An Appreciation of Friends Post

     Over the last couple days it's struck me again that friendships are something to be treasured. Part of that is probably because Courtney was home for Thanksgiving, and your siblings can be friends, too, right?
     Also Caleb just got back from Mexico, seeing people he knows down there, and then Mattie shot his senior pictures this afternoon, which turned out really well.

     Daniel's daughter Grace arrived safely yesterday morning, really happy for him and Chrissy, they'll be fantastic parents. His sister Emily also just announced that she's pregnant, which is also cool. And Amanda's son Hayden was born last month, meaning that I now have a nephew.
     According to Facebook, it was nine years ago today that Ashland and I became FB friends, so it was neat to see the video that they compiled for the "friendaversary" (which is a stupid made-up non-word). "It feels like we've known each other for forever," she said, and it really does. 
     It was a little over ten years ago that I met them at camp the first time.

     Mini Parks and Rec marathon tonight with Caleb and Courtney, which was sort of like visiting friends again; not sure how I would've gotten through that first semester at RSU without the folks from Pawnee. Also, it was a way to keep in touch with NSU BCM friends.

     The first teaser trailers for Toy Story 4 released earlier this week/late last week, and of course Woody, Buzz and the rest were movie-friends I've known basically my entire life. I'm not sure whether I like the idea of a fourth movie, the trilogy wrapped things up so nicely, but I'll watch it. Anyway, "You've Got a Friend in Me" has been stuck in my head all day today, which is always pleasant.

     The sequel to Wreck-It Ralph, Ralph Breaks the Internet, opened a few days ago, it looks really good. Ralph and Vanellope make a great team.   

Strange Dreams, Part Six

3-16-18 -
     Stephen King is staying with me for several days, and we go to this dance class that Andrew Nichols is teaching. Dr. Mackie and Ashland are also taking this class.

3-22-18 -
     Ashland and I try to survive a shooting in a movie theater. It was scary.

6-10-18 -
     I agree to go camping with Amanda and Aaron to babysit Maya and Ellie so they can have a break. Chasing nieces around all weekend leaves you very tired when you wake up.

6-23-18 -
     Ellen DeGeneres is cast as the new Batman.

7-30-18 -
     A young single mother is trapped with her high school boyfriend's family for some unidentified reason. Also forced to stay with them is an elderly man whose wife has just died.

8-14-18 -
     For some reason I was writing a magazine profile of model Lani Baker.

8-27-18 -
     Something about pitching a teen soap opera for The CW starring either Lili Reinhart or Emma Watson in a leading role, about four teenagers who grow up in the world of show-dog breeding, with frequent flashbacks to their childhoods. The show takes place  roughly from the 1940s to the 1960s in upstate New York, and the shooting location had previously been used on an Olsen twins movie, and was currently a go-kart track. 

9-20-18 -
     I've been kidnapped by a bunch of angry rednecks with shotguns and I'm trapped inside their RV.

11-2-18 -
     In order to fully graduate college you had to return several years later and give separate faculty- and peer-reviewed presentations on what you've a\accomplished professionally, what you've done socially, and based on your cooking abilities.
     It was kind of like the scoring system for The Good Place, and lots of bonus points were added if you were engaged, married or had kids. Going to movies with your siblings scored negative points.

11-10-18 -
     Someone in my phone contacts named Rhiannon (no last name entered) calls me and doesn't leave a message, and I spent the rest of the dream trying to figure out who she is and why she was there

Sports-Filled Weekend

     Caleb and I went to the Beggs game Friday night, because they were playing Haskell, and one of his Youth Tour pals is a Haskell cheerleader. They hung out for a bit, the game was close for the first quarter and then the Demons started clicking, while the Haymakers imploded. Final score Beggs 43, Haskell 8.
     It was weird, being at a Beggs game and not covering it or anything, but not bad. Just different. And a little chilly.

     The Red Sox and Dodgers were in Game 3 of the World Series when we got back, and I started watching in the eighth inning. It went to 18 innings and ended with a walk-off home run at 2:30 a.m. after seven hours and 20 minutes of baseball. Completely ridiculous, but worth watching.

     College football was on as background noise most of Saturday, and Dad and Trevor watched the OSU-Texas game, where the Cowboys won 38-35 on Homecoming. Derek Steeley and Cole were at the OU game, and the Coxes were in Fayetteville for the Arkansas game.
     Boston won Game 4 with five runs in the ninth inning.

     Dad and Trevor have had the TV turned to NFL football all day today, while I "watched" the NASCAR race at Martinsville through the online tracker and Twitter updates.

     Also read a lot of Neil Gaiman nonfiction and a sad-but-interesting novel called The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein.
     Isaac Asimov's Foundation was rather disappointing, as most early sci-fi is, though it was good to know where George Lucas picked up the idea for a city-planet and the name "Corellia," and where Joss Whedon got the idea for a scruffy pirate of dubious morals who distrusts religion (Mal Reynolds of Firefly, and come to think of it, Han Solo was probably inspired by Asimov's Linmar Ponyets).  

October

    This has been a strange month. It's also been a strange year, and the past several years, actually, have been rather odd and eventful.

     The Dodgers and the Red Sox are playing in the World Series. Caleb and I went to an Oilers game several weeks ago, we might go to a couple others this season.

     The weather's mostly been gray and wet, making it rather hard to get anything done. Still, produced a lot for Dog O'Day this month, and Bam Smack Pow articles have gotten a lot of pageviews this month. Thankful the NASCAR season is nearly finished - feels like everyone at Fronstretch is feeling that way.

     Rags got attacked the other night by Darcy and/or Smudge, so she's been hiding in my room the past couple days.

     Not going on the Arkansas hike this year, though Caleb is planning on it.

Blog Post No. 500

     Wow. This is going to be the five hundredth post on here.

     A couple years ago I wrote a post about social media and honesty. Most of the time we only see the "good parts" version of the story, with all the other stuff taken out. Most of these posts on here have been the "good parts" version, because college was rough. And because since graduating, nothing has happened.

    While doing the farm chores this summer while Mom and Trevor were competitions I realized I have no farming talent or skills to speak of. Instead, I'm very experienced at keeping the laundry and dishes running, making sure the trash is taken out and the litter boxes are clean, that sort of thing.

     Spraying chicken manure off the back porch daily gets old pretty quick, but someone needs to do it.

     Furniture Row Racing is shutting down after this season due to lack of sponsorship, which isn't surprising, but it's still pretty sad. Makes me wonder a little bit how much longer NASCAR will be able to keep going, and if it's worth tagging along for the demise.
     When I looked at the Frontstretch staff page last week, I noticed my name was bumped up to "Staff Writer" from "Contributor" sometime recently. That's nice. They're a great group of people to work with, but would the effort expended be better spent elsewhere?

     I've made $7.33 so far in earnings this year, from contributing to Bam Smack Pow. I forgot to cash the check for my 2017 Fronstretch contributions before it went bad, and I've never been paid by RSU for producing the play in March. (Not a great way to inspire your alumni, that isn't.) Around October I should start getting payments from editing Dog O'Day, so that's a little bit more coming in. 
     I've sent out what feels like a lot of job applications this week, feeling kind of brave, though still mostly hopeless.

     All four cars are pretty much undrivable, with only the car we're borrowing from Melody's dad running reliably. This wouldn't matter all that much, since I can't drive, except that we live in the middle of nowhere, so I'm kind of stranded. That's really difficult. You aren't supposed to move back in with your parents after college.

     Severe cabin fever has settled into a permanent state. As part of a large-ish family, you're considered most of the time as a part of that unit, not as an individual.

     People at church mean well, but every week there's several questions of "Have you found a job yet?" And I'm like, "Not yet, but eventually something will come up." And there's too many memories to be able to focus - would you want to return weekly to your middle school, to your high school?
     My introverted brain is dying on the way back from having to try to make small talk, and not go into overdrive wondering how everyone is doing now, of those who used to be here. 
     I still believe, it's just...Idk. Mostly I've been going just because it gets me away from Dad for a couple hours.

     I simply cannot function whenever he's around. It's bad. All my energy goes into survival - I've written a grand total of one poem since graduation, and then with the play, that's been my total creative output since graduation.

     Haven't posted on Instagram since May, because I haven't done or seen anything worth capturing.

     Lots of people getting married this September, seems like. Is that normal?

     Susan's dog died last week, and the Coxes' dog was put to sleep this afternoon. They were both old and sick, but still...it's so hard.  

August Update

     Courtney is visiting for a bit soon before the new semester, it'll be good to see her. Hopefully she can get some rest.

     Added a bit more to my freelance writing - Bam Smack Pow is part of a much larger company called FanSided, and they needed a co-editor for their dog website Dog O'Day, which has been near the bottom of all the rankings in the entertainment division, and the site itself was basically nonexistent in terms of traffic and posts published.
     Also, I'm pretty sure that I'm the only person who applied. But anyway, it's something. And dogs are cool. Been doing that for about two weeks now. Hoping to find some new writers so I don't have to write everything myself.
     Have now written or been part of slightly more than 100 posts on Frontstretch since late October.  

     High school and college football season will be here soon. That's strange.

     Jessica's wedding is in a couple weeks, and so is Elizabeth's. Happy for them.

Ten Years of SGYC

     This morning ten years ago, somehow I forced myself to leap into the Great Unknown. Where I actually leapt into was Mr. Gundersen's van. It was a new adventure for nearly all of us - Grace Bible-Tulsa hadn't sent anyone to this church camp before, though a few of the girls had been before with friends from other churches. 

     See, Marie had talked Josh and I into going with her, and then she backed out at the last second. (I want to say her family went on vacation two weeks before camp started, but I'm not sure.) FFH's "I'll Join the Rocks" was one of the songs stuck in my head on the way to southwest Missouri.

     What happened? I met my teammate Daniel the first night - he'd been here before, showed me the ropes. The next day I met a guy named Matt, who had also never been there. As the week progressed, I met twins Marshall and Madelyn, and a lot of other people, including Taylor, Shari, Jojo, Jake and Ashton. I met counselors like Terry, Tim, Brother Larry, Robin and Janet C. I learned how to square dance, and while doing so met Ashland. I also learned how to play volleyball. 2008

     The next year the fire-remodeling was happening, and SGYC was a relief from the stress. Daniel and I had started emailing each other regularly, and his advice and encouragement was something I benefited greatly from. It rained often, and I learned how to play ping pong and met Jed, Jon Jessica and Amanda. 2009

     Sam and Dylan had joined the GBC youth group by our next trip. Tim wasn't there because of his brain tumor, which made for an odd week. It was a strange year of camp in general. I taught Dylan how to throw a Frisbee, and this was the first time that Ashland and I were teammates, on Black (the Panthers). 2010

     2011 was eventful. The White Cubs were terrible at the Tournament Challenge sports, but we worked really well together (mostly our team was composed of Tulsans and Hankinses). Sam and I did a duet of Carrie Underwood's "Temporary Home" for Talent Share, and that didn't go so well. Bennett kept the guys cabin in stitches. 

     2012 was also eventful. It was just at the end of senior year, Jeff Johnson was the camp pastor (he wasn't great). Miss Kathy led the singing, which was amazing. Our Blue Bison team won the Tournament Challenge. Jessica and Amanda came back for one more year of camp. Ashland and I made Mrs. Boyer a sympathy card (her dad had just died).

     I was a counselor in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. I've helped with archery, Bible Jeopardy, and volleyball, and led softball. I've made friends with most of the counselors, but the past two times I've felt like things were just too routine, something was off. I don't know what, exactly, but I hope that it can be fixed.

Missing Sunny and Missouri

     My dog Sunny died five years ago today. It's been a hard day. I miss her. Would've mentioned it to Mrs. Pickard at church tonight, because she would understand, but didn't see her.

     SGYC '18 will be next week, and I won't be there, because again, I couldn't figure out a way to get there.
     But Trevor will have a good time in Indiana at Nationals, and Caleb will have fun in New Mexico. I'm glad for them, and someone needs to make sure the laundry's done and the animals fed, but sometimes you get tired of being George Bailey.

Late June

     Finished the first season of The Flash. It was often ridiculous, but it's good to know what everybody's talking about when they mention the characters/show.

     Dad's sinus surgery was Monday, his recovery is coming along.

     Deb died Tuesday night. The cancer got too strong to fight, but she earned her reward. Her and Bob's example - I'm thankful I got to know them, even if it was only for a little while. Praying for Bob and their family a lot recently.
     Garth Brooks' "If Tomorrow Never Comes" has been stuck in my head recently, along with Taylor Swift's "Delicate" and a lot of songs from The Greatest Showman.

      Picked up another freelance writing gig about two weeks ago, covering superhero TV and movie news for a site called Bam Smack Pow. That might be a miniscule bit of money coming in, which is something. And a lot of good credits, given time.

      

Of June

     Yep, that's an Owl City reference in the title.
     My birthday was quiet, but it was nice to see all the texts and Facebook posts from friends.

      Not much has been happening. Tried to call Courtney the other day, but the reception was so bad it was impossible to talk.

     The Washington Capitals captured the Stanley Cup after toppling the defenses of the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Golden State Warriors won the NBA Finals over the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third time in the past four years. The Preakness was won by Justify, who became the 13th horse ever to win the Triple Crown. 

     Caleb's getting back from Youth Tour tomorrow, can't wait to hear all the stories. Trevor loved the Endeavor Games last weekend.

     Been getting into Arrow and The Flash over the past week or so, Cisco Ramon and Felicity Smoak are my favorite characters so far.

May Musings

     The Jets and Knights are playing each other in the Western Conference semifinals on TV, my laptop's tracking the NASCAR race right now. Courtney comes home for a visit tonight, it'll be good to see her. Most of today I've been thoroughly cleaning the garage, which is useful.

     Graduated from high school six years ago today, and from college a year ago tomorrow. That's odd.

     Trevor was in San Antonio last week for a competition, which he enjoyed a ton. Caleb's all set to go to Mexico soonish, and I had lunch with Susan last week, it was really good to catch up. 

     Infinity War was gigantic and epic.

     Heard from Ashland, Daniel, and Amanda recently, which is good.    

April

     A lot of Parks and Rec has been watched this month, as has Infinity War. (Radio silence until enough time has passed for most people to see it.)

     My laptop hard drive failed, I think most info was able to be saved, but it's been irritating to get everything running smoothly again. And the M key is about to wear out, so it's time for the annual keyboard replacement.

     That's about it for what's been happening this month.

Misc

     I took one of those BuzzFeed quizzes today, "Which 2000s Disney/Nickelodeon Character Mashup Fits You?" The answer I got was "You’re a combination of Ron Stoppable and Eliza Thornberry. Like Ron, you will do anything for your family and friends, even if that means putting yourself in danger. And like Eliza, you have a massive sense of adventure. You are strong, courageous, and passionate."
     From reruns that I've seen of Kim Possible, I can live with being Ron. That seems kind of accurate, actually. I've never seen The Wild Thornberrys, but Wikipedia says that Eliza gets along with animals very well, which also sounds accurate.

     Four years ago I posted the following Facebook statuses:
     "How to find Ross Hall: It's pretty easy. Go all the way east on campus, and then it's the only dorm with a bathroom stall parked in front of the building."
     This was part of some prank in a war two of the fraternities were having at the time. (GREEKS ARE STUPID.) But it fit life in Ross very well. Which is why I mentioned it. 
      "Can I write like some combination of Agatha Christie, Brad Paisley, Mark Twain, Philip Gulley, Keith Urban, Jan Karon, Harper Lee, Miranda Lambert, Leonard Kessler, Taylor Swift, William Goldman, Edgar Guest and Lucy Maud Montgomery, please?"
      I think my style has incorporated a lot of these writers since, along with Wendell Berry, G.K. Chesterton, Flannery O'Connor and others I can't think of right now.

      The CVS Scotch Tape Incident occurred six years ago today. It's really weird how often that night pops up in my memories. "The porch swing silence was my favorite part," Sam commented on the original Facebook link. That was a good part of the night. "'Dylan blandly buys the tape, likely wishing he didn't know any of us' is my favorite part. That's him all over!" Paige commented right below Sam's comment. What can I say? I know my friends.
     Marie's arm was fine after the Red Rover mishap, just really bruised. Last anyone heard she got married a couple years ago, has a 2-year-old son and is currently pregnant with a daughter. Last anyone heard of Sam she was about to get married.

      Courtney's visiting this weekend after working most of spring break, it's been nice to see her. We saw Black Panther again last night with Caleb, and I still didn't like it. I mean, it was fine, but 12th-15th in the MCU rankings. Courtney liked it a lot, which we figured she would. We went to the AMC theater in Tulsa Hills, first time I'd ever been there. It's really nice.
     Caleb and I have been playing a lot of basketball in the driveway recently. In sports, Loyola-Chicago somehow made it into the Final Four, and the NASCAR Truck race at Martinsville this afternoon was postponed due to a blizzard. 
     We were just talking about how much Grandpa would've loved Courtney going to C of O, how he'd always be running up to Branson to see her. He always said one summer he was going to find work up there instead of at the river, live in the RV. She'll be working over the summer, which is good. He would've enjoyed the play, too, I think, and he would've been proud that I wrote it, anyway.

     While they aren't as entertaining as Keith and Nicki's hijinks, Luke and Katy work well together on Idol. On Agents, FitzSimmons' wedding was spectacular, and the episode overall was incredibly emotional in the best way possible. Recorded a cover last week of Rascal Flatts' "Stand" because Amanda asked me to; mostly I've been playing a lot of ukulele recently. 

     Yesterday was National Puppy Day; which the dogs didn't really care about, but Rags and Timmy have been especially needing lots of attention this week. That can be kind of nice.

A Good Weekend

      This week started out with the tension of anticipating the RSU Theatre Program's production of Texaco Mornings, to go along with the nervousness of phantom midterms. So there was a lot of anxious cleaning.
      And then Tuesday morning I heard back from a job-application email the week before, which is rare and stressful, because A: you're talking to a stranger, B: on the phone, C: about yourself, and D: trying to make a good impression. I was basically hung up on, which is how that usually ends, but at least I heard back.
     "Hey, I think I can actually make it! Like maybe Friday night." Ashland texts me somewhere early in the week.

     Wednesday Caleb was supposed to start his first day working for Justin, except he couldn't get there because the truck broke down. (It's since been sort-of-fixed, I think.)
     Crashed the youth group because I hadn't heard the end of David Platt's sermon series on "Angels, Demons and Spiritual Warfare" because my freshman year at NSU had already started. The sermon was interesting. And also, it was DC Talk Night in the Throwback Christian Music series, and I'm like the resident DC Talk expert.

     Thursday night Caleb had a MEND fundraiser he was volunteering for, along with Hope, Mattie, Seth and Laura. That seemed to go well. Trevor and Amy had swimming, so everybody was happily busy. Wasn't able to make it to the opening night, but it's one of those things that couldn't be helped. The quiet house was nice;; read through a book of Billy Collins poetry from the OKC book sale.
     Andrew said there was a great crowd; I know Debra and Cody both made it. "Proud of you, man!" Cody said. Dr. Dial-Driver wasn't able to make it, but she sent me a nice message, and she had everyone give her a report. ("I told her that even if you didn't know Wes wrote it, you'd know Wes wrote it," Dr. Mackie said).

      Friday morning was a good day for blasting Jars of Clay while cleaning.
      I missed the landmark 100th episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that night, but it was totally worth it. Not every day your play is produced. (But IT SHOWED FITZSIMMONS' WEDDING, which I would have loved almost as much as Andy and April's or Ben and Leslie's. Maybe I'm okay with weddings as long as they're fictional?)
      "Looks like I'll be seeing you tonight," Ashland texts me. She tackle-hugged me as soon as I'd gotten both feet into Baird Hall, pretty much. "I told people I knew you, and it was like, I knew a celebrity or something!"
     About eighteen to twenty people were in the audience, which was a decent size. It was great to see Andrew, David and Dr. Mackie again. I also recognized a couple classmates I knew by sight. The Ruscos came, which I wasn't expecting. It was weird seeing the script performed, but the audience seemed to like it. The acting wasn't the best, but it wasn't awful, either. The actors missed or mangled about twenty percent of the lines, mostly skipping the dramatic parts. "This is a lot funnier than it should be," was all my brain registered in the moment.
     We stopped by Taco Bueno afterward, and were quickly reminded neither of us liked it. But late-night conversations are always good, even if the food isn't great. Mostly the topic was INFJ-ism in the workplace, and commiserating the general difficulties of college and young adulthood  "I was like, 'You okay?' You were really tense," she grinned once we'd gotten into dissecting the performance. (This didn't register at all.) We both graded it a high C, mostly because the actors who played siblings were obviously strangers, which was a little awkward.

     Since it was going to be rainy, and because it was cheap and indoors, we decided to go to the Gilcrease Art Museum Saturday morning. It was fun. We rummaged through Indian artifacts all National Treasure-y, roamed through pretty much everywhere, and wished our photography skills were better. Since the temporary Norman Rockwell exhibit was still there, of course we had to see that - I kept a lookout for security guards while she illegally snapped photos to show her grandma. We didn't get caught.
     Since it was beautiful weather, we prowled around the grounds outside taking pictures of the flowers and tree buds. We got some good pictures, and we also got chased by wasps for our troubles. Ignoring tradition, we actually got a couple good selfies this time.

     We only got minorly lost on the way home, Taylor Swift blasting on Pandora, and we had lunch at Whataburger since she wanted to try it. The food was greasy and delicious, the convo was good.
   
     A huge crowd showed up for Saturday night's closing performance; probably thirty-five to forty people. Talked to Brandon, saw Brittany on the other side of the room. Only about five percent of the lines were missing, and different moments were seen as humorous. Andrew did a great job directing. It got a high B grade. 

     The premiere of the sixteenth season of American Idol was tonight on ABC; the editing was unfocused, but it has potential. Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie seem like they'll work well together.

Remembering Will

     The weather's been gray, cold, sullen and thoroughly wet for the last several weeks. That's usual weather in our part of Oklahoma for late February/early March. It's made me thankful I haven't had to walk through it back and forth from classes to my dorm. But it's made me wonder what Will is doing.

     Will was the resident Jehovah's Witness missionary at NSU. He was a friendly, soft-spoken, obese, middle-aged guy who had to retire early because of severe back pain after thirty years of working in publishing/printing in Colorado. He has a grown daughter in Denver and several grown sons in Georgia. His wife ran the quilting supplies shop downtown just past Felt's Shoes, where he occasionally helped out when his back allowed. The rest of his time - probably three days a week, on average - was spent manning the table of JW fliers halfway between Seminary Hall and the Fine Arts Building.
      Most of the time he was ignored, accepted as part of the scenery, except for the folks from CCF, who would aggressively attack his theology whenever they had a couple spare minutes. The BCM folks were kind of scared of him.
     I would stop and talk with him for five or ten minutes if I had time; if I didn't I'd always wave and he'd holler a wisecrack about my speedwalking setting the pavement on fire.
     We didn't talk about theology much. Sometimes we would ask each questions about various points about what the other believed, and then we'd try to answer those questions as best we could. I would occasionally take some of his literature to talk over it with him later, and he would occasionally read the online articles I mentioned. Since I was a MassComm major, and he'd worked in journalism, we would usually talk about those kinds of things. Local news, the merits of coffee, campus gossip, what we'd been reading lately, observations about people-watching. And sometimes we'd just sit and people-watch together, since a college campus is an excellent spot for doing that: one girl he always called Pirate Boots, because he didn't know her name and she wore boots that looked piratey nearly every day.
     If I was running down to Morgan's Bakery, I'd once in a while ask if he wanted me to get anything for him. If his health was especially good for a few days in a row, he'd usually go on a baking spree, and sometimes would bring the extra cookies for me that he and his wife didn't eat the night before.
     One day we were talking and he frowned in midsentence and gave me one of those curious, hard stares for a minute. "Y'know, Wes....you're different." I must have looked surprised, because he continued: "I know we don't believe the same things, but you don't try to ram it down my throat like those other people do. You just treat me like a person. I can't remember meeting a Christian who ever did that. Thank you."

     That's always stuck in my head ever since, and often replayed itself while working on homework late at night. I didn't think of it as anything special; it was just something that needed to be done, so I did it, just like guiding my blind classmate Russell back and forth from Dr. Fuller's psych class freshman year. Will was discouraged, everyone ignoring him like that. It doesn't take much to brighten somebody's day.
     Hope he's doing okay.