Slowly Learning...

So we're a mere week away form my departure, and that can mean only one thing...Clam Bake Time! Tomorrow marks yet another clambake (something like 98 years in a row now?), and already the guests have begun to pour in. In fact this will be the first clambake in my recent memory where I actually have people crashing over night. Right now I've got 2 out of 3 ex-girlfriends staying at my mom's house, yes I do realize how strange that is, but I'm still very good friends with both of them. Next up tomorrow night we will also be housing another 2-4 people from the old Cornell crew, so it'lll be a nice, friendly full house (still trying to track down John Stamos and Uncle Joey however. Send any info on their where abouts to me personally).

In other strange girlfriend news, I also got the chance to spend some time with my first ex-girlfriend the other night. We had a lovely time, going to the movies and coffee afterwards, and chatting and whatnot. While seeing only on ex for a single evening might not seem as weird as housing two of them for a couple nights at the same time, it was quite unexpected as we have not really hung out at all in the past 4 years. So it was a nice, pleasant change. Hopefully we'll be able to do it once again when I return from my Far Eastern Voyage (I have my map and visa in my possesion now, so I'm good to go).

And lastly in other party news, my dad and girlfriend threw me a wonderful going away party at his house this past weekend. It was a fantastically catered party (by both the likes of Mary Lou and Dinosaur BBQ, although the Dinosaur BBQ didn't go quite as fast because everyone was stuffed off of Mary Lou's fantastically great appetizers). Almost all of the Heidt side of the family was there (with the sad exception of Jen and Pete who were off in Toronto), and despite the rain and golf on TV just about everyone took my dad's new Mustang out for a drive/ride (some multiple times). I'd have to say that the car didn't really stay in the driveway for more than like 15 minutes at a time. Not too hard to understand though, because I've had a few oportunities to drive the car, and it is a pleasure to drive. Fantastic acceleration, beautiful sounding engine, very nice handling, and pretty to look at. There was also a nice cake complete with Chinese characters spelling out "Wish You Good Luck Tommy" (some nicknames from younger days will never die, but that's quite ok with me...as long as it doesn't catach on elsewhere). So once again a big thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with me, and a extra big thank you to both my dad and Mary Lou for all the hard work they put into it.

P.S. - As always with family parties there was a nice $10 buy-in, dealer's choice poker game. And while I didn't win back all that I had lost over my short and unfortunate first run at a semi-pro poker career, I did play well enough and win enough to boost my card-playing esteem back up. I like to think that I proved to myself that without all the outside pressures of playing poker for a living I still know how to play well, and given a different situation (and more maturity) I could make it as a semi-pro.

So stay tuned for my future updates about the clambake and my final goodbye post before jetting off. (I'm still not completely sure how much access I will have in Beijing, but I will do my best to continue the postings while I'm over there as well.)