California 2K3 - Day 1 (Page 1)

If Timmy was John Denver, then he would be Leaving on a Jet Plane. He would have also sung with the Muppets at Christmas time, fell in love with the Rocky Mountain area, and he would Thank God that he was a Country Boy. But Timmy is not John Denver, and I am not loosing my mind.

'The time has come,' the Walrus said, 'To talk of many things: Of shoes - and ships - and sealing-wax - Of cabbages - and kings - and of course another trip to California. This year we elected to leave early (like 6:00 a.m. early) on December 26th. Being me, I neglected to pack before hand, choosing instead to pull an all nighter on Christmas day, goofing around rather than packing. I finally did pack, and when I was finished, it was about 4:30 in the a.m. I was supposed to be at the 'Tosa house by 5:45, so sleep was out of the question. So where could I go to pass an hour? George Webb's was the place to be, but they were closed. You hear that? Closed. I thought that place was always open. I was bummed. A hot cup of chili was just what the doctor ordered, but my insurance couldn't cover it. So I did the next best thing - I went to Walgreen's. I got a lot of disapproving looks, and was followed around the store (I don't blame them, I was wondering around for more than a half hour...) If you spend more than a half hour at a little store like Walgreens, then you either are crazy, or you got some serious sickness and buy tons of medicines. I finally bought something and left, and made it to the 'Tosa house by 5:45 a.m. And it was there my friend, that this adventure began. And this was odd, because it was the middle of the night.

Early mornings affect people in different ways. My Papa Chester (pictured at left) wakes up every day at like 4:30 a.m., like before sunrise, so this was nothing to him. On the other hand, early mornings make Jenny and I go crazy, which is exactly what we are doing at the airport on this fine morn.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with a little product placement. You see it all the time in movies, magazines, television, and pretty much everywhere else. It's how struggling artists (like myself) can make a quick buck just by drinking a can of Mountain Dew's Amp Energy drink and telling everyone how good it was because they were given monetary compensation to do so.

I would like to thank Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) for posthumously allowing me to "borrow" passages from his poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter". I am a fan of his work (a hookah smoking caterpillar? Genius!) so it was an honor to quote him so. I just wanted to give credit where credit is due. All passages in italics on this page are taken directly from said poem. Thank you Lewis (Charles), you've made a believer out of me. Now you can tell that Jabberwocky fella to leave me alone.