I mentioned 3.

I got to work with a really talented photographer Saturday morning. I wasn't sure what to expect, but Marie Saturn of Saturn Styles Studios is not only a talented, beautiful woman, but really nice to work with. She has a great eye. She took these pics of me while she was playing with lighting effects in her studio. I have to admit I was a little nervous how they would come out because I wasn't even wearing any makeup!



Then she remembered that she wanted to work on a project she's doing called "Edge of Broken Heart" and asked me to look as sad as I could. The pictures came out so beautiful. Each one really envokes sadness. I love photos that when you look at them, actually pull an emotion out of you. That I think is the sign of a good photographer. They can make you feel something when you look at their work.

This one is my absolute favorite.

I said Geoff had 3 parties for his birthday but I only got to two so far. Because he was unaware that a surprise party was being planned in his honor, Geoff decided that he did want a birthday gathering afterall.. So he had invited a bunch of people out to Barleycorn's (one of his favorite little McMenamin properties).

I don't know all of Geoff's friends, so there was no way I could get to all of them to tell them about the surprise one... not to mention, having a party each day ensured that everyone who wanted to come out and give Geoff well-wishes was able to make it to at least one. The hardcore people made it to both, and some of his really dedicated family members made it to all 3.

It was a pretty good turn out. This picture is actually missing 4 people.

Due to the arrangement of the table, a few of us, mostly Geoff and myself had to go under the table if we wanted to get out for any reason. Eldon was amused by this, so he took a picture. I made sure to make a ridiculous face so he would laugh when he looked at it later.


Geoffy got a Guiness lamp and some tea as gifts.

I finally met the harpist that Geoff always talks about.

She's so nice. According to Geoff, she's invited us to go have dinner at her house in a couple weeks.

Robby and Eldon "raising the roof"? I have no idea.


When that dwindled down, the rest of us went and decided to crash Simon's housewarming party. I think he was glad we came. Ryan, one of Geoff's old friends who had come up from Salem to see him, joined us at Simon's as well. He started complaining of a bad back. So I volunteered to walk on it for him and help him out.

After I did that, every guy at the party, except Simon, wanted one too! I obliged in exchange for a back massage. I'm such a massage whore.

I stabbed Ruban in the ear with a pizza crust. Not really sure why.


Geoff still had one more present in store for him. Two girls he had been chatting with on myspace but hadn't had the opportunity to meet yet, ALSO showed up at Simon's to wish Geoff a happy 30th.
They were lots of fun.



Geoff was ecstatic!


Happy birthday bud. You deserved it.
ps: You have 10 months to think about what you're going to do for my 30th. I keed, I keed!

A party for each decade....

Geoff is a lucky bastard. I have to admit I'm fairly jealous of my roommate. That guy has the biggest circle of ecclectic friends and they all adore him. I can see why though, I love him too. He's just a genuinely good, fun person. Even living with him, yes, I've seen the grumpy morning Geoff, the frustrated/irritated, and the nervous/obnoxious Geoff, and I still enjoy being around him. He just rocks.

As such, it's only fitting that he have the coolest 3oth birthday ever.

Thursday he went out with his family.. fitting, as the first 10 years of your life, that's pretty much all you know. Unfortunately, I had homework to do, so I wasn't able to make it, even though the invite was extended to me.

Friday however... Aaron and I had managed to plan a surprise party for Geoff. This is incredibly difficult thing to do, because Geoff is a nosy bastard! He caught me a couple of times talking to friends of his online that he KNOWS I don't know, and asked me why. I'm not a very good liar, and I hate doing it, but this was for a good cause, so I made some crap up. Apparently it worked too, because he had no idea even up to the day of the party!

I got all the stuff, ran to Aaron's place and began setting stuff up / welcoming guests, while Aaron went over and hung out with Geoff and then came up with a reason to take him back to Aaron's house.

He walked in, and was promptly tackled to the ground by Eldon as we all yelled "Surprise."


Followed by the singing of "Happy Birthday."


I think he wished for a new elbow. (He banged it on the wall on the tumble down from the tackle.)

It turned out pretty good. I'll let the pictures do the talking for the rest of it. Create your own captions!

I don't know why, but for some reason, I was very playful that night and I felt the need to tackle and wrestle everyone.

Then I insisted that Jason do the truffle shuffle. He said no way. You WILL do the Truffle Shuffle!!!


I won....


Geoff got birthday spankings.


Everyone drank a lot and was very friendly with each other.
At least you can't say we didn't get along!





Good times.

What a week!

This week has been a complete whirlwind. I started school on Monday, and wow was that culture shock. I had been going over the summer, but it's a whole new experience going in the fall. I have to admit though, I was pretty happy with the results.

I managed to find my classrooms fairly easily, my teachers all seem competent, and one of my largest worries about the comfortability of my college re-entry turned out completely unwarranted...

I thought, "Oh boy, I'm gonna be like one of the oldest people in my class."

Actually it was quite surprising to find that the mass majority of the people in my classes are around the same age as me. I don't feel like quite the loser anymore. Yay~!

That encompassed most of my week, although I was actually able to go out Wednesday night for "Steak and Boobies" night with the boys, or as it shall now be referred to as simply "Meat." Stars has the best deal in town... Wednesday nights from 6-9 you can pay your $5 cover charge and get a free prime rib dinner! Who's gonna say no to that? So Me, Eldon, Geoff and Justin have decided that this must be a regular occurance.

Then came the 3 days of Geoff's 30th birthday. That.. will go in the next blog.

More Comedy...

After the Dog-toberfest activities, we went to Harvey's in the evening. I had tickets and managed to get a sizeable group to show up..

I have to say I was both shocked and elated to get an rsvp from two of the most reclusive guys I know.. Justin and Peter.

I've only met Peter maybe 3 times now because he doesn't really make it out much. He's in Med School, so that explains everything right there.


And Justin, for some reason he always has other plans when I invite him out. Thankfully I hadn't gotten to the point where I started taking it personally!

All in all, there were 8 of us.


It was a good show, Tim O' Rourk was the headliner and he was funny... except for the retarded Fruit Loops song which nobody in the audience seemed to appreciate. I almost liked Tommy Johnagin better though. He was the 2nd opener.
Favorite line of the night...

"I was at a strip club, and some girl who should NOT have been dancing tried to give me a dance. She says: What do you want me to take off next, baby? So I said, how about my glasses."

Dog-toberfest!

The Lucky Lab had their second annual Dog-toberfest Saturday. I could not miss that! I dragged Geoff along, (actually all I had to say is I'm going and there's microbrews and he was in... but it's more fun to say I dragged him)...

It was fun. They had a charity dog wash, where you donate $5 and get your dog a bath. Wesley wasn't thrilled with the idea, but for charity and someone else giving him a bath, I'll take it!

The best part was that I got in contact with Gracie's owner, and she's still interested in breeding Gracie when she goes into heat next! I might just get my Wesley puppy afterall!

Gracie is on the left. We found another weim owner as well, his is the one in the center.

As is customary, lots of butt sniffing ensued. I actually wasn't trying to take these, just every time I tried to take a pic, Wes had to introduce himself.



I was surprised at how many people were there, and it was just awesome. Dare I say, good clean fun?
I had a great time.


I think Geoff did too actually.