A Grand Gathering of Dorks

Loftis always comes with food.  Always.

Hi America.

Every once and awhile, my old campaign buddies from the Sausage Pad and I decide to get together and share more than a few beers.  We compare grey hairs, talk about how annoying our kids are, and, more often than not, play Risk.

It's been nearly five months since we last hung out (when we sailed down the Muskegon River back in July, if you'll recall), so we deemed it time once again to get together down at Smith's house in Kalamazoo - my old college stomping ground.

Sure, it also happened to be Smith's 36th birthday, but that's besides the point.

Anyway, here's some pictures of a bunch of old dudes far past their prime, sitting around and playing a board game with an inflatable fish.

Like thugs.

Not a whole hell of a lot on TV (college basketball - blegh) but we eventually settled on Super Mario Bros. . . which is just as awful as you remember.

As usual, I'm the Grey Army.  So obviously I bring my own officer to command my troops in the field.

Suckie Fish:  the nation's most prolific inflatable fish, back for another tour of duty with the Sausage Pad.  We found this at Damon's mom's house during Central/Western weekend back in 2001, and over the years this inflatable fish has traveled across the country with us on numerous adventures.  The Baseball Road trip down the East Coat of the U.S. in '02, to Key West in '03, to just about every single one of our weddings, Tennessee in '13, and every ill-conceived adventure in between.  Needless to say, the dude's in pretty rough shape these days. . .

Smith's always so cheerful.

$65 scotch?  Don't mind if I do. . .

Loftis still owns his Virgil Q's Dixieland Kazoo Revue shirt.  I plan on being buried in mine.

Two Smiths in a Nursery.  These two are the last to have kids, but Zack's first will be here sometime in mid-January, so him and his wife, Renee, are in scramble mode trying to get their house ready.  Smitty, who runs a painting business, was more than happy to criticize Zack's recent paint job.

Suckie Fish found Smith's fifteen-year-old fisherman's hat. . . and 15-year-old scotch.

Seloske makes his move. . .

Yet another phone break.  I don't think we actually got around to finishing our game of Risk, come to think of it:  we decided to head out to a couple bars later on in the evening, and shortly thereafter Loftis had to start his third shift at Meijer.  Nevertheless, I was positioned to end up in second place, based on the board's layout.

This is the most random, out-of-the-way bar in the greater Kalamazoo area.  Just two female bartenders and one elderly drunk were there when we rolled in and pleaded for a round as they were vacuuming up the place around us.  No idea why, it was only midnight. . .

Gingers.

No idea.

- Brian