Yellowcake

          I went to Dr. Zhang to get a filling this morning, and then we were off to my grandmother's to  have dinner with some extended family. Along with a few aunts, uncles and cousins from our area, we were joined by my cousin Marissa from Texas, who I last met several years ago. She's half-Mexican, half-Japanese, somehow related to us and has a small child of her own. I've gotten better at socializing comfortably with my family over the past few years -- I used to be the kid who went and read a book in the corner. Dinner was great, as always - my grandma is a classic grandma. On the way home we passed the Jolly Cow, who are offering a new ice cream flavor called Yellow Cake. I had a glimpse of yellowcake uranium-flavored sweets being gobbled up by eager youngsters. For the first time in a while, I put in some work with Alaric in TF2 -- fun fun fun. Much later, Brian and Josh came over and we built a campfire that lasted until early in the morning. Ian eventually came out to sit with us, as well. He has a girlfriend now; she's Mexican, two years younger than him and is currently south of the border. Naturally, we spent most of the night ribbing him about this new love interest. ("I'd go back to Mexico too if Customs was after me." "Remember, you have to stay married for five years before she can become a citizen." "[insert burrito joke]" etc.)