We had some friends over for dinner and drinks last night (Ty and Bernie).  My lovely wife cooked up broiled breaded chicken with whole roasted garlic, a side of polenta stuffed with cheese, tomatoes and mushrooms, caesar salad and tortellini soup; it was to die for.  She even got the approval from Ty who’s a chef.  That’s a big thing, like a restaurant getting a good review from a food critic.  No, we are not open to the general public.

Before dinner, Ty and Bernie helped me move the pool table that has been hibernating in the back of my truck since the weekend to a corner of the garage (read full story).  No, it’s not set up yet.  We still need to determine where it’ll go.  For now, we just propped it up against the wall until we clean the garage and figure out where it’s going to live.  Once we find a home for the pool table, we’ll have Ty and Bernie back over for dinner and drinks again … hint, hint (read, “I can’t move a 500lb pool table by myself”).

After dinner we all decided to play Yahtzee.  Both Nikki and I thought we had the game but it turns out that we have Word Yahtzee, circa 1978 (purchased at an estate sale a while back).  We all had fun and it was an interesting game but I think we all like regular Yahtzee better.  After a few beers and some wine, we could barely spell “IF” from the letters “YEFOSID”.  Although when you’re a bit tipsy, the good words come out; “CUM WADS”, “CUNT” and “ME IDIOT” just to name a few.  Not to brag, but I did manage to win.  Which brought back a vivid thought from the depths of my alcohol soaked mind: I’ve never lost at Monopoly!

Yup, I’m undefeated in that popular game of real-estate.  Albeit, I’ve only played about 4 or 5 times in my entire life and the first time I played was only about 3 years ago but that doesn’t change the fact that I have yet to lose.  So perhaps the next dinner, drinks and game outing we all have, Monopoly will have to be played instead of Yahtzee.  Who knows, maybe I’ll be toppled as the Monopoly Grand Champion… or maybe I’ll win again.

To make a short story long, Ty and Bernie are good friends that we need to see more of.  Maybe I’ll just keep moving the pool table to get them to come over more often.  Hell, I just need to answer my phone and return messages in all honesty.  They try to get together with us but my lazy-no-message-returning-ass keeps it from happening more often than not.  In the immortal words of almost everybody on News Years Eve; “I’m going to make more of an effort to get together with friends”.  There, I said it.  Happy New Year.