Ya Dig the New Style?

life gets a little boring sometimes, right? dont you get tired of the same old routine? i mean, isnt it exciting when you throw in a little something here and there just to throw yourself a curve? i'm sure we've all done it, or at least thought about it. well, i thought about it and decided to take action!

i thought my look was getting too familiar. i seemed to wake up every day and look in the mirror and think "wow, i look exactly the same as i did yesterday..... the day before..... the week before that" and so on. why not take a risk and mix it up? throw in some adventure so that when i go into the bathroom in the morning i could think "now there's a guy who's in charge of things. he's got his head on straight. he knows where he's going with his life." ya know? havent you ever wanted to tell yourself that? me too. and hence the change i made to accomplish just that:

*i call it the baconstrip-less wreath

Read With Caution

during this time of halloween when everyone gets all worked up about being scared and watching frightening movies, my mind reflected back upon a time during my childhood when i endured the longest night of my life. but first some background:

i was the little scared kid all growing up. even my little sis was better at handling the spooky circumstances of growing up in the woods, having older siblings who teased you, the darkness, watching scary movies, dealing with spiders, etc. i had to call her over every time to kill daddy longlegs in my room. she would watch movies wide-eyed while i would be in the corner of the couch with pillow pulled close and fingers half covering (okay, mostly covering) my eyes. how embarrassing is that? i would turn on every light in the house on the way up to my room at night. i would get everything ready so all i had to do was turn off the light in my room and then run and jump real quick into bed. i had a teddy bear that i slept with well into my twenties, and i would place him on the edge of my bed so he would get taken first if something came after us. and when i awoke in the middle of the night and he wasnt by my side, i would debate for minutes on end as to whether i wanted to risk putting my arm down the side of the bed so i could pick him up off the floor, in case something was under the bed and would grab me and pull me under to the dark abyss of nowhere. i would open the closet doors at night so i wouldnt have to worry about them opening up a crack and seeing eyes peeking thru staring at me. i probably lost hours of sleep over the years as i lay awake in bed imagining all the bad things that could happen to me and being too scared for awhile to fall asleep. finally rest would come and eventually the sun would save me, at least for a few hours until night came again to wreak havoc on my consciousness.

i admit, and all my family can attest to, that i hated the dark and scary movies. but i insisted on watching them b/c thats where everyone else would be and i didnt want to be by myself. it took me at least 6 times before i finally made it all the way thru "IT" without closing my eyes. and so this was my mindset as one night our family gathered around the tv to put on a movie i was not prepared for.

oh it starts out nice enough, a pleasant kid who is confined to a wheelchair and is having a grand 'ole time with life. then the moon comes up. but not any kind of moon- a full moon. for those of you familiar with full moons and halloween stories, you can guess the creature i'm about to describe. yes, the werewolf. night descends on this poor unsuspecting town and this beast sets about his business. his business of death! never completely showing itself it carefully, gruesomely goes on in the ways of dismantling and killing the people of this town. unawares, the wheelchair kid decides to try out his new motorized ride his uncle had given him and sneaks out (no, not during the day like any smart person would do) one night. on a bridge he lights fireworks and is having a gay 'ole time (haha, just had to throw in a gay there to completely ruin the mood). alas! the creature is lurking in the nearby woods! it comes out and starts to run after the defenseless child. luckily, just in time, he lights a firework and shoots it at the werewolf just as its about to do him in and he gets the H outta dodge. whew, that was too close for comfort.

the last half of that story about him on the bridge had to be told to me after the scene ended cause i was in all-out cover of eyes, head and body for it. didnt see a thing after the camera angle switched to the werewolfs point of view from the woods. mercifully the movie ends (i'll let you watch it so i dont spoil how it ends) and we head up to bed. i made sure to sandwhich myself between some siblings so i wouldnt be the first one up the stairs or the last one on the end to be snatched away with no one ever noticing. we ready ourselves for a long night of worry and despair at the thought of having to sleep after being horrified half to death. i soon notice that a brother (spencer, i'm sure you were the first one to leave!) grab a pillow and head downstairs. what on earth is that man (moron) thinking? he's seriously gonna leave the comfort and relative safety in numbers to go down to wherever he was going? good riddance to him, nice knowing ya. but wait, others are following suit. such clueless siblings i have! whats wrong with them? i was soon to come to my senses tho after i was the only remaining one. to heck with that, i'm not gonna perish up here all by myself. every single one of us, all 8 kids, went downstairs to sleep in my parents room. what genious! they would protect us from the evils lurking outside, and apparently upstairs.

the oldest, and bravest in my book, brandon took the couch right next to the window. crazy man, but hats off to ya cause i would never have placed myself in such precarious circumstances. yep, i grabbed a spot right next to my parents bed. it would have to go thru 7 others before it got to me, and hopefully by the time it did it would be tired, full, or disinterested- or me and the parents would have escaped by then. thus me and teddy braced ourselves for the night with this on our minds:




















*can you guys blame me for praying not to have bad dreams or nightmares every single night?

College Life

what else can ya say about your meals and food (or lack thereof) when your a single college guy other than that its sketchy at best? my bro-in-law dal recently gave me his mini fridge, since he got married and no longer qualified for its uses based on the unwritten code for having a mini fridge, namely: being single. so i immediately filled it up with the best beverage available to mankind, specifically: mtn dew.

and so of course i had to attempt to celebrate my new acquisition by making a dinner for myself. this is the result of that attempt. i'm not even sure what it was supposed to be. i think it was a chicken breast covered in bbq sauce, grilled on the ever-useful george foreman grill, along with some kind of pasta that was supposed to be beef stroganoff.

altho the beverages were top of the line (i included country time strawberry lemonade in my fridge cause its quite delicious to the taste of buds), the food itself was less than ideal. okay it was downright crap. pretty sure my body rejected it out of mere sight and smell. didnt even have to taste it to know that it would be of no use to my physical being. but whatever, i forced it down and then topped it off with a nice swig of liquid goodness. thus is my diet at the moment.....

but i do need to give a shout out to cousin amy who graciously allows me to taste of real food almost every sunday and has done so for the past couple years. much thanks!!!

The Single Guy

for this installment i'm going to dip into the memory bank- as in WAY back. this little nugget of an experience was the beginnings of this guy's singleness. lets begin shall we?

the setting: graham elementary, home of the grizzlies
the time: kindergarten, where reputations are made
the place: a school bus, yes- the big yellow thing your all familiar with
the girl: tara stephens, major hotty
the guy: none other than..... you guessed it

i was a man with a crush. wow, i'm already off to a bad start. lets try that again

i was a little boy with a crush. i was in afternoon kindergarten, and luckily enough so was this girl, the aforementioned tara s. she had long, curly blond hair. she had blue eyes. or maybe they were green. quite possibly coulda been brown tho. she was the envy of all the k-garten boys who called themselves grizzlies. shoot, i'm sure there were even 6th graders who had crushes on this girl. i wouldnt doubt it, not one bit. that should give you an idea of the magnitude of the kind of girl we're dealing with here.

we werent in the same class, so the only contact i had with her was either seeing her at recess or on the bus ride home. at recess i was too busy trying to look cool on the tire swing to actually go talk to her. on the bus ride i was much too scared to go sit next to her. instead, i employed the super-sly-secret-stare from a few rows behind her. (no, it wasnt creepy like that at all). i would get off and try to smoothly walk by her in the aisle, hoping to catch her attention so she'd notice what a stud-muffin i wasnt. i mean, what girl is gonna fall for a guy that cant even say one word to her, much less actually sit next to her?

thus were the circumstances for most of the year. i couldnt even tell you if she knew my name. oh but i knew hers! and this particular day went much the same as most others. no interaction, just lots of sly staring and day dreaming. so the end of the day came and we started out for the buses. i had to get there early so as to make sure i sat far enough back so i would be behind her. but alas, in this my attempt proved fatal (or fateful???) on this day. i was up near the front. oh no! what am i going to look at for the next 25 minutes? certainly not the bus driver. she was no tara stephens by any stretch of the imagination. so i resigned myself to my predicament and scooted over so i could stare out the window and wonder why life had been so cruel to me this day. but aghast- instead of being able to wallow in my unfortunate luck by myself, someone decides to cate (the opposite of vacate in case you were wondering what that word is or means) the spot next to me. ah man, come on people. maybe they would realize their mistake and quickly move. but they stayed there. deciding i should at least look over to see who it was that i was to share my seat with, i casually glance over......

AND BAM!!!!! guess who just scored big time? you got it, the SG himself just put up major points in the k-garten fantasy hotty contest! miss stephens had decided to grace my life finally and took the open spot next to me. spirits sored, tears were wept, hi-fives given! i was a man (sorry, little boy) whose day dreams were becoming a reality right in front of his six year old face. i felt like forrest gump when he gets on the bus for the first time and the only person who lets him sit next to them was a major babe, only the roles were reversed and she was sitting down next to me. (side note: pretty sure i made that same face forrest did when he turned and saw who it was, if you can remember)

who knew a bus ride would provide the setting for the most influential girl moment of my young life? as we proceeded down 200th street en route to our destinations, i soon felt a foreign object at rest on my shoulder. what is that strange sensation? i turn my head and audibly gasp when i see that the extra weight was from the head of miss stephens herself. and i wasnt even imagining it this time, it was for real! i could see it! i could feel it! i could smell it! this was actually happening to me!

but eventually the fairy tale came to an end, her stop came up and she had to leave. but not before she let me experience the most magical bus ride i had ever known, or ever would know. she sat next to me and laid her gentle, beautiful head- with those lovely locks of blondness- on my wimpy, bony shoulder.... the whole time! after a few moments of trying to regain my composure and grasp the import of what had just happened, i realized i was the only one on the bus still. hey, wait a minute. when i get off there are still stops to be made with children to get off at them. the bus driver noticed my semi panic attack and luckily knew where my stop was and returned to drop me off.

explanation: since i was sitting on the other side of the bus and my driveway was on the other side of the road, when it came time for my stop i completely spaced it! honest to goodness, to this day i remember the bus stopping, me looking out the window and seeing the familiar trees that stood across from my driveway, but yet not realizing that it was my stop. my mind was occupied with much more important things then to register it was my turn to get off. i wanted to ride that snuggle bus for as long as i could baby! even if it did mean missing my stop. oh it was well worth it i tell you. even though my mom wondered why it was i was so late in getting home, i didnt care. i had experienced greatness. i had become a man. then it was i realized my destiny to become a smooth hunk of pimpness. but wait.......

she never said one word to me after that!!!! can you believe it? after all that? she just kicked me to the curb. for the rest of our elementary campaign i had to sit on the sidelines of love as she not once more tossed a morsel my way. tough break you might say. it happens. who cares, its freakin k-garten for goodness sakes (all valid points which i agree with now, but tell that to a young crushed heart and see the reaction you get)

and so i started on the single path that has led me to where i am today. it all started with a girl, a boy, a bus, a cuddle, and a missed bus stop....

Basketball Injury

so its been like 4 yrs since i've twisted my ankle. but just two weeks ago i was playing at a church, 3 on 3 at a half court sized gym that pretends to be full size. wasnt very competitive and so i wasnt driving like i normally do, just shooting jumpers. but the very last game, for some stupid reason, i decide to take this guy off the dribble and sure enough, end up stepping on some dude's foot as i go up for a layup. didnt even get off the ground, just stepped on it on my way up. but i was going full speed and all my weight was shifted to that foot as i prepared for takeoff (yes, some people have described my going into flight for a layup as a jet taking off- beautiful yet catastrophic). as soon as it happened tho i knew it was bad. i've twisted my ankle many-a-times before and its never hurt that much. right when i did it i simply hopped right out the door to sit down on the couch in the lobby for the next 10 minutes. i almost felt a little nauseous. meanwhile it totally swelled up to like twice the size my foot normally is. the next couple days it got all bruised and nasty looking. even my toes turned purple!

the next day i found some crutches in our house, so i decided to employ their services as i went to campus for classes. problem was they were about 3 inches too short, so all my weight was on my arms. after 2 blocks i was dying! how the heck do people use those things? and never before had i noticed people on crutches on campus, but for some reason that day i saw at least 4 people using 'em. we'd walk by each other and give a little nod, as if we belonged to some exclusive club and therefore had an immediate connection. it kinda felt like when your driving a motorcycle and you wave at other bikers. i dont know why people do that, but i like it. makes you feel cool, like they got your back or something. anyways, i guess i kinda had that feeling with my fellow gimps on crutches.

so today i decided to go in and check it out since it still feels rather tight and stiff. he checks it out and says i have a partially torn cfl, or calcaneofibular ligament. i posted a picture so you know what i'm talking about and not think i'm just making up some random word to make it sound cool.

he said to rehab it and give it another month to see how it feels. he also said to wear a brace to stabilize it in the meantime. so i'll be the only moron wearing an ankle brace while NOT playing any sports. i can hear it now:

"watch out for the stairs buddy, wouldnt want ya to slip and twist an ankle!"

"dont be jumping around on the way to your next class, you dont want to come down on someone's foot!"

"hey nice brace man, that looks really cool. should i wear one just for fun too?"

but if thats what it takes to get back to my d-wade type of game, then so be it. the doc even said as i'm leaving, "try and stay away from the 360 dunks for awhile." i know he was being sarcastic, but i'm not. even with only one good foot i can still throw down a mean 360 windmill!

one thing he did say that bothered me is that sometimes the swelling in the ankle wont go away. ever. as in it'll be there the rest of my life. that sucks! i dont want a fat ankle till i die. its still a little swollen, but i'm hoping it goes down. if not i might have to buy a size 11 shoe for my left foot and a size 12 for my right from now on!

but here's what it looks like: (notice the discolored toes in the second picture. very attractive when i wear flip-flops)

My Latest Reads

the last couple months i've finished a few books that i thought i'd share, since i know your all dying to know about what i read.

Einstein: His Life and Universe. a little long and somewhat repetitive it was still quite interesting. the minds of geniuses has always been intriguing to me. what makes them tick? how does their mind work? why are they considered a genius? he was a bit of a loner and had some troubles dealing with problems in his own family. yet he was passionately humanistic. he believed in a supreme being, so to speak, yet was not religious in the sense of being church-going. he looked at nature in awe and his reverence for its simplicity and beauty inspired him throughout his scientific career. here's a quote i like from the book:

"the value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think."



His Excellency: George Washington. in this book he's described as a man worried about his reputation in the ages to come. very meticulous in his detailed management of affairs, both at home and in the military. a born leader, he was one who had the ability to inspire those around him. a very humble man, yet one who could also be somewhat indecisive. never sought for power or appointment. had an amazing characteristic to keep himself composed under any circumstance. a highly admired and respected man in all arenas of life, for good reason. a quote that aptly describes him i think:

"i did not seek the office with which you have honored me... (and now can show) only the grey hairs of a man who has... either in a civil or military character, spent five and forty years- all the prime of his life- in serving his country... (who only wanted to) be suffered to pass quietly to the grave, and that his errors, however numerous; if they are not criminal, may be consigned to the tomb of oblivion, as he himself will soon be to the mansion of retirement."



1776. the story of the revolution during that pivotal year. after learning more about the absolute desperate plight that faced our country during that time, one can only attribute its outcome to the hand of God. we had no good reason to win that war. everything pointed (and worked) against those early revolutionaries in terms of success. if this was not a land destined to be one of promise, then we would have lost. to be so vastly outnumbered while at the same time being so inexperienced, i cant believe they prevailed. divine intervention really is the only plausible explanation for our gaining independence.

"the reflection upon my situation and that of this army produces many an uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep. few people know the predicament we are in." (george washington)

Shars Wedding & Reunion

so here's a little taste of our family reunion up in washington the other week. first time everyone in the family was together at once in 5 years. caught dal and shars off by themselves. way to be social guys!the festivities started with each family marching out with their flags to show off. they turned out pretty well, good job you guys
all the kids and their spouses. except of course for....... well you can see the only one without someone next to them, haha
me and shars. i cant believe my little sis is married now. kinda weird but i'm really happy for her. she looked so pretty
all the guys with the bride(zilla). haha, jk shars! what a bunch of goofy lookin dudes
the entire family on both sides. sheesh, quite the spectacle. good thing it cooled down just a bit that day (instead of the ridiculous over 100 degrees it had been that week)
the bro's and pops after some heated games of bball. its been awhile since i've played with all of them, it was awesome! the competition was a little weak for me, but it was still fun. haha jk. (please put on a shirt next time jason)

thanks to everyone who helped plan and make it possible, it was a blast! cant wait to do it again