HQ to Tempe. That place fucking rocks. All the chicks there were pretty hot, and it was a good time. Beer came in a 24 oz. glass. We had a little discussion about sports. Connie pissed behind a bush on the way home.  It was a good date.

Saturday was time to go back home, but on the way home I stopped by Shea and Kris’s in Lake Elsinore. We drank some PBRs and I played some video games with Logan for a while. That kid is pretty amazingly skillful with hand-eye coordination, but he’s still a whiny, bratty 6-year old. Funny shit!

Then was the trip back home. Windy trek through Ortega Hwy. It’s really not as bad coming back from Elsinore as it is going there. This was the best Thanksgiving I’ve had in at least 10 years, as far as I can remember. Childhood is different because your fingers are small enough to stick into the black olives and pumpkin pie is still new.

So ever since the Driven A.D. tour got canceled about 2 weeks ago, I’ve been keeping busy doing website work. Tomorrow I get to drive up to Palm Desert and see Connie for the first time in a month. And I get to build Legos® and play video games with Barrett. Shit yeah!