Are you there, internet? It's me, Jimmy

Like a veritable net-Phoenix I once again rise from the depths of digital obscurity to proclaim my Internet supremacy. And by Internet supremacy I mean my infantile attempt at procuring a decent readership with a total lack of effort on my part.

But hey, got a text message tonight basically kicking me in the ass for being social-networking-anti-social. So here I am, take me or leave me.

Time has passed, children have gotten larger and chock full of personality; and the same three-headed monkey (work/school/symphony) is ass-raping my ability to successfully procrastinate.

So business as usual.

But I digress.

You can't hate me, because here's an adorable picture of my little girl. If she was yours, you'd spend less time on the computer too.

(We were doing a quick photo shoot for her birthday invitation. It's her Halloween costume you see, since her birthday falls on the tail end of October)

Moving on, it's great to be back. And I think I've got enough Moxie stored up to safely begin a steady slew of madness for the coming seasons. Hope you are all well. Missed you.

Peace out, bitches!

Jimmy

P.S. More to come, and thanks for the nudge.

2 1/2 Weeks in the Life - Busy busy busy busy....

My my it's been a long time.

Hope all of you are doing well, and I'm sure you are.

So what's new?

Here's what's new....

Well, the last couple of weeks have been a blur. We'll start with my sister.

So my sister has been with her fiancee Peter for some time, which may or may not have alot to do with their son Brandon, who was born about 3 and a half years ago. Together they've joined families, both having children from previous marriages, and now all of them reside happily in Roswell. And after 4 happy years together, my sister decided to make an honest man out of Peter. So the wedding was set for Sunday the 14th of June.

In addition, they decided to utilize my brother's services as well.

As you may or may not recall, when Crystal and I tied the knot three years ago, we had my brother ordained so he could perform the ceremony. I had already chosen my best man, but had wanted my brother to have as important a role as possible, so it was a thoughtful way to include him in the wedding without relegating him to usher or some other nonsense. So the 'no brainer' answer was to have him ordained online, which we did. So they flew him down from Hawaii to visit and perform the ceremony.

Of course, as life would have it, my last concert with the Juarez Symphony took place as well in the same week. Originally planned for Saturday the 13th, the concert was moved to the 14th, overlapping my sister's wedding. As much as I would have liked to skip the concert and attend the wedding, it was too much of a double whammy to miss out on the extra money (i.e. spend money to be at the wedding and lose money by not playing the concert). So we split the difference and I played the concert while Crystal and Caitlyn attended the wedding. More on that later.

So all week long it was your basic wash, rinse, repeat with work and symphony rehearsals.

Thursday (6/11), my brother flew into El Paso from Hawaii. I took some time off from work and we all went out to The Olive Garden for dinner in El Paso, and everyone went their separate ways (Crystal and Caitlyn to Las Cruces, my parents and Chris to Alamogordo, and me to my rehearsal in El Paso).

My sister's wedding took place in Ruidoso, where her and Peter had reserved a hall specifically for such occasions. One of those nice, all inclusive package type deals where one price covered food, decoration, music, libation, etc. The whole family, sans yours truly, travelled up to Ruidoso on Saturday to check into the hotel and unwind for a bit. Meanwhile, we were in Cruces doing whole lot of nothing.

On Sunday, Crystal and I parted ways as she left to Ruidoso with the baby, and I left for my morning rehearsal in Mexico. I was in it for the long haul, as the morning rehearsal went from 10am to 1pm and the concert started at 6pm, so there was no sense in enduring the wait to travel back to El Paso for the afternoon. So I stayed in Juarez for the whole day, just hanging out at the concert hall playing the DS. On the plus side, I did complete the New Super Mario Bros. , so hooray me.

This time around we were playing Donizetti's "Elixir of Love", which is really a great opera if you have a chance to see it. Take your basic love triangle, toss in a travelling salesman with a magic elixir, add a pinch of coincidence, and BAM! Great music, one really great famous tenor aria (Una Furtiva Lagrima), and some comedy to boot.

But I digress...

So Crystal drives up to Ruidoso to meet up with my parents and my brother. Once she arrived everyone started getting ready for the afternoon. As with most weddings, there was the usual catastrophic event, as my sister's hairdresser failed to show up. Some rainfall as well moved the locale from the outdoors to the indoors. But in spite of some delays, everyone arrived safely and the wedding went swimmingly, much to the delight of all in attendance. I've only seen pictures, but it all looked beautiful, and I'll get some online eventually (about as fast as I've gotten Caitlyn's pictures up).

Meanwhile, back in Mexico, I finished up the opera around nine and promptly headed up to Ruidoso. The bridge back to the states only had about a 30 minute wait, due the the new Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requiring everyone from the US to have a passport or passport ID, plus they're still killing people pretty regularly down there so the Mexican army is everywhere. All in all, if I didn't have to be there, it would probably discourage any recreational travel there on my part. Of course I've been procrastinating so I didn't have the necessary documentation (just my driver's license and birth certificate), so I got a stern talking to both on Sunday and after Saturday night's rehearsal. No worries though, because I'm not headed back that way until September, leaving me plenty of time to obtain a slick new passport ID.

So I haul ass all the way up to Ruidoso and get there around midnight. I've missed the whole wedding, but I'm still in time to spend some time with the family before everyone falls asleep. The following morning we all had breakfast and everyone parted ways again after a nice morning swim. Nancy and Peter left for their honeymoon in San Antonio, and the rest of us drove back to my parent's house in Alamogordo. We spent the day there relaxing and then left later that evening back to Las Cruces, and brought my brother along.

Back home, we picked up some cerveza, some food from Sonic™ (I know it sound's weird, but they don't have them in Hawaii), kicked off our shoes, and relaxed.

Tuesday morning we slept in, then hit up Santa Fe Grill for some Breakfast Dream's (egg, green chile, cheese, potato, and your choice of meat - our's being chorizo). We went to Mesilla to shop the afternoon away, as my brother picked up some gifts for the return trip home. That evening we went to Si Señor's for dinner and margaritas, then it was back to Alamogordo to hang out with my parents the night before my brother was flying back to Hawaii.

Wednesday morning (6/17), we all had breakfast and then high tailed it to El Paso once more to deliver my brother back into Hawaii's open arms. It was quite the caravan, as my mother and father packed in all my sister's kids and my brother rode with Crystal, Caitlyn and I. We had some coffee at the Starbucks™ in the airport, gave him one last round of special-ed-sized hugs, and watched his plane take off (albeit, after waiting forever thanks to "security").

My parents took the kids over to Ft. Bliss to do some shopping at the PX there, while Crystal, Caitlyn and I travelled back to Las Cruces to wind down. We were all feeling a bit under the weather, so we arrived home and promptly slept the rest of the day away.

Since then, back to work as usual... wash, rinse, repeat.

Friday (6/19) was Crystal's 25th birthday. We celebrated by going to Peter Piper Pizza for her niece's birthday party... yay. But no, really, we'll find a way to make it special, just as soon as she finds something she wants so we can buy it as her gift (that's just the way it seems to work with us).

Saturday we went to the mall and shopped for Father's Day for her dad and my dad. We ran into some friends at JCPenney whom we haven't seen in awhile, and were invited to hang out with them that evening, which we did. Just drinking some beers and catching up on old times.

Sunday, of course, was Father's Day. We all slept in, Caitlyn and I especially, and left the house at about noonish to pick up some desserts for our visit with Crystal's grandfather. We spent a couple of hours out that way than returned to town and went by her dad's house to give him his gift. After relaxing for a short while, it was off again to Alamogordo to meet up with my parents and give my father his gift. We were able to see Nancy, Peter, and the kids once more, as they returned from their honeymoon over the weekend and were in town to pick up their kids and visit for Father's Day as well. Finally, it was one last long drive back to Las Cruces, and our cozy beds.

So yeah, there ya go. There's the past couple of weeks in a nut shell.

Hope life finds you well!

Jimmy

P.S. 3 years today!

Being married that is...

A Week in the Life #17 - Hasenpfeffer

Well this week, like so many before it, will come and go rather uneventfully. The usual work and school combination, with just enough free time to take care of errands and family.

Took most of the weekend off from the Internet, something that Jimmy-from-five-years-ago would have never foreseen. It seems to happen more and more these days. Used to be I'd never go through an entire 24 hour period without being online, but now it just sort of happens. Funny how no matter where your focus lies in life, life finds a way to shift it without you noticing. It is a bit strange, when not so long ago most of my waking hours were spent in front of the computer. However, since I don't seem to notice, I'll leave it be.

Work is fine, although each week seems to bring another set of micro-managing rules. Don't do this, stop doing that, do it this way instead of this way. I'm sure it's not too different than most jobs, but it tends to feel a bit cliche (i.e. one bad apple). Whatever, I get off at 3:45 so by the time I care I'm already home. Besides, I'm no hypocrite.

Looking forward to Easter weekend. Had the weekend off already and took Monday as a vacation day, so we'll get to see all the family and gorge ourselves with rabbit stew and deviled eggs. I'm just sayin' cause people buy up all those roadside "Bunnys-4-Sale" rabbits since they're so cute, and before you know it our rivers are choked with dead Lepus. So I'm taking it upon myself this year to eat as many abandoned Easter bunnys as I can to ensure they don't contaminate the public water supply. It's just one more service I offer. As for the deviled eggs, I'm sure you can figure that one out for yourself.

Anyway, we'll make the local family rounds and then eventually head over to Alamogordo to visit my parents and my sister's family. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Caitlyn cleans up in the chocolate rabbit department. Diabetes doesn't onset itself you know.

So, the rest of the week should be posts as usual, I've got nothing going on at lunch through Saturday so I'll have the free time. No more concerts until the week of the 25th, so hopefully I can catch up on a few things. If not, the free time will allow me to come to terms with not giving a shit.

Yesterday: Off, taking care of business (BTO FTW).

Today: Work, dinner with family, freeing up hard drive space.

Tomorrow: Never Dies

Movies watching: Bedtime Stories, Marley and Me, The Dark Knight, Slumdog Millionaire.

Going to watch: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt, Yes Man, The Tale of Despereaux.

Reading: Lamb: The Gospel According to Bif, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore.

More to come,

Jimmy

A Week in the Life - The "Most Hairy + Fat Bear" Award goes too...

Hello again my beloved minions. Back to work this week with a full load of school, work, and symphony.

Yes, that's right, the life monkey is pelting me with the feces of obligation.

Last week was great, relaxed, fun filled, and loaded with lots of time with family. This week is not.

Today I'll work from 7am to 3:45, then off to class from 4:45 to 7:15, then off to symphony rehearsal from 7:30 to 10:00. Mondays I tells ya.

But I'll not pine over my lengthy day. I'm a firm believer that you're not allowed to bitch about how hard your life is if you've made it so based on the options you've chosen. Nobody asked me to spend a decade+ in college, or play the violin for extra income, so I'm not going to sit here and whine about how tired I am. If it were that hard I wouldn't do it.

Instead I'll look at the positive side, I do have enough time to play with my beautiful little girl before she goes to sleep, I have enough time to eat, pay bills online, and post this super-awesome life update. Not to shabby, right?

This last weekend we went to my sister-in-law's house to celebrate her daughter's birthday. They had the usual eats: burgers, potato salad, etc. That evening we vegged on the couch and caught up on some DVR action. Sunday we hopped over to Alamogordo to visit my parents, as my sister and her family were in town visiting. I don't see myself heading to Roswell anytime soon so it was a good chance to see all of them before they left for home. Watched some good NCAA action that afternoon, and then the usual FOX Sunday night animation. Home by 9:30, we watched the episodes we missed on the trip home and then hit the hay.

Before my sister and her family left we were treated to a variety show performed by her 3 daughters. The "Crazy Colors Show" (free admission, which was great what with the economy and all) was delightful, and featured Josie as announcer, Lana on keyboards, and Brianna on choreography. The whole thing was really cute, with a brief intermission when my sister's son Brandon fell forward off the hammock he was sitting on and pulled of a grade A faceplant. But, as they say, the show must go on.

After the show they had us all dance, and then gave out awards to everyone. The awards ceremony was rather impromptu, so Josie basically pulled the categories out of her ass. Needless to say I won for, and I quote, "being the most hairy, and for being a fat bear." Now I've won an award or two in life, but never one so contradictory. I didn't even know there was a fat hairy bear competition, and if I had I might have been more compelled to be either:

1. Less fat.


2. Less hairy.


3. Less fat and hairy.


4. Not a bear.

Suffice it to say I accepted the award with some reservation. No worries though since she's still in the innocent child phase. She calls em' like she sees em'. Since I know I'm definitely not the least fat or hairy, so at worst she's partially right.

So on we go, this week it's a performance with the Las Cruces Symphony. Jennifer Frautschi will be performing the Khachaturian Violin Concerto with us, then we'll finish the show with Shostakovich's 5th Symphony.

Links to their respective sites/youtube recordings.

See you all soon,

Jimmy

A Week in the Life - Another year older!

Well, to say the least my cake was not quite as cool as this one. Still, yesterday (11th) was my birthday. A fun time was had by all, and by all I mean myself, Crystal, Caitlyn, and my parents. We spent the day having pastries and coffee while watching the Eagles/Giants game. I played a pops concert with Steve Lippia and the LCSO. Got home around 5:30 and then it was off to Texas Roadhouse for a nice thick ribeye, medium rare of course. Saw the parents off to Alamogordo, then settled in for a cup of coffe before hitting the sack at a relatively decent hour (midnight to be exact, far from my 2am average).

Fun day, and lots of well wishers made it one of the best. Looking forward to another grand year. And hey, maybe I'll make it out of college...

More to come,
Jimmy

THE BIG UPDATE!

Ahh, loyal viewers, how I have neglected thee.

It's been too long my friends so here goes:

Christmas week was jam packed with excitement as I juggled work, playing and a visit from my brother, whom I hadn't seen since sometime around spring break of 2007.

I was playing Christmas week for the Abundant Living Faith Center. A large, large, large church located on the east side of El Paso, TX. Now, I won't get into details, but as most of you know I'm not the biggest fan of organized religion. That being said, I'm also not a big fan of biting the hand that feeds you, plus I appreciate the positive aspects and beneficial works that religious organizations provide. Ibso facto... I do it for the good of the community. Their Christmas show is second to none, consisting of roughly 300 cast members, a wire team from the same company that handles Cirque du Soleil, and a church that seats about 3500. It's a yearly thing for me, and I've been doing it long enough to not remember how long I've been doing it. All in all the show was seen by about 18,000 people in 2008, a new record for the church. If you're ever in town for the four days before Christmas, check it out.

My brother, the coolest cat this side of the Pecos, was in town for a week from December 23rd to the 30th, a week that went by way too fast. We spent some quality time playing video games, which as you all know is about as "quality" as my time gets. After Christmas week he was off to Chicago to meet up with his friends Jen and Paul whom he met during orientation for Teach for America a couple of years ago. For Christmas, we all pitched in and picked him up a lovely new Xbox 360 Pro, which means for the first time in his life he owns all the current gen consoles. Quite a feat if you ask me. My take wasn't too bad either, as I received Super Smash Bros. for the Wii from him. Before he had to leave we made sure he was filled with the best authentic Mexican food Las Cruces has to offer, which you all know you just can't find anywhere else. Thanks for the visit Chris, miss you, love you, see you soon. (above pic from my wedding, in which my brother acted as minister)

My final Christmas show ended around 9:30pm on Christmas Eve and from there it was back to Las Cruces to spend time with Crystal's family. We hosted Christmas at our house for Crystal's mother's side of the family. It was a most enjoyable evening, complete with the ritual White Elephant gift exchange and a traditional meal consisting of a variety of sides and a giant pot of menudo. A visit from Santa, a warm cup of coffee, and then off to bed once we bid goodnight to all. (shown, assorted aunts, cousins, the baby, and Pere Noelle)

Christmas day was the usual family runaround. I awoke a the asscrack of dawn to make a special Christmas delivery for a friend, I'd go into details but I refuse to spoil anyone's perception concerning the existence of the fat man. From there it was back to bed, then up again in time to be ready for a visit with Crystal's father John. We spent the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon filling up on turkey, ham, and conversation. Again, good food and time well spent with family.

We ran back home to unload gifts from the trunk and repack it with gifts for our next stop, my parent's place in Alamogordo. It's not to say we had sooooo many gifts that we had to make a stop, but when you're packing a car seat, a stroller, a diaper bag and assorted baby goodness, it doesn't leave much room for presents. We went to gas up only to discover that the gas at this particular station was the cheapest I've seen it in a very long time. Man alive, $1.19 a gallon. Boy will I ever miss you. Seven dollars later we were on the long road to home.

Alamogordo was that same as it's always been. It seems that for every business that opens or remodels, there are two that either go out of business or look like they belong in a Rob Zombie movie. At this point it's like polishing a turd. No offense to the hometown I love and grew up in, I just couldn't think of a better cliche to describe it. Turd polishing pretty much sums it up. If you disagree, you didn't grow up there. Either way, go Tigers...

Sooo there we are at my parents house, spending time with my brother, my sister's family, and my parents and pretty much just pissing the day away enjoy my mom's spiced cider and another double helping of meat. The selection consisted of deep fried turkey, slow cooked brisket, and succulent ham. I pretty much ate my share of all three, and your share. Belt loosened, we watched assorted Christmas movies, played some card games (which I totally sucked at btw), and drove home in time to sleep enough to work the next day.

(Mom snapping a photo of Chris and Caitlyn)

Worked the next day... bleh.

Friday night we returned to Alamogordo, again filled up on meat, and stayed overnight. On Saturday we lounged around and enjoyed the inch or so of snow that had fallen during the night. In true New Mexico fashion, it was gone by noon. Now keep in mind I did have to prioritize family and what not over computer time, so my blogging nuts had been for the most part castrated during this time. I'm not trying to make excuses, I'm just sayin'.

We returned on Saturday night to Las Cruces with my brother. From there it was a late night of gaming and a Sunday complete with a stop at the flea market. My brother and I had lunch at Sonic, which he can't get in Hawaii. It seems fair, no Sonic for him, no tropical island paradise for me. My parents came into town on Sunday night, so we spent some more time family-style and then they took him back with them to Alamo. On Monday Crystal, Caitlyn and I slept in, then later on that afternoon went back to Alamo for one last visit with my brother. On Tuesday the 30th it was back to work, and my parents accompanied my brother back to the airport in El Paso to see him off. That evening we visited our good friend Geoff and his mother for coffee and a quick exchange of gifts.

New Years Eve was spent at work during the day, at night we went to Crystal's mother's house for an impromptu party she was throwing. The food again was excellent, another testament to the idea that I married into the right family. We retired early for the baby's sake, returning home and cooking up a late night dinner for ourselves and my friend Geoff and his mother, whom we had invited over the night before.

I was off on New Years Day, but went into work for a few hours of overtime. Otherwise it was a mellow day.

The rest is as follows... work... dinner.... baby... sleep and/or playing World of Warcraft. Geoff had downloaded a trial of the new expansion of the game but unfortunately (and I know this only means something to half of you) you can't create a Death Knight unless you already have an existing level 55 character on you server, even with the trial. So the past few days I was helping him level his character from 45 on up. As of Saturday I had made it to 51, but life calls, and I know better at this point than to place computer time over family time.

So all in all it was a busy couple of weeks. The first section I simply couldn't help, it was a whirlwind of family, limited computer access, poor cell phone reception, and more driving that a newborn should be subjected to. This last week I was recuperating, and leveling a feral druid. I can't really justify that last part, but fuck it, if your feelings are hurt, come by the house and I'll give you a Twix™.

Many thanks to Serry and Tarah (names poorly changed to protect the innocent), who visited us this last Friday and Saturday. Serry's father got married on Saturday, and we wish him all the best in this newest chapter of his life. We were dog sitting while they were at the wedding, and while they may thank us, it's our pleasure if only to get a chance to spend time with good friends.

Plus they picked up our lunch at Chilito's, it's not really relevant, but talking about it makes me smile. I had the red enchiladas with red chile meat and an egg on top. Heavenly!

What else what else....

Saw a few movies, not the theater kind of course just on DVD. Crystal wasn't to impressed with Mama Mia or The House Bunny. I made sure I was on the computer at the time. Eagle Eye maintained our firm belief that Shia Labeouf is good enough an actor to make you forget you're watching Shia Labeouf. Hamlet 2 was excellent, go watch it. Meet Dave was standard modern-day Eddie Murphy comedy, mildly funny yet a little too tame with a splash of cheesy. Eddie Murphy still manages to be one of the best actors alive today, it's just often overshadowed by family friendly packaging and scripts which place him in roles which are often revisions of characters he's played before. We rented Pineapple Express today (Marisa, if you're out there, can't help but think of you when I see this movie) and laughed our asses off. Such a good movie. Lots and lots of tiny quotable snippets, which we all know is the best asset a comedy can have right? I saw it three times in the theater, and it still felt fresh on DVD. Good stuff. The only complaint I have is that for being "unrated", there was only about 2 minutes of extra material, and none of it moved beyond it's R rating.

The baby is doing great. She's beautiful, and not in that "she's mine so I have to say it" kind of way. She cries when she needs something, and stops when she gets it. It's about as good as we could have hoped in that department. No random endless crying, knock on wood. She's a little over two months now and growing like crazy. She's well into smiling, laughing, and carrying on conversations in whatever language she can muster. Every day you ask yourself how it's possible that so much could come from so little ... /smirk

(mom and Caitlyn shown)

Life is good.

Miss you all, love you all,

Jimmy

P.S. Here you go, for your adoring pleasure.