Zach Dotsey

The last day of 2007 went like this:

Adam played Mass Effect until 5:00 when Amanda told me that she couldn’t get back to sleep.  I’d fallen asleep on the couch sometime around midnight I think, but I’d told Adam he was fine to play the Xbox until whenever.  I woke up and went upstairs around 3 or 4 I think.  Adam later called to apologize for staying so late.  I didn’t care, and when Amanda and I talked about it I think we came to understand that it is just a difference in something between our families.  If Adam wants to come over and play my games when we’re not around it’s fine by me.  To Amanda it’s a little weird.  She wasn’t mad or anything though.
Amanda’s first day back to work.  Nice to only have to go back for one day, as she has tomorrow off.  Helps break out gently out of your vacation.
I started off the day hooking up the surround sound so far as I could.  I got all of it hooked up with the exception of the back wireless speakers, which we’re having installed anyway.  I also couldn’t get the sound on the TV hooking it up through the HDMI cables, so I’ll let the installers fix that too.  I played a little of the solo singing career on Rock Band too, just to try it out with nobody around.  I unlocked a few songs I was looking forward to being able to play that way, including Epic (Faith No More), Dani California (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Don’t Fear the Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult).

The rest of the day was work, which there was a little more of than I expected there to be even though it was mostly clean-up and walking to the bank and Subway to pay the mortgage because the car wouldn’t start.  It seems to have an issue with me not using it for a couple weeks.  Maybe it feels neglected.

I was the first 2008 transaction at the bank for the teller I went to, as I got there just after 2:00.  She was a really nice lady and we ended up talking for a little while.  She and her husband ha four kids in the same boy-girl order as my parents, although hers were a little more spread out than my parents’ brood.
Amanda got home and told me about a problem they had at work today with UPS.  Two boxes were missing and at least one was signed for in her name.  One turned up at PPD (they were nice enough to call) and another was just not around.  The boxes were addressed to her so it’s assumed whoever signed for them just signed the name on the box.  She said the signature didn’t have a last name.  Amanda’s not suspected of anything, but somebody at UPS is probably going to get in some trouble.

Amanda and I ordered a pizza for dinner and Michael came over to hang out for a bit.  We watched Fight Club on HBO On Demand, which I’ve been itching to do for a little while.  A little over halfway through it I had one of my allergic reaction.  It was a minor one, but it still didn’t feel good at all.  We still don’t know exactly what causes it, but it appears to be some combination of dairy and spices, and we did have cheese and the seasoning that came with the pizza.

It’s really not a comfortable feeling.  I have to use the bathroom really bad and feel like I’m going to puke, not to mention that my stomach feels extremely bloated, like there’s a bunch of pressure inside it.  I also get itchy and red and sometimes a little swollen.  Amanda said when I came out I was pale and clammy.  I was in the bathroom for a little while but I’m fine now.

So Amanda has finally seen Fight Club.  When the movie was over we all just sat around and watched the Rockin’ New Years special with Dick Clark (who made an appearance, which was nice considering the condition his stroke left him in). Michael went ahead and left then Amanda and I watched some news before the Rockin’ New Year Special continued half an hour before midnight.  We were all really tired for some reason and were staying up really more out of obligation than anything.  It’s probably the most pathetic New Years Eve I’ve ever had.

Zach Dotsey

TV conversation

Atlanta Bread

Pier One

Victoria’s Secret

Circuit City – Dave dropped off truck

Cleaned up

Adam came over

Everyone got up today and got dressed and ready to go to Miss Bolin’s burial.  It wasn’t too far- just on the other side of Beulaville.  It was just family and a few close friends of the family.  While waiting around we discovered that a few of us were standing on the graves (or at least near the headstones) of the grandparents of a girl Michael dated way back when.

Some words were said and the burial took place.  Afterwards when everyone was standing around we decided to go to Pizza Village for lunch.  Originally someone planned on taking everyone to the Mexican place I ate at with Michael and Phil the other day, but Pizza Village was a nicer choice.  It’s across the street from Miss Bolin’s house and everyone used to go there pretty often when visiting her, so it held at least a little more significance.

So everyone split up and went their separate ways to change then reconvened a little while later for lunch.  Afterwards pretty much everyone headed home.  I wondered if I’ll ever see some of that side of the family again.  Ona and Peter and Stanton and William, yeah, sure.  They’re closer relatives.  But Phil’s cousins and their kids and grandkids, those are the ones I wondered about.

Amanda and I swung back by her grandparents’ house to pick up our stuff and our dogs and headed on home to Wilmington.  After we unpacked the car we did absolutely nothing.  We hadn’t been in our own house in over a week, so it felt good to just be there.  (Technically, Amanda had stopped by to pick up some things a few days before, but you get my drift.)

Zach Dotsey

Worked in the morning. Amanda and Karen cleaned then went to Jacksonville for shoes. Amanda thought she’d brought shoes for the funeral but had not. From yesterday she also forgot to grab me a tie so I was to borrow one from Phil.

Michael and I played some more Rock Band. The Pickens arrived and William played a little with us before Amanda and I left to go to her grandparents’ house, where we were staying for the night so the Pickens would have room to sleep somewhere.

We unloaded a few things then got dressed up and went to the funeral home for the family viewing.  Michael, Stanton and William rode with us to the church for a dinner prepared for Miss Bolin’s funeral.  Phil’s extended family was there, most of whom I remembered.  After that we all went back to the funeral home.  They were doing the viewing and the ceremony tonight and the burial itself tomorrow.

Us kids (me and Amanda, Stanton, William and Michael) were talking a little loud right before the ceremony.  We, and the rest of the family, were all in a little room off to the side of the chapel, with a view of the chapel through a slotted open window I guess you could call it.  After the ceremony, which featured a very nice eulogy, the family went into one room and all the attendees filed in to express their condolences.  I won’t lie- it was a little awkward for me.  I mean, I’m not even sure if Miss Bolin even knew who I was.  We’d met maybe five times, tops, so I felt bad when people told me they were sorry for my loss.

That line took a little while.  Amanda was to my left, the direction people were coming from, and Michael was to my right.  Amanda would just say she was Philip’s daughter (to the people who didn’t ask if she was Karen’s daughter), I would say I belonged to her and Michael would either say he was Philip’s son (Michael Philipson) or that he was her brother (after I said I was Amanda’s).  A couple people asked if he was Roosie’s son.  (Roosie is Phil’s cousin.)

When that was all done there was a little familial mingling then the same group (me and Amanda, Stanton, William and Michael) all headed back to the Mercer house with a quick stop to pick up some McDonald’s.  The dinner had been good, but for some reason a few of us were hungry.  When we were just about back to the house Michael had the idea to ask if anybody had a key.  I thought I did, and it turns out I was right, although it didn’t matter because by the time I opened the door Michael was standing in front of it on the inside, having found an alternate route in.

The adults were back a few minutes after the rest of us.  We played Rock Band for a bit then packed that up into the Jetta so Amanda and I could get back to the Lemons house.  We were pretty beat so we went to sleep pretty quickly after we got back.

Zach Dotsey

Worked a bit until lunch with Michael. Played some Resident Evil with Michael until some more work came up.

Amanda and Karen went to Wilmington to pick up clothes, exchange gifts and use some gift cards. Also dropped off a bunch of our stuff.

Michael, Phil and I grabbed some food from the new Mexican place in Richlands then came on back.

Michael and I played Rock Band until late.

The dogs got me up again this morning. I’ve had a real hard time getting back to sleep once they wake me up ever since we left our house and because of that I’m getting a little resentful of Amanda not taking them out. She doesn’t get to sleep in this often though, so I let it slide and just think that it’s nice that I can do this for her, even if she doesn’t know.

Besides, once we start having kid’s she’ll be the one to get up more than I.

Day after Christmas in Oxford. Complaining on the way. Nasty weather. Phil didn’t go.

Cliques up there. Ryan and later Caroline with us.

Michael fussed at by Patsy about throwing wrapping paper.

I mostly napped on the way back. Watched Live Free or Die Hard as a family. Dogs kept distracting. Watched some History Channel with Michael while I dozed off.

The dogs woke me up at 5:30 this morning and I didn’t get back to sleep after that. Around 9:00 everyone was up and we were ready to open presents. There was a lot of good stuff- Phil got a DVD camcorder and we all got some nice clothes and such.

We gave Michael a Risk game and Michael gave me Oblivion for Xbox 360 which was very thoughtful because when I had the game before it stopped working but I really enjoyed it. I also got Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4 from Karen and Phil or Karen Phil, whoever that is. I also got some gifts from Roudough, which is apparently Karenese for Rudolph.

Amanda got clothes, mostly, plus a season of How I Met Your Mother from Michael, a blown-glass starfish from me and a rug for the living room from her parents.

When we were opening gifts I accidentally opened one of Michael’s. I thought it was from him, but it was actually to him. I was a little surprised to see Project Gotham Racing 4, since I’m not a huge fan of racing games.

When it was all done and we were cleaning up the wrapping paper somehow the subject of me not getting the game Rock Band came up. I said it was okay and that I’d just use my bonus to get it. A minute passed and Amanda asked if I’d go get a bag from the closet upstairs to put all our stuff in. When I opened the closet door I saw a large wrapped box with my name on it, from Bruce, Cobb, Harvey and Gotham. I knew it was Rock Band, so I shouted down to Amanda that I didn’t see any bags. She said to just get that big one and bring it down. I grabbed a grocery bag and went to the steps and asked if that was what she wanted. She said no, the other thing. So I grabbed a small cardboard box and asked if that would work. She knew, of course, that I was playing with her. I brought the large box down and opened it and started setting up Rock Band.

Amanda set it all up this way because I was so sure I was getting the game. I was sure because I’d accidentally seen a purchase in the proper amount from Circuit City on our bank statement, plus a few days ago Amanda had a phone call from Michael and she told me I couldn’t hear the call, so I knew he was getting something from our house. He was picking up the Guitar Hero guitar and he even had the forethought to grab my Xbox 360’s hard drive so that any progress we made on it and any songs we unlocked would be available on my own Xbox.

I also really wanted the game, so I figured Amanda would make it happen. It’s something we can play together and have fun with, plus it’ll be a lot of fun when we have people over.

Rock Band, if you font know, is a game by the original makers of Guitar Hero, but whereas Guitar Hero only let you play guitars, Rock Band comes with a microphone and a drum set as well. There are some other differences in the mechanics of the game, but the main thing is the extra instruments.

Money aside (Rock Band ain’t cheap), I’m not sure why someone would get Guitar Hero over Rock Band. Amanda said that Billy Supplee, a coworker of hers, was what convinced her to get me Rock Band over Guitar Hero III, as he had played it and was attesting to her its awesomeness. So thanks,, Billy!

We did have a bit of an issue getting it started though. The game comes with a USB hub to plug the extra instruments into and two of the ports weren’t working. Amanda figured out that a piece on the inside of one of the USB ports was bent and I was able to take if apart and get it back into shape. It was in the third port, so it was affecting the fourth as well. Once that was taken care of though, we created some characters and started playing. I did the drums, Amanda did the singing and Michael played guitar. We even got Karen, Amanda and Michael’s mom, to play a little bit.

Eventually Amanda went to make her Golden Graham smores and everyone took showers to get ready to go have dinner over at Peggy and Earl Lemons’s house. We took Rock Band and played after the Frazelles got there. All of them played a bit except for Anna, although I think she would have. Kirsten mostly sang, although Michael had a go if that as well.

We came back after dinner and all of us but Phil played Phase 10. Poor Michael got his butt beat. Karen and Amanda both had some good runs, but I ended up winning.

The ladies went to bed after the game, but I stayed up just a little longer to play the new Resident Evil game Michael had gotten for his Wii.