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i guess there’s a big timeline gap here since the previous posts. that’s mostly because nothing too exciting happened to me during that stretch….a lot of time spent with work (crazy) and trying to understand and finalize the situation with Emily. so, we jump forward to halloween. i was working so hard that it sorta snuck up on me, but jessica was nice enough to pick up a sting ray for me at the aquarium. getting it was pretty funny, b/c i called the aquarium and asked if they had any “plush animals like, walruses or penguins or rays.” i then asked how big they had them, and then zeroed in on the rays. they had the necessary accent piece for my outfit. i called jess and asked her to pick it up. i can’t believe she consented to do it, b/c i’m pretty sure she didn’t approve of my costume idea. i don’t blame her.

halloween was pretty low-key this year, though. i went to a party at Rick and Rhonda’s with Drew and Blake. Drew was a karate-man (he bleeds on the inside) and Blake was a girl in a running outfit (or Blake). here we all are at the party.

afterwards i went out and met folse at a party. i was immediately accosted by a girl who proclaimed my costume the best costume of all time. it was good to be appreciated.

here are folse and i at that party. he was the phantom of the opera. you probably would have guessed that.

i had the opportunity to serve mr. brent nix in a non-custodial position at his wedding to one sara (spelled without an “h”) ruth (spelled with an “h”). i obviously leapt at the opportunity to participate. special note: sara’s name now has no “h”‘s whatsoever.

anyway, we showed up on friday and had the opportunity to see something i NEVER thought i would see. of course, i am referencing seeing stephen on an ATV

here brent catches a ride in to town in mark’s “uncle jesse” truck.

brent was not being rude, but instead uses his tongue like a snake to sense the environment about him. it is not, however, biforkated as is plainly obvious in the photo.

we had the rehearsal dinner that night and got to listen to some really intriguing conversations.

drew did his “upper hand” toast and managed to avoid using the phrase “on top,” a personal victory for mr. allvine.

i should mention that hendersonville was a lovely place and that after the rehearsal dinner we heard some pretty cool bluegrass at a cabin that brent and his dad had built. my only complaint with the bluegrass band is that nobody yelled out “man of constant sorrow!!!” which i would suspect is the bluegrass equivalent of yelling “freebird” at most other musical events; except, quite obviously, for a rap event. i don’t think rap has a signature concert song. if i had to vote for one, though, i would vote for “mo money, mo problems.”

the wedding was nice and the reception was at what i’m sure was a historic house. i really liked the mushroom caps and we all danced quite a bit. it was a good time. i didn’t really take many pictures, but i did get this one.

somebody yelled out “cool, lap dances!” but i don’t know who did, and i think that whoever did was crass.

i did, however, take some videos. here’s one that probably warrants a youtube post. stephen disects a young woman(whose name has been redacted)’s story about him blowing her off at a birthday dinner for our same sara nix (formerly ruth). while her description was wrought with emotion and her sense of injury was obviously heart-felt, i remain agnostic on the incident in question.

here are some other random videos from the pre and post wedding.

there is no video of anyone drinking anything out of a bottle hidden in there tux. if there were, courtesy would prevent me from posting it here anyway.

oh, if you don’t know brent and sara well, here they are.

i took this pre-wedding photo for them. they were excellent models.

brent and sara’s wedding. a good time was had by all, and i am very grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of the event.

Julie and i stopped by the memorial for the Oklahoma City bombing when we were out in OKC for a client meeting (which, by the way, didn’t go too well). Anyway, it was really weird to be there, though i have to admit, the couple of trips i had made to the WTC site previously had anesthesized me a little bit for this. Being in college, I didn’t really experience the OKC bombing like i did the WTC disaster.

What DID really spook me, though, was the chairs that were out there. Each one represented a person who died in the explosion, and the little ones represented the children that died that day. Thinking that each little chair was some kids life was a little more sobering than even the wall of momentos outside. So, here are the pictres i took.

But first, the gear shift in my rental car.

i have no good reason for including that one, but i did.

here are the pics from the memorial