campfire anthems

arriving at some point tonight is emily’s friend jenna. she, and her 1 year old? son, jack, will be staying the weekend at our house. i’m excited for a number of reasons. let’s go through them. 1) i get to grill steaks tomorrow for dinner since we will be feeding company 2) emily will be gone a lot, giving me plenty of time to play guitar and halo without the nagging sound of “can you do that quieter?” in the background 3) i’m secretly going to enjoy playing with the small child that will be temporarily living in my guest room, unless he starts crying, then i may put him on the back porch with puma 4) um…i guess 3 reasons are enough

so there you go. that’s my weekend, other than the usual yard work. i hope yours is full of fun too.

i’m alive. that is the most important sentence of this whole post. now to the story. i had a pretty fun adventure with travis and jack on friday night down in the englewood area. we left my apartment at 6:00 pm, right after work. travis said that we had to go some bass ackwards way through brandon to get to i-75, apparently there is only one bait shop to purchase live shrimp between home and our destination. i don’t buy it. after some shuffled tunes from the ipod, a quick bite from chic-fil-a, and a stop in gibsonton to get our live bait, we headed toward port charlotte and our sporting adventure.

jack and i told travis that we wouldn’t be on the water by sun down. travis informed us that we would be on the water by 8:30 pm, just as the sun tucked behind the horizon. * note: remember 8:30 * we got off one exit too early. not a big deal, we could still get to the public boat ramp from here. we made a detour and finally hit river road, where we initially wanted to be. take a left on indiana and a right by the checkers and we can almost smell the fish we were going to catch. the boat is finally in the water and we set off at 9:30 pm.

we maneuvered between the markers, under the bridge, and to the old, worn down, deteriorating bridge. while holding the boat in place, the current was very strong, travis lit the propane lantern and hung it from a rope. it was then jack’s job to jump from the boat onto a submerged platform, protruding roughly 5 feet above the water’s surface. he navigated the top of the broken bridge until he finally lowered the lantern and tied it off just above the water. once we had jack secured back in the boat, we pulled back around and dropped anchor. time to fish.

honestly, the whole night was pretty slow. we were on the hunt for snook and red fish. i was mainly looking for reds, because snook are out of season and i really wanted to fire up my grill. my grill will stay unlit. after about half an hour, i pulled in the first fish of the night. it was a pretty small snook, maybe 20 inches. after the release, i put another shrimp on my hook and cast again. almost immediately i hooked another snook. this one ended up being closer to the mid 20 inch range. jack also caught 2 snook here, while travis caught 4. not only did travis catch 4 snook in this spot, he caught the off consecutive casts. how impressive.

when we decided to move on, jack had to climb back up and get the lantern. it was my job to hold onto the platform and keep the boat in place while travis did whatever it was he was doing. once again with jack on board, we set off to fish the bridge. there was another boat there when we arrived and it seemed as though they were catching catfish. passing under the bridge we saw our spot. we idled and cut the engine. the snook were popping all over the place. travis got a hold of the trolling motor, only to find it didn’t work…turns out neither did anything else on the boat. it wouldn’t restart, and we we drifting. once again i held on, this time to a concrete wall we almost slammed into at the base of the bridge. somehow, 10 minutes later we were motoring along again. we decided to check out some of the residential docks since we missed our chance with the snook at the bridge. we debated for quite some time whether or not to actually stop at the docks and fish, since we had no way of knowing if the boat would start again or not and then we saw it.

there it was. this glorious light on the tip of one of the docks. in the light you could see fish swarming at the shrimp fluttering at the surface. there was maybe 50 snook in all. we cut the motor. i swear, no matter what we did or tried, or where we cast, these snook were not interested one bit. we spent roughly an hour here and didn’t catch one snook between us. jack caught 2 trout, as did myself, and travis had lost his previous luck. it was time to head home.

after we packed up the boat we got back on the highway. we went the back way so we could hit hwy 17 through arcadia and head back in through bartow. it would be an understated if i said we hit some fog on the way home. it was about 2:30 am, pitch black, and only about 10 feet of visibility ahead of the truck. it was bad. the windshied wipers and defrost in no way made the situation better. the wipers merely spread the water to the edge of the windshield on their first pass and right back into its original spot on the return pass. brilliant. at this point i feared for my life - travis slammed on his breaks at nearly every intersecting road, i don’t know why. things cleared up in arcadia, and when we hit wachula jack took over driving duties so travis (not a hanger-outer) could sleep in the back seat.

i got back to my place at 4:30 am and hit the shower. it felt nice to have the hot water pour over me. i had a great adventure with 2 pretty awesome guys friday night. i can’t wait until i can risk my life again in search for snook and red fish. maybe next time we will have more luck.

hooray! i’m going fishing tonight with travis and jack jarret. it should be pretty sweet. men being as men. just 3 guys, a boat, open water and lots of red fish and snook. pray for me though, travis is apparently dangerous when he gets around his boat. i don’t want to die. check back monday for my life status and fishing report.  if all goes well, hopefully i won’t be seeing this tonight.

it happened again last night.  you know, the thing where our friend doesn’t let us leave their house.  i’m tired.  it’s going to be a long day, i can feel it already.  i actually had a pretty constructive weekend though.  saturday i played guitar in a wedding.  sunday i did all the usual church stuff.  i realized that i need to start being more friendly at church and begin to meet people that are new.  as outgoing as i am, their is just something about the church environment that makes me uncomfortable with talking to new people.  maybe i don’t want to be asked any questions that i don’t have the answers to.  who knows.  i won’t be their this sunday because i’ll be on vacation, but next sunday i will be setting a goal to meet 8 new people.  4 from the first service and 4 from the second.

emily and i turned in our mortgage application this morning.  i think i have carpel tunnel syndrome after initialing and signing so many lines.  we are getting the ball rolling on our home owner’s insurance and getting all the necessities to the title company.  it looks as though we will be able to close early.  i’m hoping to be in there soon.  i’m getting anxious.

well i’m going to go get a cup of coffee and plow my way through the morning.  have a good one.

last night emily and i went over to the thompson residence to watch the office as we always do on thursday nights. the usual crew was there. james, travis, emily marion, kfj, and the ambers (thats our name for amber and lauren). the only person missing was gabe. i think he had some lame excuse for not being there…something about working. gabe, at least tell me you are washing your hair or changing guitar strings. so the office was really good last night. i’m starting to get into it a little more and learning about what makes the characters funny. once show was over the crowd thinned out a little bit and the real conversation began. i was talking about my goatee and how i was going to grow a big thick hairy mess on my chin, like that guy sundance from american idol last year. everyone swore that there was now way his name could be sundance. i now had a personal mission/vendetta against those in question and had to prove that i was correct (i’m not competitive at all). after a quick google search, i claimed my status as goatee aficionado and moved on to the next subject.

after a bit, kfj went to bed, because she is a nurse and had to get up early this morning. travis scared emily just around this point, when we started discussing our fishing trip for next friday night. we are going to do a little night fishing just outside of englewood. trav started talking about that when he is at the hem of natures pant legs, those surrounding him will be in danger at some point. emily did not like this. apparently travis has been known to sink boats and/or set them on fire. i told him i was a strong swimmer. i hope i don’t have to prove it.

::new thought::

do you have the kind of friends that you just can’t break away from? let me explain what i mean. i have a friend that is like this, but they will be left unnamed. anyways, this person loves to talk. it doesn’t matter what the subject is. that’s cool. i can usually hold a conversation about anything, or i can at least fake it. i finally figured out the key to this person’s “not letting you leave” success. just so i can stop using the phrase this person, we will refer to them now as filbert. so filbert would engage me in conversation. when emily or i made the call to go home to sleep, filbert switched his attention to emily, engaging her in a completely new but equally random thought. this could go on and on, until you pick up on the technique. back to last night.

coleman the wonder dog was laying curled up on the couch across the living room from where i was sitting. he was so cute and peaceful, just laying there in his coat of slightly graying black fur. then, without notice, coleman sprung up and snatched at mosquito out of mid air and ate it. this technique reminded me slightly of a king cobra attacking the flute of an indian man on the street. what one might call a “snake charmer.” it was incredible. i think it may have changed my life.

you know what i hate? homeless people. i know that sounds so awful and unchristian like, but its true. let me explain once again. i know that some people have it rough, i’m not talking about them.  i speak of the pan handlers that can work a drive thru or the cashier’s station at a 7 eleven. quit standing on the corner with your sign that says you are a veteran and finish the phrase with god bless you. the reason this bothers me is because sometimes, if you catch them at the perfect time, you can watch these people get into their cars and drive away. its sort of like the people that claim to be homeless and in need, but have a cleanly shaven , just out of the shower face. i almost always refuse to give these people money. i will, however, give them a sandwich…just to see the disappointment in their eyes, due to it not being a bottle of alcoholic liquid. another thing i really hate is being approached by these people. they all use some variation of the same story.

hey man. my car is right over there and i don’t have any gas. my wife is pregnant and i need to get her home so she can rest. oh, did i mention that i don’t even live in this city? i have to drive 30 miles from here. just give me a couple of bucks so i can fill up my car and take my girlfriend and newborn home.

did you notice how mid story the lies changed. i think sometimes these people don’t even have their lines scripted out. you know what i’d rather hear than sob stories like these? well i’ll tell you.

h…hey buddy. listen. i just got out of jail. do you think you could spare a couple of bucks? i wanna get a six pack and some cigarettes to celebrate my first night as a free man again.

at this point, i open my wallet and give the guy a 10 spot. that’s really all i’m looking for, some gut level honesty. i already know what you are going to do with my money. don’t try to fool me and we’ll be cool. my lovely wife, emily, doesn’t agree with me. seriously, you are about to enter the twilight zone that is her mind. when approached by these people, she automatically thinks that god is sending an angel down to test her. and for all i know, this could be the case. by the way, emily is a much better person than i am. she told me this story from tuesday night. she said that when she was picking up guin, our friend’s daughter that we watch on tuesdays, this creepy, slightly threatening man followed them and then approached her. she handled it just like any good christian should. she helped him solve his problem, whatever it was. she quoted a verse from matthew about how jesus said whatever you do to the least of man you do to me. if i were in this situation, being tested by god, and he put a bum/angel in my path and there ended up being a tense situation, i would probably beat the poo out of this bum/angel. sorry jesus. i’m not very good at tests. in all reality, this is a scary place we live in and i’m not about to ask questions first, especially if someone in my presence is in danger. i’m going to get so much crap for this, but….i think when put to the test, like that in which i was describing, its better to be alive and ask for redemption later than to ask questions first and wind up dead.

i’m really glad its the weekend. i’m leaving work early today to go to frostproof for a rehearsal dinner. emily and i are playing and singing in a wedding tomorrow. it should be interesting. pray for our sanity, mainly because i hate weddings. anyways. now that you have had a deep and scary look inside my brain, i will leave you with this thought. what’s the deal with raisins? wouldn’t you rather just eat the grape before it got all gross? ok, bye!

man did i have a busy weekend. saturday morning emily and i had to be in winter haven at 8:30 to meet the home inspector at the house we are trying to buy. tabby bottoms did us a huge favor and got her dad, who is a home inspector in orlando, to drive over for the morning and give us the complete run down of the place. first of all, her parents are awesome. we all walked through the house, attic, yard, etc. after about 2 hours, a bloody finger, and a little sweat tabby’s dad told us that it is a great home. there were a couple of minor issues to take care of, like the structural warranty from the builder and putting some gutters on the roof, but all in all this place turned out to be in good shape.

after the home meeting we were starving. there was much debate about where to eat lunch, and it was only about 10:45, which made the prospects even slimmer. we drove over to lakeside village because i wanted a greek salad from louis pappas, but they didn’t open until 11:00. to pass the time we wandered around bed bath and beyond for a bit and then drove back over the restaurant…and decided we didn’t want to eat there. heading back down the road we finally agreed on fred’s market, which was a good call if you ask me. chicken, ribs, mashed potatoes, green beans, and peach cobler is a good lunch any day in my book. our next stop was carlton music center. i decided that i wanted to buy a glass slide and teach myself how to play slide guitar. it has such a cool sound. i hope i am successful.

we finally got home in the early afternoon. emily decided to take a nap, so i changed the strings on my acoustic guitar and watch ultimate fighter on spike tv. i love that show. by the time i was all done with this, emily was awake and it was time to get ready to go to betsy’s wedding. i was originally suppose to play guitar and sing in it, but then i had the tragic knife accident and was replaced by my beautiful wife. good call betsy. the wedding began at 5:00 and laster for just over a half hour. on to the reception we go. dinner, toasts, and and hour and a half later we decided to leave due to the early morning we have every sunday. when we got home we decided to hang out together and watch a movie. i got to choose. normally this could be a bad thing for emily, but she actually liked what we watched. let me tell you, blades of glory is very funny. bed time.

awakened by music at 5:30 sunday morning, i knew it was church day. everything went really well for the services. we did a stripped down acoustic set, due to everyone being on vacation. timm gave the second sermon in the squeaky clean series, and overall it seemed like there were more people in both services. a few of us decided to go to abuelos for lunch. i love that place. their pappas con chile is simply divine. after lunch we were still in house mode, so we drove way down into south lakeland to visit famous tate. i was very disappointed with the prices and selection. since it was on the way home, we stopped in the home depot next. once again, i was very disappointed with this establishment. we had been to lowes earlier in the week shopping for appliances, and i’m pretty sure that this will be where we do business. when we got home it was nap time again. this time i actually took one as well. i’m not sure if it was on purpose though, since i was watching csi and the next thing i knew it was 2 hours later. sunday night we had plans to go out to tampa to watch timm bottoms perform his senior recital for his masters degree at usf. he did very good. i’m proud of my buddy, and let me tell you, that boy can play a tuba. we did a little celebrating and hanging out afterward and finally arrived back home at 11:30.

monday morning. here i sit at work. overall it was a great weekend. i can’t wait to hear about the offer we made on the house. i can’t wait to go to lowes again and actually buy kitchen appliances. i can’t wait until saturday so i can sleep in.

first and foremost i apologize about not posting my weekly fat camp video yesterday.  one of my very best friends came home from officer candidacy school, so his girlfriend and family threw him a welcome home party.  its always really fun for me to go to things like this and catch up with a bunch of good friends that i don’t get to see very often.  in fact, i spent the entire afternoon, and most of the evening with them.  considering the circumstances, i hope you forgive me for my lack of video blogging.  i hope to get it up tonight, so check back later.