Christmas Memories

I didn’t get to have the family Christmas this year because work kept me captive.  It wasn’t pleasant but it’ll never happen again if I can help it.  So instead of rushing from one family gathering to another I took the day off and tried to relax.  Between phone calls from family I thought about the Christmas memories.  That’s where Christmas is this year, in that Palace of Memory.  Here’s a few selected memories in no particular order.

I remember being in the Christmas pageant at Grace United Methodist.  I was a shepherd one year and I felt proud even though I was one of maybe five shepherds.  I don’t remember the actual performance.  It must  not have been too bad and I have a tendency to sort of black out memories of being in front of crowds.  The next year I was given the part of Joseph.  It was probably because nobody else wanted it but that didn’t matter to me then or now.  The chance to have an important part overpowered my stage fright.  I remember walking up and then ducking into a side room with “Mary” where she was handed an actual baby.  Jesus might have been a girl that year but nobody could tell the difference.  I just stared at that baby.  It kept me from looking at the crowd and hey, Joseph was probably staring at the kid and going “Holy crap, that’s God’s kid.”  That and handing out cigars to kings, shepherds and farm animals.

Croissants are very tied into Christmas for me.  Nobody wanted to cook on Christmas morning.  I mean what with getting up and getting everybody together nobody ever wants to work over a stove. (Although my mom cooked last Christmas. Thanks mom!) So we’d get croissants which was something we could all get behind.  Croissants and pecan rolls.  Run them through a microwave or a toaster oven and they’re hot and taste extra fresh.   I think about that sometimes when I bite into a croissant.

I remember how our various cats would react to Christmas trees.  They would freak, of course.  Imagine defining a tree as being an outside object and then encountering it inside.  That’s how I always thought of it.  Hanging anything on the lower branches made it a target.  Those crazy cats would bat at anything they could reach so the unbreakable stuff was all for the bottom branches.

Christmas trees were always interesting.  They couldn’t be put up without everybody in the family there. Even if the last family member would not arrive until the 24th, the tree would sit outside in the cold and wait.  My brother and I have been sent twice at the 11th hour to get a tree.  One year my brother and I went out on the 23rd and found the sorriest tree we ever did have.  It was the last tree on the lot and the nursery was glad to be rid of it because it meant they could go home.  Turned toward the wall it wasn’t that bad.  Last year we were sent on the 24th on another tree search.  We couldn’t find a tree after three stops so we gave up.

I look forward to next Christmas where I’ll make more memories.  Hope everybody had a Merry Christmas.  While mine was not nearly what I wanted, it wasn’t that horrible.

Adventure in the Forests

Sabin de Lasartesse looked up at the nearly full moon as his horse carried him toward his destination.  It was a hell of a time of the night for a meeting but this when the tip had said.  Kaman was an annoying, wily bard but at least he usually gave out decent jobs.  Although, now that Sabin thought about it, the last one had ended badly.  He suddenly wondered if he should turn back and look for other work in the morning.  At the last moment he decided that if he was this far he might as well keep going and see what Kaman had gotten him into.  He began to look and listen for some sign of whoever he was supposed to meet up here.

A few minutes later he saw a fire among the trees.  Why they were out here in this godforsaken forest instead of a warm inn was beyond Sabin.  He was within a few yards of the fire when he felt himself suddenly leave his saddle.  For a moment he thought he was floating in the air but soon realized that he was being held there by a massive man clad in animal skins and holding a huge axe in the other hand.  His hands free, Sabin drew his twin rapiers and pressed the tips to the behemoth’s neck.

A deep voice eminated from the giant of a man. “Who are you?”

“Let me go!” Sabin responded.  The stench of the animal skins momentarily made his vision swim.

“You tell me who you are or I crush you… or skin you.  I haven’t decided”

“Let me go or-”

The man interrupted “Just tell me who you are!”

Sabin took as deep a breath as the man’s grip on him allowed.  ”Sabin deHavilland”

The man let out a bellowing laugh that revealed that part of the bad smell was his breath as well. “Why didn’t you say so?”  He dropped Sabin who momentarily landed on his feet only to fall onto his butt in surprise.  This, of course, caused the strange man to laugh loudly again.  It was a wonder he didn’t alert every beast in the forest.  ”I’m Jorgan of the Far Hills and I’m one you were meant to meet.”

Sabin was stunned. “You!?  I was meant to met a stinky barbarian in the woods?  I thought this was adventure for fame and profit.” Jorgan laughed again, a sound Sabin was quickly beginning to grow tired of.  Sabin sheathed his swords and dusted himself off once he had gotten to his feet.  He looked for his horse, fearing in the craziness that she may have run away.  However, when he turned around there was a young woman holding onto the horse at the limits of the light of the fire.

“Don’t underestimate dear Jorgan.  He has served me well these long years.”  The girl was all of 18 and quite a sight.  She wore loose robes and had long, long unbraided hair.  She seemed dainty but had a sense of strength about her.  Strangest of all she bore marks under each eyes, groups of black lines descending from each eye. (Much like mascara might run in our world).  She caught Sabin staring and smiled as she continued to pet and calm the horse.  ”Marks of my ancestors.  It helps to stay connected to my past.”

“If you’ll pardon me, miss, but it seems you’re too young to be about ‘all these years’ ”  Sabin watched her curiously.

She smiled. It was a half impish and half knowing expression.  ”My name is Somiel Moonfall and I take it you’ve never met a druid before.  Appearances can be deceiving.”

Sabin didn’t know what to make of that but he nodded anyway and took the reins of his horse gently and tied her up to a sturdy branch. “Perhaps not… but I have now.  What is this adventure we’re going on?”

Somiel smiled.  ”I will reveal all of our quest in the morning.  For now you should rest.”

Jorgan laughed again.  ”You’ll need it.”

<<End Part 1>>

Look for more parts as I figure out the story. Haha.

September 11

Ok. Bring down the lights. Give me the serious lights, fellas.  That’s right.  The serious lights.

Today is still September 11.  Yeah, that infamous day.  Here we go. Don’t hate me.

On September 11, 2001 I was just days into living in New Brunswick and going to Mason Gross.  In fact, it was the day of my first shop orientations.  I woke up and dragged my body out of bed and cursed whichever foul creature had created nine o’clock in the morning.  If I remember correctly, I met up with the three other production majors in my year at the Neilson Dining Hall.  I can’t remember what I ate. Probably lucky charms or scrambled eggs or something.   I’m pretty sure I didn’t skip breakfast that morning because I don’t remember eating until much, much later that day.

I distinctly remember coming down the path that went past the New Theater (does that have a proper name yet?) and I found myself walking behind a production major a year ahead of me whose name I can’t remember. Natasha something, I think.  All I remember is she was the ultimate girly girl and extremely atypical of our subset.  I remember being caught downwind of her perfume trail and gagging.  I thought she must be an actress with her designer jeans, platinum blonde hair and Pigpen-style perfume cloud.   For some reason that image is burned into my mind. Go figure.

Moving on, we went into the shops.  This is where I truly had my first meetings with Tim Pickens the Technical Director, Emily the Electrician (and a harsh mistress, I’d find) and all the rest of the shop heads.  We had to fill out a checklist of shops and topics that each shop head had to cover.  It helped get through the monotonous safety stuff.  I started to notice the various troublemakers and smartasses who would later be my friends.  Funny how I attract those types.

Our last stop was the costume shop.  I kind of dreaded this because I was never really good at costuming.  I mean, I can recognize a good outfit for a character but fashion obviously isn’t my thing.  In every other shop we just listened to a lecture but in this shop we actually had to be hands on.  We had to thread a sewing machine which, at this point, I had never done.  Of course, I was fairly nervous especially since there was a fricking audience.  I got it done, though.  In retrospect it wasn’t that hard.

The thing about the costume shop is that the radio was always on. Always.  Everytime I passed it there was some sort of music going on.  But, while we were in the costume shop that morning, the music suddenly stopped and the talking started.  Slowly the crowd was drawn in by the words on the radio.  Some sort of attack on the World Trade Center.  Chris Klinger aka Superman (to his friends) was suddenly a mess.  We were all shocked but he was frantic.  Meredith was able to get out of him that his father worked at the World Trade Center.  We didn’t know what to say or at least I didn’t.

Shop orientations were obviously closed and I heard that people were gathering in the New Theater.  This was the first time I saw Rudy Veltre in action.  The old roadie wheeled a tv in front of the stage and began to search for a television station, any station, that would tell us what was happening.  The only station still coming in was Univision and although I know Spanish, none of it was registering.  Rudy turned down the sound and found a radio station that was coming from near Manhattan.  So we watched Univision as we listened to radio updates.  Eventually, we couldn’t stand to be in that theater so we walked outside. Chris was dragging along with us, barely there.

We got to Voorhees Residence Hall (oh sure, put a bunch of teens in a dorm with *that* name).  I didn’t live there but Chris and Brian did, I think.  The whole lobby was watching the news on tv and we saw that the second tower had fallen now.  People were talking bombs but the news pretty much put that to rest quickly.  Chris came in from outside and excitedly told us that his father had been late for work that day.  He lived.  Eventually, I had to get out of there.  I felt numb.

I found my way back to my dorm room and I switched on the tv.  I watched a few minutes of news and then I thought better of it and switched over to Cartoon Network.  I sat there and I watched cartoons instead.   From that moment on I told myself I would try not to see the images of the towers falling again.  And it worked, I didn’t feel as sad as the people next to me.

And that’s just it.  I didn’t even realize September 11 had come up again.  Yesterday, I heard some guy on NPR talking about how he still feels a deep-seated need for vengeance.  As he spoke of this he started to cry.  I felt sorry for the guy. I felt sorry for him because he was clinging to death.  Call me a robot, call me insensitive, call me what you will but my philosophy is Never Forget… but for your own sake move on.  You can’t cling to the dead like that.  I find it morbid and pointless.  If anything, think of the good times.  It’s all about going from good time to good time.  Make them last, don’t dwell on the sad times.

Just one guy’s opinion.  Thanks.

Drawrings

During lectures in college was an excellent time to doodle.  While I waited for class to start or the professor to get to the point, I would often start drawing.  Here’s some of that.  I’ll probably post more.

A Flower

Some Dragons and Goblins

Armor

Sabin de Lasartesse

This is the character backstory for upcoming D&D adventures.  Sabin is a human fighter with a swordfighting leaning.

Sabin de Lasartesse was born to a family of great importance.  Or rather, it had been a family of great importance.  As generations had passed the family had been slowly stripped of title and wealth.  While still well off, the __ clan was far from its glory days.

Still, Gene de Lasartesse was able to to teach his five sons the family tradition of sword fighting.  Thrown in duel after duel with his brothers, Sabin was forced to either excel in his training or suffer humiliating defeat.  This high pressure training worked and soon he was matching his brothers’ skills with the blade. Even though they competed against one another everyday the brothers grew close.

So it was that Noah de Lasartesse got into a dispute with a neighbor and when words failed to satisfy they drew blades and dueled.  Noah fell to the neighbor’s blade and an enraged Sabin stepped in to avenge his brother.  Sabin struck a fatal blow, sending his enemy to his death.  However, Sabin had broken the local law and was forced to flee.

His only hope is to achieve such success that he raises his family’s status back to where it belongs.  With his home at his back he looks for that one golden opportunity.  If he helps people along the way, all the better.

Appearance: Sabin has blue eyes and dirty-blond hair about mid length that he ties back.  He keeps his beard and mustache well-trimmed.  He wears decent clothes and is embarassed when something is out of order.  He’s 6′ 2″ and is lean and fairly muscular.  All of his gear bears his family crest.

Traits: Sabin is brave and tries his best to be an honorable human being.  He tries to emulate all the heroes he read and heard about as a kid.  He is a true friend given a chance.

Disadvantages: Sabin definitely can have a temper when it comes to button issues.  Some examples: Family, Honor, his Intelligence.  He also isn’t exceptionally intelligent.

Appearance: Sabin has blue eyes and dirty-blond hair about mid length that he ties back.  He keeps his beard and mustache well-trimmed.  He wears decent clothes and is embarassed when something is out of order.  He’s 6′ 2″ and is lean and fairly muscular.  All of his gear bears his family crest.

Traits: Sabin is brave and tries his best to be an honorable human being.  He tries to emulate all the heroes he read and heard about as a kid.  He is a true friend given a chance.

Disadvantages: Sabin definitely can have a temper when it comes to button issues.  Some examples: Family, Honor, his Intelligence.  He also isn’t exceptionally intelligent.

All 50 States

A friend of mine, Eric, went through the 50 states to count how many he’d officially visited.  The rules seem to be that you have to be there for longer than an hour and not just driving through or flying over.  So it kind of has to be a state that you’ve actually done something in.  So here’s that list.

Arizona – My uncle used to live in Tuscon where we visited.  Beyond that, my family used to climb mountains outside of Phoenix.

California – I went on a trip to San Francisco with my dad once.  I remember getting an ear infection but really loving the sights, especially Alcatraz.

Colorado – I’ve been to Boulder several times on trips to visit property my parents owned or co-owned. My memory is

Connecticut – I briefly visited Storr, Connecticut in order to interview for admission to University of Connecticut.

Delaware – My family used to visit an Aunt Jane in Delaware which is where I got my first cat and my first Game Boy.

Florida – I’ve been to Disney World once or twice and also one trip with my brother and my dad to the Florida Keys.

Georgia – I’ve visited family in Macon and seen ancestral haunts in Washington, Georgia.

Illinois – I visited Chicago for another interview to get into

Maryland – I lived here for my first 18 years of life.

Massachusetts – I have attended a wedding outside of Boston and a wedding in Nantucket.

Michigan – I took a road trip up to Detroit and then further up to Mackinaw Island.

New Hampshire – There was a lake we went to here when I was a kid.

New Jersey – I went to Rutgers in New Brunswick and I currently live in Sussex.

New York – Countless visits to New York City and one visit to Buffalo.

North Carolina – Yeah, I’ve driven through NC a lot but I’ve slept here a lot too.

Ohio – Many visits to Barberton to visit relatives and one visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Pennsylvania – I lived in Pennsylvania for a few months, I attended summer camp in Greeley, I attended Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh and I’ve visited Philadelphia a lot.

South Carolina – I’ve visited my grandmother in Columbia during all of my life.

Vermont – We used to visit Woodstock on vacation and I toured with the circus up there.

Virginia – I took multiple field trips into Virginia.

Washington, DC – Too many trips to count but most noteable were: Playing cards on the national mall, dropping a car off in D.C. for the recent inauguration and attending a writing conference.

West Virginia – I lived and worked in West Virginia for close to a month.

Which brings the total to 22, I believe.

A friend of mine, Eric, went through the 50 states to count how many he’d officially visited.  The rules seem to be that you have to be there for longer than an hour and not just driving through or flying over.  So it kind of has to be a state that you’ve actually done something in.  So here’s that list.

Arizona – My uncle used to live in Tuscon where we visited.  Beyond that, my family used to climb mountains outside of Phoenix.

California – I went on a trip to San Francisco with my dad once.  I remember getting an ear infection but really loving the sights, especially Alcatraz.

Colorado – I’ve been to Boulder several times on trips to visit property my parents owned or co-owned. My memory is

Connecticut – I briefly visited Storr, Connecticut in order to interview for admission to University of Connecticut.

Delaware – My family used to visit an Aunt Jane in Delaware which is where I got my first cat and my first Game Boy.

Florida – I’ve been to Disney World once or twice and also one trip with my brother and my dad to the Florida Keys.

Georgia – I’ve visited family in Macon and seen ancestral haunts in Washington, Georgia.

Illinois – I visited Chicago for another interview to get into

Maryland – I lived here for my first 18 years of life.

Massachusetts – I have attended a wedding outside of Boston and a wedding in Nantucket.

Michigan – I took a road trip up to Detroit and then further up to Mackinaw Island.

New Hampshire – There was a lake we went to here when I was a kid.

New Jersey – I went to Rutgers in New Brunswick and I currently live in Sussex.

New York – Countless visits to New York City and one visit to Buffalo.

North Carolina – Yeah, I’ve driven through NC a lot but I’ve slept here a lot too.

Ohio – Many visits to Barberton to visit relatives and one visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Pennsylvania – I lived in Pennsylvania for a few months, I attended summer camp in Greeley, I attended Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh and I’ve visited Philadelphia a lot.

South Carolina – I’ve visited my grandmother in Columbia during all of my life.

Vermont – We used to visit Woodstock on vacation and I toured with the circus up there.

Virginia – I took multiple field trips into Virginia.

Washington, DC – Too many trips to count but most noteable were: Playing cards on the national mall, dropping a car off in D.C. for the recent inauguration and attending a writing conference.

West Virginia – I lived and worked in West Virginia for close to a month.

Which brings the total to 22, I believe.

My Music Collection

My Music Collection:
Episode 2 “Going Home”

This is part of an ongoing series where I explain why certain songs that I like are important to me. Music rules my life and powers me through the toughest day. So sit down and listen to some of my favorites.

This installment is full of songs that remind me of family and always feel like home to me.

King of the Road – Roger Miller

This song reminds me of how it was my mom and I against the world at one point in the early eighties. My mom was a single mother for a little while but she took amazing care of me. The song is just a song about being on the road and living hand to mouth and just getting by. My mom used to sing this to me as a lullaby so it will always hold a place in my heart.

Give Me Three Steps – Lynyrd Skynyrd

This song always reminds me of my mom and her college days and how to perservere. The song itself is about running away if given the slightest opening. The poor main character of the song has been caught at gunpoint and is begging for a reprieve. My mom was begging for a reprieve some nights doing work toward her law degree and hearing and singing along to that song made her feel better about it.

Satisfaction – The Rolling Stones

Well, really any Stones song will do it. I just picked one of their most prolific. At a very young age my dad trained me much like Pavlov did with his dogs. As we listened to the radio in the car my dad would ask “Who’s the greatest singer in the world?”. Was my answer Sinatra, Pavarotti, Lennon? Nope. I would enthusiastically answer “Mick Jagger!” And to this day, I still believe Jagger’s in the top 5. And every time I hear him sing I think of my dad.

Dancin’ Fool – Frank Zappa

Yeah, a Zappa song reminds me of a family member. That’s how interesting a bunch we are. My brother Alex is trained in the art of performance. (Sorry, Mr. Luthor, I know you prefer to be called Lex) He’s a great dancer and actor and has seemingly boundless energy. This song’s energy and enthuisiasm for dance and the goofiness are what remind me of my brother.

Whatever this is

And that’s my brother. Dancing to a J-rap song. Yep, he’s a genius at Stanford who probably has a 4.0 and a full scholarship and teaches classes at Stanford. Yes, that Stanford. Somehow this video makes me have faith that my brother isn’t a mindless robot.

Nantucket Trip Pt. 2

Okay. So, in this next part, the times are all too vague to actually write down because time ceased to exist. Or I didn’t look at the clock on my phone anymore. Either of those two excuses. So here are a series of events that happened.

- My brother Alex and I sat around in our guest room. We divided the beds up though, knowing us, it wasn’t with power saws. I got the bed on the floor and he got the proper one. We chatted for a while and debated whether or not we had time for naps.

- Naps cleverly averted by scheduling, we headed into town to get some late lunch and spend some birthday time with our mom. After realizing that most places on the water were quite closed we finally ate at a place called “The Tavern”. What they lost in an original name they won out in cooking a good burger. Halfway through the meal we switched waitresses too due to a shift change. Not a bad thing, just never had that happen before.

- Got back to the house and took showers and got dressed for the night. I always feel somewhat false in good clothes.

- We sit around waiting for the ladies to get ready. The groom and his groomsmen fool around in the front hall until they’re chased off so the bride can safely move around.

- Off to the wedding. We get three blocks before we realize that we have no idea how to get there. Through a combination of cell phone trickery and a call to the wedding planner we get the correct directions there.

- Chaos.

- Wedding pictures begin. Everybody seems to have a camera and they begin to snap pictures of everything and everyone, flashes are going off everywhere. It’s a total whirlwind of activity. There’s a literal whirlwind outside as the wind is gusting up something fierce.

- The rain starts right as the wedding starts. Nobody seems to care. All the ladies eyes are wet too and some of us guys got a little misty eyed too. The wedding went off with only a few hitches but nobody seemed to mind and instead laughed it off and kept going.

- Food! We all sit down to a meal which is very delicious. I had New England Clam Chowder (in Nantucket is simply called Chowder), Salad, Filet Mignon, Mashed Potatoes, Lobster Pasta and Asparagus. Then the wedding cake. The conversation was jovial except for talking about theater business which I really don’t like talking about. I like talking about the art more. The isenglass kept the wind off of us and space heaters kept us warm. I lost total track of time at this point.

- We drive through the storm back to the house. It’s around 11:30 or so when we get home. Not only was it raining when we got home but the sprinklers were on in the yard. I thought “the heck with it” and ran through the sprinklers and inside.

The Big Bang

I’m currently working on a show called “The Big Bang”, it’s a musical comedy that makes fun of history and musical theater. If you ever have the chance to catch a production of it, do so. Hopefully that production will make you laugh as much as the one I’m doing will. And if you live in the New York/New Jersey/Pennsylvania area then come see our production!

I stumbled across this guy who took guerilla-style footage of our theater while looking for other productions of The Big Bang. This is so cool.

Trip Diary: Nantucket Pt 1

I was invited to a wedding and my mom’s birthday up in Nantucket, MA for Monday and I decided to give you a taste of what it’s like to be me. This is part 1.

6 PM (6/21/09) -       Done with the performance and photo call for the day.  The equipment is powered down, the lights are out and the doors are locked.  Faced with packing and planning.  Would I be any less on edge if I had known my plans earlier? I do not know.  Will wind down and then get back to work.

1 AM (6/22/09)   -     I need to get to sleep very, very soon.  Anyway you slice it, tomorrow morning is going to suck.  It’s going to suck big time.  All for the greater good.

6:15 AM -  I stumble out of bed and as I suspected it’s bad.  Need crowbars to open my eyes but I’ll settle for some caffeine and adrenaline.  Time for a shower.

6:49 AM – I’m driving!  Always feels good to start the trip.  Calms my nerves to actually be making progress.  First full song on the radio is “Call Me the Breeze” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Couldn’t think of a more suitable song for driving.

7 AM  – Realities of the drive set in and I realize there’s another hour to go if I don’t hit major traffic.  I am confused why AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” has not played yet.  I am headed toward Newark afterall.  Ah well, the wheels on the car go round and round.

8 AM – Minimal traffic means I arrive in the parking garage way earlier than I expected.  I wistfully think that I probably could have slept another 45 minutes.  Then I decide to think of more pleasant things while I put my tie on while humming U2′s “Vertigo”. Security is next.

8:20 AM – I have made it through security.  Who, despite what I have heard, were very helpful.  Tips to get through security: 1. Wear a tie (probably should be a dude for this) 2. Be a coherent, intelligent individual.  That’s it.  The woman in front of me had a pint of perfume and several lotions.  I did not see what became of her.

8:30 AM – I finally calm down enough to eat.  I’m enjoying a Sausage, Egg and Cheese McGriddle.  Who would have thought that the kid who used to eat everything in sequence with military precision would enjoy this mish mash so much.  Then again I, I enjoy scrapple so my sanity is already in question.

8:40 AM – Yes, the food didn’t last that long.  I’m sitting at the gate a full 2 hours before my flight and I think I’ll read a book.

8:40 AM - 10:45 AM – Reading aforementioned book and exchanging texts with Alex.  Both of us are sending texts to our brother who is not attending the wedding or the day of our mother’s birth.  We sincerely hope that the texts woke him up and did not allow him to get back to sleep.

10:45 AM – I board the plane.  The gate changed overnight from C97 to C99 and there was a last minute change that moved the gate all the way up to C95.  As this group has the gates seven feet apart from each other in a semi circle, this was not a problem.  I walk onto the crosswalk as to not get chopped up or bowled over by the Matchbox cars that carry the luggage.  I climb aboard the plane and note that my seat is 3D, which is hilarious to pro-wrestling fans. I promise.

Noon – I’ve not flown for something near to 8 years.  I realize now why this was a good idea.  I can feel every pocket of air hitting our plane.  Don’t look down!  I nurse the coke the nice stewardess brought me while listening to my FauxPod and I thank the powers that be that I did not die on take off and leave a pro-wrestling reference as my last written thought.

12:30 PM – Landing was rough.  40 mph winds with a bit of rain.  Let’s just say that we tilted and then we bounced.  Mom and Len were there to meet me in the windswept parking lot.

12:45 PM -  Mom promptly gets lost trying to find the pharmacy, inadvertently giving me a tour of Nantucket.  She tells me startling tales of our geneology.  We finally stop at the pharmacy to pick up a few things and kill time waiting on Alex to land.

1:30 PM – Alex shows up and has as rough a landing as I did.  He says he liked it.  He’s crazy.

2:00 PM – Bass fishing video. Yeah.

2:20 PM – Small birthday party for mom.  She’s happy with all of her gifts.  Obviously, I’m concentrated more on my mom’s birthday than the wedding at the moment.  Give me a break, she’s the only mom I’ve got.

More to follow… I won’t leave it at a mere 20 hours.  Next episode we get to the wedding.  Too tired to continue typing at the moment.