The Weekend

This weekend, Joe had a Latin Competition, and surprisingly, Aidan wanted to take him. So it was nice that they got some quality brother and sister time. I decided to go to James's, because he was having a carpenter/craftsman come to talk about some stuff, and he wanted to bbq.

So, after work Friday, I hurriedly packed to avoid the inevitable traffic on Hell's Highway, otherwise known as I-4. Despite it being before 5:00, I encountered four pretty bad accidents--one a four or five  car pile up. Luckily, I only have to travel I-4 for about 60 miles before I exit onto 27, a long stretch of rural type road with tons of stoplights and places to stop to get gas and snacks. And there are probably like 24 McDonald's on that road before I had to turn onto 29, for the last lonely stretch of road before James's house.

But, despite the accidents encountered along the way, I made it to James's in good time.  Saturday morning, we went to the brand new Publix and bought a lot of food for the bbq--hamburger's steaks, chips, etc. Then came back and James got some stuff ready while I dug through his closet for one of his shirts to wear before listening to music and working on something on the poem.

Then we laid out in the sun for a while and jumped in the pool, and played some pool (he won two games--I won one). After that, we went for a short bike ride to wake up our bikes that had been in hibernation. Both of our bikes need a little work. Lol.

Out by the pool, the pleasant sunshine made us silly...(BTW, this photo is un-retouched...I have a "beauty mark" that I don't find very beautiful and THAT'S why I usually photoshop it out. LOL. Also, I often smooth out my thyroidectomy scar, because it's still too fresh in my own self-critical opinion. However, I left it in in the first pic (with reading glasses), and again, very very little photoshopping done. Oh wait--I did add a filter called "Cafeteria" in the pic below--it just made the photo more vivid.)

 And, once you take the beauty mark out, you might as well make everything smoother! Hey, I figure since I don't wear makeup, I'm entitle to compensate in some ways. I'm a lot less "fake" than the makeup plasterers of the world. Lol.

Then the carpenter and his helper arrived, and they were actually pretty cool. Wyatt was only 21, and really liked my playlist that was playing over the Bose, and it didn't even have any rap on it, but a mixture of 80's, 90's and today's music. I was surprised to find a 21 year old that knows the words to "I Will Follow" by U2. Lol.

Wyatt seemed to gravitate to me, and we played a game of pool, which I won by only one ball. As we ate dinner, Wyatt commented on my awesome playlist and we started talking about music. Wyatt is an aspiring actor/music producer kind of kid, very artistic and poetic. He's got the artsy personality, where everything is deep and his heart is huge.

We showed each other poetry we've written, and he actually writes very well. The poem about my mom's last day made him cry (and me too, because he read it out loud, softly), and when he looked up, he asked to give me a hug. I let him, lol. You can find that poem HERE.

Then we showed each other some of the music we liked on YouTube while the older guys talked carpentry. Lol. One artist I REALLY liked was Lana Del Rey. I'd heard her name before but never experienced her music. I watched "Love" and got goosebumps. So, I added it to my playlist, and he ended up adding Lindsey Sterling and Pentatonix to his. Anyway, it was nice to share stories with a young man with the whole world still wide open before him, and it felt good to give him some encouraging words.

And it was nice to meet someone who enjoys musicians who really seem to enjoy what they're doing, rather than doing it for money or fame. They do it for passion, and that's noticeable.

I played a little bit of "Hallelujah" on piano, and it was woeful because I'm so out of practice. So we watched the Pentatonix version, which also gives me goosebumps.

After Wyatt and the carpenter guy left, James settled down for the night and watched "The Hunger Games," or at least the end of one of them until we fell into sweet sleep. Then I slept til 10:00 and was amazed I could sleep that late. So, I booked it home so I could get in some time with Joe and hear about his competition, where he had a lot of fun, and Aidan did, too.

And I happened across this awesome video by Jon Ronson that I think a certain hate group could learn from. Actually, we all can take away something from Mr. Ronson's wise words. It makes me wonder if FF was getting at this in his latest featured question. Watch all the way to the end, and you might hear some key words...

Anyway, time for another work week!