never fully-clothed or intentionally misinforming

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you're finding yourselves surrounded by those you love this year. And whether you're dining on the typical Turkey Day trimmings or feasting in a more unconventional way, I hope you're remembering all the reasons you have to be thankful. I, for one, am thankful for an uncountable number of things this year. As I sit around with my family thinking about all we've been through (not just my family, but our country -- our world), I am reminded of all the great and positive blessings we have received. We are alive. We are together. And if you're reading this, you're doing well enough that you still have your computer and apparently electricity. We can still laugh, even if times are tough and our health isn't the best. We can still hug. We can still see one another. We have much to be thankful for. I'm thankful to have family and friends who support my dreams and aspirations to become so much more than I am today. I'm th...

Went and saw my future house yesterday with Angela, her mom, my mom, and my sister. It was, to say the least, a quick run through. But I was able to get the idea. I'd like for Angela to have a key soon so we can go by just the two of us and figure things out. If you ask me, the house needs a decent bit of work, but it's nothing she and I can't handle. It's an old place, we can't really expect it to be tip-top shape, you know. But the price is right, the yard is big, and there's a dog kennel. How can I say no? I'm going to have to turn Olive into an indoor cat. He's going to hate that, but the house is so close to 441. And I hate to bring it up, but I already had a dog hit by a car on that road, I'm not having that happen again. My entire life, my biggest fear in having pets is that I'll see them get hit. I've lived it once, and I'm not keen on the risk that that could happen again. So Olive, this is me telling you, brace yourself and suck...

Because the fest can't be described in words. It's too awesome, like how jesus freaks say your head would explode if you heard god's voice or something. There's too much rad going on to contain into simple words. The fest is like the Bermuda triangle or something. It's the most awesome place on earth that only exists for three days when the gods of rock will it so. And then it disappears, lying dormant, until the planets align once again....

I sat across the dinner table from my grandma tonight and I saw her face turn sad. I broke the news of my eventual move to her. When I saw the look in her eyes, it became apparent that despite what she says, I am the only reason she feels safe out here anymore. She lives in a house that's property is adjacent to mine. I visit her at least once or twice a week, and we talk on the phone almost daily. She's my grandmother and I'm the only person out here to help her if she needs it. I am certain she knew the day would come that I would move, but I don't know if she thought she'd see it. With my parents traveling more now than ever, I don't know what to think about how she'll fair out here on her own. In all honesty, if I were her age, I can't say I'd be comfortable with it. I'm actually scared. When I put myself in her shoes, I grow worried. Who will help me if my car won't start? Who will make sure I'm safe and sound? Who will I visit with?...

I'm beginning to think when I don't do Habitat for Humanity, it negatively affects my life that day and occasionally, the days to follow. I'm sitting at home on a Sunday morning and I'm overanalyzing the fact that I didn't help build Angelica's home yesterday. It was too cold. I had other things to do. I didn't feel well. I could come up with a myriad of excuses, but the fact still remains -- I did not go. Every time I don't, something bad happens. Karmatic retribution? I don't know. But I think I've been doing things for all the wrong reasons. I think I care too much about what other people will think or do. I think I've lost part of myself in waiting and working for other people's intentions and goals. Habitat is not that. Habitat is me building homes for friends. I Love building. I love it. It's powerful, educational, inspiring, and uplifting. I do build homes to help others, but the pay off is positive and addictive. But I can...

I read a list of the top 30 television shows that would be raised from the dead if it were up to the viewers. Freaks and Geeks caught my attention. The name sounded so familiar, but based on the synopsis on IMDB I couldn't remember tuning in to a show like this my ninth grate year of school. I just couldn't recall. And that kind of upset me; from what I'd read, F&G was a realistic version of high school, but funnier because it's not happening to you. So I did a little searching online and low and behold, a user on YouTube has uploaded all 18 glorious episodes into segments never longer than 9:20. Each episode is five sections and they flow so beautifully together. The dynamic is brilliant, characters well identified and cast, the scenarios true to life, and the comedy classic. I've watched all but the last five episodes. And like the majority of viewers, I can't wrap my mind around why this Judd Apatow gem was canceled after one season.

It's a search engine and now it's working on raising one million dollars for animals in need by the end of 2009. The more you search, the more they raise. Wouldn't it be awesome if you helped? I'm spreading the word. I'm switching my search engine to Dogpile for the rest of the month to start doing my part.

Aww, I'm such a softee. (and a sucker for a smart boy)

Hilarious. Read it .

She was asleep in her car seat when they got to the park last week, looking as precious as ever. Detra whispered her name and she peeked her eyes open, looked around, and closed them back. Then she smiled, opened her eyes again, stretched out her arm and waved her tiny hand right at me. After three weeks of not seeing my face or hearing my voice, Nhyya still remembers me. Something I feared she would not. I cried. When she waved at me, I actually cried. I cried because I missed her and I cried because Nhyya knows me. She knows my voice. She knows my face. She knows me. Nhyya is the first child I've watched grow from day one (well, day four). She's the daughter of one of my best friends and she calls me (well, Detra calls me) "Aunt Ali." She's this beautiful girl who's already so incredibly smart and full of life. Every time I see her, my heart melts a little more as I notice all the growing she's accomplished. Each time we meet she's smarter and funnie...

Her name is Capucine. She's a young French girl who's mom has been streaming videos of her growing up. She's charming and stole my heart about two seconds into the first video I ever saw of her. My all time favorite is this latest one: "once upon a time..." Watch it, I promise you'll wish you could take her home and listen to her speak french in her cute little imaginative voice all day. She's guaranteed to brighten your day. Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo .

Although I didn't exactly dress up, and I was significantly late, I did show up for Habitat for Humanity on Saturday and it completely reinforced the reason I go to begin with. For the past few weekends (one weekend rendezvous, one FEST with all my BEST friends, and one chronic ailment (gnarly ass FestAIDS)), I hadn't been to Habitat and it was starting to plague me. Riddled with guilt, emptiness, and lack of value, in the past three weeks I'd forgotten what it felt like to actively change someone's life right before their very own eyes. The great part about showing up on Saturday was seeing everyone for the first time in almost a month. Honestly, the people I work with at Habi have started to become a family. I've learned a lot from them -- especially girls like Angie (Angelica) and Feme. Something about knowing a girl two years my junior who is successfully raising a family of four, giving back to her community on a weekly basis, and loving every moment of life gi...

Free to a Good Home Data: 2005-08-29, 10:33AM EDT So I have this cat. Actually it’s my girlfriend’s cat. Actually we have two, a small grey tabby named T**** that is a blast to have around, and the “other one”. It’s corpulent, bright orange and has medium length hair, so of course to me it’s name has only ever been Fat Bastard. (I’m not kidding, this cat is obese enough that it’s gut leaves it’s own trail in the middle of it’s footprints after I vacuum the carpet, uniformly triangulating the food dish, the litter box, and the hammock it has steamrollered for itself in my underwear hamper.) Fat Bastard has a problem. Its very existence revolves solely around consuming anything organic. I mean anything. We can’t have real plants anymore, not even cactus. (My girlfriend didn’t laugh when I, tired of the green vomit, suggested Poinsettias) We have all of the food stored in cupboards that have child locks on them. Opening the fridge involves holding a broom. (I’d love to teach the fuc...

I found another inspiring website, but I'm not sharing it's name yet. The downside to these websites -- they allow me to think more. And I wonder about some of the same things the contributors wonder about. Not that all of these ignited my wonderment, but here are some that caught my attention more than others. When I was 5 or so my mom would tell me to lie down before she tied my tie and I just now realized at the age of 19 that she did this because she's a funeral director. "I'm having too much fun with Rock Band to see you," he implied when he didn't reply to her e-mail. The elephant that lived in my parent's living room has moved to my house. I wanted to tell him, but I couldn't think of a tactful way to say, "Hey, your glass eye is crooked." "Leave the pizza on the futon and I'll eat it for breakfast" would be the most collegiate sentence ever uttered, if only I had worked in the word "toga." As I got ready fo...

For 26 years my dad has worked in the far reaches of this world in attempts to cut down on the medical bills stacked up from seeking the best care for my sister -- the care she rightly deserves. For 26 years they've taken Susan to specialist after specialist at any cost, because the life of their daughter (of my sister) holds no tangible value. For 26 years, my dad has spent night after night sleeping in hotels, traveling for work, breaking his back to support our family, to attempt to dig us out of mountains of medical debt. Susan wouldn't be alive today if my parents didn't bring her to Shands for the best pediatric nephrology care around when she was an infant. And sure, we have insurance, but only thanks to my dad spending my entire life (and my siblings lives) working away from his family. And the deductibles alone for things like Susan's specialists are unfathomable. He was living in Michigan by himself, working to pay for Susan's health care when he suffered ...

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed . That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed . But when a long train of abuses an...

Something very awesome. Crystal filmed this. I believe about half way through, those are my legs crowdsurfing. If it's not me, that chick has the same damn shoes. =P 10-31-08 Less Than Jake