We need a new blog post here

I must tell you that I am faring much better than I was when I wrote the previous post. Also, the previous post may have been influenced by hormones just a little bit. Which is not to say that the previous post was not in many ways accurate, however, but I have come down from being quite that close to the brink. I'm coping a little better.

I am also not at home once again. Some of you are familiar with my dear friend Indigo. His mother died after an extended illness (COPD, a terrible way to go) last week. After talking to him on the phone Thursday I realized that yes, he really needed me to be with him. So Friday very early I got in the car and drove to Baltimore, from whence I type. Actually, I will leave very soon, within the hour even, but I felt compelled to write a brief (as brief as it gets with me, which is a dodgy proposition) update on my life, or something like it.

I will drive this afternoon from Baltimore to Richmond, VA where I will spend the evening and overnight with a dear cousin of mine. I haven't seen her since her wedding a few years ago, and have never met the most precious little boy in the world (I have it on good authority - his mother - that this is true of him). So that is where I will rest tonight, then on to South Carolina Monday morning.

And I am away from home once again, as I mentioned. This is significant because I am, once again, thinking with perhaps a clearer mind. I have some ideas, even some inspiration maybe, about my immediate future (within 6 months, say). Note to self: explore ideas of creating interesting fun stuff to sell on Etsy to make enough money to pay my student loan bills. Also, the radical idea of going to seminary to prepare for work in the Unitarian Universalist worship tradition or something similar. Wow. Where did that come from?! We will be discussing these things in future posts, mayhaps.

To continue the original trajectory of the previous paragraph, my mind works differently, with what feels like more clarity, when I am not at home. And here's my theory: those young crazy people who share my last name suck the energy from my soul and cloud my mind with troublesome trivia. It feels like I'm walking into a trap when I go back home. It isn't only my children, either. I strongly suspect the town/city of Greenwood and the state of South Carolina play a role in this strangulation of my soul. Unfortunately, I must go home and I must work in my home and on my home to enable myself and the family to break free from The South (TM) and it's nefarious influences. I understand that with clarity when I am not there. It's harder to see that when I'm up to my ass in alligators in that particular swamp.

These are the things I wish to share with you now. I will finish packing my stuff and get on the road south now. I hope to get back here before too long to continue the saga of whatever the hell this life is.

Fondly,
-Java

This is the rural South

Here are a few more photos from that bone store where Light and I practiced our photography. This is the basket of flowers that was hanging from the porch roof.  I don't recognize them. Anyone have a clue?  

This wasp and a few of his closest friends were having a nectar party among the blooms.

The south end of the porch

This was prominently displayed beside the entrance to the store.

What do you think?

Here's a distance shot of the components of the previous two pictures.  I have no clue what the idea is with that pole and the reflectors (they might be lights), but there is a skull at the top, if that helps any.  The gallows to the left is, I believe, a hoist used to weigh and measure game. There are antlers all over it.  The shot above was taken from directly under the boom.  It's difficult to see the antlers in the photo below.   They may be more obvious in an embiggened image.  Go ahead, click if you dare.

We can also assume from this photo that the place sells 7-Up, and that a pack of Marlboro cigs is $2.95.  The photo below shows the edge of the roof upon which the bleached bones of the community's victims lie.  It does not appear as though the building was constructed with much attention to asthetic beauty or structural integrity. 

P.S.  The pictures don't seem to be able to embiggen.  Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. 

Randomness

Why isn't frightening spelled like lightning?

Giraffes are my favorite wild animal, elephants being a close second. I'm also rather fond of the large land tortoises.






Sometimes I think I'm too sensitive for my own good. When my friends grieve, I grieve.


We've had a couple of days of rain. The rest of the Fay system seems to be slowly passing over us. The rain is good, we desperately need it. Humidity is high, the days are damp and heavy. It feels very tropical. Temperatures are a good 10 degrees lower than they have been, with highs in the mid 80s and little or no sun. Except for the humidity, it would be almost comfortable.

But my indicator tells me summer is not over. The water coming from the cold water tap is still tepid, not cold. This is yet another thing I don't like about The South.

No, I still haven't applied to Lander U. for spring semester.



This evening I watched The Women for the first time. I can certainly understand why it is a gay classic! If ever you want a lesson on how to be a catty bitch, this movie will show you how.



Superman has another case of shingles. By that I don't mean he has a box of roofing material. Have I mentioned his shingles episodes before? The poor dear has been suffering shingles outbreaks for years now, usually when he is under stress and over tired. This time it is manifesting as pain along his right side from just above the knee to the armpit. It hurts to touch it. It hurts to not touch, it, too. He saw the doctor today and got a prescription for Valtrex. He gets so tired when he has a shingles episode. I think the pain wears him out.


I had another chance to feel old today. I was waiting at the pharmacy for a prescription to be filled. As I sat in their uncomfortable chair a fairly sexy bear came in to pick up his meds. He wore baggy cargo shorts and an unremarkable t-shirt. He didn't seem particularly tall, but wasn't short. He was packing a few extra pounds, not much, enough to make him snuggly. He had a scruffy beard that looked like the work of maybe 3 weeks growth, and it was shaped to cover much of his face. He had a small tat in the center of his left calf. I thought he might be in his early to mid 30s. When the pharmacy cashier pulled his meds, she asked him for his birthdate. He answered (number/number)1980.


1980 is the year I graduated high school. 1980 was two years before I met Superman. 1980 was 28 years ago, which seems like a long time. But in 1980 I was 18 years old, certainly old enough to procreate. This young man standing at the pharmacy counter was young enough to be my son. He looked way too old to be my son!


Yesterday would have been my Grandmama's 102nd birthday. She has been dead for about 11 or 12 years now. I miss the old girl.


That is all. Thank you.

The Crimson Crustacean

Twitch was born on Valentine's Day. I meant to mention it earlier, but got distracted. Didn't actually get a post up yesterday, though I meant to do something. Life happened instead.

So yesterday was Twitch's 17^th birthday. It is tricky celebrating a birthday on a holiday. Valentine's Day is hardly what I consider a true holiday, but that is the way our culture celebrates it. Much was said on other blogs about the crass commercialism of the day. I hold the opinion that it is a sorry excuse to sell flowers, chocolates, and greeting cards. But once again I digress.

Many couples celebrate the day and their warm fuzzy feelings for each other by going out to dinner. Therefore the restaurants are really crowded. In our family we like to celebrate birthdays by taking the honoree to dinner with just his/her mom and dad. But not on Valentine's Day. Not Twitch especially. It just isn't a good mix. So we all decided to take him out to dinner tonight instead of last night. The fact that today was Superman's payday might have had a tiny bit to do with the decision.

As I have mentioned previously, we live in Greenwood, South Carolina. It isn't a big place. It isn't anything like cosmopolitan. Fine dining options are few. Very very few. Twitch chose to dine at Red Lobster. Red Lobster has only been in Greenwood about 10 years. We got an Outback about 5 years ago. Applebee's has been in town for a while longer. It's slim pickin's around here. But our Red Lobster is one of the nicest places to eat in Greenwood. Sad.

While we were waiting to be seated one of the servers came to remove a lobster from the fresh lobster tank behind the hostess stand. As she was pulling it up with that strange fork thing a man in the waiting area said to his son "Look at dat crab! Dat's a big crab. Go lookit 'at big crab." Hello? Red LOBSTER???? Superman and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes.

We were seated before too long and things went swimmingly for a time. The server brought the soup along with the basket of famous greasy salty flavored biscuits. The basket contained 4 biscuits for the 3 of us. Is that right? The guys ordered soup, I didn't. They guys had little soup cups and a plate for a saucer. I didn't. I wanted to eat a biscuit, but not get crumbs on the table. I had my two forks and a knife wrapped in the napkin, my glass of water and a coaster. No bread plate. Superman let me use his plate 'cause he's sweet that way.

When the young man (not very cute; short, square and dopey-looking) brought the appetizers he also brought the bread plates. He set the food before us, then asked if we wanted our appetizer plates now. Oh, please! Of course the bread was gone by then.

By the time our entrees came I was thoroughly disgusted with the restaurant service, the town, and the state we live in.

As we were leaving I saw a fellow sitting with (I assume) his family. He was wearing a baseball cap with a pair of sunglasses above the brim. On a Friday night (i.e. dark), inside one of the nicer restaurants in town. Is this just a southern thing? I ask you, my readers from more sophisticated places than Greenwood SC, do guys in your community wear baseball caps in restaurants that are a bit nicer than fast food? I've seen this often. It disturbs me.

Superman told me to just let it go. Do I have to settle for this? Is this what has happened in all of western culture?

Am I taking this too seriously?

Winter comes to South Carolina

No winter-type precipitation at all, but we've got some nice cold temperatures. Currently, at approximately 8:45 a.m. the temperature is 15 F, -9 C. That's some decent cold for this area. We get temps like this maybe 5 to 10 days a year in a good year. It rarely gets much colder, just those extreme times that old folks remember. "Back in the winter of '08 we had us some bitter cold. My water pipes froze up and I couldn't take a shower for a week!" (for example) I know this seems mild to many of you from other colder places. But this is winter for us. It has been a long time coming this year. I hope we get plenty of this.