Time for a Thanksgiving photoblog

I've got to say I had a pretty awesome Thanksgiving. I didn't work for four days, and I got to see Carla, my family, and some friends from back home. I am still a big Christmas guy and really love the whole holiday season thing, but I'm starting to realize that Thanksgiving has got a more favorable stress/good times ratio.

Anyway, a few pictures:



Wednesday night my dad's mom came over for dinner, and afterwards we all sat around and played board games. Here is a shot of the ladies trying to hang with the guys during 'Battle of the Sexes'.



You can't see Molly that well in this picture, but she is a little bundle of awesome. I love and miss my family very much, but no one in my family will do cool tricks if you offer them Cheerios.


Thanksgiving day we went to my aunt and uncle's house in Norcross to meet with my dad's side of the family, just like we do every year. It was really good to see everyone. I just realized that my brother Michael is picking up my cousin Daniel on the back row there; I'm pretty sure he's not really that much taller than everyone.



Pictured here is Michael giving me a 'double punch, double kick'. I was trying to look surprised and overwhelmed in this picture, but I think I just look... gay.



Carla had to meet my dad's whole side of the family at once, which was very brave of her. I asked Carla to keep the fact that she is a UGA fan under wraps for the time being because my whole dad's side of the family is pretty die-hard Georgia Tech.



Every year after recuperating from stuffing our faces during lunch, the guys go outside and play football for awhile. Carla got this great shot of me getting ready to blow past my dad, and another one of me dropping an easy pass that I won't post here.



Thanksgiving night we went to my friend Joel's house for a little party he and his wife Becca were having. This picture has to do with an inside joke that I won't explain, but I wanted to post it because this might be the most homoerotic thing I have ever seen..

So yeah, Thanksgiving was awesome.

Bah.

Tonight a very fat, very gay dude that I work with totally runied the holiday season for me by singing what sounded like gayed-up versions of a bunch of Christmas songs all night, such as 'Here Comes Santy Claus' and 'Santa Baby'.

Hey, good to see you again!

Last night I had the exquisite pleasure of waiting on a party of four that had tipped me very, very poorly when I waited on them a couple of months ago. Occasionally people you wait on will leave such a bad impression on you that the experience stays with you for awhile, and you remember little things like what the people were drinking or how one of the couples both got soup instead of salad. This was one of those tables, and I remembered them as soon as the women both ordered their peach-flavored iced teas and I saw their husbands' mustaches.

The first sentence of this blog might have come across as sarcasm, but serving these people was actually the highlight of my night because it gave me the opportunity to purposely give them service that was borderline insulting without having to care about losing a tip. Usually when someone leaves you a bad tip, they're already out the door and there's not a thing you can do, but this was a rare opportunity for some payback, which, as we all know, is a bitch. Call me immature, but it was really, really gratifying to do things like leaving their drinks sitting empty half the time and seeing them anxiously look for me, and having the salad, bread, and entrees all come out at the same time and then letting all the dishes pile up on the table. It was a thing of beauty, actually.

At the end of the meal the people were visibly annoyed with me and for a second I was afraid that I'd gone too far and that they would end up complaining to the manager about me, but after they left and I went and grabbed their credit card slips, I was surprised to see that they had left me exactly the same amount as last time: $3 on a $60 check. See you next time, assholes.

Shock, denial, anger, acceptance

So I just found out that Arrested Development is getting cancelled and having its 3rd season shortened to just 13 episodes. I feel like I just lost a close friend. All I can say is suck my balls, Fox.

It's funny because it's true

Carla is always giving me these stupid nicknames that never stick, mostly because they don't make any sense and are absolutely terrible. Last night she said she was going to start calling me 'Cinderella Man', for no reason other than that was the first movie we saw together. I reminded her that the first movie we saw together was 'The Longest Yard', and that that would actually be a perfectly acceptable nickname for me.

Six months

A few blogs back I said that I thought my relationship with Carla was at a crossroads, and that we had some issues that were going to have to get worked out real soon if things were going to continue. That would have been about a month ago. Looking back, I'd say right around that time was the low point of our relationship so far, at least on my end.

We had been apart for about 2 months and I think that I was letting complacency creep in... I still really missed Carla and still thought about her all the time, but what I was really starting to miss was the intensity of how I used to feel about her... I don't know if I would have admitted it to myself back then, but our relationship had stopped being fun. We would have a few boring phone conversations in a row where we'd struggle to find anything to talk about, and I would start dreading the thought of what the shitty conversation might be indicitave of. I guess I still felt like Carla was the right girl for me and I kind of knew that the distance thing was what was hurting us, but simply realizing this wasn't enough to rekindle my excitement about our relationship.

So anyway, not long after I wrote that blog, some of our issues came to the surface in a fairly lengthy talk/argument that caused me to miss half of the New Pornographers show that I had been so excited about (but that's neither here nor there). We both cleared the air on some stuff (mostly communication issues; surprise, surprise), and although it was definitely one of our most heated arguments, I think that working some of those things out was pretty huge and since then our phone conversation has been a lot better.

Last week I went down to Dahlonega to stay with Carla for a few days, and I had an absolute blast with her. It was a nice reminder of how good things are with us when we're actually together. I think it was a much needed shot in the arm for us after not seeing each other for about a month.

For the first time in a little while, I feel really really good about our relationship. I've learned a lot in the last month about relationships, long distance relationships, logic vs. emotion, communication and expectations, women in general, Carla specifically, and myself, among other things. I never knew relationships would be so much work, but also I couldn't have imagined how incredible it feels to be loved by someone who you are also totally in love with.

In summation: I'm happy to be able to say that Carla and I are post-crossroads, doing better than ever. Things aren't perfect by any means, and there will still be exciting blogs about our issues when I feel like venting, but I do feel 100% better about our communication for when issues do arise. I miss the hell out of her, and I actually look forward to each time we're able to talk on the phone. We're coming up on six months together, which I guess typically is another big relationship crossroads, but I think we're in pretty good shape for this one.

Candy Review: Hershey's Take 5

On a whim while grocery shopping the other night, I decided to venture out and try a new candy bar: the Take 5. So named because of the 5 key ingredients (pretzels, caramel, peanuts, peanut butter, and milk chocolate), the Take 5 caught my eye because of the pretzels; chocolate covered pretzels are definitely a favorite of mine and I was curious about how the other ingredients would fit in.

From the first delicious bite, the Take 5 quickly proceeded to blow my mind and exceed my expectations. Most of what you taste is the pretzels and the caramel, sort of like a Twix with pretzels instead of... whatever's crunchy in a Twix. The peanut butter taste is very subtle, but compliments the caramel and pretzel tastes very well.

All in all, I was very impressed with the Take 5, and for once, going out on a limb with an unproven candy bar was a very rewarding experience.

Rating: 4.5/5

A little tip for this coming holiday season

Egg nog mixed with bourbon makes a great holiday treat, however, I would not recommend drinking a whole bottle after you've eaten a bunch of pizza and thai food.