Afterglow 2011 - Day 8 Saturday

The last thing to go was this plant. I was moving to my Mom's house and although accepting of all life be it human, animal, flora and fauna, I figured that she already had plenty of things to take care of. So I deposited into the waste receptacle out back. Sorry plant. Hopefully you break free of your pot and plant your roots somewhere nice. The last thing I did before leaving was to hang out on my excuse for a porch because I didn't do that often while living here.

Gracie is my pal, but we haven't been friends forever. In fact I didn't used to like her that much until I started living with her. She's a real sweetheart but my heart is already taken by a Mr. Coach Gordon Bombay. Sorry new pal, but you will always play 2nd fiddle to kitty.

Mad Dog doesn't rob the Pine City Stage, figure that since we have a new courthouse we might as well have a hangin' and she doesn't hate manure. I don't know why I call her Bufford Tannen. I guess I just love Back to the Future that much that I can't stop talking about it.

But there's nothing wrong with looking ridiculous. Trust me. I look like that on a daily basis. What other grown man wears a sports jersey with some other guy's name on the back? We stopped at the gas station to fuel up the cars and ourselves, so we pounded some 5-hour energy drinks to get us all the way back home.

Mom always watches The Mueller's dog Madison, or Bufford 'Mad Dog' Tannen as a I like to call her. Just a friend helping out another friend I suppose. It also helps that Mom is really into dogs and taking in strays (people and cats included) so she was happy for the extra company. Plus there was something there to watch her open the mail.

There he is! There's my little guy. And he's hungry too. Don't make Coach Bombay hungry. You wouldn't like him when he's hungry. No seriously, he cries like an annoying little bitch until you plop a bowl of wet food onto the floor for his consumption. And he does it every morning and every night too. You would think that he would get tired of crying but by now he is conditioned to keep on crying until I feed him. I blame myself. I should have curtailed this behavior years ago but I let the little bastard get away with it. Nice parenting pal. Like you've done better.

I'm a big fan of Culver's. They have some pretty good food for an affordable price. I suggest you try the Butter Burger with the custard flavor of the day. I don't go there too often, but I look forward to stopping there on the way to or home from Afterglow. That made my tummy feel happy. Kevin wasn't as happy as my tummy because he was soaking wet and had to borrow one of Jenny's dry t-shirts. It was tie-dyed and too small for him, so he looked extra ridiculous.

Coach Bombay has a rough life. He gets free room, board and meals and he doesn't have to work a day in his life. Sometimes I see him trying to lift a paw to help and I tell him not to strain himself. I can't have him interrupting his nap just to give me a hand around the house.

My lease on my apartment was up on July 31st, so I made sure to be completely moved out before leaving for Afterglow. That's because we came home late on Saturday the 30th. We had to have the place all cleaned up by noon on Sunday morning so I was there early to do some last minute work and to turn in my keys. That's my bedroom on the left and the living room on the right. I really enjoyed living at this place. We certainly had a lot of good times here from Packers games to movie night, and like all places I've lived at it will always be special to me.

Living Room 2 (the formal dining room) was destined for great things when I moved in and set it up. It was supposed to be a little haven that I could retreat to when my roommates wanted to use Living Room 1. The problem was that my roommates Paul and Joe mostly stayed in their rooms with the exception of Packers games and I had Living Room 1 all to myself. It was a great idea that never really got to be implemented.

With all of the furniture moved out and the apartment all clean, Big Goofy had nothing better to do but sit on the floor. We all just sat around and talked, waiting for our landlord to come do the final inspection. I miss living with Joey Kanz. He was a lot of fun.

I've lived with Asian Paul for 3 years, which puts him right up there on the same level as Frenso Chris and Aaron. Paul's a really easy person to live with because he does his own thing and never complains. He's about as mild mannered as they get. He's just a really great guy.

Home

I have a history of taking forever to finish the yearly Afterglow post and this year is no different. Today is April 14th and just a few days ago the Countdown clicked into double digits, which puts us just under 100 days until we will be there again. This year was very mixed emotionally. As expected the loss of Timmy hovered over everything we did up here but I'd like to think that everyone was still able to have a good time. Life goes on. It's not easy but we are still here and we still need to make the most of our time on this Earth, and that time is wasted if we sit around dwelling in sadness. Easier said than done though, but Afterglow is a pretty good place to start thinking that way. It's hard not to have a good time up here and we did so while overcoming one of the greatest tragedies this family will ever see. I just hope it gets easier as time goes on.