The best antidote to death is kids

I'm sitting at my parents' house in St. Louis as I write this.  I'm in the living room where I grew up, with its familiar green carpet and the framed photograph of Uncle "Lips" on the mantle.  It's not actually my great-great uncle, just someone who resembled him, according to my great-grandmother.

Somewhere else in the house are the backpacks my father and I took to Philmont Scout Ranch in 1992.  Mine is electric blue and black with a cool internal frame.  The packs have sat in the basement corner quietly for almost twenty years without me thinking about them, but I thought about them this weekend.

The reason I did was because one of the dads who hiked in my group died last week.  I found out about it when I arrived in town late last Friday evening.

Relationship Notes from the Last Two Months

This is two separate people and two separate stories.  The main character of the first story is me -- that story deals with involving my social group in my prospective relationship.  The main character of the second story is a woman I know.  Her story involves the perception of her by her social group.

May 8th, Part the Second: Streetfighter likes my pinstripe

As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by my gushing adulation of Christopher Lee, I was in the midst of commencements...
 

May 8th, Part the WHOOPS: Doctor Andy and Christopher Lee, sitting in a tree

When we last left me on May 8th, it was still close to noon and my friend was picking nits through my love life.  I don't mind, really -- it's not often anyone bothers to ask about my love life.  It must come from being tall and scary.  After all, do you think anyone asks Christopher Lee about his love life?  And if they did, would you expect him to answer in any way other than:

"I SHED THE BLOOD OF FOUR THOUSAND SAXON MEN"

Fuzzy fox

This is a nine-week old red fox kit found in California.  I like his little stuffed animal.

He's cute, but I know that one day he'll grow up and be able to make the bone-chilling cry of the red fox.

WARNING: Turn down your volume before listening to the video, especially at night if others are sleeping.

May 8th, Part the First: Begun the Commencements Have

Yesterday was a day bursting at the seams with things that happened.  I tried describing it as a "busy" day, but that somehow feels like I was doing or working a lot.  Actually, I was mostly relaxed and not busy.  It was a constant stream of one activity leading into another leading into another from ten o'clock in the morning to ten at night.  Gather 'round to hear tell of the first part of the day -- the part where I talked to girls and earned money.

Such a day, that was!

It was a long day.  Three commencements and a wedding make for a long day.

A friend of mine paid me an awesome relationship compliment, but it took me ten hours, four beers, and 2 glasses of wine to actually think it through and appreciate it.  Did I mention the 10 hours of mulling?

The wedding was wonderful, but I'll have to cover it some other day.  Tired and 3/4ths asleep already. 

Also, I might die from hummus, lamb, and tzatziki poisoning.  But such a tasty way to go!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Dreams aren't supposed to be so... actual!

This morning -- quite early -- my brain and body both decided to conspire against my consciousness.

Here's how it went down:

Alarm CloACK!

I find my alarm clock to be very effective.  Mine's from the middle-80's and I'm not sure there have been many improvements to alarm clocks since then.  I need mine to make a sudden racket -- and it does.  In my current bedroom setup, it's sitting on the chest of drawers at the foot of my bed, requiring me to do a sit-up, get out of bed and take several steps to silence it.

The alarm is loud enough to pierce even my sleep habits, as one who often sleeps through storms and other nighttime rackets.  But as loud and effective as this clock is, I somehow find it EVEN MORE jarring when I'm already awake and thinking.  It never fails to startle me, even though I know that it's going to happen each morning at 7:30am.