Monthly Archives: August 2003

Not one of those ”water off a duck’s back” qualities

Blah Blah Blah

There are those things that you can shake off, given enough time and perseverance. They’re usually things pertaining to your ego, identity or self-esteem. However, there are things that you hear or see that stay with you. Things that you keep replaying in your mind in such a way that it does nothing to invoke a deep sense of helplessness upon you.

Hearing that Charles, my nephew, is in the hospital after undergoing epileptic seizures is one of them.

I got the message from my mom today, and immediately called her back.
Apparently, he went through some last night, was sent home from the hospital
a few hours later, and then started having some more again. They had a
pediatrician come in and he said that Charles is hitting puberty, and this
sometimes happens. Never heard of that before, but Hey…he’s the one that
knows children better than me.

I’m still in shock over everything, as this is the first immediate family
emergency I’ve experienced (Grandparents excluded). I’m sure that he’ll be
ok, but there’s always that off-kilter feeling you get after hearing news
like this.

What makes this all the more creepy for me is that I was thinking about his
yesterday and how I’d enjoy having him come to Dallas and we could spend some more time together.

— Tommy just wants everything to be OK.

It’s not even 2AM yet!!!

Home related stuff

Ok, I’m upset. Pissed. Fuming. Raging. Why you ask?

Because I just dropped and screwed up one of the most expensive pieces of equipment I have here at my house. My near, dear and precious camera.

I invited my good friend Audra and Joe to come over and drop Montgomery (the 3 foot pig) as I took pictures of it with the paddle. Audra, being the great person she is, drove long and far to come deliver the pig back to me and as I went to pick up my G3, it slipped out of my hands and went crashing hard onto the concrete, smashing the lens frame and now it won’t even close properly. Grrrrrrrr….

To make matters worse, I spent some time working and upgrading my website and now Lee’s gallery doesn’t have any albums in it. It’s got pictures, but you can’t get to any of them. I think I need to stay away from anything regarding digital photography now.

— Snoopy Kiss really, really, really, wants that “Rewind” button on his Camcorder of Life right now.

They can’t say that on Television

Social Events

Oh yeah..I forgot some of the quotes that I either overheard or instigated during the exchange:



  • “Let the a$$ slapping begin!”
  • Our waitress at Minnies – “Our food is really great, which is surprising considering the crappy service.”
  • “Carbonated yogurt with Seltzer.  It tasted like goat.”
  • “Wow, it’s like Valley girl meets caveman:  Dude…ugg…dude!!…ugg..”
  • “So, you’re a fish snob?””I prefer to call myself an fish-anadio”
  • “I hope that’s blood.”, After slopily eating a steak.
  • “You’re going to like what I’m wearing tonight.  Bring your Extra brain.”
  • “What?!  You ate her danish and you didn’t even know her name?!”
  • “What makes you think I’m wearing underwear.”
  • “We need to start the rumor that all Jews are good dancers.””So, when a girl says ‘Good Dance.’, I should say, ‘Thanks, I’m Jewish.’?”
  • “I don’t need a push-up bra.  I need a push-in.”
  • “Which one is Solomon?””He’s the one that looks like Harry Potter grown up about 10 years.”
  • “Swing dancing is great.  There you are listening to great Jazz and grooving with hot women….some of which ride motorcycles.”
  • “He just gives women the look and they come dance with him.””A little big of tongue helps too.”
  • “Smirnoff Ice?  I haven’t sold that to a guy before.”

A delicate combination of fast music, blues, and all out insanity.

Social Events

As Seattle has been one of the most talked about Lindy Exchanges out there, I pondered…who am I to pass up such a great opportunity such as this?  Apparently, about 200-300 people had that exact same thought.  or maybe some deviation of that thought.  or maybe it went along the lines of “Wow, there’s going to be some kick’arse women/men there!”  (Including the infamous Skadoo) or “Hot Damn!  I feel the need to dance to some 200+ bpm song while totally experiencing the whole tribal rhythym.”  or maybe it was just subconcious that anyone who is anyone should be there.  It was all of that and a bag of really finely cooked salmon.

 

Hosted by the lovely, talented, and sexy Mrrree and her beau Jeremy, I was able to browse the finer locations of Seattle, from their balcony.  Completely, on a whim, on Thursday night, I attended a performance workshop by Zah-Zu-Zay (2002 American Lindy Hop Championship winners) which we later performed that night.  I was also “properly introduced” to the Meghan/Mrreee combo of Seattle fame.  After some food and going through my 3rd or 4th wind, I was ready to crash.  Which, I did.  Quiet successfully, I might add.  The next morning, another Dallas-ite, Heather Leigh Smith, and I went roaming around downtown Seattle for some dancing with the local band “Dusty 45’s“.  Later on…there was more dancing.  And even after that…even more dancing.

 

Next few days…guess what?  More dancing.  Random blues-ing. There was also some beach side activities and cutting up that happened about every time I heard someone scream out, “Tommy!  Come over here…and bring your camera!”  Oh yeah…lots of good naughty-ness with the Austin Lindy Exchange paddle.  We also got to visit the famous Pike’s Fish Market.  One of my favorite dances was in the heart of Seattle, where some “Got Milk?” advertisement campaign tried setting up a concert across the street from us, but they only lasted 30 seconds, because they knew that they couldn’t compete with the entertainment provided by 200 people from all over the world (Including France and Australia, let alone 6 people from Texas!).  That place is also where I think that I got the best picture of the exchange.  It’s also where Will finally got to invoke his revenge on an old water fight from the Salt Lake City Exchange.  Thankfully, Melissa’s a good sport.

Outage…BAD! Seattle Exchange…GOOD!! OBEY MY DOG!

Exchanges - I THINK they're healthy.

As some might have noticed, my site has been down for a while. This seems to happen right after exchanges. Which is, of course, the worst time for it to go down since I’m ready to start posting pics ASAP for all to see. Hopefully, I will have the Seattle Exchange pics up by tonight for your viewing pleasure.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for the story of the Snoopy Kiss, here ya go. This is Lee’s account. I plan to have mine up soon enough.

— Feeling refreshed. Could be the 11 hours of sleep I got today.

The Avalanches

Social Events

Earlier this week, I found out that one of my favorite bands, “The Avalances”
was playing at the Red Jacket on Friday.  “Oh my Gosh!  I’ve gotta get all
my friends together to partake in this grand musical concert.”  So, I squandered
up my friends “Lee”, John, Eric and Bill.  Part of the core gaming group
that gets together at either my or Bill’s parents house.

Anyway, most of the group meets at my house and we pile into my Saturn for a quick trip to “The Jacket“. 
We sit back and have a good time with some cheap drinks only to hear those
dreaded words, “The Avalanches will not be playing tonight.” 

NNNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!  You people have no idea how much I’ve been waiting
for this.  How much I’ve been anticipating this!  How much effort into making
sure that my butt was inside the Red Jacket
so that I can get primo stage viewing for the only concert that I’ve ever
took an active role in organizing a group to go see!  Gahhhh!

Thankfully, I was with friends.  Not just any friends, but friends that
I KNOW that I will have a good time with…no matter where we are.  So, we
decided to go see “Signs“, the new M. Night Shyamalan
flick. (What’s cool is that he is a major character in the film.)  We showed
up 5 minutes before it started.  Which is very interesting, because a large
portion of the movie was about what type of person are you:

  • Someone who believes that luck is just luck or
  • Someone who believes that everything happens for a reason.

I, myself, am a person who believes that everything happens for a reason.  Now, I don’t know why the Avalanches
show was cancelled, but I admit that I had a GREAT time tonight.  And I also
believe that everything worked out so that we could see the very last showing
of “Signs” at Cinemark that night.

Now I don’t know if my belief is “The Truth”
or whatnot, but I do know that it gives me hope.  When things aren’t looking
so well, it’s good to believe that there’s some reason that it’s happening. 
Besides, I don’t think anyone knows “The Truth“,
therefore, you’re just making it up from your perspective.  Might as well
make up something that will forward you.  And believing that everything happens
for a reason does keep hope alive for me.

With that logic…you’re reading this for a reason.

Know why?  I don’t.  I just have faith that you are.

Jeromy’s Gettin’ Married!

Backpack: Check.

I’ve
always known that I’m surrounded by some of the greatest people on Earth.
I think that God has blessed me in many ways by providing me with friends
that care for me deeply and will support me eternally. This weekend, I got
to be a Groomsman in the wedding for one of those people that I hold very,
very high: Jeromy McDerment.

Jeromy and I were Sophmore roommates back in my zany days of college.
During that time, I was off persuing my own ways, trying to figure myself
and my life out; meanwhile, Jeromy was a strong Christian influence on me
which was unwavering and never-ending brotherly love. He and his brother
Cliff, and Cliff’s wife, Brooke, always amazed me at the amount of pure love
and respect they had for each other. They don’t know this, but they were
my idols back in college. Jeromy and I always used to kid about who the
other people was going to marry and about our futures. (Ahem…Annette McDerment!)
And now I got to see this lucky girl who Jeromy asked to be his wife. I
first found out about Cathy when Jeromy told me that he was engaged. I knew
that they were perfect for each other after seeing this picture of them.

Now onto the wedding:

I carpooled with some of Jeromy’s current friends and one of my old Tulane buddies,
Aaron Kirtley. (One of the smartest men I know, who just finished MIT graduate
school and knows at least 3 languages and is a very humble and pleasant person.
Pretty good for someone who also looks like Matt Damon.)
We caught up and had lunch together at the mall where we discovered the freaky
chicken guy. (Some white guy who wore lots of makeup, had dreadlocks which
he wore up while some dreads beaded down his white beret.) We got to the
hotel to discover they had Krispy Kreme
right across the street. My taste buds were more than happy to take some
free samples and eat some for breakfast, dinner and lunch the following days.
After the rehersal and rehersal dinner, I crashed after getting only 2 hours
of sleep in the last 48.

The wedding went almost flawlessly, except for the limo driver who didn’t know what he was doing and passed the church on more than one occasion.

Here’s some pictures from the wedding:

One of my favorites: The bride and groom getting heart shaped sugar-paper tossed at them.

After the wedding, the two of them couldn’t keep their hands (or lips) off of each other. We then went to this beautiful park
to take some pictures. Come to find out, we weren’t the only ones to have
that idea. There were about 5 other bridal parties taking pictures at the
same park that time. Some of them apparently had a hard wedding and needed
to help loosen up. Some people were also fishing at the park and caught a biggie. Jeromy learned that if you ever need support, to just call on your friends.

Following the picture taking was the reception. Were the women had their hands up most of the time either catching stuff, or doing the YMCA. And of course, what would be a wedding w/o the ceremonial wrapping of the groom’s car. Maybe I should get out of the way.

The next day I went to Niagara Fall’s
with some of Jeromy’s buddies and we had a good time talking about the follys
of life, Krispy Kreme, women and of course…how to meet them. The best
thing we could come up with was following in the footsteps of this one guy
who we saw walk past us with a T-shirt that said, “Available.” How much
easier could it get except for adding your phone number to the back?

Needless to say, Niagara Falls
was breaktaking. I forget how many gallons of water flow over each minute,
but it was some number larger than my bank account. Oh, and here’s something
I didn’t know. Niagara Falls is actually two water falls. One is “America Falls” and the other is “Horseshoe Falls“. People say that the Canadian side has a more attractive view, but I think that it couldn’t get much better than where I was standing. One thing I really liked was the cloud of vapor that rose from the Horseshoe Falls. Me and the guys also went on a boat ride to the middle of Horseshoe Falls which was awesome. If you’re ever there, you MUST go. Oh, and yes, I took all of those pictures myself.

All in all, it was an amazing experience and I am so glad that I was able
to be a part of my good friend Jeromy’s wedding. Many blessings and much
love to you bro. Thanks for everything.

8/5/02 – Just in case you were wondering if I had any fun. 🙂 (That’s Cliff and Brooke in front of me.) Here’s another good picture of the couple.

Joseph and the Technicolor Strangeheart Colored Coat. Amazing.

Social Events

Sometimes, there are those days where the World just seems to come at you with no rhyme or reason and you have no idea why.  Well, this wasn’t one of those days. 


 


This was one of those days where the World came at me, but it was all because of my own doing.  Since this is Tax Free weekend, George and I went out to do some shopping and lunch Friday morning.  By the time I finally got into work, it was about 2:30.  I had some MAJOR catch-up to play in addition to finding someone to go see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with me.  Thankfully, Nortel (Greatest place to work, eva.) understands that there are people like me that don’t adhere to a normal sleeping schedule, or even a normal working schedule for that matter, and as long as I’m a good and prosperous worker (which I have confirmed with my bosses), I have certain liberties.  Yea me!


After a while of searching for someone to go with, I decided to take George as my “Man-date” (Just two guys going to see a play together.  No funny business.), and we both really enjoyed the play.  Due to popularity, they’ve extended it for another week.  Go see it!  (I think Lee’s planning a group watching next week, so talk to him.)


Then, we were onto Part 2 of the evening.  An inebriated watching of Strangeheart at The Magnolia.  A movie, along the same lines as Rocky Horror, where audience participation is, not just allowed, but encouraged.  So is drinking.  Which a number of us did.  George and I were accompanied by a slew of people I knew would make this a great evening:  Lee, Carolyn, Allison, Peck, Audra and Joe.  I brought my homemade “Gatorade” (Read:  Midori Sour).  Matt Peck had some tasty Buttermint Schnapps that he was passing around.  By the time, it got to me a 3rd time, I decided to take a huge swig of it, only to find that he replaced it with pure Gin.  I nearly spewed it on Carolyn, who was sitting in front of me.  (I’ll get you for that Peck.)


 


Anyway, back to the movie.  There are the typical lines that you’re supposed to shout out at opportune times, but I found that our own improvisational lines, belted out mainly by Lee and a few others that were “taken by the spirits”, had the entire theatre in an uproar and were much mo’ betta.  Afterwards, a few of us went to Café Brazil for some after movie/drinking food.  I was dragging myself around until I finally got my French Toast and I was hit with my 3rd or 4th wind or something.


 


Going to bed, I knew that my biological clock was going to keep waking me up, telling me that it’s time to go to work, but thankfully, I was able to press the internal Snooze button and get my 8 hours of sleep from 5AM – 1PM. J


 


–Snoopy Kiss is glad that he’s not a giant.  Because then the only movies he would be able to see is at the drive in theatre.  And then, I’d probably crush some cars.

If it makes you happy…

Social Events

Thankfully, there’s lots of things in this world that makes me happy. One of which is helping Lee to update his site so that it has all of the articles from our old Radio Possibility site up and getting the dates correct. I’ve been ever-expanding my knowledge of PHP and MySQL through this website and my work at Nortel. My new banner makes me happy too.

What do I have to write about? Today? Nothing. It’s just been a good day. Lots of things are wacked righ now (like the Saturn dealership having my car for many hours and them not being done with it), but it just feels like a good day. One of those days where you’ve got it handled. One of those days where you’ve got tickets to Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and then are going to hang out with some friends aftewards to go see Strangeheart. You might have a sense of what I’m talking about. I dunno.

I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new play-thing, the Treo 600. My existing Treo has taken a beating and is ready to be replaced. And as much as the flippy top looks cool and has that Star Trek feel to it, it gets annoying after a while. Yeah! New Technology!

–wondering where all the Cowboys have gone.Mr. Falgout