Sunday Dinners with the West Coast Watermarginals

Who'd have thought dinner could be so much fun?

For the past few years, those Marginals stuck on the left coast have continued sharing meals (we started with just dinner and then we tried alternating between brunch and dinner and now it's back to just dinners). Each Sunday one of us hosts, with another person to help prepare the meal and clean up afterward. (Aaron has put the schedule online for those who want to see.)

At the first dinner, our gracious hostess Jos Burns decided to share with us a new addition to her household: a faucet rhino (a soft rubbery rhino head that fits over the faucet in your bathtub). One by one, we squeezed into Jos's tub, water rising to our ankles and bubble bath bubbling. And thus was born The Entertainment Segment of Dinner!

Each week, in addition to providing gastronomical delights, the host makes arrangements for some sort of Entertainment. In no particular order, the list of Entertainments (courtesy of Jos) includes:

- We made nice with the faucet rhino

- Making slime

- Folding origami frogs and having frog races

- Decorating sugar cookies

- Making ice cream

- Hunting for Easter eggs

- Learning to tie various knots (part of the S&M theme night)

- Crunching wintergreen LifeSavers to see the sparks

- Watching the "Bathtub Video" [The Great Tub Caper, Thanksgiving '92]

- Playing tunes on the rims of wine glasses

- Bob's slides from his trip to Egypt

- Playing Egyptian Rat Screw

- Playing The Minister's Cat

- Pitting M&M's against one another (if you stack two M&Ms and squeeze, which one wins? It's survival of the fittest!)

- Discussed propostitions on the state ballot, including inventing a few.

- Staring at Bob's ink blots (Write down what you saw. Can you tell who wrote what?)

- Listening to Heather play the fiddle

- Playing MadLibs

- Bob's yes/no revealing question game (A person draws a question out of a hat and reads it aloud. That person then selects the yes card or the no card to indicate their answer . . . what do other people think his or her answer is?)

- We had Show & Tell (objects from childhood)

- We discussed chocolate chip counting in Chips Ahoy

- We played LA Freeze Tag

- We had a logic puzzle about unfaithful husbands (look for Josephine at the rec.puzzles archive)

- We watched Danny's cat documentary

- We played jacks

- We made mouth noises + played Lie-to-Matt/Tell-the-Truth-to-Patty + Amish erotica

- We had a short story reading -- Phillip K. Dick

- Literary interpretation of "How Does a Bunny find a Home"

- Tarot readings

- Telephone pictionary

- Henna tatoos

- homemade holograms

- stacey's hair + ?

- Helping Aaron move into his new home (up all those stairs!) :-)

- Destry's "chutes & ladders" card game + poker + knot game

- poker (was this the same night as Stacey's hair?)

- Jos's baking soda & vinegar volcano

- Coming up with names for Stacey's business

- Rise-up singing

- the hustle + electric slide + basketball

- frisbee golf

- sparklers + cheesy American pudding desserts + Donald X's movie game

- origami flowers & birds

- Lou's readings on e-mail/the Net by Geoff Nunberg

- charades

- fingerpainting

24Aug97 - The Dictionary Game

14Sept97 - A reading of "The Importance of Being Earnest", Act I
(hmm, we did finish that, but I'm not sure when . . .)

21Sept97 - Recess in the playground across the street

- We played Jeopardy with Trivial Pursuit cards (I won a keychain Etch a Sketch!)

18Oct97 - We carved pumpkins

25Oct97 - We checked out "Rockett's New School", a piece of interactive software that Mattheus worked on

1Nov97 - Choosing works for Destry's art portfolio

18Jan98 - Making cartoon flip-books

25Jan98 - Playing "Stinky Pinky": a person thinks of a two-word rhyme and gives a clue that everyone else uses to figure it out. For example, someone might offer the clue "Serendipitous Fowl" for the rhyme "Lucky Ducky."

8Feb98 - Viewing travel photos from Matt's (and Patti's) trip to Uruguay

15Feb98 - Making play-doh

22Feb98 - Playing "Mind Reader": each person thinks of a word and writes it down. Everyone reads their word aloud in turn and if exactly two people have the same word, they each get a point.

1Mar98 - Playing with Bob's LEGO set

15Mar98 - We all took the Nerdity Test (my score was 40 out of 100. whew!)

22Mar98 - Playing Monopoly (en Francais, sil vous plait)

7Apr98 - We chopped down a walnut tree in Jos's yard!

12Apr98 - Destry microwaved some compact discs

19Apr98 - Pictures from Chubbs's trip to New Zealand, plus an article in the Cornell Chronicle about the mysterious Cornell pumpkin

26Apr98 - Poetry readings, from D.H. Lawrence to Gary Snyder

3May98 - Listening to the loons on the CD from Natasha's mother, and microwaving marshmallow Peeps

10May98 - Writing stories: everyone gets two slips of paper. On one, they draw an action, on the other they draw a thing. The papers all get mixed in a bag, and ten are pulled from the bag and laid out. Everyone writes a story trying to incorporate as many of the icons as possible, then we take turns reading.

17May98 - Making aritificial pineapple out of butter, ethanol, and a little bit of base.

24May98 - Reviewing California's state initiatives on the June 2 ballot.

31May98 - Hearing Jos perform in the Albany Community Orchestra (she plays viola).

7Jun98 - Watching Iron Chef!

14Jun98 - Playing cards: hearts.

21Jun98 - Listening to Jos's childhood records: Frog & Toad and Winnie the Pooh.

28Jun98 - Artless Murray's School of Dance fun.

5Jul98 - A gender awareness quiz from one of Matt's books (I'll have to ask about the author).

12Jul98 - Admiring the view of the San Francisco skyline from Potrero Hill (this photo isn't from Potrero Hill, but it was all I could find online).

19Jul98 - A screening of films by one of Destry's friends.

26Jul98 - (Spontaneous) playing with Aaron's new laptop and camera.

2Aug98 - Play "guess how old that watermelon in Joyce's kitchen is". (Answer: about 10 months)

9Aug98 - A walk to see some of west Berkeley's historic buildings.

16Aug98 - Making collages on Jos's big roll of plotter paper.

23Aug98 - Learning how to juggle

30Aug98 - A walk around Robert's neighborhood in Kensington.

6Sep98 - Just what does YONAS stand for, anyway?!? (Yonas Official National Assembly & Symposium -- not, as Mattheus suggested, You're Only Naughty After Sunset)

13Sep98 - Listening to Jos practice her talk on climate and crop data for Mexico.

20Sep98 - The Laughing Club. er, how to describe it? You all laugh until . . . well, you laugh. Includes the HaHa game, where you all lie on the floor, with the your head on the preceding person's tummy, so you're arranged in a little zigzag; the first person says, "HA!", and then the second person responds, "HA HA!", and the third person shouts, "HA HA HA!" and pretty soon everyone's in hysterics. really.

27Sep98 - An introduction to American Sign Language.

4Oct98 - Drawing lessons from Robert

11Oct98 - A look at the thermochromic properties of CoCl2 in concentrated saline

18Oct98 - Artwork from Destry's drawing marathon in NYC

25Oct98 - What's that thing on Natasha's door? And what's that softw^D^D^D^D^D thing Aaron's been working on?

1Nov98 - We watched Matt's video starring Patti, we played with the camcorder, and then there was a pinata for Matt's birthday!

8Nov98 - A word game by Donald x (sorry no details, sworn to secrecy).

15Nov98 - No meal.

22Nov98 - Hey, there's a green spot on the map. Let's go see what it is! (a park near Chubbs & Joyce's new home in Pinole)

29Nov98 - Filling in more space on the mural at Tasha's place.

6Dec98 - Birthday cake for Aaron!

13Dec98 - Trimming the Christmas tree.

20Dec98 - No entertainment (other than hosting Aaron's dad, Al).

27Dec98 - No dinner.

3Jan99 - Tea bag balloons

10Jan99 - Poetry and short story readings.

17Jan99 - Can you fold a sheet of paper in half 8 times?

24Jan99 - Photos from Chubbs's and Joyce's trip to the Philippines.

31Jan99 -

7Feb99 - Watching an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy.

14Feb99 - Jagged Little Cake (dismembering the lovely pink heart-shaped cake for Valentine's Day).

21Feb99 - Knife sharpening! no, really...

28Feb99 - A book exchange.

7Mar99 - A Donald X glyph game.

14Mar99 - mystery missives.

21Mar99 - Shaving Destry's head.

28Mar99 - Watching Teletubbies and Barney.

4Apr99 - Viewing a model of the house Robert designed.

11Apr99 -

18Apr99 - Relieving Chubbs of possessions before his big move to the Philippines(!)

25Apr99 - What can you do with popsicle sticks and a hot glue gun?

2May99 - The Simp^D^D^DMarginals sing the blues

9May99 - Edible entertainment: chocolate fondue

16May99 - A memorial to Shel Silverstein (readings from Where the Sidewalk Ends)

23May99 - Meet my (Lou's) parents at my graduation party :-)

30May99 - Meet Simon the Aussie (learn about tucka, roobahs, etc.)

6Jun99 - Crafting icosahedral art objects

13Jun99 - Tug o' war!!! Jos bought some really fat rope from the hardware store and we tugged of war.

20Jun99 - Listened to Buddy Conner and the Edwards Street Ensemble in a live performance

27Jun99 - A digital camera shoot for Chubbs, who's in the Philippines

4Jul99 - Watching fireworks at the Berkeley Marina

11Jul99 - A screening of our friend Danny Yoon's film, "Post Concussion"

18Jul99 - Retiring an American flag

25Jul99 - Readings from Miss Manners

1Aug99 - Watching Buena Vista Social Club

8Aug99 - Watching "Coriolanus" in the park.

15Aug99 -

22Aug99 -

29Aug99 - Tonight's theme: songs about food

5Sep99 - What are these things? blech, very bitter. oh wait, they're cocoa beans!

12Sep99 - Hello.

19Sep99 - I asked everyone to make a list of 5-10 things they'd like to do during their earthly existence.

26Sep99 - Housewarming dinner and dance at The Knit^D^D^D^DPaper Factory.

3Oct99 - Let's strrrrrretch. Everybody!     [crack] ahhhhhhhhhh.

10Oct99 - Pictures from Jeff's journey to see the eclipse in Turkey.

17Oct99 - Did we play The $100,000 Pyramid?

24Oct99 - Nope, not Prince Rupert's Tears, nor blown sugar. Instead, another reading of Geoff Nunberg's essays.

31Oct99 - Trick or treat? (hint: not treat)

7Nov99 - A second screening of Danny's movie.

14Nov99 - Lost missives from Mattheus.

21Nov99 - Stained glass cookies (cut out sugar cookie shapes for frames, fill with crushed Lifesavers, and voila!)

28Nov99 - Origami elephants! (no animal races this time though)

5Dec99 - Ornamentos from Robert's Christmases of years past.

12Dec99 - More holiday cookies!

19Dec99 - Playing Apples to Apples at Jos's

26Dec99 - no dinner (too busy dodging mistletoe)

2Jan00 - no dinner (too busy dodging missiles)

9Jan00 - Playing Apples to Apples at Matt's (who didn't know we'd played it at Jos's)

16Jan00 - A reading of a vignette written by my father about our first trip to the first Price Club, back in 1976.

23Jan00 - Looking at elementary school pictures of Jos and reading from her childhood book of elephant jokes.

30Jan00 - Recalling recent dreams (sorry about the pepper spray, Matt)

6Feb00 - A Stuff Swap

13Feb00 - A reading from Giant Robot Magazine (issue 9) about having the same Chinese name as Martin Yan (yikes!)

20Feb00 - Pictures from Curtis's and Aimee's time in Nepal

27Feb00 - Readings of personals ads from Madras

5Mar00 - Making pipecleaner + cottonball sheep

12Mar00 - Mattheus showed us his autobiographical short film (on his new G4!)

19Mar00 - If it please the court, counsel (Heather) would like to read a sentence of one page in length, from her revered legal texts

26Mar00 - Watching the Academy Awards (I kid you not)

2Apr00 - Pictures from Jos's trip to the Philippines (to see Chubbs and Joyce) and to Hong Kong

9Apr00 - Do you remember your first kiss?

16Apr00 -

23Apr00 - We watched the lip synch contest from Palmer Station, featuring Stacey as Ken (q.v., Aqua)

30Apr00 - We watched a recording of the variety show put on by this past summer's crew at Palmer Station in Antarctica. Highlight: the glowing pickle demo

7May00 - We played The_Whole_Brain Game (my emphasis) and we had fun looking at Robert's book of 3D (blue/red) topo maps.

14May00 - Thinking about making linoleum cuts

21May00 - Recording our congratulations to Mattheus on his completion of his Master's degree from SF State, using the nifty digital video camera that a whole bunch of people bought for him

28May00 - Celebrating Mattheus's graduation and watching said video

4June00 - Gary offers his professional opinion

11June00 - A video about Art Cars

18June00 -

25June00 -

2July00 -

9July00 - Matt and Gary take us on their trip to France