Friday, Saturday Recap
Friday night turned into a nice evening for us. We had to stop at the casino, because Vinny had left his ID there a couple of weeks ago when Rob Lemon played @HOME. This was quite interesting. It seems that the security guard position at Ameristar does not require a high school education or an IQ above 25. It took over an hour to get a number of guards to even understand what we were looking for and how we could get it back. Finally, the obvious “leader” of these security men surfaced and all was well.
We ended up going to Sugar Lounge on Washington Avenue to see friends. I really like this place. It is much smaller than KYO but it is a cool setup. The hip hop/dance mashup was fun. All in all, the place is great. The police barracade on Jefferson Avenue was not. Good thing we did not have to go through it to go home. I had not drank, anyway. Memorial Weekend? You are just asking for it.
Today we got up and decided to do absolutely nothing. I am not like this ever. If I am at home, I am cleaning or doing yardwork. But today–nothing. I watched meaningless tv and ate fast food and it was great. I guess sometimes you just have to have a day of NOTHING. Don’t you think it is good for the soul, the psyche? Plus, this IS a holiday weekend; we get a pass. It was a little difficult to get myself up to shower in time for dinner, but Mexican food was calling and so was my stomach.
Food was good at Pueblo Solis (enchiladas are wonderful). We had a lovely evening with the Gows. They are doing well, thank you for asking. We had not been able to get together with them for a while, so it was nice catching up on each other’s lives. There is something to be said about taking a moment out of your busy schedules to sit and catch up with friends. We all got the giggles after a little bit but we were also tired, so onward home it was.
The finale of this wonderful Saturday evening was a nice little fire in our fire pit. Being the girl scout that I am, a fire was burning in no time. We have a great back yard with a nice patio and isn’t wonderful to get into your pjs and relax at home??? We snuggled, roasted marshmallows and looked up at the stars. The sky is so vast even when you live on Big Bend.
NIce. Relaxing.
Good night!
Bring on the buns!
This weekend is Memorial Weekend. I am sure you did not need to be told; you have your own plans. The lake? A barbeque? A weekend doing yardwork? Nah, probably not yard work. My daughter is going on her first float trip without me. I am nervous. Ok, I am more than nervous. I am learning, though, to let go. That is what everyone is telling me. Let go. It is only a day trip so I am going to try to handle myself. I have loaded her down with the essentials: twinkies, Mountain Dew (“this is a special trip!”, she said. I don’t give her Mountain Dew), doritos, sunscreen, plenty of towels. I know once she is the hands of the other parents, my job is done. The sunscreen, towels, rivershoes probably won’t make it to the river with her. The Mountain Dew will.
This event leads me to question my thoughts for the weekend. What am I doing? Why can’t I seem to get a group together to do anything anymore? I guess we are all growing, or I suppose we have all grown already. Grown past the need or want to get up, out of the house get things ready and just GO. I have been asking everyone I know. Alot of people weren’t even aware that a big weekend was coming up. Sigh.
I know that I will not do any yard work this weekend, just to prove a point to myself. Not that I don’t enjoy my yard; I actually love being in my yard. But Memeorial Weekend brings the thought of sun, fun, water, and the smell of grills smoking away throughout the land. Why should I be the one to change such a tradition?
And so, I too, will be grilling away this weekend. If only in my own back yard. I will allow myself one simple summer luxury; a baby pool, bought at Target and set up right next to the blender on my back porch.
~Jess
The Taco Bell incident of ’08
Ok, so… i’m not proud of what I did. I won’t even get into the details of it. All I’m going to do is offer a suggestion to all of you out there. If you and your spouse ever get into a situation where you are throwing things at each other, I highly recommend never doing it with Taco Bell. Here’s why:
1) The taco bell wrappers aren’t exactly meant to stay closed. So when you throw a taco at someone, even if it’s still in the wrapper, it literally explodes in slow motion.
2) When you eat a taco from taco bell, it never seems like they give you a lot of food. To the contrarty, an average taco is actually jam packed with things that will be next to impossible to get out of your floor tiles, door hinges, stairs, trim, mirrors, sinks, plants and ceiling. Have you ever tried to pick lettuce covered with sour cream out of the side crack of your floor trim? I highly recommend against it.
Alive Magazine Article
Hi Guys! I wanted to post a copy of my feature in the May 2008 issue of Alive Magazine in case any of you missed it. 
Random
It’s 10am and I’m trying to think of something clever to write.. Instead, I’m just going to write about completely random things that just happen to be on my mind at the moment.
First, does anyone else think that Dwight from the office is really weird??
Next, Sphere by Michael Crichton is a kick ass book. The movie sucked so bad I almost didn’t read the book. The book is phenomenal though. I highly recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in time dilation and special relativity, black holes, artificial intelligence and the profoundly negative ways in which people’s own minds shape their own versions of reality as a way of protecting themselves against their own fears.
Finally, for anyone who watches Lost, I have a theory about the enormous EMP that Desmond set off. When the Dharma initiative came to the island, the EMP was purposely installed as a failsafe in the event that the island was ever taken over (or something catastrophic happened). If someone wasn’t there to regularly enter the numbers, the EMP would be set off, causing a complete disruption in all incoming and outgoing communications with the island, effectively making the island lost forever. I also think that “the others” have found a way to use the island’s time dilation properties as a way of jumping in and out of which ever time periods they choose. That would explain why Ben’s #2 (I can’t remember his name) was able to go back in time and visit John Locke during his early childhood years.
That’s all for now.
P.s. My new favorite track: Above & Beyond – Far From In Love (Oliver Smith Late Night Dub)
- Vinny
Am I forgetting what it is like to be 14????
Today my daughter did not go to school. A common occurrence right now. I know as she grew through the years, I thought I prepared myself for the ‘Teenage Angst Years”. But her at the age of 12 hit me like a ton of bricks. Each year since then has just snowballed into a frenetic cloud of “hopelessness”. (Her words!) Was I constantly whining about everything like this? Did I suddenly hate my mom and wish her every kind of death there is?
Probably. Most definitely.
I, too, was old enough to take care of myself at the ripe age of 14 ( or so I thought). But here I look at my daughter every day and think, she can’t even get up for school; how could she think she is old enough to live without me? I know these are hormones, but it still stings when she says she hates me and will leave and never look back when she gets a chance.
I personally think it is a little bit worse these days because they get everything they want and have no responsibilities. I ask her to put away clothes; she acts like it will kill her. Is it too much to want her to rinse off a dish? (Am I sweating the small stuff??)
And so, daughter, I am writing this as a way to blow off steam without letting you know. You are going through your own heartaches. Chores, homework, being too young for some things and too old for others. Boy troubles; looking “in” and not “out”. I will be writing my own angst at times, hoping that as you grow through this coming high school year, you will find out that you need me more than you ever thought.
Maybe one day you will have kids of your own…….
If you know me, then you understand me…
Ok, so this is my thought today. I am very excited to know that Armin van Buuren is in a couple of weeks. I have had the honor to hear him live several times in several places. The music he chooses to shower upon us is so relaxing and sun shiny to me. How can anyone not want to witness such an event???? Armin van Buuren is better than Prozac. If you have heard him out, you know what I am talking about. Now I know that you may be saying, “But I have to work the next morning, blah blah blah.” Here is my thinking on this; One day you are going to wake up and realize that you are 65 years old and cannot walk well or are on heart medication or whatever. I hope that you can look back on your life and think, “I did the most I could. I saw the most I could. I lived the most I could.” Do you share the same love for music as you do working 8-5 every freaking day, doing the same thing every day? Doesn’t your brain deserve a serotonin rush???? Music does this for us. Music goes through our soul and lets us know that the sun is always shining inside of us. Armin van Buuren enjoys what he does. He brings us joy through music. He brings us together as friends so that we can share a universal language: music.
So are you with me or what???????? Send me a note and let me know. It would be great to share this experience with the people I love most.
Jess
