Buckets o' fun

Back in old Québec for (a rather early) reading week, and a grand time is already being had. It felt like a sort of coming home, just seeing Sherbrooke (after flying into Montréal rather late and spending the night on dark_wolf's couch—he can pretend to be mean and scary all he likes, but I now know he's not only polite and soft-spoken, but also a great host, not just offering me a spot on his couch for my brief stopover, but cooking me supper and breakfast as well); it was great, too, seeing all the familiar faces.

Yesterday (Saturday) night we had a grand old poker game, with eight players (and one observer), two tournament style games, and quite a lot of alcohol consumed. Scott was the host, of course; sheepykins was there, and Michaela, and other friendly familiar faces from my Bishop's days. Both Sheepy and I had our first taste of ( absinthe )

—frankly, it didn't taste that good, though the whole lighting-sugar-cube-on-fire ceremony bit was fun. Sheepy claimed it tasted like mouthwash. ( Apparently, Sheepy doesn't like mouthwash, but she kept her spirits up. )

All in all, a grand old time for everyone involved except one. ... Statistically, that isn't half bad.