Recitals down...

This past weekend saw the Twins Dance and Tap recitals happen... along with a long Dress rehearsal that is about as organized total confusion can ever be. But somehow, it all comes off nicely and I guess it is kinda like how band stuff must look to normal people at times... I always like sitting at the Recital and watching all the groups. 99.999999999 percent of these kids will never dance professionally but I always remember and can appreciate what they are trying to do...the time and energy put into weeks and months of practice for what... 5 minutes in front of a few family and friends and interested onloookers. But I think of the journey these kids and and young adults are making, and the memories and friendships they are forming. Five minutes IS worth it.

and the music. I love how music always takes my mind somewhere else. To places elsewhere and to people far away and times in the past. I always sit in these Recitals and ponder where would I be without music. And I KNOW i wouldnt be in a better place.... I hope that my kids will continue to have a place in their lives for the ARTS, because I think unless they are destined to be able to throw lefthanded a baseball at 95 miles per hour or something else like that, they will get a lot out of the ARTS, whatever direction they go into...

adjustin'

I am still trying to adjust to my work schedule. The long weekends are awesome but the late nights are starting to wear on me as I cant get to sleep till around 2am. I then get up at 6:40ish to deal with the twins and getting them off to school. After dropping them off at school, i usually dont get a chance to go back to sleep but... if I do, i will lie there and cannot wake myself up until noon. This is virtually unheard for me as I have never had this type of issue in the past. I can only guess that lack of sleep has crept in....

Now THIS is more like it...

SO... I-Man kept asking me to go next door and ask the neighbors if he could cut their grass.. since they stole our hand mower the other week in the middle of the night and cut part of their yard, them mysteriously put the mower back, I am not inclined to help them out in the least... but ... anyways... I digress... I said no and he proceeds to tell me he was going to do it for them for 5 dollars. I'm like "dude.. I will gladly give you 5 dollars if you cut the yard... So i gladly watched him tool back and forth for 20 minutes while I sat on our front step, sipped a diet coke and pondered a page turned and perhaps milestone reached... of course, later Ryles learns that I-Man is getting a huge 5 spot and she is asking me what she can do... I mention cleaning her room, and i get silence and a very blank stare....

Quality Time...

I think that it is great that I-Man and Ryles get a chance to spend time with Nanna, Papa and Grandma. Especially cause they have a different perspective than me and Jessica at times, but we can trust that they still have a positive affect on the kids. The twins got to spend time yesterday with Grandma. Always good...

And down the stretch we go...

Ok... so I learned that the Twins have Report cards... then they have progress reports during each Reporting period. I was beginning to wonder about the seemingly endless cards the kids were getting. Ok... Got it. So I am now on the same page in regards to the kids academics... Thru 3 Quarters, Ryles had 2 B's during the Second Quarter and All A's during 1st and 3rd. I-Man checks in at.... drum roll... ALL A's thru the first 3 Quarters. Which amuses me because Ryles is supposedly the better student. And perfect attendence all year for both of them. I Know its only second grade, but it seems to be going far better than what some people tried to predict back 12 years ago.... And suddenly, after hearing an exhibition of instruments, Ryles is talking about taking lessons on Oboe while I-Man is talking Tuba. Yeah... I keep hearing that I shouldn't be dictating what they play, but they really are picking these own their own, I think...

Today see's us doing a family gathering on Jessica's side of the family, then a visit with Grandma while I go attend a Frat Gathering....

Got a chance to eat lunch with a old friend from High School yesterday. It was great to touch base and see just how far we have both come... growing up in the country and now having two blessed families with promising futures. (knock on wood). He is now a managing partner at a law firm in town and we are both a far cry from riding around in that old yellow Pinto station wagon that vibrated like hell if you went over 50 miles per hour. Or me in my Chevy Nova with the iffy steering. He was my closest friend during my high school years and while we did go our separate ways, I think we will be seeing more of each other and our respective families here in the future. He said he found me doing a search on the Internet for a case... I forgot to followup on exactly what from this blog popped up that made him find me. I will have to know that. We both have separately pondered if the blessings we have in being able to provide for our children what we didnt have growing up is actually totally good or not... (what a sentence)

Weird, and sad...

I remember back to an email a friend sent me a while back talking about how many stores and shops were going to be closing in the future. This was like two, maybe three, years ago. I remember reading that and thinking NO WAY some of these places would be closing stores or going under altogether. But today, as I drove thru town and then went into the Mall for a little while, I was stuck by how many closed stores I saw. Eddie Bauer is no longer there. The Sprint hutch? Gone.... several stores boarded up on Main Street. Is this the economic prosperity Obama said would return if we hurried up and just went along with what he said?

at any rate, i think back to that email often... and think.. "Wow.. she was dead on...."

Stax Omega Time Machine

going to lunch today with a friend from WAYYYYY back @ Laurens District 55 High School... Looking for a yellow Pinto Station Wagon.... and wonderin if he can solve the mystery of the missing Julie Putnam

week - end - o - rama

so... Went to Heritage park yesterday with Brandy and her daughter, then over to their house for dogs and burgers. I had been to that park before but only once for a winter carnival type thingy and didnt realize just how many thingys for kids were available, as well as ball fields. We have a pretty robust recreation center here in town but except for the amount of ball fields and soccer fields, it was pretty impressive. And the train, while mini Disney like, was pretty fun too...

today was a pretty slow day but we did manage to get that big rock that was blocking part of the creek broken up and now the creek is flowing again correctly. of course, in that process, i ended up falling into the creek and had my Droid in my pocket. But i got up quickly enough that my phone did not even get remotely wet... so problem avoided. We then went and did some soccer skills drills with I-Man and Rylee on the soccer fields and then hit yet ANOTHER playground afterward. Returned to home and the twins hit the creek out back again for some sliderama fun... For those of you who dont know the layout of our home, we have a major creek running thru our backyard that at times actually draws groups of kids to the elevated part where they like to slide down to a pool of sorts that exists. I am not too fond of the skater boy types who like to show up but I have resisted putting up a No Trespassing sign and sitting up in our bedroom and picking off the Goth kids who loiter around ( or at least used too...) with my BB gun... they havent been back for a while. But I anticipate once school lets out, they will return...

Interesting commercial

I think the new Nike commercial with Tiger Woods (and his Dad's voice) is pretty effective if you simply stop and THINK about it... a lot of different levels of conversation there... i guess the only thing that is kinda weird is that his father was actually talking about his wife/tigers mother originally....

weddings are grown folk business....

Its been a long time coming but I promised I would post something about the wedding I took pictures at the other week in Michigan.... It was a long haul to get there ( is that a song?) and it was weird to see that much snow on the ground in Ohio, then see none in Michigan. Ann Arbor is a legit college town... i was amused at seeing actual fraternity/sorority houses and I felt like I was in some sorta movie when we tooled thru campus. We got to see the Big House, albeit with a lot of construction around it. And my Droid and Google Maps got a workout thru out the entire trip. I Think that what I took from the trip were some internal musings that I have been thinking about since that trip.

First, the Officiant asked me during the wedding rehearsal where my kids were and I told him "Weddings are grown folk business..." meaning that I have always felt that weddings are a intimately adult sorta thing. I have no problems with children being at or in weddings. And certainly they can add a certain flair and change of pace to the ceremony and proceedings. But I think that the symbolism and thoughts that go on, especially during the ceremony are of an adult nature, and I always am taken aback by the emotions that are present, both apparent and covert. The joining of two families and the myriad of subtext that goes with that are always interesting. Then you have the feelings of the parents... especially with a Father and his Daughter, juxtaposed with a Mother and her Son.

Next you have the friends and I have always enjoyed seeing the happiness that the Wedding day always brings to them. I saw happiness again with this wedding and it is a good thing. And I felt privileged to get to be a part of this particular wedding because the event was a more private, small affair. They pretty much paid/organized/put on the wedding themselves and decided to move the date forward by several months from the original date due to sickness in the family and a desire to make sure close family would be able to take part. It reminded me in many ways of my own wedding in seeing them dealing with preparations (cake/reception/rehearsal site/etc.) as well as taking time for family and friends and I hope that they got a chance to truly enjoy the experience, because the amount of mental energy dedicated versus the actual time of the event is way out of whack.

As I have mentioned before (and most people reading this know all too well), I am not a very open person and not particularly easy to get to know. I dont open up to people until they have jumped thru a myriad of hoops, tests, Huddle House conversations, Amphitheater talks, Botanical Garden walks and bus ride interrogations. And I tend to be fiercely loyal to a select group of people and I am confident those people know who they are. But I am also starting to ponder my mortality (and role in all of this)thinking that maybe I should be a little more... "friendly" to the general public and my friends in general. It is just very difficult to change something that was ingrained in me so long ago by my Grandmother to always remain under control and view the big picture. But as I gave a hug to my friends and said goodbye to them after their wedding, it felt a little better to give them a hug, and it seems to feel more "natural" as I go along... I know this is a strange concept to a lot if not all of you, but it never has been that I dont love you, its just that instead of jumping up and down in celebration during that long touchdown run, I was taught to look for the flag on the play and it all being called back.

Anyway, I digress... it seems I have been rambling about 3 or 4 different things at the same time...

I learned a lot about photography during this trip and I hope that at least some of the photos came out ok. I did flub a few but I find that the more I take, the more comfortable i become. Snapping in RAW was a revelation and it forced me out of auto settings on the camera and made me think even more about lighting and etc. And I learned a couple of lessons the hard way. But looking back at my work, I think some of it was decent. I hope they are able to grab some usable prints out of it too...

what the hey?

talking about time flying... it is stunning to see my son get a pair of used inline skates from the Jockey Lot and be tooling around on them like an expert in less than 24 hours... and to think i remember when he couldnt even walk... i have a little wariness because he has always seemed to be drawn to that entire skateboard scene...(kinda like the thoughts crossing my mind when i hear Ryles upstairs beating on her electric drum set... shudder)... i am hoping to not see him go that route... but... anyways, he is tooling around EVERYWHERE skating around. A couple of initial falls but... off he goes...