Amish People and Wine

You haven't lived till you've seen two horse and buggy carriages duke it out like Nascar on a country road. I kid you not. Bea and I were driving to a little town called Lititz to see this awesome little chocolate factory (they actually make the chocolate that Hershey uses to make their candy) and on this back road, one horse drawn buggy was booking around another horse drawn buggy. I guess road rage can happen anywhere now. :) All in all it was a nice weekend away. We stayed from Thursday night through yesterday morning. Now for the unlearned, Lancaster, PA is the Mecca of Amish folk on the east coast. They still live the simple life. As long as the simple life involves selling their home made goods to stupid tourists for outrageously high prices. There is also shopping. Much shopping. And Eating!! Yes, capitalized type eating. If you don't run an all you can eat buffet, you're not going to last long in this town. And there are outlets out the ying yang. Nike, Ralph Lauren, Bose, you name it. Good stuff. You can find some real deals there (unless you're getting married to a bargain hunting fiend who thinks it's not all that because she saw a better sale 3 weeks ago). But, oddly enough, Lancaster has some other fun things to do as well. Wineries are all over the place out there. They don't make the standard wines as well as Cali or Europe can, but you can find a really nice mulled wine (wine you can serve hot) or fruit wines. Like peach, pear, cherry, etc. We were actually going to go to a chocolate, cheese, wine tasting festival yesterday, but the 200 inches of snow that got dumped on us kind of put the kibosh on all that. :) Anyway, we had a great time, lots of laughs (at both our expenses and some other people's) and saw some cool shows. Saw a play based off of a Henry James novel (must read some of his books if the stories are as good as this one) called "The Turning of the Screw" Very creepy, very well done. I was so surprised that a small playhouse could get such good actors. Also saw a really funny show during some dinner theatre the next night. The food sucked, but the play was fun. And then we knocked boots the rest of the weekend. Have pictures no less. :) Don't know what we'll ever do with them, but I guess it's part of the fun. We'll probably just delete them off the camera in a month or so. Right after I set up the website!! MWHAHAHAHA!!! (you know I'm kidding. :p )

Slow Down Already!!

OK! All Right!! I Get It! Life is fast paced and we all need to get things done, but damn! This is getting goofy. Luckily I've got the weekend away with Bea up in Lancaster starting tomorrow. Fun, sun (though bitter cold, may snow tonight), and she's paying for it. :p Sort of a birthday/Valentine's day gift. And her gift from me is lingerie. Which I guess means it's a gift for myself, but as long as she's happy with it, *cha-ching* Baby!! So. Things will be good this weekend. ;) Hope yours is too.

P.S. No more GTA3. Bea and I had a big blowout about what it means for society in general when we buy in to games like GTA. And while I would really like to play it, she makes some valid arguments on her end. So peace reigns once again in the Spalding/Ackley household. And I'm playing sesame street games. Rock on Grover!!! *sigh*

Smack ma bitch up

That's the name of the first mission in Grand Theft Auto 3. Know how I know? I bought it last night. Couldn't pass it up for 10 bucks. It took a bit to figure out the controls, but once I got that out of the way, I was carjacking my way around the city, blowing up other hoodlums and makin' it with the random hos on the street. Now if I can just figure out how to ramp jump my car onto the overhead train rails.....I came close you know!! Maybe tonight.......

Whew!!

Yeah. I know. You know. We all know. Need to post more. :)

So some more highlights:

Had engagement party last week. Good times. Didn't know you get presents. Made out like a bandit (more than I made for my college graduation) and my mom got us a camcorder!! Awesome! Of course we haven't even opened it yet. :p

Looks like Memorial Day weekend of 2007 for us. So keep your calanders open for that weekend. Most likely it's going to be Sunday, since it'll be cheaper to get some things that day.

Got a raise at work. I just got it. No review. No sit down. I actually didn't even know I got it till a week after I got it. :p I checked my account balance online and thought there was a mistake with the direct deposit. lol. But my boss loves me (even though he pushes my buttons on a regular basis)

Speaking of pushing buttons, I am working hard on my attitude and contentious nature. Learning to be more forgiving of myself and others and generally try to mellow out. So far, mixed results, but it's better than no results at all. :p

I'm adding a new feature to the Blog. "What I'm Listening To" I figure someone would like to know. :p

Ok. Will try to post more and read everyone's blogs. On the "To Do" list!

I Love the Holidays

But I avoid shopping centers and malls like the plague unless I can get there during off peak hours (which means no weekend shopping!!) Went to get some shopping done the other night at the mall (and to pick up newly sized engagement ring) only to be frustrated by Macy's lack of a discernable insurance policy. They have one. It costs $175, and it only lasts 5 years. WTF?! I mean, what happens in 20 or 30 and the stone falls out! Jewelers will give you a lifetime warranty (though I bet you have to pay for their's also) and that's standard for them. Didn't help that the lady at the counter couldn't be bothered to deal with something as important as our engagement ring. Luckily I'm a vindictive individual and my aunt is a big wig in the company. So I'll feel better in the end. :) Though I'll probably do nothing, just be angry for a week, then move on. I don't want to ruin someone's life, just punish them a bit for making me sick to my stomach thinking about this ring business.

Anyway, the holidays are upon us!! Woo!

Oh Boy!!!

It's started. I wasn't expecting to visit theknot.com so soon, but there I was today, trying to figure out what part of this cornucopia of information I should dive into first. Last night we went to get the ring sized. Hell of a time that. I-95 was backed up beyond belief, so I sat for an hour at the restaurant talking to Bea on the phone, trying to keep her mind off the idea of purchasing a firearm for her vehicle. She finally made it and we had a good time running around the mall except for the part where we went to the other jewelry stores and the diamond snobbery came out. You know the type. They're the ones who make sure you know that the 3/4 carat diamond engagement ring you have to shell out money you don't have for the next year is nowhere near the quality they could have given you, and that you should take it back and get their diamonds because "Look how much better ours are than that little piece of crap you bought for her" Ugh. But, ever the positive mind I am trying to be, I really don't care what they think. I like the ring, Bea likes the ring. Tada. Problem solved. Now if we can just figure out when we're going to actually get married.......

December Already?!

Well. Time flies, don't it. I've been wanting to post for a while now, but haven't had any time. *Sob*

Anyway, some highlights:

Mom got married on the twelfth. Very nice time. They were kind enough to remember my father during the whole thing, and Bob (mom's new hubby) cried when he made his vows. Half the groomsmen showed up drunk, 10 minutes late for the service, and another one left before the pictures were taken because he wanted to get to the open bar at the hall ASAP. Mind you these were my uncles. *Note to self. Do not include uncles in my wedding party*

Went to a christening with Barbara and her family. There were 3 other families having the same service done for them at the same time, and there were about 50 or 60 children in this church and it was like a mad house. The priest is having to yell over all the screaming. Kids are yelling and running around and no one could do anything about it. It was hilarious and frightening all at once. *Note to self. No infants at wedding service. Want to hear priest without the use of a hearing aid*

By far the most fucked up part of the last few weeks was a 2nd cousin of mine (though in my family that means he's basically immediate family) being murdered. He actually lived on the other side of my neighborhood. Anyway, last Tuesday he was supposed to go and testify at this guys trial who had broken into his house last year. At 4 in the morning, someone broke into his house, set it on fire, beat him up, or somehow dragged him out of the house, took him in his truck a couple of miles away, beat his head in till it was a pulp and set him on fire in his truck before taking off. Really effed up situation. Now he was something of a drug user. No one knows how much he was into it, but I wonder if this had something to do with that more than the guy who broke into his house. Though I'd rather the Sopranos episodes stay on TV.

Finally, I'm going out with the girl tomorrow for a good time up in Lancaster, then taking a candlelit tour through historic Woodstown, NJ. She's excited, but I'm looking forward to Saturday when I'll be shopping at my aunt's Macy's store for her X-mas present. She's only getting one thing, but it's small, shiny and I'm pretty sure she'll be appreciative of it. ;P

Rebounds

So the girl asks me to come over last night, spend some quality time. I say "Hey! I'll make dinner!" as the waste line needs to be looked at, what with all this bad food I've been eating lately. Get there, make dinner, but she's in a mood (seems to be a thing for women. Fine one second, moody the next). Anyway, long story short, it was kind of a frosty night, but I was willing to chalk it up to just one of those days when we're not in sync (a couple boy band songs spring to mind suddenly). She calls this morning, letting me know how much she liked the food (even though she wasn't singing praises for it when she was eating it) and that she was sorry for being moody. I said ok, still feeling like it was a little too late for that, but then I get flowers with a card delivered to the desk here. It says, "For all that you are, all that you do." Now I'm not much of a flower kind of guy. Actually there was a bug in the bunch who is now happily annoying me by being alive, but I was kind of irked last night because here I am, going out of my way to do something, and wasn't getting much in return. And while the apology was nice, the gesture of the flowers let me know that she's willing to go out of her way to to show me she cares. Very sweet. Nice rebound. :)

Prophetic am I

As most people know and remember, my screen name and username for a lot of things is Malachi. Always liked it, was talked into keeping it by Mike and Alan a while back when I thought it was cool to change my screen names every month. Well, Sunday at church, they read from the book of Malachi. And I knew then, things were going to go well. And they have! My fantasy football team creamed the guy I was playing, my portfolio got printed incorrectly at Staples, so they didn't charge me the $86 I was going to have to pay, but I can salvage about half the job, so that'll cut my costs in half. And I'm not sure of anything else at the moment, but I figure 2 good things is better than no good things. :) Oh, and I was Harry Potter for Halloween. Pics forthcoming...

COPS!! AGAIN!!

For those of you who actually follow this thing, you may have read about an incident back in June or so where one of our guys was arrested in our parking lot for trying to molest a 17-year-old girl who worked for us. Well, now one of my good buddies, Dave, is caught in the middle of a tradgedy. If you don't want to read the article (or can't) the long and short of it is that he had been seeing a woman from his church choir for a little less than a week before her husband (who she was getting divorced from) shot her to death Friday night. And he killed her /because/ of another man (ie; Dave). So needless to say he's a bit broken up about all of this. But it's just kind of surreal. Was huge in the news and all, and I went to the service tonight to show some support with the rest of the crowd from the shop. Surprisingly enough, I ran into a lot of random people I wouldn't have predicted would be there. One of my old customers from the bank, one of my cousin's good friends, and the guy who got arrested for molesting that girl!! Guess he got a leave of absense from jail for this one. *sigh*

I Love the Rain

There is no feeling like the one a rainy day creates for me. The pitter patter on the roof. The misty look of the land outside. It's like a dreamy feeling for me. You can sit inside, cozied up under a blanket, having some hot soup or a piping hot cup of cocoa. It's just soothing for me. Ever since I was a kid I've loved the rain. Maybe because it was dark outside, which reminds me of night time, and I'm much more of a night person than a day person. :p

From Kentucky!!

Whew!! Been a while, no? Sorry about that. Been busy with work and the woman. Seems I had the same problem keeping up with the blog the last time I had a girlfriend. But I'll do my best to keep up regardless. As far as the woman is concerned, things are going very well. We're both coming from the same place with regards to our past relationships, so while we're playing things cautiously, we both really like what the other person does and where they are going. Good times. But I'm in Kentucky right now!! Fun in the sun while my cousin gets married. Right now I'm by myself on my grandfather's farm. I think I'm really lucky to be able to come and feel at home at a place like this. It's very cathartic to go to the country from time to time. Peace, quiet, a sense of connection with nature you don't quite get in a city. I love it. Would love to retire to a place like this. Maybe some day I will. ;) As for now, I need to go do some drawing. First time in a while I can just relax and doodle. :) Yum!

Yummy! :P

Had a great time last night. And it's Fondue, not Fondu. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle! G.I. Joe!!!

It was a pretty cool place. Not as expensive as I feared, but that's probably because I had built this $100 ticket in my head. :p It was about $60 which was fine. The guy made our cheese dish right there in front of us and I was surprised that as hot as the cheese had to be to melt and stay that way, that once you dipped something into it and pulled it out, it cooled immediately. Then we had some salad, and finally they brought out this very flavorful pot of broth and an assortment of raw meats and fish. Didn't know I had to cook it myself though!! Sheesh. That's all I need. I can either give her e-coli or salmanila. Pick your poison!! But I think everything cooked up well enough, except the potatoes. I kept pulling them out, thinking they were done, but they never did completely cook. :p So that was all wonderful. Then we went to the riverfront area downtown. It's been built up over the last few years and has outlet stores and nice restaurants, but the main feature last night was the walk along the water. Very nice. Very romantic. Had a great time. We were going to do something on Saturday together, and still are, but we both can't wait to see each other again, so we're going to chill at her place on Thursday, which is tomorrow!! Yikes! I just realized that! lol. OK. Must try to work now.

Busy Weekend

http://personals.yahoo.com/us/personals-1093401040-078375

Whew. Finally have a few minutes to sit back and reflect on the weekend. Friday nights at home don't get much better than they did this Friday. :) Good times. Saturday was fun. Although the seminar was geared more toward writers than illustrators. Which I can see why, as there were probably 6 or 7 writers for every illustrator. YAY!! Less competition for me! So I made some connections there, got some questions answered and had some of my own ideas on how to market my work validated by some people in the industry. Overall, a productive, albeit non-job-creating day. Got home and got to randomly talking to this girl who I met through Yahoo Personals. The conversation went something like this.

Her: I'm hungry.
Me: What are you going to do about that?
Her: Are you asking me out to dinner?
Me: Eeerrrr.....I am?
Her: It sounds like you're asking me out.
Me: I am?
Her: Where are you going to take me?
Me: Uuuhhh.....where do you want to go?
Her: I don't know, you're the one who asked me out! :)
Me: I did?

And so we ended up at a bar near her around 10ish and talked till about 1 in the morning before she decided it was dancing time. I think I was the only white guy in the joint on the floor, but I held my own pretty well. :) I still can't lead though. Wiggling my hips works for me, but not in time with a woman! We're working on it though. Tonight we're going to a place called the Melting Pot. One of those new-fangled Fondue restaurants. I hear it's pretty good, but a little on the expensive side. Oh well. She's a lot of fun, and scarily like me in her thought processes. We were up till 5 in the morning talking last night. Exciting! Strange and new, but exciting!

Resolutions

So I didn't drink at the party on Saturday. Wasn't too happy about it, but I was feeling vindictive and wanted to really stick it to my brother for thinking I'm an alcoholic. But, after talking to some people I trust, I've decided I'm right and I shouldn't handcuff myself to make someone else feel better. So I had a few beers on Sunday during the games. I'm glad. And while I'm glad my brother and others care, I shouldn't have to tailor my life to accomodate them. The therapist agrees wholeheartedly. I was almost wondering if he was going to say I don't need to see him every week, but he wants money, so he didn't. :p In other news, I will be going on a date Sunday morning. I know, the morning? Me? Should be interesting. But I like pancakes on Sunday morning, and there is a gallery up in PA that's free till noon on Sundays, so it'll be a cheap date, and I can kill two birds with one stone. :)

Rant Time

Can I just say that I fucking hate it when people try to be the voice of my conscience. Now I will admit, that I like a drink from time to time. I probably drink once or twice a week. On bad weeks, I might drink once every couple of nights, but I feel that I am in no way an alcoholic. Typically I can't even drink at parties because everyone is so busy getting drunk that I have to stay sober to drive the older folk home. No one remembers that shit. They only remember that I end up having like 8 six packs lying on the floor next to my computer because I'm too much of a lazy ass to go and recycle them like I should instead of just throwing them in the regular trash at home. I tend to like to build them up a bit so I'm not making crazy trips there every week, but even that's dumb because I could walk there from my house! So that's my fault for being a slob I guess. But it makes it look like I /always/ have beer lying around. And even if I did, at least I'm not driving anywhere and doing that! I'm at home, having a few beers at the end of the day! Fuck me if I have a few vices. But, in the interest of fair play (and to show these fuckers up for their high and mighty fucking attitudes) I'm done with the drinking. At least a year, maybe more. Who knows. Maybe I won't touch a drink till my bachelor party or when I get my first book published. That sounds like an honroable time to have a drink. But with all the fucking parties this family has, and all the alcochol they shovel down their throats, to call me an alcholic seems just a teeny bit hipocritical. Just a bit. Fuckers

REALLY Deep Thoughts

I have come to the conclusion that I am not a multi-tasker by nature. Oh, I may force myself to do a couple of things at once during working hours; like listen to someone speak and write what they say down, but I obviously can't think and do something else at the same time. Or do that something else in conjunction with anything else without thinking. I was driving home from therapy the other night, thoughts flying around in my head, and before I knew it, I was home. I don't even remember making turns, changing lanes, anything!! Thank god for automatic pilot.

In a bit of interesting news, it seems my past is finally catching up to me. In the few short months I have been working at the flooring company, I have run into more people from my past than I did in the 25 years I've lived in the 2nd smallest state in the union. My old scout master, the wife of my cousin's asshole dad, the son of my parents' best friends from their early days together, and the younger sister of a girl I was in grade school with. She's married and has 2 kids!! Sheesh!! But in each case, it was good times and good memories, which I feel is a good thing. :) It's all good.

My Holiday Weekend

Friday Night: Nothing much happening. Don't remember anything significant.

Saturday Night: Took care of the Pops. Made sure he stayed as sane as an 84-year-old man can.

Sunday Night: Went to the cuz's hourse for a while, saw some peeps, ate some food, got another call from the grandparents to geriatric sit for the night. Did so. Good times.

Monday (Labor Day): No geriatric sitting. Plenty of good food, good fun. We had a full dance card as everyone called to invite us over. We did the appropriate thing, and spent some time everywhere! Oh yeah!!

Tuesday: Confront boss about not getting more than one week of vacation next year.

And they wonder why I drink?

So here I am, on a Labor Day Saturday, painting diligently (well, mostly diligently), trying to see what the peeps are up to tonight (though I would have appreciated someone calling me and letting me know if anything was up, but I've come not to expect those calls) and now I will be spending the night at my grandparents house. To preface this, my grandfather went to the hospital earlier this week with some coughing fits and what not. Didn't stay more than a couple of hours, but he's scared something might happen, so I got conscripted. Now I love my grandparents, I'm going to do it regardless, but they're not MY parents! What about their 5 kids, my mom and aunts and uncles? Why can't they stay the night? What about the 11 other people I call cousins and siblings? My sister says she can't because she has to worry about paying for gas. SHE MAKES MORE IN A WEEK THAN I DO!! Fucking excuses. Everyone's got 'em, I'm the only one who chooses to ignore mine I guess. I mean, I can read my book, talk to the pops (always an interesting time now that he tells me how much he misses "putting the root" as he calls it, to the ladies. So while other people get to run around doing their random crap, leaving me out in the meanwhile, I get to geratric-sit. Again, I don't harbor any ill will toward my grandparents, I just wish people would pay all three of us a little more attention.

Random Crap

Some highlights over the last week:

Sleep is good. Thinking about doing more of it some day.

Therapy is going well. The Doc is a nice guy, has good suggestions, the whole trust thing is coming along nicely.

Must find ways to work harder on being consistent with painting, working out, creating schedules. HOW DO YOU PEOPLE DO IT?!!! Must be willpower. Need to pick some of that up at WalMart

Gas prices are just insane. It's not even funny anymore. Want to see riots? Wait till you see $4 a gallon.

What Time is It?!! It's Game TIME!! Go Eagles!!