I was out walking through the neighborhood earlier this evening, as I have done the past few evenings. The time was approaching 10:30, if I recall correctly. Quite dark.

The mutli-street jaunt was going quite well, the evening rather quiet. As I neared the bottom of a hill before ascending the other side... the street around me was suddenly lit with a bluish-white light. My first thought was that a car was coming down the hill behind me, so I moved to the side of the road to stay out of the way, and I happened to look up at the sky as I did.

I saw something bright moving across the sky through the trees. A plane. The thought that followed on the heels of that one was that it was far too bright to be the lights on a plane, and the light was too close and moving FAR too rapidly for it to be a plane. And there was no sound. My next thought was that its movements resembled a bird more than a plane. But most birds are not equipped with very bright lights. Or if they were, they surely would not have been able to move that fast so burdened down.

Hmm, I thought. Maybe I just imagined it. Light reflecting off something. Who knows.

Hmm, I thought again. But the light was not from a car, for there WAS no car behind me. And for a car to illuminate the road where I was it would have had to be coming DOWN the hill towards me. And no car was, nor had been, nor was there any place for such a vehicle to turn off. The sound of a such a vehicle was absent as well.

Now that my brain was firing on a few more cylinders than normally required for just a walk, I realized there was something odd about the light that up until now I had assumed was from a car, and conjured up again the image of the light on the ground which I had just seen scarcely a few moments ago.

There had been shadows of branches in the light cast upon the road.

Therefore logically the light HAD come from the sky.

Knights of Columbus!

What HAD I seen? I am sure it was no plane. Nor a shooting star. A shooting star could possibly account for what I saw in the sky but NOT the light on the ground. Whatever it was, it was quite bright and moved quite fast.

I leave the drawing of conclusions to you, dear readers.


For L and MB.... later homes. (physical representation of said greeting ensues)....... ( oww, now my chest hurts)

circle in the square

I love this place. downtown marietta. it's amazing, and I'm going to miss it. the people here are awesome. I've never felt so welcome by complete strangers. and I say it's downtown marietta, but it's really the coffee shop, and the square behind it. inside and out, it's one my favorite places on earth. that I've come across so far. I don't want to leave. but before long I'll have too. I do hope to come back tho.

today I woke up late, again. it's a habit now. get to get rid of it. I showered, and decided to come back here. I was hoping to find the circle. that's what I've taken to calling it. the circle in the square. I love it. it's the circle of people that makes this place what it is. it's specifically the group at the far left table, in the square out back. justin, brian, tom, megan, nicole, stephen, patrick, and so many others. too many to count. I can't remember their name. they make up the circle tho. and that's what I came looking for today.

I hadn't been here 20 minutes when justin walked in. I was inside, but he forgave me. see, the circle doesn't come inside. they might walk thru for coffee, but they're separate from the inside ppl. justin said it was ok that I was inside tho, cause I'm not from around here. I'll learn. ;)

I head outside with him, grabbing coffee on the way out. the wind is a bit chilly and I want something to warm me up a bit. they've got a chess board and brian and some dude who's name I never learned are finishing up a game. justin and tom are next. apparently this is a tradition that's lasted all year at least, countless games between tom and justin. and I must say, it was a pretty exciting game. but in the end, tom took it down. not that y'all care. but I do.

at some point during the game, I meet megan. she's pretty cool, she hears my name, and that I'm from texas and asks me if I'm the film dude. apparently I'm famous. already. I feel all warm and fuzzy. :P
yeah, I'm the film dude. Andy the movie maker. hah! if she had seen the clips I've filmed she prolly wouldn't call me that.

as the evening progresses the circle shrinks. it's down to 4. then justin leaves, and then brian and man who's name escapes me head out. I feel guilty but I head inside to write this up. the wind is a bit too cold, the chairs too hard, to be out there without company. but I'm not too guilty, cause I know that no matter how many times I do this, the circle won't hold it against me.

working man...not really.

today was a fun day. since yesterday I had explored downtown, today I went back with some thoughts on a little project I wanted to do. my plan was to go to businesses in the downtown square, and volunteer for the day. I would walk in, ask to speak to a manager, and then explain what I was doing. it's a project I'm working on, I'm a volunteer for the day. I'm going around and asking for work, so if you've got work for 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 2 hours. whatever. I'll take out trash, I'll clean bathrooms. whatever you have for me to do.

I got downtown about 1pm or so. it was interesting seeing the different reactions. I went to about 15 places, after that I got to where I could tell if someone was a definite no, or possibly might listen. most of the people I talked to didn't listen. almost before I stopped talking they'd say no thanks. almost like I was a used car salesman. but the few people that DID listen, and heard what I was saying were amazing. one of those conversations would go like this:

me explain what I'm doing.
them: so you're volunteering?
me: yes.
them:why?
me:because no one else does.
them:how many of you are there?
me:just me.
them:what cause are you doing this for?
me:I'm not doing it for any cause.
them:why would you do that tho?
me:cause no one does it. so I want to.
them:that's amazing. I've never heard of anything like this. this is incredible.

it was fun. out of the 15 places or so I went, only 3 of them were open to what I was doing. and only 1 let me work. the first place I went, Marietta Pizza Co, had a very nice manager who listened to all I said, but then took it to the owner who said they didn't have anything for me. at the second place, Blimpie's Subs and Salads, I talked to the owner, Bernie. after it taking forever to explain what I was doing, and for him to get over his amazement, he put me the to work. the only person to do it. he had me clean his windows, which were filthy. after a while, I had the semi-clean, and he was getting really busy so I left and told him i might come back later. he said he'd have more for me if I did.

the rest of the places said no, I did come across one fairly nice place where I explained everything and the lady got really excited, said it was really cool, and I was her savior. she said she had lots I could do. then she went into the back to explain it to the manager, and she came back and said by law, they couldn't let me work there. I'm not sure what law that is, or how it works. but she said she was sorry she couldn't use me. oh well.

after walking around for a few hours, it was getting near 4 probably. so I headed back to the car, drove around, went to a cemetery for soldiers, got some interested pictures there. and then I decided I wanted to film this coffee shop I had been to several times, Cool Beans. so I headed back there, walked thru it filming, and outside to where some tables are. then I walked around for a bit more, just looking around again.

about this time there was a group of 5 ppl sitting around a table outside the coffee shop. there always seemed to be groups like that, whenever I went. anyway, as I walked by the group, they noticed my camera, and a guy asked me if I needed something to film. he invited me to sit down, introduced me to the group, and offered me a cigarette. as much as I appreciated the gesture, I did turn him down on that. ;)

I found out his name is Justin, and his friends are Nicole, Stephen, Brian, and Patrick. and they hang outside the back of the coffee shop almost everyday. they were all smoking, and offering them to anyone that walked up. Justin seemed to know every other person walking by, seemed like he had been around a long time. so we talked about random and assorted subjects for quite sometime, just going on about everything and nothing. after a while Stephen left, and then Patrick. they then decided to show me "The Hole" which was this cement..hole.. in the middle of the square. it held like a generator or something, and there was shrubs all around it so you wouldn't notice. seemed like a cool place to hang out. and then they remembered a tree that was famous, and I HAD to see. it's a tree shaped like a rather inappropriate part of the male anatomy. it was a few minutes away by car, so we hopped in Nicole's car, and went to visit it. it was rather...graphic.. but I had a good time with them. after that they went back to the coffee shop, and I headed back here.I do hope to go back and see them more in the future. they're pretty cool people.

so that's my day. in short. tho it's not ended yet. who knows what could happen now. but I'm satisfied with what happened. can't ask for a much better day this that.

here's a tiny vid. the group of ppl, and a clip of the cement hole. the sound wouldn't load for the last part tho. oh well.

yeah.....

Knicely is crazy.

walking

today I went to go meet a manager from the local starbucks but once again, he wasn't there. so i went and walked downtown. awesome day outside. I forget the name of the city. starts with an M. anyway, walked around for a few hours. spent some time in the coffee shop we visited a while back. Cool Beans. still like that place. anyway, hope to go back tomorrow. we'll see. y'all know you'll hear about it.

permeations of yellow

Andy already covered most of whats been going on lately quite well. Except for the big lady in lime green at Bailey's. But we won't talk about that.

The weather has been quite nice for the last couple days. I took a walk around the neighborhood earlier. It was dark so there's wasn't too much to see. Now, I don't know about y'all but sometimes even the little things can make me hungry. Like getting the mail, for instance. You wouldn't think that walking out to the mailbox could make someone hungry but I think it can. So me being the thoughtful guy that I am, I left a suprise for one house in the form of a peanut butter cracker in their mailbox. Hope they're hungry.

late night GA

yesterday. was too tired to write this last night. now got to remember it all. it starts around 7:30pm, where the fun start. the rest of the day was ho-hum, the everyday stuff that you can read about on other blogs. we don't write about that stuff here. not that what we do is amazing, just that if you want to read what we ate for breakfast you can go to myspace. there are thousands of people there writing on just that topic.

so here we are, it's 7:30. josh and sam are playing pool. the air smells like smoke because it IS smoke. we're in bailey's bar and pub, which to me should be the same thing, but I don't get to choose the name. 2 middle aged men play at the pool table next to us, smoking cigars larger then hotdogs. the waitress is friendly, later I'll find out that they all are. bailey's has got a good staff there.

we're hear for one of our favorite vices. not drinking, nor smoking, nor pool. not even women. we're here for poker. of course. why else would we leave the sanctuary of josh's room, the welcoming fumes which come billowing out when you open the door. home for now. we've left there because there's a poker game going on, and we want in.

at 8 we're seated, there's barely enough room for the approximately 130 people sitting to play poker. there's no room to move, not that you need to. focus on the table that's all. from time to time I look for the others, josh is sitting at a table over my right shoulder, looking very serious. I can't find sam, tho I late spot him 2 tables to my right. can't see how he's doing yet. I start off fine, build up some chips, feeling good. good, but too excited. my 2nd time to play live, I can't stop my knee from bouncing. I hope the table can't see it. the young lady to my left often looks to her husband for help. she seems nice, if a bit too timid for the game. her husband annoys me, tho I shouldn't let it bother me. he's non-stop talking, saying he knows what I have, and when I have it. sometimes he guesses right, sometimes not. I know he doesn't know, but I can't seem to block his ramble out. doesn't bother me too much tho.

I'm out now. it's been probably 30 minutes. maybe 45. I lost track. I can't remember when we started. or what time it is now. I was the first out of the 3. my play wasn't' what it should have been. I'll learn and won't do it next time. sam and josh are still playing. I'm going for a walk, and to get some food out of the car.

we're down to 2 tables. I've been back and watching for about an hour. only 3 people get paid. not money tho, just bar money for baileys. we're not playing for the prize, just the win.
sam's out. 15th. his AK vs T8. the girl hit a straight. that burns a bit.
josh is out a bit later. 12th. forget what he had. good showing by both of them tho.

we're heading to a diner. a classic one, like you see in pictures. inside we go to the far left side, and our waiter comes. I have water, sam and josh get coffee. we order, just a milkshake for me tho. he repeats my order to me, a milkshake right? yes. 10 minutes later the food comes for josh and sam. our waiter confirms I wanted a chocolate milkshake. I say yes. another 5 minutes, he brings me water, and them coffee. assures me that the milkshake is on the way. finally it comes out, over flowing. it's his first one. he's new. taste pretty good tho. sam trying to hide laughter. I look behind me to see why. and regret it. there's a woman that's the better half of a african elephant. the back half, if you were wondering. I'd say she was walking away from us, but I'm not sure you can call it walking. I look away before she sits down, I can't stand to see what the will happen to the chair.
we order dessert. it's cheesecake. I love cheesecake. chocolate moose. :P I know, it's not moose. but if I want to call it moose, it's my right to misspell words on my own blog. we asked the waiter how big the pieces were and he shows us with his hands. only he keeps making it bigger. apparently the piece grows while we eat it. it comes and he was right. it's 4 inches tall. well, maybe not that big but close. quite huge. I eat as much as I can, but can't take much at all. sam eats most of it, not sure how tho. we're all full.
I ate too much. the food earlier, while I was waiting for sam and josh, plus my appox. 14 glasses of water, plus my milkshake, plus a quarter of sams cheeseburger, plus a few fries, plus some of the cheesecake. I walk to the door, and almost throw up. stupid me. another day. more new experiences.