A Supposedly Fun Thing I Will Do Again

As most of my readers know, I have just returned from a 3-week vacation in the Philippines. The trip happened to be less of a vacation and more of a journey. I feel like a large portion of the trip was spent in transit, but had countless wonderful experiences during each method of travel.

In the spirit of David Foster Wallace, I give you a summation of my trip.

I have used a banana leaf as an umbrella. I have consumed coconut wine at 8 in the morning. I have been for a ride on a tricycle (a sort of dirt bike with an attached sidecar). I have risen to the call of a rooster (which speaks Tagalog in the Philippines). I have come within snorting distance of a caribou. I have paid the equivalent of 3.5 cents to use a public toilet, which did not include toilet paper. I have showered in my clothes in the rain simply because it was the most convenient option. I have been utterly disgusted by the endless dirt under my fingernails, but eaten with my hands anyway. I have had juice and pulp from both young green and mature orange coconuts and decided that I prefer the green. I have learned the word for ‘good’ in at least 5 new languages. I have chased chickens out of my bed and witnessed a bonafide cock fight. I have worn the same underwear without washing 3 days in a row. I have run 5 miles in the land of a thousand smiles. I have woven pouches for steaming rice from the leaves of a coconut tree. I have seen larger cockroaches than exist in Florida. I have spent 59 out of 74 hours in some sort of vehicle, including a plane, a ferry, a taxi, and a jeep. I have seen a double rainbow after a hard mountain rain. I have seen cd-roms used as washers. I have concealed a collection of plastic bags and water bottles with the fear that someone else would come by and appropriate them for their own use. I have watched my rather unsightly ankle sock tan evolve into a sexy flip-flop tan. I have accidentally asked my mother whether she would like ‘a penis’ (when trying to be particularly clever and referring to my Tagolog-English dictionary) instead of ‘fish bones’, to which a large fit of laughter was followed by anyone within earshot. I have seen more uses for bamboo than I ever thought possible. I have climbed to the craters of two volcanoes, one of which is still active. I have jogged 172 steps up a hillside to a statue of the Virgin Mary where one is expected to leave a donation and make a confession, left a donation, did not make a confession, and returned feeling a little breathless and dizzy (which I will equate with feeling spiritual).

Photos are soon to follow.

 

Hemlock Ring Blanket

Don’t ask me why, but I found the last 15 minutes before leaving my house to fly to the Philippines an appropriate time to upload some photos and actually update my blog.

Actually, I was really just a bit excited to share photos of a piece I finished knitting over a month ago which had been sitting around waiting to get blocked. The Hemlock Ring Blanket is basically a glorified doily and it was a fast and fun knit.

Okay, I’m sure some people may notice how terrible my job of blocking really was, but I figured since it’s just a blanket, it’s not such a big deal. I like its imperfections.

 

A dashing young dog.

TJ and Sheena have a new member in their family. Just like a big sister, Lola’s quite jealous.

 

Striations

I found some interesting new subjects to photograph, so here is just a taste of what you may be seeing in the next couple of months:

 

The Christmas Day Polar Bear Club.

My dad decided when he was home for Thanksgiving that we would start a bunch of traditions this year because we don’t really have any holiday traditions. Actually, I guess it’s more a tradition to just spend the holidays at someone else’s house because we’re never usually all home at the same time. For Thanksgiving, we’re all supposed to run a 5k or participate in the ‘Turkey Trot’. Well, this year only my father and I ever made it around to completing the 3-mile run, but nothing ever goes right the first year, right?

When we all awoke around 9am Christmas Day, I think we were all still a little drunk from the night before. My dad decided he wanted to go to the beach even though the sand was wet from the early-morning rain. Sheena, TJ and my dad and I took the top off of the Jimmy and piled in for a quick ride down to the coast. Crossing the Navarre Beach bridge was a bit eerie because there was so much fog on the water.

The weather was actually a bit warm when we eventually walked down the dunes, but I started toeing the water and realized pretty quickly that I didn’t want to get in.

While the rest of us were standing around being wimps, my brother was stripping down to his underwear and ran and dove into the water. My dad was soon to follow.

It was especially cold when they got out.

Not sure why Sheena was shaking her head, but I thought this shot was neat.

So, maybe next year I’ll muster up the guts to jump in the ocean on Christmas Day since I passed on it this time. We eventually went to dinner at a Chinese buffet in Ft. Walton and came home to watch movies and relax a bit.

Some post-Christmas dinner funny faces.

I could not have asked for a better Christmas.

 

My face is shiny and my lips are wet.

Most of the people who read this blog know me pretty well and would understand the magnitude of the event of my father being home for Christmas. He had been working in Tennessee and drove through fog and ice on Christmas Eve to be with us for a little more than a week, but didn’t arrive at the house until 11:45pm. You could say he was racing Santa, who ended up bringing us all some interesting gifts. It was great to be able to share this holiday with my family and some good friends. When you’re away for so many years, you realize it’s what you miss the most. Family. And mine is absolutely the best.

After I had a nice morning run, TJ, Sheena and I went to Publix and picked up a few basic things for making dinner. We also made a little pit stop at the liquor store where nobody could really figure out what they wanted to drink and we left collectively about $50 poorer. When we got back to the house, we dragged out a tent and started gathering wood for a fire. As is his style, my brother couldn’t resist having brought something like these shorts without sharing them with everyone.

TJ and Sheena started drinking a bit early with some shots, which amounted to sharpie tattooes, peeing in the yard, and rolling around in the tent (which didn’t get set up).

For the period of time that I was making dinner, not many photos were taken, but very basically the order of events are: Brad and Jose showed up, my mom came home from work, we made a fire and ate dinner outside, we roasted marshmallows and drank a little too much and eventually plugged in Rock Band. Photographic evidence as follows.

Okay, just a little backstory for this next shot: I don’t smoke. I think it’s pretty gross and usually when other people are doing it around me, I start feeling sick. However, I’m known to ask for cigarettes when I’ve had a little too much to drink. When we were all together for Thanksgiving and I got a bit hammered, I was begging everyone for a cigarette and no one would give one to me. My brother had told me for Christmas I was allowed to have just one. So at some point in the night, they handed me a cigarette which I maybe puffed on a total of 3 times and almost singed my eyebrows off trying to light in the fire. I was going to ask for another one later, but thought I’d just be cool and slip one out of the pack when no one was looking. But a better opportunity presented itself! A lone cigarette came flying out of nowhere and landed on the ground in front of me. I pounced on it and lit it immediately. My brother equated my actions with those of a hobo. So, I’m now a hoboer of cigarettes. The flying cigarette was apparently an accident and was not meant to ever touch my lips. But it did.

My dad eventually showed up and we went back outside to drink and be next to the fire.

TJ is showing off his squatting technique?

Santa made a stop.

Apparently, I threw a piece of chocolate directly into my dad’s mouth from over 5 feet away. I wish I remembered this because I don’t normally have this much skill.

We eventually went back to playing more Rock Band into the wee hours of the morning.

Everyone else passed out around 4am and I watched Anchor Man by myself until 5:45am. I’m now done with heavy drinking for a while.

 

Banana humor.

Whoever on the Chiquita marketing team thought this sticker would be a good idea is my hero.

 

A 5k a Day Keeps the Hypertension Away

Okay, I’m not quite running a 5k a day, especially now that we’re between two major eating holidays. Today was the first time I ran in exactly a week and I struggled, but I was able to make it 3.5 miles before quitting. It’s amazing how little time it takes for your body to start feeling out of shape. I’d like to be able to blame my feet for the discomfiture, but that’s just not the case. For some reason, I’ve really been abusing my feet lately. About a month ago on a long hike, I managed to bruise both of my large toes and the dark spots on the nails are finally starting to grow out. Then less than a week ago, I kicked a headboard really hard (not on purpose) and it just about ripped the nail off of one of my little toes. It turned from a moderately bruised toe into zombie toe within a day, but once all the blood and pus drained from beneath the nail, it started looking normal again.

Day 1

Day 2

On another note, I finally have a job. I’ve been working as a cashier at Sears the last two weeks, but they only put me (as well as all of the other trainees) on the schedule for 20 hours this next week. I am thankful that the 20 hours is over a 3-day span so I’m not having to drive out to Ft. Walton Beach for short shifts, but I sure do miss making money.

Here are some photos from Thanksgiving I wanted to share. Take care, all!

My brother is modeling a hat I recently knit here. Actually, he sort of just took it and started wearing it, so I guess it’s his now.

What a couple of weirdos, right?

 

For the Love of an Au Lait

I can’t believe I’m drinking a Starbucks coffee while writing this.

Scratch that.

I can’t believe I’m sitting in a Starbucks, drinking a Starbucks coffee while writing this. I’ve been studying for a couple of hours and decided it was time for a short break.

First, I’d like to point out that I really miss the Green Bean. Local coffee shops have such a different atmosphere and the people that work in them seem less stale. But it’s getting harder for me to focus on studying while I’m at home, so I figured sitting in Starbucks would force me to at least put in a few hours. I realize now I should have left the laptop at home and brought something more stimulating, like this morning’s crossword puzzle.

Second, there’s probably only a handful of people who already know this, but I’m studying for the AFOQT (Air Force Officer Qualifying Test). That’s right. The Air Force. As long as I pass the ASVAB and the physical and mental examination, I will at least be enlisted after my trip to the Philippines in March. I’ve been thinking about this all very seriously the last few months and I can’t find anything adverse to my joining. It’s a chance to travel, make some new friends, further my education, and, oh yeah, it’s a job. And available jobs are pretty much nonexistent these days.

Along with all this studying, I’ve been running on alternate mornings and doing some general strength training. I’ve got to be in some kind of shape before Basic Training, right? I used some of the Nautilus machines at the base gym a couple of days ago and I realize my arms are pretty weak. They felt like they were going to fall off yesterday. I’m also taking some lengthy walks here and there, the longest so far being 10 miles in a day. After that failed (err….attempted) hike through Rhode Island, it’s as though walking doesn’t even phase me any more. Oh yeah, for those of you who know Jesse, he’s still planning to walk from LA to Boston, starting in January. You can read about his preparation for the trip at http://jesseandbrucewalkamerica.com and maybe donate a little money to his cause.

So I’m a little broke, and sometimes restless from not working, but I’m enriching my mind with new words (like ailerons) and feeling healthier every day. Hope everyone has a splendid Thanksgiving. Cheers.

 

Back in Florida, Baby.

It’s Halloween and I’m spending the night at the house alone. My choice of movie for the night: Labyrinth (but only because I couldn’t find the 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers). I know….Henson and his puppets are not exactly very scary, but David Bowie sometimes is.

I’ve been back from North Carolina for about a week now and the weather is starting to cool off down here. We had a couple of days here with a lot of wind and it was tough getting myself to venture out for my morning run. The one good thing about it being cold out is that drinking tea at night seems so much nicer.

Job hunting has still not been very fruitful. Some places have told me they’ve been put on a hiring freeze because the economy is going south. I’m also noticing a greater number of ‘going out of business’ signs along the highway. I wonder what the results of the election will do to my chances of getting hired this season.

I don’t feel like there’s much else for me to say right now, so I’ll just share some of the photographs I took in North Carolina. I didn’t use my cameras as much as I thought I would, but there are a couple here that I’m happy with. So here mostly in the order they were taken.

This is Greyson, my nephew.

Two of my nieces and second cousins.

Me with my sister!!

My amazing family.

Some dogs, of course.

A wild turkey and a moth.

A kitty and more dogs.

We went to Carowinds one day and I rode the Skycoaster with my cousin Jesse.

This is my sister and all of her children.

Oh, and her dog.

Hello, Sarah Palin! I was given a bouffant hairdo.

We took a little hike around my sister’s neighborhood.

More kid portraits.

This was a little adventure around my aunt’s property and then around the lake where we ended up camping.

I got really sick the night we went to the LEAF festival. I mustered up a smile for this photo and it was the only one I took.

I gave myself what my friend referred to as ‘grocery store feet’ when I wore leather flip flops in the rain.

My dad gave us rides around our property on the ATV and then we took a short hike to a swimming area. The cabin is my aunt’s.

We found this sign in front of a church in Swannanoa.

And here’s my brother, hung-over the morning after he drank a whole bottle of wine in less than an hour.

When I returned to Florida I was given the chore of scrubbing the organic apples we picked at my aunt and uncle’s house. And then I made what I called ‘really good soup’ full of kale, tomatoes, leeks, broccoli and green beans.

Yum.

Lazy dog.

Well, that’s all for now. I will update everyone on my job hunting status when I actually get some action.