Afterglow 2011 - Day 1 Saturday

James and Melissa got up there a little later than we did but it was ok because it gave us plenty of time to fill our mugs and get the party started. Because of the wedding at time off from work last year they weren't able to make it to Afterglow. Even though they have yet to go on a honeymoon, they knew it was important to be here this year because of how difficult it would be. I don't know how things are with your families, but for me everything is always better when my family is around. They mean the world to me.

It's a good thing that Brian and Kevin aren't real cousins because that would interfere with their relationship status of life partners. In our culture it is frowned upon and taboo to have that kind of relationship with family. These two goofballs were meant for each other.

Swimming is my favorite thing to do at Afterglow which is why I do it every day that we are up there. I don't care if it's cold, cloudy or rainy - I signed a pact that says I will swim every day lest I give everyone else $5 and receive an atomic wedgie from everyone else.

The best part about Afterglow is that the same people keep coming up during the same week, and over the course of our lives we have gotten to know these people. This is why I call Kevin McKissick my cousin. We're not related, but I have known him since he was a little kid. He grew up with my family and my other cousins and he has become like family to us all. We're not as close to Mark and his wife Amy (left picture) but we still have known him for almost our entire lives. I'm too busy hanging with my cousins, drinking and swimming, but my Mom takes the time to catch up with people like Mark and Amy and Jim who we only get to see once a year. I care about them, but for me it's all in due time.

After swimming in the big pool we always relax in the HT even if we didn't sign up for it. At Afterglow there is a Redbook that contains the rules of the land but we don't really follow any of them. Rules are meant to be broken anyway. I'm pretty sure that there is a maximum occupancy limit for the HT but we just jam as many people into it that can fit. Sure we overflow the water onto the floor but they kind of had it coming. They should have never gotten rid of the old HT. What the hell was wrong with that one anyway? This new one sucks. I'm demanding a refund.

Everyone has a digital camera these days. This is good and bad for someone who puts together the ultimate Afterglow retrospective like myself. The good thing is that I get tons of pictures like the ones below that I never used to because I was busy doing something else (like in this case chilling in the hot tub). But the problem is that I end up spending countless hours sorting through all of these pictures from everyone's cameras trying to decide which ones to put on here. And as you'll see, I often pick out way too many pictures.

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