I just got home a few hours ago and it was a great time down in Kentucky. It was a very needed relief from the stresses going on here in Morris. Between the property taxes being through the roof and me not knowing where I was going to get the money from for that to the damn bathroom repairs needed at the same time, I was giving myself gray hairs. It is almost to the point where I will need to go out and get a JOB. That would greatly cut into the lifestyle of JR Ewing that I have prided myself in since my dad died. I could get whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it. I really had no one to answer to and of late, I have had to cut back on that a lot. Add in the stuff going on personally and letting that bother me and add even more pressure onto myself, I was in desperate need of some time away. I have no figured out how to take care of the property taxes for now and just reshuffle debt around for the time being.

Now onto the fun times in Kentucky. As soon as I got on the bridge leading into Kentucky, my phone rang. I open the phone and the screen says “Take Call from Bull Mother Fcking Pain?” You always have to answer yes to that question. It was great to hear from Bull and I look forward to seeing him next weekend at KOTDM.

I had a conversation with Joe the night that I got down there that will really stick in my mind for awhile. He was telling me about his relationship problems with his girlfriend and then threw an arm around my shoulder and said “Jim, I don’t want to end up like you when I grow up.” He clarified himself and said that in some ways he would like to be like me but when it comes to success in the love department, that is what he meant by not wanting to be like me. I don’t blame him. I don’t even know if I would wish that upon my own worst enemies…ok that’s a lie, cause I would have no problem wishing it upon enemies but no one else. I let Joe know that he wouldn’t have to worry about being like me in that department since he is only 17 and already has a girlfriend, that puts him 8 years ahead of my pace. He also has other girls that want to go out with him right now. One day I will figure out how to find my way out of the damn Friend Zone that I always end up in and go from there. His girlfriend graduated at the same time as Maniwa so I took a picture of her at Patti’s request so Joe could have it. Since I don’t have Joe’s permission to publish the photo, I won’t at this time.

Now for Maniwa’s graduation. It was a touch and go situation that Maniwa has touched on in his journals so I don’t need to go through it again because he made it and that is all that counts. It was hotter than hell in the gymnasium for the graduation. Some ignorant individuals sat behind us and made Ian and myself even more uncomfortable. People kept standing in front of us and blocking our view. I didn’t get to take any good pictures during the ceremony because it was too dark and because of the people standing on the floor in front of us. When Maniwa got about 7 people away from crossing the stage, the sound system broke. 15 minute intermission to fix the sound and the ceremony started again. A huge storm came up towards the end. Everyone waited inside the gymnasium for about 10 minutes hoping the rain would let up but it didn’t. Here is a pic of the high school grad with his lovely girlfriend Adrianne after the graduation was over and we were waiting for the rain to stop.

image gone 🙁

The rain didn’t let up so we had to run next door to Maniwa’s house in the rain. I got soaked. Ian, Patti, Adrianne, Maniwa and myself then went to Cheddar’s for a graduation dinner. Maniwa told us a great story about a guy he doesn’t care for trying to take his graduation cap before the ceremony started. He told the guy “I don’t know what is wrong with you but if you don’t stop fcking with me, you are going to have Down on the Floor syndrome.”

Ian and me watched the finale of That 70s Show. Patti taped it as well as Maniwa so all my friends had my back for that episode. Everybody pay close attention cause this might be a first. This was a Fannin Approved Happy Ending. There was no other way that would have been acceptable for that show to end. I also absolutely loved the “foot in ass” montage that they did. It almost moved me to tears to see Eric and Donna get back together. I said almost damn it…leave me alone.

Friday was just a very bad day for Ian and myself. I won’t even get into it. I’ll just leave it at this…the silver lining of the situation was NOT GOING TO MILWAUKEE.

Saturday was a day of watching television with James Christopher. I put on “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” but James Christopher didn’t want to watch Charlie Brown. I was heartbroken. Here is James Christopher sitting on the love seat not watching Charlie Brown.

image gone 🙁

I had to get a picture of him wearing his “I Love My Godparents” bib as well. Here we go:

image gone 🙁

Mickie and I then went to KFC to get some food. I am very disappointed in the mashed potato bowl. Very disappointed. We then went to the mall and got James Christopher two books: Green Eggs and Ham and Cat in the Hat. I read Green Eggs and Ham to James Christopher and he loved it.

I tried to get James Christopher to watch Smokey and the Bandit with me but he wasn’t interested in that either. I was sad.

I did see quite a few episodes of Hogan Knows Best in the afternoon. That show is awesome. Hogan on there is 100 million times better than watching him wrestle. The guy he was torturing that Brooke had the hots for asking if the blood was poured on him in the wrestling matches and then saying “my favorite match of yours was the one with Rocky. Who won that one?” Mickie has decided that Ian and me would be like Hulk and Nick on that show to anyone that she dated. I can definitely see that. Speaking of having the hots for someone, Ian got off a good one on me around that time when he gave me back my Morris Redskins money clip that I left behind in Midlothian awhile back after being in a hurry to go to dinner after the show. A few perverted comments thrown towards Mickie though and all attention was deflected away from that and then I was getting threatened with being hit with a bat.

I spent some time with Mean Mitch Page. That was a good time. It is always great to see Mitch.

I finally watched the movie Kicking and Screaming. Tremendous. Mike Ditka and Will Ferrell are a great combo in that movie. I laughed and Ian said I only liked it because that is how I would coach a bunch of little kids. He’s probably right.

Sunday was a damn fun day. I went and got Maniwa and Adrianne and Phyllis came over from Lexington and we had a huge cookout. James Christopher has started lunging for his bottles now when he gets hungry. Here is a couple of pictures that Ian had Adrianne take while I was teasing James Christopher with the bottle.

image gone 🙁

and

image gone 🙁

We ended up playing a few games instead of going to see XMen 3 which was the original plan. Maniwa and I kicked some major league ass at Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture. We defeated Adrianne & Mickie and Ian & Joe. Maniwa and I then ended up winning Name That Tune 80s edition (Maniwa did all the work there) and then Mickie and me kicked some ass at Scene It. It helped that the final questions we had to win the game were all about movies involving the cast of Friends. Either way, I won all the games. It ruled!!!

I ran into the start of a helluva storm when I got 30 minutes from Morris today. The sky looked so weird since I was right at the start of the stormfront that I pulled off on a country road and took a picture. Here it is:

image gone 🙁

and here is the last picture…another one of the storm.

image gone 🙁

That is all.