Thanksgiving 2011: Another Round of Finger-Lickin’ Good Food
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
Like it or not, Thanksgiving came around once again just as expected. This year it fell on a Thursday, which was totally expected. The date was November 24, 2011. I spent the bulk of the afternoon working on uploading music with the pleasant diversion of visiting my friend Ashleigh Heath at her father’s house. She was in the midst of making me a big fat delicious apple pie. We took a short road trip up to the store to grab some cheese, crackers, and wine for that late evening’s gathering that would be happening at my house. Read the rest of this entry »
October 2011 has shaped up to be a ridiculously difficult month after Jamie and I had split up and then my Grandpa Murphy had passed away. After the dust had settled and the funeral had ended, I was charged with the task of simply coping with everything that was going on. Lots of my time was spent alone, blankly watching TV shows such as The Beverly Hillbillies, WKRP in Cincinnati, The Honeymooners, and mostly The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. I listened to such bands as Bon Iver, The Cardigans, The National, Two Door Cinema Club, and Men Without Hats. I continued to work on assembling my Billboard Top 100 countdowns. But mostly, I stayed occupied with friends and family – and it was this that has enabled me to remain cheerful in the face of blah. 
It was sometime in 1994 when an adorable young girl with a mouthful of braces, beaming with enthusiasm and energy, started working at the Beavercreek Kroger store. At the time, I was working in the front office as an office helper, and she was exercising the new right to start working limited hours when you were 14 or 15. Her name was Rachel Brehm and her brother Darius had also recently joined the troops. I thought perhaps she was the cutest, perkiest, and most driven young girl I had ever had the pleasure of meeting. 
It shouldn’t be too hard for you to picture me as an annoying, young boy – running around and pestering a group of counselors at summer camp. Well…as easy as you find it, Dean Garrett will find it even easier. Although he was never officially my counselor at Camp Woodland Altars, he was one of the staple counselors for all three years of my Junior Lodge days from 1981-1983. He is also part of my memory landscape that encompasses my very first Summer at Woodland Altars. I’ve already talked a bit about that particular week and you can read about it 
As a bit of a chubby little whippersnapper and obnoxious twelve-year old, I hadn’t yet had an official ‘girlfriend’ as I moved into the summer of 1984. You can bet your bottom dollar that I liked girls – I had since kindergarten – but I lacked the gumption and self-confidence to ask any of them to ‘go’ with me. However, this all changed when I went to Camp Woodland Altars during the summer following my sixth grade year. Actually, it was relatively easy to find girls here.