The Owl & The Palm Frond

It's hard to distinguish between each visit down to what my friends call "South Beach". They can be very routine and therefore blur into one another. But I have a feeling that this one will stand out, for numerous reasons. Possible, potential numerous reasons that are yet to be divulged.

A lovely sight at Newark airport. You'd be crazy to give up this life of travel.

Anyhow, Lopez & Matt picked me up from the uncharacteristically frigid Miami airport at 1am, which was already a change from Daniel or Alex being 2 hours late in the blistering January heat, so that was nice. And spending some time catching up with two of my favorite people was also a pleasure, even if it was semi-comatose at 4am over black berry Red Stag.

This is a rare photo of Lopez's face. He thinks photos steal your soul and usually covers his face. I am serious.

I was there to teach tho, and early Saturday afternoon that's just what I did. Braddock's putting a show about the last hours of Jesus on the floor this year. Pretty heavy material, but I didn't let it weigh me down. I had my very first "WWJD" moment and all of the sudden I was halfway thru the rifle feature. Amen.

Daniel showed up late Saturday evening from his HS to approve my displays of mediocrity, and I got to make some jokes with my kindred spirit Keith, a pasttime I will miss once it's gone.

Once it's out of me, I'm pretty much done, so I spent the remainder of the rehearsals snapping some shots around the school including a session with a little silver owl who may or may not have threatened my life.

Mark, Daniel & I saw a film Sunday night; Up in The Air. While it was ultimately just a little disappointing in the end, I can't help but feel that the defeatist motif throughout put a slight damper on the rest of our evening. I tried to lighten the mood by posing with Alvin, Simon & Theodore, but to no avail.

When that didn't work I had to pull out the big guns and abduct a fallen palm frond from the parking lot and present it to Daniel as a gift. Getting it home in the already crowded 2-door was a challenge, but we proved were up to it after a red light transition from passenger window to sunroof without even unbuckling.

And I think it really ties together the room.

What's that? You wanna know if I had Chicken Kitchen?

It's the only reason I go.