Celebrating Labor

Yesterday, I celebrated the Labor movement by getting drunk.

This was, I think, given the way capitalists and entrepreneurs have used liquor as one of their tools for keeping the working man down in the past, entirely apropos.

The fact that I did it by imbibing over a bottle and a half of fancy imported wine should not detract from my well-meaning salute.

I attended a party at the home of Lizardina -- our sound designer -- and her housemate, Mr. Thumb. Mr. Thumb is a grilling madman, if I may say so, and fire-broils an excellent burger. He also happens to be a PhD student in biomedical engineering, which means not only is he fierce in the extreme on the grill, he's a lot smarter than I can ever hope to be. So I drank his wine.

The delicious and delightful Patti squired me to this party. It was good to see her, as I've missed her since she left town after The Underpants closed. It's never good to go too long without your female friends flipping you off. It just helps to correct the course of the karmic ship of life.

Many of my favorite people ended up gathered in one place. Among them, the delightful Sheila M., of whom I don't see nearly enough. It got me to thinking that maintaining friendships with people you don't get to see very often -- whether they're in another city or just too busy in the same one you're inhabiting -- can be a form of labor itself. It's really hard work. In that regard, I've been spending a little more energy on my friends lately; I had a fantastic evening with the Lagemae on Sunday night. The only problem is that the more people I think of that I want to catch up with, the more people I think of that I want to catch up with! I haven't seen Toni in an age, and George and Marcy and RJ and Ange and Dean... I can't keep up. These people are gonna think I don't love them anymore.

My other observation for the day is that not having a car in Pittsburgh just plain sucks.

It was a grand day, nonetheless. And I made one new friend who will never be upset with me for not spending enough time with him; he'll happily take what I can give. Meet Max Shepherd: