I've had better times than those of late.  Sciatica kicking up again, Christoforo's passing away, and then this week getting sick on top of everything else.  There is something else, lately, that's been causing me some unrest.  I feel like I've reached this plateau with my music skills/knowledge.

The good news, I'm over the cold now, and have entered the mucous production phase.  Yuk!  Nose itches, sneeze a bit, and drip drip drip.  How exciting.  The sciatica is taking longer, but I'm walking a little more easily over short distances, and it takes longer now for my legs to become tired.  I've also started back on the Atkins' diet after re-reading the instructions and realizing that I had vastly overestimated the foods I could have during the 2 week induction phase.  My goal?  Lose a hundred pounds by the end of the year.  That's 12 gallons of water, one teenager, 7 stone.  Diet and exercise.  Up until recently I was pushing right at 390 lbs. ( 2 shy of 50 gallons of water, almost 4 teenagers, 28 stone, for those who wondered).

Tiger is going to graduate this May barring any foolishness which sometimes strikes a young man's fancy.  He's planning on joining the air force, and his mother is okay with it as am I.  When he leaves, it puts Kati and I in a position we've not been in before, being without children aboot.  It's ... a concept that we're still working toward.

I am probably going to have to wait until that time comes, and maybe a little after, before I can do some of the things I want to do; go to workshops for Irish and early history music, travel with Kati, wander. 

So.  To the music.  It will be practice, and work.  Classes. Listening.  Learning.  It won't happen near as fast as I want, much like being rid of the sciatica or the weight, but I have hope that I can work to achieve getting over this "hump".

Today is overcast and cool with a slow north wind.  Tracy Chapman's playing, and although the past few weeks have been blah, I'm with my sweety, and we're havin' ribs for valentines' day.  Yahoo!

Swiped from LdyAnne

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!! REPOST with name of high school and graduating year in the subject box.

1. Did you date someone from your school?   Ya.

2. Did you marry someone from your high school?   Nope

3. Did you car pool to school?  Nope

4. What kind of car did you have?  1972 red Volkswagon ragtop beetle.

5.What kind of car do you have now?  Big White Pick'em up truck

6. Its Friday night...where were you?  Football games playing with the band.  Got the letter jacket.  Lost the letter jacket.

7. It is Sat night...where are you? At work or playing D&D

8 What kind of job did you have in high school? Shakey's Pizza as cook.

9. What kind of job do you do now?  Systems Analyst

10. Were you a party animal?   Never considered myself to run in "that" crowd.

11. Were you considered a flirt?  Too shy.

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?   Yes.  Band: Trombone, Orchestra: string bass, choir: baritone

13. Were you a nerd?  don't have to qualify it - YES

14. Did you get suspended or expelled?  Nope

15. Can you sing the fight song? We had a fight song?

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)? David Gregory, our band director.

17. Where did you sit during lunch?  Wherever my friends sat - at a long table in the cafeteria, outside the cafeteria on benches, on the floor in the pseudo-orchestra pit.

18. What was your school's full name?   Hardaway High School

19.  When did you graduate?   1978

20. What was your school mascot? Hawk

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Nope - been there, done that.

22. Did you have fun at Prom?  Nope.

23. Would you talk to the person you went to Prom with? Ya.

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? Nope.

25. Do you still talk to people from school?  Only one, and that's because she's part of my brother's family.

Hope everyone else had a good holiday

Thanksgiving started Tuesday evening.  We drove.

It's 763 miles between my house in Houston, Tx. and my brother's house just north of Columbus, Ga..  In between them is a lot of open highway.  So Tuesday we packed the big white truck (it's much easier to pack for non-wilderness things than camping gigs), picked up Leon, and headed eastward.

I've been driving 55 mph. around the city lately in an effort to conserve on gas; not necessarily to save money, though that would be nice, but just to do some little bit to help save on resources in general.  For the most part I've found drives such as the one to the Clear Lake session and such much more pleasant.  Because I have the BWT I don't have to worry too much about other trucks who want to try to intimidate me to go faster through tailgating, and I'm not fighting traffic.  For the first leg of our journey I tried something similar; going 60 mph. to Baton Rouge.  By the middle of the second day I had determined that I the extra hours this speed added to a 700+ mile trip wasn't worth the resource savings, and ootched up to 70.  So.  Trips around town, 55.  Trips to the hinterlands, whatever the speed limit is.

Drive drive drive drive drive.  Get to Georgia Wednesday evening and have pasta and such at my mom and dad's new house.  Get to visit with everyone, stay at my brother's house, where they have the WORKING hot tub!

Thanksgiving day was good, ate good food and enjoyed good company.  The meal was to be served late so my brother and I drove up to Kat and Michael's new digs near Luthersville, which has only one traffic signal.  They are settling in nicely and the house is pretty.  The camp is fairly new, and both Kat and Michael love the new place.   Small town nearby, 280 acres of girl scout camp for the kids to grow up around, horses, archery range, rabbits and ducks.  She is already working on getting a bardic guild to meet once a month and doing some teaching at events in the area.  She has a three minute commute via golf cart and appears to be having a good time.

Friday and the Georgia aquarium.  It's amazing and this was our second visit.  If you're ever in the Atlanta area with some time on your hands and an inclination to watch fish behind glass (not under it) you should give this place a visit.  We prefer early mornings to later to avoid crowds.

One of my tertiary-level hobbies has become searching out places that have been shown on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, a FoodTV show featuring a gonzo host and a flood of good food.  After the aquarium we visited the Marietta Diner, a nice restaurant with EVERYTHING on the menu.  The food was good, hot, and plentiful.  Kati's trout was so good she wouldn't share ANY of it.  We can all recommend this restaurant.

Saturday and the trip back, in the rain.  All the way to Baton Rouge.  We stopped at another DDD place, Darwell's in Long Beach.  This place the food was okay, and it was more about the atmosphere.  We arrived to half the restaurant employees, including the cook, standing outside watching the rain.  The father and son team opened the restaurant a month before Katrina hit and were  one of the first businesses able to re-open in the town of Long Beach.  Food was good, good portions, and they have a killer "doctored" grits, as described by the chef's father.  For a while we were the only ones in the restaurant and the father was bored, so he sat at a table beside ours and talked to us for a while.  In a room full of people it would have been a quick visit and move on.  It was more annoying than entertaining.  In any case, the bright chrsitmas lights strung everywhere (except the kitchen), bright colors, and tons of artwork done by the father, all were a good antidote to having travelled hours in rainy weather.  We probably won't be back because Kati was annoyed with the "stoner" dad.  Ah well.

Sunday and the BR to Houston leg was sunny and breezy.  As always, it's good to be home.

Then I read that Tim and Truly and Zach were in town and was a bit bummed, but had a good time visiting family and friends and enjoying good food.  Yesterday was work again, and catch up since I'd taken the previous week off, but as always, it's worth it.

.