It's been awhile... sorry...

So, it's been awhile since I posted. Since then:

a. Nothing much in my life has changed. My life is depressingly monotonous and the ONLY thing keeping me going is knowing that I'm saving money to move to Santa Fe to pursue my dream. And I love my dream. And I love Santa Fe. So that's 'enough.'

b. I found out that Kendrick (my BUDDY) will NOT be waiting for me in Santa Fe as I'd hoped. Such is life...

c. I made a great friend (Scotty) who I love and adore. I also re-love CLAIRE, one of my good friends who has made a big comeback in my life recently. And I shared the most beautiful night ever (the night of the big snowstorm) with both of them last weekend, along with our friend Colleen... all of them were GREAT sports about a 3am impromptu snowstorm photo shoot in the park, and I got this great (albeit POSED) shot of Scott and Claire...


You can check out more shots from the night, including some shit shots from the bar before the shoot and the snowball fight randomly following the shoot at:

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/klenz1024/snowstorm/

Well, it's quarter after six in the morning and I'm still up. Being nocturnal does not sit well with me. I either can't sleep, can't wake up, or can't tell if I'm asleep or awake (the scariest of all.) For years I have been dying to know how it would feel to master 'lucid dreaming,' AKA being able to consciously control your dreams. Ok... I figured it out. It sucks. I'm dying to go back to SLEEP and AWAKE with no grey area but it doesn't look likely. All I know right now is that I need to be AWAKE for work. Besides that - I'm out. And the kicker is that I'm almost AFRAID to go to sleep because it usually ends up in a restless half asleep/half awakeness that sucks more than just being awake and tired.

I have a ski trip next week, leaving the day after Christmas and returning the 29th... hopefully that time back on a NORMAL schedule will help re-align my sleep patterns, and I'm hoping to be back to a routine come the new year. Unfortunately, 'closing' at work is the only way to make the money I need, but after closing I can't fall asleep until 5am (at the earliest). Maybe my new promotion at work will mean more hours in the day so that I can stop closing so much. At least, I sure am hoping it will....

I hope that everyone has a phenomenal holiday and a safe and FUN New Years... I'll be working this New Years Eve... I'm gonna miss my 'last' New Year's with my friends but the money is too promising to pass up. If anyone needs plans for the night, gimme a call... God knows I would appreciate the company that night!

etc

If you understand this sign, and are at least slightly amused, then you've made it onto the 'potential husband' short list.



God, I LOVE panda bears. This picture makes my life complete.

Moon ring

So after work tonight (I got out at 3am) my friend Josh was scraping the ice off of my car for me when I looked up and noticed that the FULL moon in the sky had a huge glowing ring around it. It was terribly cool! When I got home I (of course) froze my ass off trying to get a good picture of it. Without a tripod. Because I STILL don't have a tripod! So please forgive the high amount of noise (high ISO + drastic curves adjustments) and slight motion blur from hand shake.

The first picture shows the whole ring...



And the second one shows it in perspective... this one was taken from the walkway in front of my house...



I looked it up on the Interweb and found this:

A Ring Around The Moon

The ring around the Moon is caused by the refraction of Moonlight (which of course is reflected sunlight) from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring. Since the ice crystals typically have the same shape, namely a hexagonal shape, the Moon ring is almost always the same size.

Less typical are the halos that may be produced by different angles in the crystals. They can create halos with an angle of 46 degrees

This guy hit the nail on the head...

... when he made THIS list.

Although I'm convinced that Scott Stapp (from CREED) and Chad Kroeger (from NICKELBACK) should have been tied for first.

Also, someone needs to buy me this shirt for Christmas...

Kalen, Lauren, and Anneli

So Kalen, his wife Lauren and their daughter Anneli came home for a visit this week. They've been out of Michigan for at least three years, and they don't make it home very often, so it was great to see them. They got in last Saturday, and they head back to Philly tomorrow (aka later today).

Kalen was supposed to have this huge fancy private party at a jazz club downtown, but after spending the first two days of his time home in the ER, he just wasn't feeling up to it. He finally regained some energy and we hung out for a bit on Wednesday night. Thursday night he had the 'rescheduled' birthday party and most of his friends got dressed up anyway, even though we were staying in town. Not me... it takes a miracle to get me dressed up! We started the night at Doyles and then moved to 336 Main to close it out. It was a blast!

Today I went over to Kalen's mother's house to visit Kalen, Lauren, and Anneli... also Kalen's little brother Justin and his mom, Alecia. Oh, and 'Bear,' Kalen and Lauren's 200+ pound Mastiff. I hadn't seen Anneli since Maria and I visited them in Philly for her first birthday in December. She's grown so much! Plus, both of her parents are super geniuses, so she's incredibly intelligent. I mean, she's not even two yet and she's making complete sentences. It's almost creepy, she's like a REALLY tiny first grader. Mostly she's just cute as all get out - she's got the biggest brown eyes I've ever seen.

Anyway, here's some pics from the last couple of days.

Kalen, all dressed up, being 100% swanky with his cigarette holder.

Kalen and Lauren dance to "At Last" at 336 Main.



The group at 336. From L to R it's ME, Gyorke, Dave, Kalen, Stacy, Jeffree, Lauren and Amanda.

Kalen in the garage, asking me politely not to take his picture.

Anneli making her 'cry face.'



She wanted us to measure her, but didn't understand that she had to stand up straight...


After knocking down the bricks... one of MANY times this happened.



My 'niece' and her huge beautiful eyes.

Dios mio! Hay una hacha en mi cabeza!

Ahhh... Engrish T-shirts... how I miss thee...

Please let me run into these guys in a bar. Just once. PLEASE...

just some funniness

truth