Photography

Last night I had to run over to the church to get my picture taken for the church directory. So I get all gussied up and stuff, and the dude did the standard blue background picture, but then they do all these other poses and backgrounds to try and get you to order pictures. So there I was, looking over the digital proofs with the saleslady, and I gotta tell you...I looked GOOD in some of those pictures!

This surprised me, but I thought about it and realized that the last professional pictures I had done were in the summer before senior year of high school. So its been 12 years. That's 12 years of maturity and relative complexion-clearing up, and an addition of about 35 lbs. That's probably what made the most difference. But all in all, I'm definitely looking better as I age, which makes turning 40 an interesting thing to look forward to.

I'm in-between books at the moment, with nothing coming out I'm really looking forward to at least for a couple months. These are always hard times for the book addict. Good news is only 2 weeks until Behtia is up here for our anniversary (2 years!) which should be a lot of fun. We're going down to the Williamsburg/VA Beach area. Maybe do Busch Gardens, too. The roads down there are a mess, though...hard to find ANYthing. Definitely have to do colonial Williamsburg, though.

That is all.

Amish Country USA

Please note: no actual Amish were photographed during this journey; their souls remain intact as far as I know in this regard. Enjoy!

There were kittens running around at this strange Amish dairy farm where we got ice cream. SUCH good ice cream, but a strange, surreal kind of place to get it. There were cows, obviously, but also turkeys, kittens, a bulldog, and a peacock. Not your usual "barnyard" selection of animals. Still, I definitely wanted to take all the little floofy kittens home.


Here is an Amish parking lot. All the carts were on the left, all the horses on the right. Which is weird, isn't it? How do they tell them apart? It'd be like us all parking our cars in one spot, and then pulling out the battery or a few wheels and keeping them somewhere else. Why? Those wacky Amish!

Our new band name. Its German for "The Cobblestone Place" as near as we can figure, but is WAY more fun to say. Plus it has that slightly-ominous and menacing grainy sound that so many German names do. Like its a place where they either make beer or torment small children. Or both. It was, in fact, an antique shoppe.

This is my noble steed! My brother William and I were in a constant competition for the day...we could "call" people, animals, and vehicles of any kind with which to make an army that would have to fight one another by the end of the day. It was a stitch. I had 47 train cabooses, a few dozen Amish buggies, 3 classic cars, 2 bunnies, 3 sheep, 200 head of cattle, an Amish girl on a scooter, 2 geese, a broken haywain, tourists, and this little guy, my noble steed. His head reached only just above my waist. I have named him Pepito. And I told William that he breathes fire and flies. I am not sure if he actually does this or not. My guess would be not, but with little donkeys, you never know. Plus we can stay up, swap manly stories, and in the morning...I'm making waffles. William WAS jealous about that.
And that was our family Lancaster trip!

Much Belated Blog

Umm...let's see. Its been awhile....ok, like almost 2 months....since I've posted. In that intervening time, what has been accomplished? Let's review:
1. I turned 30. Not much different that 29 except that I can feel my memory going and arthritis setting in. BTW, thanks for the book, M. My favorite article is the one explaining how the center of the Earth is made of candy.
2. Got a part-time job. At a newspaper publishing place. I design real estate, classified, and magazine ads. Its grunt work; the graphic equivalent of flipping burgers or stocking shelves, but its a paycheck and it'll look good on my resume.
3. Went to Lancaster with the family last weekend for my belated birthday celebration. It was cool. Knife shop, homemade Amish ice cream (you CANNOT beat it...also, why isn't Butter Brickle a standard flavor?? Its delicious! Peanuts and caramel and stuff...), mini golf, and we managed to show up during the local firehouse's auction and festival...have never seen an Amish parking lot before. It was a bit weird. But I DID decide that small waifish Amish children are the most adorable children on the planet.
4. Have become addicted to Guitar Hero. I can't help it. Its cool. And I RULE at it.
5. Helped Dad by doing some landscaping/yardwork around his office, got half my blood sucked out by mosquitos, have sworn revenge as soon as my blood levels are back up to normal.

I think that's it! Oh, and my passport finally came. Only took 4 months to get it renewed. Still, its nice being able to leave the country if I want to. Not that I will, really, but I CAN. My only travel plans for this year are to VA beach in September, and possibly 1 or 2 trips to Atlanta.

Ummm....not much else to say. I'll post if something of monumental importance occurs, though. :)