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.

Photo Shoot Homage

I have this friend named Katie. I've known her since she was 11. She's old now and dances all over Chicago. Her company recently had a photo shoot by a professional photographer and she posted the photos to popular social networking site Facebook, which naturally triggered me to organize a last minute impromptu photo shoot at Braddock this weekend. While Katies showed well trained & adept dancers performing feats of skill and prowess taken by a trained photographer with high quality equipment, ours was well... I'll show you.


Here's Katie...

and here's us...

Here's Katies crew again...

And our interpretation...

Here's Katie doing a nice reach from the ground...

And Emma doing the same...

Here's Katie in the midst of a grand leap...

And Daniel attempting to leap/fall from a chair in the same manner...

And finally here's Katie performing the quite acrobatic one-armed leap from the ground...

Of course this one fell on my lap...

Hey! That's not too bad now.

Miami Is.... And That's What I Want

Always a trip, literally & figuratively when I gotta teach down in Miami, once again, the least likely place I am ever to be found on a vacation, road trip or anything concerning travel on my own volition. The shiny cars, the fancy style, the heat, it's everything I care not to concern myself with. But duty calls. Someday I gotta screen that call.

CHAYCE!!!

He's gotten so big. And he's talking and asking lots of questions. Granted no one can understand him but that doesn't stop him. He really is too cute and a handful I'm sure. Nothing April & Marcos can't handle tho. At least he's taking an early interest in sports.

Here's the crew outside Ale House Friday night.

Then we went to Focal Point to watch Michael's dance class
where Chayce also took over the dance floor.

Saturday mornings are always a little rough.

But when we smell Marcos cooking breakfast it gives
us that boost we know we'll need to make it thru the day.

Spent a little time being creeped out by Chayce's vast array of Elmo toys.

And then took a quiet moment to reflect on just why I come
down here so often, and what I am doing with this life.

Taught the kids a ton of counts and I gave myself a wicked blood blister.

For the evening we headed to Bahama Breeze for dinner. The grilled peppers stuffed with goat cheese was delectable. And for an entree I had the mango butter pan seared salmon. Eating healthy, here come the holidays.

But this is the real reason I visit Miami.

The genius chop-chop chefs...

And mustard curry to die for.


Now I can't wait to go back, but if someone can find me a recipe for this mustard curry, maybe I can save Braddock some money.

The Winter Kickstart

I've filled up the iPod with all sorts of new thrills and I'm off to Miami to kickstart another impending winter season full of drama, intrigue, mayhem and apathy. I do enjoy spending time with that crew, Daniel, April and Greg is coming down this weekend so it promises to be good times. Daniel & I usually teach a little, watch as many movies as we can and eat Chicken Kitchen for breakfast, lunch & dinner. I don't see anything wrong with that come to think of it. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmustard-curry.

Bring on winter!!

Dayton, In Days

I was in Dayton for 5 days for WGI championships. I haven't been in five years so i didn't know what to expect, but I didn't expect this.

DAY 1: Arrival & Solitude

I had to fly in on our anniversary, which sucked but we made it work. Flew with the Sitao staff, who were excited as all get out (I think mainly for Sunday) but after a brief layover in Detroit we landed in Dayton, superstar style, deplaning onto the tarmac where Craig then tried to smoke a cigarette insisting "Jet fuel isn't flammable!".



And we knew we were in the right place for a grand winter guard finals when we were welcomed by this brightly painted rainbow theme of a bench on curbside.



Checked in with relatively no issue but since we were the only ones there (everyone else drove out) I settled in for a nice long sleep, surely the only one I would get all weekend.



DAY 2: Old Times & Unseen Lightning

Today was prelims for Sitao. They seemed in good spirits, understanding their fate and the swirling logic behind the adjudication system they were about to participate in, and all seemed to be content with letting what will be, be.



Arrived at the arena I immediately ran into some old friends which is always nice.



When performance time came I could tell nerves began to kick in so I began using wall art to inspire the telling of fables such as The Story of the First Colorguard and The Legend of Purple Dragon Vs. Blood Eagle.




Thinking it was over, the kids screamed PICKLE & thanked me for my participation in their season.



That night the staff & I went to the Centerville exhibition. Mainly I just wanted to see some friends. The whole ride there Craig attempted a photo of the lightning that struck all around us but all I got was 55 photos that were variations on a theme of this....



DAY 3: Doubling Up

Sitao made it to semifinals! Good for them. Bad news? We had to rehearse at 6 am. But it was more of just a warm-up and quick refresher. A one last time kinda deal. I decided to take some artsy photos, and remove myself from the guard world, albeit momentarily.




After Sitao performed I found my way across town over to the Dayton arena where Braddock was prepping for their prelims. I arrived in the nick of time and witnesses a remarkable preliminary performance. Good for them.




Then it was back to Sitao HQ for the only real reason any colorguard ever comes to Dayton, Ohio. Foot pizza!



And then for my 4th meal of the day I attended the Braddock banquet at a nice Italian place. I had the chicken parm. Abby won member of the year.

DAY 4: Finger Lickin'

Finals day for Open & World class. I can't lie & say I was excited to watch a full day of guards. I think 60 in all. I needed to find something to transform my plight to pleasure. Catching up with Hayden & meeting some old friends at the Emerald reunion were good, but what could really take this trip over the top.

How about dressing up like a chicken?







Yeah so that's how my WGI ended. Harassing children & dear friends dressed as a giant yellow foul. Best WGI ever.



Oh! and Braddock had a great run. Back to 8th! Feels anew.



DAY 5: Mia & Me-Ah

Sunday started a little lonely. While everyone else rushed off to the Mia Michaels master class, I had better things to do. Namely a deluxe breakfast at McDonalds.



Then I checked in on some of Mia's class and caught up with Christian & Budd.



Maybe the happiest moment of the weekend was arriving at the airport in Dayton and starting the trip home. First time I genuinely needed a drink at an airport bar. And the trip thru Detroit's terminal is like Space Mountain!



Not bad. Maybe I won't wait a full 5 years to go back.