They say its my birthday...
Howdy, all. 24-year-old Joe here. I wanted to post and say thanks to the many people who have already made my birthday supa keen. I had a party on Sunday (thanks Mama and Daddy and Father and Lonelle and Nick and Liz and Josh!) where I received some great books. Jenn sent me The Whites Stripes Elephant along with a CD or bluegrass renditions of many White Stripes songs (awesome!) so I would have something to open on my birthday... smart, gorgeous, AND thoughtful; whadda gurl! Then in Perception today the folks in my program had a card and cupcakes for me... they were easter cupcakes with Bunny rings, and yes, I am wearing some right now.
Good times. Peeg called me from Tomorrow this morning, too! My siblings say they have a big thing waiting for me at home this weekend for easter. Will didn't want to give it up, so it should be great!
Material things aside, the phone calls, cards, etc. have been the best. Its always a great thing to be reminded of your huge family and great friends (insert audience sigh here).
In other news, I saw a SUV with a disturbing bumper sticker yesterday. It read:
"My SUV can beat up your Prius."
I don't have time to rant right now, because its my birthday. So I encourage everyone to do so for me in the Comments section below.
Thanks again to everybody, and I hope I didn't miss anything. If I did, I'll give you a bunny cupcake.
I hope everyone is well.
Peace,
Joe
things i've noticed, things others have noticed for me, and things i hope to notice later.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Last Wednesday morning at 6:28am, Grandpa went home.
In an amazing week I saw all of my immediate family in one place at one time, and watched one of my heroes go on to greater reward. We were there with him each moment, right up until the last. I have never seen someone pass away so beautifully; not just this last week of illness but for the last few years.
Grandpa taught me more than I can recall now; how to fish, work on cars, pray without talking, tell the truth... so many things. Lastly he taught me (and everyone else) what it was to have dignity when society assigns you none. His bravery, spirit, warmth, and quiet determination to suffer with grace were beyond inspiring. His dedication to family and God was the stuff of memoirs and books about fictional characters. But Grandpa was real. Every bit of him.
This week reminded me with alternating joy and pain that I am a part of an incredible family. I don't have words for how much I love and respect each member of it. From Grandpa on down to Liam, I still learn from and am in awe of each of my kin.
To my family: thanks for the last week. I don't think any of us would have gotten through it alone.
To my other loved ones: thanks for demonstrating that some family doesn't have the presupposition of the relation of blood.
To Grandpa: Enjoy your rest. I love you.
I hope everyone is well.
Peace,
Joe
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
The fever's gone. The fever's goooone away.
Thats right, I'm back from the land of the ill. In fact, I came back much faster than usual for me. You see, I have taken up what I call the "Nick Method" of getting well. At the first real sign of an illness, you go to sleep. For a day. A whole day. I'm not saying to sleep in. I'm saying sleep for like 24 hours. Well in this case I slept for two days, and was pretty much over the flu in two days. That and the nurse gave me a giant shot in my boo-honkus. Ouch, but yay! I felt even better then. That was Wednesday. My weekend adventure started the next day.
On thursday I put in a whole day of work and the normal stuff. Then I drove to Nashville. Jenn and I went out for a while and had a good ol' time with some close friends. The next day we drove to Memphis to see her sister play in her last college game ever. Before getting to the gym, we stopped @ Subway. Pretty normal. On the way out of the parking lot, however, I pulled a Joe. I backed up EVER SO SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY (I am notoriously "granny" when I drive). Well, I backed carefully right up into another car. Um, yeah. So after alarming poor Jenn, I got out and attempted to find the owner of the parked car. It was very old and dirty, and had out-of-date plates. After going into every store in that little strip mall and making an idiot out myself ("Hey! Is anybody the owner of this car? Because I ran into it."), I couldn't find the owner. So I took down the plate number, left a note to the effect of, "I ran into your car very slowly. Sorry. Here's my info" and we went to the game. Even though Jillian's team lost, it was fun. She's a great basketball player. More on that later. In the meantime, during half time, I called the Memphis PD to tell them about the car. They ran the plates and they were WAY OUT OF DATE. We're talking years, here. Anyway, that means one of a few things:
1) I ran into an abandonded car
2) I ran into a stolen car
3) I ran into the car, but the owners don't want it to be known that the plates are so out of date, so they didn't report it.
Anyway, they haven't called me yet.
Back to the weekend...
After the game and taking Jillian to pick up her stuff from the hotel, Jenn and I took a walk around the Rhodes campus and then headed to the campsite where we'd stay. We stopped at this little greasy spoon place that was both a gas station AND a diner. That was the second such place that day. Earlier, on the way to Memphis, we stopped at a Gas Station / Diner/ MARINA. Yup.
Anyway, we ate a wonderful dinner, then set up camp down the road. Her parents came later and set up their RV. The next morning we got up and had a famous Compton Family "westy" breakfast (Westy is what they call their RV.) We then went into town and had AWESOME Bar-B-Q @ a place called Rezendevous BBQ. We walked around Beale street for awhile, which we need to go back to when we have more time. Oh, and we also saw the famous Peabody Ducks. I will let the link explain. It was cool, in that "Why?" sort of way.
Then back to Nashville. There we worked, worked, and worked. Then Jenn surprised me with Sushi before I drove home in the Wind, Rain, and Fog. I took these three things as a sign I shouldn't have left Nashville. But alas, there's work to be done.
Wow. BABBLE BABBLE BABBLE!!! But I had somehting to write about other than school. So there you go.
I hope everyone is well.
Peace,
Joe
Thats right, I'm back from the land of the ill. In fact, I came back much faster than usual for me. You see, I have taken up what I call the "Nick Method" of getting well. At the first real sign of an illness, you go to sleep. For a day. A whole day. I'm not saying to sleep in. I'm saying sleep for like 24 hours. Well in this case I slept for two days, and was pretty much over the flu in two days. That and the nurse gave me a giant shot in my boo-honkus. Ouch, but yay! I felt even better then. That was Wednesday. My weekend adventure started the next day.
On thursday I put in a whole day of work and the normal stuff. Then I drove to Nashville. Jenn and I went out for a while and had a good ol' time with some close friends. The next day we drove to Memphis to see her sister play in her last college game ever. Before getting to the gym, we stopped @ Subway. Pretty normal. On the way out of the parking lot, however, I pulled a Joe. I backed up EVER SO SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY (I am notoriously "granny" when I drive). Well, I backed carefully right up into another car. Um, yeah. So after alarming poor Jenn, I got out and attempted to find the owner of the parked car. It was very old and dirty, and had out-of-date plates. After going into every store in that little strip mall and making an idiot out myself ("Hey! Is anybody the owner of this car? Because I ran into it."), I couldn't find the owner. So I took down the plate number, left a note to the effect of, "I ran into your car very slowly. Sorry. Here's my info" and we went to the game. Even though Jillian's team lost, it was fun. She's a great basketball player. More on that later. In the meantime, during half time, I called the Memphis PD to tell them about the car. They ran the plates and they were WAY OUT OF DATE. We're talking years, here. Anyway, that means one of a few things:
1) I ran into an abandonded car
2) I ran into a stolen car
3) I ran into the car, but the owners don't want it to be known that the plates are so out of date, so they didn't report it.
Anyway, they haven't called me yet.
Back to the weekend...
After the game and taking Jillian to pick up her stuff from the hotel, Jenn and I took a walk around the Rhodes campus and then headed to the campsite where we'd stay. We stopped at this little greasy spoon place that was both a gas station AND a diner. That was the second such place that day. Earlier, on the way to Memphis, we stopped at a Gas Station / Diner/ MARINA. Yup.
Anyway, we ate a wonderful dinner, then set up camp down the road. Her parents came later and set up their RV. The next morning we got up and had a famous Compton Family "westy" breakfast (Westy is what they call their RV.) We then went into town and had AWESOME Bar-B-Q @ a place called Rezendevous BBQ. We walked around Beale street for awhile, which we need to go back to when we have more time. Oh, and we also saw the famous Peabody Ducks. I will let the link explain. It was cool, in that "Why?" sort of way.
Then back to Nashville. There we worked, worked, and worked. Then Jenn surprised me with Sushi before I drove home in the Wind, Rain, and Fog. I took these three things as a sign I shouldn't have left Nashville. But alas, there's work to be done.
Wow. BABBLE BABBLE BABBLE!!! But I had somehting to write about other than school. So there you go.
I hope everyone is well.
Peace,
Joe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)