As promised, pictures

Ok. I got around to it.

With a nod northward, I present the 1st ever 'fishycam' shot:

Something to reflect upon:




This one's just ducky:




And now for some of the more sobering ones:



That was Olivia, the girl I worked with. And my Uncle Pat:




My new tat:




And finally, the April shower we got last night:




So there you go.

That's all for now,

T.

Sigh....

Yesterday we got the news.

Uncle Claude, another of Pop's brothers, died. Of all my uncles, I think I knew Claude the best. Or at least, I knew him more.

He was a character, to be sure. Let's see, he smoked (mores if i remember correctly), and would sometimes let the whole cigarette burn into a single curled ash. He also loved to play Solitaire. He was a tyrant with the remote control, and would sometimes surprise you with a 'titty twister.'

The thing I remember most about him, however, was his prodigious gas. The man worked in flautulance the other men work in oils, or in clay.

You'd be sitting in the living room, and Claude would be sitting at the table, playing cards. He'd 'crazy Ivan' one way or another, and let go a depth charge. Sometimes, it sounded like a trumpetting elephant, somtimes like a chain saw. You never knew. Then Claude would get this big grin on his face as we all began to chew his ass about it, if you'll forgive the term.

Yes, my uncle Claude was a Fartist.

Please, in honor of my deceased, take this word and use it in your daily life, if only once.

Later,

T.

My tatoo is itching like a muthafucka...

To any of you that have one, this will not come as a surprise. Nor is it a surprise to me, I just felt like bitching about it, and this is where I do that.

I know I promised you pix, and if my kacdafrackin' cd drive were not being a piece of shit, I'd have posted them already.

I soooooo need a new puter. Anybody have any hand-me-downs?

Or, I suppose I could start a trust fund:

Help T.J. upgrade his lousy Pentium 3 500 Mhz computer.

I'm ghetto and a half.

Ok, that's all you get right now. Gonna try something different later with the pix....

Buenos con queso,

T.

It was almost more than I could (pall)bear...

So, I've done it.

I've attended my 3 funeral in 5 months.

Let's see, I've buried:

1. My 16-year-old cousin Justin.

2. My 22-year-0ld friend Olivia.

3. My 76-year-old uncle Pat.

It hasn't been an easy run, as I'm sure you can understand, but there have been some good things too. At Justin's funeral, for instance, I saw lots of family I'd not seen in forever and we actually made plans to (and followed up, no less) get together for reasons other than someone's death (see recent Gma's bday post).

At Olivia's passing, I was very melancholy. She was taken from her loved one way too early as well. I think about Skylar, and wonder what his life will be like. I can't imagine it. My boss did a very noble thing when Olivia died. He set up a trust for Skylar. I won't go into the gory details, but he should be set.

Uncle Pat's funeral saw another gathering of family long-missed. Again, it was a sad occaision, but even so we managed to have some good times as well. Pop's and my trip was surprisingly easy. We encountered almost no traffic, and spent far less that we had expected. Of course, we all again fell to the 'we only see each other when someone dies' lament, and exchanged phone numbers.

We'll see what happens. This is the notoriously procrastinitory branch of the family. I have hopes, but we shall see.

I have a couple funny things to go into, and will do so soon. I have a few pix to download first, but look for something tomorrow (if i get motivated).

Oh, and btw as I was sitting in the service room talking to my sister and some other members of my family I felt a discrete tap on my shoulder. It was my aunt Marilyn (the widow) asking me if I would be a pallbearer. Not knowing what else to say, I accepted.

Now that I think about it, tho I think I see a pattern. Of the 6 of us asked, 5 were his nephews. The 6th was his youngest daughter's boyfriend.

Ok, think I'm going to wind this up for now, but I'll be around shortly.

Peace,

T.

It's not you, it's me....

I know you have prolly heard those words before, wether from someone that was breaking up with you, or on some t.v. program or movie where someone was. Either way, it's true today.

There has been a lot going on:

The fishing trip I spoke of when last we chatted did in fact get snowed out. It took two weeks for things to calm down, but we did in fact get to go. In toto we caught 7 fish. I had 2 (and the first), Pops had 2 (and the biggest) and Michael had 3 (the most). As the traditional bet is : first, biggest, most we broke even.

This next bit goes back a bit, but one of the girls I work with was killed in a car accident just over a month ago. Two days after my last post, to be precise. She was driving home when a drunk driver crossed into her lane and hit her head on at an estimated 120 mph. She was killed instantly. She would have been 23 in October. She left behind, among others, her 4-year-old son. She was 5 minutes from home when she died.

Now, about 4 days ago, we learned that Pop's brother, my Uncle Pat just died. I don't really have any details on that on yet, but rest assured, I shall share them when I do. We're going to CA for the funeral. I took a couple vacation days, and will have 4 off in a row. Almost unheard of. I intend to take pics on the run to Cali, and will post them along with some others when I return.

All this death and destruction has prompted me to get a tatoo. Not too long ago, the phrase 'death was in his left hand, and pain his right' popped into my head, and as I writer, I found it quite intriguing. I was planning on using it in a story about some sort of avenging hero or somesuch. Close on the heels of the phrase came the idea that he would have kanji tattooed on his forearms i.e. death on his left, and pain on his right. Hot on the heels of that idea was that I should have similar tatoos, so this Sunday last, 3/25 at 5:00 pm, I had death placed on my left forearm.

It's pretty cool looking, and will be one of the forthcoming pictures.

Wish I had more happiness to spread around, but for now, that's all I have.

Take care, and tell the people you love that you love them. You never know when it will be the last time.

T.