wha?

am i seeing things or did the dogwoods suddenly go full bloom in.. oh... like... say... 1 day?

short week, then a long haul

this is a rather short week because we are leaving at midnight (or so) on Friday morn to go shoot a wedding in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The kids will get to spend the night at the Harwoods, go to school, then see Grandma... then see Nanna and Papa in a weekend of switchoffs for them. of course, they see it as adventurama... fortunately Spring Break is for the kids next week.

i am trying to practice as this shoot is going to be all manual but keep running into the usual "please dont take a picture of me! blah, blah, blah" which is extremely frustrating. so all i ever get to take photos of are rocks, trees, grass, and the occasional sleeping cat. and then people wonder why i dont take photos anymore... kinda a downer when everytime i try to take a picture, everyone shoves their hand in my face... and i mean everyone... do my pictures suck that i take of everyone?

Ipod song o' da day....

All we need is music, sweet music
There'll be music everywhere
There'll be swingin', swayin' and records playin'
And dancin' in the streets

Oh, it doesn't matter what you wear
Just as long as you are there
So come on, every guy grab a girl
Everywhere around the world
There'll be dancin'
They're dancin' in the street

However, someone or something hit out mailbox and destroyed it. I am still pondering if this was accident or on purpose. I am tempted to put it back up, but every night place C4 in it and put a huge "HIT ME if YOU DARE" sign on it and wait... cause.. you KNOW, whoever did this (if on purpose) will come back by... and if it is some punkass highschool kids, they wont be able to resist doing it again. Or.. I might just simply put up my wireless surveillance camera and do the same thing.... or I might just put it up tomorrow and sit in a chair in the yard with my camera and blatantly take a picture of every single car that drives by for 24/48 hours. Cause if/when that person comes back by, that will spook them...

music charms the soul....

"You cant stop my happiness
Cause i like the way i am
And you just can't stop my knife and fork
When i see a christmas ham
so if you don't like the way i look
Well, i just don't give a damn!"

EDNA & ENSEMBLE
"Cause the world keeps spinning
Round and 'round
And my heart's keeping time
To the speed of sound
I was lost til i heard the drums
Then i found my way"

EDNA & COMPANY
'Cause you cant stop the beat!

Life moves forward....

Quarter Three report cards...I-Man, All A's and 1 B... Ryles bounces back with All A's.

i will be measured in my words about Clemson... why? Why do they ( the students, the athletes, the FRAT!) continue to settle for mediocrity? WHy do they continue to talk a big game, but.. when its time to man up.. to be ALL IN... to be for OPP... to Strive For The Highest... why do they settle for... just good enough...no... Not JUST good enough... good enough to be mediocre. Good enough to always look good, but look good losing by two... look good doing just enough to say they do something, but dont STRIVE to be the best..... I will leave this post with a quote by Rocky, to his son... I think this pretty much sums up how I feel...

Rocky Balboa: You ain't gonna believe this, but you used to fit right here.
[taps on the inside of his hand]
Rocky Balboa: I'd hold you up to say to your mother, "this kid's gonna be the best kid in the world. This kid's gonna be somebody better than anybody I ever knew." And you grew up good and wonderful. It was great just watching you, every day was like a privilege. Then the time come for you to be your own man and take on the world, and you did. But somewhere along the line, you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you're no good. And when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame, like a big shadow. Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you!

So... I went down to New Orleans last weekend. I had never been there before. Just imagine Charleston on Steroids. DEFINITELY an adult type place and I don't think I want to envision my daughter going there anytime before... oh... say... NEVER. I-Man is, or course, a different story.... I think I might have to put thsat one my docket as a place to arrange a group getaway sometime in the far future when everyone can take a weekend away from their kids...

I think the biggest thing I noticed was that it was entirely different on Bourbon Street. It was party central pretty much 24/7 while 3 blocks away was seedy town. I didnt have an opportunity to see of the hurricane Katrina stuff, as in demolished houses or anything, but I did notice a large amount of trash along the highway and part of me speculated that maybe it was from hurricane Katrina.

So I am over on Campus this morning at the band office... as I left, I stopped at a light and some students went past me, backpacks and all. Here is what I noticed... "these guys look NO OLDER than my son when they walked by". Now... my sone does not look mature at all. Might be a tad tall... but.. these kids look like they are not Freshmen in college... they look even younger.

More on the the Nawlins' trip in a bit...

just wondering...

I have noticed that when I lay down in my bed (especially today when I was not feeling well), it is SOOOO comforting to smell Jessica's perfume, etc. on the pillow. Its like..."ah..."but what got me to thinking is that I KNOW jessica wears perfume all the time, but why dont i really notice it when she is there with me? Is something canceling that out? And no, I dont think she needs to wear MORE perfume... just that it seems to stand out when she is not there....