Well, for better or worse, here's my attempt to catch up. It's been a crazy year, both professionally and personally. Time passes by too quickly. Man, if I could only go back and convince my younger self of that fact! I thought time would never hurry up. Now, a year goes by in the flash of an instant.
So somehow, it has been almost a year since I captured any of my supremely wonderful musings on this here blog. Maybe I was busy? Yep, that's probably it. I have been very, very busy. Still, you would think I might have come across something important to say in all that time!
Well, for better or worse, here's my attempt to catch up. It's been a crazy year, both professionally and personally. Time passes by too quickly. Man, if I could only go back and convince my younger self of that fact! I thought time would never hurry up. Now, a year goes by in the flash of an instant. Watch the first episode of the newest and most awesomest segment on this here website! It's See Eric Go Commutin'!
You care where I go and how I get there. You might not be aware of it yet, but you actually do. To satisfy your needs, and your sense of humor, please enjoy this gem of a video, from my heart to yours. Drive safely my friends! "Like sand through the hourglass, these are the days of our lives." Not only have the last four months faded away like sand through an hourglass, it also passed very much like a cheesy, unbelievable, day-time soap opera. Suffice to say, I would rather not repeat them anytime soon. Let's recap, shall we? New job, new place to live, selling current new house, new work drama, old work drama, sick wife, sick kids, sick me, more drama, sick relatives, surgery, drama, drama, drama, and then there's the kicker - this is not a dream; it's my real life. What's better than a 10-hour car ride with a 3-year-old and a 19-month old to visit your in-laws? Well nothing, obviously. [...] Oh, sorry. I'm back. Got hit by lightning there. No more lies, I promise. No, but really, it wasn't as bad as you might think. I actually had a good time. I ate entirely too much and was sadly reminded how much I love and miss Chattanooga, but, on the whole, we're calling it a win. We left after Harper got out of school on a Thursday and drove to Atlanta to have dinner with a buddy. By about 9PM we made it to Chattanooga to spend the first night with my aunt and uncle. Penelope played the piano for the entirety of the next morning. We ate well, as to be expected when you hang out with Aunt Brenda, and then we traveled to Nashville to meet Vickie the mother-in-law for some lunch. With Harper's brithday fast approaching, we had to do some family shopping at the local Toys-R-Us ("where Eric can be a kid"). I found lots of stuff for me, but Jennilyn said we couldn't buy it. I pouted a little, but straightened up when she told me I couldn't have ice cream later if I was bad at the store. Penelope found this little number while Harper rode around the entire store on the bike she eventually wound up with. We spent two days in/near Jennilyn's hometown and had an awesome bonfire and weenie roast at her family farm as an early birthday party for Harper. My two kids played harder in those two days than I've seen them play in weeks at home. They had a great time playing with cousins they rarely get to see. Harper really enjoyed her awesome dinner. She was fascinated that Daddy managed to cook her food on a stick over a fire. Oh yeah, Daddy is a cavemen. Watch out! Ultimately though, tiredness overtook poor Penelope, who fell asleep, yes, fell asleep, leaning over a cooler. She had a juicebox in her hand. As she would drift off and lose her grip of the box, she would jump a bit and grab it tightly. Poor little thing was all tuckered out. It was awesome getting to see family again that we usually only get to see about once a year. The girls had a good time, and Jennilyn was excited to walk her old stomping grounds and force me to eat at her favorite restaurants. (Are you noticing that food continues to be a major theme of the trip?) We had a great, safe trip. That said, my head was really happy to lay down on my pillow, and my body was thrilled to sink into my bed. Gotta start ramping up for next year's trip. Trip Totals: Distance: 1,221 miles Travel Time: 20 hours 51 minutes The wife hosted a baby shower last weekend for a good friend, and there was an obvious pumpkin theme (it being October and all). One of the shower events was a pumpkin carving contest. Two ladies, who I will not name here, produced this event winner that is now proudly displayed on my front door step. There was some debate as to what exactly was going on with the pumpkin, but hopefully you can plainly see that the pumpkin is giving birth to a little baby pumpkin while simultaneously, literally, blowing its guts out. Charming, no? Nothing like reminding a lady who's about to have a baby what impact it's going to have on her body. Pumpkin pie anyone? No? That's too bad... So I have this beautiful face. Everyone is familiar with it. Sometimes hair grows on it, and sometimes I get it tamed. Other times I let it grow freely, like a little self-contained hippie commune on my face. My lovely wife likes to be (purposefully) ambiguous over her feelings for the face monster, but she only seems really concerned when I shave it off into her clean sinks. Therefore, I generally shave outside. (Gotta keep the peace if you want food to eat.)
I was up until 2AM this morning. I would like to say I was being a productive member of society, growing the U.S. economy, and providing important things for my family. I would like to say it, but honestly, I can't. I was playing a computer game. Deal with it. Anyway, I slept well, but woke up to the cruel reminder that (1) I had to take Harper to school, and (2) I had to record video at work today. All that would have been fine if I hadn't woken up at 7:25AM - just a few minutes from when I want to be leaving in the morning. I looked at the creature on my face, we said our goodbyes, and I retrieved the trimmer. Alarmingly, the battery was dead, and I have the one trimmer ever created by infernal man that won't let you just use it on AC power. I knew what needed to be done. I feared it, but I knew. I took up my trusty manual razor, I changed the blade, and I lathered my face Santa-Claus-thick in shaving cream. I knew this was going to be terrible, but I was not prepared for the true awful reality. First pass - grabbed a chunk of fur, yanked it and attached face flesh into razor, razor devoured all it came in contact with. I made a noise. It was quite - if you're deaf. I developed a new plan. Revised plan, first pass - like hot knife through butter. Amazingly, you can actually shave in both directions using a simple back and forth motion. Who knew? Like an emaciated zombie cow my Mach 3 trimmed, cut, and, in fact, shaved my face like a boss. Freshly made smooth like the baby bottom, I surveyed the damage in the sink below. It was bad, no lie. I commenced to rinsing, herding, and forcibly removing at gunpoint any little hair people that otherwise refused to leave the sink bowl for that water reclamation plant in the sky. I shaved, I overcame, and I cleaned up. Fresh off of this victory, I hurriedly completed the remainder of my morning tasks before leaving the house. I even remembered to take Harper with me so I could drop her off at school. Win. Other than having "ouch-I-hurt-face" all day today, it's gone swell. Did a great video filming, ate good food, and now, it's time for some R&R, sans face forest, of course. When you're young and you pass up a date with a girl because you have "something better to do" you're not really thinking about what it's going to be like a few years down the road when you're married, have a couple of kids, and can't find time to tie your own shoes. I haven't been on a date with my wife in over 6 months. For us, that's a long time. We try to hang out sans enfant at least once a month - and more if we can make it happen. Lately, we've been so busy between building our new house, preparing our new house, and (as usual) raising 2 kids, that we've just accepted our lack of datingness (yes, I made that up). Enter my salvation, my sister, my relief pitcher come to save me from blowing the game lead in the ninth. So, we dumped the kids on my sister for the evening and went to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Liquid Ginger, here in lovely downtown Gainesville, Florida. Despite a debilitating head cold, my lovely wife managed to endure the entire evening with yours truly - quite a feat. All in all a truly wonderful evening. It ended early because my dear sick wife had to get in the bed. I write about her now to memorialize her awesome effort to hang out with me even when she felt like lukewarm poop. Enough of this writing. I have more writing to do - that pays the bills. Have a lovely evening.
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