Collage

When I get bored, or I'm procrastinating, I come up with projects for myself. Since Stephanie and Chris have been on my mind a lot lately. Due to the fact that the last time I talked to them was August 15 in the London Heathrow airport. And the only way I can cope is by looking at photos and focusing on the good times we've shared instead of thinking about how much I miss Stephanie and wish she were around so I could share with her my daily life just like always. So here's a mini-project I made last night in procrastination / anti-depression attempts.

weekend - long winded

My weekend actually started off on Thursday when I travelled to West Virginia to visit my girlfriend, Erin. I had a bit of an adventure getting across the KY/WV border since I-64 was shut down in that area. After sitting in traffic for an hour, I detoured through Ohio and finally made it to her school. That night we grabbed some coffee with her friend Sean. Cool guy.

Friday, Erin showed me around Buckhannon, WV, which is a REALLY small town... if you ever thought your hometown was small, you've never been to Buckhannon. That night we watched movies and ordered pizza for dinner. :)

A lot more lounging around and enjoying each other's company was what Saturday was all about. We ate dinner with a couple of Erin's friends: Sean, Shifty (Brian), and Amy (?). After dinner we went back to her room and hung out for a bit, got ready and then headed over to "The Apartment". It's the place where Erin and her friends all go to unwind, drink, and shoot the crap. We had a blast that night... I pretty much met all the crew she hangs out with (or at least the most important ones. We all got along really well.

On Sunday morning, we had another sad farewell as I drove back home. The trip was very uneventful.

I had an unexpected surprise on Monday. The touring group from JWT was in Richmond this week. A few of the gang that I've worked with over the past couple years were in the show and we met up to hang out. Elizabeth (worked with her on the Promo Tour at the beginning of the summer) and I went to Casa Cafe for dinner and then grabbed Robbie and Beth to go to the bowling alley... we ended up not bowling but going to the bar, drinking, watching the Bengals whip up on the Packers, playing the TV Trivia game, and heckling the band that was playing.

Adventures in Randomness

Okay... so if you've been on Mars lately, you may not know that my best friend just recently got married and moved halfway around the world. I've been quite depressed about this the past week or two and went back into archives and things looking at different quotes and sayings that either one of us might have said. Here's some of my favorites:

"Love. Sacrifice. Laughter. Compassion. A hug. A kind word.
These are the greatest tools of friendship. Remember them. Use them.

BE them."

"You know, good friends are a great thing. Good idea, God. Especially those friends that just seem to know when you need them there.

Thank you, friend."

"...it really is easy to be your friend (at least I think so). You don't ask for much in your friends, just the basics... love me, respect me, and don't piss me off."

"A good friend is someone who will hold you while you cry.
An amazing friend is someone who will hold you until you stop crying."

"I don't know what I have ever done to deserve the friends I have. Thank you friend for loving me so selflessly. We could all use a little more of that kind of love in our lives."

"I can't help but be incredibly proud of my friend."

Home

Back home from seeing my girl. Updates on the way! ... later.

Country Roads

Going to visit Erin this weekend... yay!


"Country Roads" by John Denver

Almost heaven, west virginia
Blue ridge mountains
Shenandoah river -
Life is old there
Older than the trees
Younger than the mountains
Growin like a breeze

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
...

First Day

I had my first classes today... they were great! I'm really glad I picked up the Computer Electronic Publishing minor... I'm really going to like my classes. Graphic Communications is all about print media, etc. We're going to be making a note pad and probably a poster or t-shirts for final projects. The Web Publishing class is going to be fairly simple, I believe... I think for the most part it's going to be correcting any bad habits I picked up when I taught myself XHTML and CSS.

As a bonus: I got to have lunch with Dustin today. I had a huge break between classes (as I will every Wednesday) and went to LiveWire... about an hour later, Dustin showed up on his lunch break. Cool.

In other news... - Stephanie and Chris are back from their honeymoon, and Steph called me today while I was in class and I missed her call. Stephanie! I miss you! Call me again!!!!!!!

Nerves

Okay, so I registered for classes and my first day is tomorrow. Now, normally this wouldn't be a big deal to me... but I haven't stepped foot inside a classroom in about 2 years. I must say I'm a little nervous to go "back to school". I'm only taking 9 hours this semester, in order to be able to get a part time job to pay the bills... another thing I'm nervous about, I haven't worked a job that wasn't in theatre in about 4 or 5 years. And I think what makes it a bit worse is that my main outlet of moral support over the past 6 years (Stephanie) is gone.

Too much, too fast.

=====
Here's the classes I'm excited about:

Mon/Wed
10:10a-11:00a - GCM211 - Graphic Communications
11:15a-01:10p - GCM212 - Graphic Comm. Lab - M only
02:30p-04:25p - TEC255 - Web Publishing

My other class doesn't start until Oct 16! It's a Tue/Thur night class.

Random

In other news...

I'm a decendant of Daniel Boone.

Quote

We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.

-Unknown

weekend - extended version

Wednesday
Flew back into the country, Erin picked me up from the airport and I crashed at her parent's house after an awesome grilled out dinner and s'mores afterwards.

Thursday
Watched part of Under the Tuscan Sun (Erin's favorite movie), ate lunch at Brews and met her friend Josh. Then went to Witts to eat some ice cream and meet her friend Whitney. Both Whitney and Josh were very nice and friendly, and I think we all got along really well. That evening Erin met my mom for the first time... she was really nervous, it was cute! We ate dinner at Wendel's Pub and then went back to mom's to look at photos from London.

Friday
Mom and I drove from Columbus to Lexington to drop me off at my car. Mom then went to visit my Aunt Jane in Winchester. I tried unpacking... with not much luck.

Saturday
Volunteered at St. Awesome's for our Music Minister's (Mary Beth) last weekend on staff. I worked the stage camera (and worked it I did) from just behind the piano. The service was amazing, it was really good to have something to get me off my butt this weekend.

Sunday
Returned to St. Awesome's for the service... the whole creative arts team was really on their game this weekend... it was incredible. Came home and acted like I was going to clean my room... but didn't. Laid in bed and slept most of the day.

Bengals Watch '06

The NFL Preseason has started, and Cincy is off to a bang. Defeated Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills with relative ease. Carson Palmer is ready to get back to the game next week against Green Bay after having a serious knee injury in the Wildcard Playoff game against Pittsburg last season.

Only two more pre-season games to go before the regular season begins on Sept. 10 against Kansas City.

In other news... my girlfriend's family are Cleveland Browns fans... sad news.

WHO-DEY

Weekend Haiku

Life after August.
Mixed feelings swirl in my heart.
Happiness and not.

Things that Make Me Happy

We're starting a new segment on skipthehero.com called, "Things That Make Me Happy"... this is part one of our 127 part feature.

Today, while grocery shopping, I found these:



Cheese balls. 25oz of processed cheesey snack goodness. Thank you God, for this wonderful treat!

Meet the Parents... part 2

Okay, so I met Erin's parents, and Erin met my best friends, and we both passed that test. Now it's vice-versa...

Erin picked me up from the Cincy Airport and I spent the night with her at her parents house. That night I got to meet the woman who is like her second mom, Judy. She's a really nice lady, although I didn't get a long chance to speak with her. Erin's parents grilled out for us and then we had s'mores. The next day, we went to one of her favorite places, called "Brews". Judy's son, Josh works there, and we went so I could meet him. He's a really cool guy, and seems like a lot of fun. After "Brews" we went to get ice cream a couple of doors down to meet her friend Whitney. She was a hoot and a half, and I saw a lot of similarities between her and Erin, especially vocal and physical manerisms.

After Ice Cream, Erin and I went to my mom's house so that they could meet each other. We went out to dinner to Wendell's Pub and had a nice dinner, and went back home and chatted for a bit. My cousin Debbie and some of her kids stopped by to say hi and Erin got to meet them.

All in all, it was a lot of fun, although it didn't last near long enough.

London Antics, part 2

Highlighting the rest of my romp across the pond...

Visited London (Day Two) -
- took a river ride on the Thames River
- saw St. Paul's Cathedral
- went to the temple church (was closed for renovation)
- went to the Tate Modern museum - Stephanie and I made fun of a lot of modern art
- saw the musical "The Producers" on London's version of Broadway, The West End
- saw a street performer do Houdini's "The Great Escape".. he was hilarious
- visited Covent Garden

Visted Windsor (Last Day) -
- saw the home of the queen (from the outside)
- took a short walk down her driveway (miles long)
- ate at a pub

Heathrow Airport -
- Stephanie, Chris and Doris brought me to the airport around 11:00-11:30.
- Left me at 12:30-1:00
- Cried like a baby from 1:00-2:00

London Antics, part 1

This is my trip so far - highlights only:

- got an upgrade on the plane to business class

Visited Cambridge -
- went to a wedding (had a blast)
- ate at a small pub called The Maypole, had a pint of ale and 'bangers and mash'
- ate a traditional "full english breakfast"
- drank tea
- wondered around the downtown scene visited Kings College (origination of the King's Singers... although not affiliated with them anymore)

Visited London (Day One) -
- hitched a ride on a red bus tour
- saw Big Ben, Parlament, Trafalgar Square
- attended mass at Westminster Abbey (Evensong mass)
- ate at The Kings Head Pub

... more to come... :)

London, Baby!

Alright gang, I'm packed and heading out. If I get a chance to post during the week I'm overseas, I'll do so. Otherwise look forward to some good photos and good stories when I get back!

Later.

why do now?

... what you can put off for later?

Okay, I'm doing laundry and packing for my trip to London tomorrow and watching Eddie Izzard, "Glorious" on BBCAmerica. Eddie Izzard is a hilarious comedian... for one, he's a cross dresser, two - he's british, and three - his jokes are funny and intellectual.

Okay... I guess I'm going to go back to packing... ugh.

Awesome

If you haven't seen this video... watch it now.

coming soon...