Bringing the Drama

before tonight, the closest i had gotten to playing actual poker was watching the reruns of the world series of poker on espn and watching ‘rounders‘. last week at the triple birthday party, zach said he’d be having a poker night at his house. sure enough, we all met up and played poker. it was the first time anything had taken place in ‘the shed’ since at least the hurricane. the thursday night group used to meet there. i met four new people tonight. it was really interesting to hear about what all they do in the places they live, like sacramento, L.A., and nashville. since my family is from here, i don’t have to go anywhere, so i guess that’s a bonus on some level. it was a great night. i totally lost all of my money ($5) but at least i was not the first one to go out. it was a lot of fun to sit around, talking anything and everything, drinking, and there was some pipe and cigarette smoking involved. it was excellent, except for the losing money part. i still can’t believe i lost a hand when i was dealt pocket aces.

on the ride back i put on the elvis christmas album i got the other day…and thought of tomorrow how i’ll be doing the annual trip to my grandmother’s to see family and unwrap presents. christmas kind of snuck up on me this year. maybe cause of the whole two month life delay from september through october, i don’t know. i certainly have had to deal with an increase in traffic, even moreso than the post-hurricane normal. its been plenty cold lately but its just been an odd month or so, and now all of a sudden i have a 10 day vacation from work (thank God!) and tons of college football to watch. anyway, i need to wrap some presents for tomorrow. i think i’m finally starting to feel it.

merry christmas!

what is it with me and trying to buy new ryan adams albums? first it was the harrowing experience going to buy the last album, jacksonville city nights, and now tonight, all i wanted to do was go buy 29.

best buy had the cheapest price, but i knew that they wouldn’t have the cd out in the racks. since the hurricane, and before really, they have become completely inept at putting new music out unless its some overplayed sound alike band, or maybe the new swan song of some crappy rap star. and then when you ask them about said new cd, they have no idea what you’re talking about. ‘ryan adams, do you mean bryan adams?’. anyway, so i knew i would have to order it online and go pick it up in the store. it was cool, i used my gift card, and done. get the email, so i planned on rolling over there tonight before meeting a friend for coffee. i get to bb, and sure enough, no new album in the rack…’ha’ i thought, i had outsmarted them. so i go stand in the product pickup line which somehow has been combined with the return/i’m a stupid dumbass line. i stood in line starting about 7:30 and proceeded to witness the “i’m a stupid dumbass” line in action. first it was the lady who was trying to get a refund for an opened video game that her son was saying did not work. not exchange it for the same game, a refund. so the little best buy girl says “no you can’t do that. we can get you another one since you say it doesn’t work”. this lady would have none of that. she proceeded to rant and rave when the manager got there, and told him how the policy was misleading. did i mention we’re standing at the customer service desk where there’s a GIANT display of the official policies, including the one about ‘no refunds for opened music/games/movies’. then the lady says how her son purchased it, and he is a minor, so he should have been more properly notified so either he or the adult he could be with can read it. the policy should be in bold. (the ‘minor’ was like 15) this went on for about 15 minutes during which the manager said “if the game doesn’t work, we’ll get you another one, open it, and make sure it works before you take it home”. even that didn’t work, but eventually when it was apparent she was not going to get a refund, but just a new game, she disgruntedly went to the back to get the new copy. the couple in front of me were complaining loudly about how they were in the back of the store and no one was helping them. so…., you’re in an overcrowded store with about half of the normal staff, i wonder how you could not be getting helped. they kept complaining about how the manager was being a jerk, and the guy in front of them turned around and said “you’re dealing with not enough staff and someone trying to do something they know they can’t do. i totally see his point”. the lady kind of backpeddled on her complaining a bit, and i added “you can’t return an open video game for a refund ANYWHERE”. she finally shut up. fortunately they were able to pick up whatever they were getting at the front rather quickly, which left me to be the next in line. suffice to say, i had to call my friend and tell him i’d be late. when i finally got to the front of the line, i didn’t even look to see what cd i got, i just took it and left vowing not to go there for a long time. just another exciting chapter of “the overcrowded parish”. no wonder i’m looking to move.

oh, and the new album kicks ass! (not that i haven’t already heard it a few times already)

last weekend i had gone to nashville again to visit my internet friends and go to the andrew peterson christmas show. this year it wasn’t so much about the show, it was about seeing my friends. the show was great, of course, but i found it to be anticlimatic. seeing how the musicians had such a strong bond with each other which pretty much made me really appreciate the show differently from the past two years. just a group of friends who get together every year and play a show, that is fellowship. i had written a post while i was waiting in the nashville airport for my flight home. this is not that post, i’ll show that one later. funny thing, some little punk kid sat next to me and looked over my shoulder as i wrote. i hate that. its like someone staring over your shoulder when you’re typing.

i just finished reading ‘through painted deserts‘. its probably the fastest i’ve read a book. one week and i am now done. i loved it. there were moments were tears welled up, moments of laughter, and it was all real. i wish that it’d be made into a movie, but i figure don miller has to get a bit more popular. the past few months after the hurricane, i’ve really gotten this feeling to simplify my life. when i saw elizabethtown, all i could think of was how i want to start over doing something i want to do. and now reading through painted deserts, i’m presented again with the idea of not worrying about getting all the ‘stuff’, but just to enjoy God. i have thought seriously about moving again, and i’ve been searching for jobs. a few have really caught my eye, like fire inspector. but none of those jobs are open near nashville right now. i know i’d have to take a paycut probably, but i’d be doing something i like…well, i think so anyway. i could buy a smaller house and live simpler. and i think if i got enough for my house, i’d be able to pay off my car. it all sounds so easy. i’ve been praying a lot about it, and i really want to do it. i want to finish fixing my house obviously, and that’ll probably be done by the end of january. five months, i really didn’t think it would take that long, and compared to some people, that’s getting things fixed really fast. just a fact of life down here these days i guess.

in one of the first chapters of the book, don talks about how he doesn’t have keys to anything. they’re living out on the road, and he doesn’t have keys. to be able to live so freely makes me jealous a little bit. i remember when i would finish a semester at clemson, i’d have that ‘no responsibility’ feeling after finals were over. i said a few times “i owe nothing to anyone”…and it would be true, for about 4 weeks, then i’d go back to school. when i graduated, i didn’t really find a job very fast, but instead of just enjoying the time God gave me, i put pressure on myself and really doubted a lot. i only got over things when i got over myself.

the past few months, i’ve felt like just enjoying life. my job is my job, and its fine for now, but my life is my friends. i remember when a group of my friends from work got together at andy’s house, and we put up this volleyball set that he had gotten for making 5 years with the company. one of the poles was broken, so we wrapped that end around a pine tree, and proceeded to play. then i think we ate dinner and watched the apprentice. then there was that time i first went to my current bible study. we don’t even read the bible that much, but i’ve told them how its my most spiritual time of the week, just going on thursday nights and hanging out with the guys. the time jacob explained how he had cursed out a customer, i felt like i had finally found a group. i’ve never felt more part of a group before, and i thank God all the time for allowing me to know them.

i really don’t know where i’m going with all of this, but i think i’ve finally figured out what going with the flow means. i would say here that trey should have explained it, but then it wouldn’t have made sense at the time.

so last weekend i was really looking forward to this weekend because i was supposed to go up to clemson to see about a girl. then last sunday, said girl calls me up, having flipped out, and cancels because she doesn’t see us getting married. we had never been out on a date, EVER. i know right? don’t worry, feel free to comment. i felt it was like a movie or something. i told my friend trey, that i’ll get orlando bloom to play me. well, at least i am home to watch all the football that’ll come on today, and i was able to get some stuff done around the house yesterday, like install the replacement dimmers for the new kitchen lights (shown below), get a flooring estimate (might have new floors by the end of january!), and i watched the first harry potter movie (and i liked it!). oh, and i was also ecstatic wednesday because all the debris in front of my house FINALLY got picked up. 3 months and one day since the hurricane. it was a red letter day for sure!

i got a call from my friend bill last night, he had gone to the clemson soccer game where they scored in the last minute of the game and are playing in the final four! you can watch a video of the winning goal here.

another thing that was funny this week was the drive home wednesday afternoon. i’m in the back of len’s car, crammed in there really cause he has a firebird. i’m on the phone asking a friend about a good price on some repair work i’m getting, and we come to the intersection where people have lost their minds. what is this intersection? i’ll tell you. at the intersection of 3 interstates, people from I-59 are refusing to yield. i’m not talking normal cars, i’m talking big trucks, including this one guy who wednesday afternoon thought because he was pulling a trailer, that it was okay to just about run us off the road even if he was supposed to slow down. so len pulls along side of him, because we don’t have a yield sign and the guy just keeps coming to the point where len is on the shoulder blowing his horn, and the guy is blowing his horn at us like we’re the ones who are wrong. so i leaned forward, looked the guy square in the eye, and flipped him off as i’m on the phone. man, it felt great. i think len hit the accelerator and finally got around the guy. THEN, the guy tails us, and then flips us off as we get off at our exit. WTF? we’re having to deal with a LOT of bad drivers with all the temp people in town so i hope they leave asap, but that probably won’t be till summer maybe? i don’t like thinking it’ll be that long.