I was told I didn't have to give credit, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention my cousin David actually sent me this story. ...and yes, he knows I'm using it, or was at least planning to. And he might read it too, since Denton outed me last weekend as a blogger.
I'm not sure why I even care, but I have an easier time of virtual strangers reading about my ramblings of life than people I know (of course Becca, Morty, Jon and Dith excluded). Denton barely reads my blog. His excuse is: he has to live it. Fair enough.
But David claims to dig it, and that makes me feel good. You know I'm alllll about the validation. It is possible some opinions mean more to me than others. I'm just sayin'.........
Anyways, back to the post.
You know I love stories of the absurd and this one doesn't fail to disappoint. This one has everything: the causeway to Key West, an ex-husband, a new boyfriend, a moving vehicle, DUIs, suspended licenses, and a very steady hand - and spread legs. And a ziz, of course.
I'm not a big ziz fan. No, really, it's true. But I'm thinking the only thing that would make the story better is if she were waxing, and downshifting. At the same time.
If convicted, she might get a year in the clink (Hoooogan!)
Yes, Blobby is still struggling with a little Blogger's Block. Whatta gonna do? I'm not just not that exciting these days.
Possibly a little down too.
I'm struggling with yoga and well, my weight. Nothing huge, but disheartening none the less.
Now that I'm done with physical therapy, I'm trying to get back into yoga. The scheduled times just seems to conflict with a few happy hours. What's that about? Clearly I've been choosing the happy hour over the work-out hour. I mean, I'm still doing my four times per week cardio and weight routines.
I did go to yoga last night and while my back is fine with it, my flexibility and balance are all kaflooey. I feel like I'm back at square one - and I'm not a happy camper about it. It is probably not as bad as I feel it is, but despite what most people say, my feelings are valid.
And there's the weight thing. How is it I've gained 4-6 lbs in the last month? It fucking took me 8 months to lose 17 lbs and now I'm on the upward curve. If I keep on this track, I'll gain the rest of that 11 pounds back in now time and keep adding to it.
Yes, one could make the argument that not doing yoga and doing happy hour is the cause, but it's not. I'm really not drinking a lot at all, or more often even. I'm just looking for an excuse. Maybe now that I can start spinning again will help control some of this.
I've cut back on my sugar intake and increased fruits in the last two months, but........what the fuck, people?
Yes, I've increased the amount of weights I'm lifting, but I'm not gaining that much more muscle mass (though even I am liking the look of my upper arms as I'm lifting. Yes, I'm vain).
So, when I got home last night, I was feeling a little blue. I should have never gotten on that scale.
Ruckiry (not Jon's boss), I had a chat with my cousin, David after my yoga workout. The man kills me. This is just one of the messages I got from him (and yes, we go to separate gyms):
I was in the hot tub at the gym and this woman next to me spent 5 minutes describing how a space ship was hovering over her house. The she looks at me and says, the STRANGE thing was that it didn't park in the driveway.
Even for his eccentricities, he couldn't make this up. It would have been so much funnier to be there with him while this conversation was going on. I wonder if we could have held it in check, but I'm assuming not.
Two hearts beat as one - so says U2, back when they weren't corporate tools.
The two hearts that got these two pieces of candy were my cousins, David and Bill. I thought it would be fun to ask them to be my valentine.
I did it at lunch the other day - and they accepted!!! Those boys (43 and 63 respectively) are crazy-ass motherfuckers. Sorry for going blue.
I'm not a horribly shy or mute person - ask just about anyone. But getting a word in edge-wise with those two is a frickin' chore. It's a good thing they make it fun to listen to them and that they are funny.
Oh, the poor waitress and anyone sitting around us. The conversation was (and always is) borderline inappropriate at best. Let's just say it started out with David asking Bill how his Viagra was doing - and then it deteriorated from there.
I got a kick out of David addressing Bill and saying, "you know, your brother....". He never said, "you know, my father.....". Like he was distancing himself from that relationship. Naturally I pointed it out, more to Bill's amusement than David's - not that he was offended or anything.
David really wants to see my parents again, but I just don't know how that would all go down. I don't mind David at all - actually, I love him and how he is. But if my parents think I'm a bit much (and they do), I don't know how they'd take him - and I don't think David has a self-censor mode and would be what my parent's might have issues with.
But enough of that for now. It's valentine's day - enjoy it. I have mine, they just happen to be my cousins.
I feelin' bad for one of my sisters and brother-in-laws. They can't seem to catch a break when it comes to their kids.
You might remember me mentioning my nephew's thoracic surgery in December. Well, his sister went back to college and on day three of the new semester, fell out of her bed - which happened to be the top bunk.
Unfortunately, she was asleep when it happened (and no, she was not drunk), so she didn't know to try to break her fall - and didn't.
The description of it made me cringe - I can't imagine it actually happening to me. Well, I guess I can, which is why I cringed.
That in itself would have been bad and painful enough, but it doesn't end there. In the fall, she dislodged a kidney stone. Can you believe that?
She was so incapacitated when it was realized, she had to be taken by EMTs from her class the next day. From the school infirmary to the hospital. With a week of being no better and with the stone around 5mm, she was back in the hospital yesterday. A stone that size is too big to pass.
The doctor and staff have been great and did extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy on her. Within an hour, she was back in her dorm. The stone hasn't passed as of this morning, but probably will in the next 24 hours.
I feel bad for her for any number of reasons. One is that she had to go through this alone, basically. Her RA and friends at school have been with her throughout most of her ordeal. My sister owes them big time. iTunes gift cards and cookies/brownie packages. I know the head of Residence Halls got a nice letter about the RA.
In a way, it's a good thing. She has learned to deal with something like this on her own. She's growing up fast and in touch circumstances.
The second reason it sucks is that she will have kidney stones all her life. This is just the first go-round. Her father has them and I have seen him in excruciating pain. When one stone passed, it is amazingly no larger than a grain of sand. Stone, my ass! But you'd think someone was stabbing him over and over.
Unfortunately, Katie has seen her father in this state too, so she knows what is to come for the rest of her days. That's a horrible thing to live with.
But she's good....or will be. She's surely better than she was.
Not much to say today. I'm late for a post, as I normally post a few hours earlier. But hey, it keeps you on your toes. Ya gotta want it!
But fall the other day has caused repercussions throughout my body. I should have assumed it would, but there is that optimist in me (or king of denial) that thought maybe the pain would be localized to my tush-area.
My cousin, David, left a Facebook message for me that had the word 'coccyx' in it. The man is just looking for that edge to get a rise out of me, or to spur some downward spiral conversation for all to see. He does this a lot. I'm not biting.
However, he has a point. I'm 94% sure that's what I've hit and it has reverberated up my spine in the last day or so. Yes, my tailbone area is still very very sore, but not as sore as my shoulder blade area and neck. Whatever trauma I did to that butt-area did a nice job up the spinal column.
So, I'm a bit out of sorts. No gym yesterday or today. No lifting. No sit-ups (ouch!). No two hour spin class (OUCH!). Just resting. My big plans to de-holiday-ize the house are out the door right now. I can't lift that much or travel up and down stairs easily with full boxes - and someone else isn't home this weekend. It'll have to wait until he gets home.
And there is supposed to be like 6" of snow today before he gets home. He's frickin' nuts if he thinks I'm going out to the driveway to clear it for his return.
I suppose one can celebrate xmas without believing in X, right? I mean, I have for years. And by years, I mean decades. It's all about taking time to relax and have fun with friends and family. Kind of in that order. Family makes it all that more tense sometimes.
But today, we'll get up late (for us) and kick back until mid-morning before we even think about gift exchange. We will make breakfast first - and go all out on it. No cereal or oatmeal for us. We're attempting eggs benedict.
Everyone celebrates differently and however you do it, enjoy your day and your holiday.
Yesterday, my 16 year old nephew had thoracic surgery. This was mainly due to two separate spontaneous pneumothoraxes. Obviously, everyone was hoping for some non-surgical fix, but it was not to be.
So, he had minimally invasive surgery - three holes on the one side of his body, one being for the camera. Cool. I told him "chicks dig scars", but I don't think he cares - and clearly I have no real way of knowing this.....not first hand.
Actually he was so calm about the entire thing, I was quite proud. He was way more freaked out by the idea of getting the IV. I used to be that guy way back when too.
They took him in and removed a part of his lower lobe and then stapled something to something. Two hours later he was in recovery. He was out but not out. Couldn't open his eyes (or wouldn't) but could hear most everything and would pipe up with a comment now and again. I used to be that guy way back when too.
He doesn't know it, but I snapped some pics of him while he was out. They'll be fun to torture him with later. ...and no, I will not post them here.
He'll be fine. He'll be in mucho pain the next few days, but he's getting quality drugs: dilaudid for starters! NICE! He won't realize that until later, if he's anything like me.....and he is.
I have mentioned here my cousin, David. I have also mentioned that he is a little nutso.....and that is a good thing. I appreciate it in him and Denton noticed some mannerisms in David that he sees in me, which I don't think I really want to go into.
The phrase Denton uttered was the oft used / apple / tree / falling / certain distance/ reference. I kind of like that, even separated by decades of not seeing each other, that our relations are still tied closely together.
The apple reference is also important to this post in another way. The other day I got an email from David saying, "I saw this and thought of you....."It is a little on-line story worthy of CSI: Stockholm. (I'll wait while you go read it........)
tick
tick
tick
are you back yet?
I started my reply back with, "note to self: don't eat the fallen fermented apples...", then I kind of shifted gears and said, "wait, you saw this story and 'thought of me'???"
His reply was great: "When I read this story I thought only you could end up being accused of something so stupid only to be vindicated by alcohol and deer pubic hair after waiting 5 months. I thought of you because it seems to crazy and the fact that the government would take 5 months to release the data, well, who else can I share that with. Also, you have a big enough yard to have an apple tree so don't plant one."
So, I lovingly call David "nutso", but in reality, if I'm the only person he can share that with - what does that say about me?
Denton was probably closer to saying that than I was picking up on.
It was just a whim, but David (my cousin) called and said he was going to be near us and wanted to know if he could stop over. I agreed without actually conferring with Denton. Oops. Doing stuff like that can get me into the dog house.
Later in the day, David called back asking us instead to meet him, and a friend of his, as they were going to be in the Coventry area and if we'd rather just join them for a drink.
Back in the day, Coventry was the Haight-Ashbury of Cleveland. It was quite the place to steal away to when David and I were in our teens. Today, it's just becoming a place for pseudo-brand name establishments. There are some independent bars and restaurants left and that's cool. We went to two of those last night.
One was a bar. And empty empty bar. But the drinks were cheap. We had a few before Phillip, David's friend, needed food. Lightweight.
We went to a good Thai place for food. It was good conversation and as you know, I love David. I am really pleased that Denton liked him as well. And vice versa. Did I mention it was their first meet-up?
But I continue to really really enjoy David's and my time together. Hard to believe we get along so well with such infrequent interaction - previous and current.
Normally Denton and I are kind of low-key guys and when we have weekend plans it is just that, plans. So the calling at 5p to meet up in 90 minutes was a change - but not an unwelcome one. It's ok to shake things up a bit.
So, now it's Sunday and I'm up late due to staying out and drinking a little later than normal. I think I'll work out, but I know I'll skip Spin.
Last night, we took my 16 year old nephew to another concert. We've taken him to a few, but this one was quite low-key for him.
I got him to go see Don Dixon & Marti Jones. Yes, they are not big names and the only way most of you might have heard of them has been through this blog. In all my years of fandom, I've only seen them four times in 20 years - the last being about 16 months ago.
You might know Dixon from producing classic disks from REM's early days, or the Smithereens. You might really know him from being the guy who wrote and performed "Teenage Suicide: Don't Do It" from the movie Heathers.
Marti is his wife, but she's been putting out music for the last 25 years. She has a great alto and chances are you've never heard a things she's done. Some of her stuff is on iTunes, but most is out of print. Both she and Dixon have had a big following in DC and North Carolina. But they live up here and rarely perform.
Since they rarely perform, I dragged Denton but asked Matt. He's up for most things musical and I think he likes spending time with us. We weren't sure if he could go, as he is in the midst of having a pneumothorax. That is a collapsed lung, not a Dr. Seuss character.
Docs aren't sure what's going on with the man, but he's seemingly ok as long as he doesn't play tennis, cough or laugh. It's painful for sure, but he's seeing a specialist on Monday. And he can go since not only does my sister trust my judgement (I think), but that I know every frickin' hospital there is to know and what to do and how to manipulate those systems if I had to.
Anyway, like last time, Dixon and Jones played in this small "basement" in Canton that held maybe 100 folks - most of them friends and family. We felt like we were crashing a reunion.
It was just the two of them, no other musicians and they can pull that off quite well. And they did - and they didn't. Vocally, they've both sounded better, but musically they were just fine. Marti is a strong guitarist, Dixon a great bassist.
(the iPhone only takes so-so pics in a dark venue. sorry)
Neither has nothing new to promote. Hell, Marti is eight years out since her last disk. They performed songs I've never heard them do live before - actually most of them, so that was a plus. But I found they did best when singing together - not just backing each other stuff. In the course of their careers, they probably have 5-6 songs where they actually duet and when they did some of those, they truly shined.
I think Matt got something out of it - least of all being exposed to new kinds of music for him. But I probably wouldn't go out of my way to see them again. If they were in Cleveland, maybe. The hour to and fro (each) to Canton is questionable.
I am somewhat reticent to even post this, not because of the content, but because there is naming of names and that thought that there are enough weirdos out there who shouldn't have too much information.
My niece, whom I have written about here before a few times, has just gotten her first bit of non-blog press. She is off to college, as you read about here, but has made some kind of name for herself in the one (plus) month she has been away.
Parent's Weekend was scheduled these last few days, and apparently she knows everyone on campus and everyone knows her. According to her parents, anyways.
But it was fortuitous that the student paper happened to do an article on Katie, her music and her videos right before her parents arrived. I know my sister was cautious about Katie letting people know her name on YouTube, let alone where she lived or went to school. But to be fair, she also let her make that decision once she was of age and out of the house.
It is my understanding the student radio station is also playing some of her songs - which is kind of cool. It'd be more cool if she had them with a publishing company that was paying her royalties for that, but all in due time.
The article was ok, but it is a student paper and there is only so much talent there. The writing style could have been better.
I'm not longer reticent about this post, as I opted not to put the link to the paper in this entry.
I've already had to go after some "kid" on YouTube who wrote creeeeeepy comments to her songs and also had his own "response song" about her, and how he'd like to "take her away" and crap like that. I left a message for him directly (which, yes, was a harsh one) and then reported him to YouTube.
Katie might somewhat be ready to be in the spotlight, but I feel awfully protective of her.
For whatever reason, I've had this little spurt of family.....I don't know what you'd call it. Pride? Interest?
I might just be an age thing, I don't really know. I mean, I'm really glad I've gotten to know my 2ndcousin, David. We hang out together and just shoot the shit - and rarely about family. And drink. We drink.
It was funny, not too long ago, we were walking his dog, Ted, and he introduced me to neighbors as his friend.....and then said, 'well...he's my cousin'.
I was thinking it and they said it - 'it's nice you can be friends with your cousin'. And it is. I can't say I am with any of my others. Oh, and he's my #1 Facebook Fan.
But my great-grandfather was a jeweler back in the 1800s(man, that seemed weird to write) and I only have one piece of his work - and it is an ugly-ass ring that went from him to my grandfather to my uncle to my father to me. 'CE' were the initials on it, for my great-grandfather. My uncle chanced the C to an E for him. When it came to me, I'm sure my father thought he was doing the right thing to make the first E into a B. But it's now been changed so much, they almost look like Chinese lettering. And it's ugly and doesn't fit - so I ain't wearing it.
Bling, you'd call it. One off-set diamond and one off-set sapphire. And it's yellow gold. I'm much more of a platinum, white gold, palladium kind of guy. But it's an...I dunno....heirloom (?). It's all I have of my family name. Except my name.
There is one wall clock hanging in a restaurant right near us that was his, but the owner will not sell it to me - even though it does not work. I'd pay handsomely for it too.
Anyway, finally to my story. I found a pocket watch my great-grandfather designed and built on eBay. I rarely ever go there and was even too lazy to set up one of their alerts if anything came up - but I typed in his name and poof! it was there. $78. And it works!!!!
I could have bid on it, but I just did the 'buy now' option. Hell, the gold alone is worth more than $78.
The seller and I have exchanged a few emails. He was thrilled it's going back to a family member. He asked a little about me and my great-grandfather. I asked him how he came into possession of the watch.
I purchased it from a flea market vendor, was the reply.
I could not help myself sending back a message: LOL....and there is my family history wrapped up into eight words!
So I'm having lunch with David and our cousin Bill on Friday and will show them the watch (which btw, is the actual image with the title). On Sunday, I will take it and show it to my almost 90 year old father. I think he'll get a kick out of it.
Oh, the seller must be an elderly man. Packed in with the watch was a package of Werthers Original hard candies. I could not stop laughing when I opened the box.
My oldest niece is leaving for her first year of college this week. Thursday, I believe. It's great - and it's a bummer.
It is a very exciting time for her. I think she's a little more nervous than she cares to let on. The same can be said for her parents. Both my sister and brother-in-law I think are going to be a little lost when they get back home and realize she won't be back later in the day.
I feel worse for my nephew. Katie was always so "out there!" that Matt could slink into the background and do whatever he had to or wanted to without too much interference. Now it's just him. Two more years of just him. Poor kid. He'll never escape my sister's attention until he's packed away to college.
But times are so different. We were all talking about taking our Peaches crates (if you had Peaches record stores) and our 100s of albums with us to school - along with your turntable, tape deck, receiver and speakers. Now it is all on your laptop. It's makes the move that much easier.
And the cellphones. I had a rotary wall phone in my room. They now have micro-fridges. I couldn't even have hot plate. Don't get my started on my manual typewriter.
Yes, I sound like Abraham Simpson talking about wearing onions on his belt because it was the style at the time. ""Give me five bees for a quarter", I'd say".
Anyway, I've written now and again about Katie, my niece. She's pretty (and not just a proud uncle saying that). She's smart - an honor student and who got a nice academic scholarship for her hard work. She's a gifted athlete who gave up tennis because she was never thrilled at the competitive aspect of it. And she's a talented guitarist and songwriter.
Truth be told - I bet she'd rather just do music than study, but here's hoping she can balance both.
But I am bummed she's going because she was always a lot of fun to hang out with - she got my sense of humour and she and I could talk music to death. She loves all the stuff I've given her and is now really into the Smiths, which I think is so cool (her mother, does not share the same sentiment).
I knocked off a couple of cds for her before she left - the new Morrissey, some Arcade Fire, Talking Heads. She oddly enough wanted the last Killers cd - which I didn't think she'd ever like. And I gave her a cd of songs I think she should cover that would suit her talents and voice well. We'll see if she takes my advice and posts any of them.
But I don't have to miss her too much. She has set up video-conferencing, so with the new laptop, I'll be able to talk to her and see her. That will be fun. I think. She might just find it annoying.
I thought I'd post her new song/video here, but opted for her doing a cover of the Beatles, "I Want to Hold Your Hand". It was done about a year and a half ago, so she's aged, matured and progressed as an artist. I'll let you sample her original stuff on your own time. You can find it here.
I'm not a big fan of reunions - family or otherwise. I like members of my family, but I'd rather determine when, how and who I interact with.
My mother doesn't see it that way sometimes.
Annually, one of my uncles has some gathering which my mother passively-aggressively gets us to go. My sisters and I will get an email from her saying that "I told Tom you'd all be there!". Excuse me?
As with my father's side of the family, most of my first cousins are 20+ years older than us kids are. Their kids are our age. And now, those kids have kids, so my cousins are grandparents. It's all very odd.
I don't mean (?) to be point fingers, but I guess when some of those second cousins have kids when they're 16 and become grandparents at 35.
I don't even know these second cousins. I certainly don't know any of my third ones (assuming that's what they're called) - and most of those are under seven years old. So my uncle points out Shawn....or Sean. I really have no idea. Nor do I figure I'll ever have to.
"He looks pretty good - considering he just got out of the slammer 10 days ago, huh?". I think he said that tongue in cheek. I think. My cousin Marilyn just looked at Tom (behind his back) then at me and scowled and rolled her eyes. It seems she was not happy Sean/Shawn was there.
I conversed with only a few folks and sat and ate some grub, when all I really wanted to do was get the hell out of there. While I sat and ate, I'd hear others mention Sean/Shawn. Apparently his stint in the clink was for the last four years. I have no idea what he did to get himself there.
I will say this, he seemed nice enough to the little kids - and Denton mentioned that on the drive home. Naturally that spurred a comment from me about what he might have been in for.
I have nothing against Sean/Shawn - I don't know him and I'm guessing I'll have very limited interaction with him at all, if ever. Hell, even with my best relations on my mother's side, I only see maybe them once a year. Maybe.
I'll give them all this though - they are all seemingly very accepting of Denton and myself, even after two decades they can't spell his last name correctly.
We've become regulars at a neighborhood place called the Grotto (I know - not a horribly original name).
My man-date, Scott, and I started going there after work just for drinks, but after it became nice out, Denton and I like to hit the outdoor patio to hang, eat and drink.
It's fun to watch people on the Square, going to or from the movies, or the independent coffee shoppe. That's just the gravy, as the wine list is good and the menu is a good one. I have yet to have a bad meal there.
We even have a favourite server - Angela. And she calls us her favourite customers. But you know she says that to everyone. However, even when we're not in her section, she still waits on us....and we tip her well.
They do have a few bad servers too. Douchebag Dan, for one. I always make Denton laugh when I do Johnny Depp, as Willie Wonka, talking to Mike TeeVee: "MUMBLER! Honestly, I cannot understand a word you're saying!". He's just horrible - Dan, that is.
Unfortunately, Angela was off last night and we were stuck with Dan. Oh, and we took my parents there for dinner. Even with Douchebag Dan, I think my parents had a good time and good meal. It would have been better with Angela doting all over us, but whatta gonna do?
Maybe next weekend, when Becca is in town, we can go there. I'm sure she'll be bored at her high school reunion (now that she has DIS-invited me to be her date! I know - right!?) and leave early, then we can take her for wine.
No - my name is not Jonny, but it is the only song I had in my music liberry with the word "uncle" in it. Sue me.
I'm not a complete geek, but I am a great uncle, if I say so myself. I saw the new Harry Potter twice this last weekend. Yes, twice.
It is not because I was looking for subtle nuances in the character development or seeing if there were any shots that were glaring mistakes. No, I went because my nephew asked me to take him.
Matt is 16 and was possibly the first person I knew to read the Harry Potter books. I'm not sure I ever heard of them before him. He devoured them. I saw the first three movies with him (and his parents) on their respective opening nights. After that, he wanted to see them with his friends - who could blame him?
And while he is an outgoing kid with lots of friends, he wanted to see the movie w/Denton and myself. The problem was, we had already made plans to see it with others. And while I love Matt, I wasn't sure how he'd feel about going with new people, and those folks being another gay couple.
He's 16. And while the world is much more progressive, 16 year old boys tend to be 16 year old boys. Uncomfortable in any number of situations - especially like that.
So I did what any good uncle would do - I told a white lie. Yes, we'd take him to see it, and no, we had not seen it yet. Had I told him we had, he would have said not to bother going again. But I wanted to do it with him.
I love doing stuff like this with him. I love the fact that he wants to do it with me or us. Not only was it never offered by any of my uncles while I was growing up, I think I would have prayed that I'd get ill if things like this were ever even suggested. I never had that kind of relationship with my uncles (or aunts).
Though I have no idea what my older nieces and nephews think of theirs and my relationship, I am constantly amazed they don't mind being around us. Maybe my sisters helped cultivate a different kind of relationship because of the ones we had with our relatives. Or didn't have. Who knows.
Anyway, it was just the three guys watching Harry Potter - and eating popcorn....and Milk Duds. Matt only gave it a B. I told him he was crazy.
But now, more on the movie. Ok....yes, I'm a little geeky. Seeing a second time was good. For the movie, not the experience.
No matter how many glares I have the family behind us, they would not shut-up. Not whispering either. It's like they were watching television in their own house. Finally, for the last 30 or so minutes, Mr. Talky (the probable dad) kept his mouth shut. Wanna know why? Huh? Do ya? Because.he.fell.asleep!!! He completely missed the ending. They should have stayed at home.
The audiences for each night could not have been more different. Age, gender and most strikingly, what they reacted to - or did not. Polar opposites. Weird. And there was no one there. Maybe 30 people in the entire theater. Did everyone see it on day one and two?
I did pick up on some stuff I completely missed in the first movie - things not many would have seen on first showing, just due to sequencing. And how suggestive was Ginny Weasley's shoe-lace tying scene? And what was up with Ron's broomstick during Quidditch try-outs (droopy) when he was floundering and then during the match (upward pointing) when he was succeeding? Yes - we get it!
And I really loved some of the edits - like the showdown out in the field between some Death Eaters at the Weasley's house. It was so well done. There were similar edits while looking for the Horcrux (well, one of them) too.
Oh, and I also mentioned in my initial post about Alan Rickman's answering machine during a Family Guy episode. I still kept snickering to myself during the movie thinking about it. So I thought I'd share it with all of you.
Well, it's not my masterpiece. I can't paint. I can't even draw. Hell, I can barely doodle.
I was never one to draw that turtle out of the back of a magazine to see if I can get into art school. No this is an unveiling of a portrait of my aunt. And it was done at the Cleveland Institute of Music at their annual meeting.
You see, Martha was a huge supporter of the arts. Mostly of music - and mainly the Cleveland Orchestra and CIM. She also help establish the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Hence the Steinway behind the portrait.
David, my cousin (and her grandson) made me laugh by saying it was going to eventually hang in Valhalla, but mostly it will reside in a hall of past leaders.
Unfortunately, I was unable to go to the unveiling, but as David mentioned, I would have just been hit up for money. You know how those things go.
I actually have another shot - a close-up - of the portrait, and it looks great. A very realistic rendering of Martha from about 30 years ago, but still......... That was when she did the bulk of her work anyway, so it is fitting it the representation was from that same era.
I have not been to the new CIM space, but Denton says it is pretty incredible. I know where it exists, but for the life of me I cannot figure out what it is looking out onto. You can see all those trees and the showiness of nature behind the piano and painting.
All in all it is a nice tribute to a woman who loved art and the outdoors.
The other night I hung out with my newly (re)found cousin, David. You might remember me writing about him two months or so ago.
David was a cousin I didn't really know or spend time with (or vice versa), but when we had lunch a while back we just really connected. I mean really, how often does that happen? Any of it: lunch? 30 years in between seeing each other? getting along?
We exchanged a number of emails after that lunch encounter just trying to find time for each other and to get together again. He really took the effort to let me know he'd like to be friends.
Friends? With a cousin? This is a new concept to me. I have no other cousins I can say I'm close to. We're just not that kind of family really. I like some of mine, but we see each other maybe once a year. Maybe.
I don't think he knew what to say when I said I thought being friends would be good since family seemed more obligatory. He likes the idea of family as friendship. I guess in my own way, I do too.
So yesterday we just hung out at my/our place. Beer and some food and the cats. They were all over him - which was cool for him and them.
We just talked, traded stories and laughed a lot. Oddly enough, the picture of my parents I have on a shelf was taken at his sister's wedding about twenty years ago. How odd is that?
I figure, if David can converse and make me laugh like my best friends, he's in. That is one tough crowd - and he'd fit in just fine.
One of my sisters, and her family, are the proud caretaker of a new family member. A kitten. Or another one. They've almost always had two cats and two dogs.....and two kids. Don't knock symmetry, there is a beauty to it.
They actually got one a few years back, but Marty disappeared two months back. He ran away, or someone took him. No one wants to say the other things that might have happened, but he liked to roam and they live on country roads.....and it is not unusual to see a fox or coyote on these roads now and again.
My sister kept telling me how upset the kids were. Her husband would tell me that it was my sister who'd go to the door three or four dozen times a day calling for him. That's my family - transfer your feelings and emotions to others while absolving yourself of them.
Anyway, they got X yesterday. X, you say? They have not come up with a name yet. I say their oldest, college-bound daughter doesn't get a way (she's picking the worst names) doesn't get a choice as she's leaving home.
It is a house full of male pets too. They had (well, have) one girl cat, but all the other cats and dogs have been male. X is a guy too.
He's got great markings. Better than show up on the iPhone. He's on high-alert as the two dogs who share the house are trying to familiarize themselves with him. But they're not allowed in the family room - something X will use to his advantage in the very very near future.
I'm loving the two little dots on his nose.
Here's me looking a little shlubby, but I completely attribute it to my posture, or lack of. I plopped down on the couch and the little guy curled up right next to me. I think he'll be a cuddler, but in reality I provided a save haven and warmth for him. Hey - it works for me.
I HATE his pic of me, but it's cute of him. I love how it shows how small he is (no, not how large I am).
Of course, all this makes me want another kitten, but deep down I know better. And Denton asked me if I even remember that stage: all energy, jumping, running, climbing and clawing?
My response, naturally was, 'you mean like Sophie now?'. Sophie turns three in a few weeks. She has yet to outgrow kittendom.
I'll let you know the chosen name when they get it. My brother-in-law said they had to have one by the end of Monday. He's so funny when he attempts to lay down the law in that house.
Well - my time away didn't last very long - did it?
I kind of suspected it wouldn't. You know - routine and/or OCD. Some habits are hard to break.
In this very left-of-center effort to make connections with some of my lesser know relatives, I had lunch again with my cousin Bill. This time he invited his nephew (also my cousin), David, to tag along.
David is two years younger than I am and I think it might be 30-35 years since I've seen him last. He didn't remember ever meeting me. Normally that would have shot my already low self-esteem even lower, but really, it's been three plus decades and not everyone is blessed cursed with a memory like mine.
I say this with the utmost affection (honestly): David is one big bag of crazy.
And I immediately connected with him.
Denton always asks me if I ever have an unverbalized thought. Normally I would said, 'no, no I don't', until I (re)met David. I absolutely loved it. In a matter of minutes he was talking about mulch, his sister, bath houses, high school reunions, San Francisco, volunteering and being a germaphobe. None of (or very few of) these subjects had to do with each other.
Just to be clear on the bath house and SF comments - I guess I should note that David is not gay. Clearly gay-friendly, but not gay. At least I'm 71% sure. He is married. To a woman.
He goes on to mention how absolute nuts everyone in his family - immediate and otherwise - are, then proceeds to ask me 'so, what's wrong with you?'. Without missing a beat I said, 'where would I even start......?' Then I think he asked what my credit card limit was.
At this point I honestly couldn't tell if Bill was enjoying himself or just tolerating us. I think he is genuinely fond and close to his nephew, so I think he was good with it all. Lunch lasted a good 90 minutes, and yes, it was a work day for me.
After lunch we walked over to the Western Reserve Historical Society. Bill had taken the liberty of calling ahead and pulling some strings and had achieved history of our family pulled out and waiting for us. Apparently we have at least 40 linear feet of documents and photographs chronicling our family here. They gave us little white cloth gloves if we were to touch anything.
There were pictures of at least part of one side of the family (paternal) here. We kind of chuckled over some that were there from a family reunion from 30 odd years ago and I got to relay my house hunting werido story.
We also got a special tour of the facility and where/how they achieve stuff. For some reason, WRHS has the (or one of the) largest collections of Civil War documents. Allegedly Ken Burns spent mucho time there for research when doing his PBS series. Who knew?
I'd love to do something with David again, as he just seems like a lot of fun. That he's family is a plus - and how many times can you really say that? But since getting reacquainted, he is someone I can see hanging out with just because he's smart and funny.
So anyway, it's 04:11 and I can't sleep. ....and I'm back. Or still here, to be more precise. Insomnia is a wonderful thing - isn't it?
Can I say this? For the most part, I have a pretty great mom.
Except for a few blips when I was a teenager, I think we've always had a pretty good relationship.
Naturally, those blips were all about me becoming......me. I think my sexuality came a lot more easily to me than it did to her. Mind you, when I was 15 or so and she was figuring it out, as I was. I had less of an issue with it - I'm assuming.
It's not that she was ill equipped to deal with it all, it was just a different time. Hell, we didn't know anyone who was divorced way back then, let alone who was gay. It certainly wasn't what anyone talked about.
Of course, it might have just been about me being a teenager. Who the hell knows?
But we've come to a great place where not only am I not the black-sheep of the family, but more like the golden boy. Yes, granted, I am the only boy, but now you're just nitpicking.....
My mom has been extremely supportive of how I've lived my life. It probably doesn't hurt that I've never asked them to move back home or asked for cash and have always had a steady job (well, except for that 5 months in 2006-2007 - but I had a severance package, so there's that...).
She has always accepted Denton and you know that has to be a huge plus. I know so many people who do not get along that well with their in-laws - whether they're queer or not.
Like me, my mother has a great sense of humour. For the most part, so do my sisters. My "aunt" (quotes used, as she's not really my aunt) Rosemarie said at my mother's 70th birthday, to my mother, (almost like I wasn't at the table), "he has the same wicked sense of humour as your mother."
I can't say that for sure - as she was just my grandmother and died when I was 10. My keen sense of humour was not fully honed at that point - and I don't remember her being funny. But my mother is, and I think her grandkids know she is.
So like most every Sunday, we'll go over to have dinner with my parents. There will be a gift or two, but she really wants nothing.
I always try to make time for my mom - and she for me. It's not just about a day. It never is.
Ugh. Yesterday we went over to my little sister's house for a small-ish gathering. It was when we were halfway there did I realize we had not been over, or invited over, for almost two years.
I guess it should be mentioned that she lives less than 30 minutes away from us.
I don't think she is harboring resentment at us or anything, but we certainly don't see them a lot. I see them at my parents and they've been over our house a few times, but it is usually to drop off their kids so we can babysit. I'm not really complaining. While I like my sister and her husband, we clearly don't see eye-to-eye on politics. And by that it would be closer to eye-to-big toe.
A bigger group of right wing nuts you'd never want to meet. So maybe that has a bit to do with why we're not asked over. I really don't know. Or care.
The other thing we differ on is religion. She married into a large Italian Catholic family - and raising their kids as such. Strike Two, I guess.
I could almost deal with their Jesus this and Jesus that crap it weren't for the hypocrisy - which I guess is the spine of Catholicism. You know, having their kids sing songs about Jesus while downloading music from the internet without paying for it.
I mean, I'll peer to peer share songs too, but I don't tell my kids not to steal from the other side of my mouth.
Let's say nothing of my brother-in-law's previous divorce and my sister living with him before marriage. Aren't those on the pope's 'Not To Do' List?
But the actual thing that I loved about the day was that one of the in-laws in-laws came up and introduced themselves to me and then to Denton. I missed the exchange, but apparently she asked who Denton was to Denton. Just being honest he said, "we're partners".
It seems that a records needle got dragged across the vinyl with that statement. Denton said her face just dropped! I'm sure we were persona non-grata upon leaving - though I'm guessing they did indeed all talk about us afterwards.
I have zero idea of my sister and brother in law have never mentioned this to some of their family or not. I mean, her in-laws have known us for longer than a decade, so are we just too embarrassing to talk about?
I kind of hope so. And I'm happy to make those kind of folks squirm a bit and forced to sit there and have cake with two homos.
Luckily the "flatware" was plastic, so they can just throw everything out because lord knows whatever we touched can't ever come truly clean.
My oldest niece turned 18. I swear it was like a nano-second ago she was born. Her parents had a party for her - well a cookout with just the family. It was nice....and great weather. 80s at 21:00. You gotta love that in April. Four years ago on that same day we got about 14" of snow, so it really can go either way.
But she modeled her prom dresses for us. Only one stays - the rest go back. She didn't want to show us, but I did an impromptu Kelly Kapoor-ism "fashion show! fashion show! fashion show at lunch!!!" which made her parents burst out laughing. Who knew they'd remember an Office episode from like three years ago?
Both were nice, but prom dresses are not what I thought they were - at least they're not now. I didn't go to prom for a number of reason - one being unsaid and yet still fairly obvious. The second being I went to an all boys school and knew no girls - which ironically enough has/had nothing to do with the obvious reason.
Our prom theme was Bruce Springsteen's "She's the One", which I never understood. I thought prom themes were supposed to be timely from the year of the actual prom - not a song released six years earlier. I provided a write-in vote: Nick Lowe's "Cruel to be Kind". It wasn't picked.
Denton's birthday was yesterday. It was a low key event - him and me. Usually we do a combined thing, but he wanted my niece to have it all to herself. He really just didn't want undo attention. So he got none. I mean - we went out for lunch and made a nice dinner and I got him a nice present. I thought. So did he.
Yup, I bought him art. I saw this at a local exhibit and purchased it - without his prior approval. Risky, I know, but I really really liked it. And hell, I have known him so long I was 87% sure he would too....and he did.
Denton has a background in architecture and city planning so anything with buildings usually gets a pass.
But I thought we needed more original artwork in the house and it is from a local artist, so I thought it was a good move. We're not sure where we are going to hang it, but it is safe to say it will most likely go in the living room.
I hate the title of the piece though: Gossip in the City. Of course I think of Sex and the City - which makes me think of Brian on Family Guy saying: "so....this is basically about three hookers and their mom?"
We have two kitty birthdays this week too: Kylie would have been 18. We lost her almost three years ago, but we still honour her in any way we can. Tovah turns 15 !!! She'll get wet food (which totally grosses me out) and some extra treats.
Now the focus is on a next year. It's a big birthday for Denton, so we do have to honour and acknowledge it. We're planning on doing it with a trip. We have it narrowed to two places so hopefully it will all work out. It seems a long way off, but we really do need to just buckle down and do it.
In My Car (I'll Be the Driver)
