26th-Sep-2007 08:03 pm - you may now commence congratulatory commenting
fter eight years, it looks like I'll be a married man again in the near future. As we've been talking about it in no uncertain terms for a while now, it's more of a formality than a suprise, however, I did indeed officially pop the question to Miss welfy yesterday evening and she accepted.
13th-Jul-2007 01:07 pm - the greatest hits of a greatest hit
or my final "greatest hit" of the week, I've been debating what I would use. There are lots of other entries I could use of which I'm proud. Half of my time on LiveJournal now has been influenced by the presence of welfy in my life, so it only seems appropriate that I should include one of those sappy entries I've been known to write from time to time. Besides, I wouldn't want to get "cut off" if you know what I mean.
But I can't decide which I like the best. So think of this as a collection within the collection, the greatest hits of a greatest hit. Here are four excerpts with links to the original entry. From August 8, 2005:
There were bumps in the road at the onset, which could have easily caused this whole precarious affair to veer off-course before it had a chance to really get going. There are certainly much larger ones on the horizon. There is the constant physical distance between us, both geographically (300+ miles) and the realities of my vocation (on the road nearly 300 days out of the year). There is also the considerable gap in our ages (13 years). But these are only so many numbers. Alone in a world of miles and days and years a heart will resist, but together hearts will conspire. They have their own math.
Two weeks ago in a tangle of arms and legs where every breath of quiet conversations are felt as well as heard, confessions were made. Quite unexpectedly, I have fallen in love.
I don't know where this will go - but I do know where my heart is. Even when my head thinks it's absofuckinglutely insane. From April 24, 2006:
In the past year she has become my best friend, my confidant, my lover. For me, this move means a chance to build on what we have, to make it grow; to see where the journey takes us and hopefully enrich both of our lives even more. We'll not only be friends and lovers, but partners in a life together. Even now, as I sit here reflecting on my feelings, I have this little knot that builds in my stomach when I think of how I feel about her.
A love knot.
Growing up in rural Kentucky, we relied heavily on wood-fueled heat. Every autumn, my brothers and I would head into the forests with my dad to cut and split wood for burning. Knots in wood are the bane of any would-be tree cutter; they dull saws and defy axes. They are virtually impenetrable and can only be cut around, but not cut out. In lumber, knots are what give furnishings character and distinction. This is how I feel about my knot. It has become inseparable from me and defines me. From February 14, 2007:
Never has there been anyone this late in the game I can still talk to for hours on the phone or in chat, about everything important and nothing at all. Never has anyone understood me on all the levels that matter. Never has anyone been so giving of their time, energy, love and affection for me and for "us". Never has anyone tolerated my goofiness so much, in fact, never has anyone encouraged it and joined me in it. Never has anyone been so devoted to me. These, and so many other things which words can't describe, are the things she gives me that makes me love her so much.
On top of that she's an intellectual equal, but smarter than me becuase she's more in touch with her feelings. She's empathetic, caring, and sentimental sometimes to a fault. She's not only immensely creative in anything she undertakes; she's better at it than most but too humble to ever admit it. She can be hysterically funny, with a dark sense of humor that few people ever get to see. Her taste in anything can run from unironic kitcsh to classic without adding any undue importance to the former or overblown pretentiousness to the latter. She has a sense of adventure in everything she does that's intoxicating and contagious. She's absolutely feminine without being prissy. She's stunningly beautiful in an unconventional way and can be dangerously sexy when she's not too self-conscious to let herself go. From September 18, 2006:
My head's on straight, my girlfriend is beautiful. She was the best damn woman that I've ever seen. She moves in mysterious ways. She's Grade A class, Number One in her division. She comes to me with a thousand smiles she gives to me free. The girl's got rhythm. She's not a girl who misses much. She can lead you to love. She sees love where anyone else would see weeds. Her arms are wicked and her legs are long. She pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnet. She's a total bam bam. She's the puzzle piece behind the couch that makes the sky complete.
Stronger than reason, stronger than lies, the only truth I know is the look in your eyes.
just got back on the road after being off for nearly a week, hanging out with welfy in Western PA. I had a great time and took hundreds of photos. It occurred to me that I haven't posted a photo mix since March. So without further ado, here's a random assortment for your amusement, in reverse chronological order. As always, feel free to ask about anything which strikes your fancy.
ast night, welfy's mom pulled out a huge box of old home movies. A lot of these video tapes were made in the early 90's when Welf was about 10 years old. It was cute as can be and of course, fun because of the predictable embarassment that comes with seeing old movies of one's self.
There was another aspect to the viewing of these tapes that was especially cool. Either through his own narration of some of the footage, or the rare times he was found in front of the camera, I to got meet Welf's father. He passed away several years ago and I never got to meet him in the flesh. I've heard lots of stories about him and seen photos, as you might imagine. But seeing him move and speak gave me a sense of his personality; his being. Witnessing his jocular nature and the animated way in which he would move about as he told a story made me realize how much of him is in Welf.
It was a pleasure to meet you, Fred. I hope you know how much your daughter means to me. I'll be forever in debt to your role in shaping the little girl that was romping around in those videos you made, into the special woman I know and love today.
9th-Jun-2007 02:36 am - sap's not only found in trees y'know
bout this time of night, two years ago on this date, I was sitting in a Flying J truckstop in Hubbard, OH talking with welfy face to face for the very first time. We hardly knew one another; we'd only been LiveJournal friends for about two weeks. Over the past 24 months, we found a love in each other that has an unquantifiable depth; we're still falling and have no idea if there's a bottom. We've also formed a bond that is unbreakable. We've had a trying time as of late, but we've rounded the corner. Wounds heal back stronger with tough scars and a welder's bead is stronger than the metals he joins. There's no way I could've known that night what she would begin to mean to me. She's my lover, my mate, my partner in crime. She's my conscience and my vice. She's the sun, moon, stars, and galaxies.
Most of all, she's my best friend.
I love you, Erin. Here's to making year three the best one yet.
5th-Jun-2007 02:24 pm - i lay awake at night, people i just can't sleep no more
fter finishing my break in West Chester, OH on Monday morning, my next load was to be picked-up in Lexington, KY and bound for West Memphis, AR. welfy had the day off so I suggested to her that she could meet me in Lawrenceburg, a small town about 15-20 miles south of Frankfort, to give me a kiss as I was passing through on the Bluegrass Parkway. She agreed that that would be fun and get her out of the house for a bit.
I actually had more time than that. I could afford to hang-out with her for about an hour and still make it to West Memphis in time. While brief, it was some nice quality time. We played with Fubu and enjoyed each other's company. She had been itching to make a video to post on YouTube all day but couldn't decide what the video should be about. She decided to make one of us hanging out in the truck together. In it, Welf is her usual charming self and I'm my usual shy and quiet. There's a guest appearance by Fubu wandering around the bunk as well.
(WARNING: If you are sensitive to extreme sap, viewing this video may induce vomiting.)
I always look like I'm stoned in videos.
I'll be leaving West Memphis shortly. I'm picking up a load this afternoon in Jackson, TN and taking it to Olney, in southern Illinois. While driving, I'm going to make some phone calls to get the ball rolling on financing for the house. I appreciate all of the luck-wishing and congratulatory comments to my entries the past couple of days. You have my apologies for not thanking each of you individually. May this blanket mention of gratitude suffice, it is really appreciated. A version of this entry was originally posted yesterday. I deleted it because Welf had a minor freakout over having her videos public on YouTube, for various reasons, and I over-reacted. My apologies to those of you who left comments.
was raised in a fairly conservative Southern Baptist environment and as a result, have had ample exposure to the bible. Bible thumping doesn't just refer to the fiery Baptist preacher, all sweaty and red-faced, using the book as a visual prop. It's also the general principle that you thump these things into the heads of the youngsters at an early age so that it informs their lives. As an adult, I've built a spiritual life and constructed a view that works for me; a blend of religious views and a more universal approach rather than an exclusive one. While I no longer subscribe to the notion of the bible being an unerring word of God like the Baptists do, I do think it offers a lot of wisdom and keys to good living. Many years ago, my sister gave me a framed knick-knack for decorating my apartment after I had gotten divorced. It was nothing particularly special, but it contained a bit of the quote about love from Corinthians. I had it hanging on my wall for years until I began truck driving, and it has since been packed-away somewhere and not re-surfaced. It had the words "faith", "hope", and "love" in small boxes in an arc over some art design, and then beneath it, it said "The greatest of these is love." With the possible exception of Matthew 7 (golden rule, judge not, etc), it's one of my favorite passages in the bible.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
I love rather easily. I also like to think that I'm rather easy to love. But I am not necessarily an easy person to have a relationship with. I'm on the road nearly 300 days a year. I'm not interested in having children or raising a new family; I already have three kids of my own and had a vasectomy 8 years ago. I have some rather unorthodox views about romantic love; I don't put-out billboards with big arrows pointing at it, but a glance through my LJ bio page will tell you that I'm not ashamed or try to hide it.
When welfy and I met two years ago, she knew all of these things. She and I both decided to take the leap and explore the feelings we were having for each other. A year ago, she moved to Kentucky to live with me, yet another sacrifice on her part in addition to those mentioned above. In that time, we've explored what it's like to be primary partners in co-habitation. About a month ago she began to question the things she sacrifices for her relationship with me. She began to consider her long-held, more traditional ideas about romantic love and whether she could live with compromising what had long been a moral conviction for her. For the past month, I've tried to be patient and kind, to hope and to trust. Currently Welf is still in a complete state of confusion and indecision. I've always taken our living arrangement, that of a partnership, very seriously.
Beginning this week, I unilaterally decided to reduce our living arrangement to that of roommates. I now have my own bedroom in the house, and I've stripped our relationship of any expectation of being living partners. I hated to do it, but with no end in sight and little assurances to the contrary, I didn't see any other choice. Welf and I still love each other very much. As of this writing, we are still seeing each other romantically. Essentially, we're back to dating. I don't know how long this will last. I don't know if any sort of reconciliation can be achieved. Regardless of where things go, or where they end or begin, my primary hope is that Welf finds her way through this dark time. I love her so much, and more than anything, I want her to be happy in life; to have everything she needs, even if it means that it doesn't include me. Even if she and I fail, my love for her never will. I'm not angry. There is no record of wrongs.
But it does hurt, and it is hard. This morning, Welf posted a public entry dealing with some of these things for the LJ-Idol contest in which she has been participating all spring. It's a very brave entry for her, as she's not accustomed to having much of her personal life in the public arena. It's something I have a hard time doing even in a friends-only or filtered entry. I admire her for it, and it's one of her better entries... LJ-Idol or not.
27th-May-2007 05:51 pm - tell me i'm the chosen one
dropped daveb78437 in Springfield on Friday night, his training all complete. Hopefully he'll be in his own truck by the middle of next week.
I've been enjoying my home time since arriving early Saturday morning, even though I haven't done or accomplished much. Unfortunately, welfy hasn't been feeling very well. She's running a fever and is achy. She doesn't stay-up for very long stretches without feeling light-headed and needing to lie back down. We did manage to watch the season finale of Lost, though. She had refrained from watching it when it aired so that we could watch it together this weekend. We also watchd Amelie, one of her favorite movies ever. I had gotten it from Netflix and have been carrying it around for over a month waiting for a time when she could watch it with me.
Even though Welf's feeling pitiful, it's nice to get to spend the days with her, lazing away the hours. It's allowed me to shift into a mode I am good at, care giver. It's not something I come by naturally. Like, I could never be a nurse or similar all-purpose care-provider... but when it's someone I care about, I get all Florence Nightingale and shit. I've been running errands and making sure she takes medicine and keeping food in her belly. I made home-style pan fried chicken and squash Saturday night with stuffing and gravy and biscuits. Tonight, though, I pushed the envelope by trying my hand at something new. I've had a pasta recpie book for a couple of months but haven't had the time or inclination to do anything with it. So tonight, I made pasta vongole.
I had to improvise with pre-packaged mussels since Frankfort sucks when it comes to finding things like fresh clams. They were fully cooked with their own seasoning and white wine sauce, yet they seemed to go okay with the sauce recipe. I wanna try it again sometime with some fresh clams, though. I feel like it wasn't TOTALLY my concoction because of the pre-pared nature of the mussels, but it was still really tasty. The year of frugality not-withstanding, I did splurge on a couple of DVD's for myself this weekend. Both of them will likely have very limited distribution life, so I thought I better jump on it while they're still easy to acquire. One is the Japanese import film Linda, Linda and the other is the independent documentary Unknown Passage, about the band Dead Moon.
The year of frugality has been going well otherwise. I'm nearly back to the financial level I was pre-Christmas, which means I should have the amount I need for my 2006 tax burden in-hand very soon. I'm not sure if I will be able to to achieve my goal of having $20K in the bank by the end of the year, but I'm still going to give it my best shot.
Earlier this week, I went to last.fm to look at my charts and discovered that I have been listening to the Smashing Pumpkins... a LOT. Now that's amusing because, while I don't mind listening to the Smashing Pumpkins, I'm hardly a fan. Apparently, a certain someone whose name begins with W and ends with elfy has been corrupting my scrobbling charts by listening to music on my desktop in my absence. Her dekstop computer has been broken for a couple of weeks now. Guessing that it's likely a bad motherboard and or CPU, I got the parts in this week to get her machine up and running again. It's a good thing, too... because all I need is to have Muse or Rasputina at the top of my charts by the time I get home again.
Next week, I'm going to begin posting the few gams photos I've received. Hopefully it'll kick-start some of you into get'n your fanny in gear to send me some. Arguably, when I started it this year I really hadn't gotten the bug yet, I was just trying to do it for the sake of having second annual gams challenge. But the other day, I was in a service plaza of the Pa turnpike. A busload of kids in their late teens and early 20's were all over the place, getting in my way and clogging up the food service lines. And there were bare legs, everywhere. Now I have the bug for real. SHOW US YOUR GAMS!. (mail it to: show.us.your.gams@soopageek.com)
19th-May-2007 04:21 pm - there's a chance that things'll get weird, yeah that's a possibility
he shop was able to identify Sally's woes and get her up and running again last night. I think this might resolve a long-standing problem she's had in the fuel system, which is good. Doubly good is that it wasn't terribly expensive; I got her up and running in 24 hours for a mere $500. By the time they called me last night, though it was late in the evening so it was decided that it'd be best to just settle up in the morning.
Yesterday morning, after sleeping off my night of wine and steak, I found myself awake at 6:30 AM. Welf lie in a warm lump beside me. She had a short day ahead of her, not having to go into work until 10 and out early by 4:30 which meant I was going to be treated to a bit more time with her than I otherwise would have in such a situation. We talked quietly and sleepily snuggled together for a while then I did what I do best; I made us breakfast! Eggs and bacon... tea for her, coffee for me. I saw her off to work then spent the rest of my morning dicking around on the computer for a couple of hours.
I met Welf for her short lunch break and then I took the rental car back that I had used to get myself home to Frankfort. The good people at Enterprise were kind enough to let me return it locally without having to drive it back to Lexington, without any one-way charges or anything. When she got home a few hours later we subjected ourselves to more of that much needed cuddle-time then headed out for dinner.
Ever since moving to Frankfort last year, there has been some commercial space near us promising a Japanese grill and sushi joint COMING SOON, and Frankfort doesn't have any other options for decent sushi. They finally opened in the past week or two, so Welf and I decided to go try it out. It was awesome... the service, the atmosphere, the food. Great all the way around. I have a feeling that we'll be regular customers of theirs now that they're finally open.
We made a quick trip to the grocery and returned home. We originally had planned to curl-up and watch a movie on a laptop in the bedroom, but we got into a serious conversation and never got around to it; conversation of the relationship management kind. Not to cause any undue worry among our many mutual friends around here, but Welf and I have been at a crossroads in our relationship for about 6 months, since way back before Christmas. We still are very much in love and make each other so happy, but the arc of our relationship has come to a place where we have to decide where we go from here, and sometimes the emotions that result from that love run high. By the end of the night though, we were enjoying the comfort of tangled arms, legs, and fingers while she rambled on about some of her favorite memories. It was inspired by something which happened on Lost this week, but she does this all the time anyway. It's one of those little things about someone you come to love. She'll ramble and giggle or cry about people I've never met or known and tell me their stories and how they relate to her. It's like she opens the window to her life and lets you look into it for as long as you want. There's this constant string of characters, a menagerie of family & friends, ex-boyfriends & lovers, that I get to meet through her stories that tells me more about the woman lying there with me. Those of you who read her journal love her for the very same thing. She's a great story-teller and loves nothing more than to share them with you.
Fortunately for me I was able to get back on the road this morning and not be off the road for days with this breakdown. I have plans to be home next weekend when Welf has two days off and I was concerned this would interfere with that. We'll have a lot of time for uninterrupted frolicking. Spring time in Kentucky is a great time for frolicking. There's no telling what we'll get into. As for now, Dave and I are bound for Nashville to pickup a load that has to be in Maryland tomorrow morning. He only has about 3 more days with me, then I'll likely remain studentless until after the holiday and take a small break from wearing the trainer hat.
19th-Apr-2007 09:26 am - nice boys don't play rock and roll
ast week when I was home, welfy and I spent an entire day taking pictures and riding around the beautiful Kentucky-spring countryside. It was this day which I referenced in my last post as being the greatest day ever, and it was. We spent the first few hours of that day getting dressed up and taking pictures. She had some new fishnet stockings she wanted to show-off. It had been a while since we had done one of our amateur photo shoots with her as the model. Many were taken of the NSFW variety and a select few may someday grace these pages on the elective filter I made for such things (hint for newer friends).
At one point, Welf took the camera and turned it on me. Much goofiness ensued, but one of them is probably one of the best photos ever taken of me, which is saying a lot since I don't consider myself to be the most photogenic person in the world.
Of course, this is nothing compared to the hundreds of pictures I have of her from that day. I am truly, the luckiest guy in the world.
I've been inconsolable for a week because no one had LJ-nudged me. You can thank navygreen for giving me my first ever nudge. As a result of my phishing expedition a couple of years ago I had grand plans for your fuckers. Anyone know where I can unload several pounds of thermite and magnesium powder in a hurry?
For those of you not following LARM's journal, he's going to stay with me an extra week since my company is short on equipment at the moment. They're going to pay him extra as compensation, of course, I get the luxury of having a good, and cool, student on board for a while longer. Last week, we were afforded the opportunity to drive by the Oregon Shoetree, which was the first I had ever encountered. I had never been back to it in all these years and my only photos of it were taken with the really awful camera I had at the time. It's nice to finally have some quality photos of it.
This past weekend was spent at home, spending time with welfy and socializing with friends and family. On Saturday, Welf, LARM, and I went to Cincinnati to meetup with Patty and her beau to see Doug Stanhope perform. After the show he was gracious enough to pose for a quick photo with us in the foyer of the club. Patty sent me a text message the next day to let me know that Doug was in a car wreck later that night and apparently is in pretty bad shape. I haven't been able to find any news about it anywhere but hopefully he'll be okay. With the possible exception of Lewis Black, I can't think of another comic working the American club circuit right now that matters as much as Stanhope does.
On Monday, while I was spending time with my kids, Welf visited with janietrain. When I was done with the wee-Soops, I joined them only to discover that brianjedi had joined the festivities at some point and a game of Karaoke Revolution had begun. Somewhere, there exists a really embarassing video of me doing "Respect" that will likely grace Welf's journal in the very near future.
I may have been mistaken in assuming that the new Modest Mouse album would be the album of the year if my current last.fm charts are any indication.
Now I gotta find time to read your journals. What's been goin' on?
14th-Feb-2007 07:32 am - happy valentine's day, y'all
hen I consider that this summer will mark the two year anniversary of meeting welfy, it's no less mind-boggling to me than those first couple of months. It would be too easy to say that, due the nature of my job, things simply move on a slower time-scale for us, never allowing us to become too comfortable, and keeping things fresh. I suppose it is a factor.
But it's more than that.
Never has there been anyone this late in the game I can still talk to for hours on the phone or in chat, about everything important and nothing at all. Never has anyone understood me on all the levels that matter. Never has anyone been so giving of their time, energy, love and affection for me and for "us". Never has anyone tolerated my goofiness so much, in fact, never has anyone encouraged it and joined me in it. Never has anyone been so devoted to me. These, and so many other things which words can't describe, are the things she gives me that makes me love her so much.
On top of that she's an intellectual equal, but smarter than me becuase she's more in touch with her feelings. She's empathetic, caring, and sentimental sometimes to a fault. She's not only immensely creative in anything she undertakes; she's better at it than most but too humble to ever admit it. She can be hysterically funny, with a dark sense of humor that few people ever get to see. Her taste in anything can run from unironic kitcsh to classic without adding any undue importance to the former or overblown pretentiousness to the latter. She has a sense of adventure in everything she does that's intoxicating and contagious. She's absolutely feminine without being prissy. She's stunningly beautiful in an unconventional way and can be dangerously sexy when she's not too self-conscious to let herself go.
I love you, Erin. I'm so lucky to have you in my life that every day feels like a miracle.
...and for the rest of you, as always... fuck 'em if you got 'em.
haven't been writing daily logs or taking daily photos. I've just been enjoying the company of family and friends all week. I'd like to do a recap, however, for my own record. I've cut it because, honestly, most of you probably won't care. Think of it as, several daily logs condensed into one big, fat entry. The last log I wrote was Friday, so we'll pick-up from there.
s the year draws to a close, it's natural to reflect on one's achievements and failures through the year, while looking toward self-improvement for the coming year and do some sort of LJ meme. Luckily for you, this isn't one of those entries. I know, it was a close one.
No, the point of this entry is to revisit the previous year in a manner that will hopefully provide you some lulz. On occasion, I've been known to make off-the-cuff (and usually pretty bad) Photoshop/MS Paint jokes for a comment in other people's journals. Over the course of the past year, I've been hosting these in LJ Scrapbook and tagging them so that I can keep track of them. Since they occurred in other people's journals by-and-large, I thought it'd be fun to post them all in my journal. Most of these appeared in the comments of welfy's journal, but there are a few from others.
As an introduction for the one's I have done in Welf's journal, I should point-out that there's a running joke within the jokes. There's a photo of Welf trying on a dress in a thrift shop which has come to be dubbed "The Church Lady". I find the photo so funny that almost anytime I do a photo-joke at Welf's expense, I use this photo. As a point of reference, here's the original, untouched picture.
18th-Sep-2006 02:40 pm - the kinda girl people write songs about
y head's on straight, my girlfriend is beautiful. She was the best damn woman that I've ever seen. She moves in mysterious ways. She's Grade A class, Number One in her division. She comes to me with a thousand smiles she gives to me free. The girl's got rhythm. She's not a girl who misses much. She can lead you to love. She sees love where anyone else would see weeds. Her arms are wicked and her legs are long. She pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnet. She's a total bam bam. She's the puzzle piece behind the couch that makes the sky complete.
Stronger than reason, stronger than lies, the only truth I know is the look in your eyes.
20th-Aug-2006 04:07 pm - no one's gonna take me alive
esterday morning, while waiting for our next load in Memphis, I got a chance to meet m0nkeygrl and c_rob. Unfortunately, I only had about an hour before my next load would be ready, so we went to eat a nearby dive called CK's for a nice greasy breakfast. It was great meeting them, and I hope that the next time I'm there I have more time to spend with them.
After loading-up in Memphis, we made a beeline for Columbus, Ohio, where we arrived at 11pm... and have been here ever since. The last full week of August is designated as National Truck Driver Appreciation Week every year, so today marked the first day of it. Appreciate me! The Forward Air terminal we were stuck in had a huge steak barbecue for lunch for all the drivers that were around, so at least Steve and I were well fed. We shagged a trailer down the street from there and are currently waiting to be loaded and taking it to Chicago. I might have time to meet-up with welfy who's passing through here this evening on her way home to Kentucky. We'll see how that goes. peaking of Welf, my girl's a bit of a fan of the band Muse. She's given me some of their music to listen to in the past but it's never done anything for me. I listen to the alternative/indie stations a lot on XM, and one of their songs, "Knights of Cydonia" has been getting frequent airplay and I've been secretly digging it. This morning, angiewarhol posted the video to it and this video is made of awesome. It's got shaolin martial arts, cowboys, robots, unicorns, laser guns, absurd rock star posturing, a scantily clad blonde chick, sex, and fist fights. In one video, it's a homage to every genre film ever made. Check it out.
10th-Jul-2006 01:58 pm - Tatham Springs Hotel: The Final Chapter
Tatham Springs Hotel: The Final Chapter
What follows is an epilogue to a series I originally posted here in the summer of 2005. If for some reason you missed the original series and would like to view it, here are the links.
Part I - The Exterior of the Hotel Part II - The Pool & Bath Houses Part III - The First Floor Interior, A Part IV - The First Floor Interior, B Part V - The 2nd Floor Foyer, Hall, and Exterior Part VI - The 2nd Floor Interior Part VII - In search of the Tatham Spring Part VIII - Epilogue, Tatham Springs: The Final Chapter hen I was home in June, I was finally able to drive out to the grounds of the old Tatham Springs Hotel in Washington County, Kentucky. I had visited the grounds twice in the summer of 2005, taking an immense and extensive photo record of the property. In May of 2006, I was alerted by a friend of mine that the building had completely burned to the ground. As a point of reference, please consider the following three photographs. The first is a historical photo of the building that I found online.
The next photo is from roughly the same angle, taken by me last summer.
And finally, the way it looks today after the fire, from the same angle.
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soopageek's journal
fter eight years, it looks like I'll be a married man again in the near future. As we've been talking about it in no uncertain terms for a while now, it's more of a formality than a suprise, however, I did indeed officially pop the question to Miss 
or my final "greatest hit" of the week, I've been debating what I would use. There are lots of other entries I could use of which I'm proud. Half of my time on LiveJournal now has been influenced by the presence of 
In the past year she has become my best friend, my confidant, my lover. For me, this move means a chance to build on what we have, to make it grow; to see where the journey takes us and hopefully enrich both of our lives even more. We'll not only be friends and lovers, but partners in a life together. Even now, as I sit here reflecting on my feelings, I have this little knot that builds in my stomach when I think of how I feel about her. 
Never has there been anyone this late in the game I can still talk to for hours on the phone or in chat, about everything important and nothing at all. Never has anyone understood me on all the levels that matter. Never has anyone been so giving of their time, energy, love and affection for me and for "us". Never has anyone tolerated my goofiness so much, in fact, never has anyone encouraged it and joined me in it. Never has anyone been so devoted to me. These, and so many other things which words can't describe, are the things she gives me that makes me love her so much. 
just got back on the road after being off for nearly a week, hanging out with 
ast night, 
he shop was able to identify Sally's woes and get her up and running again last night. I think this might resolve a long-standing problem she's had in the fuel system, which is good. Doubly good is that it wasn't terribly expensive; I got her up and running in 24 hours for a mere $500. By the time they called me last night, though it was late in the evening so it was decided that it'd be best to just settle up in the morning.
I've been inconsolable for a week because no one had LJ-nudged me. You can thank 
On Saturday, Welf, LARM, and I went to Cincinnati to meetup with Patty and her beau to see Doug Stanhope perform. After the show he was gracious enough to pose for a quick photo with us in the foyer of the club. Patty sent me a text message the next day to let me know that Doug was in a car wreck later that night and apparently is in pretty bad shape. I haven't been able to find any news about it anywhere but hopefully he'll be okay. With the possible exception of Lewis Black, I can't think of another comic working the American club circuit right now that matters as much as Stanhope does.
hen I consider that this summer will mark the two year anniversary of meeting 
y head's on straight, my girlfriend is beautiful. She was the best damn woman that I've ever seen. She moves in mysterious ways. She's Grade A class, Number One in her division. She comes to me with a thousand smiles she gives to me free. The girl's got rhythm. She's not a girl who misses much. She can lead you to love. She sees love where anyone else would see weeds. Her arms are wicked and her legs are long. She pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnet. She's a total bam bam. She's the puzzle piece behind the couch that makes the sky complete. 
esterday morning, while waiting for our next load in Memphis, I got a chance to meet 
peaking of Welf, my girl's a bit of a fan of the band Muse. She's given me some of their music to listen to in the past but it's never done anything for me. I listen to the alternative/indie stations a lot on XM, and one of their songs, "Knights of Cydonia" has been getting frequent airplay and I've been secretly digging it. This morning, 
