Had a big family get together down in Tampa over the weekend. Sadly though, it wasn't as originally intended.
In the spirit of the holiday, I'm thankful for having such a wonderfully kind and loving woman in my life. Someone not blood, but family nonetheless. So selfless that she and her husband would open their home to those in need. One of which, a young girl with nowhere to go after being forced into the streets by her step-father, would become an older sister to her own seven children. And eventually, my mother.
But with her health failing since earlier this year, being hospitalized on Sunday, and slipping into a coma on Friday, her 85 lbs body simply could no longer support such a large, compassionate heart.
Her and her husband of 53 years. My "Nan" and "Pap"
And now you know! OK, game on...
First off, such a great time! But what's the count? SGOH parties attended: 2, SGFL parties: ZERO! Weird, right?!
Also, I learned some stuff on the trip. But I'll get to that...
Party pictures! (a few)
Chrysis was such a sweetheart!
Drama and his girl in their SOA costumes. (I'll eventually watch that show)
BTW, who's the blonde in the stockings here?!
I'm sorry to say, ALL these pictures (and a few of the following) are stolen.
Which brings me to LESSON 1:
Typically I plan my trips in detail, but this time was more "go with the flow" and leave things to chance. I planned to NOT plan! And I don't think things could've worked out better.
So having only booked a hotel for the first night, I had to drag myself out of bed in time for check out on Sat and started trying to see what the goings on were for the day. Eventually I met Delia, Shipwreck, SoBelle and Amarena for lunch at the fabulous the Waffle House! And Dovah arrived by the time we were done.
That's when I was told that I had a job to do. The girls were going to be shooting Zivity sets and they needed a "dead guy".
How I tried to appear to feel about it:
But what I was feeling inside:
Shipwreck was next to shoot. Stuck around for that one too given that the first shoot had some creepers... Well, creepin'! And they were glad to have a guy around.
That girl has some great ink!
LESSON 2:
Must join Zivity!
Gotta give these girls credit, it... was... COLD! But they soldiered on!
Since I still didn't have any other plans by then, I continued to hang and went downtown for diner and a "gallery hop". This was coincidental because back in June I bought some art from a guy in Australia.
Finally got it on Saturday. Airplane "panel art". Added a ruler for scale.
But anyway! While waiting for diner, we ALL learned something...
LESSON 3:
Downtown was crowded. So we all retired back to the hotel early, made a booze run and watched the SG UK Holiday on iPad.
The video was great and all, but in my opinion the best part of staying in was having the opportunity to chat about SG itself; the sets, SGs, hopefuls, old vs new, what annoys, what excites...
Also, the girls had never had the pleasure of a drive THROUGH liqueur store before then!
Oh... LESSON 4:
Apparently, the general consensus on adjoining hotel rooms is...
Had an extra hour to sleep in on Sun morning before leaving for the airport, which was awesome! But I still had time to kill, so I went and watched "Wreck-It Ralph" in theater. So much nostalgia in that flick!
When I did get to the airport, I learned my 2:15pm flight was delayed due to mechanical issues. First to 3:30, then to 6:20, then 8:20, 9:45 came and went too... I didn't leave Columbus until 10:30!!!
Still... After such a good time, nothing was taking the smile off my face! The airline folks appreciated that. 
Naturally, there was a lot of entertaining myself on the internet. At one point I stumbled across a picture.
...The London Eye in the evening.
In that one instant, I decided London will be my destination for New Years!
I won't lie, I was among the many people drinking away the pain of such a long delay.
That didn't change once finally boarded.
But I'll get to that in the next blog actually. First, this was Halloween itself...
My watering-hole closed to employees and regulars only after 8pm and this is what I did.
I spent all day decking out my bike to compliment the look I was going for.
More soon.
HALLOWEEN UPDATE!!!
First, I really wanted to put this blog off until I got more of the pictures back... But I just can't help myself!
But thus far, two Halloween parties and two different costumes down, and still 2 more (maybe 3) to go.
Friday night kicked off Halloween festivities for me with an annual party put on by a local radio station. I went as a zombie. The look started a over a month ago by tossing some already old clothes in the backyard to let FL weather beat them down even more.
The makeup itself took about 2.5 hours. The makeup in stages:
As you can see, while I had to shave the beard, I had some fun doing it.
The finished look:
My zombie was a HUGE hit! People got freaked out, strangers wanted to be mauled for pictures, and one woman requested to be "motor-boated". The radio station held a costume contest with a $1K cash prize, which I wasn't even invited to compete in...
The removal of the makeup took just about as long to take off as it did to put on.
I didn't get to bed until after 5am. And still needed to wash my pillow the next morning!
Saturday night was supposed to chill. But having had so much fun the night before, and meeting some people who told me about another party, I decided to do it again.
However, I didn't want to do the same thing and I hadn't planned on another costume so short notice. But as I was shopping the local Halloween store, inspiration took hold of me!
FREDDY KRUGER!!!
I had always wanted to do him before but always felt that typical sweater/glove/hat combos to be too cheesy. This time though, the store had quality accessories and I knew that I had the makeup already to make a decent attempt at his burns.
The makeup:
The full look:
The teeth and eyes weren't completely accurate, but dammit... only 5 hours from planning to execution, that's not too bad!
And since I'm all about detail and not half-assing anything, I even did the left hand as well as back and top of the head. (Although, the hand picture was taken at the end of the night and was starting to fall off)
Next party is on Wednesday (Halloween itself) and will be BIG... My regular watering hole is closing the bar to employees and regulars. But you'll all have to wait for that one.
After that is the SG party in OH, but I'm still at a loss for a plan on that one... My makeup kit is huge and I don't think I'll be taking it with me. Not to mention the last thing I wanna do is creep the ladies. TOO much anyway...
I hope to have more pictures of these looks later to post.
Sweet dreams, all! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!
I celebrated my 30th Birthday on Friday! I'm told that mean's I'm getting old, but I can't tell. But my friends sure saw to it that I got good and schmammered that night. Shot after shot after shot... Saturday was rough!
Less than two weeks before Halloween shenanigans begin and for one can't wait. It kinda sucks that the 31st falls on a Wed though, but on the other hand, it also means various parties all week long. And since I typically go all out, I've got multiple costumes planned.
Originally. I wasn't sure if I'd even be around for Halloween. But the unofficial word is that my training for my next contract isn't supposed to start until January (at the earliest). So I continue to be on "vacation" in the mean time. It's been 4 months already, and now another 3 or 4 more?! Sheesh! At least I know I'll also be able to celebrate New Years too. I'm thinking Costa Rica this year.... Or maybe London.
Finally, skydiving adventures continue. I continue procrastinating on putting together a video, but I did get copies of the ones taken by a friend I jump with. So I pulled some stills from them for now...
I've shared enough of my adventures with friends that many have started talking about a group tandem jump. Anyone else wanna come?
Still not the videos I've been trying to put together... Finding good video editing software is a bitch! Suggestions anyone?
I had some fun yesterday with a friend down in Deland, FL. It was a REALLY good day! Our goal lately has been to improve our control when flying relative to each other. So as you can see, we're pretty much there, but still room to improve.
The second jump was really just for fun. Looking legs together is a formation called the "Horny Gorilla"! It was a little unstable at first, but a hell of a lot of fun!
I was gonna write more, but I'm helping a friend move this morning...
I'm finally done!!!
I'll try to get better quality pictures eventually. But I do have one more touch up session for the blue spots that didn't take well. Maybe after that.
There has been more of this...
One of the guys I was jumping with took that pic at about 4800ft after we broke formation.
Spent the night in St Augustine celebrating my father's birthday...
...and I got schmammered!
Woke up thinking...
But I figured it out. Still drunk!
The last time we had a family drinking night was Cancun 2004!
Took my friend to the strip club for the first time...
Since he's GAY, he doesn't go much. But he had a really good time!
And lastly, I bought an original work from an artist that I like out of Australia...
Now it's here, framed and looks amazing!
