Salt and Pepper Beard

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

“Good things come to those who wait.  Good things come to those who work their asses off and never give up.”

            While belated, I wish my dad a very happy 46^th birthday!!! I’m not really sure how to praise my dad on such a special day or give accolades to such an important life and prominent figure in my own life, but I guess I’ll start by sharing what my dad has taught me…besides how to flip the bird J.

#1: Work hard.  If I’ve learned anything from my dad, it’s that you must work hard.  Nothing comes easy but the things that come to you as a result of hard work make the effort worth it.  There are/will certainly be days you want to blow off and it can be frustrating to watch other people slack off around you, but a strong work ethic not only leads to high reward, but great passion for doing what you love and what is right.

#2: There is no right way to love.  There’s a running joke in my family that my dad is the most charismatic person in the whole entire world…to strangers.  I have people approach me each time I’m out and about in Charlotte (and sometimes on plane rides from New Orleans?!?) about my dad.  They recognize me from our uncanny resemblance (minus the graying beard and zip off cargo shorts) and they stop me to recount stories about my dad.  Sometimes they’re stories from high school and college, my dad’s “glory days” as they call them, and they talk about his wild, fun love for life and disregard for rules.  But other times they’re stories about my dad’s adult life, times when he has helped them to build something or other at their house, lent them tools from his vast collection in our garage, or made them laugh at some (what I’m sure was an inappropriate) joke.  Regardless of the setting or the person, each story has the same underlying themes: your dad is kind, he’s helpful, he’s funny, and he’s been a good friend.  Well, if you know my father like I do, you know that he’s not a big hugger.  He doesn’t say “I love you” each night before we go to bed and sometimes, if he really isn’t expecting you to touch him, he tenses up.  (I type this laughing because I do the same thing…people really should warn you if they’re about to infringe on your personal space)  Anyway, he’s not the typical affectionate dad.  He’s the kind that walks 5 paces ahead of everyone in our family but holds out his hand behind him for us to reach out and grab so he can pull us along with his unreasonably fast stride.  He invests in scare the crap out of you and show you how truly physically weak you are before you go to college “self-defense” classes so he can rest assured that you will be able to protect yourself when he’s not within arm’s reach to protect you himself.  He’s the kind of dad that will drop everything to come get you when your car has been “stolen”, anger-free.  He’s also the kind of dad who laughs off a brutally car wreck in our own driveway in which the driver (WHIT) backed his truck into my dad’s truck.  I repeat myself: IN OUR DRIVEWAY.  He doesn’t smother us with hugs and kisses but he is an ever-present source of love and caring in our lives that seems somehow stronger than any other love I’ve known.  So maybe it’s unconventional, but who am I to say it’s wrong?

#3: One can never have too many shirts. Nuff said.

#4: Be happy.  Take everything everyone says with a grain of salt and then do what you want to do anyway.  There’s no way to please everybody so just do what you want.  Be a good person and try to do the right thing, but do what you love.  Make your own life and your own family and your own kind of happiness but at the end of the day, go to bed having proved something to yourself.  I like to look at my dad’s life and think that he’s ended up exactly where he’s supposed to be.  Sure, his job his stressful and everyone in our family is 14 different kinds of crazy, but he gets to go fishing on the weekends, he has fat, cute dogs, and children that are healthy and here.  So hats off and drinks in the air for you, dad!

Love ya.  Miss ya.  Mean it.

Kane

You'll Be Missed...

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

-Winnie the Pooh

            Sometimes God tests us.  He sends us hardship and disappointment and often it is hard to know why.  Last night, a member of the Myers Park and UNC community, as well as a dear friend, passed away.  While it doesn’t seem fair, it is important to remember all of the wonderful things about David and to recognize that God never gives us something that we can’t handle.  My thoughts and prayers go out to David’s family and friends.  May we cherish and look out for each other and always treasure the time we got to spend with sweet, goofy David.  Heaven got a good one yesterday.  I will miss you every day, David.

“Thomas Edison’s last words were, ‘It’s very beautiful over there.’  I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I hope that it’s beautiful.”

-John Green, Looking for Alaska

Love one another and remember just how precious life is.  Please keep David’s family and friends in your prayers.  Love you all, miss you every day.  I MEAN IT.

Kane

Parents' Weekend 2012

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

“Bottom line…enjoy right now.  Regardless of who you are and how old you are.  What you have done, failed to do, been or failed to be is irrelevant.  Right now is the best time of your life, so enjoy it.”

-Pop Whitsitt

Whoa.  I cursed myself last week by hoarding the term “uneventful”.  This week was far from the quiet boredom of last week, filled with lots of “exciting” things!

#1: Deer are faster than labradoodles.  Let me paint you a picture here:  I’m walking my beloved four-legged friend, Luca, this past Thursday, like I do every Thursday.  We are enjoying the remnants of summer in the Chapel Hill Woodlands, a tranquil neighborhood filled with acres and acres of tall trees and beautiful houses, a neighborhood where chipmunks run and play in hollowed out tree stumps and the grass is truly greener.  As we frolic among the quiet streets Luca spots something.  Alas, a deer!  One of the many white-tailed beauties in this neighborhood.  Oh but this is not just any deer, no.  It is the world’s greatest, most athletic looking deer in the whole world, a valid threat to my speed walking dog.  Naturally, Luca and I must challenge this gazelle-deer hybrid to a leisurely race through the woods.  And so it ensues…girl chasing dog chasing deer.  Eventually, to Luca’s disappointment and my answered prayers, Luca snagged his leash (which was previously YANKED out of my hand…when the streaking through the woods really ensued) on an unsuspecting branch and was forced to forfeit the race.  In what was a very unsportsmanlike display of rudeness, the deer turned back to panting Luca and me and gave as a look as if to say, “better luck next time suckers” before prancing away into the woods.  Emerging from the forest, thorn scratched and sweaty, Luca and I decided to retire our days of being deer chasers.  Needless to say, I will be keeping a very tight hold on the leash from now on. 

The Culprit:

#2: Property of the 80s: big hair, big sequins, and…terribly hot and poorly ventilated rain jackets?  While I commend the hair and sequins and appreciate their comeback, it was time to see the ladder go.  An 80s gem fell into my hands a few years back when I inherited my aunt Mary’s rain jacket.  The thing is super cute: navy blue with small white whales printed all over.  It looks like vintage J. Crew!  I’m telling you this jacket is not short on style.  What it is short on: the ability to allow its wearer to breathe.  I swear I don’t know how the production of such a jacket was ever legal!  It is made of thick (basically) rubber and has absolutely no attempt at any ventilation.  So every time I wear the darned thing I’m about as wet from sweating as I would be had I braved the elements sans hot flipping jacket!  Anyways my mom has been willing to buy me a new, modern rain jacket, which allows its owner to not sweat to death for a quite a while now.  Unfortunately I’ve been terribly lazy busy and have been unable to procure such a jacket.  This past weekend, my rain prayers were answered and mama came through with a brand new normal person rain jacket!!!! Riveting information to you all I know.  J

#3:  Parents: can’t live with them and…well ya can’t live with them.  I’m only joking but this past weekend was Tri Delta’s annual parents’ weekend and Craig and Ashley arrived Friday afternoon ready to boogy, drink, smile, sweat, laugh, and eat.  If you’ll remember, I was gone for ten weeks this summer and was not at home for very long at all.  Unfortunately my absence permitted me to forget my parents’ obscene schedule.  After partying Friday night at the Parents’ Cocktail, those crazy cats woke me up at 8:30 the next morning ready for breakfast.  I’m in college…on a Saturday…at 8:30!  After a delicious meal, we headed to the heat pit we call a stadium to watch the Heels play the Hokies.  Let me tell you it was hotter than 40 hells!  But the rents were great sports and we spent most of the rest of the weekend recovering resting!   It was really great to see them and I can’t wait for photos from the cocktail to be sent out (cause we didn’t take any ourselves?!?!?!).

Me and my roommate from last year, Mackenzie, ready for parents' cocktail!

            Anywho, this week I have a spanish presentation on the agenda as well as a philanthropy event (if you’d like to learn more about it and donate to a great cause PLEASE click on this link and contribute to the “James Alexander Low Country Boil” at the bottom of the page: http://www.trideltaunc.com/).  Our new pledge class will also be taking their new member pledge retreat this weekend and CAMPING OUT, which should be interesting.  I will also be attending my first Habitat for Humanity build of the semester this weekend, which should also be interesting.  Lots of exciting things to come!  Let me know what’s going on with you and yours!!!!!

Love ya.  Miss ya. Mean it.

Kane

Funnies for the week:

Light At the End of the Tunnel

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

“After careful consideration and many sleepless nights, here’s what I’ve decided. There’s no such thing as a grown-up.  We move out, we move away from our families.  But the basic insecurities, the fears and all the old wounds just grow up with us. Just when you think life has forced you to truly become an adult, your mother says something like that.  We get bigger, taller, older.  But, for the most part, we’re still a bunch of kids, running around the playground, trying desperately to fit in.”

-Meredith Grey

            This was a doozy of a week and, admittedly, it gave me a run for my money.  But I have survived the storm and have once again been successfully initiated into college exams…the realness within the real world.  Sometimes these types of weeks can breed the best perspectives though.  I have found a renewed inspiration for crafting, which comes at a good time because I am making lots of new pressies for my new tri delta little sis.  As the library late nights and hair loss from last week drift away with the warm weather, I am gearing up for a relaxing week leading up to…PARENTS WEEKEND 2012!!!!!  Parents weekend, for those of you who don’t remember is a weekend when parents get to see what they’re spending their money on parents join us native tarheels in celebration of our school, sororities, and parties.  This weekend my rents will be arriving just in time for our football game against Virginia Tech.  We will be going to Tri Delt’s parents cocktail and dancing a lot!!! And there is guaranteed to be lots of yummy food and hot weather (which can cause lots of profanity to ensue sometimes…)! Anyways with an oasis on the desert horizon, I am heading into this week cool, calm, and collected.  I’m Dr. Phil y’all!

#1:  There is a comedian named Brian Regan who does this bit about people who get flustered and don’t know what to say.  (This is the link to his live bit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S52-5DPRnck)  Anyways the idea is that people go into an airport and the person at the ticket desk says, “Have a nice flight” and the person says “You too”… AWKWARD since they are likely not going on the flight.  Another example: you order a delivery pizza and they say, “Enjoy your pizza” and your response is, “You too”.  Anyways the bit is about misplaced responses which I encountered a LOT this week!!!  The best example I can remember occurred Wednesday morning as I was leaving my News Writing Class.  As I was walking out the door I wished my Professor a good weekend and he replied, “Yeah! It was really good to see you!”  Like what????  You too.  Let’s do this again sometime!  Next week maybe?  Same time?  Odd.  But it made me laugh.

#2:  Fraternity houses are no place for squirrels…or any living thing for that matter.  Unfortunately, even after careful supervision and sincere nurturing, Baby Beta Squirrel passed away this past week from unknown causes.  He was certainly a nutty character but warm presence in that house nonetheless.  RIP BBS.

#3:  Swings are fun.  This weekend I got back to the basics at a local playground/park and it was just what I needed!  If you don’t remember, I am involved in an organization here at UNC called “Best Buddies” and I am paired with a mentally handicapped adult.  For Molly (my the best buddy) this group mostly consists of us hanging out, Molly calling me 14 times a day, many of them before 8am, and us laughing…a lot.  This weekend was the first group meeting where all the buddies and college buddies gathered to hang out in the sunshine and eat a whole lot of Harris Teeter chocolate cake.  (There was also white grape juice, which I am a huge fan of.)  Anywho, Molly and I posted up on the swings while she caught me up on her sister’s dog and the pizza she had for dinner last night.  We also had a very serious chat about her not calling me so early.  And then we drew some Picasso-status pictures.  It was a great day!!

#4:  I made a lapse in judgment.  Remember when I wrote all of those wonderful things about that nobody we call Whit?  Well this week he told me I wasn’t as funny as he is.  (Bad mistake sucka.)  Anyways I wrote all of those things because he held a gun to my head…I don’t actually think he’s all that cool.  Did I tell you he once pushed me into a wine display at the Harris Teeter???  Every single one of those suckers fell and shattered, leaving a sea of red wine.  All his fault but blamed on me.  Shame on you big brother. #24 on that stupid list of things I love about him: he’s mischievous. 

            I’m off to watch Breaking Bad, a TV series that I have just been introduced to and am strangely addicted to.  It’s pretty terrifying but also very interesting with great acting…if you’re lookin’ for a new show or a distraction ya know?  Anyways, I’d LLLLLLOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVEEEEEEE to hear about what is going on in your real worlds.  Even if you think it isn’t that neat, it’s probably just exactly what I’ve been hoping to hear about J  Love ya.  Miss ya.  Mean it.

Kane