Goings on

The time betwixt my last substantial post and now , though it may have looked like I was a lethargic laconic bum, was quite filled with events which were, to be quite honest, more than a worthy reason for only now taking the time to set them down in the so many words which will comprise this post for your reading pleasure. That does not mean to say that they will be necessarily interesting to the reader, but the fact that you are here reading anything on this site shows that you have a slight curiosity into the goings on in my live. And so for my own posterity, and to propitiate my wide readership who have clamored in my absence for some account of why I have not posted, I will now relate to you the events that have transpired.

The first notable event would have had to occur about two days after that most sacred of purely American holidays, this being the fourth of July, when for the first time since I can remember, the YFL meeting was changed to the first Wed. of the month. This, though a break from tradition, was most welcomed as it allowed us to have as guest speaker Michael Patrick Cassabon, cousin to the German spouting Great Curtis, and a seminarian who is studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. This was not the first time that I had ever had the opportunity to hear him talk, as we had met him about two or three years ago, and him being my brothers confirmation sponsor, we hear get a ring from on the telephone quite frequently. That being said, it is always so refreshing being around him because he is so knowledgeable and solid when it comes to the Catholic faith and so, to quote myself, “ I love listening to, and talking to Michael Patrick. He’s such a brilliant person with a great gift for talking in a eloquent and commonsensical manner that makes you fall even more in love with a faith that’s already very dear to you.”

While he was here, Michael also put on a guy’s retreat, which was held at the wonderful Curtis household. I won’t go into much detail about the actual retreat, as it was meant or guys and due to the fact that I’m still digesting a lot of the things that he talked about. He talked about a lot of things that I really needed to hear, and count myself lucky to have a friend in him. To every guy out there who couldn’t make it, suffice it to say you missed a wonderful experience.

The day after the retreat Alex, Kelby, and I joined up again with Michael, the Russell crew, The Perkins, Cow, and Paul to do some bowling down in the Lynwood area. A great time was had by all as we continued to prove how little we engage in this pastime. Perkins surprised every one by being a natural, and we all marveled at how easy he made it look. After two and a half games, we headed over to the Russell abode for a scrumptious dinner of “rum” French toast, cooked by Senior Vacca and Claire, and a game of Loaded Questions, which proved quite hilarious. We then decided to go to the Novena mass at the Carmelite convent in Shoreline, which was wonderful as it had been forever since I had been there, and because Michael needed to go to Mass as he wasn’t going to have a chance on Sunday.

After mass, we decided that we should head on over to a Starbucks and get some coffee for the drive home, and ended up sitting inside talking until they closed. After they had kicked us out, we proceeded to stand out in the parking lot and talk for another good hour and a half. I immensely enjoyed this as I got to talk not only to Michael, but Hannah too, who I had not had a chance to really talk to since she came back from school.

The next event which deserves some verbage was the Russell family joining my family at the Black hole of Sanity for dinner on the last Sunday eve past. This was rollicking good fun as it was the fist time the Russells had been to our new home, and they are only the second family we have had over for dinner so far. By far the most noted events of that night were when we played Badminton with eight people and three birdies, which turned out to be highly chaotic and immensely fun, and when we broke out some music and started dancing out on the lawn. Those Russells are always good for some highly enjoyable company and some vigorous dancing ;)

After the Russells left that night it was straight to bed for me, as I had an early appointment with the open road the next day. After four hours of gorgeous sleep, my alarm sounded to me the fact that if I was to make the trip ahead of me in the time frame allotted, that now was the time to get up. And so at two a.m., I was on the road to Spokane.
~We’re off on the road to Spokane
That beautiful town in the East
Where the sun it shines so bright
That is hurts your sight
Like me, myself, and I
I’m Spokane bound~
I couldn’t help throwing that in there, as any of you who have seen the Road to series will understand. As for the purpose of this trip, it was to take the assessment test for the college that I plan on attending over there. I won’t go into the specifics, but I will say that I did about as well as I expected. Not much else to report.

In other news, I’ve also been getting more flying in, and have successfully added another three solo flights to my credit. It was a little eerie at first flying and doing my maneuvers and landings all by myself, and I must admit that at first I made a lot of mistakes. But this was the purpose of my instructor sending me out solo, to teach my not to use his as a crutch whenever I’m flying the airplane. Not that I had had much of a problem with that anyway. But its paid off, as each time I’ve gone up I’ve gotten progressively better, until today when I went out and made ten really good landings out of twelve. I was quite please with that fact, and am looking forward to learning some new and exciting things now that I have reached this level of my training.

I continue to grow more excited as my trip to Germany draws closer. It is now only eighteen more days until I and “The Weasel” leave, but it seems like its taking forever for that gap to lessen. Hurry up and get here August 8th!!!!!

And that’s about all the news that is news for now. I will try to be a little more faithful in my postings, but I ask you to be patient, as I have to write my updates at home, and then find time and drive down to our public library to post them on the internet. I will try to get a few more in before I go to Germany, and circumstances permitting, I may even write you a post from there. Until our next cyber- spacial meeting, I will leave you with these profound words

~To experience the bittersweet
To taste defeat
Then brush my teeth

‘Cause I struggle with forward motion
I struggle with forward motion
We all struggle with forward motion

‘Cause forward motion is harder than it sounds
Well, every time I gain some ground I gotta turn myself around again~ From Relient K’s song Forward Motion off of the album Two lefts don’t make a right… but three do

Just a brief hullo

Just a quick post to let you all know that I haven't kicked off yet. I have been terribly busy since my last post and will write about it for you to read tomorrow. Also, check out this blog run by the chum who will be my interpreter in Germany in two and a half weeks! Tata!

Three Cheers for family, friends, and fun

This weekend past(see previous post) went off smashingly! It started with my alarm going off at 3:45 on Sat. morning, signaling that I needed to get up. Begrudgingly I obeyed and managed to make it to the bathroom with out running into any walls. After a glorious fifteen minutes of hot running water, I emerged a man ready to face the next three days of events ahead of me.

After a few last minute items that need packing, and waiting for the coffee pot to finish brewing its elixor of life, I headed out for a five o'clock appointment with my ride to that wonderful land east of the mountains.

All of Sat. was spent at my aunt and uncle's house where we were having a party for two of my cousins. We didn't do anything too terribly exciting, just barbequed. And in a way I'm kinda glad, because I was able to spend a good amount of time catching up with relatives I hadn't been able to see for awhile.

At the end of Sat. we headed over to my grandparents house in Toppenish to spend the night and Sun. with them. Again the highlight of this trip was getting to spend some good unrushed time with them, as I hadn't been able to do that in quite some time. After dinner on Sun., we headed home to celebrate the fourth.

Bright, but not as early as previous mornings, I awoke on Mon. to begin preparations for the event that would take up the greatest portion of my day. I gathered together my bike, and our canoe, and headed down into town to take part in the annual Pedal, Paddle, Puff triathlon. There was about thirty to fifty people taking part in this event, but I was on of only five other guys who was doing the "ironman". All this meant is that we were going to do all of the events on our own.

"On your marks! Get Set! Go!!!" and we were off on the six mile biking leg. This was one of the easier parts, and I was able to get done in about 20 minutes. At the end of the biking we came to the boat lauch, and whereas most people were tagging there teamates who would do the next leg, me and five others ran down to our boats. For me, this was the hardest part, as I had never paddled a canoe on a river, and I had never paddled a canoe solo. Needless to say, this leg was my longest, and wettest, and I made the six miles in about an hour. I reached the next checkpoint, and then it was off on a 3.8 mile run. Again this was on of the easier parts for me, and I did it in about 27 minutes. As I came around the corner and headed down the final stretch, my family was there taking pictures of me and cheering me on across the finish.

After that we went and marched in the parade, and then went home. I was going to stay up and watch fireworks, but alas my body shut down at the early hour of eight. And that was the end of my weekend! Hope you all had a fun fourth!

I'm blowing this joint!

At least for the weekend, that is. Starting at about five am tomorrow, I will be on my way to sunshine, family, food, and good times in that far off and magical land known as eastern Washington.

Sat. will be spent feasting and partying away to celebrate the graduation of one of my cousins, and bidding farewell to her and her older brother who will be going off to the navy in very short order. This twil be wonderful, as it has been awhile since I've seen these particuliar cousins, and we always have a rollicking good time just running around and not worrying about anything.

At the cessation of the festivities on Sat., we will head on over to my Grand-parent's house in Toppenish to spend the night and Sunday with them. Again this will scads of fun, as I haven't really gotten to spend any alot of quality time with them in a long, long while. I guess thats one of the drawbacks of having a job.

And then its back on Sunday evening to my good ol' hometown of Arlington to celebrate the Fourth. We've come and partaken of the festivities in the past, but this is the first year where we're actually living here. I'm really looking forward to it all! First, I'll be starting it off by competing in a short tri- athlon that is held every year, another first for me. The next highlight will be marching in the parade for John Koster, one of the local politicians that we try to do campaigning for. And then we'll wrap it all up with fireworks somewhere that night. I'm not quite sure where though, yet.

What do you all do for the 4th?

In other news, I finished reading The Compleat Gentleman by Brad Miner. I would highly recommend it, but only to guys.I have also taken on reading Lewis' Space trilogy, and am about half way through the first book.

Anyway, thats all I have to write about for now. Hope you all have a safe and fun 4th of July, and remember to think about and pray for our servicemen and women, who are the reason for us being able to celebrate this holiday. God Bless!