Yep, "wow." It's been a long time since I updated, yet again. I'm pretty terrible about this. Gets a guy pretty depressed.
So, as usual when I miss many, many updates, it's time for me to list my excuses. Without further ado, and making use of the wonderful HTML magic of bulleted lists:
What's that? You want details? Well, if you insist...
Moving was just that... moving all my stuff. I took that basement apartment and worked at gradually moving my stuff in, bit by bit, over the course of a few weeks. Then my parents came and helped me move the big stuff -- bed, bookcases, coffee table, that kind of thing. My car just isn't big enough. But the first couple days of trying to move in were pretty rough -- I missed my old apartment. Now that everything's moved in and arranged and decorated, I feel a lot more cozy and at home, so it's all good.
Yes, Jesse got married. His wedding was on August 12th, down in PA, where his wife is from. I got to be the Best Man, which was quite an honor... but then I had to make a toast, and I got so nervous I could barely even raise the glass by the time I was done. I got a lot of comments about how nice a toast it was, though, so I think I did okay. The wedding was really nice, too -- a couple old friends I haven't talked to in a long time were there, and of course I met some new folks that were great friends of Jesse's, so that was awesome. I had a wonderful time (but I think Jesse probably got a better deal out of the whole process...!).
The wedding was on a Saturday. I left from the reception, drove back to Ithaca, and picked up a U-Haul van on Sunday morning to help Gibson move. She got herself a nice job as an assistant editor for a production company down near DC, and recently found herself a really good apartment, so it was time to move her stuff from her friend's basement here in Ithaca to the new place. That van was about as full as it could possibly get -- but we got it all in there. Her apartment really is fantastic. Two balconies, a fireplace (with firewood supplied by the complex!), really big living/dining room, laundry in the apartment... I'm jealous. I'm not jealous of what she's paying for it, but I wouldn't mind living in such a nice place. After moving everything in, we took advantage of having a nice, big vehicle and went to IKEA to buy her some new furniture for said new apartment. What a crazy store. Amazing. I could wander about in that place all day and not realize the time passing. If you've never been, I really must insist you try it. Be prepared to spend a lot of money, though -- it's great stuff (I bought a dresser, even though I didn't intend to).
The Junior High worktrip to Overlook Farm, in Massachusetts, was another success. Not quite as great as last year, I felt, but still good. The best part, for me, was that our youth group teamed up with the youth group from Trumansburg for the trip, and both groups integrated pretty smoothly. Honestly, I was quite pleased with how well everyone got along. The downside was that, at least for the Ithacans, it wasn't new. We'd been there before, we'd seen it -- heck, we literally HAD gotten the t-shirt. Things were a bit different, on account of their barn fire last year, but the chores were more-or-less the same. Plus, there were more groups there, so chores (honestly, the whole reason to go!) took all of about 20 minutes. We had a lot more down-time than last year. But overall, a positive trip, with the two groups getting along very well. It was also my last official duty as Youth Ministry Coordinator at First Presbyterian, so it was kind of bittersweet.
I was holding off doing an entry, because I was hoping I'd have one about how I'd soloed. Wouldn't that have been great? I still have plans to do an entry at that point, obviously, but you know how sometimes you wait for something like that and it just doesn't happen, and you just keep waiting, and before you know it, a month's gone by? Yeah, that's what happened. I thought I was really close to soloing, but it turns out that I wasn't really. Still had some written tests to take, a couple review flights with the chief flight instructor, etc. I did just have a good lesson the other day, just practicing landings. I'm feeling MUCH more comfortable with 'em now than I ever did before, so I'm just that much closer to doing it all on my own. Rest assured, when I've done it, you'll know.
Since I didn't have the opportunity to do an entry on my first solo, I thought I'd hold off and do a review of Snakes on a Plane, since it looks so awesome. Same deal -- just kept waiting for an opportunity to go see it, and it never rolled around. Rather disappointing, really. I apologize for the procrastination.
And yes, practicing took up a good deal of time. There was an audition with Tri-Cities Opera, in Binghamton, that I took. Not sure I should have bothered -- I sucked. Like, really bad. My excuse is that they told me the audition would be between 5-6, so I got there at 4:15 to warm up, but they didn't get to me until 6:30, so my chops were tired. The truth is that I just choked. Got cottonmouth and half the notes wouldn't come out of my horn -- and the ones that DID come out were on the wrong partial. Sigh. Oh, well -- no operas for me. Who wanted $80 a service, anyway?
Pshaw. Not me, no sir.
(*whimper*)
So other than that, life's been fairly quiet. Rehearsals have started for a quartet I'm playing in, and Troupe rehearsals start again on Friday. This weekend, with all its rain and gray and blah-ness, I've been reading. Last night, I read, in its entirety, Choke, by Chuck Palahniuk. I have no idea how to pronounce that; I just know he's the guy that wrote Fight Club. Anyway, it's a story about a similarly twisted guy who has to take care of his mother in a nursing home, so to pay the bills, he goes out to fancy restaurants and pretends to choke on his meal. People jump up, play the hero and save his life, and then they feel responsible for making sure he's doing okay later on down the road -- so they send him money. Pretty brilliant. It goes a lot deeper than that, but that's the general premise. Then, today, I read, in its entirety, The Catcher in the Rye. This is the first time I've read it. I can see why it's a classic. Very cool look at what it's like to be a kid. I could totally identify with the notion that the most annoying, upsetting, and anger-inducing people to a teenager are people who are being "phony." I remember thinking that very thing. I would get very angry at people who I saw as hypocrites (and was probably quite blind to the fact that I was one, too). But it's still an interesting look at society -- has anything really changed? People still put on the act for others, hiding what they're really thinking. A good friend of mine drives me nuts with that -- this friend says "I can't stand this person; he/she is so annoying; they eat all my food; they don't respect me; they only care about themselves; I just can't stand them!" and then proceeds to continually hang out with them. I'm probably one of those people this friend talks about that way... or if I'm not, I am NOW. :-p But the truth of the matter is that this friend of mine actually has people around (annoying though they may be) that he/she hangs out with. I don't, or at least I don't feel like I do. I have friends that I like hanging out with, but the closest is a half-hour's drive away, so it makes things difficult.
Okay, before I continue that train of thought to its logical, depressing conclusion, I'm going to wrap this up. Suffice it to say, I've been reading a lot of books lately! They're good, and they're making me think a lot. Isn't that the point?
And now YOU have been reading a lot, although I daresay you haven't needed to think a great deal. I have no illusions about this site being intellectually stimulating. Ah, well -- nobody reads it anyway. :-p
Well, if you HAVE read it, feel free to drop me a line -- my address is listed above, and I'm sure you can decode it. I just don't want spam-bots decoding it. Let me know what you've been up to, or just let me know what you think. Have a happy Labor Day! I'll catch you later.