What a Wonderful Day

First awesome thing about today was that my daughter, young Galadriel Tanqueray Onassis, left with the rest of her recently graduated 8th grade class for a trip to Washington, D.C.

Not only is this a wonderful opportunity for her, but what made it transcendingly awesome for me was that she spent Friday night with a classmate who's mother is one of the chaperons which meant I wasn't the one who had to be responsible for having her at KCI by 4:30am. YAY. ME!

Today they went to the Air & Space Museum which she found incredibly boring (I'm not sure she's really my daughter...might have to run a DNA check). Tomorrow they are going to Mt. Vernon and at some point they are going to Six Flags. They might get to go to the White House. Had to send her passport with her, just in case.

The bad news was that she has been feeling bad the last few days (cold and allergy type symptoms) and according to a 5am txt msg, she thinks she might have an ear infection. Needless to say the flight out with all of the pressure changes was pretty much a lesson in medieval torture for her.

The next awesome thing about today was an ex-girlfriend's daughter is graduating high school so they had an open house and cookout in Blue Springs. This was the friend who, at my absolute, rock-bottom, lowest point, dropped what she was doing, picked me up, dusted me off, rocked me to sleep, and spent the next few months helping me put myself back together. Friendships like that are priceless beyond words. I love that woman.

And to top every thing off, I joined some friends at Keith and Janet's for a Memorial Day BBQ. There was smoked brisket and ribs and chicken, oh my! My God Keith can smoke some meat (no homo). The chicken was perfect, the brisket was like crack and the ribs were like group sex.


It was just orgasmically delicious. First time I've wanted a cigarette in almost two years. It was just that good.

Oh, and Sweet Baby Jesus In Heaven, Janet's new casabas are HAWESOME. What a rack! Worth every penny!


Warren Buffet don't know Jack Shit! You want to know how to invest money? Ask Keith. He knows how to get the most bang for his buck! Every time she bent over to smell her Appletini, the sun shined a little brighter, the birds sang a little sweeter and the world was filled with puppy dogs and unicorns.

And it was just nice to spend an evening with friends enjoying good food, good conversation, I think there may have been some alcohol consumed, and the pitter-patter of little feet as the children's had fun.

Speaking of children, young Matthew was cracking me up. Before the food was served, he kept asking "can we have a party now?" Apparently, grown ups sitting around drinking, flapping their jaws and eating BBQ isn't a party. It's not a party until somebody breaks the seal on the cupcakes and cookies!

I also discovered that young Matthew may be the reincarnation of Matthew Brady. As soon as I handed him my digital camera, he ceased being concerned about when the party would start and went into an almost mystical trance taking photos.

I haven't looked at them yet, but he took over 100 pictures. Let's look at a few of them together, shall we?









I think the kid has talent! Seriously. I can see what he was going for in these shots. He has a good eye. There were a lot more abstract pics that made me think "O.K. I can see that."

I say give him a camera and let him go nuts. A very wise friend once told me that "the secret to taking good pictures is to take a lot of pictures. Some of them are bound to turn out good. You learn from the ones that do."



Photo credit Matthew

Matthew sure schooled me tonight.