Adventures in amateur IT Repairs

So I managed to fix two computer this week.

Paul's PC on Sunday and Kenji's PowerBook G3 today.

While Paul's issue was a matter of letting in a internet worm manipulate his online activities, it was rather easy to fox.
But Kenji's took a day and half before I made a last ditch effort to get him access to his beloved files.

Paul: he is finally marry my friend and his SO of 8 years. He foolishly had a broadband connection with no firewall turned on. So somehow the Lsass got into his system shutting down his computer whenever he connected his modem. Fortunately with my research I discovered that WIN XP has a built in firewall like OSX and turned it on and was able to update his Norton virus scanner but alas it was not working. But the worm wasn't shutting down his computer anymore.


Kenji: like most of us "artists" , frustrated and broke and his Mac started giving him the dreaded flashing question mark. After failing to be able to boot off the many different utility CDs I suggested we purchase this program, which led to figuring out how to create a Bootable CD out of the downloaded program. Once that was accomplished I still couldn't boot from his laptop.

And so in a last ditch effort I decided to set is computer to firewire mode and boot the CD from my computer and voila it finally read his drive through the firewire and Diskwarrior worked its magic.

A Bittersweet Story

From thge Atlanta Journal Constitution

Truth trumps HIV in affair of the heart

A hemophiliac infected as a child, Jay Minish spent his teen years and early 20s fearing love was forever off-limits. But he refused to give up his quest.
Helena Oliviero - Staff
Sunday, June 27, 2004

http://www.ajc.com/sunday/content/epaper/editions/sunday/news_04eda64a45b5418c0090.html

A chubby-faced Jay Minish pushed the microphone away after his 30-minute speech about living with the virus that causes AIDS.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" a female student asked.

"Not right now, but I hope to have one real soon," Jay said, flashing his signature grin.

"Are you a virgin?" a sweet-looking blonde asked.

Some of the teenagers burst into nervous giggles. An adult moderator at the Alpharetta high school told Jay he didn't have to answer.

But Jay beamed. He liked the question. It went to the core of his struggle as a twentysomething who worried about spending his life alone.

"God, Almighty. That's probably the best question I ever got," he said, blushing. His palms got sweaty.

He brought the microphone close and said, "Yes, I am a virgin."

Born a hemophiliac, Jay was infected with the human immunodeficiency virus as a child while being treated for the inherited blood disorder. Struggling with both illnesses, he lived his life walking a thin wire. A simple fall could provoke uncontrollable bleeding. A mix-up in HIV medication could be deadly.

But he didn't stop living because he was afraid of dying. Jay, a native of Carrollton, traveled across Georgia and spoke to tens of thousands of students as an AID Atlanta speaker. He called his speeches "therapy."

Dressed in Tommy Hilfiger jeans, he blended with his peers. He enjoyed the benefits of young adulthood: independence, close friends and his own car, a canary yellow Dodge Neon.

But what gnawed at him was what he wanted above everything else: romance.

He was part of the first generation of children to survive HIV into adulthood, because of advances in medication. But surviving posed a new set of challenges. Although these children did not contract HIV through sex, they have a disease usually associated with physical intimacy. And that dichotomy made the simple hope of finding true love seem out of reach.

"The hardest part of living with HIV is not having a girlfriend," Jay said.

Walking away

Every Wednesday night over pitchers of Bud Light and a basket of fries, Jay, 24, played trivia with friends at Los Locos in Carrollton.

He reveled in the games and the opportunity to meet women. They flocked to him, a well-mannered young man who wore pressed khakis and a crisp white cotton shirt to bars. He smelled fresh, like Zest.

But when they learned he was HIV-positive, they walked away.

"It happens all the time," said his friend Gena Willard. "A woman will walk up to me and say, 'Jay is so great.' But after a date or two, the woman disappears. She doesn't return his calls or says, 'Let's just be friends.' "

On a night last December, a twentysomething blonde flirted during trivia. He smiled back, but brushed her off.

"I just am not up to it tonight," Jay said as he returned to his seat.

He sat next to his buddy John Olsen. Olsen whistled at his girlfriend, Sarah Muller, to get a kiss. Muller kissed her boyfriend once on the lips, twice on the cheeks.

Jay looked away.

But he knew love was possible.

Three years ago, a nursing student chased him across a parking lot to give him her phone number. He called her a couple of days later, and they laughed through their first date over cheese grits at a Waffle House.

But the woman's mother began to fear the virus, and fear him, according to Jay. After two months, he sat with the woman and her mother at their kitchen table. The mother thought the relationship was too dangerous. She begged the couple to separate.

Jay wept in his car and headed home.

Staying positive

Jay's parents always focused on the positive.

Shortly after he learned of his HIV status in the seventh grade, his parents pulled him off the community swim team after several parents complained. Jay's father, Dan Minish, found another way for his son to swim. As a middle schooler, Jay and his father attended Camp Sunburst, a California summer camp for HIV-infected children.

Jay's parents encouraged their only son to play pingpong and manage the high school basketball team. They indulged him with rare baseball cards, beach vacations and fishing excursions. Though divorced, they regularly sat together with him at Braves games.

Jay and his father, a former sports information director at the State University of West Georgia, developed a spirited college rivalry. Jay rooted for the University of Georgia, his father for Georgia Tech. Jay's mother whipped up his favorite snack --- deviled eggs --- anytime he asked.

"I never let myself get down because I surround myself by so many positive people --- my friends and family," Jay said. "My dad has a way of always making me laugh."

But when it came to girls, his parents --- united in concern for their son --- were at a loss.

His mother, Terri Todd, knew he was lonely, but what could she possibly say? His father wept openly at the thought. While rejection by girls is a natural part of growing up, Jay never seemed to get a fair shot.

But he was upbeat and thoughtful and had lots of friends. He regularly taped a wrestling show for a friend who worked nights. He obtained a $500 loan last year to help pay for Christmas gifts for his "extended family."

At Applebee's, where he worked as a waiter, he danced in the kitchen to make his co-workers chuckle.

Even Jay's doctors sympathized.

"How are things in the girl department?" Dr. James Steinberg asked during one of Jay's routine visits to Emory University Hospital.

"Nothing new there," he replied, head bowed.

Steinberg asked whether Jay had checked into online dating sites for HIV-positive singles.

"Yeah, I looked at it once, but it didn't feel right," he said.

"Well, we'd be happy to talk to her if it happens," Steinberg said. "And your fan club here" --- pointing to a colleague, Dr. Shanta Zimmer --- "can also give a thumbs up or down."

Jay laughed.

"OK, OK," he said. "I'll let you know if anything turns up."

'The Speech'

Suzanne Brons, a 23-year-old waitress, first eyed Jay while eating at the Applebee's where he worked.

Those engaging green eyes. His wide smile.

They made eye contact. Jay introduced himself. Suzanne loved his gentle voice. He seemed polite.

Suzanne begged her friend Georgia Richards, who also worked at the restaurant, to pass along her number. Richards said she would, but told her that Jay would need to share a secret before "anything happens."

Later that week, Suzanne saw Jay again at the Mansion, an upscale Carrollton restaurant where she worked.

Someone pointed in Jay's direction and whispered, "You see him? He has HIV."

Suzanne wanted to hear it from Jay. She smiled at him and later approached him. He wanted to buy her a drink.

"I can buy my own drinks, thank you very much," she said.

A few days later, Jay and Suzanne had a date. They met at Jay's one-bedroom apartment in Carrollton to watch the movie "Dumb and Dumberer."

But before Jay slid the video into the player, he turned to Suzanne and gave "the Speech."

"There's something I need to tell you," he said.

He told Suzanne that he was born with hemophilia, a rare disorder in which a person's blood does not clot normally. Sometime during the early 1980s, he was injected with a treatment that was contaminated with HIV. He was diagnosed when he was about 8, but his parents waited a few years before telling him about it.

With his hands clasped on his lap, he said flatly, "This is the part when most girls leave."

Suzanne, a petite blonde with turquoise-colored eyes, did not. She'd dated a legion of losers, men who blew her off, men who were untrustworthy.

"Well, I am not going anywhere," she said.

Jay started the movie. Suzanne slipped her hand into Jay's. As the movie went on, they leaned into each other. They laughed.

Afterward, Suzanne slept in Jay's bed. They held each other tightly. In the middle of the night, Jay awoke and pulled Suzanne's arm around his waist. He had craved a woman's touch. He wanted to be sure she was still there.

For the next three weeks, Suzanne and Jay slept in the same bed every night. They had, according to Suzanne, "a full and complete relationship."

"I think it's safer to be with someone and to know what they have and take precautions instead of being with someone and not knowing," Suzanne said.

They saw each other during work breaks and text-messaged each other with their cellphones.

Jay was romantic. Once he surprised Suzanne with a single red rose, another time with a takeout dinner of country-fried steak and mashed potatoes. He visited four music stores to find a Jimi Hendrix movie after she said she liked his music.

He shared his hope of someday having a son to name after his father.

He sent her a stream of text messages.

I think it is going to work out between us

Home safely? Just making sure

Listen with your heart. Not your mind

Sweet dreams

'I love you'

On May 15, a Saturday, Jay celebrated his buddy Greg Waldrop's upcoming wedding over beers and conversation. Suzanne was working across town, but his friends knew about her. He seemed to have found the real thing.

Celebrating, Jay was tipsy. At some point during the party, he fell down. Falls and bumps can be quite serious for hemophiliacs, but he got right back up.

"Are you OK?" Waldrop asked.

"I am perfectly fine," Jay said.

Jay slept over at Waldrop's and went home Sunday.

By Monday, Suzanne knew something was wrong, but she thought maybe it was that Jay was ignoring her.

"Jay did not blow people off," she said. "But I am insecure."

On Tuesday afternoon, another friend, Steven Cook, swung by Jay's apartment to maybe watch a game. Jay's Dodge Neon was in the parking lot. Cook knocked on the front door. It was slightly ajar, and swung open.

He heard a box fan in Jay's bedroom, but his friend wasn't there. He turned toward the front door to leave, when he noticed a light in the bathroom.

Jay was lying on the bathroom floor with spots of dried blood around his nose and mouth. He was alive, but barely.

Cook called 911. An ambulance rushed Jay to the emergency department at Tanner Medical Center in Carrollton.

Within minutes, a friend notified Suzanne that Jay was in the hospital.

Upon arrival, Suzanne saw Jay's father and stepmother, Cindy, waiting outside the emergency department. Still in her waitress uniform, Suzanne halted at the doors.

She felt close to Jay, but she had known him less than a month. She wasn't sure she should interfere.

Within a couple of hours, more than 100 people --- high school friends, customers from Applebee's, buddies, co-workers and Suzanne --- stood outside the hospital, forming a circle and praying for Jay.

There was still hope: Jay had swallowed twice and had moved his body slightly. At nightfall, he was transferred to Atlanta Medical Center.

Suzanne tapped out a message on her cellphone while she was on her way to downtown Atlanta.

I know you will get through this. I care for you. I love you.

At the Atlanta hospital, Suzanne walked into Jay's room. As a handful of friends and family members parted to make room for her, she leaned down and gently placed her arms against Jay's body. She sobbed.

Jay had suffered a massive stroke, probably caused by a brain hemorrhage and complicated by his hemophilia. Doctors said it might have been from the fall, or it might have been spontaneous bleeding, common among hemophiliacs.

Jay's family, one close friend and Suzanne held hands and encircled Jay. They recited the Lord's Prayer. Then Jay was taken off life support.

Suzanne knew the relationship was in its early stages. Jay had never met her family. But she mourns a sweet and brief courtship that might have led to something special.

"I have a different kind of hurt," she said. "My hurt is because of the excitement I had. And because I was really looking forward to our relationship."

Epilogue

About a week after Jay's death, his father opened his son's apartment to friends and asked them to take home anything they wanted as a keepsake.

Suzanne fumbled through his closet until she found the blue oxford shirt he wore during their first date. She also picked up the slip of paper with her phone number that he kept on his bedside table.

And while cleaning Jay's car, his father found a note from a teenager, written after one of his speeches:

"Don't worry, you will find someone for you someday."

My Darkroom is closing!!

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

June 19, 2004 Saturday
Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section B; Column 1; Metropolitan Desk; Pg. 4

LENGTH: 1170 words

HEADLINE: In a Digital Era, the Darkroom Is Fading as a Photographic Hub

BYLINE: By GLENN COLLINS

BODY:


In the tradition of the Rolodex, the vacuum tube and the roll-film camera, the communal darkroom -- a Manhattan institution that has long sustained a subculture of professional photographers and print-making artists -- is yielding to the digital imperative.

After 17 years, the Latent Image Workshop Inc., with its 23 rent-by-the-hour darkrooms, will close its doors by the end of the month. Other rental workshops are losing business or scrambling to upgrade their digital services to survive.

To regulars who practically lived at Latent Image, this imminent shuttering marks the end of an era.

''For 150 years, photography remained pretty essentially the same, and the darkroom was a critical part of it all,'' said Jessica Burstein, who, as photographer for the various ''Law and Order'' television series since 1994, printed all her pictures and title shots at Latent Image. But now, thanks to digital technology, ''we are at the last generation of film photographers,'' she said.

Some called the lab, with its eau-de-darkroom raffishness, home. ''I was around almost every day,'' said Carol Fonde, a photographer and printer. In the early 1990's, she began using Latent Image to make exhibition-quality prints of work by Richard Avedon, Bruce Davidson and Gilles Peress.

Professionals and amateurs alike once swarmed to the workshop, on the fourth floor of 135 West 26th Street. Open 11 hours a day every day, it rented 12 color and 11 black-and-white darkrooms for $10 to $11 per hour.

The staff customized the clients' setup of photographic chemicals (the pungent developer, stop bath and fixer) and offered darkrooms with enlargers, red safe-lights, timers, easels and work tables.

But the social interconnection meant as much as the service. ''It's a shame that the place is closing -- it had a good vibe,'' said Jim Megargee, a darkroom practitioner and teacher who was a personal printer for Annie Leibovitz.

Only four years ago, reservations had to be made days in advance, regulars said, and the staff seemed in perpetual motion. ''You could never get a table here, photographers were fighting for space,'' said Dominick Avellino, a freelance photographer, printer and designer.

Ed Young, who opened Latent Image in 1987 with David Wong, said that after Sept. 11, 2001, business declined as the economy did. ''Then that Christmas,'' he said, ''digital cameras were the No. 1 holiday gift.''

As more photographers bought into digital technology -- or were forced to adapt by their employers -- darkrooms began to go dark. ''Ultimately,'' Mr. Young said, ''we decided to close, rather than struggle through the summer.''

When she read the lab's recent Dear John letter to clients, ''I was shocked, very upset,'' Ms. Burstein said. ''I started crying, actually.''

Until the digital revolution, the alchemy of image-making required that art photographers invest hours in the lab as they orchestrated the full complement of tones, colors and visual elements animating each individual print. Making just one perfect print could, in fact, take a day.

''The chemicals make the average person sick, but photographers love the smell of them,'' Mr. Megargee said. ''They love the physicalness of touching the paper and handling the chemistry.''

The communal print-washing pans and the color-printing setup at Latent Image ''made it possible for you to see other people's work,'' Ms. Burstein said. ''You could be fabulously inspired by it, or feel jealous when someone else printed very beautifully.''

Sometimes perfectionist lab rats hung there from opening to closing time. Blinking in the light, photographers and printers bonded; networking flourished. Business cards were exchanged. Jobs were brokered. Girlfriends and boyfriends were acquired and reacquired.

And despite intense competitiveness in the profession, information and advice were freely shared. Ms. Fonde, who these days teaches at Parsons School of Design, conducted color-printing seminars for others at Latent Image.

''I was very confused when I started color printing, but Carol held my hand,'' said Ed Watkins, who specializes in photographing works of art for clients like the Knoedler & Company gallery and the Frick Museum. ''When Carol would say things like 'this is too cyan,' I could begin to get it,'' he said of a bluish hue.

Some competitors of Latent Image are suffering as well. Patricia O'Brien, president of Photographics Unlimited Dial-A-Darkroom Inc., said business ''has really tanked this year.''

''We'd been seeing the competition from digital for a while,'' she said, ''but at the first of this year, digital caused a major downturn.''

Gerard Franciosa, owner of My Own Color Lab, said that his company had kept customers by focusing on the quality and low cost of traditional chromogenic prints, or C-Prints, since high-quality digital prints are still very expensive.

Another competitor, the Creative Darkroom, has already added six digital workstations to its 17 conventional darkrooms. ''You can make digital a problem,'' said Beth Schiffer, the owner, ''or you can make it an opportunity.''

But Mr. Megargee argued that ''the overall quality of digital is inferior,'' adding:

''The tonal range and the resolution are not as fine as in traditional film. The silver emulsion gives a three-dimensional quality that digital cannot match.''

And Mr. Hutchinson noted that digital photography was still more expensive than conventional photography. ''But when the digital quality goes up and the price goes down,'' he said, ''that might be the end of conventional photography. We have five years left.''

The digital trend has affected other photographic businesses. Mr. Megargee said his 15-year-old, custom black-and-white film laboratory, MV Labs, which did not rent its facilities to others, had taken a digital hit, ''and in terms of dollars, it has cut in pretty heavily.''

Leonard Kamsler, a freelance photographer who shoots both digital and film images, said that ''the professional labs are dying off,'' adding: ''The smart ones have moved into digital services. Otherwise you're on the mule-drawn plow -- and everyone else is on the tractor.''

Many who have made the digital transition, like Mr. Kamsler, are happy to have stepped out of the darkroom. ''You can do a lot more with Photoshop than you can with a darkroom,'' said Mr. Kamsler, referring to a software program. ''But, of course, there are the diehards who are the equivalent of the high-fi enthusiasts who insist on vacuum tubes.''

Mr. Avellino is one of them. ''I am the kind of guy who, when I went to buy a saute pan and I could only find the nonstick coating, I was upset,'' he said. ''I shoot film.''

And looking forward, Mr. Megargee hopes that the darkroom will endure. ''Platinum printing is still around, despite the convenience of silver printing,'' he said. ''What we do in the lab here, in 15 years, may be a very specialized area, like platinum printing. But it will still be viable. I don't see the craft not being here.''

My father is the man

Picture scan of my pops pending


Here we go again. I've been shooting a lot of documentary like photos of my family, especially the work my father has put into building a deck in the backyard. It's coming along nicely, with the added aid of my cousin Junior. I on the other have just observed while I do my work via the wi-fi network I installed in my house.

All I know is when he puts his mind to it my father can get things done or fixed himself. Which at the same time means I am the same way, but approach things in a very different way. And so father's day is here (I'm writing this at 2 am Sunday morning) and I really hate these days dedicated to parents. I feel like I ma being forced to provide some acknowledgement for one day about how much I care for one parent.

in other realms of my life, Saturday I hung out with my parents, uncle/godfather, and his "friend". It's always intriguing to see my parents with my uncle who is their favorite sibling to be around and vice versa.

But for me to hang with them and him together was the first time in a long while for me. Like I know they know he is openly gay, and probably don't agree with it, but they still love him and "accept" him. It's all so interesting to me.

And this was my first time meeting this "friend" as I met an old one almost ten years ago when he surfaced back into our lives.

I dunno know, thinking to much

I miss Fall

no thinking too much about situations right? If u do, things will gnaw at u, like the rising credit balance while u wait it get ur check. Or the crossroads u reach while getting to know someone, which I think developing a friendship at the same is important for foundation reasons. I hope she doesn't run away on account of me trying to figure how to filter what comes out my mouth. *sigh*

last night somehow as I got out the subway fishing for my car keys, and I dropped em and frantically searched for them on the streets and finally found em. and no I was not drinking.

this month and a half feels like it's been longer.

scruffy no more

So I finally bought the trimmer for my beard and stuff. Now I can safely shave semi-regularly and not have a scruffy beard for weeks at a time. Which I usually pass off as just being a "I don't care"-type of creative individual. LOL. Heck I was paying $5-6 to get line-ups and shaves each time I went to the barber.

I woke up this morning no razor bumps, and almost clean shaven face. The T-Outliner seems to require more usage for me to shave off a lot of hair. But all in all worth the money.

And why Did Clinton

Why did Clinton commit adultery with White House intern Monica Lewinsky?

"For the worst possible reason," Clinton said. "Just because I could. I think that's just about the most morally indefensible reason anybody could have for doing anything." - he said on a 60 Minutes interview

this is classic, and one of the only Presidents who actually fessed up to their indiscretions, regardles of how many years have past, you gotta give it to him.

Liquor liquor liquor

One of my first photos

So I believe with three days of alcohol ingestion that I may need to take a sabbatical from it. This year has easily been a year of extensive periods of me having drinks at least once or twice a week. And on top of that "she's" been spoiling me. It's very hard to turn down open bars or someone buying you a drink.

With liquor in mind, this past Saturday and Sunday was spent in Brooklyn, First a housewarming I attended with kenji and our friend, then getting liquored up with Barbados rum at his crib. Promptly, we all fell out and stayed over. The next morning, it took me two "dumps," before and after we ate breakfast to feel normal again.

That same Sunday I got "her" to come over to where I was and we took the bus (I haven't been on one of those in months) to go see Supersize Me. Somehow, my usually little cute smart remarks were bothering her. Stuff was on her mind, I gathered and wish I could have picked her brain, but I figure if a person wants to divulge they will when they are ready. Can't force it.

and I am tired of being broke. I feel like especially with dating I am not contributing as much as I'd like to, to the cause. That was a mouthful.

But I digress this was supposed to be about liquor. Liquor, I may take a sabbatical from, this year alone has been quite an abundance of it in my life. From open bars to being bought drinks. I have yet to have a hardcore hangover and I don't plan on getting there.

a post taken down

I had posted this up maybe two weeks ago but took it down cause I was scared of what it meant or what other people might perceive it to be. And after the fact my fear and relunctance made someone really uncomfortable to be open and vulnerable about how they may feel about me.
So here it is




2002 baby

And on that note...
I like sending her little cute text messages back and forth

being alerted that she logged on by Aduim

I like being free and goofy around her

and even being sappy

I like hearing her voice

But

I'd liked to feel comfortable enough to bother her when I want to talk to her instead of me sort of waiting on her like I seem to be doing in the guise of making sure space is allotted.

and most of all I hope to not scare her away

Fear rears its ugly head

The whole Che Grand Series


So My friend Kim finally gave birth to a daughter not a son. So I can give her the gift a bought long ago, which was really meant for a girl.

Summer is almost here and I am dreading it again. For its humid sweat-inducing, dragging days, and uncomfortable nights. And at times kind of depresses me. My summer for the past few years have been fun with all the things going on despite being broke at times. So that's not it. But it feels so long. But I hope this summer will include "someone". It would be nice to hit up summerstage with her. Mental note: positive thoughts, positive thoughts.

But I believe with summer comes fear for me. While everyone is cheerful of the hot freaking weather, and all the free social events. It freaks me out a bit. Something about the heat feels dismal to me. Or maybe it's the fact that feel I should be traveling during this time. But where I want to go is not feasible at the moment. But we'll see. And I am still in fear not of my feelings, or necessarily attachment, but fear of my knack for self-sabotage of aspects of my personal life and profession life. Like I keep second guessing my self and thinking too much into things.

Last night, I attended a day-long taping of a live roots DVD concert. Drank a lot, stood a lot on my feet. Got to see Mobb Deep, Jean Grae, Skillz, Young Gunz, and the Roots perform live. The Roost are a great backing band as while as a group.

I am proud to have put up a website to help connect my family on my father's side for a possible reunion. A lot of cousins from Miami have been really proactive in getting the word out so I'm happy.


Sometimes I wish I didn't have the urge to keep such a candid weblog on my website.

It's been a few days

Since my last post.

My mother made another rastafarian comment because I decided to tie my locs today. Of course her generalizations were off base. No not all Jamaicans are rastafarians who loc their hair (though 60% of the population is said to be). Heck they can be as conservative as Haitians, at least the older generations.

A summary of the religion/lifestyle here.

what isn't a surprise though is my broke status. I won't start working my concave job (which will pay my tuition and provide some income) till the fall and Complex pays me when I am done with the issue -- which means not till maybe the veryy end of June/beginning of July.

But bless Imani for reffering me for a part time factchecking gig at Essence, which would be great especially since they pay on a more regular bases, and I could work it in with my Complex schedule.

From my Che Grand photo shoot

Hell is other people.
- Jean-Paul Sartre (existentialist philosopher)
Thanks for the quote Mareva

This fits perfectly into how i feel yesterday, Friday. Perhaps that's what my parents always meant about how the "world" will treat you once you enter. Peopel veer towards their darker sides more often than their compassionate sides. Quick to anger and jumping into conclusions.


I am not perfect but i sure as hell acknowledge my faults but they hinder more on speaking and not always thinking before i say them.

and if certain folks believe i'm all about their live and what goes on in it is seriosuly mistaken. i only observe those whose lives would inspire my writing not depress me.

Gary gets married

So this past memorial day, My cousin Gary got married and got stuck being part of the bridal party. And once again I froze going down the aisle during the processional. I can't function very well when so many eyes are on me. But it was nice event with the ceremony and cocktail hour happening outdoors. And actual peacocks lingering about.

I need to say though the Lutheran pastor who proceeded over the marriage was quite an interesting dude, proned to these corny yet somehow funny little jokes. Some he made at the wedding.

Gary is like the only brother figure I had growing up as an only child. As I reflect on things, we have always had a semi close relationship, being the same age, and living close to each other -- well Brooklyn and Queens is close enough.

But it was good to see my Florida cousins who I hadn't seen for some like almost 20 years, while others for the first time in my life, and my Aunt. It felt like all the Louissaint family was there, even though I was reminded that there is lots more.