Going to the Ghosties… Again
As all of you know, Nanner has weird tastes and that includes going to abandonded prisons and lunatic asylums, haunted houses, haunted towns, and just generally wherever the ghosties are. Last year, I took Nate and Cam to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. The Travel Channel finally got with the program and are broadcasting live tomorrow night from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. or something like that. They are locking their Ghost Adventures guys in the asylum for seven hours.
Although I would like for you to watch, most definitely would love for you to watch the show, the real point of this post is that I’m going to be there! No, not inside with the film crew, not hunting ghosties, no, not on TV, but I am going to be outside. Le Restaurant is catering the event and I volunteered to help chef with the 3 a.m. breakfast call. Actually, I just want to be there. I don’t care about going inside, I just want to be there. Jennifer Garner had her father’s birthday party at the restaurant and I missed all of the fun. Not this time!
Actually, I’ll be there from about 9:30 p.m.-ish to right after we finish with breakfast (for 130 – imagine eggs for a 130 peeps) which starts at the aforementioned 3 a.m. Then I will drive home (almost 2 hours), take a nap, and then go to work at 10 a.m. because I truly do belong at the Lunatic Asylum.
Watch the Travel Channel and also wish my good buddy Kenju a Happy Birthday!
Update
I guess you can say its been a long time since you’ve blogged if you can’t remember your username and password. Oops.
I’ve been very busy with traveling, Nate, writing, and life in general.
Nate and I went to the October Sky Festival in Coalwood. It was a beautiful day, just gorgeous. I’ve struck up a friendship with one of the other Rocket Boys. He works across the mountain from where I live. He’s cool.
I have not seen Adonis since that day after work.
I’m still dealing with this whole thing with Jeff.
I’ve been writing and reading a whole bunch. I met author Josh Weil at the WV Book Festival. His new book, “The New Valley” is out. It’s a collection of novellas, which is very exciting for me, since I love to write them. It was very good. I suggest it. Plus, he’s really cute and wrote something sweet in my book.
I’ve read, “Brokeback Mountain,” “The Reader,” “The Road,” (MUST READ – AMAZING), and about 10 of the 49 short stories of Ernest Hemingway. My favorite so far is, “The Short Happy Life of Francis MacComber.” I think that’s how it’s spelled. I have several others on my list by Alice Hoffman, Jim Harrison, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I’m also reading, “When Miners March,” by William C. Blizzard. It’s about the Redneck Army that marched to Logan in 1921 to attempt to unionize the coalfields. When I talk to my guests at the restaurant I tell them what I’m reading and most have a book they like to suggest.
And Nate, don’t get me started on that gangly 13-year-old of mine. Having to kick his ass over school, but he’s picked up the ball and I’m already seeing big improvements in his grades, or rather, just not as many zeros. He had the croup and was out for four days. His 8th grade class has about 160 students and about 100 were out the same week he was with either flu or croup and it just keeps going around.
T-Bird’s eldest had swine flu and both Nate and I were exposed but dodged it for the time being. Amazingly, so did everyone else in the family so far. T-Bird is in the hospital right now. She had surgery on her hernia again. It was really, really bad. The doctor had to work about 3 hours to get her put back together the way she should be, then he put her ass in the hospital. She’ s been there since Monday and boy is she pissed!
Her sister is getting ready to take back custody of her nephews, after 2 1/2 years, and of course she’s up in arms about that. I told her that what is going to happen is going to happen, to move on and take care of HERSELF. That means, among other things, to lose weight. I know, easy for me to say. No, not always easy for me to say. Since her ongoing medical problems are a direct result of her weight and how she carries it and she did lose 40 pounds but then gained it all back and then some and wants to blame everyone for her problems but herself, I have an issue with that.
If she just said, “I should have stuck to not drinking soda and getting up and moving around a bit more,” then okay. But, blaming your doctor because you didn’t follow her instructions? Unacceptable. Here’s the thing, if she drinks 4-6 Mountain Dewdrops a day and every time I see her she’s sitting on her butt… well. I’m past the point of being able to garner sympathy when she blames someone else for her problems.
I’ve offered to walk with her after I get off work, since I’m either at her house picking Nate up or driving by her house every day. I know its easier to exercise, especially when you don’t like it, with someone else. I got off my routine when Nate was sick so I have to make myself make time to do extra exercise to prepare for the marathon in April. I drop Nate at school, then go to work an hour early, and since I work on a hill, I walk down the hill and back up The Sunrise Carriage Trail, which is an access road that William MacCorkle used to bring building supplies up the mountain to build his mansion, Sunrise or The MacCorkle Mansion, now on the register of historic places. Its awesome. I’ll take some pictures.
Anyway, T-Bird’s response to me was, “Uh, *snort* NO!” So.
That’s about it from this end. Sorry I haven’t been around to visit. I try to follow everyone I can on Facebook and I do drop into Blogland and root around a bit, just been busy takin’ care of business and such.
Reasons
Why I have not blogged:
1. I am training to walk a marathon.
2. I’ve been working on my screenplay. In one day I created a wonderful character that I fell in love with and then killed him, of course because he asked me to, to serve as a catalyst for the protagonist. I cried for an hour.
3. Since Jeff dipped out of our lives permanently, for now, that is, I’ve been doing a lot of crying, whether I’m killing my favorite characters or not. His “leaving” is a catalyst for the protagonist and here, I’m the protagonist.
4. I’ve been watching TV with Nate. We hang out a lot. This reminds me of how precious he is so that I do not come unhinged over his abysmal grades.
5. Sometimes, I nap.
6. I’ve been observing my world like I’ve never seen it before.
He stood on the edge of the parking lot, white hair glistening in the Autumn sun. I wondered if long, dark grey, wool coats, stiff black suits, and crisp white shirts were the standard issue uniform for funeral home personnel. Alway so pristine, as though lint and cat hairs are afraid to bond to their clothing. I glanced around for a hearse and thought that he must be waiting to direct them, anyone, to the right entrance. Later, I saw him in the same place, hands clasped behind him, coat fluttering open in the breeze, enough to see the unwaivering tie and matching handkerchief. It was then I realized he was waiting for death, perhaps even calling to it.
7. I have been memorizing and singing all of the new songs by Alice In Chains. As always, their music is a soundtrack for my life. Some of my favorite lyrics:
A wolf alone upon the hillside
i live on what they thrown away
i go to sleep behind the eight ball
i live to fight for one more day
i’m trapped in the cold outside
there ain’t no shelter
they wanna force my hand
til i take what i wanted
and break all the lies
that they feed, the fucking liars
smash all the temples
and crawl through the rubble
and cry to the fallen (Last of My Kind)
No one plans to take the path that brings you lower
And here you stand before us all and say it’s over
It’s over (Your Decision) Beautiful, amazing song. Cathartic.
Pray, squeal when you’re caught
Cry, it’s not my fault (When The Sun Rose Again) Love the guitar on this song.
I don’t wanna feel no more
It’s easier to keep falling
Consciously avoiding changes
Curtain drawn, now it’s done
Silencing all tomorrows
Forcing our goodbyes
Lay down, black gives way to blue
Lay down, I’ll remember you (Black Gives Way to Blue)
Sir Elton John plays on this song. Simple and simply beautiful. A live video of this song, minus Sir Elton.
That’s about it. Just trying to get my ducks in a row. Oh, and I had to fix a couple lyrics. I just got my liner notes downloaded and got all of the RIGHT lyrics. Oh yeah.
Anything Goes 