Early Sunday morning a very young lifelong family friend passed away peacefully in his sleep.  No one really understood what happened only that Marjoe is now at peace.  Today, Chad and I went to the visitation and consoled our lifelong family friends.  Mary was our baby sitter for years, a fact she reminds us of quite frequently.  Christie is a year younger that I so we were quite close growing up and worked together at Shaffer Value… now she lives in Buffalo, NY with her husband.  I do not know the two boys as well as I would have liked but know that they were raised by a strong, God-loving mother.  After marrying Victor, she inherited two additional adult girls to mentor.

Tuesday night, Megan and I went to see Date Night.  Even I thought I was not totally myself.  As always, I had a great time but Megan kept asking why I was so quiet.  Only after I got home did I realize how much Marjoe’s passing had affected me.  Never before have I realized how fleeting life is.  Death knows no season; knows no age.  We may question God’s choice in taking someone “too soon” but in reality he is in a much better place.  Thirty one years… WOW!

Mary has always been and still is one of my favorite people.  Not only was she able to raise 3 kids by herself, working in a factory to provide for them but she has always been there for everyone!  And she herself was adopted at the age of five months by Ginny and Hinie… everyone’s grandma and grandpa.  I still remember his Highness coming into the store looking for his Homemade brand cigars.  My cousin, Christie, and I would always keep an eye out for him and hide them before he got in the door!

In 2005, Mary fulfilled a lifelong dream by having a book published of many of the poems she has written over the course of her life.  God’s Rainbow and My Dream is not only a collection of her works but also autobiographical in nature illustrating her strong, tremendous faith.  She also publishes an editorial in the town newspaper weekly.

So… although his life was too short… may Marjoe find peace in his new home.

I am so glad that Mondays are one of my days off each week.  I don’t know if I could have made it this morning.  A long weekend full of fun.  I worked Saturday afternoon before mass after which Chloe was going to be baptized.  Getting her big sister into a dress was a chore.  Kyli was not impressed that she had to put on a pretty dress.  Uncle Jamiahsh to the rescue!  I volunteered to put the dress on!  I almost got it up to my head… Thank goodness the 2 year old stopped me before I did.

During mass… more “controlled chaos” which made me question yet again the absence of a crying room at church.  Not sure if a Saturday night school would be a good thing.  But I do seem to remember a Sunday School for children up to 1st or 2nd grade that must have been done away with.  But the  ceremony was nice, quick, and I got the chance to go to the theatre and see Working. A very different show light on plot but the songs and the performers made it a surprisingly well delivered show.  Glad I got the chance to see it!

Sunday after work.  I had rehearsal.  What was supposed to be “Eve” and I, turned into the director and I.  Beth had a late game night/early morning on Saturday but we read through the play which helped me so not a bad rehearsal at all.  And the short practice allowed me to go out to dinner with the 16!  by 9PM when it was over, I was ready for a break!  Let’s just hope my “daughter” shows up tonight 😉

Here’s the only picture not featuring red eye from the baptism:

The past two weeks have been filled with visitors from the north… 4 additional family members and the three of us makes SEVEN  plus more relatives and assorted friends and you get what can only be described as somewhat controlled chaos. (and that might be pushing it). Charnel, Rich, Kyli (age 2 going on 22), and Chloe (9 months) arrived the day after Easter from Alaska where Rich is stationed and is on leave from his deployment in Afghanistan.  I was asked if the noise kept me up at night… What noise?  I admit that I haven’t needed a traditional alarm clock for the past 14 days but I haven’t been awoken at all hours, either.  Here are a few of the highlights:

• Dinner made by Rich’s bother.  Charnel and others wanted some fettucini alfredo with chicken and bacon.  I said that I would try it.  I took a little sample and as politely as I could decided to make a frozen pizza.  I’m usually open to new things but something about it just did not appeal to me.  I was amazed that my oldest brother (one of the pickiest eaters… second only to his oldest) tried some; not so amazingly, Jeff didn’t care for it, either.
• Cosmic bowling while I watched kids.  Honestly, I did not think that the alley allowed children after a certain hour or I wonder if two of the four kids would have gone.  I decided to sit that one out to help watch the little ones so the parents could go to bed early.
• Dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Apparently, they do not have them in Alaska.  Might they have an Alaska Roadside Igloo where the serve moose steak?  But 17 people with 7 little ones.  I felt sorry for our poor waitress… I gave a larger tip than I should have.  Ok… so there might have been a bit more involved than pity.  Peanut tossing by a BIG KID not me caused a bit of chaos before we were called to our table.

Well… the visitors are here until Wednesday… let’s see if more “controlled chaos” ensues.

Go Off On A Tangent.  It is so fun to see how our little blog group of 4 has grown and  developed in the past 2+ years.  It has been so exciting to not only read each others posts but to come to know each of these great people.  What started as theatre acquaintances has grown into a group of the best friends I have ever had.  That is what has made our little gang of tangenteers so special:

• Taylhis describes her life as a stay at home mom, with her fabulous hubby, and their four wonderful kids and their menagerie of pets.  At times humorous, thought-provoking, but always insightful!  She may not have a great amount of time but I love reading every post she has the time to create.  And with baseball season finally approaching… you can bet she will be going in-depth (as much as possible) on  another season of her beloved Cubbies!

• Derek has documented the many roles he has played as a substitute teacher in the burbs of a great metropolitan area, to youth group leader, and finally to his position in the auto industry.  Postings are a bit spread out but always fascinating.

• The “Old Admin“… well what can we say about him.  I think he last posted way back in October.  I have been waiting on an Office post since da Bears’ season has come and gone once again.

• Justj joined our gang a few months after we started.  His random thoughts center a lot on his family which I find truly endearing but also delve into many of his hobbies as well.

• Somewhere along the road, we picked up a few other tangenteers.  Mare has become a great friend through my involvement with yet another community theatre group.  And with the new admin there are big changes in store.  Not forgetting froggy and our newest Kloe.

Brand new to the site is an interactive page on which you can post a single blerb about anything… much like tweeting (or whatever it is) but I think it will be even more fun.  So why not follow us and go off on a tangent of your own!

WOW!  How could I almost forget dear Carol!  She is also one of our new followers who offers great insight into her everyday life as a teacher and mother…. or this and that!  GREAT FRIENDS ALL!!!

I know that continuing to think about something does not make it approach faster, but if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a zillion times!  I HATE WAItINg!  I think the audition went fine… better than fine since I did get to read the script twice.  There were only three of us at the audition (enough for a cast but there was another round today and one tomorrow… UGH!) After the very quick table read-through audition, I did get to sit in a rehearsal for Curious Savage which goes up next weekend.  Break a leg Mare, Trav, and the rest of the cast!  I was pleased to see Mr. Potter’s secretary on stage again with a meatier role.  I will be in the audience either a week from tonight or next Sunday… depending upon when we get back from the cathedral on Saturday.

Last night’s evening wrapped with a long overdue game night.  Overdue because I was sick for the last one.  And I got to assist in moving a television… not a huge undertaking but big enough.  C and I got both the tv and stand back in their proper spot and a picture with sound came on so…

Now, I think I will read a bit of The Goblet of Fire before Taylhis catches up with me.  I forgot to ask how many pages “plowing through it” means. 😉  Of course, with any luck, she will catch up with me before I get to Order of the Phoenix.

This morning, I awoke to find a box full of donuts on the kitchen counter.  I found one that was half eaten inside so I decided that someone was full and left it.  Little did I know that a little five-year old (her pre-school doesn’t meet on Monday) was not finished and an hour after I finished the half-eaten donut, she demanded to know who ate her donut!  Poor Sydney was in tears because “Bad Uncle J ate My donut!”  To make up for my evil ways, I told her that I would take her out to the Bulldog Cafe for lunch so she could get ice cream which they just re-added to their menu after the height of the winter season passed.  Unfortunately, they are closed on Monday.

So, discovering that we had coupons for FREE FROSTYS at Wendy’s, I cleaned the beauty shop, took a shower, and took the little tyke to Wendy’s.  Then, we approached the door to the restaurant to fin that the dining room was closed until the blinds are installed and I did not relish the idea of going through the drive-up.  I could see ice cream all over the back… NO THANKS!  So we went to McDonald’s, ate lunch, and got a small milkshake to take home just in time for her one o’clock nap… seemed safer.

So… hopefully I more than made up for the donut mishap.  It wasn’t mentioned any further, but sometimes little things have a way of reappearing.

Today would have been Carol’s 54th birthday.  So many wonderful memories.  I know the last show she saw me in was Idol Night at the Karaoke Place and the character I played which is the same as my blog title.  In the show, my best friend sang my favorite inspirational song made famous by my favorite artist.  The music and lyrics are just perfection.  So for Carol:

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains.

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas.

I am strong when I am on your shoulders.

You raise me up to more than I can be.

And yes, Mr. Groban is very high on my ipod shuffle.  I would consider it a Christian tune as I would many of my favorite songs by Josh.

Happy birthday to One More Angel in Heaven.

Usually when an unfamiliar caller pops up on the caller ID, I let the machine pick it up.  Unless of course, the caller redials then curiosity rears its evil head..  Tonight, a friend I have not seen in four years phoned me.  Mandie (I swore it was with no -e) and I worked together at Wal-Mart and along with Karen, were inseparable.  I even confided in Mandie about my attraction to our other compadre… but, alas.  And she even shared the same last name of the most attractive employee at Dunder-Mifflin (now Sabre) Scranton Branch.

Apparently since I left WM about 3 years ago (she left before that… even before the transition to Supercenter), Mandie has been asking about me from time to time (don’t get any ideas… she is attached and we were never more than really good friends).  Former co-workers have told me she has been in and said… “Where is Jamiah?”  She does have my home phone number.  Tonight, she phoned and we talked for like 2 hours catching up.  Her four boys are no longer the little ones I remember.  Her oldest is now 14!? The youngest, Ashton, whom I remember seeing a day after he was born is now 4!  She also works with Squirmy! Small world!

Even smaller world… she lives in an apartment above a pizza shop very close to the Quarterline Cafe where He Crossed That Line just wrapped.  So… we made plans to get together and have a movie night soon along with her four boys.

I had two days packed with fun and a little work.  Saturday night, I arrived late for what was dubbed Michaelpalooza at the home of some of my new friends I made over the past year through the Village Players.  While some of the revelers played some games, the rest of us were treated to two hilarious… if not totally family-friendly spoofs of Star Wars.

The Robot Chicken (an animated series definitely best left to overnight television on Cartoon Network) episode was more of a spoof of the entire six films.

Family Guy actually had a previous spoof dealing with the original film.  We watched the episode based upon The Empire Strikes Back.  Several questions were raised by the episode.  One being why Lando Calrissian wore Han Solo’s uniform st the end of the movie.  And if you watch closely, he actually does.  Also, a very obscure factoid about the movie Teen Wolf (one of my favorites growing up… please skip the horrendous sequel) was alluded to.  One which obviously missed the censors but I have it on good authority actually exists.  If you are curious, you will have to do your own research because I do like to run a family-friendly blog.  I will lead you to the crowd in the stands of the final basketball game.

Today, Super Bowl Sunday, I had to work, go to play practice for our dinner theatre coming up NEXT WEEKEND folks, and then went to our annual game bash full of fun, awesome friends, lots of laughs, and a new addition that I will let taylhis share… but he is adorable.  In case you did not know.. the Saints defeated the Colts 31-17.  Thoughts on the game?  The ads?  Da Who? Will we ever get beyond the Boobygate scandal and have quit having grandpa and company perform… although the drummer looked like he was not even thought of in the Pinball Wizard’s heyday?

Even if my plans for travel fell through, I was sooooo not at all disappointed in my time off.  It began last Sunday when I was invited to attended services at my friends’ church.  I thought the service was very well done.  A timely sermon (even if the pastor attempted to parallel it with an hour in the life of Jack Bauer).

Monday, I visited the zoo with the same friends… minus admin who was stuck working.  But taylhis and company had a great time, as always.  I then went to auditions for the dinner theatre that I will be part of Valentine’s Day weekend.  I hope by now that the cast has been set as the director was lacking a few key roles.  As I previously mentioned, the play involves improvisation… just the word alone scares me.  But after learning who my character is… I am so ready for my new challenge.

Tuesday night, I introduced my friends to the cinematic adventures of Harry Potter.  I am pleased to say that all enjoyed the movie.  I agree, that while the movie does take a certain amount of liberties, as a whole the movies are really entertaining.

Friday night, I watched Mystery, Alaska for the first time.  I really enjoyed the “adult take on The Mighty Ducks.”

Saturday and Sunday nights were spent with some of my new friends of the Village Players.  Megan and I went to Mary’s and played Disney Scene-It, Movie Scene-It, more Trivial Pursuit, and Megan and I stayed and played cutthroat Scrabble with Mare and Trav.

And the climax… Mary, Travis, Jen, Megan, and I went to see Sherlock Holmes on the huge Rave screen with Digital Sound and Picture.  I must say that the ads for the movie do not do the movie justice.  THANK GOODNESS it was not all Robert Downey, Jr. with his shirt off… and very little of it actually was.  What we did get was a superb mystery, action thriller in the finest tradition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters.  The chemistry between Downey and Jude Law (as Dr. Watson) was great.  Irene Adler  and Inspector Lestrade (two other Doyle creations) were also instrumental elements of the movie.  The way  definitely paved the way for a return to late 19th Century London.  We definitely left the movie pleased and (myself, at least) am ready for the sequel.

So sometimes, the best vacations are spent right here in the backyard.