My weekend

Friday, December 3rd

We went to a Christmas party for the fish club. It was at the clubhouse for a golf course. We brought a few presents for the gift redistribution game. We went inside, checked our coats, added our presents to the pile, and got some drinks. There wasn't really anywhere to sit. Once it was time for dinner, we managed to grab a few chairs and eat dinner at the bar. They had Greek salad, spaghetti, Italian sausage, and chicken. It was pretty good.

After dinner, we played the gift redistribution game. Everyone stood around a couple of large tables put together, and we were given several pairs of dice. We pass the dice around, roll them, and if we get doubles, we get to take a gift from the table. Once all the gifts are taken, we have ten minutes to pass the dice around, and if we roll doubles, we can take anyone else's gift from their pile. At the end of the ten minutes, whatever we have in front of us is ours to keep. I got a small hexagonal fish tank, a cake platter, and the ceremonial glass fish platter. Apparently the fish platter gets passed around from year to year, so next year we'll bring it back. I'm going to give the cake platter to my mom for Christmas. I'm not sure what I'll do with the tank.

Once that was finished, there was an auction for various aquarium-related equipment. Instead of bidding with money, we bid with "club points", which are earn by participating in fish club activities. I had 68, mostly from when I helped out with that auction. Dad had 78, and Jane (Dad's wife) had 40. I ended up buying 8 nets, just so my points wouldn't be wasted. Dad bought a heater. After that, the party was over and we went home.

Saturday, December 4th: Christkindlmarket

I woke up around 9:30 to the sounds of Dad and Jane catching fish and putting them into bags. I hung out on the internet for a while, and around 11 my dad took the fish to the pet shop to sell them. Once he got back, we drove to the train station to catch the 12:14 train to downtown Chicago for Christkindlmarket. It's an open-air German market in the Daley Center Plaza. There are shops from Germany, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine, among other places. There's food, too. Anyway, we're waiting outside in the blustery cold, waiting for the train. It's 12:12, still no sign of the train. We cross the tracks to look at the posted train schedule, and it turns out our train is coming at 1:14, not 12:14. Apparently this pissed off Jane pretty badly, because she kept swearing loudly for a while. For the next hour, we just cruised around, looked at some old houses, and waited. About 5 minutes late, the train finally arrives, and we head downtown. After a 45-minute train ride, we arrive at LaSalle Street Station, and walk down to the plaza.

Christkindlmarket is a pretty cool place. If you're in the Chicagoland area, you should definitely check it out. We walked around and looked at all the Christmas items in all the shops. The best part was when they were actually making blown-glass ornaments in a furnace while everyone watched. Jane bought blown-glass ornaments for everyone in the family. After that, we tried some of the food. There was a booth from Schonwald, Germany that had fried potato pancakes. This was possibly the most delicious food I have ever eaten, and I am not even exaggerating. They also had hot apple cider, which was sweet, but not too sweet. We bought some fresh apple strudel, which somehow managed to stay warm the entire way home, and went back to the train station and departed.

Saturday, December 4th: Gyros and drunks

Tonight, we were going to get gyros for dinner. Unfortunately, Pappy's closed at 10, so Dad and Jane went to Rosie's. According to them, they got their entire order and checked out in three minutes flat, which is pretty swift for an order of several gyros. Mike (Jane's son) comes home around the same time they do, and we all sit down to eat. Then, Jen (Jane's daughter) and her friend Rachel come home. They're drunk. Jen goes into her room along with Rachel and Mike to get Dad's present, since it's his birthday. Jen comes back out holding the bag, and drops it on the table and says "Happy birthday" in an angry voice. They ask her why she's being so bitchy, meanwhile Rachel is eating all our food. Jen gets pissed off, everyone else gets pissed off, they're yelling, and Jen grabs a gyro and throws it into the trash. Mistake #1.

Apparently my dad's side of the family really dislikes wasting food. Jane gets up to yell at Jen, and Jen puts her hand up to hit her. Jane slaps her hand away, and Jen tries to shove her. Mistake #2. My dad gets up from his seat, which is only a couple feet away from the ensuing catfight, tells Rachel "You never saw this" and shoves Jen into her room, knocking her down. He said "Goodnight, Jen" and closed her bedroom door. She gets up, opens her door, and tries shoving my dad. Mistake #3. Dad grabs her arm, twists it behind her back, and gets her in a lock. Note that this entire time, Jen was yelling "FUCK YOU, MOTHERFUCKER! COME ON! I'LL FUCKING TAKE YOU!" and generally being boisterous and obnoxious. Dad tells her "Jennifer, if you don't calm down, I'm calling the cops." She responds with "GO AHEAD, MOTHERFUCKER! CALL THE FUCKING COPS! I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!" So my dad picks up the phone and dials 911, but Jane hangs up the phone before my dad could say anything. At this point, everyone seems to be fighting with everyone else, except for Rachel and I, who are eating gyros. 911 calls back, my dad explains the situation, and they send a squad car. At this point, Jen realizes that this is, in fact, a shitty situation, and starts crying about how she'll never be able to get a job.

The police officer arrives, and we all go into the living room. Dad explains the situation, and the officer tells everyone to sit down. Dad sits down. Jen doesn't. The officer tells her to sit down. Dad says "Jennifer, the officer is telling you to sit down." Apparently, she wants her purse. Really really badly. Jane locked it in her bedroom, since last week Jen promised she wouldn't go out drinking again. Mike says "Jennifer, SIT DOWN" and she finally sits down. The officer talks to them, and says Jen should probably leave for the night. Meanwhile, Jane is answering some questions for the officer. Nobody got arrested or anything, apparently this won't even go on her record.

The officer leaves, and Jen and Rachel go into her room to pack her stuff. Jane goes in there, and closes the door. Jen is still crying, and Rachel is trying to get her to calm down. About 20 minutes later, they come out. Rachel is carrying one of those rolling suitcases, which is stuffed with clothes and not even zippered shut. Jen finally gets her purse back, minus the keys, and for some reason she decides to dump it out all over the table and scatter its contents everywhere. She starts yelling at Mike, Mike tells her to fuck off, then she whips the purse at Mike's head. Despite being less than 4 feet away from him, she misses. Dad gets up and says "Jennifer, leave. Right now." They leave, and she calls Mike's cell phone. He doesn't answer it, and she leaves a voicemail saying "I hope your test results come back and you FUCKING DIE!" since he's been having some trouble with his kidneys.

After that, we're sitting around talking, and she calls the house phone and leaves a message. She needs her medication. We put all the bottles in a bag and hang it on the doorknob between the storm door and the inside door. They drive home, and can't seem to figure out how to operate a doorknob, so they ring the doorbell three times. Dad opens the door, hands her the bag, and says "Have a nice day." She says "I guess I don't live here anymore" or something, and Mike yells "Fuck off!" Dad shuts the door, and then we talk for a few hours and try to convince Jane that it wasn't her fault. After that, I went downstairs and wrote all this. Whether or not Jen will be coming back, I don't know.