Another Excellent Weekend

After writing my last blog post, I have decided that I wanted to write another very good post. This is going to be another great post (although the ending is sad, but in a good way).

For those of you that don’t know (ok, so by this point, everyone knows and I’m just talking to myself here), I went to the greater Washington DC area this last weekend, and, just as my Dallas trip, it was by far, one of the best weekends of my entire life.

I left my apartment on Friday morning at 4:30. My neighbor was kind enough to take me to the airport and drop me off so that I wouldn’t have to leave my truck unattended there at the airport…he’s a great friend. I was really nervous and jittery as this would be the first plane ride I had taken anywhere since May 21 of 2001. Let me tell you, many things have changed since then (I’m sure you know what I’m talking about and the reasons behind the changes). I waited around till 6:20 when they began boarding the plane (a twin engine Saab with no more than 30 seats in it). I took my seat, got out my book, and began reading.

The flight from Monroe, LA to Memphis, TN took only about 53 minutes. That sure beats 4 hours of driving, let me tell you! It was a really nice flight. There is nothing cooler than flying along and watching the world beneath you begin its day.

Once I got to Memphis, I stepped off the plane and was greeted with a very chilly breeze. Please note that at this point, I was dressed in khaki shorts, sneakers, and a LaTech sweatshirt…not exactly clothing designed for “cold” weather, but I was comfortable. It was probably 30 degrees.

The plane ride from Memphis to Baltimore, MD was also uneventful. The weather after getting off the plane there was even cooler! I was in hog heaven! I saw groovy right away and gave her the biggest hug that I could without breaking any bones or causing either of us to stop breathing (there is a fine line between expressing joy at seeing someone and hurting them). After we found the car, we left the Baltimore Airport and went to the Harbor area to walk around for a bit and sight see.

The Harbor area of Baltimore is VERY cool. It’s quite clean…much cleaner than I expected. The snow isn’t edible, though. It was brown in some areas and yellow in others (there was this dog that was admiring the yellow snow that it had just made that made me laugh). We ate at this California Pizza place where I had a B-B-Q chicken pizza that was just awesome. I remarked that I was trying to go for the clothing disparity award (or something to that effect) and thought it would be funny if someone thought I was from Alaska or something. Well, we went to Barnes and Noble there in Baltimore (as an aside, can there REALLY be too many bookstores in the world? I think not…) and I was asked by this gentleman if I was from around there. “No,” I replied as kindly as I could. “Are you from Alaska?” he asked. Smiling, knowing that my experiment was a success, I said, “No, sir…I happen to be from Louisiana.” A confused look crossed his face, again mission success, and I walked away.

We then traveled to Frederick, MD…where groovy lives. I didn’t realize the amount of history in that area. I mean, I KNEW there was history there, but I didn’t realize just how much it was engrained in everything. In the harbor of Baltimore, there is the USS Constellation (the last surviving all sail ship built during the Civil War) and in Frederick, there is the grave of Francis Scott Key…and that’s just 2 SMALL things in that area. Very, very cool area if you’re into history.

We hung out at groovy’s apartment for a while and played around with her cat, Sasha (an all-black cat with greenish eyes). As it turns out, I seem to be allergic to cats, but by Sunday afternoon, I was getting acclimated to her and wasn’t sneezing quite as much. Anyway, I enjoyed playing with Sasha and I think she liked me. Only Sasha knows for sure, I guess. We ended up eating at this place called Famous Dave’s, which has THE BEST corn bread muffins I’ve ever had. Hands down. Oh, and the best B-B-Q sauce (it’s called Devils Spit and is mildly spicy).

Saturday morning was spent leisurely reading through a book about personalities and compatibility. As it turns out, groovy and I are both very unique people (less than 4% of the population are our personalities) and our personalities are pretty compatible. We went to this place called Paragon (or Prago or something like that…it started with a “P”) for lunch and then went to Lowes to get some stuff so that I could fix a messed up door (the doorknob fell off and wouldn’t work for some reason as it lay on the floor). We ended up fixing several things that needed attention and pretty much just spent the rest of the day talking, playing with Sasha and getting to know one another again. We ended up cooking chili and corn bread for supper. It was awesome! Next time you have cornbread, put peanut butter and honey on it…it’s really good! It began snowing Saturday evening at about 7.

Sunday, when I woke up, it was still snowing and had accumulated between 3 and 4 inches of the white stuff. It was so awesome! I wanted to go outside and throw snowballs at myself, but, age and maturity kicked in just in time and I just ended up walking through the stuff on the way to the car (dang it…next time!!!). We ended up eating lunch and then had to leave almost right away for the airport in Baltimore.

Once again, I think leaving someone that you care about and love is one of the hardest things that any person can ever have to do. We sat in the airport for almost an hour. I didn’t want to leave her because I knew that as soon as I stood up to leave that I wouldn’t want to leave and would then feel the inevitable heartache. Well, I was about to say that all good things must come to an end, but I don’t know that I really believe that anymore. Some good things continue on forever. It was unfortunate that I wasn’t able to spend more time there with groovy, but, in 2 weeks I will return to hang out with her again.
Leaving is horrible. I wanted to just not get on the plane…to walk away from everything that I had and knew in Louisiana. It would have been so simple, but I’m not one of those people that can just walk away from their responsibilities that easily. As it stands now, I will be moving up to the DC area by the summer. Can that change? Yes…that can change. If I find a job before then, I may move before then.

My weekend...the best ever.

I know I tend to be kinda negative in some of my blog posts. You know what? This one isn’t going to be anything like that. Nothing like that at all. This post is going to be a post about the best weekend that I have ever had in my entire life. That’s right…no weekend (or any other group of days) even comes close to comparing to the weekend I’ve just had.

My weekend actually started at 12 on Friday. I left work and came home to change clothes and load up my truck. I was off to Dallas to visit with my friend groovy. Groovy and I dated several years ago for almost 4 years (honestly, when you date for any extended period of time, it really doesn’t seem like that long). We broke up for what ever reason and 3 years have passed since I last saw her.

I arrived at the airport in Dallas shortly after 4 (the ironic thing is, her plane was taking off slightly before 4…so I was there at the airport for almost the length of time that she was in the air). I met two very wonderful people from north of Houston who I talked to for the 4 hours that I waited for groovy’s plane to arrive. They were great…really. I want to send them a card or something thanking them for talking with me. How goofy is that?!

Anyway, I was nervous when I noticed the monitor change from “On Time” to “Arrived”. I walked over to where the people would be coming out and waited there patiently. I saw her walk up the ramp from the plane and the world stopped. I heard nothing. I saw nothing. It was nirvana. She finally saw me and we hugged. It was the best hug I’ve ever had…no lie. We then went and talked to the couple that I had sat with for a bit, then went on our way.

The journey to the hotel was exciting. We ended up going down the wrong road down into the heart of downtown Dallas. There is nothing like downtown Dallas at 9pm, I can assure you. We took a random road off Hwy 75 thinking we could get back on the main road. That didn’t happen. I then decided I was going to take a left at this light. I turned left and saw headlights facing me. I quickly turned around a car that was sitting at THAT red light and had us heading in the right direction. Finally, we found I-35 and then back to I-635. Turns out, the road we wanted was in construction and the sign was missing. Go figure. We made it to the hotel fine and had Jack in the Box for supper (Subway was closed!).

We ate fries the Maryland way: old Bay seasoning and Malted Vinegar sprinkled across the top. Believe it or not (yeah, I know the combination sounds weird), it was freakin awesome! Groovy gave me my own Old Bay and Vinegar, so when I got home, I had my neighbor try it and even he liked it. It’s good, you should try it too.

After waking up on Saturday, we went to the Galleria mall in Dallas. It’s HUGE! Three floors of stores and there’s even an ice skating rink in the bottom floor (4 floors to the building). We ate lunch at Corner Bakery (we had this sandwich on Pretzel bread which was REALLY good and quite filling). We then went to the ice skating rink and, through several breaks for my cramping feet, proceeded to amaze the crowds with our ice skating abilities. Ok, so that’s pretend. In actuality, I think there were some people that were laughing at me (of course not groovy), but I didn’t mind at all. I was laughing and having a grand time as well. All in all, an excellent day. We spent the rest of the day talking. For supper, we got take-out at this place Mexican place called…well, I can’t remember, but they have the world’s largest burrito. I’m serious! Well, so they don’t advertise it that way, but I’m telling you, it was freakin huge!

Sunday, we agreed to have breakfast at IHOP, as I had never eaten there. If you ever eat at the IHOP in Dallas just off I-635 north of the Galleria, ask for Erica…she was the best waitress I’ve ever had. She was awesome! Also, the food at IHOP, if you’ve never been there, IS better than Waffle House. It is…I swear.

Anyway, after we ate breakfast, we went to downtown Dallas. Downtown Dallas during the day is pretty nice (as compared to 9pm, anyway). We walked quite a bit to figure out where we were (they have signs up everywhere showing you where to go to get to the historical areas). We checked out the JFK museum on the 6th floor of what used to be the Book Depository. Lots of history there. LOTS. Anyway, we then went looking for this Conspiracy Museum, but after asking for directions twice, we gave up and went back to the hotel. That evening, we had supper at Cappuccino which was, as you would imagine, an Italian food place. We had Chianti with our meal (I’m finishing the rest of it as I type this) and had a wonderful waiter there as well (“Would you like to take that home with you?” as he points to the half-bite of food left on groovy’s plate…we both laughed).

Monday was the worst day of my life. I didn’t want to take her to the airport at all. It was depressing. I left her there at about 11 and wanted to pull over along the side of the road to throw up. It was so depressing. I got home at 4, very sad. Things are great, though, for me. Why? Well, I’m now planning a trip to go up to see her in DC next month. February can’t come fast enough .

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…

This isn’t normal for me. Well, writing another post so soon after having written a rather lengthy one, I mean. Why am I doing it? Well, I was thinking about a lot of stuff yesterday (I had tons of free time…maybe I need a second job?), and I came up with two related, but vastly different ideas. I wanted to post them here, so here goes.

First, for years, I’ve been saying the wrong thing. For quite a while, I’ve said, “All I want out of life is to be happy,” or, “My main goal in life is to be happy.” I now say that this is the wrong thing to strive for.

Happiness, while a very good thing to aim for, is nothing more than a feeling. It is usually short-lived and not fulfilling. Pain, tiredness, and glee are also emotions that are short-lived and unfulfilling, and really don’t make very good goals for life. I mean, you’ve never heard anyone that said, “I want to be in pain for the rest of my life.” Technically, there might be some people that say stuff like that, but they usually reside in mental hospitals or are on some serious meds to counteract those feelings, but for the sake of argument, we’re going to assume that these feelings are not normal. So, if happiness is just an empty feeling, what would be something that would be a better life-goal? Well, the thing that I am going to be working on is contentment.

Contentment is simply satisfaction. Satisfaction not only with where you are at in life, but also with things that are out of your control and with things that happen as a direct result of your actions or inactions. It’s the antithesis of anger, envy and anxiety. It is a feeling, of course, but it’s something that is much more lasting than happiness. It’s something that will change your life if you let it. Contentment. I want to be content with what I have, who I am and where I am in life. Does that mean that I don’t want to better myself? No, but if I try to better myself and it doesn’t work out, I just won’t be upset about it. Things happen that you have no control over, and there’s no point in getting upset about them. This is my NEW life goal…contentment.

Second, my mom has this theory that she probably read somewhere about “Love Languages.” She, as well as the author that she read, says that there are five ways for someone to show that they love you: Words of Affirmation, Gifts, Quality Time, Acts of Service and Physical Touch. Now, I could go into what each of these mean, but I neither want to take the time to do this, nor do I want to take away from the authors theories.

Now, you may ask what my mom’s theory has to do with me and what I was thinking about. Well, simply put, I’ve thought about this for quite some time, but I’ve never been able to determine which language that I feel love (and therefore express love) in. My mom, for years, has said that she knew which I was, but that it was essentially my journey to discover which I thought I was. Well, I believe I’ve decided which I am.

For the longest time, I thought that I was three of the five. I don’t deal well with words of affection (it always seems hollow to me for some reason) and I’m not much of a gift giver/receiver. I do like to give things to people that need them, but I don’t think that’s what this is talking about. This is more of a “I want you to have this because I love you,” and not a “I want you to have this because you need it and I don’t.” That’s not to say that my reasons for giving aren’t right; I think they are, and that’s really all that matters. So, it came down to Quality Time, Acts of Service and Physical Touch.

Physical touch is something that I think everyone needs to have. It’s not so much that if they don’t have it that they will die (like water or food), but for them to feel love, they HAVE to have the physical touch. For me, it was never really like that. Holding hands and stuff is important, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not the most important thing to me.

Acts of Service. Everyone knows someone like this. I know several people that fit into this category (Neighbor, Son of Neighbor, My Dad). Now, I also think that everyone likes to have things done for them (I know I do), but this is more than that. This is “I’m doing this for you because I love you,” or “You doing this for me shows me that you love me.” And by “this” I mean running errands, making something for them or whatever. Service is the key to this one. It’s not bad, and it’s partly me, but it’s still not the most important to me.

Quality time, however, IS the most important thing for me. I could sit with someone and watch TV, or read a book while they were doing something else in the room, and I would feel loved. I have to feel important to that person. I need to know that that person cares about me enough to spend time with me, even if it just means cooking something with me, sipping coffee at the store (I know, I don’t drink coffee, but you get the idea), or just being in the same room. Show an interest. Let me feel important. Let me know I’m loved.

Now, I don’t mean this for you five people that read this blog. We’re all so separated by space and time zones (get it…hahahah!) that it’s hard. Don’t worry. Just the fact that you read this, as well as other things that I write, shows to me that you care…and for that, I thank you all.

-LT

New Year's Resolutions – A Change of Focus

I’ve been asked several times what my New Year’s resolutions are. Now, usually I don’t bother with such thing. Why, you may ask? Well, quite simply, the things that one usually comes up with for New Year’s resolutions are things that they wish they were doing year round, but will probably forget about after a month or two. This is not to say that making resolutions is a waste of time, although they could be. It’s really all about dedication to making your life better anyway. If you want to do it bad enough, you’re going to do it whether you made a resolution or not.

Anyway, let’s assume here for a minute (or how ever long it takes you to read this) that I was into making resolutions (which as you can guess, I’m not). What kind of things would I pick for my resolutions? Would I be passé and say things like, “I want to be a better person” or “I want to lose X number of pounds in weight”? Actually, I would say those sorts of things just to follow the trend of most people’s resolutions. So, on with the list!

1) I would like to lose weight. It’s true that this is a very passé sort of thing to say. Everyone wants to lose weight (except for this lady that I saw on TV last night that weighed like 50 something pounds…then again, even SHE thought she was overweight, which couldn’t be further from the truth). I’m one of those people that are their own worse enemies. I think the worst about myself (another topic). Am I overweight? Yes…I am, and I hate it. I’ve tried watching what I eat, I’ve tried exercising…nothing seems to work for me. This year, though, I resolve to lose weight. It WILL happen, you just watch.

2) I would like to write more. I actually enjoy writing, especially when I have what I KNOW to be a good idea for a story or book. I wrote a disturbing piece the other day that was, to date, the best thing I’ve ever written. It was disturbing…be sure you understand that…but it was still pretty darn good. Even I thought so!

3) By the end of this year, I want to have a pretty good idea as to what it is that I want to do with my life. As it is, I really don’t want to stay at my present job, and I really want to move. I would move North, East or West…but South is right out (unless I were to move to Antarctica…hehehe). I would like to find a job that is challenging and not the same old crap every day. Does that job REALLY exist (in all it’s idyllic splendor)? I don’t know.

4) I want to go on a trip. Somewhere. Anywhere. My neighbor has asked me to go with his family on a Disney cruise to somewhere out in the Gulf, but I would hate to be the third wheel (well, the fourth wheel in this case). It’s in May, so technically I would (maybe) have time to find someone to go with, but that’s a big investment for a person to make (don’t I know it!). I don’t really know. I AM going to go on a trip April(ish), assuming that’s still ok and everything (?). I don’t know when specifically, but there is still time. Then there is QuakeCon 2005 that is supposed to happen in August…but that’s only to Dallas, so that’s not really a trip. When I say trip, I mean TRIP!!!

5) I want to be able to help people more. I’ve done the best that I can do in helping people this last year. I have several friends who needed help in one way or another, and I did whatever it took to help them. I want to continue that trend.

6) I guess this kinda goes in line with #1, but I want to eat better. Well, I want to eat things that are better for me (laughs). That may be a better way to say it. I’ve had some serious gastrointestinal issues this last year, and I can only see them getting worse if I don’t do something soon. It should also help with the weight issues. Take, for instance, this morning – I’ve had a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of orange juice. How much better can you get than that?!

7) I want to learn how to play the guitar. I presently own a Martin Sigma guitar (6 string acoustic, non-classical) and am in the process of learning chords and stuff. Chords are great, but chords aren’t music. I miss music. I miss the feeling of playing a difficult piece the best that I could. I miss making music. I wanted to buy a French Horn the other day so I could play that again, but they are pretty expensive.

Well, I guess that is enough for now. That isn’t all that I want to accomplish this year, but it’s a pretty good representation of what should happen, assuming I buckle down and actually work on it.

Do you have any resolutions you would like to share? If so, please do.

Happy New Year, everyone (all 4 of you).