Couple of thoughts

First of all, I had some fun on Thursday. I had a few errands to do after work. I am in an incredibly good mood, so I kinda went everywhere with a grin on my face. Ok, it may have been smirk-ish. But definitely a smile type thing. People really do look at you like you have a secret when you walk around with a smile on your face. I'm going to try it more often. Not because I'll be happier more often, more to watch the reactions of others. Secondly, one of my errands tonight was to get a pedicure. I was feeling very happy. And very daring. My toes are a color called Just Groovy. It's a lovely bright sky blue. Hell yes. Next, a pet peeve of mine came to light today from an unexpected source. Let me just say this: I will have intelligent conversation with just about anyone about just about anything. HOWEVER. Please know what the fack you are talking about. It's cool to have a difference of opinion - keeps things interesting. BUT you need to have an informed opinion. Please don't just spit at me this morning's biased headlines (often inaccurate, as was the case with today's conversation). If you feel strongly about something, care enough about it to do a little research. Don't just spout off some b.s. soundbite you heard somewhere. I expect people to be able to back up what they are saying. Finally, in about 24 hours I am off on a North Woods vacation with two of my most favorite people (duh, Shannon and TheMarty) and 5 of his closest friends. 5 complete strangers. I am excited and a little nervous. I know for a fact I won't be able to sleep tonight. Which is good, because I am being picked up to start this little adventure at an un-Godly hour.

No blog for you

I didn't have time to write a "real" entry for today. Too busy burning the CDs I need for my new friends this weekend. See, 8 people going to the North Woods and we are supposed to bring something for everyone. I created a masterful CD entitled "The Best of.....Cheese". Next week I'll post the songs that are on it. I want it to be a surprise for those getting a copy first. Have a nice day.

SO Happy

Just checked my hotmail. Just got an email from M. From Haiti. He's back in the states at the end of the month and promises to get in touch. I am so happy!

The Question

Today's question for TheMarty: How did you get so awesome? Happy happy birthday. I love ya in a completely non-sexual way.

Delay due to hangover

AKA: 24 Welshman I wanted to kidnap. Whew. What a weekend. It's Monday evening, about 7pm, and this is the first moment I have felt well enough to even switch on my computer. Friday night was SIL1X's dad's surprise birthday party. Good times. Saturday and Sunday I worked at the Folk and Roots festival. Saturday I helped out in the VIP tent, which meant sit there and drink some beer and circle names on a list. The bands were great, I highly recommend some Slavic Soul Party. Not kidding. I headed back stage to hang out with my friends. It was there that I happened to meet some of my new favorite people, the Burlington Welsh Mens Choir. Cuter awesomer thirstier whiter-haired men I will never meet again. Being around these geriatric charmers had me saying "It'll be a great night if I can get 26 Welshmen sleeping on my living room floor tonight!". Loved them. They had performed with Jon Langford, and unfortunately I missed their performance. I got my drink on backstage, and had a great night. Sunday morning I was totally paying for Saturday night's good time. I barely got off the couch in time to get myself back to the fest. I started out the day really well, I drank mostly water. Sunday I was working backstage, serving beer to the artists and staff. All weekend, I had wanted to meet Jon Langford, but was uncharacteristically shy for some reason. I'll blame the hangover. Anyway. I was talking to my friend Sarah, and Jon was right next to her. I said "That's Jon Langford, isn't it?" and Sarah (in her infinite awesomeness) introduced me to him. He was really cool, just a nice chatty normal guy. I love Old Town and Folk and Roots because of people like Jon. Everyone is just so nice and chill. I chatted with Jon for a little bit and got back to work. Sunday's job had me working for T. T is awesome. She's one of my favorite people over at Old Town. I really like her, and it was good to work with her so we could hang out. So, Sunday night I got pretty tired, and I was sober, so D and I decided not to hang out, and we walked over to the bus stop. Welllll - the bus stop happens to be next to my favorite bar. Well, some of my friends were there. Well. 3:30 am came pretty fast. I was SMASHED. I can state for a fact I had 3 shots of Jameson, 2 of Petron, and (ahem) a few Blue Moons. I do remember taking a cab home. Beyond that things get a little fuzzy. Ok, a lot fuzzy. I found out this morning that I sent Shannon a 3am text message. I believe it was 'GO9'. Yeah, not a clue what it means. I also ended up in my sister's bathroom upstairs around 5:45 this morning. So I am told. I guess I had a nice little drunken sleepwalking thing going on. Good thing I had planned to be off work today.

Nostalgia and reminisence

I have been feeling incredibly nostalgic lately. It's gone kinda like this - I'll randomly have a dream about some guy from my past. It's always a very vivid, odd dream (minds out of the gutter, friends!) and it stays with me for the whole day, sometimes longer. Then, I think about the person in the dream for days on end. There's one guy I'm pining for because of these stupid dreams, but I won't be writing about him. At least, not today. So, last night I have a whole new dream, and another big wave of nostalgia. I've been grinning all day remembering these two. Yep, I said TWO. Twins, actually. Back in the day I was awesome enough to have had flings with a set of twins. Here, we will call them M & B. Some back story: I met M & B at a fine arts camp I went to. Best. Camp. Ever. I hit it off with M & B right away. As the oldest group of campers both boys and girls shared a unit, and we all did all of our activities together, and hung out at night. I went to that camp each summer for three years. I had a huge crush on B for a long, long time. He was one of the first guys I kissed. He was also my junior prom date. Every summer at camp we had to do a talent show. My second summer B organized all of the older boys and they sang a song to me. The boys were all up on the stage, and B said "Von, This one's for you." and they proceeded to sing to me. I was so the envy of every girl at that camp!! At some point (much later down the road) I had a crush on M. What never turned into a defined "relationship" was still something unique and meaningful at the time. I don't know how we managed it, but B was totally fine with it, and we were still all good friends. My friend Laura and I spent a lot of time with M & B for a while. One of my favorite memories is hanging out at M & B's with Laura. We drank coffee that M called orgasmic coffee. (This was before Starbucks was all cool and everywhere, so awesome coffee was a pretty cool thing) I think that night Laura and B actually sang for us. Laura being a mezzo-soprano with years of training, and B being a tenor, with years of training. I remember feeling so grown-up and content. I remember hoping that my evenings as an adult were as awesome as this one was. Good coffee, fantastic music, sexual tension..... I don't really remember why I lost touch with M & B. I vaguely remember M moving away when he transferred colleges, and he definitely took a little piece of my heart with him. About the same time, B was busy with his life, he was seeing someone seriously, and was pursuing his greatest passion - singing Opera. I hadn't thought about them in years, quite honestly. Then, that stupid dream last night that they were both in (AGAIN, minds out of the gutter). So, of course, I googled them (God bless the Internet!!) Holy Shit. M is now DR. M and a professor of anthropology at a very respectable university. He's kinda far away. B is a professional opera singer. He's living his dream, and sharing his incredible talent with the world. And as far as I can tell, he's still living in the Chicago suburbs. I totally dug a little deeper and found some email addresses for them. I don't know if they are even good, current addresses for them, but I sent them both emails. I think life is too short that if you want to reconnect with someone, there's no time like the present. I have nothing to lose really. Fingers crossed I'll hear from at least one of them. I'd love to tell them how they made me grin like a 14 year old for an entire day without even trying.

Winners All

And the winners are: First Place: Billy Pilgrim with 11 correct Second Place: Brando Third Place: Zelmo Please get in touch w/ me so I can send you your prizes. BP, if you are coming to Chicago in August with AG and MenD, your prize can be 3 beers payed for by me!! If you are not coming, I'll figure something else out. Brando - you have won a Starbucks gift card!! You might need it, with Libby keeping you up and all.... Zelmo - You have won a lovely Chicago knick knack!! Now, help me figure out how to get your info to send you prizes?