Is This Real Life?

My brother will be 16 tomorrow. WTF, y'all?

My trip to DC was great, exactly what I needed. Details to follow soon.

EPIC

I'm going to DC this weekend (tomorrow through Sunday) to visit one of my college roommates. Michelle, my bff, also a college roommate, is coming too, so that we can have a good old nostalgic weekend full of girly shit.
Man, I'm so excited. I just can't wait to sit around with two old friends and just soak up their love & their company.
So far I'm aware of the following: a trip to the top of the Washington Monument, a Glenn Beck rally to crash, carb-loading before hitting the bars, and brunch on Sunday (and a museum or two).
Sounds like heaven, no?

You Know Those Days

The ones when you don't really like yourself? When you dwell on something you did or said that you regret? Something that's not even that big, but that just make you unhappy with yourself? When you feel like you need to cleanse yourself of yourself? Ugh. I'm having one of those.

Get Ready

I'm scheduled to be internet-ready on August 14. So all of you out there that are just holding your breath for my next installment, get ready, you're about to get blogged on a regular basis (maybe).

It Happened Again

I went the entire month of July without posting anything. My brother was here for the first three weeks of the month, and I still don't have internet at home, and work is just too damn busy to spend time posting blogs. So there you have it. Just a quick run-down of life this summer:
My visit with my brother was great. I was sad to see him leave, but I am enjoying the return of naked mornings in my studio apartment.
I am broke (thanks, bro), and trying to cram in the overtime now that I don't have a fifteen year-old to entertain in the evenings, and I'm trying to fund a trip to DC at the end of August.
I'm growing two tomato plants and I ate my first cherry tomato yesterday. It was delicious. However, someone (or something) has stolen two of the big Brandywine tomatoes off of the plant while they were still green. I hope that the other two last to maturity. I've been watching them grow with bated breath.
It is as hot here (and has been for weeks) as I can ever remember it. I must admit that it makes me consider the temperature in Hell and secretly regret my heathen ways.
I am trying to get back on the health track. My work-outs are fine (though I could stand to change it up a bit), but my food intake has been very indulgent; and I'm blaming it on the heat (and working out in the morning leaves me with more time in the evenings) that a beer sounds amazing every single evening when I leave work. The weekday drinking has become a too-often habit.
So, here's to August! Even with the heat, I don't want summer to be on its way out already. I feel like we've only just started getting to know each other.

The Once And Future King

Kay: "He was one of those people who would be neither a follower or a leader, but only an aspiring heart, impatient in the failing body which imprisoned it."

The Lothian Princes: "Indeed, they did love her. Perhaps we all give the best of our hearts uncritically - to those who hardly think about us in return."

Lancelot: "...there was shame and self-loathing which had been planted there when he was tiny...It is so fatally easy to make young children believe that they are horrible."

King Arthur: "He had never been unjustly treated, for one thing, so he was kind to other people."

Truant

I haven't been absent on purpose. I have things to write about! I have things to share!
However, the guy who was so kindly sharing his internet service with me, "Hillbilly Hollywood," has up and disappeared, and my laptop doesn't want to let me log on to any of the other unsecured networks available to me. Therefore, I've had no internet at home for the past three weeks. And work has been busy as hell, so there just hasn't been time.
Update on the old guy: I didn't go to the symphony. I chickened out. The Blonde Mule's advice about how to handle the situation would've been very helpful if I'd seen it one day sooner. I might've gone if I'd seen it that day, but I didn't. So, I didn't go to the symphony with my old friend.
I drove to Michigan last weekend to pick up my brother. He's visiting for a few weeks. The visit with my family went well, although I didn't see much of my grandparents or my mom. On Friday night we played hide and go seek with flashlights in the dark (my brother and some cousins). It was fun. And beautiful. And calming. The hiding part, at least. You know those moments when you take a second to stop and look around and really soak it all in? That moment where you feel at peace? When your brain stops whirring and you can just appreciate that particular feeling? Someone told me once that that feeling is God, speaking to you, but that you might not recognize it for that. I don't know, but there was one really distinct one of those, which I think I'll probably remember forever. Or at least a long time.
I met my new cousin. He's adorable. I have lots of thoughts on that. I have lots of thoughts about everything recently. Or all the time. But, you know what I mean. This visit home and this time with my brother has me ruminating on things. How quickly time passes by. How babies grow up. How your cousins turn into adults and how blood ties you to people that you manage to know little about, or people whose lives you only get to see in small slivers of time.
My brother is growing up. And I see how far away from each other we are. I wonder if this month will help us grow closer? We're trying to get him a job while he's here, but fifteen is turning out to be a tricky number when it comes to employment.
We shall see, I suppose. More later.
PS: Listened to "The Prince Of Frogtown" by Rick Bragg on the drive. Probably why I'm contemplating family so much right now. I suggest you check him out if you've never read him. If you live in The South. If you like good writing. If you have parents. You will enjoy his work.