December 2004 Archives
Yup, Nena and I are back in Kansas.
We got in last night 'round 5p. Only, I had the cold of doom when we got home and have spent the past day convalesing and helping Nena get the house ready for our guests. Who should start arriving 'round 9p tomorrow.
This is gonna be a good weekend.
Also, sad to see that Jerry Orbach has passed. Prostate cancer, he was 69.
Orbach was a Tony-award winning actor. The man could do it all. He was a Broadway song and dance man and one hell of a character actor. Whether you know him from Law and Order, Dirty Dancing or Disney's version of Beauty and the Beast(if you didn't know, ask somebody), Orbach was one amazing entertainer.
You'll be missed Mr. Orbach.
8.2.04 /Chicago, IL/
I woke up to find my parents' house in constant motion.
Drieg was groggily getting his act together while Mom and Dad went about their early morning business when it dawned on me. For the first time in possibly ever, my parents were preparing to leave on a road trip, without me. A road trip that would take them to my wedding.
I don' think there are the words to describe how surreal this morning was.
Figuring out where I grew up isn't the easiest task. My parents purchased the home that all the craziness was transpiring in when I was in Kindergarten. We moved there on the third to the last day of that particular grade and I spent my entire life there until I moved out at 15- only to move in with Gunder, Fesser and Mente. The next ten years, yes- ten years, would find me dropping by for the holidays and brief visits in the summer: never to actually live in this home again.
While the facts may contradict the emotion, my parents' home is, in my heart, the place where I've done my most substantive growing up. It's an amazingly magical place to me and on this morning, watching my family prepare to go to my wedding ... I could tell that there was still a lot more growing up to be done in this home- because I was doing it right then and there.
Eventually my family was gone, piled into their rental and off to drive to my wedding. Leaving me behind to catch up with them in 30 hours. When they left the house, they took with them my time and space to revel, it was now time to say some goodbyes- on my own terms.
I spent the bulk of the day driving around my hometown. I visited the parochial school where I spent every day from K-8 as a student. I drove around the perimeter, noting all the changes to the buildings over the years.
Within a few minutes, I found myself laughing at the sight of the parking lot where I'd learned my first lessons in life and love during recess. The place where I'd bummed around with Ed and Sean and written notes to Heidi or Erica... It's really a lifetime away from the world I live in now. Yet, there I was.
After that trip down memory lane I got out of the car and went into the church to pray. I don't talk much about my faith on this blog and I'm not going to go much into it now. But it just seemed like an important detail to put into this narrative. In the midst of all this, I stopped at my boyhood parish and prayed.
On my way out of the church, I walked by the parish bulletin board. Tacked up to it were the pictures of all the parishioners who are currently overseas with the military. While I didn't recognize the majority of the names that were on that board, enough of them were familiar enough to warrant a quick shudder.
These were my classmates, the friends who surrounded me during recess in the parking lot I'd just driven through. There's Mike, the class clown with the biggest Napoleon complex ever. He's a Marine now. And there's Tim- an older brother of sorts from band rehearsals in the basement of this church. He's in the Navy...
Looking at all those names, realizing how much had changed, how much was going to change and how little choice I had in the matter. For one of the (surprisingly) few times on this trip, I stood at the back of the church and cried a little.
Back in the car I blasted some Modest Mouse to get me back into the present day and drove off to Zippy's for a cheesy beef and lunch. Mmmm, Zippy's. I swear, the money that folks affiliated with St. Hubert's put into that place between 1989-1993 put it on the map. When I was in junior high, there was nothing cooler than going to Zippy's after school for pizza or a cheesy beef. Hell, there was even that one time we went there before a school dance and almost died. But that's another story for another day; today's story is that I had a sandwich with a side of nostalgia.
After lunch I hit the mall for a while before driving off to see my godfather and his wife.
Uncle Sal ... It's entirely too easy for people to underestimate this man's influence on my life. He and Aunt Angela are two of the most amazing, caring, beautiful people I've ever known. Their generosity knows no bounds and their faith is an inspiration to me. So it was with a relatively heavy heart that I drove to see them, since I was visiting because Uncle Sal's cancer has come out of remission and will keep him from making the trip to the wedding.
We had a great visit in the kitchen and I was reminded of how truly blessed I am to have these two in my life. I can only hope that I live the 40 years ahead of me as they've lived those 40 that lay behind them. I know in my heart of hearts that Uncle Sal is going to fight this thing with everything that he has. I only wish that I knew it was going to be enough.
Uncle Sal left for chemo so I decided to go for some bonus visitation and I dropped by my Godmother's place for a glass of wine. Aunt Pat and Aunt Angie have been friends since grade school and in my mind they've always come as a packaged deal. My father lived with Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim for years before he got married and for the longest time they (along with Sal and Angela) were the only extended family I knew.
Yeah, they're just as important to me as Uncle Sal and Aunt Angie are.
This meeting was a much happier one than the one just previous. Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim were in the midst of preparing to fly down to my wedding when I stopped by for my glass of wine. It was a good visit, and one that I cut short to run home and meet up with Gunder.
By the time I got back to my parents' place Gunder was sitting in his car waiting for me. We ran into my parents' house, grabbed my stuff and did a quick once over to make sure that there wasn't anything I was leaving behind ... other than an entire chapter of my life.
Then, I left my parents' house for what felt like the last time.
After that, it was time to stop saying goodbye and time to start saying hello.
Gunder and I picked up a pizza at Malnati's on the way to his place. We ate, watched TV with Belle and sat in quiet amazement at the idea of my wedding being less than a week away. It was strange enough when they'd gotten married two years earlier. Now ... it was my turn.
One by one we all turned in. I had a big day tomorrow. Another trip on a Triple Seven, my return to Albuquerque and reunion with my parents. As I fell asleep I realized that no matter how late it was to turn back now ... it really was too late to turn back now.
Just a quick note, while the rest of Nena's family naps to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.
Regardless of your personal beliefs, I hope everyone takes this day to find a bit of peace in their lives. And perhaps more importantly, find a way to personally give the world the gift of peace.
Just a note to folks.
Nena and I made it across the Texas Panhandle as well as Eastern New Mexico. The reports of this storm racking the southwest are greatly exaggerated. More on the trip after the Christmas insanity here in Cubero dies down.
In its stead, enjoy the next two installments of the Wedding Story down below.
8.1.04 /Chicago, IL/
The second thing my friends asked me when I told them I was getting married was "when's the bachelor party?" Having to outdo the party I threw for Gunder two years ago, lots of planning went into last night's party. Planning that decided it might not be the worst idea to try and squeeze in a Cubs game. That's how we came to the conclusion, a conclusion we hammered home last night at the Cubby Bear, that we would re-descend on Wrigleyville the next day and see if we couldn't score ourselves some tix to the 1:20 against Philly. Thing is, we were all too drunk last night to realize that Sunday would bring Nomar to Chicago and Maddux would be attempting win number 300.
Yeah, we didn't get to see the game.
It was just as well, since it was a pretty warm day and I woke up feeling like ass from the night before.
You know I'm hung over when I get up and don't want to eat. I knew I was seriously fucked up when food seemed like a really disgusting idea all morning long. But, I had errands to run with my mom, so I showered, got dressed and headed out to the mall with her. It was nice to hang out with Mom for a while and we spent more than our allotted time wandering the mall looking for shoes for the wedding. My shoes, for my wedding. It was a bit surreal, but it didn't take nearly as long as I think she was hoping it would. To be honest, I kinda wished I could have stopped time and spent the entire afternoon with my mom, too.
Oh, and my mother proved that she still knows best. She forced me to eat a 9" Combo Beef and Sausage from Buona Beef. Yes, 9" of Italian sausage covered in Italian beef. It's an amazing cure for a hangover.
After the sandwhich I was on the EL to meet go meet Fesser, Mamajlo, Pete and Almejor for the game. While I was waiting for Fesser at the Addison Blue Line stop, a tourist couple came up to me. The saw the Cubs hat on my head and proceeded to ask me questions.
"How far is the stadium from here?"
-3 miles
"How hard will it be to get tickets on a day like today?"
-This is an important game for many reasons, so it'll he hard, but doable if you have the money
"How much money are we talking? $25 a seat?"
-This is where I suppressed a laugh, after all these folks were Belgian and so they deserved the benefit of the doubt. I explained scalping to them and they seemed to get really dejected at this point. In the end, they declined my offer to give them a game-day tour of Wrigleyville and got back on the EL to see a museum or something else instead. Oh well.
Fesser showed and we boarded the next bus to Wrigley. When we got down there Pete explained the situation. The scalpers had gone apeshit with their pricing due to the importance of the day and the situation wasn't looking good. Tickets were plentiful, but the prices were sick. With the ticket situation as grim as it was looking, we decided to walk the perimeter of the park looking for a Nomar shirt. Along the way we introduced Al to Wrigley and I think they got along decently well, which made me happy, I like it when my friends get along.
After one lap around Wrigley, we decided to give up on both our search for a Nomar shirt and tickets and headed down to Goose Island to watch the game and grab lunch (all for less than what the tickets would have cost us had we bought them.)
I still can't get over the lack of entrepreneurial creativity down at Wrigley, yo. Everyone wants to make a buck off of tickets, no one's thinking outside the box. Had I not been drunk off my ass the night before, I would have been busy printing Nomar shirts left and right, yo. It was really sad, a whole lot of people dropped the ball.
Lunch was great, and it was fun to watch the game with this group of friends. Worlds colliding, yo. I'd better get used to it. . .
After the game we all went our separate ways with me getting home just in time to head out with my folks to the rental car place. They picked up their car for the roadtrip to my wedding- a white Chrysler Pacifica. This thing is awesome. . .if it didn't get such craptacular gas mileage, I think I'd be in love. Oh well.
We went home from there and hung out at home for the rest of the night. My family was leaving town for my wedding in the morning .. this whole trip just took its millionth, but not last, turn towards the surreal.
7.30.04 /Albuquerque, NM to Chicago, IL (Via Denver, CO)/
I'd really rather not think about how early I was up to make my flight to Denver because it'd make me cry. Crying or not, I made it up and onto my plane this morning in one very mixed piece. I was thrilled to be headed home for a few days, but sad that I was going without Nena. The flight from Albuquerque to Denver is perfect for light contemplation, really. It's just long enough for you to sort out your feelings, but not so long that you have time to revisit your conclusions. Suffice it to say that by the time my plane landed in Denver I knew that it would be good for us to be apart for a few days.
The flight to Denver was pretty uneventful- save for the karma I scored by trading spaces with this guy so he could sit with his wife and newborn rather than two rows away.
Karma, as it turns out, decided to repay me in small bits as the day progressed. The first installment came in the form of a native southsider seated in front of me who insisted on calling me "North Side." For example, "hey North Side, you guys gonna get anyone before the [trade] deadline?"
"I'd really rather not think about it. Don't want to ruin my breakfast." I replied.
"That's a Cubs fan, baby. You're for real. HA HA."
We became decent single-serving friends and by the time the plane landed I was helping the DIA newbie find his way to a beer and a smoking section at 8a.
South Side might have wanted his beer and smoke, but I was dying for a fucking scone and a chai. That's when I realized how bougie I'd become- here was guy jonesing for a cig and a beer; while I wanted Indian black tea with milk and a Scotish breakfast pastry.
I managed to escort South Side to the smoking lounge on the second floor, which also happened to be the only actual, honest to God bar in the terminal. He was so happy, he gave me $5 to go buy breakfast. I thanked him, wished him well (since we were flying different flights to Chicago) and headed off to the only Seattle's Best in the terminal.
Because if there's one thing better than Indian black tea with milk and a Scotish breakfast pastry for breakfast, it's having a Sox fan pay for it.
After breakfast I boarded my plane for the rest of the ride home: a Boeing 777. This plane is freaking amazing. I remember talking to Ed when they came out back in the day; in our adolecent world riding one of these would have amounted to the greatest sexual experience in the history of the world. Being a bit, ummm, wiser I realize that this ride wasn't the greatest ever, but it was pretty amazing for an airplane.
Having been unable to give me a seat on the same plane as South Side on my connection to ORD, Karma decided to give me an even more interesting single serving friend- Stone Cold Steve Austin. OK, not really, but this man was/is Steve Anderson's inspiration for Stone Cold. I knew I was in for a good time when I saw a mossy oak ball cap rising above the seat next to mine.
Before I could even get situated, Austin's showing me the Dan Gable autograph he'd scored on this trip. It didn't really matter that I didn't get settled, since he spent the next few hours regaling me with tales of what it's like to be not only a redneck, but Italian. Every once in a while, he stops talking about wrestling or his life story to talk about trying to score a blow job from the flight attendant working our section.
All in all, he was a pretty amusing character and a nice guy to spend a few hours on a plane with. Between him and South Side, I began to wonder what else Karma had in store for me on the day of my bachelor party.
We land in Chicago and we go our separate ways- him to his flight to continue his flight out east, me to arrivals to get picked up by my mom and Tia Lili.
As I'm waiting for my mom to pick me up, Karma treats me one more time as I'm witness to one of the coolest things I'd seen in a really long time.
There's this little red car sitting, turned off, right in front of my in the arrivals area of O'Hare. Within a few minutes this Streets and San tow truck shows up, drops its boom, and these two arms extend and wrap around the front tires of said car. The boom raises and the driver jumps out of the cabin of the tow truck to make sure everything's good to go- and he's off. Total time: 25 seconds. It took them 25 seconds to tow that car, it was awesome. A few minutes later the owner of the car comes out and looks puzzled. After a few seconds of looking around he talks to me.
"Excuse me, did you see a red car that was parked right here?"
"Yeah, the cops took it."
"What?!?!"
"Yeah, it was parked in the no parking area, so they took it."
"Do you know where they took it to?"
"Nope, I don't park where it says 'no parking,' so I've got no idea where it went, sorry."
And with that the guy started walking towards the nearest person in a uniform to start figuring out where his car was. As he left, I looked up at the no parking sign to read it. Apparently it's a $100+ fine just for parking there (I want to say it's $190, but since I don't remember the exact amount, I won't say) PLUS the tow fee. Poor guy, he probably lost a lot of money that day trying to get his car back.
The funny part in all this is that while I was waiting in the line for security in ABQ, there'd been an announcement over the PA. "Excuse me, will the owner of a Silver Pontiac parked in arrivals please move your car. It's in a no parking zone and we may have to tow it, so please come move your vehicle." I remember thinking at the time that there's no way they'd be that nice at O'Hare, and as it turns out, they aren't.
My mom and tia showed up right after that and we grabbed a quick lunch before heading off to get my hair cut. Sandy's been cutting my hair for over 20 years, so it was kinda cool to stop back in there a week before my wedding and say hi to everyone while getting what turned out to be the longest haircut of my life. Sandy wanted everything to be PERFECT for the wedding, so every hair on my head received personal attention that day. It was really cute, actually.
After my haircut I went home, showered and took a nap.
My dad got home from work around 6 and we packed up to head out to the bachelor party. In the midst of all the preparations we stopped to talk about Dreig's planning skills. At this point, I'd like to point out that I'd like someone to remind me, in my next life, to trust Drieg to pull off my bachelor party. Because in the middle of all this planning my father and I weren't and I feel like an ass in retrospect. However, at the time, doubt seemed reasonable.
Drieg had told everyone to meet at the Cubby Bear at some time or another. Thinking about traffic and whatnot my dad and I trusted that Drieg would be responsible to be there in time to greet everyone. Based on this assumption we decided to hold back a bit and leave so as to hit traffic and have to make a fashionably late, grand entrance. As we get on the expressway, my cellie blows up: it's Drieg, his date was running a bit long and he wasn't going to be there in time to greet everyone. Was there any way I could be there in time to host my own bachelor party? ... I love my brother, really I do.
But the night was awesome. Gunder, Fesser and Mente were there pretty early and we were all (except for Mente, Cicero boy and lifelong Sox fan) ecstatic about having picked up Nomar just before the trade deadline. Yeah, the thought of deadline deals might have ruined my breakfast, but they made my bachelor party.
After Almejor showed up and I introduced her crimsonness to everyone we started joking that she'd been traded to the BoSox for Nomar and and undergrad to be named later. Even my cousin Azu was laughing at our lame Cubs humor. Granted, she is a bleacher bum from back in the day. . .but still.
The night was truly amazing, Nicepersonality was there for a while as was Maxwell, whom I hadn't seen in entirely too long. Yknow how they say that good people attract good people? Well, for the first of many times in the week that would follow, I started to get the idea that I'm actually a pretty decent human being, because I know some really, really good people.
The drunker I got, the more people showed. Mamajlo and Pete showed up eventually and then Red and Tori. It was Red's appearance that signaled the end of my night. See, most of my friends know when I've had enough. . .Red doesn't believe that you reach this point until AFTER you puke. Next thing you know, I'm staring down the barrel of a triple shot of Jaeger and I know this night isn't going to end well. . .then Gunder and the boys picked up a Three Wise Men (Jack, Jim and Johnny) for me. At that point, it was all she wrote. I was beyond drunk and I'm just not a puker. . .as a result I found myself wishing for soothing death for a great while to come.
Seriously though, the party was amazing and it was really fantastic to hang out with my friends for a while and just hang out. Hell, Gunder even got me to play Golden Tee. . .which I found oddly entertaining. I think I may need professional help.
Well, Nena and I are leaving for New Mexico after she gets off work tonight. Wish us luck, apparently I-40 from OKC to Albuquerque is covered in snow, or it soon will be. The way things are going, we might end up turning around tomorrow morning and making a break for Chicago. Though, I seriously doubt that.
Over the next few days I'll be dropping the next few installments of the Wedding Story. Keep coming back for that. I'm hoping to get it all done by the end of the year...but I'm not too optimistic. I'm just a wordy mother.
But now ... the 2004 in review meme, as ganked from alabama_grrrl.
1. what did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before?
Got married, bought a house. Y'know, the basics.
2. did you keep your new year's resolutions, & will you make more for next year?
Ummm, did I make resolutions? I think I did, I always do, but I'll be damed if I remember them.
3. did anyone close to you give birth?
Alphasarah, yo.
4. did anyone close to you die?
Nena's Great-Grandmother
5. what countries did you visit?
New Mexico ;)
6. what would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004?
I've got everything I need, yo.
7. what date from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, & why?
July and August 7. I bought a house on the first and got married on the second.
8. what was your biggest achievement of the year?
See above, yo
9. what was your biggest failure?
No, really. See above, yo
10. did you suffer illness or injury?
Thankfully, no.
11. what was the best thing you bought?
A TiVo. You have no idea.
12. whose behaviour merited celebration?
Nena's. She started a new job and took the GRE.
13. whose behaviour made you appalled & depressed?
Those Americans who think that homosexuals pose a bigger threat to our domestic tranquility than warlords.
14. where did most of your money go?
House, yo.
15. what did you get really, really, really excited about?
Man, I really need to get a life. Every answer is "the house," and "the wedding." Hrmmm, I know- it was seeing so many of my friends for a weekend in August, cuz that did have me really pumped.
16. what song will always remind you of 2004?
Dashboard Confessional- "Hands Down."
17. compared to this time last year, are you:
happier or sadder? Happier
thinner or fatter? Push
richer or poorer? Richer
18. what do you wish you'd done more of?
Reading
19. what do you wish you'd done less of?
Eating
20. how will you be spending xmas?
In New Mexico with my In-Laws ... if we ever make it.
22. did you fall in love in 2004?
Yeah, most days around 7am
23. how many one-night stands?
Nope.
24. what was your favorite tv program?
Really, promise not to laugh? The O.C.
25. do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope
26. what was the best book you read?
Anna in the Tropics- Nilo Cruz
27. what was your greatest musical discovery?
I re-discovered Social Distortion. Man, I forgot how much I liked them.
28. what did you want & get?
an iPod
29. what did you want & not get?
An M.A.
30. what was your favorite film of this year?
Crap, I don't go to the movies anymore. But, ummm, what was the one that I really liked? Oh yeah, The Incredibles
31. what did you do on your birthday, & how old were you?
25- I coached soccer practice and had some friends over for a cake that Cragar wouldn't let me make for myself.
32. what one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
My friends, yo. They love me.
33. how would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004?
Chill. Very chill.
34. what kept you sane?
Nena
35. which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I dunno, there's always the old standby Julia Roberts. But, well, I seem to be developing a thing for Rachel Bilson
36. what political issue stirred you the most?
Yes.
37. who did you miss?
My immediate family. They seemed to pull away this year.
38. who was the best new person you met?
d00d, so many folks. Cragar, Das Nibblet, alabama_grrrl, so much rockage in LTown.
39. tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004:
Sometimes you just have to grow up. But that doesn't mean life stops rocking.
40. quote song lyrics that sums up your year:
Two sets. #1 from "Reach for the Sky" by Social D.
When I was young I was invincible
I found myself not thinking twice
I never thought about no future
It's just a roll of the dice
But the day men come when you've got something to lose
And just when you think you're done paying dues
You say to yourself "Dear, God What have I Done?"
And hope its not to late cause tomorrow may never come...
So if you please take this moment
Try if you can to make it last
Don't think about no future
And just forget about the past
And make it last
#2 from "Hands Down" by Dashboard Confessional
Hands down this is the best day I can ever remember.
Always remember the sound of the stereo.
The dim of the soft lights.
The scent of your hair, that you twirled in your fingers.
And the time on the clock, when we realized "It's so late!"
And this walk that we share together.
The streets were wet, and the gate was locked,
So I jumped it, and let you in.
And you stood at the door, with your hands on my waist.
And you kissed me like you meant it.
And I knew...that you meant it.
Now is the time on Sprockets when I apologize. I apologize to you all ... for lying.
Remember the other day when I complained about Nena having guessed what her Xmas present was? Yeah, well. In reality, she hadn't guessed it correctly, but I decided to try and convince her that she had by blogging about it. Yeah, cuz who'd lie on their blog to achieve their goals?
I WOULD.
But perhaps more importantly, I DID.
We'd decided to do our gift exchange a week early this year. We figured it'd be a nice way to have a low-key mini-Christmas all to ourselves. Plus, neither of us wanted to transport the other's wrapped gifts to New Mexico OR wait until we got back to exchange gifts. And we've always done our exchanging a few days before Christmas anyway, since we've never been together for the holiday before. It's worked in the past, we figured why mess with a good thing.
My haul- a pair of kickass crimson and creme Kenneth Cole shoes. Freakin' hardcore, yo. Totally what I needed but wouldn't have gotten myself. There was also a purple tie that was also very cool. Yes, I don't give ties as gifts nor do I particularly like receiving them. However, this tie was actually really cool. No, I'm not going soft. Nena just really gets what I like in a tie. If I hadn't already, I'd consider marrying this woman just for that. Cuz, well, reading my tie-buying mind, that's hardcore.
Nena'd been freaking out about what to buy me for Christmas this year. As I opened my presents this year I began to wonder what the hell she'd been worrying about. She's really good at buying me stuff every year, I don't know why she'd expected this year to be any different. I think she just likes to worry.
As for Nena, she made off with a jewelry box and an "Everyone Loves a Latin Girl" tshirt. Not a hat and scarf as had been previously reported. Yeah, I almost feel bad about lying to everyone, except for that I don't. I totally surprised her. I rule.
Other news...
My days are currently spent watching TV. Lots of TV. I'm clearing out the TiVo as if it were a refrigerator. Yeah, it's really not the most bueno thing ever ... but it's getting me through the days. My goal is to have the bad boy cleared out by the time we leave for New Mexico on Wednesday. I may ruin my eyesight in the attempt, but it's going to be worth it.
I've already cleared out all the late night talk shows and wrestling. Next up are the cartoons and Star Trek. I think my "special" programs will stay for a bit longer. Yknow, the election night Daily Show and the editions of Baseball Tonight from when the Red Sox won it all.
I need to start working on next semester's syllabus. But I figure I've earned a few days off, yo. Plus, this is, ummm, research. Yeah, research.
OK, enough of that ... time to do something, productive. Like wash dishes or call to get the dishwasher fixed. Oh and plan the New Year's Eve party. WHOO! The confirmations just keep rolling in. Fesser, Gunder, Jo, Al, JLo, NotPuffy, GMS. Man, this is gonna kick all kinds of ass.
WHOO!
Man, I could totally get used to this whole house husband thing. OK, it'd be a lot easier to get used to it if our dishwasher worked. Thing's been out of commission for weeks and we keep forgetting to call the repair guy. We're just the lame, I guess.
I'm going to finish up grading this afternoon and hopefully finish it all up. Yeah, I know I was supposed to finish all that stuff up yesterday, but I kept getting sidetracked by getting the house ready for our ASAGS Winter Holiday Espectacular. Should be a really good time. Yeah, the RSVPs have been slow in coming in, but what'cha gonna do. The date was sprung on everyone kinda last minute so we'll see how things go down.
The house is almost ready, too. Man, downstairs hasn't been this nice in a LONG time. If we're lucky/smart we'll be able to maintain that while we clean out everything upstairs this weekend. Who knows, we might have the whole house before we leave for New Mexico on Wednesday. Here's to hoping, yo.
In other news, I seem to averaging two fights a week with my mother, which is up a fight from my previous post-wedding average of one fight a week. That number is up from the one every six weeks average I had post-Carleton. At this rate I may not be able to speak to her by Easter.
I'm really not looking forward to that. I really like my mother and I really like being able to talk to her. Only lately ... yeah. Not so much. Oh well. Back to grading, yo.
Dammit.
Remember a few days ago when I mentioned that I couldn't figure out how to keep Nena's Christmas presents from her? Well, I failed yet again.
Seriously, yo. This is really, really pissing me off. One of these years, just one of these years I'd like to manage to surprise her with a gift on Christmas morning.
Last year, she figured out that I'd gotten her a neighborhoodie. Oh, and I screwed up and didn't get it ordered in time for Christmas. It was a few days late.
Two years ago, I got her a teapot and some pajamas. Yup, she figured it all out long before Christmas rolled around.
Then, this year, I thought I totally had my shit covered. I'd get her a hat and scarf to match my old man hat. She likes my hat, likes the color (sky blue) and she likes it when we match each other so why the hell not compliment our matching black wool overcoats? Right? Totally sounds like a good idea.
I took out cash the day I went to go buy it so I wouldn't leave a paper trail behind me and lo and behold, the place had sold out in the color I wanted. The only way to get the item in time for Christmas was to order it out of their catalogue. Yup, you guessed it- the catalogue won't take cash at the store, just a credit card over the phone.
Had I been smart I would have charged it on the credit card that isn't in her name. But now, I didn't . Big, big mistake.
She saw the store on the statement and immediately started guessing. I tried to come up with convincing lies about what that charge was. "No baby, it's sex toys for my mistress. No, really, I'm totally cheating on you."
Yeah, she didn't buy that.
And now she knows what I got her for Christmas, for the third year in a row. Shit, next year I'm totally going to pull this off. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get it done this year. I just suck that much at secrecy where she's concerned, I guess.
In other news, finals week is over and all I have to do is grade eight papers before I'm done with everything. I'll get that done tonight and turn in my grades tomorrow afternoon. I'm really pleased with my students' grades. Yeah, I need to raise my standards a bit more and I will with time. Too many Bs and As, yo. I mean, I don't think my class should be unpassable, but, well. Too easy, yo.
I had one guy come within 7 points of running the table on the SEMESTER. Though, I get the feeling that I could have turned the notch up a few more levels and he still would have nearly run the table. So, yknow, that doesn't bother me.
Oh well. Time to go finish cleaning up the house. The ASAGS Holiday Espectacular is tomorrow night. I really hope people show up to it, yo. Yeah. Not a lot of RSVPs, yo.
In the interest of making nenie.net as full service a description of Nenie's life as humanly possible, we here at the management have decided to answer some of the questions our readers have asked about Nenie, his coming and his goings.
If you have any questions or comments regarding the FAQ, please comment down below.
Holy mother of d00d.
I did it. I really did it. Both papers are finished. Overall total pages that will be handed in tomorrow- 55. Total pages written since Wednesday- more than that. Damn, I totally didn't think I was going to make it.
It's like Leia said to Han in The Empire Strikes Back. "Someday you're going to be wrong and I just hope I'm there to see it." Yeah, I'm glad I wasn't wrong this time. Ugh. That would have been ugly.
The only thing left to do tonight is fix a bibliography and just make sure my methods paper flows well. WHOO!
Tomorrow I host office hours and calm down anxious undergrads before I go home to crash- early. Man, I'm thinking of getting toasted and watching Raw. Who's with me?
In other news, as I've been wrestling with my papers I've been wondering about how people have affairs. Not that I'm thinking of cheating on Nena, it's just that hiding her Christmas presents and the resultant receipts is really, really fucking hard. I can't imagine what it would be like to hide a mistress. Seriously, yo. I guess people that cheat on their spouses don't tell their spouses as much stuff as I tell Nena.
Which, I guess, leads me to another question. Why the hell would you marry someone you keep stuff from? Why do you marry someone who isn't your best friend?
Yeah, strange.
Happy Birthday (under the gun) to Mothra Dawn and Notmonochrome. And I guess Poffy and Dalia as well, though I'm SURE they don't read this blog.
In honor of Nena's taking of the GRE RIGHT NOW! We here at nenie.net are happy to present to you this edition of "nenie.net- oldskool."
What's an oldskool edition?
A reprint from a preview iteration of this blog. Maybe it's from =fishpond, maybe from UF, maybe from some other location. Point is, it's nenie the way he was, with a disregard for capitalization and sometimes punctuation.
nenie the way he was meant to be experienced.
So without further adieu, I present to you this UF post from 17 October 2002 entitled "Raw is GRE: Or, The Cruzr Returns."
In preparing tomorrow morning's "nenie.net retro day" posting I've been struck by something.
I've been ground down, yo.
Maybe I've mellowed, but I think I've been ground down more than anything else.
What happened to that take no prisoners attitude? What happened to the kid who walked out of the GRE announcing his return to the world, confident that he was going to lay the smack down with impunity?
I'm not entirely sure, but working on the paper of DOOM has caused me to go looking for that kid. He's around here someplace, I just need to run into him and hang out with him for a while; because this hardcore legend has gone softer than Mick Foley in a Viennese Bakery.
So yeah, the paper of DOOM has a complete first draft and today's project is to get a second draft done by dinner so I can spend tonight writing the other paper. Cuz, well, I HAD an outline when working on the paper of DOOM. But in order to get the fucker written, I had to break the outline's spine.
Yeah, I didn't like it anymore than he did.
Now to find my cleanest dirty shirt and eat pizza for breakfast. Must ... get ... hardcore ... must ... returnto ... undergradlevelsof stupidity.
But while I do that, why don't y'all, since it's Friday tell me about how you've changed as you've aged. Have you mellowed? Have you spiced up? No change? Tell me.
The paper of DOOM is getting written. I came home yesterday and banged out enough pages to break the 20 page barrier. I figure I can finish the rough draft tonight and have enough time to get some good revisions in.
The scary part is that there's another, equally long paper to be written immediately after this one. It, too, is due by noon on Monday. This is gonna be good, but I'm on pace to come out of this one in one piece. Always a good thing.
The FAQ is also getting finished up, seeing as how it's what I've been doing to keep my mind off the impending paper of DOOM. Expect to see that one up this weekend, methinks. It still needs to be revised and formatted but then it'll be rock and roll, baby.
The next blog project is going to be a reviving of the old scoreboard.
What is the scoreboard, you might ask? Well, the scoreboard's roots go way back to high school when Fesser, Gunder and I used to publish our "Sucks to Be You" awards online. The premise was simple, every week we would find someone who it sucked to be and then publish a quick bio on them along with a reason why they deserved the award. Sometimes it'd be someone who got dumped, other times it'd be someone like Steve Forbes (remember him) who spent I forget how many millions of dollars in New Hampshire to try and win the 1996 Republican primary down there, and, well, he didn't do too well.
Over time, the concept behind the "Sucks to Be You" award shifted towards a desire to reward people who did cool shit. As a result, I started viewing life as an amateur wrestling match, where I was the referee who would dish style points whenever I saw fit.
The concept followed me to college and by the Fall of 2000, there was a scoreboard up in my room where my friends and I would keep tally of who all was earning points.
More recently, the guys at KvO have adopted the scoreboard for their own use, though they've asked me to chime in from time to time on who deserves points. Thing is, though, I've decided to re-create the scoreboard over here at nenie.net and am going to add to it by fusing it with the old "Sucks to Be You" style. Not sure how this is going to work, yet and folks are more than welcome to give me suggestions.
Yeah, so, suggestions on how this should work, or folks who've been racking up points?
You can tell I'm wound up when Artoo's failure to find any songs on his HD causes me to freak out.
Yup, my iPod didn't work like it was supposed to and I threw a fit. This does not bode well for the next few days.
This methods paper is kicking my ass six ways to Sunday and I have no idea why. I just can't bring myself to do it. Maybe it's because I don't feel as though I've been given any direction in writing it. Maybe it's because I dislike going to the class so much that I've developed a mental block wrt this class.
I'm not sure what the problem is. I just know I have to solve it, yesterday.
Send vibes people, this is how desperate the situation is. And if you know why Artoo is sick, fixing him would totally make my life better. I've already grown dependent on the mofo.
I love the baseball offseason. It's a time when I can sit down and try to figure out how it is that the Cubs will manage to blow next season.
Today, the intrigue really begins in earnest, the Cubs have resigned Nomar Garciaparra. Here are a few links. . .
The best part of all this is the memory of where I was the day the Cubs originally traded for Nomar. In Wrigleyville, at my bachelor party. If only the next year of his existance in Cubbie blue could be as happy as the moment we toasted to his coming to Chicago.
Right, I got the memo. Too much about the past, not enough about the present. A'ight, a'ight I hurrd. (damn does the Chasmanaught even read this anymore? Why throw shoutouts to someone who's not even here. . .sad.)
What the hell have I been up to as of late. That's a really, really good question and one that I actually have some answers for.
The end of the semester totally came up on me out of nowhere. I know I complain about this to n end, and I really should just shut up and suck it up, but, in the words of Cody, "I didn't train for this distance." Seriously, yo. The trimester thing totally fucked up my clock. Having to come back to the hardcore stuff after Thanksgiving is totally messing with me. One of these semesters I will have bitten off more than I can chew ... I think this might be that semester.
I have these two papers I'm working on. One's on the methodology of a paper I'm writing next semester and the other's on the change in performance conventions/codes in pro wrestling. They're both written in my head, but I'm having one helluva time getting them translated into words outside of my head. It's really, really pissing me off. As a procrastination device, I'm grading everything my students give me.
Yeah, not bueno.
In domestic news, Nena and I bought our first Christmas tree last week. We opted for a real tree, but a small real tree. Ideally, we wanted the kinda tree that Charlie Brown would have sent back, but as it is we had to get a nice tree as the Optimists didn't stock anything in a Charlie Brown Reject.
Seriously, yo. The fucking Optimists have a monopoly on the Christmas tree lots around here. I would have expected that kind of shit from the Rotarians or the Knights of Columbus, even the Moose ... but the Optimists? Who knew them to be monopolistic capitalist pigdogs. It's totally thrown me.
So yeah, that's what I've been up to. Grading, writing, procrastinating and general malaise. Ugh, I hate the end of the semester. I used to be so hardcore when I was an undergrad. I could shrug off the end of a trimester like it wasn't no thang. But, that was the 100 meters, this is the 10,000 ... different animals, yo.
And now, I leave you, with a story I ganked off a listserve. With winter roadtrip season in full swing I thought I'd bring you a news article about the controversy over those middle of nowhere porn shoppes. It's interesting, yo.
Oh, and happy four month anniversary to Nena. . .
I know, I know. I don't blog for weeks then three posts in 13 hours. Deal with it.
More venting, this time about teaching. I decided it'd be interesting to have my students do group presentations on different pop albums, having them read each album as an American narrative.
By and large it's been really productive, I think I'm getting some folks to begin to think critically about the knowledge that's being produced by Britney or Biggie or Jay-Z or Bruuuuuce. Then, today. . .I really should know better, I had a group present on Los Lobos' Good Morning Aztlan.
The presentation was actually really good. They talked about some good stuff and were well on their way to the promised land, when one of them really screwed up.
"Being immigrants, Los Lobos spends their entire album talking solely about the issues and problems facing immigrants."
FUCK. Seriously kid? Are you serious? Did you listen to the album? At all? More than once? Where the hell have you been? Did you not LISTEN to the rest of your group as they *correctly* discussed how the album was attempting to claim a place within the American family for those whose families didn't cross the border, but rather had the border cross them? Did you miss the whole discussion of what Aztlan is and what its import is?
Guess not, cuz you're an idiot.
I'd wonder why I even try, except that I definitely saw more than one horizon broadened today.
*shakes head*
At least I got to take the kid apart during the Q&A. I never do it, but those of you who know me know I can. My students hadn't seen that side of me. . .I think a few of them were scared to see it. Ugh. Idiots.
Artoo will be playing an all Los Lobos set this afternoon.
d00d, how did I get so behind on the blogging? That's not bueno. Oh well, here for y'all is the Thanksgiving travelogue.
(Be sure and scroll down to check out Sunday's entry. . .which is buried below this one.)
As mentioned yesterday, Nena and I were spending Thanksgiving with my parents in Chicago. Before we left for the trip, we'd already had a lot to be thankful for. Each other, our house, Nena's job, my teaching and classes, our health, but before we could leave to go celebrate our blessings with my family, we were blessed again- Nena's boss'd been convinced to give her the day before Thanksgiving off. This meant that we could leave for Chicago at 9a rather than 1p (if Nena'd worked a half day) or 5p (if Nena'd worked a full day). 
With an eight hour drive ahead of us, every moment really did count- especially since by the time Wednesday morning rolled around, Chicago was getting hammered with a pretty serious snowstorm.
Not that Lawrence'd been spared, either. We woke up on Wednesday morning to find 3" of snow covering our backyard, which meant we had 3" sitting for us in the driveway and who knows what else waiting for us when we got on the road. At 7a, it was looking like an increasingly great thing that Nena'd been given the day off. Before too long we realized that we had yet more things to be thankful for: our brand new shovel and our home's garage.
Seriously, after 20+ years of digging cars out every time it snowed it was amazing to see 3" on everything in sight, except your car. It was brilliant. I was looking pretty smart at this point as well for having bought us a snow shovel at Target a few weeks ago. At the time, Nena'd laughed at me and the cashier had thought me to be insane for buying a shovel that early in the season, in Kansas, but I knew better. It's nice when nature proves me right.
We drove on towards Des Moines before making a hard right to get to Chicago, and all the really scary weather we'd been promised failed to materialize. There was no snow falling by the time we awoke and the roads were already clean; wet, but cleared of snow. To top it off it hadn't snowed and wouldn't snow anywhere north of Kansas City on I-35 and it wouldn't snow or have snowed until just outside of DeKalb. But when it did hit, boyhowdy did it.
Next item to be thankful for, the decision to drive 'Turo to Chicago rather than Will. The assumption was that 'Turo and I have had more experience together in really, really bad winter driving conditions. Once we hit DeKalb, the decision was proving to be a good one. There's no way Will would have dealt with some of that stuff anywhere near as well as 'Turo did. Visibility was crap and the roads were getting worse with each passing minute. While we refueled at the DeKalb Oasis, we heard the horror stories of backups at the Aurora Toll Plaza, Hillside Strangler and pretty much every inch of the expressway we needed to get home. I made the executive decision at that point to exit I-88 at Orchard Ave in Aurora (yes, the IMSA exit) and proceeded to take the surface roads to my folks'. It was a decision that totally paid off.
Thanksgiving at my parents' house has always been a pretty low-key affair and as such Nena and I didn't get showered and changed until an hour or so before dinner. Big change: no drama at dinner. No change: the Bears gave it up like it was Prom night in the Big D. It's nice when the change is good and comforting when the lack of change is, well, ummm, minor but expected.
Seriously though my family's integrated Nena into the fold really well. In a lot of ways, she's the daughter my parents have always wanted. You have no idea how relieved I am to have things go down as well as they have. It's been beautiful and something else I've been incredibly thankful for.
The day after Thanksgiving found us out at the Vienna Bakery at a decent hour introducing Nena to our family's favorite bakery. Seriously, if you're in Chicago, take a trip up to the Northwest side and try this place out. It's AMAZING. I used to live for their rum squares ... until they stopped making them. Now, I live off their rum cones. It's just mindblowing the pastries this place produces.
Then a trip to Woodfield to pick up an iTrip for Artoo, my new 40GB iPod. d00d, this thing is so sweet. I'm still in shock that my parents got me one for Christmas. I don't think they'll ever realize how grateful I am for this bad boy.
Friday night had us driving out to Drury Lane to see Drieg's show. Of Thee I Sing is a Gershwin Bros show about a guy running for president on a platform of love. If he wins the election, he'll marry his girlfriend. That's all he stands for, people. It's amazing how astute the Gershwins were 70 years ago and how little has changed. I could go on about this show for a while ... but I won't. I'm entirely too wordy as it is.
Saturday, Nena and I took our yearly trip to a Chicago museum, this year, the Art Institute. We spent a ton of time in the place and saw all the big names. Chagall, Johns, Monet, Manet, Casatt, Wood, O'Keefe, Van Gogh, Dali, Picasso, Lawrence ... sadly, no Hopper. Turns out that "Nighthawks" is on loan to the Tate. Oh well, next time.
Dinner at the Billy Goat, and then back home, via the El to Woodfield to do a little more shopping.
Sunday we were on the road pretty early to beat some snow that never really materialized and to be quite honest, there wasn't much snow on the ground for the entirety of the trip. Nothing left in Chicago that hadn't melted. Iowa had apparently been spared the entire blasting, and everything that we'd left in KS as gone by the time we got home. Oh well ... we're not going to complain, we've got too much else to be thankful for.
Before I go into the Thanksgiving travelogue, there's something I've been meaning to get off of my chest for some time now. It's kind of a sore spot and I've been trying to figure out if I should mention it here or not and after thinking about it for a while I've decided that I should probably get it out of me so here goes.
I know I'm not the first person to deal with this issue and I know I won't be the last but. . .no sooner than I proposed to Nena than I was trying to figure out what we were going to do with the holidays. Nena's from Albuquerque, I'm from Chicago and we live in Kansas. Spending Christmas Eve one place and Christmas Day another is just an option for us. Yes, we could do it, but it's just not a feasible option. I slept pretty well that first April night after Nena'd said yes, figuring that I had a while before I had to actually confront the issue. Plus, I figured, my family's a pretty reasonable and rational group. There was no way that they'd make this situation difficult, no way they'd make it nearly as big a deal as it's turned out to be.
Last fall, as our last holiday season before the wedding approached, Nena and I sat down and talked about the various holidays we celebrate (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's), where we spend them and what they mean to us. After a rational discussion we decided to spend Thanksgiving in Chicago with my family, Christmas in Albuquerque with her family and NYE wherever the best party was being thrown. Honestly, I expected that to be the end of things.
After talking it over we saw that Thanksgiving was never that big a deal to Nena and that Christmas and Thanksgiving were only significant to me and my family because we knew it was the one time a year when we'd all be together. The key for Nena was seeing her enormous extended family at Christmas. It just didn't seem right for me to deny Nena her family or vice versa since Christmas was only the four of us before Nena came along, so I figured that for Christmas, my parents and brother would join us in Albuquerque for Christmas with Nena's enormous extended family.
It only made sense to us, it seems.
My mother is refusing to leave Chicago for Christmas. She's been using a number of different stalling tactics for months now and she's finally found one that I have no rebuttal for, "Drieg's gotta work." Yeah, NOW he has to work. He didn't have to work before, but he has to now. Whenever I press the issue with my mother I'm met with the line "well, we're going to have to spend Christmas apart some year, why not start now?"
While I respect my mother's hardcore stance on the issue. . .there's no reason to start now. Yes, it's a 22hr drive or a 3hr flight for my family to be with me this Christmas, however my parents have the time to make the trip and my dad just bought a fucking SUV on the premise that it'd be more comfortable to take long roadtrips with my mother in. Well, here's a roadtrip, why aren't you going?
Can't afford the gas? Seriously, if they took the money they spent on my and Nena's presents for Christmas, they could have easily afforded the trip. So economics aren't an obstacle, either because Nena and I would much rather have them with us at Christmas than the really sweet iPod I received this year. All that I'm left with at this point (though I know it's a ridiculous thought) is that I don't matter enough to warrant the trip. Gee, doesn't that suck? 25 and my parents don't love me enough to spend Christmas with me if I don't come to them. Growing up, I was always told that the most important thing about Christmas was the four of us being together, I guess I was wrong about that.
I know I'm being unreasonable in my demands, seriously. But why does it seem as though I'm the only one who sees it this way? It's not as if my family isn't welcome. They get along fabulously with Nena's family and they were actually invited to spend Christmas in New Mexico. Only, my family's found every possible reason not to go.
I'm frustrated by this to no end, though I am much more calm about this than I've been up until now. I started crying about this on Christmas Day last year and the tears have only recently subsided. Even before going through all this, I knew then that there was no way I was going to spend Christmas with my parents ever again- I wanted for that not to be the truth, but I know my family well enough than to imagine that they'd be up for anything other than staying in Chicago.
Ugh. I'm just sick about this. I'd better stop now, seriously. There's this whole other thing about my family creating these changes that I've apparently been undergoing since the wedding, but I figure I should leave that alone for now. Anyone out there notice any serious changes in my personality since the wedding? If you have, let me know.
It's the end of the semester, that's why I haven't really been around. Don't worry, though. Thanksgiving updates as well as a recap of the ATL and the FAQ are coming soon. . .they'll make nice study breaks as I take on the two papers I have staring me in the face right now.
Big fun.
Until then. . .here's a meme, ganked from alabamagrrl.
