The weekend update. But first...

Let's chat about last night's Emmy broadcast, shall we?

• Worst "hosting" job EVER. Seriously, I think that new category should be removed next year, and/or none of those five should be allowed to compete ever again.
• Lamer than usual "hilarious lines they've written for us to say." (Thanks, Don Rickles.)
• Josh Groban is truly the whitest man alive.
• If you're going to bring back Ruth Buzzi and JoAnne Worley, at least give them something funny to say.
• Tina Fey's hair looked weird.
• America Ferrara is now half the size of Vanessa Williams. Eat a donut, America! (The actress, of course...not the country. The country needs no help in the donut-eating department.)
• Why does "Two and a Half Men" (and anyone associated with it) keep getting nominated? It SUCKS.
• Mary Tyler Moore--I love you. You're an icon. But I never want to see your simultaneously stringy and saggy upper arms again. Thanks. Maybe Betty White could tell you where to get a nice jacket.

Okay, moving on.

How was the birthday day off? Well, it was fine, more or less. My mother called Friday morning to see what I wanted to do, and I suggested the local Greek Festival. Sounds fun, right? Well, not to my family. My parents were willing to suck it up (if a bit unenthusiastically), but my brother-in-law said if that was the plan, then he'd just stay home. Okay, FINE. I know from past experience not to make them partake of Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, etc., so I suggested "Gacaroni Mrill" and the adjacent mall, 'cause I knew they'd leap at that like the chain restaurant enthusiasts they are. And of course, they did.

Now, in all fairness, I do consider "Gacaroni Mrill" to be one of the least objectionable chains, and they do give you a yummy piece of cake on your birthday, and it is next door to a mall where I knew I would need to go to cash in my inevitable birthday gift card, so...I brought it on myself.

And it wasn't bad, really, except...it involved a trip to my least favorite part of town. A part of town I have assiduously avoided for the last few months, mostly because I hate it, but also because it was New Guy's part of town. So basically everything we did, everywhere we went all afternoon made me think of him. Sigh. So, it was a bit...bittersweet, let's say.

But we had a nice meal, and I had some beer and some lovely chocolate cake, and then we went to spend the gift card, and I got so carried away buying clothes that I overspent the gift card and had to supplement with the gift cash which I had planned to save to buy a small vacuum, but...oh, well. I needed the clothes. (And every single thing I got was on sale.)

And then we went home, and that was that. I did actually speak to New Guy a little later in the day (yes...it seems maybe we've reached the point where he's comfortable being in touch occasionally), and told him I spent the whole day being reminded of him DAMN IT, and he just laughed. Sigh. What are you gonna do?

The next day a friend of mine who I rarely get to see, due to her demanding schedule of work/single motherhood, asked if I wanted to meet her and her daughter that afternoon...at the Greek Festival! Yay! So I was not deprived of spanokopita, feta cheese, pita bread, olives, dolmathes--are you drooling yet?--after all.

Saturday night I went to a "readers club" meeting, coincidentally at the home of the friend who adopted Wiley the Terrible Rescue Dog last year, so I got to see him (and he's doing SO well), and drink beer and eat cheese and homemade bread and talk about books with friends and have gingersnaps dipped in pumpkin/goat cheese spread.

Sunday afternoon I shared wine and bread and cheese and cheetos and hummus and cupcakes and gossip and fun with another group of friends I don't see often enough.

I also managed to throw in a bit of cardio and yoga, and some (unfortunately still vacuumless) housecleaning, and all in all...it was a very nice weekend.

It occurs to me that I completely forgot to tell you about the "Nensa" meeting that I finally attended last weekend. Maybe I forgot to tell you because it was pretty much uneventful in every way. Oh, the people were nice enough, but it seems that the local chapter is weighted pretty heavily with I.T. types, and while I love a computer geek as much as the next guy, it didn't exactly make for really well-rounded conversation. I'm thinking I need to actively recruit some fine/liberal arts smarties to liven things up a bit. There's only so much rapturous discussion of 8 gig hard drives I want to listen to, you know?