caveat emptor

Picture Day Again

Susan felt like going through old pictures last night. I scanned a few. Not much to say today, and not much time to say it, so I’ll share a few of them.

The first one is of Susan and me when we were engaged. There’s something very late-eighties/early-nineties about the whole aesthetic. I remember that blue dress she’s wearing. She wore it well.

The next picture is my dad, Smoky. His real name is William, but he’s always gone by Smoky. This picture was taken in 1994 or something like that. I only saw my dad a few times from the time I was a kid until just a few years ago. We see him a couple of times a year now.

The next picture is of my nephew, Joshua. He's 19 or 20 now and stands about six foot six or something, but he was probably three or four in this photo. The look on his face cracks me up.

This is a picture of me holding River on his first Christmas. He’s 18 now. He’s in college and just started his first job (at a gas station) yesterday. I’m only a couple of years older in this picture than he is now. Wow. Time flies.

Well, that’s it for today. See you tomorrow.

Hello, friends. I hope you’re well.

Later. Love.

Beautiful

The hair falling out (due to her chemotherapy) was driving her nuts, so we decided to do something about it. Isn't she beautiful?

Hello, friends. How are you today?

Later. Love.

Picture Day

Now, a few pictures.

Kenny is Rayn's new boyfriend, her first ever. Aren't they cute? They are 13. Doesn't Kenny just sound like a 13-year-old boyfriend name? He will always sounds like someone's 13-year-old boyfriend until he starts going by Ken in college.

This is Susan and Rayn at Robyn's basketball game. I love this picture of Susan.

Here's Robyn playing post. She the one in white who isn't blurry, the awesome one.

Here is Robyn with her good friend Holly on New Year's eve. Isn't she beautiful?

Here's River listening to music and pondering how unimaginably cool he is.

I spent most of the evening on New Year's Eve talking to this buffalo rib roast. Bison are so delicious. Who knew?

All the girls on New Year's Eve decided to wear dresses (except Rayn, of course, who always does her own thing.) Here are Jasmine, Elaine, Price, Rayn, Robyn, Holly and Francie.

That's it for today.

Hello, friends. How are you today?

Later. Love.

Look Into Rayn's Eyes!

Resistance is futile!

Hello, friends. How are you today?

Later. Love.

The Weekend in Fuzzy Pictures

Did you ever wonder to yourself, "What did Scott do this weekend?" Did you ever scour the Internet for some indication only to come up with no information to slake your thirst for some knowledge of my goings-on? If so, this post is for you. I don't have time to recount, much though you might desire for me to do so, all the weekends past. Here, however, is a brief description of my weekend.

On Friday Susan and I went to her office holiday party at the Colonial Country Club. She was beautiful in her new dress, a gold-ish, brown evening dress. I wore a black suit, a red tie, and a dark grey shirt of which, although it was brand new, my Bichon Jenny had already nibbled the collar. The venue was beautiful, the food was great. The people were accountants. I don't have any good photos (the one of Susan was taken by a coworker of mine), because I only had my camera phone and it takes terrible, unflattering photos. I snapped a crappy "phone in the mirror" photo of me while Susan was dancing with some of her girlfriends from work. I also snapped a picture of the caricature we had done. Susan and I agree that, although it captures me decently, only the hair on her toon-self resembles her at all.

On Saturday afternoon River, my son, wrestled in a tournament. He made it to the final bout for his weight class (160). No one was pinned in the bout so it came down, after three rounds, to points. The other kid, though inferior to my son in every way, won 9 to 7. Afterwards River was so spent that he wore what I can only describe as a Napoleon Dynamite expression. Also his hair was mussed by his protective headgear. As his father, therefore, I have to post the picture, just to embarrass him.

On Saturday night Susan and I went to my office holiday party at a nice hotel in Las Colinas. The kids scattered to the winds and we got a room for the night. We had a nice time at the party, but I snapped no pictures. I snapped some pictures in the room, but those are posted on my "pay per view" site. It was nice to get away.

On Sunday, once we'd gathered the kids back from the corners of the world, we did gift shopping, decorated the house and did chores. No photos of that either.

That's it. You're welcome.

Hello, friends. How are you today?

Later. Love.

Hobglobins. And meta-blogging. And also hobgoblins. And Susan and me in the post scriptum.

If you're going to hunt for hobgoblins hiding in your house - and you know you will eventually - make sure you wear a felt, three-pointed hat with a feather in the back. These are not at all easy to find in stores, but you really need one. Trust me. You can always make your own. Here's how: Get felt and other hat ingredients. Form them into a three-pointed hat, fastening everything together with something. Stick a feather in the back. Also it's important to know this: There is nothing a hobgoblin fears more than loneliness. Sad, isn't it? There's really no way to use this against them unless you are a monster. Here's another important point: Don't be a monster.

Lately I've been posting a lot about time and the end of the world. Also there have been great sweeping themes of personal loss and sadness. Why? I don't know. These are just the things on my mind. I wrote once about the danger of treating sadness as an object, something to be examined in the abstract, to be dabbled with as though it were not highly contagious. Why do I bring that up? I don't know. Why not? It's my blog. I can bring up whatever I want.

Today I'm talking directly to you, the reader. I'm not hiding behind a story or some dumb joke. It's just you and me. Here we are, in the third paragraph of the post together. Are you enjoying it? Would you rather I just told you a story? Is this what they call meta-blogging? Who are they, anyway?

I abandoned that paragraph. This paragraph serves as an awkwardly self-aware segue into the next one, in which I hope to bring the post to a close, tying it all together. Here goes.

There are no hobgoblins in your house. There are no hobgoblins at all. There is only the fear of being alone in the world, the fear that this is all there is. Really, though, this is quite a lot. If there were more to life then life would burst at the seams. Hobgoblins would pour out and infest our houses. No one wants that, do they? Not with the dearth of three-pointed hat retailers.

Hello, friends. How are you today?

Later. Love.

P. S. - Here's a picture of my wife, Susan. She's more beautiful than I deserve, way out of my league. Seriously, look at me. (I'm the one on the right.) Thanks for stopping by.

Picture Day!

Not much to say today. Here are some photos.

	Rayn w/ streaks of purple in her hair. Why? Who knows. It's the way the kids are doing things nowadays.
	Robyn asks, "Need more cowbell?"
	Robyn in a tall hat.
	River wondering where he can find one of those Charlie Chaplin canes.
	Then they switched.

That's all for today.

Hello, friends. How are you today?

Love.

The End of an Era: A Short Story

In case you're interested (and you know you are) here's a photoset that chronicles my refusal to cut my hair from August 2006 through yesterday.

Hello, friends. How are you today?

Love.

Not Much to Say. Must Be Picture Day.

Not much to say today. I forced River to drive a couple of times this weekend. It made him nervous, but he did okay (not well, but okay.) I let my nephew, Josh, borrow my car to take a date to a high school dance on Saturday night. He brought it back in one piece. You know, life stuff. It happens.

Instead of a lot of talking, I thought I'd post some picture today. My sister-in-law, Katie, took them (she's Susan's twin sister.) Here they are.

		Here are River (16 now) and his girlfriend, Jennifer. They're an adorable couple.
Rayn (12 now) eats cake.
		Robyn (14 now) makes a face.
This is a great picture of Holly (my niece) and Rayn. The were the world's first conjoined cousins. This is just before the surgery.

Hello, friends. How are you today?

Love.

P. S. - A while back Karindira sent me an email suggesting that I submit something to Einstein's Tongue, a new online journal that was seeking submissions. I did, and they included a few of my things in their first issue. Cool! Thanks, Karindira. Thanks for stopping by, everyone.

Scan Day

I keep this picture of River handy in case he ever starts to feel like too much of a stud.

River and Robyn look happy, but Rayn looks a little unsure. She could use a little more personal space. (Robyn always has the most adorable smile.)

I never really looked like this, but my roommates Drew and Michael convinced me to let them do my hair this day. Holy crap. I can't even open my eyes all the way. Way too cool for such a simple dude as me.

In case you're interested, I scanned a lot more family pictures yesterday. Baby pictures. Too cute. Be warned.

Hello, friends. How are you today?

Later. Love.

Picture Day

Not much to say today. Look, though. I brought pictures.

My son River last year, before the haircut
	My beautiful daughter Robyn after her haircut
My beautiful daughter Rayn at a choir field trip
	My beautiful wife Susan (The color on this one is a little weird, but I like it.)
My dad at Easter
	Robyn, Rayn and Me at Robyn's 13th birthday party

Aren't we all so adorable? Don't you just want to pick us up and hug us? Don't you want to send us cookies?

Hello, friends. How are you today?

Later. Love.