Gummi!!!

The biggest gummi bears ever!!!!

Below is a picture with CJ's hand in the frame for perspective, and Cj's got a pretty big hand. These 12" tall Gummi cost $30 each at the candy store in the mall... I'm thinking, "Who needs a birthday cake when you could have a birthday gummi?"

**Yawn** I'm tired from such a week of awesomeness

Well two nights staying up until 4AM finally caught up with me. I slept until 12:15 today, but it was well worth it. I've had an absolute blast of a week! I'll admit, it started off a little slow I think, and in my tired state I'll probably get the order of events a little wrong, but what the heck.

Sunday was a long day! I drove an hour+ to Greensboro to meet up with the Crowder's so I could ride 2 hours to Charlotte. ML and I had a pretty good practice session. In Wayne's silver samba lesson I gleaned 2 gems worth at least $50 of lesson time, so that rocked. Then our private was ok. I don't think I really got a lot out of it, but I'm pretty sure ML did, so that's good. He told us that our latin is good (and told us we were as good or better than the open level couple practicing next to us) and that he wants us to start to focus on out standard a little more. He changed my frame a little and we both gave ML a little guilt trip for not speaking up enough to tell me when I'm not doing things right. If you don't tell me I'm wrong I'll never get better... anyways, we practiced for 3 hours then I did the whole drive process back home. I was away from home for 12+ hours sunday... and the floor down there is the hardest floor I've ever danced on! My feet hurt for days.

Then I ran into a little bit of a relational snag... those dang Js. This was a big downer on the week, because I hurt her feelings, and I hate to hurt anyone. But, without getting too much into it, I think things will be ok. I made a pretty serious gesture of goodwill in hopes to make things a little better... and I think it did. At least I hope I did, otherwise I went above and beyond what most people would do for nothing. For privacy purposes, ask me about this one in person. Only the super cool can hear about what I did.

Then came the FAIR!!! I had a fantasmicly awesome time at the fair. I went with a bunch of first years from the department that I really didn't know very well before hand. I originally was going to go with a few others that I had hung out with before, but schedules didn't line up with them. So I heard that another group was going, and I'm not sure but I may have invited myself to go with them... it was one of those "Hey, I hear you're going to the fair" and they replied with a potentially obligatory invitation... but I took it! Anyways, back to the awesomeness, the FOOD! I really didn't eat that much, last year I think I had more. But, the great thing about a group is that you get to sample more stuff without getting full. So I had:

• Funnel Cake
• Fried Oreos (these were awesome)
• Chicken on a Stick (very spicy! that's what I get for sharing with an Indian, she covered it in hot sauce, but it was good! I can handle some heat)
• Corn on the Cob (my FAVORITE)
• NCSU Ice cream - Java Bean and Cookies and Cream (yes I know we can get it on campus for really cheap, but the amount you get at the fair is massive! It was a freaking mountain of Ice Cream! It took the whole group to finish both of them)
• Fried Pecan Pie (this was the new thing this year, it was pretty darn good. Much better than the fried coke and PB&J of recent years past! Although the stick its on is worthless)
• Footlong Chili Dog
• Ribbon Fries
• Bloomin Onion
• Caramel Apple w/Peanuts

I'm sure I forgot at least one thing, but that's most of it. I missed the free hush puppies, so I'm sad about that, but it was all so freakin sweet (as in cool... as in good) We looked at cool stuff too, there was a bull that sold for $24,000! I saw a couple people I haven't seen in years there, so that was cool to. Umm... right, the petting zoo! I always have the hardest time finding the freaking petting zoo, but we did there was an angry camel and a lot of cute little goats. We saw the fireworks and then I think we were all so cold that we made our way to the exit (but not before we picked up some food along the way... half of what we ate was on the way out!)

That was Wednesday. Thursday I got a migraine and had to cancel my dance lesson, which suck cuz I need that extra little bit of cash, but! Afterwards I woke up and met up with the dance crew and they all came over to watch Taledaga Nights on my new TV. I had wanted Zoolander to be the first movie on the new TV, but TN + good friends to watch it with totally made up for it. It was much fun. After the movie I showed them Lego Star Wars and people just hung out in my house until 3:30AM... I had to teach in the morning! SO I kicked 'em out after that. But it was good, I had my big mac for dinner and I was happy! I love company!

Last night, Friday, I did the dance thing again and after that we all went to Cici's Pizza. I'm not sure if it was because I had a late lunch or if I was still recovering from the fair, but I only downed 15 slices. I probably could have done more, but people were ready to leave... so I had to stop. But I ate as many as anyone else there, so that's cool. Anyway, after that we all came back over to my place again, but this time CJ and V brought Rock Band!!! YES!! So we played rock band until all hours of the night. I'll be honest, the guitar riffs in RB stink compared to GH, but the drums freakin rule and I had fun singing too.

I'm so glad I've developed these friendships. I feel like my life is much fuller now that I interact with so many awesome people. So, even though I sometimes get sad that I'm not dating anyone right now (feast or frickin famine) my life is soooooo much better for all the friendships and relationships I'm forging!

:)

Now I remember..

Now I remember why I don't like getting hair cuts. Because they always chop off more than you ask for! They always ask you what you want and then give you what they think you should have. Basically they give you the cookie cutter hair cut that every other poor schmuck that doesn't really care about their hair asks for.

Ugh...

All I asked her to do was a slight trim on the back and sides and to even out the top. I didn't say anything about touching the front of my bangs. I figured she would ask about them before chopping them clear off! Now I have nothing to style and nothing to part in the front. I even told her that I wanted to be able to part the front and that THE ONLY THING I wanted her to do was to even out the top after my event a couple weeks ago.

Then, after she took the first chunk of the front of my hair out and I said that I hadn't planned on going that short in the front, she gives me a lecture (with a little attitude behind it) about why I shouldn't let an 'un-professional' cut my hair. She was forced to 'blend' my hair off in the front. Blend?! Blending is a transition from the short on top to the slightly longer in front, not a cutting of the front to match the short top. What ever happened to the customer is always right? When did it become, "the customer better shut the f*ck up and be happy with I give him... and by the way the customer is a dumb *ss for letting an un-professional cut his hair; its your own fault that I had the blend your hair off."

Now I don't know what to do with it... it looks like every other guys. I don't think I can do the part anymore, it's too short. In fact I think it might stand up in the front now. Grr.

The Race(s)

Here's a current graph from pollster.com. The race in NC is a pretty close one. Right now, it looks like Obama's up, but things can always change in the final seconds of a big game! So whether you want to rally support for your Maverick (I guess that makes Palin Goose?) or ensure that your eloquent Emissary of Change stays on top, you need to vote. GO! Right now! VOTE! Vote early! Don't wait for election day and then lose your opportunity to play a part in our democratic system because 'something came up.'

Remember, if you don't vote then you're not aloud to complain when our next president, whomever he is, does something stupid.

VOTE



PS - I've added the Senate and Gubernatorial polls for NC as well. Remember, your local officials have a larger impact on your day to day lives. Be sure to educate yourself on those races as well.

Costumes part 2

today I'm going out again in another attempt to find materials for a Dr. Horrible costume. I think there's a new halloween shop in crabtree and then there's always party city. If I don't find the lab coat I need for Dr. Horrible then I'll probably look for materials to be the Hamburglar or I might do something as simple as Gilligan... although finding the right hat may not be simple at all. The biggest problem with being Gilligan is that I would need other characters with me to really be identified as someone other than just a guy in white pants and a red shirt...

So I just walked all

So I just walked all the way to the fair to find that the people I was meeting weren't there and weren't coming. So Im walking home

Costuming Follies

So I really want to be Dr. Horrible for Halloween, but it's proving very difficult to find all the parts of the costume! I went to a medical uniform supplier and they looked at me funny when I asked for a lab coat that buttons down the shoulder and the side. The closest thing they had was one old pale blue shirt that was only torso lengthed. It snapped down the side, but was all wrong. I can't find white boots or long enough gloves, and I haven't been able to locate any welding goggles yet either. I still need to try ace hardware, but without the right lab coat it might be a waste of time. I mean, I can spray paint some boots and gloves, and if I ask around I could probably find close enough goggles, but I just don't know where I'll be able to find the right lab coat.

Another option I've been tossing around is the Hamburglar... I think I could combine a prisoner costume with a zorro costume to pull that off pretty well.

I don't know folks, hwlp me out with some other ideas! or let me know where I can find stuff to make the Dr. Horrible costume.

I might just wuss out and buy some crappy costume from the store... or buy some spiderman pajamas...

Fall Break

A lot and nothing all at once happened over fall break. I'm not sure what I write will be able to explain that statement, or if I'll even try to, but I think it sums up the weekend for me.

I was excited for Thursday night. I had planned it in my mind that it would be a hugely fun night where all of the new 1st years that I haven't met yet would hang out and we'd all have fun out on the town. I'd make new friends and have a blast. Well then it rained... and people were out of town... or just somehow boring and couldn't/didn't want to hang out. So it was going to become a real low key event where one new person and one friend were gonna come over and watch a movie. Then my buddy calls me up and he's into a chill night so he heads over. We all sit around for a while before we decide we want to go out... party is back on! Albeit in a much more condensed version than my mind had originally planned. We went to PR and had a lot of fun. Three people split three pitchers... one didn't hold it as well as the other two. I got to know the new girl, who I absolutely LOVE! She's super fun, has a lot of cool interests, and she wants to set me up with her friend. How cool is that! I got the lowdown gossip on all sorts of new people, and I was upset to hear that I had a bad reputation among the first years. Through no fault of my own, other than who I chose to associate with in the beginning of the year. Apparently in order for one girl to paint herself in the best light possible I had to be painted in a very poor light. She gave everyone the wrong idea about me and now I understand why it's been so hard to build relationships with the new group. It's been an up hill battle, but now I can see the tide changing. I've convinced a few that I'm not what they were led to believe and there's a sort of snowball effect of people smiling at me more. It's nice to be liked! That girl has caused me a great deal of strife... and I'd probably still go out with her in a heartbeat. Ugh.

Thursday night was fun... there was a lot of middle school 'I like him' and 'does she like me?' crap that was goin on, but it was fun.

Friday we cruised down to the beach. We didn't get started as early as I had hoped. I slept in a little later than I should have and neither of us were really packed and ready to go with any speed. In hindsight it may have been better not to have gone at all. We get in the car and the closer we get to the beach the more it rains. It rained the entire time there. We got down in the afternoon and layed around the trailer for a while; relaxing with the cable on. Then we hit up Sanitary again... and again it was overpriced (although the fudge sundae was just the right price point), but this time I got to share the history of it. It was a little like what we had talked about in the earlier post. She had never been, so I got to share with her the history and experience of a NC landmark. Kinda cool, even if the shrimp did cost 20 bucks (ridiculous... I had soup). So, it was still raining, so a walk on the beach was out. We went back to the place and watched Survivor Man all night, then went to sleep. The next morning is... that's right rainy! Now, this girl sleeps late! I mean she will sleep all day if you let her. I woke up once about 8:30 and she was out, so I go back to sleep... 10:30, she's out... 11:30 she's rolling over... 12:30 she's awake and we're watching tv in bed. Now, that wouldn't have been a bad thing except that I got a migraine about 1 while we're watching something on the food network. This rainy trip just went from mediocre to bad. I take my drugs (by some happenstance I thought to bring them) and I kick her out of the room so I can try to sleep even more to make it through the headache. I offered her my car to take to the aquarium (that was our planned excursion for the day), but understandable she doesn't want to go alone. So I sleep for the next 3.5 hours while she studies in the living room. I woke up and felt the trip was so bad already that I just wanted to go home. The weather totally did not cooperate, and I feel guilty about the whole thing. I don't think she really wanted to leave, but she didn't say otherwise... so we came back home. The whole trip she was a little disconnected... she'd just stare out the window, even if there wasn't anything to look at. It's a common enough girl trick. Avoid eye contact and conversation at all cost... I won't tell him I'm upset but I'll make this car ride a real pain in the ass... I deserved it though I'm sure.

We make it back to Raleigh and the weathers perfect... warm sunny days.

Sunday I drove to Greensboro for a 6 hour practice session. It was good. We did a lot, but it doesn't feel like we got much done. I don't know... tough to explain. Oh well. Sunday'll get short changed. I feel like I've written a book so far... so I'm done. Sunday was good... long practice in Greensboro... came home and played Lego Star Wars. Fun.

51

51 hits on Wednesday. The most in a single day. I never knew urine was such a fascinating topic. Cool.

Why?

Why is there always a puddle under the urinal? Come on guys... you can aim better than that!!!

Free Energy?

Just like we pass a magnet back and forth near a bundle of wires we produce a current, would it be possible on some grand scheme to pass something through the earth's own magnetic field to produce electricity? Ray, you can tell me why this won't work... other than we'd somehow have to pass a gi-normous copper coil from beyond the planet's emf, through it, and then back out, and then somehow transmit the current produced back to the surface. I know it's not feasible in practice, but could it work?

World of hits

I have gotten more hits in the past 24 hour period than any other 24 hour period before. 44 hits for my little blog, from all over the world. I've got hits from TX, VA, GA, South Africa, Australia, NY, PA, MI, MO, CA, CT, Ontario, WY, FL, Panama, Funcom, Germany, West Point, AZ, and of course the Raleigh area.

Wowzers! I hope I said something that's really cool and I haven't pushed someone's buttons. I was really amazed with the sudden flux of international hits until I noticed that they're all coming from some link in a forum, www.limboftw.com.

The actual thread is restricted, so I've got no idea what's being said about The Back Porch. As best I can figure it's a WoW guild forum, and from what I can tell it's a pretty high level and well organized guild. Some WoW player is sharing my rants and raves with his/her international friends... kinda cool actually.

I wonder if this will be a one time thing, or if I've gained any new long term readers.

I cut my hair

So yeah... later on the day I returned the Wii, I chopped off about 12 inches of my flowing red locks of hair! Well I can't actually say that I cut it, my buddy in the department is pretty good with a set of electric clippers, so he did the cutting. It was a pretty huge extravaganza! I invited a bunch of people over to watch the football game on my new tv and participate in the removal of two years worth of hair growth. I was a little disappointed with how many people actually showed up. I invited nearly 85 people and had less than 10 show up. Admittedly I sent the invitations out with fairly short notice and through Facebook, which may not have been the best way even if it was the easiest. I think I figured out today that FB doesn't make the invite very easy to spot since most people have their email notifications turned to the least invasive setting, so maybe people just didn't hear about it. But I did have a moment or two where I wondered how many real friends I actually have, and I was saddened by where my thoughts led me. I don't have very close friends anymore, at least none that are close by and able to participate in events like this. I'm getting old, all of my best friends from years past are all grownups with wives and children now, and I haven't done a good job of building new friendships that are as strong as the old ones. I feel like I'm getting better about that though, so that's good. And the people that did show up, I think that they could all become really good friends, if they aren't already. The biggest problem is that most, if not all, of them are only temporary residents of the area. In a year or two they'll all move away and I'll be right back in the same lonely situation... although I'll probably have a lot more places to stay when I go on vacation across the country :)

Back on topic... We watched the first half of the game and then it was time to say goodbye. I sat down on a stool in the kitchen and they proceeded to put my hair into about a dozen little pigtails, each one about 10" long... then came the big cut! The first tail to go was just above my right eye. My buddy leaned over me and asked, "Are ya rrreeady?!" I told him I was and he started to cut into it. The cut didn't quite feel like I had expected. I thought it would go in one swift clip, but instead he had to cut at it 4 or 5 times to get all the way through the first tail. I smiled like a dear in headlights the whole time... periodically making forced laughter.

It really didn't affect me as much as I expected it to. I thought I would cry about it, but it happened and I felt good about it. I had some killer razor burn on the back of my neck for about a day and a half... and generally my neck and ears are a lot colder now. I'm sure I'll regret this throughout the winter, but what the hell.

and I'm a little worried that the loss of my ponytail has screwed with my balance and I won't be able to turn as well for a while...

there are many pictures of the entire process and even a video on facebook... if you're not already my friend, add me to see them.

I went to The Office last night. I thought I hated that club. I thought that club was full of douche tool bag guys.

I was right. That club sucks.

FIN

Thanks for the memoWiis

Well, she finally asked for her Wii back. I can't blame her... it's been months since we broke up, and it is her wii. I sort of dreaded boxing it back up for her. Right after we broke up I reorganized the entertainment center in such a way that all the cables for it were much harder to get to... in essence making it more difficult for anyone to reclaim it. I really thought, at the time, that we wouldn't stay broken up. I thought that it'd be a temporary break. Even when she told me about her new man, I expected him to be a temporary fling. I expected her to date someone else and only think about how much she missed me. Amazing how I can have such a low self-esteem and yet still be the cockiest S.O.B. on the block, but having her inflated my self worth and gave me that confidence. Granted, my confidence level is 83% higher than it ever was in college, but having her and another before around really gave me a boost. Of course I still fluctuate; sometimes I feel like nobody likes me at all, but other times I tell myself that I'm just so awesome women are intimidated to speak with me (not as much as I probably should though). Anyway...

I pulled out the entertainment center and unplugged everything (as a consolation to losing the Wii I bought myself a 42" plasma screen TV... so really I pulled the entertainment center out to set that up and the wii was a secondary objective... that's what I tell myself). I put the Wii back in its original packaging. I boxed that thing up like it brand new again. That way her and her new bough will be able to have an exciting christmas morning experience of unpacking it and setting it up, similar to the one we shared the day we waited in line one early morning at Best Buy. That might have a bitter tone to it, but it really was my intention. I want her to have a happy experience opening it up.

Tangent: Am I too much of a nice guy? Cuz sometimes I feel like I'm not finishing the race with the leaders of the pack...

Not only did I box up the Wii, but I got a box and put all of her stuff from the bathroom drawer in it, and all the other random stuff she left at me house... even her hot air popcorn popper. All that's left is her bike... sitting right here next to me in my office.

I'm not too upset about the Wii. I didn't even turn it on after we broke up. I don't know if that's because it reminded me of her, or I just wasn't interested in playing. I don't play as many games I once did.

So she came by yesterday morning to pick everything up, and seeing her in my house, sitting on my living room floor, green eyes and bright smile beaming up at me... I was hit with a sudden pang of missing her, and I was just a little sad for what I had lost. And of course she was wearing a really low-cut V-neck tank top, her tits bounding forth... MAN ALIVE do I miss those knockers! I loved playing with her boob-wiis... what can I say, I'm a boob man.

:)

But seriously... it's tough when you put a new form of a relationship in an old setting. When I said goodbye to her, I wanted to kiss her. That's what always happened when she left my house in the past, it's what seemed natural to do this time. But things change. She left, with most of her stuff, I didn't get a kiss, and I was ok. Besides... I was a little preoccupied with my hair...

Burn

So I feel kinda burned right now. Burned and a little pissed. The worst part about it is that I can't even talk about it here. I have a wide array of readers, most of which I don't know anything about. I don't know who they are or if I know them in my outside life. Most are probably people that I interact with everyday, who just lurk and stalk me a little. Which is cool. Part of the reason I started this blog was because I needed someone to talk to, but didn't really have anybody. I liked the idea that someone would read and listen to me vent (bitch). Even if I don't know who is listening, it's still nice to know that someone is sharing my experience with me. Remember, I'm big on shared experiences. But every once in a while, someone will leave a comment (which I highly encourage you to do, let's make this as much of a dialog as possible, just sign your comments with something so I can refer back to you specifically) or someone will talk to me about my blog IRL, and I figure out a few people that read.

Then it gets tricky. When I don't know anything about who is o isn't reading, then I don't feel like I have censor anything. If someone pisses me off or fires me up I can talk about it, of course without names, and I don't worry about the repercussions. There's a defense wall of safety where if I say something about a person, even if he/she reads it, they can't really acknowledge I said it without acknowledging that they've been reading my blog, so most people don't say anything back. But when I know you're reading, I can't be as free to say something that might upset you. A quandary indeed.

So instead of writing about what burns me, or who burned me, how how I have been burned by the actions of a particular person... I write about NoT being able to say anything about it. Oddly... it's having the same effect. At least right now, I feel better.

Now the funnest part of all this anonymity of who I'm talking about and who's reading, is that I'm sure some people have thought I may be talking about them, when in fact I have been talking about someone else. That's right girls... there's more than one of you out there who does crazy things. Even if all of you girls are doing the same type of crazy lead me on type stuff, some of you think you're the only ones doing it. Well I've got news for you! I've had at least four or five chicks in the past few weeks play games with me. So don't think you're special! You're lucky I haven't confused all your J names! How many girls have names that start with J, I mean three could be a coincidence, but beyond that I'm in the freaking twilight zone now... Well, one of you has been pretty cool, so kudos to you 'J'.

I bet you all think you're the cool one :P

Although, the silver lining to all of this is that people are indeed reading this collection of ramblings I call The Back Porch, and it seems that what I saw here might actually have some impact in the outside world.

I will also add that I have gotten some awefully cool and wierd hits. Hits from outside of this general region are always awesome. I've had hits from Germany, Spain, Russia, L.A., LA, WI, VA, PA, and tons of other places. But I've also had some hits that are a little odd. I think I know who it is, but I just think its wierd that he's reading my blog... but I'll keep that one a little closer to the chest.

Ants in my Pants!!!... well really just my yard

I have a major ant problem in my yard. I just mowed the grass and I must have come across at least 10, and I didn't even mow the whole back yeard! Every mound was like a Mayan temple. Most were 6-8 inches in height and 10-12 in diameter! and these little guys are killers!! I uncovered one mound with the mower and inside it I saw where they had killed a small snake and were beginning to eat it! The poor little guy was probably just looking for a place to get out of the rain and slithered down the wrong hole. The ants were like, 'Hello... we're gonna eat your head off, k?'

I'm just glad I wore long pants and tall socks... and bites do a number on me.