Two for Tea, and a Party.

As Bill and Ted would say, this was a very triumphant weekend. My good buddy Puls from my BYU days came into town and we got together with our old roommate Chad, who is living in Sacramento, and all my wildest dreams came true. Not to mention a few dreams that were a little wild even for me. Puls came into town and we hit up some of the tourist spots, you might recognize this bridge, it is the Golden Gate to the West. Puls had not been to San Francisco before so of course now he wants to live here. I think.

We had some good Naan & Curry for lunch, then we headed for a Giants game. Puls and I are huge baseball fans, and Chad is always down for any type of good times, so we had a good time. It was a 1-0 game and pretty exciting. I am proud to say that I have not lost my ability to yell crazy things throughout a game. When even the little kids in front of you are starting to get bugged, you know that you are a good fan. I don't know if they were actually bugged, but they did turn around and state at me every time I yelled something crazy. I offered to fight a Mets fan, but I was only half serious, I don't fight women. Usually. Anyway, we met up with a couple friends and had angel food cake with strawberries and whip cream. This is my life. I am getting jealous of myself.
The next day was the time for Chad to shine, and shine he did. He took us to Sac Town and around a hundred-degree temperatures. Needless to say, I was loving it. Chad had the idea of going to the California state fair. I was skeptical at first, but then I started remembering all the good times we used to have at the Utah State Fair and I got pretty excited. It was all I ever hoped for. I think that is clear from the picture below.
We started off the adventure with hay-bale bucking broncos and it only went up from there. The state fair is seriously so much fun. We started out small with looking at the animals, sounds lame but it is pretty fun, there is a little 4-H in all of us I suppose. Then we moved on to the food. Chad and I had huge sno-cones and Puls had a reindeer corndog. The fair is so cool, and there is more coolness to follow.
Some of the other sights that we saw were lawn-mower racing, dog jumping, and city kids milking a goat. That was pretty funny, the look on their faces was somewhere between "this is cool" and "this just is not right." Gotta love those city kids. There is one story that I have to tell though. As we were sitting eating some fried foods that I will talk about in a second there was a karaoke performance going on. It was a pretty run-of-the-mill group, but then something happened. The MC announced that a little eight-year-old girl had been asking him to sing all day and he was going to let her. He announced that she was going to sing A-Capella and then he asked her what she was going to sing. He did not tell the crowd what she said though, which I thought was a little weird, until I heard her song. She got up there, and bravely starting singing "I love to see the Temple." It was pretty awesome. At some point we all get a little afraid I think of letting people see who we really are, but this little girl was not afraid. She sang the whole song, which is obviously one of her favorites since she had been begging to sing it all day, and then the crowd applauded. I was really proud of her.
As a Harrison I like to eat. As a former employee of Hot Dog on a Stick I like to eat fried foods. Believe me when I tell you, I LOVE THE FAIR! Below you can see a few of the many healthy offerings that the fair provides. You have fried twinkies, fried snickers, fried cookie dough (my favorite), fried brownies, and fried oreos. I would say that I felt sick, but that was just my stomach, my tongue felt like it was walking on sunshine. That was not the craziest thing though, we found a place that sold chocolate covered bacon. It is pretty good, more of a novelty item sure, but that sweet salty chocolaty bacon-ey flavor is nice every once in a while. The fair is so great, we should call it.
I just wanted to say one more thing about the fair. Little kids can ride sheep there and it is awesome. I made a resolution last Saturday, and that is my kids are one day going to ride sheep, and they are going to like it. What you cannot see from the picture below is that the sheep is in a full-out run. It is pretty funny because the sheep do not really buck, they just bolt, and all the kids slide to the side, but that just pulls the sheep over with them. It does not look very dangerous from outside the ring, but judging from the death-grip that some of these kids had on the sheep it must be a little scary when you are back there. I gave the winner a high-five. I still have not washed that hand.
All in all it was a really great weekend. It is always good to see friends that I spent so much time with in the past that like my jokes and I get along with so well. It was a little weird because we have not all hung out together in about three years, and getting together made me realize that I have changed quite a bit in the last few years. Like it or not I am not a kid anymore (but not and adult either, never that!). It is good to see how far you have come though, and I am pretty happy with the result. I may have lost a little of my jokey attitude (not that anyone seems to notice) but I have gotten a little more responsible and take-charge -ish. I can tell that I have more of an opinion and don't worry about what people think about me too much, I am just living my life and as long as I am good with who I am I don't worry that someone else is not. Just live your life.

Look What You Made Me Do

I told you and I told you but somehow very few of you listened (Kim and Byron listened, they visited, they had a great time), and when you did not come to visit I was forced to take all of my saved-up fun and shower Jamie and Brook with it. I can still see the look of shock and awe on their faces. Good times.

They came into town like a cool Portland breeze, and two days later they vanished like change on the floor in a laundromat. We had a great time, and since they are now on their way back North, I will try to relive some of our adventures to comfort myself.

The first thing I did was finish up some work while they laid around and played Guitar Hero. Work was unplanned and for all you future visitors it will not happen. Partly to make up for that work and for denying them of my fun personality for a time I made them germies. I think these turned out pretty great. The Gin Blossoms put it best I believe when they said, "hey, jealousy."

The only sad part of this trip was that food did not factor in as the most important part of the trip as it should in any Harrison outing and especially when we are in what is quite possibly one of the best food cities in the world. There is one thing that Harrisons prize more than free food we discovered, and that is volleyball. I am getting ahead of myself, however, let's take it from the top.

So Friday afternoon was our first chance at my pitching S.F. to Jamie and Brooke as a future home and I made the most of it. Three o'clock found us wending our way downtown on the Muni train ready to see the sites. I took them shopping. H&M suitably impressed them with its size, but after they assured me that they were very close to having an H&M of their own, I realized I had to bring out the big guns if I wanted them to move here. It had to be Zara. Yes, that place of mystery and magic out of Europe that takes plain Janes and turns them into Fashionable Freddies. It is a really cool store, I read online that if they have stuff that does not sell they take it off the racks after a couple of weeks. They are committed to staying on the cutting edge of every-day fashion. So far mission accomplished. Zara is a little more expensive than H&M but it has a similar philosophy, and with a sale in place (like there was when we went) it is a great store to get the perfect outfit that will have all your friends gushing about it to your face and hating you behind your back. So get out here and get you something. That is about all the shopping that we did.

We also tried to go see Wicked, but we did not win the lottery and had to settle for sausages in the Mission. Jamie and Brooke got to see quite a few sides of our wonderful city out here, and if they were not all flattering, they were at least interesting. We met up with a few of the kids that I know from church at the sausage place, and then spent a few hours at my friend Camille's lovely apartment in Pac Heights. After Jamie fell asleep on the couch I knew the tykes were tuckered and we headed for home, all the better to prepare for a new day.

I feel that I spoiled the girls on Saturday, and I must confess that I do not usually have quite this much fun every weekend, but they got lucky. After a breakfast of German Pancakes we headed to the east bay for some fun in the sun. A friend of mine from Berkeley had invited us over to swim in the pool and hot tub and it was really great, plus Brooke had the opportunity to showcase her Rock Band skills, and all her beaus were suitable impressed. It was a lot of fun and I think I fulfilled my goal of showing them how many cool people live in this area.

This post is getting long. Now to the main story. I always thought that food was a Harrison's main kryptonite, but I learned this weekend that for Jamie and myself it is actually volleyball. We got to a young single adult party maybe about six-thirty or so and began to play some volleyball. For the next three hours we did not quit for a moment. People left to eat. We stayed. People left to socialize. We chided them for their lack of competitiveness. People left because it was getting dark. We razzed them for being poor losers. Not our finest hour. Brooke played at the beginning, then went to the pool, met people, had a little food. Jamie and I continued to play non-stop. We missed the food. We met no one. We had a great time.

The next day we went to church and they met a lot of girls that they want me to date as well as (in their words) "so many hot guys." I think my work here is done.

It was a lot of fun to have the girls here and I hope that they had a good time and that it was worth the drive. Some other highlights of the trip: Brooke brought her new kitten Javier (pronounced with a smoky Spanish accent, of course). Not only am I less and less allergic to cats, but my roommate and his girlfriend fell in love with little Javie and would play with him while we were gone, so he did not have to stay in the bathroom the whole time. He is a fun little critter and so social. Way better than a boyfriend, Brooke. More highlights: Jamie and myself showing our skills on the v-ball court. Making Jamie and Brooke tell my friends all of their dumbest jokes, and finally, randomly running into two girls that I know on a midnight run to Bob's donuts, further reinforcing my point about what a fun city I live in and how many friends (15) that I have here. That is also a plug for Bob's, if you come, I will take you and I will pay. For one doughnut. Each.
I am sure that we did way more fun stuff, like watching MacGyver on DVD. The only fun I like is the non-stop variety. It was really a lot of fun to see these girls though and I hope that they will not be strangers. It is always good to get together and reforge those family bonds. I am sure that I will be returning the favor in Portland soon enough.

The important thing now is that I rest up for Puls and Chad this weekend (Giants game and a trip to Sacramento), and for Mom, Dad, and brothers the following week (Dustin Blodgees wedding). Happy summer (or what passes for summer in fogsville)!

You got a friend in me

I saw Toy Story 3 last night, and while it ties in to the overlying theme, it is not the basis for this post. I had the opportunity to spend this last Fourth of July weekend at a cabin on a beautiful lake in Northern California with some wonderful people, and that is the basis for this post.
Friends are a funny thing, some people can make them easily, and some people have more trouble, some people treat theirs lightly and to some they are their most precious possession. I hope that none of us are taking our friends lightly and that we are being good friends to those that need us. I have thought in the past that it might be possible for us to be friends with anyone that we meet, and I still believe that this is true, but this weekend reminded me that a few common threads will bind much more tightly.
One of the guys that went with us mentioned that on the way home, and it stuck with me a little. Because of the common threads that we had, which in this case were religion, geography, and the fact that none of us are married, we were able to jell in a way that I have not experienced in a long time. Going in I was pretty good friends with at least three of the people there, knew or had met another four or so, and the rest of the eleven I had never met. It only took a couple of minutes until we were joking like old friends. That is a wonderful thing.
I do not know where this post is going, but I do know that all of the kids (I say kids but that is just a term of art) that went with us were fun, unpretentious, and unselfish. With a recipe like that there ain't nothin' you cain't make.
I don't know if I want this to be a preachy post or what, but I know that I have some great friends out there, not the least of whom are my family, and all those friends are there for me time in and time out, and I hope that I am there for them every once in a while.
This post was probably also brought on by the fact that my good friend Tishe was over here and we were discussing her lesson that she is giving to Girl's Camp tomorrow on, what else, relationships. I really think that a big part of who we are and why we are here ties in to the relationships that we have with others, I was reminded this weekend of how good people can make things so enjoyable, and all you really need is a good attitude. Like I always say, if you cannot be happy sitting on a curb, you are not happy, but I do think that there is very little that can help people to be more happy than to have a good friend sit on that curb with them, and no matter what you are going through and no matter what they think of the decisions that you have made in your life, they can just say, "you know, things are going to get better."
I am really grateful for all the people in my life, and I hope that they are grateful for me. If you need anything, holler at your boy.

That is the group that went to the lake in this picture above. We went to a small branch (we about doubled the size), and the people there were so welcoming and the Spirit was so strong, I realized again why Mom and Dad dragged us to all those churches over the years. It was really neat to be in that small branch, we got to help with the Sacrament and since it was fast Sunday the Branch President actually made a point of asking us to bear our testimonies, which several of us did. It was a really neat experience.

Gotta Love the Beach

I got to go to the beach twice this week, and that ain't bad. The first beach that we went to was Stinson Beach, up by Marin. It was a little windy, but we had a good time. Since everyone else seemed to be content to lay in the sun, I decided to have a little fun. I went to the beach with my cousins once, and they dug a big hole and the little kids just loved it. Since my good friend Gilda brought along the little girl that she nannies, Maybelle, I decided to do some diggin'.

I like to think that in this picture I'm telling her: "I know you are working hard, but can you see how much sand I have over here? I am doing a lot more work then you, so please try to pick it up." Harsh I know, but that is the only way they will ever learn.
What do you do with a hole? You sit in it.
Just kidding, we dug it a little deeper. As you can probably imagine, while we were digging I was peppering the conversation with little gems like "I bet we are half-way to China by now," and "now if someone is looking for us we can just hide right in the hole." That must be what we are doing here. For some reason kids seem to really like me, who knew?
This was a pretty fun little trip. Afterward Gilda told me that Maybelle was telling her mom about the beach and kept referring to me as "my friend Matt." It is good to have friends.

I also wanted to include this little gem from my most recent trip to Los Angeles in May. I went to the Getty with Kim and Lance (and young Harrison, no not Lance). You know what they say, you can either look at art, or you can get up there and try to freeze your body in the exact position that the statue is in. I got laughed at, sure, but performance art is legitimate, to legitimate to quit-imate. I title this: "Take the picture! and please try to get it right, my core is killing me."
Photo: Kim Williams

Ode to Blogging

I love you, but I hate you. I always want to blog, but I seldom find the time, what was once an exquisite escape from study-induced boredom is now a slog through countless pictures amid less-than-witty sayings.

Why do I blog? Is if for the adoration of my (relatively) many followers? The battle fought as words are wrestled from a chaos of sound and organized into cadences that depict thoughts and ideas, frozen in time? Is it because of man's great desire to leave something of himself behind, to carve his name into the proverbial tree, to jump into the great conversation if to only say "HA! I have nothing to contribute, but you are listening nonetheless!" (see: Hilton, Paris)? Many are the reasons to blog, to criticize, credit, complain or congratulate, but they all pale in comparison to the one and great reason that is to post awesome pictures, and hopefully, captions that can capture the thousand words that each picture represents and distill them down to a brief (and hopefully funny, deep or poignant) remark, cementing word and image, forever linked. Blog on fellow bloggers, blog on I say.

"Matt, through the burgeoning affects of long-awaited puberty, once and for all proved through outward expression his dearth of inner contemplation."

Niece and Nephews

I really want to post about what I have done this summer, and I have so much to post, maybe this little post will whet your appetite. I guess the thing that this family loves to see are the kiddos. These are all of the kids that I saw on my most recent trip, hopefully I get out to Virginia soon, it has been too long.

Here is little Mira, she is a real charmer now I hear, doling out smiles like no one's business. She is really getting into the fun stage it seems like now, smiling and laughing and grabbing. Pretty soon she will be in the "Matt is my favorite Uncle stage." It's coming.
These boys love juice. They remind me of a certain Buster Bluth. I can't believe how fast they were sucking it down. It is just Crystal Light, so no sugar (I am sure they will never get the sugar kind at Grandma's house, we never did). The Kool-Aid faces are the best though, that pale skin really brings it out. Not to mention the look of sublime enjoyment that young Ash-Bash is sporting.
Ollie looks like he is ready for more juice. His eyes are so intense. You just know that someone has a cup of juice and he can't take his eyes off of it. That is the eye of the tiger.
I think we all recognize what we like to call a burrito. Like father like son (eh Trent?). That is another story, but it ends with Trent tucking a blanket around Byron and saying, "this is what we call a burrito . . ."
At first he did not like it, but then he kept making me do it over and over again. Sounds like a Harrison to me.
I just think that it is funny that Harrison loves to be sitting in or on things. I should have gotten a picture of him playing with the laundry basket. Kid is a basket case, pun intended.

I'm not a betting man,

I'm not a betting man, but I would bet a million dollars that this picture was not taken in San Francisco. We do have a beach and an ocean (in fact, we have a place called "Ocean Beach") but nobody acts like this here. Not in the water. Not if they don't want hypothermia. In a city with a million things to do, thank you facebook for pointing out one thing we can't (or at least shouldn't) do.