And You May Ask Yourself, "My God! What Have I Done?!"

Kevin and Scott, originally uploaded by crau1971.

Wonder of wonders, but I took out the nomination papers again. Apparently, I still want to be in politics.

This was taken last year, at game night, before I arrived. They put it back on Scott's lawn the next morning. Yes, he's getting it back this year. Along with his dad, and Brian, and scores of others.

Here comes the madness.

Gratitude

In addition to the death of my friend last week, I was also dealing with and processing the following events:

• my sister going on modified bed rest due to unexplained contractions.
• my mother, during an afternoon watching my sister's kids due to said bed rest, falling on some ice and breaking her wrist. On her dominant hand.
• a friend's father passing away out of state.

I would like to thank everyone who checked in on me last week. Emotionally, I was not in a good place. So thank you, to friends near and far, who rallied to make sure I was ok, everyday, either via email, or IM, or facebook message. Thank you to my mother, who used her remaining good hand to hold mine during the darkest, saddest moments last week. And to you, my readers, who saw my last post, and quietly understood I needed some time alone.

I'm hoping this is a better week. Thank you again, for all your love and well wishes.

No One May Come Here Since No One May Stay

I have known too long that I would post this song, once I knew that this had come to pass. And, it breaks my heart to know she's gone. It breaks my heart to know I tried, and failed.

Rest in peace, old friend. Say hello to the rest of the neighborhood up there.

Rosemary - Grateful Dead

Are You Gonna Let It All Hang Out?

So, it was another great weekend in Red Bank with Liz and company. We listened to (and traded) tons of great songs, including the one referenced in the title. We ate. And drank. And did it some more. We experienced gluten-free beer for the first time, and were pleasantly surprised. We made weird predictions in Whole Foods, that came true, and made us laugh. We saw this movie. We went to this bar and saw live music. I met Captain Assclown, and we were total nerds and stole things off of each other's hard drives. And that is not a euphemism in any way. The Captain and I had a conversation about this topic, and expanded the list tremendously. Tight Like That, indeed, my friend.

In trying to find the perfect picture to post, I was at a loss. So, here is the entire set of Red Bank pictures, from all the visits. The first 16 are the most current.

Liz is coming here the first weekend in February. Marah and beer will be involved.

Almost An Entire Week...

Not participating in blog365 has kind of been like having a phantom limb; I got so used to sitting down by the computer and producing something, I feel almost guilty when I don't write.

Almost.

However, I'll get over that. This weekend, I'm heading back to Red Bank to hang with Liz. There will be pictures, I'm sure.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone.

Ahem...

"When your mind begins to reconstruct the sadness into laughter,
maybe you can turn the karma into happy ever after..."

One of my favorites from one of the all-time greats.

Deep Karma Canyon - Bob Mould

MP3 File

Ziggy Played Guitar (in Suffragette City)

Happy Birthday David Bowie, and D. Oh, and some guy named Elvis, too. Apparently. The important ones are listed first and second, though. Hahaha!

In other random observations, I chimed in on a few facebook arguments yesterday. One was centered around my purchase of a Snuggie. Oh, yes, dear friends, I went there. The main reason for buying it was for my sister, who would wrap herself up in blankets in JULY if she could, and is pregnant and needing a cocoon most days. I then took advantage of their "buy one/get one" offer for myself.

The other facebook argument I'm opening up to the general world. A friend of mine replied to a comment one of his female friends left on his status with something along the lines of, "I thought there was a statute of limitations for the flowers thing?" Let me be crystal clear with all of you: there is NO LIMITATIONS on flowers. They are always appropriate. And we will always remember when we DIDN'T get them (and felt we should have) as much as we will remember when we did get them. Rule of thumb, guys. If there's all sorts of hullaballo on tv and the radio, or a day off, flowers are always appropriate. Flowers are also appropriate any day, whether it's 2 dozen roses from the boutique down the street, or the $7.99 floral special at the supermarket. Never, EVER, underestimate their power. Oh, and flowers to the office? Hot. Dale was surprisingly good at that.

So, in closing, to my buddy, no, there is no limitations on flowers. You could even send them NOW to make up for your grievous error, even if she is married.

Oh, and everyone send positive vibes Liz's way. She really needs them right now. She's a superhero, and has run into some kryptonite.

As you were.


Suffragette City (thanks, murph!) - David Bowie

MP3 File

Question

Why do cars decide to suck when you have plans that you were looking forward to? Seriously.

Triple A, lovely people. Battery was clearly dead and needed a jump, but I'm not driving 40 minutes into Somerville, to have to wait for them again at midnight. And, I'd be terrible company even if I did risk it.

So, I'm home. I'm hungry, and I don't feel like cooking. And, vacation's over.

Sigh... let me wallow a minute; I'll be fine eventually.