Thursday, December 29, 2005
Congratulations are in order...
Ryan finally proposed to Felicia, er, Ann last week. There is a photo of the ring on his blog (linked above). Doesn't he know platinum is the new gold?
DIGRESSION!
Interestingly, I was present when they hooked up. The summer between my junior and senior years at XU, Ann was interning at Convergys with Justin. Most of her friends were out of town for the summer, so she started hanging out with Justin, Ryan, and me. About mid-July, Ann had a party at her house. Justin, Ryan, and I had dinner at Don Pablo's on the river beforehand. Normally this wouldn't be interesting, but on this occaision, Ryan and Justin had a big fight while Justin was trying to park the "ho," causing Ryan to get out of the car (and presaging their epic fight later that year, when they didn't speak to each other for months yet still completed several Madden seasons, a truly amazing feat when you think about it). Anyway, we picked up a 30-pack of Icehouse (our preferred beer at the time, due to its low cost and high alcohol content) at Party Source (god, how I miss Party Source) and went to Ann's for the party.
It broke up fairly early and Justin and I sat on Ann's porch finishing the 30. We had one of those very long, drunken philosophical conversations you tend to have when you're lonely, bored, and think you're brilliant; Justin had just broken up with the annoying girl (whose name escapes me) he had been dating, and I'm always up for drunken (or otherwise) philosphizing (which explains my friendship with Dolph), and I'm always lonely. Anyway, about two or three hours deep, we're ripped off our asses, out of beer, and we notice Ryan and Ann hadn't come out to join in. We look back through Ann's front window and see them sitting on the couch, close. We were both kinda shocked, because Ryan isn't known for being particularly proactive, especially in the post-Teresina sad bastard phase he was going through at this time. Justin goes back inside to throw away our empties and says to Ryan, "We're getting ready to leave." Ryan says "Okay." Justin and I went home.
Ryan didn't come home all night, which is just as well since I slept on his bed. The next morning I had the worst fucking hangover of my life; Icehouse is a harsh mistress. Justin and I got breakfast at First Watch, and I couldn't even finish it I was so hungover.
In any event, the rest is history. Why the long digression? I'm not really sure. Maybe I'm overly personalizing this event which really has nothing to do with me, but my feelings on this are...bittersweet? I don't know if that's the right word. Anyway, in the past year and a half there have been several events that sort of shocked me into realizing how old I am, and how little I've actually accomplished in my 25 years.
The first was moving out of the Ferdinand house with Ryan and into an apartment alone. The spring of 2004 was an odd one for me. I had stopped smoking pot and started to think about the future. That was when I first got the notion of moving down to DFW. I applied to UNT, but they fucked up my application and didn't give me an answer until June. Well, my job wanted an answer if I was going to stay or not and the lease was running out, so I decided to defer my application unit fall 2005. Well by that time Ryan had gotten an apartment of his own, so I had to get one or else move back in with my dad, and fuck that. The honest truth is that I missed living with Ryan. He can be annoying as hell, but we had fun goddammit. And after we moved out - and I knew this would happen - we stopped talking. The problem is that we're too alike in many ways. Remember how I said above about how Ryan isn't very proactive? Well neither am I. And I've been in a sad bastard-phase since like 1998. Ryan and I saw each other maybe four times in year before I moved, and I talked to him maybe two other times.
The next time was Jim and Kristen's wedding. Jim is my age (actually about a year older, but same grade anyway), he's married, has a career, has a house, has a new car, and now he's married. I had (and have) none of those things. Plus, with Jim getting married, he does married stuff, like dinner parties and shit. I'm not a dinner party guy. I'm not even a party guy. So I don't see Jim anymore.
Spring 2005, I got my high school's alumni newsletter in the mail. I like the newsletter because I'm a bit of a voyeur and I like knowing what people I know are doing with themselves, preferably without having to actually talk to them. I in the back there is a section that gives updates on graduates. In the marriage section I see that the girl I dated in high school - the only girl I've ever had a meaningful relationship with - is now married. Well how wonderful for her. A few weeks later I saw my buddy Jeff Hengehold out at a bar. He knows this particular girl as well, so he tells me she's married. I know that already. He goes on further to say that she's also pregnant. I'm really okay with both of these things. But it does make me a little sad at my own position in life.
And now Ryan and Ann are getting married. I really am happy for them. I still consider Ryan my brother. But I haven't seen or spoken to him in six months. I don't even know if we're still friends; I mean I guess we are, but I'm not sure. I know it can't always be the year after college , when I'm with Justin and Ryan every day practically and Lyle and Nic and Dolph live five minutes away. But I'm 25 years old, I'm in college again, this time for a subject that I think I don't even really like, I'm living in my Aunt and Uncle's spare room, and I have no girlfriend or friends. Forgive me a little nostalgia. But the core thing is, I need to get my shit together. I've been putting it off a long time.
DIGRESSION!
Interestingly, I was present when they hooked up. The summer between my junior and senior years at XU, Ann was interning at Convergys with Justin. Most of her friends were out of town for the summer, so she started hanging out with Justin, Ryan, and me. About mid-July, Ann had a party at her house. Justin, Ryan, and I had dinner at Don Pablo's on the river beforehand. Normally this wouldn't be interesting, but on this occaision, Ryan and Justin had a big fight while Justin was trying to park the "ho," causing Ryan to get out of the car (and presaging their epic fight later that year, when they didn't speak to each other for months yet still completed several Madden seasons, a truly amazing feat when you think about it). Anyway, we picked up a 30-pack of Icehouse (our preferred beer at the time, due to its low cost and high alcohol content) at Party Source (god, how I miss Party Source) and went to Ann's for the party.
It broke up fairly early and Justin and I sat on Ann's porch finishing the 30. We had one of those very long, drunken philosophical conversations you tend to have when you're lonely, bored, and think you're brilliant; Justin had just broken up with the annoying girl (whose name escapes me) he had been dating, and I'm always up for drunken (or otherwise) philosphizing (which explains my friendship with Dolph), and I'm always lonely. Anyway, about two or three hours deep, we're ripped off our asses, out of beer, and we notice Ryan and Ann hadn't come out to join in. We look back through Ann's front window and see them sitting on the couch, close. We were both kinda shocked, because Ryan isn't known for being particularly proactive, especially in the post-Teresina sad bastard phase he was going through at this time. Justin goes back inside to throw away our empties and says to Ryan, "We're getting ready to leave." Ryan says "Okay." Justin and I went home.
Ryan didn't come home all night, which is just as well since I slept on his bed. The next morning I had the worst fucking hangover of my life; Icehouse is a harsh mistress. Justin and I got breakfast at First Watch, and I couldn't even finish it I was so hungover.
In any event, the rest is history. Why the long digression? I'm not really sure. Maybe I'm overly personalizing this event which really has nothing to do with me, but my feelings on this are...bittersweet? I don't know if that's the right word. Anyway, in the past year and a half there have been several events that sort of shocked me into realizing how old I am, and how little I've actually accomplished in my 25 years.
The first was moving out of the Ferdinand house with Ryan and into an apartment alone. The spring of 2004 was an odd one for me. I had stopped smoking pot and started to think about the future. That was when I first got the notion of moving down to DFW. I applied to UNT, but they fucked up my application and didn't give me an answer until June. Well, my job wanted an answer if I was going to stay or not and the lease was running out, so I decided to defer my application unit fall 2005. Well by that time Ryan had gotten an apartment of his own, so I had to get one or else move back in with my dad, and fuck that. The honest truth is that I missed living with Ryan. He can be annoying as hell, but we had fun goddammit. And after we moved out - and I knew this would happen - we stopped talking. The problem is that we're too alike in many ways. Remember how I said above about how Ryan isn't very proactive? Well neither am I. And I've been in a sad bastard-phase since like 1998. Ryan and I saw each other maybe four times in year before I moved, and I talked to him maybe two other times.
The next time was Jim and Kristen's wedding. Jim is my age (actually about a year older, but same grade anyway), he's married, has a career, has a house, has a new car, and now he's married. I had (and have) none of those things. Plus, with Jim getting married, he does married stuff, like dinner parties and shit. I'm not a dinner party guy. I'm not even a party guy. So I don't see Jim anymore.
Spring 2005, I got my high school's alumni newsletter in the mail. I like the newsletter because I'm a bit of a voyeur and I like knowing what people I know are doing with themselves, preferably without having to actually talk to them. I in the back there is a section that gives updates on graduates. In the marriage section I see that the girl I dated in high school - the only girl I've ever had a meaningful relationship with - is now married. Well how wonderful for her. A few weeks later I saw my buddy Jeff Hengehold out at a bar. He knows this particular girl as well, so he tells me she's married. I know that already. He goes on further to say that she's also pregnant. I'm really okay with both of these things. But it does make me a little sad at my own position in life.
And now Ryan and Ann are getting married. I really am happy for them. I still consider Ryan my brother. But I haven't seen or spoken to him in six months. I don't even know if we're still friends; I mean I guess we are, but I'm not sure. I know it can't always be the year after college , when I'm with Justin and Ryan every day practically and Lyle and Nic and Dolph live five minutes away. But I'm 25 years old, I'm in college again, this time for a subject that I think I don't even really like, I'm living in my Aunt and Uncle's spare room, and I have no girlfriend or friends. Forgive me a little nostalgia. But the core thing is, I need to get my shit together. I've been putting it off a long time.
Monday, December 05, 2005
2005 Colonel James Memorial Award Winner...
("Oh, you think so, Doctor?")
Goes to Dan O'Brien, Cincinnati Reds General Manager, for this gem:
"We've got a lot of room for improvement"
Goes to Dan O'Brien, Cincinnati Reds General Manager, for this gem:
"We've got a lot of room for improvement"
Labels: baseball, Colonel James Memorial Award
