middle of nowhere
Hmmm ... wasn't that the name of the first album by Hanson?
Yes, I'm easily distracted. And I don't even have itunes on at the moment.
So the weekend was spent hanging out with old high school friends Valarie Garvey Keene and Eric Bauman (aka infinityltd ), as well as Val's Mom, Eric's Mom, and friends Lori and Michelle, in Monroe, NC. Mostly we had the dinner party to end all dinner parties on Saturday night. Six hours of conversation, food, conversation, food. And a short blackout of the entire community. No, I did not cook, but in the afternoon I was put in charge of plucking tomatoes from Val's overabundant garden, and in the early evening I was in charge of cutting the cheese. There was a phone call to my sister so she and Val could catch up, and there was talk of our dear departed and much-missed kij66 , whose journal here will now not be deleted by LJ because it is locked in Memorial Status.
Sunday evening came too fast, and I made the drive here to Camden SC. Teaching two one-day courses for a customer at their facility, ten minutes up the road from my hotel. The hotel is a Holiday Inn Express, so I feel smarter already. I got upgraded to a suite thanks to my Priority Club status, which is always nice. There's been a little noise from the room upstairs (the heavy non-stop patter of children feet chasing each other) both nights, but it's gone quiet up there now.
Tomorrow is payday, and I have some things I have promised people: purchase of caseystratton 's latest live album and contributing to Phil Putnam's crowdfunding effort for his next album are high on that list. No bookstores near by that I've seen, but that's more than okay.
I do intend, after tomorrow's class, to head up the Revolutionary Era historic site up the road to get some pictures. That should be neat. Then I'll come back and do my online stuffs.
The downside to today: learning of jaylake 's newest cancer diagnosis. Fuck cancer. God DAMN cancer. I am anguished for Jay and his family (no, I have not met them in real life, but does that really matter?). And I am aggravated -- I would like to get through a week without a friend / loved one being diagnosed or rediagnosed or getting bad news.
And since, after that little rant, we need something to smile about, here's something I IMed to Hunter a little while ago, about an interesting experience I had after dinner:
came out of the restaurant I had dinner at. Got in the car. THOUGHT I turned the car on, because the cd came on, so I put the car in reverse. And nothing happened. Tried to start car. Wouldn't start. Tried to get key out of ignition. Wouldn't come out. Started to call AAA. Car started rolling backwards into parking lot. Realized that car would not start and key would not come out because car was not in park.
Yes, I'm easily distracted. And I don't even have itunes on at the moment.
So the weekend was spent hanging out with old high school friends Valarie Garvey Keene and Eric Bauman (aka infinityltd ), as well as Val's Mom, Eric's Mom, and friends Lori and Michelle, in Monroe, NC. Mostly we had the dinner party to end all dinner parties on Saturday night. Six hours of conversation, food, conversation, food. And a short blackout of the entire community. No, I did not cook, but in the afternoon I was put in charge of plucking tomatoes from Val's overabundant garden, and in the early evening I was in charge of cutting the cheese. There was a phone call to my sister so she and Val could catch up, and there was talk of our dear departed and much-missed kij66 , whose journal here will now not be deleted by LJ because it is locked in Memorial Status.
Sunday evening came too fast, and I made the drive here to Camden SC. Teaching two one-day courses for a customer at their facility, ten minutes up the road from my hotel. The hotel is a Holiday Inn Express, so I feel smarter already. I got upgraded to a suite thanks to my Priority Club status, which is always nice. There's been a little noise from the room upstairs (the heavy non-stop patter of children feet chasing each other) both nights, but it's gone quiet up there now.
Tomorrow is payday, and I have some things I have promised people: purchase of caseystratton 's latest live album and contributing to Phil Putnam's crowdfunding effort for his next album are high on that list. No bookstores near by that I've seen, but that's more than okay.
I do intend, after tomorrow's class, to head up the Revolutionary Era historic site up the road to get some pictures. That should be neat. Then I'll come back and do my online stuffs.
The downside to today: learning of jaylake 's newest cancer diagnosis. Fuck cancer. God DAMN cancer. I am anguished for Jay and his family (no, I have not met them in real life, but does that really matter?). And I am aggravated -- I would like to get through a week without a friend / loved one being diagnosed or rediagnosed or getting bad news.
And since, after that little rant, we need something to smile about, here's something I IMed to Hunter a little while ago, about an interesting experience I had after dinner:
came out of the restaurant I had dinner at. Got in the car. THOUGHT I turned the car on, because the cd came on, so I put the car in reverse. And nothing happened. Tried to start car. Wouldn't start. Tried to get key out of ignition. Wouldn't come out. Started to call AAA. Car started rolling backwards into parking lot. Realized that car would not start and key would not come out because car was not in park.