Elected to Senate... I think

I've been sitting in on a lot of Senate sessions recently. I've noticed there is at least one seat that is always empty. Finally someone decides to have an emergency vote for a new Senator to take that seat. Out of pure whynottitude, I volunteer as a candidate, and before you know it, they've voted me in, even though nobody particularly knows who I am.

I go home that night and check Wikipedia to see if it says that I'm a Senator, but I can't find anything mentioned. The next morning I drive in and look for a parking spot near the congress building (didn't particularly look like the Capitol). I can't really find any non-reserved parking. Some guy comes up and asks who I am and I tell him I'm that new Senator, but he's drawing a blank. I wonder if my memory was faulty and I had really been elected a state senator, and decide I should drive over to the state's assembly building and check.

Dad's reunion with The Monkees

Dad, in order to protest "the war" in the 70's, joined The Monkees. In the Wikipedia article, he is mentioned together with some other guy who was also only a minor member of the six-man band. I was naturally surprised that dad had managed to keep this from us for all these years.

All six of them, along with some family, were sitting around outdoors in chairs, which were arranged in an L-shaped pattern around/under a large oakish tree, at some kind of banquet event. I went and loaded up on stuff out of the buffet.