June 14-17: Red Jacket Jamboree, Daughter's Grad Party, Open Heart

Zaphod and crew are dealing with a computer whose feelings have been hurt . . .

"Come on," said Eddie sternly.

"Computer . . ." began Zaphod.

"I'm waiting," interrupted Eddie.  "I can wait all day if necessary . . ."

"Computer . . ." said Zaphod again, who had been trying to think of some subtle piece of reasoning to put the computer down with, and had decided not to bother competing with it on its own ground, "if you don't open that exit hatch this moment I shall zap straight off to your major data banks and reprogram you with a very large ax, got that?"

Eddie, shocked, paused and considered this.

Ford carried on counting quietly.  This is about the most aggressive thing you can do to a computer, the equivalent of going up to a human being and saying Blood . . . blood . . . blood . . . blood . . .

Finally Eddie said quietly, "I can see this relationship is something we're all going to have to work at," and the hatchway opened.

An icy wind ripped into them, they hugged themselves warmly and stepped down the ramp on to the barren dust of Magrathea.

"It'll all end in tears, I know it," shouted Eddie after them, and closed the hatchway again.

A few minutes later he opened and closed the hatchway again in response to a command that caught him entirely by surprise.

Greetings from the planet of Magrathea!

Just kidding.  I am currently in a hotel room in the city of Calumet.  I am starting this post in the morning on June 14, before I get in the car with my family and drive home.  It has been a hectic couple of days, and this morning is the first time I've had to sit down, relax, and think about anything besides performing at the Calumet Theatre.

The Red Jacket Jamboree performance was last night, and I spent most of yesterday prepping and rehearsing and waiting and rehearsing again.  That's pretty much the way any show of which I've been a part goes.  It can be quite stressful at times, but, somehow, everything comes off with very few hiccups.

And now, for the rest of the weekend, my focus is going to be on my daughter's graduation party, which takes place on Sunday.  Lots of prep work to do for that.  In some ways, it's sort of like getting ready for a show, except that it involves a lot of cooking and crafting and decorating.

I am now going to pause for several hours while I drive home, go to work, and then hit Walmart . . .

Well, as you can tell by the date stamp on this post, it is not several hours later.  It is several days later.  For the last three days, I have been more than a little consumed with my daughter's graduation part, which was yesterday afternoon.  By the time I got home last night, I was more than a little brain dead.  I sat down in one of my living room chairs and promptly fell asleep for an hour or so.

Last night, we had a campfire.  It was my daughter's last night at home before she got on a plane for Washington state this morning to visit her cousins.  So, we played some games, visited, and inhaled a lot of smoke (the winds kept shifting on us).  It was a nice ending to both a day celebrating my daughter and also Father's Day.

Now, sitting here on Monday evening, with some time to contemplate the weekend, my daughter, and life in general.

It was amazing to see so many people come to honor my daughter.  Watching her greet people, laugh with her friends, and be so gracious and attentive to everyone at the party was amazing.  It was a glimpse of the woman she is becoming.  She really does care about everyone.  I've known that for some time, but, yesterday, she demonstrated how really open her heart is.  It wasn't an act.  She was genuinely thrilled to see everyone who walked through the door.

And that is the tale of this past weekend, from theater to bonfire, Calumet to Spokane, worried daddy to proud father.  Please forgive my prolonged absences from blogging these past days.  I wasn't ignoring my disciples.  I was trying to show my daughter how much she means to me.

Saint Marty's cup really does runneth over.