Johnny Rockstar

Sometime last week I noticed that all the trees suddenly have leaves again. It felt like the change came overnight, and it put me in the mood to be outside. So, despite an alleged 40 percent chance of thunderstorms, we took our first camping trip of the season this weekend. It turned out to be warm and (mostly) sunny the whole time, which made for a beautiful trip spent reading, hiking, cooking over the fire, and playing scrabble. We’re already itching to go again, but between our separate and combined commitments, we won’t be able to until June. Hopefully the temperature will not have risen too incredibly high by then.

Posted by Johnny Rockstar at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’ve been given some graphic design tasks for work lately, in between those I had my own photoshop project going on. I took images of motorcycles, cars, engines, appliances, tools, silver wear, scrap metal and various other odds and ends and combined them to make this guy. He’s composed of well over a hundred layers, and if you click on him, you can see a massive image of it.

Posted by Johnny Rockstar at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Sorry for the absence. I spent a week back home in Michigan for a funeral and was too busy spending time with my family to think about the internet much. I’m back now and hopefully I’ll be motivated enough to get back to blogging.

My first weekend back on a normal schedule was a busy one. Friday night we went out with some friends and saw The Dempseys. Saturday we went to the cheap theater and watched Benjamin Button. Then it was sushi with other friends and back to their house for a few hours of Rock Band followed by a scary movie. Let me tell you, Kathryn can wail on the drums a whole heck of a lot better than I was ever able to.

Posted by Johnny Rockstar at 08:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I’m waiting for a phone call that I know is coming but I don’t want to receive. To take the call, to answer the phone, will be to acknowledge the inevitable and accept the unacceptable fact that a piece of my current life has slipped into my past with the soft hiss of a trillion grains of sand passing through time. Despite my dislike for them in general, my cell phone is usually within reach—in my pocket, on my desk, charging on the coffee table—but I’ve never been so acutely aware of its presence or felt it weigh so heavily in my pocket. Nor have I ever been so scared to hear it ring, or so reluctant to answer when it does. But when the time comes I will answer it, and I will follow the chain of motions set off as consequence. I will feel the sand turn damp with tears, and I, wrapped in the warm of my family, will look back with fondness at the beach I can no longer visit. And in the deepest of my sadness, I will remember that there are other trails of sand to follow, other beaches to enjoy. Even as these run out, more will come and go long after my own hour glass has emptied. That is fact. That is life.

Posted by Johnny Rockstar at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Awhile back now, Kathryn’s computer was stolen out of her apartment. It was a scary event, but since that time she ordered a new, much more powerful one. It arrived Wednesday night and since I’m working from Memphis this week, I’ve been keeping one eye on setting it up while I read about the importance of daily fiber intake for an article I’m writing. While doing this, I realized I really enjoy setting up new computers. I make a list of the programs I need to cobble together and methodically go down it, downloading, transferring, installing, configuring, and scratching off every time. There’s something, almost comforting—no, more like relaxing in the process.

In unrelated news, I reserved a beachside campsite on Lake Michigan for Casey’s bachelor party yesterday. The weekend before the wedding, we’ll be heading for a weekend of camping, golfing and bar hopping in Muskegon. I can’t wait.

Posted by Johnny Rockstar at 01:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)