Life, Interrupted

Ah, blogging. I remember it well. Hopefully, I can get back on track here and return to my old self after the month I’ve had.

Where do I begin? Let’s start here.

Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, my mom was living with us here in our home from late December up until about a week ago and as a result, our lives were pretty much put on hold during that time. We just couldn’t live the way we normally do and, although it was my own mom, it was as if there was an outsider looking at us with each and every little thing we did. Blogging definitely took a hit as well since I felt my creativity was not where it should have been.

The problems, however, didn’t end there and before we knew it, Ann and I were verbally taking shots at each other. We had never done that in all of our years of marriage—17 this June—and we knew exactly why we were now. And then, about a week ago, Mom told us she made arrangements to live with a friend of hers.

Before she left, she told me that I hated her, and that I was “mean” and “evil.”

Okay, those who read my blog probably wouldn’t doubt the mean and evil aspects of my persona but all kidding aside, I didn’t give those comments much credence. All any of us did—myself and my cousins—was try and help Mom and in the end, we were all turned down. As a result, it’s sort of hard not to get “mean” or “evil” when you’re unemployed, you’re feeding an extra person who practically had to be begged to help contribute to the food and rising utility costs, did nothing to help herself find a place to live even though you found a place for $312 a month, and you’re having panic attacks because of all this.

All of these things did a number on our family dynamic which will take some time to repair. I haven’t heard from Mom or my brother since then and I’m not quite sure if I will. It’s up to them if they wish to get in touch with me.

Ah, what else? Oh, I know. Remember that fantastic Dell computer I was so patiently waiting for? Can you guess what I’m going to say next?

Yeah, you’re right: it took a dump after less than a month of use. Not that I’m all that surprised about such a thing because my father-in-law’s old Dell was also an unreliable piece of shit that was slow out of the box. So just the other day I went ahead and did a fresh install of Windows 7 and as of this post *knock on wood* it’s running smoothly. Fortunately, I had everything already backed up on the external drive so I didn’t lose a thing, but I had to re-install my most oft-used programs which aren’t much, but still a pain.

In the evenings I’ve been spending a lot of time on Forza Motorsport 3 (see current header), either playing or creating graphics for my cars (or to sell for virtual dollars), just to keep my sanity in place during that crazy month. It turns out that if you spend more time creating vinyl groups than playing the damn game, you can get pretty good at it. To see a gallery of my stuff, it’s up over at Flickr. No, it’s probably not the most elaborate stuff you’ll see but considering it was all made from scratch and with an Xbox controller, this failed Advertising Design major is damn proud of it.

And speaking of geeky things, now that I have webcam, I signed up for Skype. Because all of those long distance calls I make were starting to add up. Yeah…

Is there more? Why yes, there is. I am also coaching/managing a t-ball team this Spring with my own son on said team. I’ve been in constant contact with my Team Parents, making Excel charts for lineups, etc. so I’ve been busy there. Our first practice was cancelled due to our recent unusually wet weather and our next one on Wednesday is also in jeopardy for the same reason. So our first game is on February 27th and I’ve yet to meet my team or have a practice with them. Not good, so I just hope it clears up real soon.

If there is an upside to any of this bad weather—and I’m sure my friend Preston would beg to differ—is that it dumps tons of fluffy white stuff in our local mountains. So we headed up there one weekend just to get out of the house, and we had a good time:

You can see a Flip Video of me sledding on Flickr (because embedding it here isn’t quite working).

We ate at the Evergreen Cafe (see left) and I gotta tell you, the food and service were absolutely incredible. In fact, I had to ask the waitress if the bill was right once we decided to leave.

The cost for all three of us was less than $23. This is when you know you’re not in the big city anymore. That, and the friendly service, the homemade bread used for toast, the owner going to each and every table to see if everything was okay.

That’s what it’s all about, and that’s why we need a Wrightwood escape every now and then. It was just an incredible day all the way around. Not to mention that I found a several 45s for 50 cents each in one of the local shops: “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey, “I Melt With You” by Modern English and The Jacksons 5’s “I’ll Be There”.

Okay, so I’ve caught up on everything, I think. Hope it wasn’t too boring or whatnot. And hey, since we got our taxes done and have a little cash to spend, I’ll be out all this weekend beginning late Friday and through late Monday so I’ll try to get at least another post in. We’re taking Anthony to LEGOLAND* and the SeaLife Aquarium for an early birthday present…even though someone else’s birthday is actually on Sunday…*cough*cough*…

—

* LEGOLAND and LEGO are actually copyrighted as ALL CAPS. Check it out—they’ll never (officially) be lowercase in print or Web. The things you learn when you write for a magazine…