Quiet Fourth / The Trouble with a Tiny Apartment / Weird Al Plays Portland / Back into Minecraft?
My family and I had a quiet Fourth of July holiday. Years ago in the long-long-ago, we would spend hundreds of dollars on insane fireworks and typically be up until 1 AM lighting them off, to the great dismay of our neighbors. Sadly, expensive fireworks aren't a part of our holiday anymore but thankfully barbecues are! This year, the immediate family got together at the parents' for grilled meats and movies. We setup a projector in the backyard and watched movies and played video games into the night. With the weather being warmer this summer, we should be doing these backyard movie things more often.
Three weeks ago we hosted my down-on-his-luck high school friend, Josh, for a few days here at the apartment I share with my girlfriend, Nicole. As agreed, he left on time and went to a shelter as he had originally planned. Everyone around me congratulated Nicole and me for having the ability to shelter Josh when no one else would and for the time he was here, it wasn't bad. The problem is that we're not capable of doing it again and unfortunately, things didn't work out at the shelter Josh went to so he's back on the streets. This apartment is simply too small and having a third person here is too disruptive. It was fine for a couple days, but he now needs a place to be indefinitely. If we had a second bedroom with an additional bathroom and some more space, it would be an easier sell. It would be great to have a third person paying into our bills and sharing the cost of this place but it's simply too small. Josh has asked to come back but I've turned him down considering also that he doesn't know how long he'd need to stay. Thankfully, his girlfriend's mother has stepped in and allowed him to stay with her. Josh did land a job so he does have some money coming in and hopefully he'll use this opportunity to get a new place with his girlfriend. I'm sure he'll be fine again soon. If anything, this was just a bump in the road.
I have now seen "Weird Al" in concert twice in my lifetime. He played the Oregon Zoo last Thursday and Nicole and I were there. Bryan, who's been working at the Zoo as a custodian for years now, was there too and he tried to sneak backstage to meet Al. Unfortunately, he never got close, so that bucket list dream will simply have to wait for now. We also ran into Franko (My sister's ex) at the show. He was in the pit right up against the stage and got some AMAZING photos with his cell phone. Jealous. But anyway, seeing Al and hearing those songs again brought back some good, positive memories of childhood. Being out in the open air on a stunning July evening hearing good tunes has really put me in the summer mood. I feel good!
Back around April or something, I stopped hosting a group Minecraft server. I'm looking back through my journal and I'm surprised that I didn't mention it. It just got to be too much of a drag with people asking me to help them cheat and fewer and fewer people playing. Welp, a couple weeks ago, that same group of people began reminiscing on that old server and on a whim they bought some server space to run a brand new Minecraft server. So yea, I'm playing again and addicted to it once more. The newer version of Minecraft has added some interesting stuff like horses. Here's one I found which I've adorned with diamond armor!
Three weeks ago we hosted my down-on-his-luck high school friend, Josh, for a few days here at the apartment I share with my girlfriend, Nicole. As agreed, he left on time and went to a shelter as he had originally planned. Everyone around me congratulated Nicole and me for having the ability to shelter Josh when no one else would and for the time he was here, it wasn't bad. The problem is that we're not capable of doing it again and unfortunately, things didn't work out at the shelter Josh went to so he's back on the streets. This apartment is simply too small and having a third person here is too disruptive. It was fine for a couple days, but he now needs a place to be indefinitely. If we had a second bedroom with an additional bathroom and some more space, it would be an easier sell. It would be great to have a third person paying into our bills and sharing the cost of this place but it's simply too small. Josh has asked to come back but I've turned him down considering also that he doesn't know how long he'd need to stay. Thankfully, his girlfriend's mother has stepped in and allowed him to stay with her. Josh did land a job so he does have some money coming in and hopefully he'll use this opportunity to get a new place with his girlfriend. I'm sure he'll be fine again soon. If anything, this was just a bump in the road.
I have now seen "Weird Al" in concert twice in my lifetime. He played the Oregon Zoo last Thursday and Nicole and I were there. Bryan, who's been working at the Zoo as a custodian for years now, was there too and he tried to sneak backstage to meet Al. Unfortunately, he never got close, so that bucket list dream will simply have to wait for now. We also ran into Franko (My sister's ex) at the show. He was in the pit right up against the stage and got some AMAZING photos with his cell phone. Jealous. But anyway, seeing Al and hearing those songs again brought back some good, positive memories of childhood. Being out in the open air on a stunning July evening hearing good tunes has really put me in the summer mood. I feel good!
Back around April or something, I stopped hosting a group Minecraft server. I'm looking back through my journal and I'm surprised that I didn't mention it. It just got to be too much of a drag with people asking me to help them cheat and fewer and fewer people playing. Welp, a couple weeks ago, that same group of people began reminiscing on that old server and on a whim they bought some server space to run a brand new Minecraft server. So yea, I'm playing again and addicted to it once more. The newer version of Minecraft has added some interesting stuff like horses. Here's one I found which I've adorned with diamond armor!