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Hello, my name is Judas Gutenberg and this is my blaag (pronounced as you would the vomit noise "hyroop-bleuach").



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   party at the West Hurley Park
Friday, July 9 2021
Gretchen continued cooking and preparing for Powerful's big birthday bash, which wouldn't actually be taking place at our house. Instead, Powerful had rented the pavillion at the West Hurley Park (41.96315N, 74.11209W) for $50, and that pavillion comes with a large roofed dining area with picnic tables, two bathrooms, and a complete kitchen. One immediate downside to renting a separate place for a party was logistical; Powerful and Gretchen spent a considerable amount of time just transporting all the food they'd prepared to the pavillion, and they'd have to do the opposite at the party's conclusion.
At the end of my workday, I put on a nicer shirt and then rode to the party (three miles away) on my electric scooter. Dug Hill Road is generally flat between the house and the park, though there are a few low hills that the scooter struggled a bit on. But for most of the trip, the scooter seemed to zip along and a hair-blowing fifteen miles per hour or so, and the trip was a complete joy. Only one car passed me for the whole journey, and that was our downhill neighbors heading to the same party (she offered to give me a ride, but by then I was nearly there).
When I arrived, Ramona and Neville were sprawled out in the midst of everybody, and there as also a brindle sausage dog that Ramona had been a little mean to but was now tolerating. As for people, there were maybe a couple dozen there, mostly young people from the thrift store benefit Powerful is affiliated with, as well as Sarah the Vegan, Sarah's friend Rebecca, Rebecca's husband Lance, and their dog (the brindle sausage dog). Jed from BPI (with whom I used to work) was also there, along with his youngest child, a one-year-old baby (his oldest is ten). Conspicuously missing were the people from Rise Up Kingston, which is whole other part of Powerful's social network. I found myself talking to Rebecca's husband Lance, who is maker like me, though he works at a factory in Kingston that likely satisfies his needs more than my workplace does mine. At some point the dogs ran across Dug Hill Road in pursuit of something, and I went and retrieved them.
In addition to beer, wine, vodka, and seltzer, Gretchen had put together a whole vegan ice cream sundae bar complete with things like sprinkles and seven or eight different pints of icecream.
There were also a number of games to play, including one where a pair balls connected by a string is thrown with hopes that it will wrap around one or more horizontal bars on a sort of "wicket" goal. I called this game "truck nuts" and was terrible at it except for the time that two of my three tosses each managed to wrap around two of the horizontal bars.
There ended up being fewer people at this party than expected, and there was a shit-ton of leftovers, though Powerful had plans to take a bunch of them to some event he'd be going to tomorrow. All the work she'd put into it, coupled with the poor turnout, put Gretchen in a bad mood, and she didn't much enjoy herself.
One of Ray's restaurant colleagues, a youngish man with a electric bicycle having enormous tires showed up looking for Ray. He ended up talking to several of us (including Andrea, Rebecca, Lance, and me) about electric bike technology. And then he did some sort of sporting activity nearby, rejoining our party a couple hours later. When I told him how I used to ride bicycles from college back home when went to Oberlin (and that I used to make a the 400+ mile journey in only four days), he told me that, with all due respect, he didn't believe me. I didn't care, to me it's great that even some of my C-grade stories are unbelievable.
Later Lisa P. and her husband arrived, and then our across-the-street neighbors Kacey and Konco. But by then the sun was setting behind the clouds and we'd begun cleaning up the party. It's a lot of work to clean up a party in a remote, rented location. It's not just that one has to transport all the food back to home, it's also that there's a whole additional kitchen (and venue) that needs cleaning beyond the one where the food was initially prepared. I ended up riding back home with Kacey and Konco, as Powerful's Prius and Bolt were completely full of food, dogs, and people.
Back at the house, I was feeling a bit more social than usual due to some cannabis I'd eaten, so I hung out in the dining room with Andrea, Powerful, and Gretchen. At some point I made up a catchy little proto-song that goes simply "Daydum and daytupid and daytupid and daydum oh daydum and daytupid and daydum..." endlessly over and over. It's something someone could play on a bass, but it's also a recitation of the general sense that someone is lacking in cognitive faculties.
Later I joined Gretchen and Andrea upstairs in watching some episodes of Schitt's Creek, a comedy Andrea was introducing Gretchen to. It wasn't great, but it was watchable.


People assembling for a group photo at West Hurley Park's wooden train.


Our neighbor Kacey with Ramona and Neville on the West Hurley Park's wooden train.


Andrea took this picture of us posing on the wooden train. In the back, from left: Bill (Lisa's husband), Gretchen, Konco, Kacey, Powerful. In the front: Lisa, Aru (one of Powerful's restaurant friends), me, Neville, and four of Powerful's thrift benefit friends (with Ramona). Click to enlarge.


For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?210709

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