Doctor's Visit

One of my oldest friends, The Doctor, visited me over the weekend. That's not a pun, but we do like to joke that The Doctor is in reality an old man. It was a great opportunity to experience a slew of new things, plus a little bit of old times thrown in for good measure.

That's not a surgical mask.

She Is Suffering

Beauty finds refuge in herself
Lovers wrapped inside each others lies
Beauty is such a terrible thing
She is suffering yet more than death

She is suffering
She sucks you deeper in
She is suffering
You exist within her shadow

Beauty she is scarred into man's soul
A flower attracting lust, vice and sin
A vine that can strangle life from a tree
Carrion, surrounding, picking on leaves

She is suffering
She sucks you deeper in
She is suffering
You exist within her shadow

Beauty she poisons unfaithful all
Stifled, her touch is leprous and pale
The less she gives the more you need her
No thoughts to forget when we were children

She is suffering
She sucks you deeper in
She is suffering
Nature's lukewarm pleasure

-Manic Street Preachers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhL5MQ9lYkY

"She" is desire.

Wedding Weekend, Part III

The final installment of Wedding Weekend: Saturday and Sunday

MQM: 6/28

With The Doctor in town (write up coming on Wednesday, maybe Tuesday), I find this one to be a fitting quote:

"The only way to have a friend is to go out and be one." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

FQF: 6/25

I've been bad about keeping the blog updated this week. Sorry. I promise to have Wedding Weekend Part III up next week. The World Cup is eating up my free time.

In honor of The Doctor coming down for the weekend, I give you this quote, said to me. In reference to him. By a stripper.

"If he's Gary Busey, you're Kevin Spacey."

Beautiful.

Isner vs Mahut: What You Didn't Know

Isner wins, and can't believe it's over.
After this photo was taken they kept playing, out of habit.

So as you probably know, American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut completed, by far, the longest tennis match ever. The previous record was a 6 hour, 33 minute true epic at the 2004 French Open. This one took 11 hours and 5 minutes for Isner to defeat Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68. An incomprehensible 70-68. That's higher scoring than a WNBA game, and about as unexciting, because both players were so dog tired they couldn't do much with their returns. They broke the scoreboard, which inexplicably was programmed to only go to 47. It set all kinds of records including the longest match ever (the 5th set alone was longer than the French Open match), most games in a match at 183 which is 100 more than the previous record, and both players shattered the record for aces in a match. They had to stop the match for darkness... twice. But that stuff is fairly well known now. You probably didn't know though, that you could do the following things and be finished before the match was over (if it were to be played non-stop):

Promises

Words, words and expressions
All these confessions of where we stand
How I see you, and you see me
Dedications of symmetry
Together, we will be, forever.

Promises are shit
We speak the way we breathe
Present air will have to do
Rearrange and see it through
Stupid fucking words
They tangle us in our desires
Free me from this give and take
Free me from this great debate

There were no truer words than when spoken
"Let that stand as it should"
There was nothing left when broken
We grab anything when we fall

Promises are shit
We speak the way we breathe
Present air will have to do
Rearrange and see us through
Stupid fucking words
They tangle us in our desires
Free me from this give and take
Free me from this great debate

You will do what you do
I will do what I do
We will do what we do
Rearrange and see it through

Go where you think you want to go
Do everything you were sent here for
Fire at will if you hear that call
Touch your hand to the wall at night

Promises, words

-Fugazi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heUFQKqDvaU

I don't really need to write much about this song, do I? Quite simply, it's very powerful.

MQM: 6/21

It escaped my mind today that Motivational Quote Monday is supposed to be posted in the morning. Oh well.

"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character." - Albert Einstein.

Einstein in Harper's 1942 swimsuit edition.

Tybee Island: More Bird Calls Than A Hunting Expedition

It can't be the summer without at least one beach trip. So Colt, Teep, Perfect Hair and I went to Tybee Island for the weekend. Tybee Island is about 20 minutes west of Savannah and apparently it's the hangout for 14 year olds and 55 year olds and not much in between. Still, we had fun...

Funny Quote Friday, 6/18

This one was said at work. I honestly don't remember who said it, or the context. Not that it matters.

"What's the male version of a female?"

Peeled Apples

You know so little about me, what if I turned into a werewolf or something?

The more I see, the less I scream
The figure 8 inside out is infinity
The naked light bulb is always wrong
They make your break complete,
Then they blow it to kingdom come

Riderless horses on Chomsky's Camelot
Bruises on my hands from digging my nails out
A series of images against you and me
Trespass your torment if you are what you want to be

I once impersonated a shop work dummy
The Levi jean will always be stronger than an Uzi
A dwarf takes his cockerel out on the cockfight
Falcons attack the pigeons in the West Wing at night

Riderless horses on Chomsky's Camelot
Bruises on my hands from digging my nails out
A series of images against you and me
Trespass your torment if you are what you want to be

-Manic Street Preachers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUbjxX3Lh7M

Peeled apples... Apples seem to last forever, but when you peel off the skin they brown almost immediately, and the skin tastes awful. At least that's how it's supposed to go. I gave a lot of thought about what song I would first put up for my Wednesday feature. This one's been stuck in my head for a while for a variety of reasons, so it was pretty appropriate. I like that the analogy of a peeled apple can apply to many a thing in a person's life. I also really like the line "trespass your torment if you are what you want to be." Of course, what you want to be has to be the best you.

The Manics are one of my favorite bands, no one in America knows them, and I kind of like it that way. They're incredibly hit or miss and their lyrics are either fantastic or tripe, sometimes within the same song. But when they're on, they're on. This is the first track of their 2009 "comeback" album Journal For Plague Lovers, with all the lyrics written by their former lyricist who has been missing since 1995. But that's for another post. Also, this song is one of their heaviest since their 1994 landmark album The Holy Bible, and it has the feel of song from that album. So I like it for a bunch of reasons, but most importantly the peeled apple analogy.

Heat, Humidity and a Head Cold

Woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat. Don't quite know why, but it was pretty cold in my bedroom so that didn't help. Then Deceptive Mexican--who uses actual wood clubs--and I went golfing in sweltering heat and humidity. Now I have a head cold. It was almost worth this view:

The 17th hole. The sun was perfect for a photo, not so much for the eyes.

Did fairly well on the front 9, but then the combination of elements and feeling like crap got to me and I fell apart after the turn. I did have a great tee shot that went about 220 yards, a few nice putts and a wonderful tee shot on 17. I also only hit two trees, and the rebounds on both put my ball on the fairway, so I'm definitely getting better. Baby steps.

Wedding Weekend, Part II

Part II of III of Wedding Weekend: Friday.

My apologies for the delay, but there was a lot to write.

Motivational Quote Monday, 6/14

Sometimes we all need a little inspiration in our lives. And while actions speak louder than words, words can be pretty important. So I thought that on Mondays I would share with you an inspirational or reflective quote that I really like. Maybe it'll give you a little needed motivation on a Monday, or a little reality check if you're in a difficult spot. What you do with it is up to you, but I don't randomly choose these.

"The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live." - Flora Whittemore

USA vs England: A Look Back

Tomorrow I'll have Part II of Wedding Weekend, but today it's a recap of USA/England and some post game activities.

Even Coke cans have vuvuzelas.

Funny Quote Friday, 6/11

So it occurred to me after writing yesterday's post that today starts the World Cup. And when that ends, it'll essentially be training camp time for football. So baseball will be taking a back seat this summer.

So onto the funny quote to get you in the right mind set for the weekend. This one comes from the Myrtle Beach bachelor party. There are so many to choose from:

"It smells like Wilford Brimley in there."



Old man and oatmeal. A wonderful combination.

Thursday Wildcard: Ball Four

Kind of hard to "smoke 'em inside" with a knuckleball.

Introducing A Daily Feature

I was thinking of ways to write on here more (I'm currently in the middle of what feels like the fourth draft of Part II of the Wedding Weekend), get my thoughts out and share a little bit of me. So I thought I'd do a little daily feature on weekdays. Here's what I'm thinking:

Mondays - Post an inspirational quote to help me and you get your week started.
Tuesdays - Some kind of photo, whether it be funny, inspirational or just really well done. This may change.
Wednesdays - A song, or song lyric that means something to me or I just really want to share.
Thursdays - Wildcard. Whatever I'm in the mood for.
Friday - "Funny Quote Friday" - a funny quote from someone in my life (they'll be anonymous), to help set the mood for the weekend.

I hope you like it.

Wedding Weekend, Part I

This past weekend was the wedding of two of my closest friends. It was a great wedding and a great weekend. On every level, everything exceeded expectations. How's that for alliteration? This is part I of III of my weekend's experiences: Thursday.

Opening Weekend

Opening weekend wasn't the most eventful weekend, pretty much it was Saturday and that was it, but that's quite alright. This upcoming weekend will be epic, and I have two more major weekends planned for June. So a light weekend was welcomed...

The magic word and the winning chip.