SO! While talking to cousin Keith about why Forge is named Forge (after the X-Man, natch), I discovered that not only does he own the first ever comic book issue of X-Men and many others because he used to read the series, but he is disinterested in keeping them and said he would be willing to give them to me next time he sees me.

So I take back my comments from earlier, and I'm very grateful I didn't hide during the reunion.

Also, instead of getting drunk and cornering me, Uncle John got tipsy and mellow and talked to me about how much he used to love snakes when he was a boy. Since I love snakes too, and want one when I graduate, this worked out really well. We discussed pros and cons of different species. It went surprisingly well!

To-morrow is the parish picnic, which is exciting because I helped pick out the music for it as part of my internship at the church. We're going to be singing a bunch of my favourite hymns. Also, the picnic is at the restored Landis House, which is a historical farmhouse that belonged to one of our former (deceased) parishioners. It is really gorgeous, and the caretaker took the gutted barn foundation and turned it into a swimming pool by lining the whole thing with cement. He works on it all spring and summer just for the picnic so that people can swim in it. It's fed by mountain stream, which means that if we don't have the picnic in the hottest part of the summer, it's so cold it freezes your limbs off, but it's kind of worth it, even in late June.

I really need an X-Men icon. >_>