Shouts to Ritchcraft

There are so many spiritual ways to watch this classic video.

1. We’re like the kid on the right and Jesus is the seat belt.
2. When life throws us a curve ball the devil is sitting right next to us laughing his head off.
3. Some things that look fun in the beginning, quickly unravel.
4. You can never buckle in too tight.

**or my favorite**

5. I’m happy being the laugher or the faller, as long as it’s God’s ride that I’m on.

He knows the plans He has for you ~ even when it seems like you’re going to plummet to your death! Hold on tight and enjoy the ride!

GP

*Originally posted on ABC15.com*

First let’s look at the factors that will greatly impact Phoenix real estate next year:

1) National Government Intervention: The extended tax credit for contracts signed before 4/30/10, which now includes a move up buyer provision with higher income levels, will definitely have a positive effect on our market for the first 2 quarters next year.

2) Low Mortgage Interest Rates: Anything below 6% will allow for a steady market recovery.

3) Lender Owned Properties (REO’s): The percent of REO’s will continue to decline from the 65% of all closings’ peak in May of 2009, but will be replaced by Short Sales.  REO’s will account for approx 55% of all closings in 2009.  I expect the percent of REO’s sales to decrease to under 40% for 2010.

4) Short Sale Properties (SS): SS’s started 2009 at about 5 or 6% of all closings and has risen to 15% YTD.  SS’s will at least double that number for 2010.

5) New Home Construction: New home sales should increase from 2009 levels, not a lot but a start in the right direction.

So with these factors identified as having a significant impact on predictions for 2010, let’s examine where the Greater Phoenix Market is now and where it will be going in the next 12 months.

Number of Sales: We certainly won’t see the 50% increase in unit sales that we’ll end 2009 with (2008 had 60,000 closed sales-2009 will have about 90,000).  I think a 5-10% increase in sales is attainable, and that figure will be the 3^rd highest number of closings- all time for our market.

Prices: Prices get measured in a number of ways.  The most quoted measures are Median Price, Average Sales Price (ASP) and Price per square foot ($SF).  Let’s look at how these measures are stacking up for 2009.

a) The Median Price of homes sold will show a drop of 18% in 2009 to $130,000.  The flaw of this method of comparison-is that the lower priced homes, i.e. REO’s, overly influence the number.

b) The ASP should end the year at $172,000-down 17% for the year.  The weakness of the ASP measure is that it is overly impacted by high priced sales, i.e. the $3 million sale brings everyone’s ASP up.

c) The $SF should end the year at $90 a square foot, which is down 14% in the last 12 months.  This measure is the least susceptible to low and high sale price fluctuations.

All of these price measures are showing improvement for the past 6 months, which I believe will continue.  Expect the annual comparison numbers to show a year over year improvement (appreciation) by April of 2010.  The tricky part is attaching a number to that improvement.  I think 10% is reasonable, as we have already improved 10% from the bottom earlier this year.  Based on the percent of SS’s and REO’s still in the market, I wouldn’t expect any additional run up in prices.   Both the SS and REO sales prices are usually viewed as ‘rock bottom’ since the lender wants to sell not hold and has no emotional or sentimental attachment to the property.  It’s an asset not a home to a lender, and a Toxic or troubled asset at that.

Let’s discuss other characteristics of our 2010 market.  Again as we’ve experienced in 2009, we will see a ‘Tale of 2 Cities’ or markets.  Our 2009 market has seen dramatic improvement initially in the less than $250,000 price range and is gradually improving to the less than $500,000 market.  The +$600,000 price range has not completely adjusted to the impact of SS’s and REO’s (bank competition) and the prices are still coming down as the number of sales continue to lag in these price ranges.  At this time the +$600,000 market still has over a 1 year supply of active listings, which according to supply and demand 101 principles-is a buyer’s market with downward pressure on the prices.  As a contrast, the supply of active listings less than $150,000 has only a 3-month supply, which is a seller’s market and the buyers in this price range are seeing prices rise.

So let me summarize my predictions for 2010; we will see a market that performs a lot like 2009 especially the second half of 2009, in terms of number of sales and price improvements.  We will see a majority of sales still in the distress category-SS and REO, with an increasing number and percentage of normal sales (owner occupied).  Luxury properties will still have downward price pressure as too many sellers compete with lenders for too few buyers in this price range.

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge The Cromford Report as a major source of my analysis of the market and the statistics that I referenced.  The numbers quoted are taken from the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS).

Jim Sexton, Designated Broker John Hall & Associates

In the fall of 1984, not long after starting work at Hughes Aircraft in LA (my first job out of college), my good friend Mark called from Phoenix and asked if I would be up for hiking the Grand Canyon, and I immediately said, “Yes!”  We chose to make a two-day hike over Thanksgiving holiday weekend (some of us didn’t have vacation days built up yet).

Bright and early the day before Thanksgiving, five of us left Phoenix and reached the South Kaibab trailhead, where a light snowfall had fallen overnight.  Mark made sure we were well supplied, and we started off on the first day of our hike.

(from Google Earth: south is at the top)  the two day hike began at [S] South Kaibab trailhead to [C] Colorado River, then up to [I] Indian Garden campgrounds, and ended at [B] Bright Angel trailhead

The South Kaibab is steep compared to other Grand Canyon trails.  It’s interesting in that after negotiating a goodly drop, the trail levels off along O’Neill Butte for quite a while, and then you find yourself over another edge with another severe drop to contend with, only to be repeated again at “The Tipoff”.  All the while, the trail is tantalizingly visible as a narrow ribbon in places below.

This part of the adventure started with a combination of switchbacks where we learned to carefully share the trail with the mule-mounted “hikers”.  And what beautiful vistas!  The day was crisp and clear, and warmed up nicely the farther down we got.

looking down from a seat on the edge of the South Kaibab Trail

We were sure to take several rest stops as needed, shifted our packs, and stayed hydrated and checked for any developing blisters that needed preventative moleskin pads applied to them.

South Kaibab Trail vista, near Yaki Point

We began to eventually see the river below, and eventually we reached the bridge to Phantom Ranch.  From now on, we are fighting gravity and heading back upwards.

an early glimpse of the Colorado River from ”The Tipoff”

As we climbed towards Indian Garden campgrounds, our overnight location, the day’s efforts were beginning to take a toll on Gail, and we had to rest more frequently.  As the afternoon wore on, we decided that Kendall and I would go on ahead and determine how much farther along we needed to go.  Darkness was falling, and our flashlight had a bad connection, so much of the trail for the two of us was following a gray ribbon in front and hoping that the occasional water we’d step in was a small puddle and not a little stream.

While our attention had been drawn to the lights at the top of South Rim, Indian Garden snuck up on us before we knew it.  Dark, and now with a light rain falling, we threw our tents up and fell asleep without even bothering with eating a supper.  We had covered around eleven miles this day.

starting out in the morning from Indian Garden campgrounds, our overnight location

Indian Garden is a relatively flat location on the trail where a copse of trees grow near a small stream.  As we ate a hearty breakfast and took inventory, we found we were stiff but none too worse for wear, so we packed up and began Day Two of the journey.

This day wasn’t the sunny hike we had the day before; low clouds and an intermittent drizzle was turning the trail into a orange clay muck.  No chance of overheating, at least.

the view behind us of the Bright Angel Trail

The Bright Angel Trail differed from the South Kaibab in that it isn’t as steep, but it turns into an almost a constant series of switchbacks.  Compared to the previous day’s vista stretching down below, today’s climb was an unending death march to the rim above.  When we finally reached South Rim, we were more than ready to be done.  All told, we had put in about 17 miles in the two days.

We climbed back into the car and drove to Flagstaff, where we stopped at a Denny’s for a Thanksgiving turkey dinner.  We shuffled/lumbered into the place like we had all just given birth, and while we were pleased with our accomplishment, we were anxious to get home to a real bed again.  I really wish I had more than my trusty little 110mm pocket camera to record the trip, but you can find great photos throught the web if you want to see the Grand Canyon in better detail.

Wanneer Mayhem geen hotelkamer afbreekt, doet Esmee Denters het wel. De 21/13-jarige zangeres is dinsdagochtend haar hotelkamer uitgezet omdat ze aan het zingen was. Geluidsoverlast dus. Verder heeft David Beckham astma, uberstylist/volidioot Bastiaan van Schaik brengt een kookboek voor topmodellen op de markt, AZ loopt zijn zege mis, de chihuahua van Jan Smit heeft het loodje gelegd én als kers op de slagroom: Robbie Williams is niet verloofd. Zo, nu je het belangrijkste nieuws weet, is het tijd voor het onbelangrijke.

Groot feest in de Rai afgelopen maandag. Ruim 64.000 mensen zouden daar worden geprikt tegen de Mexicaanse griep. De werkelijke opkomst lag tussen de 60 en 80 procent. Huilende kindertjes werden getroost met ballonnen en zingende entertainers. Men moet toch wat. Nederland is in de ban van het H1N1virus, terwijl Mexico inmiddels geteisterd wordt door het dengue-virus. Dit potentieel dodelijke virus is een tropische ziekte die in tijden al niet meer zo heeft toegeslagen als nu. Gelukkig kunnen we ons in Nederland ook over heel onbenullige dingen zorgen maken. Zo werd er een artikel gewijd aan het feit dat het maandag een onstuimige dag was. Ah, dat hadden we zelf nog niet gemerkt.

Als je dacht dat Gooische Vrouwen alleen een fictieve serie was, heb je het toch mooi mis. Een man uit Laren, niet Berend Botje, die ging naar Zuidlaren, leverde een 41-jarige plaatsgenote af bij het politiebureau in het pittoreske Huizen. Op zich is dat natuurlijk niet heel bijzonder, maar het feit dat zij in een kofferbak zat, leek deze situatie toch een beetje verdacht. Gelukkig was zij niet een lijk dat gedumpt werd in de vuilnisbak, zoals een de 30-jarige koerier uit Leidschendam deed met zijn post. Maar goed, liever een ritje in de kofferbak dan 23 jaar in coma, niet? Rom Houben lag 23 jaar in coma. Door zijn verlamde status kon de inmiddels 46-jarige Belg niet duidelijk maken dat hij al die tijd gewoon bij kennis was.

’s Werelds grootste deeltjesversneller is weer een feit. Na de mislukte start in september vorig jaar werd het experiment vorige week opnieuw gestart. Het project is wat omstreden, omdat er zwarte gaten zou kunnen ontstaan waardoor de wereld er in zou verdwijnen. Nou ja, dan weten we meteen allemaal wat er in zo’n zwart gat zit. Het CERN ontkent overigens dat dit kan gebeuren. Mocht dit wel gebeuren, dan zitten we ook niet meer met het probleem dat de D66 provincies wil opheffen. De provincies hebben volgens de partij geen overheidslaag. Fractievoorzitter Pechtold denkt aan het vierendelen van Nederland.

Jongeren komen tot 2014 moeilijk aan een baan. De verslechterde arbeidskansen blijven nog even aanhouden, dus. Niet alleen jongeren. Ook bonden en werkgevers van ProRail protesteerden ongeveer tweehonderd baanmedewerkers met de leus ‘Klerk, wij willen werk.’ En bijna nog meer werkloosheid. Even leek het College te Nijmegen te wankelen. Uiteindelijk heeft het College besloten demissionair verder te gaan.

Als laatste kan ik jullie vertellen dat er eindelijk gerechtigheid is. Ik doel niet op Esmee Denters die eindelijk is beschuldigd van geluidsoverlast, maar op een reclame die is beschuldigd van geluidsoverlast. De reden dat ik iedere ochtend chagrijnig wakker werd is dit. En nu is er dus eindelijk gerechtigheid.

Oklahoma DPS Desperately Seeking Automated Enforcement

People in AZ have a remedy;

We had a great meeting yesterday with part of the plant team. (If you’d like to hear the audio from this mtg. and/or be put on the email list, please email me at gphintz@hotmail.com and I’ll add you) It’s been nice to get together, spend time in prayer and really begin to hear each other’s desire for The Place. Most of it is rooted in the desire to touch people’s lives and to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Being a man of action, this sounds like a great plan for me!

One plan that we have is to do a “December Church Sweep”. This means that we will pick a new church that no one’s ever been to before and go to it as a ‘church plant team’. Our goals are simple:

1. Enjoy a church service with one another

2. Gather some new ideas

3. Access the good points (and not so good) that we see being done in other churches [our goal is not to go with a judgmental spirit, but the heart of a scientist ~ taking a good, hard look at things]

We’ve also tried to pick a good variety of churches. Some have only been around a year or two while some are very healthy and successful churches. For a complete list of churches on the dates that we’ll be attending them, see our calendar at www.theplaceaz.com/calendar. We may be adding a couple more churches, but as of today here are the websites of the churches that we’ll be visiting…

Dec. 6 = www.crosspointchristian.org

Dec. 20 = www.exploreridgeline.com

Dec. 24 = www.yourhorizon.org

Dec. 27 = www.lifeisajourney.org

If you’re interested in coming with us, we’d love to have you. The times are all listed on the calendar. Please feel free to check it out and contact me at 928-671-0342. Looking forward from hearing from you and walking this journey together!

GP

I had the first three-leg flight I’ve had in a while on 20 Nov. I went SAN-LAX-DFW-OKC. The highlight was the first flight I’ve ever had along the SoCal coast SAN-LAX (I was in a RJ-45 with a total of four other pax). I saw a couple cool things and got some photos.

After we launched, we made a hard right turn, and I saw the La Jolla/Torry Pines area. I’ve been hiking at Torry Pines State Park, and stood outside the fence of the famous golf course. Too bad the low clouds were there.

La Jolla

I saw TWO observatories; first, the Palomar Mountain Observatory. Then, we made the turn into LA and I saw Mount Wilson and the Observatory in the distance, and above the crud. In both cases, the dome is visible as a small white dot on a ridge (you might have to look at the full-resolution version by clicking the thumbnail).

Mount Palomar

Mount Wilson

There was a tremendous amount of crud in the air over the LA basin.

After we launched out of LAX, we looped around the harbor and Long Beach area and headed east, om the southern routing into DFW. We overflew what looks like a pretty obvious eroding volcano with an alluvial fan around it. This is Arizona’s Picaho Peak State Park, north of Tuscon off of I-10.

Picacho Peak and State Park, AZ

Just a little farther, I looked down and saw several ENORMOUS piles of dirt that were obviously human-made. A bit of research o-line lead to the discovery that this was the remains of the Magma Copper Company, at San Manuel, AZ, which included a couple copper smelters. This place was the largest producer of copper until the late 90’s when it was shut down. It was an underground mine (as opposed to open pit mines where they just dig down). An Australian company bought it in 1996 for a couple $B, then shut it down in 1999. They did no preservation or anything, but let the mine fill with water. They then spent something like $120M to close the place down, including blowing down the smelter smokestacks.

Those enormous piles are in fact tailings. If you look at a topo of the area, the tailings piles are more than a mile long, and 300+ft thick at the eastern ends. That’s a hell of a lot of dirt/debris.

There is a blog about this town and the mine at:

http://theclosetentrepreneur.com/remembering-my-hometown-of-san-manuel-arizona

Quite a bit further on, in south central NM, we flew past what I believe is a high altitude research balloon. I could resolve the upside-down teardrop shape of the balloon by eye, but the camera sees a dot.

The last thing I saw on the ground was this large semi-circle. Turns out it is a firing range at Fort Bliss, in this case in NM (Fort Bliss starts down in El Paso, TX, and runs up to the southern edge of White Sands).

Finally, I caught the day/night terminator, twilight, and sunset colors along with a quarter Moon.

Nice trip, I don’t get to fly 767’s very often. They are a nice ride.

These pictures were taken in Cloudbreak, Arizona. This snake was attempting to eat a Sand Monitor Lizard. Just amazing!!! Thanks Caroline for the info!

My brother in law (he knows snakes) from the Jacksonville Zoo says this is a Blackheaded Python from Australia – I’m not sure where this picture was taken but its still amazing.

AZ ft. Miss Jones – Sugar Hill

Man!  I miss the 90’s!  So much dope hip hop came out back then!

Here is an article about my friends, Rich and Trina Johnson, and a wonderful work that they did in their city ~ Amherst, Ohio. They wanted to share the generosity and love of Jesus in a practical way and gave away over 100 turkeys. It is so nice to see people to look outside of the box (and the four walls of the church) and venture out into some uncharted territories. If you’d like to read the entire article, click here

On behalf of my entire family, have a wonderful Thanksgiving and please remember today that you are loved. God loves you so very much. Even when it’s hard to feel from other people, His love is always present and pure!

Happy Turkey Day!
GP

While traditional hospitals seem to slow down around the holiday season, this year they are moving full steam ahead.  There are new jobs opening and interviews taking place while we’re eating our turkey.  If you’re on vacation for the holiday, don’t forget to have your phone with you so that you don’t miss any new travel nurse positions that might be just right for what you’re looking for.  Also, as we talked about last week, you don’t want to miss that phone call from the nurse manager!

This Week’s New Positions Include:

ICU in Fort Worth, TX

Peds in Miami, FL

ER in Wynnewood, PA

ICU in Gainesville, FL

L&D in Orangeburg, SC

PICU in Mesa, AZ

MS/Tele in Conroe, TX

L&D in Modesto, CA

ER in Chinle, AZ

ICU in Sebring, FL

MS in Billings, MT

NP in Columbia, SC

ER in Tampa, FL

ICU in Grants, NM

OR in Ketchikan, AK

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and as one of the most anticipated holidays of the year, people don’t usually think of their dentist. (No matter how many foods Thanksgiving is associated with.)

We want to emphasize which foods are not only delicious but also nutritious and great for your teeth. The traditional foods at Thanksgiving can help prevent tooth decay and gum disease and hence lead to good dental health.

Let’s take a look at some foods which are great for your oral health.

- Fruit Salads: Fresh fruits have always been good for dental health as they promote saliva secretion which washes away food debris in the mouth as well as decreases acid production in the mouth.
- Carrots and Celery: Carrots and Celery are vegetables which are rich in fiber. Besides being great for your stomach, fiber stimulates your gums, which is good for your dental health.
- Sweet Potatoes or Mashed Potatoes: Potatoes are richly nutritious with a proper balance of vitamins and nutrients appropriate for oral health. They are loaded with carbs and proteins and rich in vitamin B and C. Potatoes do not stick on the teeth unlike other starchy foods which serve as haven for oral bacteria.
- Cranberries: Recent research indicates that cranberries hinder the oral bacteria from sticking to the teeth and forming dental plaque.
- Turkey: It is considered to help in remineralization of the enamel whose minerals are damaged by acid produced by bacteria.
- Greens and Winter Vegetables: Most Veggies are just great for health. They are a great source of vitamins and minerals such as vitamin A, vitamin C, flavanoids and coenzyme Q10.These prevent the gums against damage and promote its healing.
- Pumpkin Pie: Pumpkin pies are also a good source of beta carotene, potassium, vitamin C and calcium.

We hope your holiday is a great one and that you keep us in mind for any of your oral health needs!

http://www.dentalcarebydesign.net/

The Pac-10 is far from my favorite topic in college football. I hate USC, have no feelings toward most of its teams and the only team I follow in-depth regardless of how it is doing is Oregon. However, they are giving me things to talk about so I will not deny them. To be honest, it was a very boring week east of Arizona this week. The SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, and MWC are all wrapped up with the Big East’s deciding game upcoming. Those are all the BCS conferences and the MWC for all of you counting. All that remains is the Pac-10 so I have no choice but to discuss them.

Arizona Iced D

There is no D in the logo, so why would there be on the field?

The Arizona Wildcats choked to great effect Saturday night and essentially decimated their chances for a potential matchup with Ohio State. Granted, they have games with rival ASU and a road game at USC remaining, but a win over Oregon would have been such a confidence boost that it would be plausible. Instead, Oregon now only has the Civil War to worry about after Stanford’s loss to Cal. Expect a Duck-Buckeye matchup in Pasadena because the Wildcats would have it no other way. If you give up a TD with under two minutes and the whole field to drive, then you do not deserve a BCS bowl. Sorry, Tucson.

On the other hand, Oregon is easily the team I would most want to watch in Pasadena. You never know what they will wear and you can expect exciting football every time they take the field. I just like to watch them. Ohio State might enjoy watching them a bit less, but it should be a very good matchup. Please keep in mind that Oregon State is no pushover and could very well beat the Ducks, but the Ducks are the clear favorite in the game. I am about Pac-10′d out so let’s look at the BCS picture after Ole Miss’ upset of LSU.

BCS Picture

To see a full picture, refer to THIS PAGE. LSU’s loss opens the door for someone like Iowa to peek into the BCS picture. I am not sure if this is for the best, but I did not really want to see LSU in it anyway. I do not know who the 10th BCS bowl team will be, but we will see after the next few weeks play out. When you have Florida playing FIU and Alabama playing Chattanooga, you cannot blame me for not finding intrigue. That is about all I got for the week, but you know I wouldn’t forget about the Clowns.

CLOWN OF THE WEEK: Chad OchoCinco, Frankly, you could put him here most weeks, but I thought this deserved some pub. Chad took two guys in Pittsburgh to the mall on a shopping spree for driving him there. This all stemmed from a Twitter contest that the two guys won. Very clownish, but actually kind of cool.

KEEP AN EYE ON: Cincinnati-Pittsburgh this upcoming weekend. A BCS bid is up for grabs and Big East supremacy is on the line. Should be a great game.

EPROM @ The Rogue Bar, November 27th.
423 N. Scottsdale Rd., Tempe, AZ

What’s this you say? Need something to do after Thanksgiving to dance off those extra pounds from family feasting? Well, why not head over to the EPROM show on the Friday after. As far as I can recall, this bassline assassin has yet to make his way to our beloved state, so why don’t you come on out and get down to the glitchy beats, lazer bass and digital mayhem? It will be guaranteed to get your ass shaking in this wonderfully intimate club located in Tempe.

Unfamiliar with EPROM? Have no fear, check out his myspace and educate yourself.

Local support by Living Human Beings Plus Special Guest Issa

Event located at The Rogue Bar – 423 N Scottsdale Rd – Scottsdale – AZ – 85257

Scottsdale is a beautiful place full of natural beauty and enchanting landscapes present in Arizona. It is located at northeast region of the rapidly growing Phoenix metropolitan area. Scottsdale is just like heaven for golf lovers since it contains innumerable evergreen golf courses. You can enjoy golf with enchanting background of beautiful mountain views of McDowell and Camelback Mountains. You can find many great housing options in Scottsdale Country Club Homes for Sale surrounding these lust green golf grounds and beautiful greenery formed of tall trees like pine, eucalyptus and cottonwood. Scottsdale contains all modern urban facilities like great shopping areas, good hotels and food joints, libraries, museums and art galleries, sports grounds and many other forms of outdoor recreation. Hence more and more people are looking Scottsdale as an interesting investing option. As a result Scottsdale, AZ Real Estate is also in great demand.

Hard to believe its been almost a month since I’ve been here. Some of you have asked about the Ghost Adventures thing.  It was interesting. I got to see Dean Haglund for a few minutes.  I wasn’t overwhelmed. I’m not saying TALA doesn’t have supernatural activity, but I will say that any experiences I’ve had have been spontaneous, not contrived and I certainly don’t go around saying, “Come ghost! Come and get me!” Blargh.

However, I did take one picture that turned out fairly well. They had the front of TALA lit up and it created a really evil shadow behind it, which was impossible to catch with my dinky camera. However, I do like the one pic that did turn out.

I’ll drift backwards a bit more and tell you about our trip to Coalwood for the October Sky Festival. We had a really good time and it was much, much larger than the first time we went… and much warmer.

Here’s Nate with Homer:

And Nate with Natalie Cannerday, who played Elsie Hickham in “October Sky.” She was a real hoot and Nate thought she was the shizznat.

I also took this picture of a police officer from a neighboring town called Keystone (and eavesdropped on his conversation with DJs from WELC). Yes, he’s a Keystone Kop and in reference to the 1960’s comedy, “Car 54, Where Are You?” that somewhat parodied the original Keystone Kops, his dispatch number was 54. He said it was a humbling experience.

Here are the Rocket Boys:

Jimmy (O’Dell) Carroll, Homer Hickam, Roy Lee Cooke, Billy Rose, and some dude. I don’t know who he is. I’ll have to send the picture to Roy Lee and find out. Roy Lee lives across the hill from me and we’ve struck up a friendship. We had a beer a week or so ago and he signed Nate’s “Rocket Boys” book and then asked if Nate wanted him to sign for the rest of the guys too, even Sherman (who is dead). LOL! He’s a hoot!

A pic of the old Coalwood Elementary (facade), seriously, nothing left behind this structure but a few crumbling piles of bricks and a few other pics of our trip, including part of  a coal tipple.

Then there was my sorta class reunion. We didn’t have time for a full-fledged class reunion so the ones that could got together and went to a football game and dinner. I made it to dinner.

 These are my friends Mark and Millie. Mark was my first “boyfriend”… in Kindergarten and Millie and I were tight in Junior High and High School. We had a really good time.

And this is part of where I go walking in the mornings:

But, shall I get to the real reason I’m here. A month or so ago, I had talked to AZ and he had mentioned having lunch with me on a day off. He didn’t call me, which I had expected, and I had forgot about it until I had a day off during the week. I thought, “Hell, we’ll see if he can put his money where his mouth is.” I texted him and didn’t hear from him until around 11. We met later at a local fast food place and had some lunch and I filled him in on the situation with Jeff and Nate and how work was and we chit-chatted about things, including one of his rental properties that he was currently working on because it had been trashed.

I went over with him and met one of his tenants who was helping him. I went back home and returned with the wedding gift I had made, two years late, but better late than never. He put it up in the cabinet of the rental and my best guess is it is either still there or he took it to his office. I doubt seriously his wife will ever see it. It was nice to just hang out with him and talk.

Two weeks later, or about a week ago, I texted him about a local station that suddenly went to a Christmas format, to see if he knew what the deal was. He called me and said they were as much in the dark as anyone and again invited me to lunch. I told him I would text him. So, I did. Again, we met at a local restaurant (he works in the city that we live in) and this time lunch lasted for two hours.

I told him of the recent troubles I’d had at work and gave him some of my new fiction. He told me he was unhappy in his marriage, that the last two years were nothing like he had expected, somedays he felt like he was taking care of a 16 year-old daughter instead of having a wife, unhappy at his job, and he was depressed and generally unhappy.  Of course there were examples and explanations to go along with that.  After a few “You gotta fucking kidding me’s” – eyerolls – and other annoyed noises from me, we said, “See ya later.”  

He had to know that was going to roll around in my head for a while and I wasn’t going to let it lie. I got up the next morning and wrote him an e-mail. I basically told him, in a nutshell, what I’ve said on this blog since December of 2007, and more since September of 2008. I told him why I had dropped out of his life, how much it hurt when he got married and how much I felt as though I had lost my best friend and I was pretty pissed with the fact it hadn’t seemed to help his situation and really, that neither of them was helping the situation either. What a waste.

I also told him it was up to him as what to do with this life and to either get help or not for his depression and what to do about his marriage. I didn’t have a dog in that fight. I’d be there to listen but that was it. It was hard for me to admit, mainly to myself,  how much I’ve really missed him. Not the bullshit, just him.

He took it well. He almost seemed happy. One bizarre note: After lunch, while we were talking, I noticed something very strange about his eyes. I said, “AZ, why are your eyes green?”  He said, “They do that sometimes.”

“No, they don’t. I’ve known you for almost 18 years and I’d swear on a stack of bibles that your eyes are brown, have been brown, and have never been a shade of green, which, by the way, is creepy and almost frightening.”

“I know what my driver’s license says, but sometimes they get this way.”

“Its creepy.”

AZ wasn’ t the only one to feel the sting of my honest observations and how it relates to MY mental health. I also wrote to Troy and told him I would not be meeting him in VA for my birthday because I’m done with making up for where other people make mistakes and are not happy with their decisions. Its not my fault he married an alcoholic and not my fault he stays married to her and there’s nothing I can do about that except be his friend and listen. But, that’s all I was going to be.  Not his fuck buddy or the person he wants to be with while she’s in Australia.

Whether it was him or AZ or any of the other married, engaged, committed in some way, men that I’ve been messing with over the course of my life. I’m done being a side-dish. Your life will never change if you continue to do the same things and hope for a different outcome, that equals insanity. I want so much more and deserve to be so much more. I can’t bitch to them about having the courage to change their lives if I’m consistently falling back into my old patterns and being unhappy.

They both took this well and appear to understand and respect the boundaries I’ve placed on our friendships. It wouldn’t matter if they took it well or not, that’s just a bonus, because it didn’t matter whether they like it or not, that’s the way it was going to be, with or without them.

And me, I’m much more at peace. I’ll not say I’m happier, I’ll say I’m glad I was honest and that they know how I feel. It lifted burdens I’ve been carrying around for a long time and without those burdens its much easier to let the happiness I have inside come out. I feel stronger and much more badass than I have in a long time. Not badass as in bitchy, but badass as in, I rock!!!

I told T-Bird that not only is it the anniversary of my birth but also my new year. So, Happy New Year to me!!!