Father's Day (In 2 Parts)

Before - We're planning on heading down to North Beach to grill out with my dad, and Reb's family. We're going to celebrate Father's Day out on the dock, and have a little birthday party for Savannah, as well. That's the plan.

After - We just got back from our day on the Bay. It was hot and sunny but a beautiful day on the Chesapeake. We grilled out, and then had some cake and ice cream for the birthday celebration. Then I sat out on the dock and smoked a CAO America with my brother and just watched the boats sail by. I hope you had a good Father's Day, Pops.

Schools Out!

It's that time of year again. The school year is done. Students rushed out to their buses screaming, and smiling. The last week of school stretched into an eternity as the teachers struggled to maintain control, and the students realized that the teachers were at their wits end.

I looked back at my blog to see what I had written last year around this time and there was nothing. It's odd. Last year this time I was wrapping up what I thought was going to be my last year teaching. Sara and I had plans to move back to Chicago, and hoped by the end of the Summer to make that happen. I wrote nothing of this. I didn't mention leaving the School, granted I had planned to still work the Summer School session, but I didn't comment on leaving, or the students or even what I would do next. I don't know why.

Shortly after that my mother went back into the hospital and never came out again. My Summer was spent preparing for and then grieving the loss of my mom. I guess I didn't have time to focus on my feelings about leaving the School. Then, over the next 7 months or so I struggled to find a job, struggled to make money, struggled to get back on track. The plan to move back to Chicago was put on hold for the foreseeable future. Talk of grad school faded, washed away by a deluge of debt. Things didn't seem to be going our way.

Then I found my way back to teaching. Granted, I am not teaching drama and music as I was before but I was able to substitute in the classroom. Suddenly, I was Mr. Cobb again, and the students had missed me. Now I'm back to being a contracted employee, and working with students on a daily basis and most of the time it feels right. Money is still an issue. The commute is draining me and killing my car. The economy has snatched away my 2nd job, at least for the next few months, and I don't know what we're going to do to improve our situation. I guess we'll keep plodding along, and hoping for the best.

I'm happy to be back at the School. I'm happy to have a teeny tiny break, a week, before I have to go back and get ready for the Summer session. It will go by to fast and before you know it I'll be in the thick of things, halfway through the school year but I guess that's just how life goes.

It's All About Time

Yesterday, once again, I headed up to Charm City to work with my good buddy Dean on a submission film for the National 48 Hour Film Festival. This is my 7th collaboration with Running Storm Productions (6 Films and 1 Viral Video), and it's always an experience. This year we were thrown for a loop with the genre picks. Apparently out 1st pick was for a Western Or Musical. We gave up that pick for a Wild Card, and ended up with Time Travel or Doppelganger movie. Not what we were hoping for.

Friday night I was up til after 1 Am working on a treatment and discussing the project with Dean. He was up for another 6 hours turning my treatment into the script for our 8 Minute movie on Time Travel/Doppelgangers. I woke up early yesterday to review the script and then headed up to Baltimore for filming.

It was a long day. We got a late start. We filmed the exterior scenes 1st to avoid a rainy afternoon and then of course it never rained. So we spent the hottest hours of the day filming out in the sun, and then filmed our interior scenes during the afternoon. This project seemed to be a difficult one for everyone to visualize the final product and much time was spent trying to figure out difficult scenes, and logistics of the script. In the end we wrapped after 7PM, had some pizza and then left Dean to his editing.

It's funny though, last night when I got home from the shoot Back To The Future, which we briefly referenced in our film and often joked about on the set, was on TV. Today I get up and ABC Family is doing a Back To The Future marathon. Time travel has suddenly taken over my weekend. I am hopeful that Dean will be able to put together an amusing film from all of our footage. We will have to wait and see if the audience is as appreciative of our silly little film at the screening. I'll update you after the show.

Plaid Dogs Throughout Time

Last night we went to invited dress for Colonial Player's production of 'Dog Logic'. Tonight we took in 'Forever Plaid' at the Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre. Tomorrow, and some of tonight I will be dedicating to working on an original film for the National 48 Film Festival up in Baltimore. Our wild card selection of 'time travel or doppelganger' movie may throw a wrench into the works but we'll come up with something.

Lazy Day In Naptown.

Got the car worked on, did some light shopping, some light reading, and messed around with my camera phone.
This is supposed to be a panoramic view from my porch.

It Was A Bad Decision.

I should've known better. This little voice inside my head kept saying,"I'm not sure about this. Maybe you shouldn't." But I did!

I held those hamburger patties in my hand, noticing the odd color, and just an unhealthy appearance but I decided to grill them anyway. They were only a few days old, weren't they? Let's see. I bought the 4-pack of burger patties a week ago. Sara and I immediately grilled 2 burgers and ate them. I packed up the remaining burgers and threw them into the fridge to have a few days later. They should've been fine.

They weren't. I woke up Friday morning feeling sick to my stomach. I was in and out of the bathroom all morning. I kept burping up the burger all day as I fought off wave after wave of nausea, and a constant headache. Finally, around 3:30 yesterday Old Faithful blew. I rushed into the bathroom to vomit profusely and violently.

This has always been my problem with vomiting. I envy the casual regurgitator. I wish I was one of those fortunate souls who simply, and gracefully spit up the contents of their stomach, then go about their day. I am not. When I puke I end up on my knees, heaving, and shaking. The force with which I vomit has been known to pop blood vessels in my eyes, and I wake up the next day with sore abdominals. I'm also not very accurate with my aim when I throw, so it was not a pretty sight. Luckily all of the students had gone home for the day so no one was around to witness me cleaning the bathroom stall, or rinsing out my beard at the sink.

I then sat in traffic for almost 2 hours, came home, crawled in bed and slept for several hours. When I did wake up I had a persistent headache, couldn't really eat anything and was pretty much a bump on a log all night long as Sara kept the ginger ale flowing. We did not have an exciting Friday night.

I Bought A Purple Ruffle!

Memorial Day Weekend is over too soon. It just flew by. Friday through Monday evening are one big blur. Bumming around the house watching movies. Shrimpfeast in North Beach. Chillin' on my folks' dock. Swimming in the Severn. CAO America. Drinks at Mangia's to maybe say goodbye to a friend. Now it's over.

It's Tuesday morning, I'm fresh from the shower and I am anticipating an average morning commute of 'too long'. I do own a new basil plant, however. It was an impulse buy in North Beach. It's purple! I already own a basil plant; a Mammoth Basil but I thought the purple one was kinda cool. Did I need another basil plant? Sure, why not?

The niece & nephew were curious about the purple basil. I nibbled on one of the leaves and then let them split a leaf. Apparently, they really liked it because after that they wanted to pick my Ruffle clean. The nephew also thought it was funny that my middle name is an herb.

Today I Did Stay In Bed.

I took the day off. I slept in for several hours. I relaxed on the porch with a book and some coffee. Sara and I cooked lunch then went down to the beach and watched the Blue Angels practicing maneuvers over the Severn River. In the evening I met friends and attended a musical performance that Sara was a part of. I didn't accomplish anything of major importance today. I haven't solved any of life's little riddles. I didn't make any major changes in my philosophy, lifestyle, or opinions on adulthood. It's been a lazy day - a much needed lazy day.

I Should've Stayed In Bed!

Tootsie crawled up from beneath the sheets and started licking my cheek, and then neck. I slowly opened my eyes, irritated, and I glanced at the clock. It read: 6:59. I grumbled at the dog for waking me up before my alarm! Wait a minute, I normally get up at 6:00 AM... what did the clock say? 6:59 AM! Oh no, it's an hour later than I thought!! I've somehow slept through my alarms, or turned all 4 of them off without knowing it and gone back to sleep. I fly out of bed, run through the shower, and jump in my car only to sit in traffic for an hour and a half. It didn't get better.

At school I rushed around looking for coffee to kill my caffeine headache, my short fuse ran out at 9:30, and the students were in rare form - the cycle of the moon always screws everything up! I grit my teeth through a stressful school day, blew my stack with an hour and a half left of class, and then sat through an excruciatingly long meeting. Then I rushed off to my Tuesday afternoon group where my non-existent patience was sorely needed. I made a student cry.

Then I jumped into my car and drove to Fairfax to meet my brother at a funeral home for a viewing. A childhood friend of mine, whom I have not spoken to or seen in years, passed away last week from Cancer! He was younger than me, and is survived by a wife and 2 children. I found out about his death on Sunday and decided that we should go to the viewing.

I remember this friend fondly from our swim team days, cub scout meeting, elementary school classes, and numerous sleepovers! It's been surreal. I saw his mother at the memorial service for my Mom back in July. I can't remember if I knew that he'd been battling colon cancer. Recently they discovered it had invaded his body to an alarming degree. It was everywhere. He went quickly. I only heard about through the grapevine this past weekend. He'd been dead for 3 days.

At the funeral home the room was packed when we showed up and apparently Catholics need to say 1,000,001 Hail Maries at such an event. I stood in the back of the packed room for an eternity as the crowd mumbled in unison. Finally, the crowd broke up and it was possible to move through out the room. Oh, and I didn't realize it would be an open casket! He didn't look real. He looked like a wax figure - his hands, the thin face, and the make up. I wasn't prepared.

The family thanked us for coming. Reb and I bumped into childhood acquaintances, old friends, and familiar faces. Wouldn't you know it several people even offered us condolences on the death of our Mother. Out in the parking lot a woman approached us yet again to chat us up about Mom. She got a little emotional. This has been a strange day.

Ugh!

Lazy Saturday morning spent checking my email, listening to CHIRP Radio, reading a book, and dreading my night shift that looms ahead in a few hours. I meant to put in my notice weeks ago. I'm back to being a salaried employee at the school, and working part time at a Speech Therapy office during the week so I don't really need the low-paying, highly aggravating serving job, you know?

I'm a big believer in the bullshit to money ratio! If there's a high level of bullshit to deal with at a job then there should be a comparably high amount of money to be made whilst dealing with said bullshit. Needless to say this has not been the case. The $50-$60 that I make on average at the restaurant is not worth my time. This will be my last shift.