Tuesday, June 26, 2007

thousand dollar wedding

many of you know the troubles of my family these past few years, and for those of you who don't, it's a story that you wouldn't believe, and it continues to get longer and more tragic every day that goes by. i'll tell the story here one day, but not today.
let's just say that we were well aware that our trip to tenn was going to be 'stressful' at best.
the plane ride with harlan was actually more relaxed than usual. he's a peach of a baby, all smiles and giggles, and he really helped distract me from my aviophobia. on the first flight, he filled his diaper with his morning constitutional. changing a baby's diaper in an airplane bathroom...hahahahahaha, i won't even try to describe it. but, the rest of the trip, along with layovers, plane changes, and the usual airport craziness was just fine with harlan, in fact, i think he may have come back with a whole new outlook on life. he didn't even mind when we got on the plane at 4pm in nashville and because of thunder storms, sat on the plane in charlotte for almost 2 hours and didn't get back to boston until 1am. he's a peach i tell ya, a peach.

we went to tenn to attend my brother's wedding and to let harlan meet his granpa and uncles for the first time. my brother nigel and his girlfriend ashley decided to get married in a small ceremony by a lake by my parents house. it was short and just about the sweetest thing i've seen in a while. on the day of the wedding...a lazy, humid sunday morning, a rude knock came at my parent's door. ernie and i both knew it was the police, no one else knocks quite like the police do. we went to the door, they were asking for ashlie. apparently, they had a warrant for her arrest for unpaid child support (she has four children, two by my brother and two by another, none of which she has custody). she was sure it was a mistake, since she had receipts to prove payment, but of course, it's a sunday, and none of that matters to cops. they took her in (in curlers, no less) and booked her and let her go on 500$ bail. arrested in curlers on your wedding day, how faulkner-esque. the day before that my brother's truck had been repo'd by the bank. we'll just say my family hasn't had the best of luck these days (if 'luck' is what you want to call it).
all in all, it was a good trip, even with the pending court dates, etc. harlan really seemed to enjoy spending time with his granny and papaw. my mom took him into the back yard and put his feet into tenn soil, to make sure his feet didn't hit 'yankee dirt' first. and even with all of the chaos of traveling with a 4 month old (which really wasn't so bad), it was nice to get away from boston for a bit.

just a tip for all of the parents out there (especially new ones); drive in movies are the best thing ever. your baby can scream and scream and no one is bothered, also breastfeeding is a cinch. and that new die hard movie is the funniest one yet...i mean, i had no idea that it was really possible to turn a tractor trailer truck back onto it's wheels by the sheer power of bruce willis' balls. phenomenal.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

to live is to fly



tomorrow, we're off to my old home place, tennessee, to see the family and let them meet the wee one. we'll be flying. fear of flying aside, i seem to be more afraid these days that i'm going to forget something very important...like diaper cream, or the baby.

wish me luck.

Monday, June 04, 2007

little too weird...

put your apple itunes or ipod on shuffle...fill out the questionaire of your life by the clicking on the title of each song that comes up...no cheating...

bizarre.

1. Opening Credits: this fire by franz ferdinand
2. Birth: apple bomb by deerhoof
3. First Day At School: oliver twisted by the vaselines (yes!)
4.Falling In Love: in memory of Elizabeth reed by the allman brothers (huh?)
5. Fight Song: celluloid heroes by the kinks (really slow motion hollywood fight scene)
6. Breaking Up: you will miss me when I burn by palace brothers (tragic)
7. Prom: max earnst dream by mission of burma (didn't go to prom)
8. Life: tell me by galaxie 500 (ahh..)
9. Mental Breakdown: the man I love by gershwin (instrumental...only if mister irving left)
10. Driving: saviour piece by snap ant
11. Flashback: generation by black rebel motorcycle club (ha!)
12. Wedding: teenage lust by mc5 (haha!!)
13. Birth of a Child: twenty four hours by joy division (little shorter than that)
14. Final Battle: lifetime piling up by talking heads (classic.)
15. Death Scene: sweet adeline by elliot smith (aw, that makes me teary to think about..poor elliot)
16. Funeral: when we reach the hill by the black heart procession (perfect.)
17. Ending Credits: clint eastwood by the gorillaz (seems appropriate and superficial)


Ok, that was strange...just for fun, i'm going to do this twice and see if it works as good the second time.

1. Opening Credits: the ballad of ira hayes by johnny cash
2. Birth: gangster of love by the talking heads
3. First Day At School: hook by pj harvey

4.Falling In Love: ainsi soit-il by the paris combo
5. Fight Song: hi everybody! by ciccone youth
6. Breaking Up: respect by otis redding
7. Prom: she's a lady by tom jones
8. Life: flight of icarus by iron maiden (hahahahaha!!)
9. Mental Breakdown: this is love by pj harvey
10. Driving: how come you do me? by the cramps
11. Flashback: bewilderbeast by badly drawn boy (so great...an instrumental)
12. Wedding: please mr.DJ by merle haggard
13. Birth of a Child: here comes the sun by the beatles (awwwww..)
14. Final Battle: escort by the sea and cake
15. Death Scene: think by james brown (must be one of those tarantino death scenes)
16. Funeral: no hey problemo by pink martini
17. Ending Credits: today i lost a tooth by olivia tremor control

that was weird too, but not as weird as the first one.
man, i just realized i really need some new music.




too weird…too too weird…