In the House of Feasting

          Today, I accompanied Matt to Yiayia's funeral. Yiayia was a very old, very Greek grandmother to Matt and was very devoted to her family and to making great food. To get the essence of her personality, I'll relate an anecdote about her life. Yiayia, 18 years old, was on Crete when it was bombed by the Axis in World War II. She was in the shower when the bombs started to fall. Her brother urged her to take shelter in the basement. She refused, crying that she was going to finish her shower and that if it was her time, so be it. She survived, and I knew her for several years due to Matt and I spending all sorts of time together. Her funeral was a quiet affair, which, I feel, is how she would have wanted it. Many stories were told of her legendary cooking, and of her grandmotherly ways. Unfortunately, as many funerals do, the end turned into a bit of a Jesus-fest, with stories of how He will arrive on Earth and fix everything, etc. I don't attend funerals for religious direction, I go to celebrate the deceased and support those left behind. The most jarring quotation came from Ecclesiastes 7:2, which is as follows: "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart." Apparently it is preferable to dwell on who and what we have lost, rather than celebrate the good that they did and look forward with new clarity. Perhaps this is why I very rarely go to funerals.
          It seems that someone committed suicide in town last night. A young man apparently jumped from the real estate building across from Marky Mark's, a tattoo parlor. In a macabre way, it seems fitting. What more dreary, hopelessly commercial location to choose for one's death? While not thinking about this, I found time before bed to play a good amount of TF2! My Spy skills are still intact, a good sign for the fall.
          Quotes of the day:
"Being here makes me want to watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding." - Amanda
"I can't believe we're back in the procession. We had 2 fucking red lights, and we're back in line. Only in Saugerties." - Amanda
"Matt, let's buy a shrimp boat." - Amanda
"This is all I have left to wear forever. I haven't been wearing underwear for 5 days. No joke." - Amanda
"He's a New Jersey Jew." - Customer A
"Black History Month: shortest month of the year!" - Customer B
...
Matt: "It took me like an hour to put this outfit together."
Me: "It probably took Chinese kids less than an hour to manufacture that clothing."
...
Logan: "Look at Mr. Wilsey just walking around."
Me: "He's like, 'I buried you all!'"
Logan: "'I still survive!'"
...
Me: "What happened to Mr. Seamon?"
Amanda: "Mr. Wilsey probably finished him off."

Where the respective worlds of TF2 and blogging collide.