The Me I Used To Be

Last night my family and I stretched out on the trampoline in our backyard to watch the Perseids meteor shower. It was a little cloudy and the the moon was so bright that the shooting stars were hard to spot but we did manage to see a few.

While the star gazing wasn't quite as spectacular as we'd hoped the time prone of my did get me thinking to days gone by. As a kid I lived on my trampoline and lying there next to my boys took me back twenty plus years to all the nights I spent stretched out on the canvas in a sleeping bag chatting with my buddies.

Hardly a week went by in the summer when two three or four of my buddies didn't sleep over under the stars. We talked -- about girls, we would never impress but thought we could, about what we would do once we turned 18 or twenty one, where we would live, what job we would have. Sometimes we told scary stories that would get under our skin and drive us inside, though being boys we never admitted fear. We would nonchalantly say it looked like rain or that the wind was coming up, or the moon was too bright to actually sleep, though in reality very little sleep ever took place.

And one time me and my buddies spotted a burglar breaking into the house. that one scared us and we snuck inside to call the cops. They police showed up quickly and the guy was caught in the act but we always feared the burglar would find out we snitched on him and the outside sleepovers were always a bit fearful after that as we speculated the guy would come back to enact his revenge.

And of course me and my buddies played truth or dare. We have mooned passing motorist, streaked down the alley in front of cars, egged and toilet papered the house of those we didn't like. Snuck over to girls houses to tap on their windows only to be chased off. Yep, there are a lot of stories from thsoe days and last night I enjoyed remembering them and my friends as I stared into the heavens.

One of those friends who was nearly always there was this guy. Tomorrow is is his birthday. He doesn't have comments enable on his blog anymore but there is an email address. If you get the chance drop him a well wish and tell him Travis sent you. I remember one of our late night conversations under the stars where Jason said he wanted to name his kids shithead and dumb ass just so the teachers would have to say those words while taking roll and that he would have a chance to go out on the porch and call their name. Well he does have two kids but thankfully they have other names. Probably the truth of the matter that as teenagers he and I should have been called shit head and dumb ass. I'll leave y'all to speculate which moniker better fit me.

The Big TWO-FIVE -- A My Town Monday Post

Today marks my 25th My Town Monday post. First let me thank the 46 names below who have humored me and posted at least one blog entry about their town. If I missed someone please let me know. I wanted to incorporate links but it became a logistical nightmare so you'll have to google them if you want to visit their blogs. Most also appear on my rotating blog roll on the right hand side so wait to see their name and you can follow a link from there. Many of y'all have blogged about different places but I tried to go with the place I most associate them with.

David Cranmer -- Rayne, Louisiana
Robyn - - San Francisco, California
Reb -- Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Karen Alaniz - Walla Walla, Washington
J.L. Krueger -- Kabul, Afghanistan
PreTzel -- Garden Grove, Iowa
Packsaddle -- Uhland, Texas
Alyssa Goodnight -- Houston, Texas
Barbara Martin -- Toronto, Canada
Mary Nix -- Olmsted Falls, Ohio
Nan Higginson -- New York, NY
JenKneeBee -- Twin Cities, Minnesota
Gina Black -- Los Angeles, California
Cameron Williams -- San Diego, California
Laura Curtis -- New Yotk, NY
Linda Mclaughlin -- Anaheim, California
Clare2E -- New York, New York
Shauna Roberts -- Riverside California
Claire Dickson -- Livingston County, Michigan
Lois Karlin -- New York, NY
Cicily Janus -- Colorado Springs, Colorado
Jason Scott Adams --Sugar Creek, Missouri
Debra -- Village of Peninsula, Ohio
Tiggysmum70 -- Louisville, Ohio.
Josephine Damian -- New Rochelle, New York
Ello --Brooklyn, New York
Laura Kramarsky -- East Hampton, New York.
The Anti-Wife --Southern Illinois.
Sex Scenes At Starbucks -- The Colorado high country.
Terrie Farley Moran - New York City
Barrie Summy -- San Diego, California.
Stephen Parrish -- Bad Kreuznach, Germany.
DebbieLou -- Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshsire England
Carleen Brice -- Denver, Colorado
Lyzzydee -- Welwyn Garden City, England.
Wordvixen -- Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Pattinase -- Detroit, Michigan
Suv Mama -- Seattle. Washington.
Lana Gramlich -- Abita Springs, Louisiana
Merry Monteleone -- Cicero, Illinois
Polka Dot Witch -- Castleton-on Hudson, New York
Patti-O -- San Angelo, Texas
Carleen Brice -- Denver, Colorado
Sarai -- Kansas City, Kansas
Alex Keto -- Globetrotter
Britta Coleman -- Fort Worth, Texas

My goal in starting My Town Monday was to fins out more about my fellow bloggers and the various places we call home. I also wanted to eventually get at least one post about each of our fifty states as well as posts from at least that many countries. I'm not there yet, but I still hope to get there eventually. Patti Abbot has been the most prolific participant but may of you have participated nearly every week I hope you continue to do so and I hope you encourage some of your readers to join in and tell us about some new places as well. In that spirit I'm doing a meme-esque post this week. A fill in the blank type of My Town Monday that anyone could readily use by simply plugging in the facts about their town.

HOMETOWN (past, present, or future - your choice) -- Amarillo, Texas

POPULATION -- 183,021

YOU SHOULD THINK OF MY TOWN WHEN ... You eat beef. One quarter of the United States beef supply is process in the Texas Panhandle and much of that comes from locally raised cattle as well.

YOU SHOULD CUSS MY TOWN WHEN ... You hear the grating sound of Dr. Phil's voice. Yes, Amarillo is to blame for Oprah's so-called life guru even though he is not an Amarilloan. If you missed the very first MTM from me, click here to read the details.

ONE MUST SEE IF YOU VISIT -- Nearby, Palo Duro Canyon State Park

ONE PLACE YOU SHOULD AVOID -- Any chain restaurant along the interstate. Lots better food abounds if you are willing to venture off the well lit path. My local flavored favorites. El Bracero Mexican grill on both Grand and Bell streets. Barnaby's Beanery and The Golden Light both serve great burgers on Sixth street as does the Coyote Bluff Cafe on Grand. And the Stockyard Cafe serves up a fine steak right in the same building where they sell live cattle every Tuesday.

FAMOUS RESIDENT -- I've listed many over the weeks but I'll throw out a name that has been in the news a lot lately because of the energy situation in this country. T Boone Pickens is a shrewd businessman who grew up and lived in Amarillo for a number of years. His name generally draws frowns in town these days as he seems intent to take what little water we have in this area and funnel in down to the Dallas/FT Worth area.

RENOWNED ATHLETE -- Since the Olympics are going on I'll go with Brandon Slay who won the gold medal at the summer games of 2000 in Sydney, Australia. Brandon actually lost the gold medal match in controversial fashion to a German wrestler named Alexander Leipold, but Leipold then tested positive for steroids and Brandon was awarded the gold medal during a broadcast of the Today show on NBC. Brandon graduated from Tascosa High School here in Amarillo the same year as my wife Jennifer.

WITHOUT MY TOWN, THE WORLD WOULD NOT HAVE ... The goatee saver. This little creation comes from the mind of Amarilloan Scott Bonge. It is a template to help you maintain the perfectly manicure goatee. No I do not use the product because my goat is a bit broader than his design. I go for the bushier pirate style of goat, but if he wants to give me one I'll try it out in a live webcast for you viewing pleasure.

I LIVE IN MY TOWN BECAUSE ... I was born here and I've been too lazy to crawl very far from the crib. Besides, I can't think of a better location for a carnivore such as myself to dwell.

I MIGHT LEAVE ON DAY BECAUSE ... I get sick of the wind blowing fifty miles an hour more days than not, or I become rich and famous and could afford a cabin in the mountains where I could hunt and fish to my heart's content.

Okay, there you have it. A My Town Meme. What better time to join in?

BE SURE TO CHECK BACK HERE FOR AN UPDATED LSIT OF THIS WEEK"S MY TOWN MONDAYERS

J.L. Krueger -- Kabul, Afghanistan

Linda McLaughlin -- San Francisco, California

Debra -- Peninsula, Ohio

Mary Nix -- Olmsted Falls, Ohio

Joshua -- Columbia, Illinois

Jason Scott Adams -- Sugar Creek, Missouri

Davis Cranmer -- Yaounde, Cameroon, Africa

Barbara Martin - Toronto, Canada

Patti Abbott -- Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada

Barrie Summy -- Toronto Canada

Clare2e -- Paris, London, and San Antonio, Texas

Stacy -- Milan, Michigan

Reb -- Whitemud Creek, Canada

Clair Dickson -- Livingston County, Michigan

PretZel - Wisconsin Dells

I'm sorry for the slow updates, but I'm battling a re-flareup of my poison ivy and I'm adding these between doctor visits. I now have rash over a substantial part of my body and the doctor seems to think I have a secondary infection that has spawned from my relentless scratching. I'll make the rounds and update when I can.

This and That

Bear with me but I feel the need to do one of those random catch up type of posts to answer a few questions and get organized.

A few asked me about Twitter. Twitter is sort of like a mini blog. You can post a quick snippet of what is going on (you only have 140 characters so it has to be short) Many make the updates from the cell phone but I haven't made that plunge. basically it just a way to communicate with others via the web or your phone. But you conversations are for the most part visible to all of your friends.

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So this time next week I'll be on a place bound for Vegas again. This time on work-related business but I'll manage to squeeze in time to play a bit of poker. I'm also taking my lap top this time so I'll be posting a few times direct from Sin City. I also plan to hit the bookstore and dive back into reading. I've been really lax lately and I've missed the distraction of falling into a good story.

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My friend Steve just took a little trip out to Seattle. While looking through the pictures he took I came across this one and made him send it to me so I could put it on here.

Steve was trying to get a shot of The Blue Angels and he was a bit annoyed that this bird got int he way. But it is the bird that I love. Look at it. It's wings are banked at he same angle as the jets as if it is practicing and inspiring to fly as fast and high as they are. That's how I feel some days about my writing. That bird can already fly and I feel like I can write, but dang would it ever be nice to streak through the atmosphere with the big boys.

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Guess who showed up in Amarillo this week? Sir Paul McCartney. It ain't everyday a Beatle is spotted tooling around the dry dusty countryside in these parts. You can read the newspaper article here. Or a first person account from my friend and fellow blogger, Bea here.

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I know not everyone is a sports fan but I'm excited about both the Olympics (the opening ceremony was stunning in HD) and the fast approaching football season. Here's hoping my beloved Nebraska Cornhuskers get back in the groove of winning under new coach Bo Pelini. On the NFL side i root for the New Orleans Saints which isn't always easy to do living in the heart of Cowboy country, but I can't stand Jerry Jones.

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Ont eh writing front I'm working on a few short stories and seeing how things go with Plundered Booty before diving into another novel project. But I do have several ideas for what comes next. Soon as one speaks louder than the rest I get back to work on what will be my fifth novel.

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What going on in y'alls world?

Happy Happy, Joy Joy

I've often heard people say ... "It was the happiest day of my life."

Well, I've got a confession. I can't say that about any particular day or event.

I can rather easily tell you when I was my angriest, saddest, proudest, or most scared. Matter of fact, for just about any emotion you come up with I can tell you the date, time, and place of my most extreme emotional output -- except for happiness. And I'm not sure why.

It's not that I'm not capable of happiness. Actually I am happy 99% of the time. I tend to be a glass-half-full kind of guy who doesn't let all the small gunk of life cloud my view.

If anything I'm guilty of being to sure that something good is just a stone's throw away. I'm quite the Polly Anna in that fashion.

I know a lot of parents will say that the births of their kids count as their ultimate moments of happiness, and I do cherish both of my boys, but confession time again. Their actual births were nerve racking affairs of futility for me. I hate to worry, but that is all I did those days.

Both boys were C-sections. The second planned, the first not. Being a life long hunter who processes his own meat, the blood and what not didn't bother me, but watching a doctor dig in my wife's innards isn't exactly a zen moment either. And then trying to check on her, tend to a squalling bundle of placenta covered joy, listening to her doctor's instruction, the boys pediatrician, the nurses, ... all while family and friends chimed in ...

Well it was stressful as hell for me. I count the days and weeks later when it was just my family at home, when the boys cooed softly or opened the eyes to stare up at them as I fed them, or the first time a soft baby fist reached up to brush my stubbled cheek. Those are all much happier times than the big event everyone else seems to describe as wondrous and miraculous and the happiest day of their lives.

Yeah I know as a dutiful husband I could say my happiest time was my wedding day. But I'd be lying. I love my wife and will forever consider myself lucky to have found a gorgeous and intelligent woman blind enough to overlook my many faults, but again the stress and pressure of that day keeps it from being my definitive moment of joy. The demands of trying to talk to every family member and friend I have, while decked out in fancy but uncomfortable duds, smiling for a thousand pictures many from an extremely irritable photographer, while waiting for everyone to go home so ... well I won't go into that.

Anyway I have so many fond memories with Jennifer that I couldn't possible designate one as my most happy time.

There was my big plan to propose at the top of a mountain, but halfway up she was out of breath and gasping from lack of oxygen, as was I, so that my visions of the sun reflecting off her diamond ring atop a majestic mountain peak, actually became a yes under the shadowy pine covered side of a mountain slope.

There are the thousands of whispered conversation we've had and still continue to have each night as we lay in bed and talk about our day.

There are the trips we've taken together, to New Orleans, Vegas, the mountains, to beaches. The many songs that remind me of her for a jillion different reasons. The memory that I ate spaghetti for supper every other day for the first month we were married. Not one of those memories overrides all the others.

Maybe my most happy moment is yet to come. Maybe I'm holding out for it. Maybe I'll never be able to define it. But I'm not complaining. If this is as good as it gets then I'm still pretty damn lucky, whether I have that one spotlight moment of happiness domination or not.

So how about all of you? Can you define your happiest day?

Twitter

I accidentally posted a one word post yesterday called MINE that has generated some great comments. I've already exceeded that word count with my explanation but here's my blog to day.

Twitter

Click on the link to see my profile.

I'm new to twittering and I don't have a firm grasp of the application, but if you twitter look me up. I can already see where it has its advantages. (and of course time suck disadvantages as well)

Mine's Bigger

Before I give y'all my lines for Two Line Tuesday, I want you to check something out. A friend of mine googled my name trying to find this blog, but instead he landed on this page. Go ahead click over and have a look. It won't take but a second. Look at the picture. Come one humor me just go look before you continue reading the rest of the this post.

I'll just hum a little while I wait for you to come back. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Isn't that strange? What are the odds that there would be two of us, both writers, though he appears to have a good bit more talents than myself as he can write songs, sing ,and play a variety of instruments, would have such similar pictures. I just thought it a funny coincidence. Also we both have goatees though mine is more of the bushy Sasquatch variety whereas his is more Shaggy-esque. (as in Scooby Doo)

Okay for two lines I've read this week I'm going to cheat a bit and use a quote that plays heavily into my novel, Plundered Booty. It comes from histories most notorious female pirate Anne Bonney and it is said to be her final words to her lover and pirate brethren Calico Jack Rackham just before his hanging.

"I am sorry to see you here, but if you had fought like a man, you needn't be hang'd like a dog."

Yeah, I know it's only one line and not two, but I love the quote and like I said it plays a role in my novel. An interesting tidbit is that after Calico Jack was hung, the then governor of Jamaica had Rackham's body gibbeted and caged at the mouth to Port Royal. An ode to that act is shown at the beginning of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie when Johnny Depp's character Captain Jack Sparrow is approaching to he port city near the start of the movie.

And in what will be the final two sentences I post from Plundered Booty for Two Line Tuesdays here is a couple from the last chapter. Matter of fact they are the last two in book.

"They say that good guys never win. They may be right."

So what do y'all think? Do good guys ever win?

Be sure and check out the originators of Two Line Tuesday over at the Women of Mystery Blog.

Mine