So, a couple of weeks ago I gave a sort of State of the Chad address, in which I mentioned that what's really important is being around your loved ones.  I also mentioned that last Thursday was my 31st birthday.  The following of an example of why I truly believe what I said.  Here's how rad my friends are...

 My friends are pirates.  I.e. we drink, we sing, we cause anarchy, and we occasionally steal things.  And oh yeah: breaking and entering.  We go to "War" about twice a year where we dress up as pirates and go camping with about 3000 other people.  We are the Crew of the Dread Ship Black Rose.  It's not pertinant to the story, it's just to explain that we really are piratey.  Anywho... Seeing as my birthday was on Thursday I decided to take Friday off so I could have the 3 day weekend, which was nice.  On Thursday, I worked all day...and it was a hellish day.  But that night I had steak and got a new digital camera which will be put to use in this very blog.

 Friday night the plan was to go out to dinner with my friends.  My friend Nate came to pick me up and as we were leaving the house I forgot to grab my keys and wallet.  Yeah, I locked myself out.  But this was excusable because I had been celebrating all day. 

At my house there is what is known as "The Hobo Guard".  I'll explain: there is a back door to my house, through which is a small storage room and another back door.  That second back door has a lock that nobody in the house has a key for.  There is a long and tangled story behind that which I'll tell at another time.  So, in general, we leave that door unlocked.  The theory is that any hobos who happen to find our place and happen to find out the back back door is open will then be so flummoxed by there being a second door which IS locked that their brains will explode at the mere incomprehension of it all.  Also, by the use of the word "flummoxed".  However, I have a new roommate and he doesn't know not to lock the hobo guard, so when Nate and I went around the back to see if it was open and hopefully the other door was unlocked for some reason, the hobo guard was locked.  The door isn't in very good condition.  Nate gave me a look.  I gave him a nob.  He shoulder jammed it open in one go and insured that the lock would never be a problem again.  And of course, that back door was locked.  Ok, problem for later.  Time for food.

 Not having a wallet was not a problem because my friends were taking me out for dinner and we weren't going anywhere super fancy.  I had been craving fettuccini alfredo for a while, so we went to Pasta Pomodoro.  I like Pasta Pomodoro.  It's easy, it's good, it's inexpensive...but something seemed to have happened, some corporate assholes made each other think it would be great to earn themselves more money by not paying their waitstaff as much.  So the service kinda sucked.  But hey, I was with my crew and we stole all the sugar packets and tea from the table when we left.

 We went back to my place.  Now the issue of getting inside.  Remember what I said about breaking and entering?  I think I will use some visual aids in this portion of the story.

1. First we found a ladder laying about, as they do.  This is Nate with the ladder.

2. This is still Nate with the ladder.  You can tell I was really getting into my subject matter as an artist with my camera.

3.  Here's Nate up the ladder discovering that the screen to my window is screwed in place.

4.  This is the view from the top of the ladder I took while Nate went and got his screw gun.

5.  I think these pretty much speak for themselves at this point.

6.  I was not as drunk as I look in this picture...yet.

7.  Open the window...

8.  And slide inside!

After that the party ran it's course with the usual motley and laughter and insobriety.  I had a great time.  Then I made the mistake of falling asleep before the party was over.  This is why I should never do this.

9. This is Scott.  He's the captain of the pirate crew.  He's also devious and prone to acts of chaos.  So when I woke in the morning I had a new friend in my room.

10.  I'm still laughing.

And that, my friends, is why you should party with pirates.

Happy Jenday