well folks, it's new years eve… day… or something. it's about time for that yearly wrap-up post wherein we cannibalize old material for new jokes, or just include a bunch of links to old posts so that the old material can provide its own punchline.

i haven't yet started to go back through the posts from this past year, but i have this feeling that it's going to be like a harvest after a drought… not much to pick from. i know i've been negligent this past year (plus some) and haven't posted as much as i should, partially because i've been attempting to develop some sort of social life, partly because some events occurred that took up a bunch of my time without really providing me with anything worthwhile to talk about, and partly because some events have occurred recently that are happily *still* taking up a bunch of my time and i choose not to go into detail about it other than to say that i'm immensely happy.

without further ado, here are the 10 most exciting/interesting things that have happened this year (and that i've previously written about) — (in chronological order, old to new):

1. The France Plan, part 1 — started talking about taking a trip to France early in the year, which eventually became a plan to go for my sisters wedding late in the year.

2. I wrote a story that eventually came to pass.

3. Put my task list up for a vote and released the first public Lucifigous Prick demo track. (which i apparently need to upload to the new server…)

4. I posted some pictures from my and brian's trip to romulus.

5. Spider-Man

6. went to visit nate.

7. Designed some flyers, started revving up for the first Lucifigous Prick show, and continued to make the same realizations about how i really needed to get off my ass and do something.

8. The number of my co-workers continues to dwindle ("Five!" … "Three sir." … "Three!")

9. Lucifigous Prick had our second show.

10. i finally made it to France for my sister's wedding.

and those are, unfortunately, the highlights. that's what i get for being a bum about posting on a regular basis. the majority of my posts are about the fact that i don't post often enough.

but, to stop putting a negative spin on things and reiterate what a great year this has been for anything other than posting to bipolar, the highlights are: Lucifigous Prick gets several shows under it's belt, I get to go to France (and for nothing less than my sister's wedding to a great guy), and i meet an awesome girl who makes me immeasurably happy. all-in-all, a great year to remember, and i think next year will be even better.

so, to all our friends, to all of you who've been reading for almost three years now, and to those of you who just stop by on occasion, have a safe & happy new year!

well, christmas time is upon us, and i'm heading out of town for the (now twice yearly) visit with my grandmother and extended family. i'm looking forward to being able to relax and enjoy the holidays, because it seems like i've been just running about like mad for the past two or so weeks… christmas present shopping, christmas party planning, lucifigous prick show planning & practicing, and website moving. feels like there've been too many stops & starts in the past few weeks–run about like crazy working on five things, then briefly stop, slow down, and enjoy one of these things that i've worked very hard to make or help make happen. then crank it back up and work some more 'til i can enjoy another one of them.

i've also been spending a large amount of time with the new lady in my life–a wonderful beautiful girl with whom i have fallen deeply and blissfully in love. i'm trying to take advantage of her free time right now, because i know that when she starts school in the Fall, i'm not going to get to spend nearly as much time with her. and speaking of this new love of mine, this will be the first christmas in many years when i've actually been with someone and had to leave them behind during the holidays. it's going to be such a mixed emotional bag, this christmas, but i think i'll survive.

anyway, it's been such a ghost town around here lately, what with the server problems and us both having new ladyfriends and thus not posting a whole bunch… i just wanted to make a post before i head for the mountains of Virginia to wish you all happy holidays.

may you all find warmth and happiness among family and friends.

if you can see this post, our move to the new server is complete and life can soon return to normal. and yes, you can stop holding your breath now.

wow, i think this is the first time i've been able to see this site in nearly a week. apparently, our gracious web hosts have been in the midst of a massive undertaking involving moving into a new storefront. it was so nice that they sent out word and let everyone know that this was going to happen beforehand. i'm so glad that i knew exactly what was going on.

well anyway, after this recent spate of problems (which turn out to have been a "good thing," except for the whole loss of service issue), i've decided to switch hosts once again. on the positive side, the new hosting arrangement will afford me the opportunity to set up as many damned websites as i please for a single monthly fee. now, let's just hope the new shit is reliable. it certainly looks like they've got their act together, so, my hopes are up.

i thought i'd jump on here real quick while i had the opportunity, just in case the site stays up for more than 10 minutes this time. the changeover to the new host should happen in the next day or so…

I woke up around 10:30 am or 11 and took a nice long hot bath (since there was no stall or curtain on the shower/bathtub.) [view from the hotel window]

About 12:30, I set out to walk around Deauville, and got lunch at a little restaurant (the Catelain, I think). I ordered a ham & mozarella sandwich on baguette. The waitress brought it out to me and it looked delicious.

About three minutes after I'd dug in, the waitress walked by again with another plate. As she walked by, she glanced at my plate, then the one she was carrying, and realized with a start that she'd given me the wrong thing. She took my half-eaten plate and replaced it with the new plate. So, i ended up with 1.5 lunches for the price of one… not a bad deal, especially when they were both so damned tasty.

As i was finishing my coffee after the meal, Andrew's siblings strolled up, saw me, and stopped to chat. They explained that they were on their way to the beach, and invited me to come with them. Since that was going to by my next destination anyway, I consented.

Once at the beach, we found a nice place to sit on the boundary wall, and they stopped to have their lunch. We sat and talked for a while as they ate, and we admired the beautiful view.

After they ate, we took off our shoes (most of us, anyway) and went to walk along the shoreline. I waded out into the surf a very small distance, and found that the water was extremely cold. Nevertheless, i "toughed it out" and continued to walk along in the edge of the surf. After a few minutes, my feet were cold enough that i didn't notice it anymore.

We continued to walk down the beach, me in the shallow surf, while they stayed away from the water's edge. The beach, especially at the edge of the water, was composed more of pulverized shells than of sand.

I collected a few whole shells I found along the way, and took several photos of the view from the beach, the shoreline, and I think i got several nice shots of my sister's in-laws-to-be.

We stayed on the beach for a few hours, finally leaving around 4:00pm. When I left the beach, I realized we were not actually in Deauville anymore, but in (what i thought was) Trouville. Turns out, it was actually Tourganville, not Trouville. Nevertheless, I actually got in a good long walk through a small French town.

Thinking the night's big pre-wedding dinner (a full French-style dinner) was rapidly approaching, I stopped off at the hotel room to see if the folks had made it back from their visit to Omaha beach and the American (WWII) cemetary.

Finding no sign of their presence, I left a note letting them know I'd be at the American house. I got there and just sat and chilled out for a while until dinner.

The dinner itself was splendid, with an apéritif (kir), appetizer (fish mousse), entree (baked fish–a local variety and speciality), and a huge cake of sorbét. The dinner was hosted by a friend of Sara's , who owns the hotel/restaurant next door to the American house. (l'Esperance) All the dishes were the owner/head chef's signature creations. A glorious meal, to be sure.

Lots of fun, lots of photo ops, &… more wine for my brother (this time under the direct watchful gaze of my ultra-conservative southern-baptist parents), and even comments from my own mother regarding how "dissapointed" Javan would have been had he known there were topless sunbathers on the beach.

family:	[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
family-in-law:	[1] [2]
friends:	[1] [2] [3] [4]

The ending weekend of my France trip was the single most mind-blowing weekend in my life. My parents said, did, and allowed things that would never have flown when I was Javan's age. I'll bet they've even let him buy the bad-guy action figures.

After dinner, I went out with the Deauville girls, Jason, Steven, Paulo, Marcella, Rhonda, and Kendall (minus Margaret, who was on her date). Jason was kind enough to buy my drink, since I hadn't managed to get a traveler's cheque exchanged earlier in the day.

After drinks, Laura, Jason, and Steven went to a dance club, but the rest of us bailed to prepare for the long wedding day.

—-

ever closer to the final entries of the paris journal, which has, at this point, stretched out much much longer than i'd ever anticipated. i would like to say that i'm trying to raise the level of suspense, but that would be a load of malarkey and we all know it.