It’s · not · the · fall · that · kills · you, · but · the · sudden · stop.

Back from mum's birthday weekend extravagala in Stateline, Nevada, aka Lake Tahoe.

A little working vacation prompted me to assemble a troupe of feckless friends and fambly. I flew mum up from LoCal for birfday prezzie. Brother pschtyckque drove up from whereverthefuck-goldrush country. blastmilk (whom I love and miss to the point of incontinence) and her dashing band-of-huz drove out from San Farisco. There was a veritable bounty of bonhomie coming out of our respective wazoos which engendered several huzzahs!

Our work takes us many places, but despite how very difficult it is to get there, Tahoe is my favorite. Because I wake up to this…

…and this…

Besides the absurdly gorgeous surroundings, I love Tahoe because of the Sigma Derby game in the Horizon casino.

You bet on horse combinations and the little buggers badoing-badoing around the track and you win or you lose but you always laugh and there's a sleepy little cow laying in the "grass" in the center of the track and I smile. Mom got totally loaded while she and I played. "Oh honey! What are you betting! Oh! I'm going to do that too. But I'm going for the long shot. But they never win! It's always the favorite! Oh fiddlesticks, I'll bet the long shot anyway…"

Ben [photo] patiently indulges my obsession with this game, shared by my brother [photo] and Blastmilk/Kallisti/Beckums and Lance [not pictured].

Leaving yesterday morning at 6:45am who could have forseen the fucked up 12 hour trip home which, due to crappy routing, a delayed plane and a missed connection, took us from Reno, NV to Los Anguhleeze, CA, to Phoenix, AZ, to San Antonio, TX, to Houston, TX, and finally N'awlins, LA.

This is the 6:45am shot, just me [on Vicodin] and my baby in our fluffy-fancy-pooh limo.

Once home, we dined, busted open a bottle of champers and stretched our cramped limbs in the hot tub, weekend over. Today, back to whatever it is I call my grindstone.