Trying to Enjoy the Water

I'll be honest; I am not a big fan of water. Never have been and probably never will. Even when I was little, I had no desire to learn how to swim, even though practically everyone else I knew was swimming and having the time of their lives. I guess I could never get over my fear of drowning. To me (and I am sure many people will agree with me), drowning and being burned to death are two of the worst ways to die. We went to the Wisconsin Dells water park when I was around eight years old and remember going into the wave pool and being sucked under a wave. It caught me off guard and freaked me out pretty badly. A few years later, I went into a deep area of the lake at my uncle's camp and started panicing; thrashing around in the water trying to stay afloat. Luckily a cousin pulled me into a shallow area. Needless to say, I've had scary moments with water that I will probably never get over. Most of the time on a hot day, people will head to the beach. I'd rather head into a place with air conditioning.

Visiting my uncle's camp and spending time with my cousins was probably one of the best moments I remember in the summer time when I was little. But I must admit, I'd always get annoyed at their persistence in getting me to learn how to water ski. For many summers, I'd always put it off, coming up with some sort of an excuse. Finally, when they had other people trying to learn how to water ski, I succumbed to their pressure. I gave it the old college try and struck out on my first adventure. And wouldn't you know, that was my only attempt since. I ended up losing my balance and diving face first into the water. I remember dropping down into the water and eventually bobbing up to the surface. It was the weirdest feeling and it pretty much freaked me out. There were many times when I'd ride in the back of the boat and watched my cousins on water skis and was awed at their talents. And it wasn't just skis, but wake boards as well. But I was never envious at what they were able to do behind that boat. It simply did not interest me in learning how to water ski. And the thought of suddenly losing my balance and falling out in the middle of the lake where the water is 50 or more feet deep was not too pleasant of a thought, either.

I never really got a big kick out of riding Sea Doos, either. I really don't understand the fascination behind them. This was another water toy that my uncle owned. I took a few rides with my cousin on a Sea Doo and ended up flipping the thing - not once, but twice. And even though in all of these experiences I had life jackets on, it was still not good enough for me. Just the thought of going overboard and dropping into the water was enough to scare the living daylights out of me. An enjoyable day at the lake for me is to simply wade in a shallow end of the lake, maybe ride an innertube, and just relax. I'm not into the watercraft, high-speed fun. What can I say, I'm kind of boring when it comes to that stuff.

And even though I have a fear of the water (yes, I have come to this conclusion some time ago), I still enjoy heading out to the beach every once in awhile to cool off. It's been incredibly hot the past few days and the thought of taking a dip in Lake Superior seems so refreshing this evening. I think that's where I am going to head right now.

A Life Lost

I was half asleep; in the beginning stages of my afternoon nap, when my dad walks into my room and hands me today's paper. I was thinking to myself, "what now?" But when I read the headline and the first sentence of the story, I immediately got up. A co-worker of mine had gone missing. He was last seen on Wednesday afternoon and hadn't been discovered as of Friday morning. He is on the same crew as I and although he has been with us for a relatively short time, I got to know him pretty well. He was always willing to help out, even if he didn't know certain areas of the plant. He, I, and the rest of our crew got off of midnight shift Wednesday morning. Sometime that afternoon, he went on a motorcycle ride and never came back.

How could you not think of the worst when someone goes missing? Certainly it was in the back of my mind, but I was more confident that he had gotten lost and perhaps his motorcycle broke down. It happens, especially in the thick forests of the Upper Peninsula. I expected him to be alive. I waited to watch the local news at 6:00 that evening to see if there were any updates. When the story came up, my heart sank...

"The search for a missing Ishpeming township man has ended after his body is found," the story started. I knew right then it wasn't good. Details on the accident are still under investigation, but it appears he failed to turn with a curve in the road he was driving on and went down an 80 foot embankment. He was found in a heavily wooded area where it was difficult to find him until today. Needless to say, I was shocked by the news. It's never something you expect to hear. It took my awhile for the news to register, but eventually did. Then I realized I would never see him at work again.

He was a heck of a nice guy, always friendly and helped out wherever he was needed. He was a stand-up person, not afraid to learn or to get dirty. One of the last things he and I talked about before our long weekend started was his plans to paint his house this weekend. He had actually planned to go camping down near Wisconsin Dells but changed his plans because he needed to get his house painted. We had discussed that Thursday was going to be a perfect day for it - since it was going to be in the 60's and the paint wouldn't dry as fast. He even talked about an accident his wife had been in previously and how angry at the treatment she received by the city's police department. Fate would have it that he would get into his own accident the next day.

So I am not in the best of moods considering the news of the past day. He is an individual that will be missed and hard to replace. It just goes to show you that life can be way too short. You just never know when it'll be your time to go.

Songs I Dig - 1

There are certain songs on the radio that are pretty enjoyable right now, which is why I thought I'd start a new monthly feature on my blog highlighting some of those songs that I like. So here are some of them!

Avril Lavigne: "I Miss You" - Did I ever mention how big of a fan I am of Avril Lavigne? She's an incredible singer and nine times out of ten, her songs end up being hits. Her latest, "I Miss You" started airing around here for a week or two, but it's quickly becoming one of my favorites. It has a soft, sweet sound and such a profound message. This one is clearly different sounding than her last, that being "Girlfriend." That one was completely the opposite in that it was uptempo and satrical. "I Miss You" is definitely more serious, but still a very good song.

Collective Soul: "Hollywood" - I love the opening guitar riff of this song, which was probably why I became hooked with it right away. Collective Soul has been around for awhile and one of their earlier songs, "The World I Know" is one of my all-time favorites from them. It's good to see them back on the adult contemporary charts and I think this song has the potential to bring them up. "Hollywood" is such a fun, enjoyable song and you can't help but to sing it. I really enjoy the sound that this song has.

Plain White T's: "Hey there Delilah" - How could you not enjoy this song? It has such a unique sound and quite a compelling message. I think one of the reasons why I became hooked to this song is because of its soft tone and it's especially easy to sing along to. It's not hard to figure out why this song is #1 on billboard's top 100 this week. It's catchy and enjoyable to listen to. I know I never end up turning flipping the station when this one comes on.

Elliot Yamin: "Wait for You" - This one has actually been out for awhile now, but I don't believe it has gotten the recognition it deserved until recently. Elliot has always been one of my favorites from season five of American Idol which proved he definitely can sing (he is turning out to be a heck of a lot more profitable than Taylor Hicks). "Wait for You" proves he can sing and I think he will have a hit record with his recent album release. He has a lot of promise and "Wait for You" is one of those songs that you can't get enough of!

Fall Out Boy: "Thanks for the Memories" - I must admit, when I first heard this song, I thought it was pretty weird coming from Fall Out Boy. All of the previous songs they released, you could barely understand what half the lyrics were! This one has slowly grown on me, and now I think it is a pretty decent song. It's nice to finally be able to understand what they are singing about when they take a slower approach to singing a song. I will say this, Fall Out Boy has a pretty bright future in the years to come. I think they gained a lot of fans from their latest album.

That will do for this month's look at the songs I dig. Be sure to check back some time next month for the latest installment. We'll see which ones tickle my fancy then.

First Encounter

I must say, even though there are times when I like being single and having independence, there are times that I wish for companionship. It's not my goal to remain dateless for the rest of my life and I've gone about dating people pretty slowly. The thought of dying alone is scary. But I want to find the right girl for me. I'm definitely not into looking at the first choice and being with that person the rest of my life. If I see that her and I don't click and have different personalities or social lives, then I'm not going to waste my time and try to make things work. I want someone who will understand who I am and why I do the things I do. That's not asking too much, is it?

I think I may have finally met someone that I just might be a match with. Her and I have been communicating through e-mails since about March and just last month, we started talking on the phone. At the time when we first started e-mailing each other, she lived roughly 30 miles away. True, 30 miles is not a long distance, but it was just a bit too far to see her. I just didn't think the travel was worth it. After awhile, we stopped e-mailing and I didn't think I'd be hearing from her again. But a few months later, she e-mails me back saying that she moved closer and if we wanted to meet, she'd be up for it. This piqued my interest immensely. She looked like a very pretty girl on her profile and I figured, what do I have to lose? So we continued e-mailing, and eventually we started calling each other (she called me first). The thing with on-line dating is whether you can actually trust the person enough to believe that they are telling you the truth and if the picture is "doctored up." You hear these horror stories from the news about internet encounters and it's something that nearly prevents you from trying it out. I've had a couple of experiences with people having an "old" picture or lying about their appearance and when I met them, I was turned off almost immediately. In fact, it happened about three or four weeks ago. But this recent case is a different story.

We scheduled to meet for the first time last Thursday at her place. I was looking forward to our encounter and meeting her. She was supposed to give me a call sometime after 3:30 PM once I had awoken from sleep, but I never got the call. So I called her just to see what was up and when she didn't answer, I left a message. Not long after, she called and explained that I couldn't come over because she was up all morning and was just now sleeping. I was a bit concerned and thought maybe I was scaring her away. But that wasn't the case at all. We rescheduled to have our first meeting to today. I don't care who it is, but I always feel a tad bit nervous whenever I'm about to meet someone in person for the first time, even though we may have e-mailed or talked on the telephone for months or even years for the matter. I'm just a nervous person in general. So yes, I was a bit nervous today, but it comes with the territory. I was also kind of afraid that I'd get lost finding her apartment, but I found it right away. I was doing great and then I knocked on her door...

Like I said earlier, you never know what you're gonna expect when you first officially meet someone for the first time. But when I saw her open the door, I was not disappointed. I'm always kind of shy at first and don't really say much, but once I get comfortable with someone, I can go on and on. And I'm also a good listener and act like I care what the other person was talking about. We talked for nearly three hours about a variety of different stuff and just trying to get to know each other. She made cookies for my visit so I was eating some of them along with some pop. I know it was just a first meeting, but I honestly could feel a connection there between us. And I don't want to jinx anything by saying that it's going to work because you just never know. It was the first meeting after all. However, I really want to see her again and get to know her better. She is super nice and overall sweet. If there's one relationship I'd really like to work, it's this one.

Even after I had left her place and headed back home, I felt completely at ease and in peace. She took every once of worry and anxiety I had out of my mind. She said that I can always call her and we can meet up and do something. That leads me to believe that she is interested in me too. Let's just say I feel real good about things and maybe, just maybe I have finally found my soul mate. I'm sure I'll be writing about it if things go one way or the other in the future. ;-)

Summer Half-Way Over

A disappointing thing this time of year is the realization that summer is half-way over. Yes, there is plenty of summer to enjoy, but today is July 14 which means we are on the down side of summer. The days will start to get shorter and the temperatures begin to cool down. Such a depressing thought. I always thought that once we reach the 4th of July (and I've heard many other people make similar comments), summer flies by. For me, after the first weekend in August, there's not much left of summer to look forward to. The first weekend in August is when my hometown's community celebration is held and even though I likely won't be able to attend this year, it's still an important set of days on my calendar. By then I come to realize that summer really IS almost over.

Lately our weather has been rather fall-like, which is putting me in this sentimental mood for summer. In fact today, it is only in the middle-50's and it looks dark and gloomy out - as if it's about to rain. We've had out fair share of rain this past week, not that we didn't need it. But it sure puts a damper on your spirits when you go through a stretch like this and it's supposed to be at least 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. I guess we were due for a stretch like this. So far in the summer of 2007, we've had pretty nice weather - with even a few hot days mixed in. Hopefully the remainder of the month turns out to be nice and more summer-like.

I have already noticed a few true signs of late-summer around here. Hollyhocks are beginning to bloom; seems to be a bit early this year, but nontheless, still a late-summer flower already starting to blossom. Another kind of flower is starting to bloom as well and is another late summer/early fall flower. I don't know it's name, but it's a wildflower and it grows these little round yellow flowers. It has a pretty strong smell to it as well. Every time I begin to see these flowers grow, I know that we're heading into the later part of summer. Another sure sign of late-summer is the cicadas and the loud noise they produce. I don't know if you're aware of this creature, but they are the insect that creates the buzzing noise up in the trees on warm days. I never seem to hear them in the early part of the summer, however, late summer is when they're most prominent. The cicadas kind of split their summer with the June Bug, as the June Bug is more of an early-summer insect.

About a month or so back, I had the pleasure of sitting outside on the back deck at home on a warm evening and listen to the night sounds of summer. There's absolutely nothing like it. I even saw a bright flash in the air, which continued to blink on and off. A Firefly. Nothing brings home memories of youth more than seeing fireflies blinking through the night sky. It was a perfect night to set up a tent and sleep outside, in fact. But it was too late and our tent at home is so klunky and old, it would've taken me a good two hours of set-up. Plus, I'm rather weary of wild creatures roaming the backyard, so I just enjoyed the solitude and peacefulness of a beautiful summer night sitting on the back deck. Truly an enjoyable and wonderful time of the year. Make sure you get out and enjoy it before we're all stuck inside during a blinding snowstorm. It's not that far off, ya know. ;-)

Independence

Ah the Fourth of July. It's one of my all-time favorite holidays and it always holds a special place in my heart. Even though I am an adult now - the holiday is still extra special for me. The fireworks have always been my favorite aspect of the holiday, but the parades aren't bad either. Today, I witnessed a spectacular parade here in Marquette, MI - one that lasted well over an hour. If we weren't worried about being boxed into a dead-end street for a couple of hours, we would've stayed for the whole thing. So we exited a little bit early to avoid the traffic jams. Still, what we witnessed was superb and hopefully next year I'll be lucky enough to have the day off again.

Marquette wasn't always our home to view the parade. Back when I was just a young boy, we'd always venture out to the small town of Trenary which was only 15 miles away from our hometown. This community's population is roughly about 300 people, but on the Fourth of July, it swelled to over ten times that. Crowds would like the streets of Trenary anxious for the parade to begin. It's one of the things I enjoyed most about summer was the Fourth of July and witnessing the parade and getting a bagful of candy. One of the neat aspects about attending a Fourth of July parade in Trenary is that the floats actually go around the parade route twice. So once you saw the very first float come back for a second time, you knew you'd get to see everything again one last time - just in case you didn't get a good enough glimpse the first time around. The parades weren't extremely flashy or for that matter very long, either. Usually they'd display the township's fire trucks, the township ambulance, school and family reunion floats, horses, the school's band, kids on bikes, a float advertising for the next outhouse classic race during the next upcoming winter, so on and so forth. When you're a kid, it doesn't matter what the floats are - just that they have candy to hand out! But the last time I attended the Trenary Fourth of July parade (back in 2003, I'd say), I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed (please, don't kill me for saying so!!). It just seemed so short and uninspiring to me - and maybe I didn't have that small-town spirit going on that day. But it just didn't seem the same to me as it did when I was little. It's not like I could stick around on that day either, because I had to go in for afternoon shift a couple of hours later. Maybe that diminished my enthusiasm quite a bit. But I must say, the parade here in Marquette is fantastic. A countless number of fire trucks, police cars, ambulances, civic organizations, military groups marching, etc. Since I had the day off, I could enjoy what was going on and I didn't feel like I had to rush off to be somewhere.

For as small as Trenary is - the fireworks have always seemed adequate. They were what you'd expect a small-town fireworks display to be. But during the last few times I've seen the fireworks in Trenary, they were much improved from what I remembered when I was a kid. In fact, last year I viewed both Marquette's and Trenary's fireworks displays and Trenary's was the best, hands-down. Marquette's Fourth of July Committee was hurting for money during last year's celebration and weren't able to come up with the funds to put on a spectacular fireworks show. That is why they seemed to disappointing compared to previous years and why Trenary's was probably much better. However, I have heard that the Fourth of July Committee here in Marquette raised more than enough money to put on a spectacular fireworks display - so that is excellent news for those that live here (oddly enough, the fireworks will be shot off tomorrow and not on the 4th). I am not able to view the fireworks display in Trenary this year (due to me having to work at 5:30 AM tomorrow!!), but I know that they will be better than ever! And I will always have the memories of attending the fireworks there with my family for many years. It will always be my first home to Fourth of July celebrations and I will never forget them.

Here's hoping all of my blog readers out there enjoyed their Fourth of July and to get out and enjoy the fireworks!! Celebrate our nation's birthday and be thankful for all that we have.