Thursday, November 20, 2008
Friends and Regrets
From left: Richard George, me, Ted Nasser, 1987, around the time we graduated from high school.
These were two of my three best friends at Chatham Township High School, along with Brett Bunker. There are many memories, most good and a few bad. Ted and I are still in touch and I would say we are still friends. He's one of those friends you can not talk to for months and months, and then when you do pick up the thread of friendship, it's like you never missed a beat. It's so easy with him.
Rich and I didn't talk for months and months at one point back in the day, although I can't really remember when or why. It was foreshadowing, I suppose, because Rich and I have not talked since about 1995. I last saw him when he stopped in Silver Spring, MD, on his way from New Orleans to New Jersey. He was doing the bohemian thing in New Orleans: putting out a street literary zine under the name "Science" while working at restaurants on the side to make ends meet. We'd had a crazy time together at Mardi Gras in 1994 (?), and then after the 1995 visit...again, not sure what happened. Right around the time I moved to Portland, he sent me a copy of his zine and the Zane Grey book "Taggart"...typical Rich. He's the one who introduced me to Jim Carroll, The Clash, Apocalypse Now, Richard Wright...he always had a counter-culture bent to him, even as he planned to go to law school.
I have occasionally tried to track him down, even going so far as to e-mail his old New Orleans roommate in the past few months. But nothing. I regret how things ended with us, even if I can't put my finger on the specifics of it. There's just a general unease about, like there was no closure. I miss him as a friend because he always challenged me in some way...he was just different enough and comfortable in that, while I have always felt conformist, to some degree. (A woman I work with blasted me for wearing khakis the other day..."you are better than that" she said, after a few martinis...but I'm not sure I am. I think maybe I am the khaki guy, but I've always cared so damn much about what other people think, that I can't always be sure what's me and what's me being what other would think is cool or acceptable).
Rich brought out good things in me. I hope he is well, and happy, and it would be nice to cross paths with him again someday.
These were two of my three best friends at Chatham Township High School, along with Brett Bunker. There are many memories, most good and a few bad. Ted and I are still in touch and I would say we are still friends. He's one of those friends you can not talk to for months and months, and then when you do pick up the thread of friendship, it's like you never missed a beat. It's so easy with him.
Rich and I didn't talk for months and months at one point back in the day, although I can't really remember when or why. It was foreshadowing, I suppose, because Rich and I have not talked since about 1995. I last saw him when he stopped in Silver Spring, MD, on his way from New Orleans to New Jersey. He was doing the bohemian thing in New Orleans: putting out a street literary zine under the name "Science" while working at restaurants on the side to make ends meet. We'd had a crazy time together at Mardi Gras in 1994 (?), and then after the 1995 visit...again, not sure what happened. Right around the time I moved to Portland, he sent me a copy of his zine and the Zane Grey book "Taggart"...typical Rich. He's the one who introduced me to Jim Carroll, The Clash, Apocalypse Now, Richard Wright...he always had a counter-culture bent to him, even as he planned to go to law school.
I have occasionally tried to track him down, even going so far as to e-mail his old New Orleans roommate in the past few months. But nothing. I regret how things ended with us, even if I can't put my finger on the specifics of it. There's just a general unease about, like there was no closure. I miss him as a friend because he always challenged me in some way...he was just different enough and comfortable in that, while I have always felt conformist, to some degree. (A woman I work with blasted me for wearing khakis the other day..."you are better than that" she said, after a few martinis...but I'm not sure I am. I think maybe I am the khaki guy, but I've always cared so damn much about what other people think, that I can't always be sure what's me and what's me being what other would think is cool or acceptable).
Rich brought out good things in me. I hope he is well, and happy, and it would be nice to cross paths with him again someday.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
#39
My 39th birthday has just about come and gone. It was a nice day, generally low key and not a huge deal made of the birthday, and that's fine. What's 39, besides the final step before the 40s arrive? There was the good news at the doctor's office...June 15 here we come...and that was exciting. And Lindsay made me a card at school, and sang to me in the shower this morning. What a sweetie. Nicola was loving and generous, as usual. So low key, yes, but I will definitely take many more birthdays like this: time with loved ones, hearing birthday wishes from friends and family.
More celebration tomorrow with Ella, and more cake! I better get to the gym in the morning.
More celebration tomorrow with Ella, and more cake! I better get to the gym in the morning.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Back in the Saddle
I've been thinking for a while about resurrecting this blog as a more literal translation of its name. "More will be revealed" by showing stuff that is part of my past and/or present, and talking about it, and by doing that...well, you get the idea. At least it will get me writing.
Exhibit A:
The gentleman above is Mr. Pickwick. He is some sort of collectible figurine, part of a small collection my step-step-grandmother started giving me about 15 years ago, maybe more. I don't know why she thought a guy in his early 20s would want a collection of ceramic heads, but that's what I got each Christmas for a while. Mr. Pickwick was the last remaining one I could account for; the fisherman, the Bedouin and the 1 or 2 others I can't recall and are long gone.
But Mr. Pickwick survived a long and arduous journey, from Silver Spring, MD, to Washington, DC, to New Jersey and then back here to me in California. At some point, he wound up in the glove compartment of my other grandmother's old Ford Tempo, which I had acquired from her with crazy low mileage in around 1995. I stopped driving it for a while, and a chipmunk or something set up a nest in the hood insulation. Or so my sister told me, when she took the car off my hands (with Mr. Pickwick still hiding in the glovebox). Kathy held on to him for a while, even as she changed cars. She would move her stuff to a new car, and Mr. Pickwick would go along.
Eventually, she probably started asking herself why this odd item was still in her car. And so she sent it back to me, years later. And Mr. Pickwick has rested on my dresser for a while...but now his time is over, and he is off to the great landfill in the sky.
Farewell, Mr. Pickwick. Your bizarre journey is symbolic of my own: ups and downs and multiple relocations, with intended long-term relationships being cut short, then new homes and connections being found.
Hmm...given the symbolism I'm going for, perhaps I should have held on to him...
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
And now this
Two-plus months since I posted, and this is what I have to contribute:
Today, Bailey the dog ate a hole in a pair of baby pajamas. What she was after -- <> -- was the baby poop in said pajamas, courtesy of an overnight diaper blowout.
Think I'll be taking a hiatus from being ANYWHERE near that dog's mouth.
Today, Bailey the dog ate a hole in a pair of baby pajamas. What she was after -- <
Think I'll be taking a hiatus from being ANYWHERE near that dog's mouth.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
History in the neighborhood
I had known that Dontrelle Willis and Jimmy Rollins both grew up and played high school baseball at Encinal in Alameda. Today I read in the paper that the baseball field 2 blocks down the street, where my dog sometimes roams and my kids sometimes toddle/run, also saw the likes of Joe Morgan, Frank Robinson, Billy Martin and Curt Flood. I guess Alameda High School has its own legacy!
Best wishes today to Nicola, who is offering her Attracting Love workshop -- it's the start of something big, I would bet, and I certainly can attest to her powers of attracting and nurturing love.
We just returned from a getaway weekend to Volcano, Calif., population 102. The restorative and relaxing St. George Inn was a hit (I commend to you the Garden Cottage and the Whiskey Flat Saloon), as was the Karmere Winery. Man, that Empress Daisy zinfandel is delightful!
Does talking about wine make me a Californian now? Not sure how I feel about that.
Best wishes today to Nicola, who is offering her Attracting Love workshop -- it's the start of something big, I would bet, and I certainly can attest to her powers of attracting and nurturing love.
We just returned from a getaway weekend to Volcano, Calif., population 102. The restorative and relaxing St. George Inn was a hit (I commend to you the Garden Cottage and the Whiskey Flat Saloon), as was the Karmere Winery. Man, that Empress Daisy zinfandel is delightful!
Does talking about wine make me a Californian now? Not sure how I feel about that.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
31derful
It's the Baskin-Robbins birthday for my sweet sensational wife -- and the ice cream motif is fitting. Because ice cream is a simple pleasure, and it is the simple, little things that make me love this woman so much.
Her enthusiasm for Dairy Queen (if there was only one close by!)
The peaceful look on her face when she falls asleep on the couch in the first 20 minutes of a movie
How cute she is in a baseball hat
She and Ella (age 6) both got the Kelly Clarkson CD for Christmas
Her belief in me
Famous family recipe: mac & cheese, tuna fish and peas (all mixed together)
Her belief in true love and not settling for anything less
The fondness for trashy gossip magazines
Watching her ride her new bike with Lindsay in the back
Her natural, "easeful" way of being a mom
Her creation of the word "easeful" -- which may or may not be a word, but it makes sense
Grocery shopping together
That first weekend in Astoria
A weakness for law enforcement charity solicitations by phone
The dazzling blue of her eyes...now passed along to Lindsay
How our hands fit together just so
Happy birthday, Nicola. There's only one reason for our love that really matters...and look in my eyes, and you'll see it.
Her enthusiasm for Dairy Queen (if there was only one close by!)
The peaceful look on her face when she falls asleep on the couch in the first 20 minutes of a movie
How cute she is in a baseball hat
She and Ella (age 6) both got the Kelly Clarkson CD for Christmas
Her belief in me
Famous family recipe: mac & cheese, tuna fish and peas (all mixed together)
Her belief in true love and not settling for anything less
The fondness for trashy gossip magazines
Watching her ride her new bike with Lindsay in the back
Her natural, "easeful" way of being a mom
Her creation of the word "easeful" -- which may or may not be a word, but it makes sense
Grocery shopping together
That first weekend in Astoria
A weakness for law enforcement charity solicitations by phone
The dazzling blue of her eyes...now passed along to Lindsay
How our hands fit together just so
Happy birthday, Nicola. There's only one reason for our love that really matters...and look in my eyes, and you'll see it.
Friday, May 05, 2006
I sense a tumbleweed
I've read that thousands of new blogs are created each day. How may are uncreated...how many die slowly, like this one, due to disinterest or lack of inspiration and motivation? Unknown, but if my own experience is at all relevant, you just slowly stop remembering that you have a blog that you once strived to update and maintain. I don't know if a resurrection is in the works. MWBR will likely languish on the vine for a while longer until a decision is made.
In the meantime, some recent cuteness:
In the meantime, some recent cuteness:
