Family Reunion and Weekend Wrap Up

Ok, last official day of the weekend, and it was as busy as each day during this little sojourn to Lubbock. First, I didn't go to church. I thought about it and even looked up a few to see if I could find a church that advertised a singles group, but I couldn't quickly find a website with the desired info, and combined with the fluctuating schedule, I decided to just pack in the church thing until next weekend.

Mother's family reunion was this Sunday, and I wasn't looking forward to it at all. But I went anyway, if for nothing else just to make a token appearance and reset the counter on years absent. I must say I was surprised by what I found. My cousin from Oregon that had a family emergency ended up losing her husband last night, so my sympathies go out to her. My cousins from Maryland were there, and it's always nice to talk to them. But over and above that, there were some pretty cute girls wandering about the room. Too bad they're all family, even if I don't know them. Long story short I grabbed a plate, had lunch, and sat with the Marylanders and talked with them until I had to punch out and get things together to go back to the metromess.

Before I could do that, I had to make a stop at the house of the parents of my friend Casey. They wanted to see both me and our other friend from Allen, but she punched out yesterday, so I was all there was. C and I went by and talked for about a half hour until I returned to the parental units' house and packed my gear to go back to Arlington.

Packing wasn't as big a deal this time as Thursday, but I think that's because I was less hurried and it wasn't as hot. I got all my junk in and, after a couple of errands, I hit the road and made it back to Arlington. Right now I'm trying to get all my stuff sorted from the weekend and get pictures posted. Tomorrow I still have off, so I might just veg.

TCS All Class Reunion - Day 3

Today was the final day of the TCS All Class reunion. It had one event, a family picnic out at Legacy Play Village. It was simply a time for alumni, spouses and children to have one last hurrah for the weekend. There was a party pack of shaved ice from Bahama Bucks (a local delicacy) as an added treat. Families came, and while some took advantage of the playground, most stayed in the relative shade of the pavilion to introduce children and spouses.

As photographer I moved around between the two venues, but it was fun all the same. I got to talk to several people I hadn't seen in over fifteen years. I think we all had some fun (I did), but heat and children (especially young ones) don't mix for long, and within a couple of hours we all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways for the next five years. (That's when the next reunion will be.)

The rest of the day was spent having lunch with some old classmates, having a Starbucks, and running an errand before I went up to Plainview to see my brother and his wife. We talked over some important things, some not so important things, grabbed a bite for dinner, and took in a movie. We rented Full Metal Jacket watched it until I had to leave, once again late at night/early next morning.

Tomorrow is the family reunion. I am dreading it as the one person I really wanted to see will not be there yet again. (It's not her fault; it's a family emergency.) I plan to leave early and beat it for home so that I can figure out how to get back into the stream next week.

TCS All Class Reunion - Day 2

What a day!

I didn't sleep well last night. I may have reinjured a hernia, and the pain was keeping me up all night. I finally drifted off to sleep sometime in the morning, and when my alarm went off, I shut it off and went back to sleep. I ultimately got up at about 9am, and went for a walk (like I didn't do yesterday). During my walk, I got a call from one of my teachers. He cancelled out on shooting with us this afternoon. Of the three that I was going to take, only one ended up going.

I got back to the house and packed up all my shooting gear and went up to the school. We went to the range and had a complete blast! There is an outdoor range near Slaton called Rustic Range. It's a really nice facility located off a dirt road in a little canyon. It has a nice shop, some reloading supplies, a lot of lanes and target stands, and, most importantly, you can back your vehicle up to your stand.

That's exactly what we did considering the amount of gear I had in my truck bed. We spent the next three hours going through a ton of old battlefield rifles. After awhile we switched to pistols. Three hours later we were hot, tired, but thorougly satisfied at the amount of paper we had killed.

We retired back to town, and me to the house. I had about an hour and a half to shower, cool off and get ready for tonight. The festivities tonight were semiformal, so I had packed some trousers and a shirt. The real trick was going to be shooting pictures in all that getup. I finally left the house at about six and got to the school to set up for portraits.

The portraits didn't quite go as planned (actually, they didn't go at all), but that's a minor thing. There were more people there tonight than last night, and I saw a bunch of people that I hadn't seen for years. We went through teacher recognitions, future plans for the school, the alumni association, etc. all while having a nice dinner. I got a lot of good pictures, so hopefully that will set up some future business for me.

I'm not doing this post any justice, but it's another case of getting home late. I'll have more thoughts during the week next week.

TCS All Class Reunion - Day One

It's late. About 1am according to the clock on the computer that I'm typing on right now, but the date will still probably show as yesterday on the posting, which is what I intend. The lateness of the hour (or earliness, if you prefer) is a good indicator of the kind of time I'm having.

This morning wasn't all that wonderful. Packing never is. I woke up later than I would have liked, bussed myself, my cameras, studio, rifles, pistols, ammo, luggage, and various other assorted items to my truck to bring back to Lubbock with me. Instead of leaving the metromess at 10am like I would have liked, I left my house at 11 and had to make a few errands before I could ultimately leave. That happened at noon.

The drive back was pleasant once I had everything sorted and put in its place. I didn't stop once I finally got going. It was nice to listen to a complete audio book without having to change discs (thank you iPhone!). I got to the parents' house in the late afternoon and disgorged my truck of its cargo into the house. The parental units and I did the family thing until it was time to go up to the school to register for the weekend.

Registration was the normal thing, but just standing around and seeing some of my classmates from thirteen years ago was wonderful! We hugged, talked, got to see who had changed (and who hadn't). Right up until the first event of the weekend.

Road Rally school was first on the agenda. It was nice to see Mrs. Garrett (the English teacher extraordinaire) assume her old role and brief us on the dos and don'ts of the road rally. I remembered some of it, but not all. Of course I was flitting about the room, taking lots of pictures (as I somehow became the official photographer this weekend). Some of us had done a rally before, some hadn't. In my case I had done one, but we never finished it. Half an hour of briefings later, and we were all assigned to our respective vehicles.

There were only two in my truck: me, and my friend Casey. We were originally car 13, but somehow moved up to car 10. (I like that as I'm not a big fan of the number 13.) At our appointed time we received our instructions and struck out for the rally. There were a few places where we stumbled, but we made it through and finished! That brings my record to 1 for 2 completing road rallies.

After the rally, some of us went to Applebee's to talk and reminisce. It was interesting. Of the eight of us that were there, only two did a lot of talking. The rest of us just kind of sat there and enjoyed. Occasionally one of us would interject something, but we talked past midnight until we were all yawning and just about to fall asleep.

It was a great start to what I hope is a great weekend. There is a lot more I haven't written about, but I'm tired, so I'm going to sign off and put some more thoughts into a later post.

Should the Project Head To Lubbock?

I've been thinking about my triumphal return to Lubbock, and I'm asking myself, should I take this project to Lubbock? That is, should I try to find a singles group at a church in a place where I don't anticipate living for the foreseeable future? I can make arguments both ways: On the negative side, chances are I won't ever end up here again due to the lack of a market for engineers. On the positive side there is always the chance that I could end up back in Lubbock, and it never hurts to see what's available.

Of course it doesn't help that church websites are usually vague about what they offer. I did a quick search on the Disciples of Christ website for congregations in Lubbock. One website didn't exist. The other three had general websites with statements to the effect of they offer a broad range of programs. I'm betting that they offer a broad range with the typical donut hole for singles 25-40.

I know of one church in Lubbock that fills that donut hole, but I'm loath to go to it. It's First Baptist Church on Broadway. I went to that church for fifteen years, ever since I was a baby. I remember most of the people I went to Sunday school with as being stuck up. At the very least I didn't fit in at all. I ejected from that church when I saw the rampant hypocrisy and the Baptist indoctrination. That's when I broke with organized religion for several years.

Now that it's a few years later, I'm back into the swing of things, but looking for something very specific. Like I said before, I don't want this blog to become a church critic website, but if I don't keep looking, then I won't accomplish the goal. I'll have to check my schedule--after all I did make a couple of commitments. If I can make a church, I think I'll try.

Physically in Arlington, Mentally in Lubbock

Next weekend is the first all class high school reunion at my high school. I am incredibly psyched to be going. I've been looking forward to it for weeks, and the closer I get to it, the more I'm looking forward to it. It's to the point that I was driving home from work tonight planning on how I would leave for Lubbock tomorrow, except that I'm not leaving for another five days! I just can't wait to get back.

It's interesting that I'm looking forward to this event this much. There could be a lot of drama and anxiety. I keep having scenes of sitcoms running through my head of people stressing about what they have and haven't done as they are preparing to go to their reunions. If you obsess over where you are versus where you could be, then this is a legitimate concern.

I guess my only real concern is that I'm going back to my reunion, alone. Out of all the people that graduated in my class, I think I and maybe our exchange student are the only two who haven't been engaged, married, or separated. I won't be the only person there alone. My friend who got married and divorced in five days will be there. He's single by choice now that he's divorced.

I'm not divorced, married, engaged, or dating, or even had a date, so it'll be interesting to see if the subject comes up. Notwithstanding that, I'm still looking forward to seeing everybody. I'm even trying to organize a "Shoot Your Way Through US History" event. So far, I've got one of the three teachers that I wanted to committed--I can't get the other two. But until next Thursday, I need to focus a little more on being here than there.