Here are more pics of me flexing my newfound photography skillz! Very few pix of kids right now, but I’m sure Ash will have a post up on her blog shortly. Click each to embiggenate, and marvel at how lame my captions are.
Clouds at sunset
Moon before sunrise
River between rocks
Moon in trees
Landen throwing driver
Landen near balloons
Duncan and Mom
I started writing a letter to a very old friend who I had lost contact with shortly after high school. I wanted to catch her up to where I am at and how I got there, so I decided to catch her up on 15 years of my life, with the superfluous caveat that I would only allow myself 40 words per year. It was pretty tough, but somewhat rewarding. Interesting to see what sticks out in my memory (my first draft omitted that I graduated from college.) Here’s the result:
1998: spent much of year dressing poorly, being anti-social, and wishing I majored in writing – was put on wrong campus but became good friends with a few non-actors – dated a girl that went nuts – co-founded a multi-medium entertainment company Prometheus Productions
1999: finally started establishing friendship network and enjoying school a bit – wrote my first ever play that later debuted with Prometheus and won award – romantic scene barren – parents divorced after 33 years
2000: made resolution to date girl I’d liked for 2 years – got surprising amount of acting work –2nd play I wrote for Prometheus got award – spent semester in London, hated it (but Edinburgh was awesome) – on 12/28, started dating that girl
2001: dated girl entire year – graduated college and took road trips – Prometheus performed last shows – was introduced to disc golf – my acting showcase (to attract agents) interrupted by 9/11, lost interest in acting after that – got new job at office-type company
2002: worked way up company ladder, soon helmed broker department – moved out of folks’ house for first time – broke up with girl for several reasons – had first liquor at 23 years old, started to make up for lost time – started website
2003: got jealous that old girlfriend moved on, got back together with her – it didn’t last – by end of year, moved in with her (as friends) – worked fine for a few months but seeds were sown for problems
2004: social implosion as friends and exes started hooking up, dishonesty and bullshittery abounded – became pretty reclusive – moved in with longtime friend where stupidity commenced and pretended to live a college-esque existence – increased disc golf activity
2005: made NYC debut as a playwright with two shows – social life rebuilt painfully slowly – started playing disc golf professionally, made $0 – quit longtime office job over increased loathing of it, worked freelance theatre lighting by year’s end
2006: released comedy music CD – toured as disc golf pro for 5 weeks, finally cashed – moved for fourth time – met no-expectations pen pal on dating site OkCupid – freelance work dried up, got job in old industry but better company
2007: fell in love with supposed no-expectations girl after several visits – first full-length musical debuted in NYC at Fringe Festival to emphatic end-of-spectrum reviews, convinced boss at relatively new job to let me move to Nevada and keep job – headed west
2008: bought 2nd car – found out girlfriend was pregnant five days later, we got new larger apartment together – wedding plans discussed – tried to play as much disc golf as possible – finished my first novel – last year I got sleep
2009: son Landen born in January, had a “weddingish” ceremony for friends/family in May, had legal proceedings in August – after a two-month nightmare, bought our first house – spent year adapting to budgeting and selflessness with varied success
2010: Just existed happily for much of it – started small home projects – apparently played much disc golf, video games, and online poker – started reading much more frequently – company announced it could shut down close soon – panic ensued
2011: became an uncle for the first time – wife enrolled in school to get her degree – got promotion to A.V.P. at company which was now stable – welcomed second child Duncan – finished 2nd at tournament, highest finish as a pro
2012: started short story writing project with friend – entire family traveled east to visit good friends who lost their toddler – otherwise lived life contentedly as father, husband, homeowner, professional athlete, artist, and frequent sweet potato fry chef
We bought a new camera. It is a $800 that we bought for $29. Because WE RULE. Anyway, it’s a Panasonic Lumix GX1 and we’re very happy with it in the one day we’ve used it. Here’s a sample of why we like it:
Li’l brudder
Big bro
A few quick notes about milestones. First we have Landen who VOLUNTARILY wanted to show Mom that he could go underwater. Here’s proof.
Second, we have a video of Duncan rolling over. (He also popped some teeth just today, but no pictures of those yet. In fact, I haven’t even seen them yet!)
Finally, an awesome picture I took of Duncan with my cell phone yesterday. I love it.
KIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Duncan on top, Landen on bottom)
From our family:
The first non-bloody pic
Eat your heart out, Madonna and Child!
Baby jowls!
Enamored
Brotherly bonding
Big and Little
Good try, buddy
He loves his baby brother
The following are pictures largely of sunsets/cool skies. They were taken mostly on the same day, one handed, with a camera-phone, while driving. So suffice to say they may not be the absolute best quality. Enjoy.
Taken with a camera, not while driving, ~2009
The far side of a sunset
Same clouds, same phone, minutes later, completely different look
The near side of the same sunset
Different day, and for those keeping track, we have two suns now
Finally, two pictures that, no matter how many times I look at them, always make me smile, and usually make me laugh.
This is what he did when I asked him to pose for a picture with Mommy
Hooray for “fish-eye” silly effects on the camera phone!
Modeling the monkey jammies that Jess got for him
Action shot – while spinning me in my office chair
Asleep with no less than two stuffed animals in his shirt
A proud Indians fan
Showin’ that tee what for
Mission accomplished
So I had this fear that we accidentally ushered in the era of “Landen” as a name. I had never met a Landen beforehand, and after we named him at the start of 2009, there seemed to be an explosion of Landens. So I checked with the Social Security list, and it’s held pretty steady:
In 2006, 203rd most popular boy’s name.
2007: 201st.
2008: 199th.
2009: 207th.
2010: 206th.
That’s about as steady as they come. The name Landon (or any spelling of Landen) itself has become more popular recently, as the “wrong” spelling of the name is in the top 40. Landyn has somehow cracked the list, improving every year from 844th in 2004 to 371st in 2010. Seriously, those parents should be hurt. Landin is even in the top 1000. So the name itself is more prevalent, but thankfully not the spelling we have which is obviously “right”.
So I guess my fear was unfounded. I don’t have a need to have a wacko name that nobody’s heard of, but you don’t want your kid to have a bland name that everyone and their uncle seems to have. One of our unwritten rules when naming Landen was “nothing in the top 100 in popularity.”
The good news, looking at 2010′s numbers, and looking ahead to Peanut, is that the girl’s name we have in mind has actually decreased in popularity every year since 2005. The boy’s name we have in mind has climbed pretty noticeably every year since 2006. Neither are in the top 300. There, that’s enough clues to drive you folks who like figuring this stuff out batty. We find out the gender (with any luck) in a couple of weeks.