thanksgiving 2009.

was:

playing games with precious friend's at the leahy's tuesday night. so good. then catching the late viewing of Blindside with my brother, Jacob. I thought it was an okay film, apart from being so bloody predictable.

driving solo to dulles airport at 2:15 am on wednesday morning to get my brother, peter from california. in short: falling asleep on the road, sleeping in a sheetz parking lot for a 15 minute power-nap, and drinking half of a red bull before a joyous reunion.

(part of the) family dinner at mom's house wednesday night. then the keith grant suprising my sister, rachel and her boyfriend, sam later that night. playing rockband "the beatles" ensued with my brother, Jacob. Up was watched, and enjoyed by all.

thanksgiving morning was spent driving to my mom's parents house in richmond. once there, finally got to meet my cousin joel's wife, michelle, along with their two sons Logan(4) and Curtis(6 months). So much fun. Somehow Jacob and I ended up at the adult's table this year. How does that happen? Over factory-injected fowl, I learned that my Uncle Bruce works for the largest supplier of explosives to the US army. Automatically, my mind spit out a picture of me chained to their doors in protest. :-)

All of us kids(plus Sam of course) then left for my dad's parents house also in Richmond. His sister, Connie and all of her kids were there. Also, cousin Henry, and his wife, Colleen. I like them so much. Over dinner, I sat next to my cousin Hampton's husband, Ben. Being the first time I really got to talk to him, it was pretty fantastic. He converted me to red wine versus white, and answered all my questions about how he came to be a chef when he started out working for a computer software company. To the left of me sat my Uncle Deadbear. His main discussion over dinner was about how I should try to get into the best college possible, so then I could get a good job, etc. It's awfully hard to tell someone that you just want to help people in life, and could care less about your salary. People who considering helping to be writing tax write-off's as the highest form of charity just don't quite get it.

Late Thanksgiving night on the drive home, I think I had one of the worst brain fails ever. I somehow got it in my head that it would be a good idea to go Black Friday shopping with my mom. So, 6:15 Friday morning where was I? I was driving down 1-81 South headed to harrisonburg to get good deals of course! So Lame. Not 5 minutes after being inside the mall, I realized what an idiot I was. Here we are in awful times economically, and millions of people are grabbing things faster than you can say Kalamazoo. Not only in terms of money, but terms of characterIt was on the way home that I vowed to my mom "Never Again".

Friday night Rachel, Sam, and I headed to downtown Charlottesville. They graciously let me try to take some decent pictures of them, afterwards we split fries at 5 Guys. mmm. Then we headed to the Southern to listen to the Bowerbirds! It had been a long seven months since I had seen them last at MacRock. All I can say is wow. They played all of their classic old songs like, Olive Hearts, Hooves, Marbled Goodwit, In Our Talons, etc. Plus some of their newer stuff. I really like their new drummer. After they left, they even came out and played two more songs after much enthusiastic cheering from the crowd. What a good night. Oh yeah, plus I scored a bowerbirds bag that I'll now be using for grocery shopping instead of plastic bags. Boom.

Saturday (some of) the family headed to good 'ole Cracker Barrel with Peter for his "last meal". He chose this restuarant because the closest Barrel to him in California is all the way in Arizona. Who knew? After lunch, Mom, Peter, and I headed to Dulles for his send-off. Sad good-bye, but shall reunite in Florida with Pete in January.

Afterwards, I got in the driver's seat and with no directions proceeded to get mother and I into the heartland of Washington, DC. We were originally going to stop before getting into the city, and just park at a metro station, but ended up not doing so. We found parking, then proceeded to go inside a station and ask for directions to a restuarant that I had looked up right before we departed. Turns out we were only about five blocks away. boom. After stopping to ask someone for directions once, we arrived at Busboys and Poets. What a legitimate spot! They are a restaurant, bookstore, fair trade market, and gathering place. According to their website they are a community resource for artists, activists, writers, thinkers, and dreamers. To top it all off, the make a mean veggie burger. You can't really go wrong eating here.

Sunday morning was spent sleeping in and catching up on laundry. Then I hit the gym for a killer workout. Fun, right?

All in all, this thanksgiving is one for the books.

i am going to try to start posting more.

that being said, when i got into my car leaving school, and driving out of the parking lot, i felt something.

i felt myself feeling that i was going to miss being in my school when i go to tennessee this week.

weird.

3 1/2 months.

i cried today for the first time in 3 1/2 months. it came as a huge relief to me. i never thought i was going to be back to "normal" again. now, i want to believe that i will be.

want to.

some days are pretty okay.

others feel like i've just been in a serious car accident.... yet again.

SoCal

following are some of the things that occurred during a recent extended weekend trip to visit my brother:

1. Ate a burger for the first time in over a year at IN-AND-OUT burger upon arriving. (if you're wondering, it kind of tasted like garbage).

2. Finally met my Peter's sweet girlfriend, Jacqueline.

3. After working out in the Marriot Hotel(my bro's place of employment)gym room, getting a killer arm exercise in the process, Jacqui proceeds to tell me that a man recently died from a heart attack on that very same machine. Awkward.

4. Revisited Huntington Beach. Jacqui and I blame Peter for getting us both thrown under a killer wave, after pulling us out to sea, and assuring us the waves weren't that big. It felt so good to be back.

5. Had more free Starbucks drinks from the hotel in four days than should be allowed.

6. Began to seriously consider moving in with Pete and his fellow apartmentees second semester.

7. Went to the famed Saddeback Church for Sunday Services. This place was ridiculous to say the least. Coffee shops, grilles, restaurants, they had it all. I am still skeptical.

8. Watched a stellar sunrise with Peter and father at Huntington.

I hope this finds you well.

when i'm alone, i won't be lonely

walking down west broad street in richmond to(friday)night, there were tons of interesting people, take-two sights, delicious smells, and sweet art galleries.

then. i heard it. ringing from a street corner was a man yelling. a man yelling on a fairly large stepstool(that he later informed a passerby they could get their very own stepstool at ACE hardware). this man was sweating profusely, yelling such things like: you ALL are ENEMIES of God. you all ARE going to hell, if you do not repent this VERY instant.

oh dear. to watch the reactions of passerbys was at the same time heart-breaking, and sometimes, hilarious. anything from a lady with this god-awful look of sorrow on her face to a man going right up to this yeller's face saying, "See YOU in hell, dude."

i attempted to converse with one of the yeller's friends(micheal), who would soon take his place on the stepstool. it started with michael telling me as he was eating a butterfinger candy bar that he had only just found out about butterfingers last week! michael proceeded to ask me what i thought about what they were doing. i told him that it quite frankly discouraged me because the jesus that i had known was a man of love, not a man that yelled in your face telling you that yep, you're going to hell. the conversation naturally ended with michael telling me that he never should have taken the huge leap of faith and bought that cursed butterfinger before heading downtown.

only kidding. it did however end with me wondering how on earth a grown man of at least 25 years hadn't heard of or seen butterfinger bars til now.

finally, the reason i ventured downtown, to go to a house show slowly arrived at 11:30.
aimee argote (myspace.com/desark) started playing in someone's second floor apartment. aimee told us one of her songs was about how she didn't feel too awful when she sometimes said a mean word to someone, because she is an athiest, and therefore didn't have to worry about being sent to hell.

i say all this because tonight there was a bible-thumping man on the street corner yelling about how his god was going to send everyone to hell. and tonight, encircled by 50-ish people, there was a self-proclaimed athiest woman playing her guitar, and telling jokes.

who did i see more of jesus in? you got it: aimee.

the seashore and i will be hanging out tomorrow. holler.

might die from medication

but at least she killed all the pain.