Am I missing out on something?

Here I sit in Florida, newly married, plugging along with this ministry, trying hard to point people towards the real Christ, not the American Christ or the lazy Christ or the "me, myself, and I" Christ, and I wonder if I've screwed up royally.

I have a Facebook account, and I usually go on there just to see what Ethan Holland and Dustin Murrell are listening to, and after I calculate the panty-wearing tendencies of those two in relation to the music they're listening to, I try to figure out what new (or sometimes old, sometimes pretty old) album to download off iTunes. Today, it was Timbaland, because I wear the shoes.

Anyway, while I was on Facebook today, I saw some pictures that a Facebook friend had put up. It was a guy I knew from high school; he was the keeper for the soccer team our senior year. The pictures he put up were on another guy I knew in high school's wedding. For some weird reason I can't even explain because I might be making it up, I was thinking about this newly married man the other day and thinking, "There's no way he's ever gonna get married." So, that was the main reason I looked at the pictures. In the pictures, there was a bunch of people I knew in high school, was even friends (even good friends) with in high school, and they were all at this other guy from high school's wedding. And I started thinking...

In the big moves I've had in the last seven years, I've rarely carried over friends. The last time I talked to someone from high school was when the Royals signed Gil Meche about 11 months ago (I was sitting in an Outback Steakhouse with Ashley). The last time I talked to a friend from college was this afternoon, but the last time before that was at my wedding. Is it just me? Have I generally been that terrible at keeping in touch with people? The list of people I was REALLY good friends with in the last seven or eight years, only to not talk to them for a long time is astonishing. Ryan, Wes, Bill, Chad (who got in a car accident in '02, and I didn't hear about it until this last summer), Kyle, Chelsea, Valerie, Rosemary, Sara, Jared, Eric, Jason, Cynthia, Casey, Josh, Matt, Shannon, Chris Taibbi (long a, long e sound on the end), Charleys, Peep, Allen, heck, all of Strong 1st!etc.

Is everyone else getting together with their long-time friends every now and again and hanging out, having a good time? Am I the only idiot who gets good relationships, but then throws them away like a used napkin? If that's true, man, what a failure I am, and if you're on that list or should be on that list, only I'm too terrible of a "friend" to remember you, I apologize for sucking. Sorry. I want to be friends again!!

Man, that got depressing.

for now...

  Uhhh...I meant to have a celebration post on the first anniversary of the Buffett Chronicles, but...that was back on January 29. So, I missed it. But just barely.

Actually, I wanted to have a special Friday the 13th post. Did you know that the Royals are undefeated on Friday the 13th's? You didn't! Well, I just made that up. They're probably 14-260 on Friday the 13th's in their history, but I needed a good Royals fact to end my week, no matter how false it is.

Speaking of double-digit numbers that end in three's, guess what I did two weekends ago. I went to Wrestlemania 23! In Detroit! And since Jimmy Buffett has probably never been to Detroit, this post and this post only will be the Aretha Franklin Chronicles. Here are some pictures:

 This is Balls Mahoney.  He was staying in our hotel in Detroit, and Solomon Burchfield and I ran into him at the hotel bar. I don't know who was more drunk: Balls or Solomon. I wouldn't care either way, except for:

 this, when Balls wanted to have a different pose for a second picture. As we were waiting on Solomon to find the zoom (he never did), a passersby jokingly said, "Don't hurt him, Balls!" And Balls' response was: "I can't help it. I'm drunk." So I was forced to fight off a WWE wrestler, but I work out, so it turned out okay.

And as for other pictures from the actual event, I don't have them. Dustin Murrell can somehow pull pictures from his digital camera onto Facebook, but is unable to insert them into an e-mail. Stupid handicapped people.

And I was kidding about Solomon being drunk. I know fourth graders who can drink him under a table. Two shots makes Solomon throw up, not nearly enough to get drunk off of.

Wrestlemania was on a Sunday night, and it was pretty damn awesome. We sat about 20 feet from the ring, and before the event started, we were able to walk around on the floor, and get even closer to the center of attention. It sounds stupid (and I feel a bit retarded, but not Dustin retarded, to talk about it), but since this is the biggest WWE event of the year, they're usually a bunch of celebrities around. Run DMC was there, Chris Webber was there, and since Donald Trump was there, so were Miss USA and Miss Universe. There were also a number of Detroit athletes, especially the Tigers.

And speaking of the Tigers, here's one more picture:

  On Saturday afternoon, we walked around outside Ford Field (where Wrestlemania was) and its next door neighbor, Comerica Park (where the Tigers play). These double doors led into the stadium.

So, until Dustin figures out the complexity of e-mailing pictures, that's all I have.

*edit* Dustin isn't as incompetent as I believed. He's added more pictures on his Facebook site, but I won't bore all of you with all of them (although they're cool). But I will thrill all deeply religious people with this one, taken outside of a church close to where the Tigers and Lions play.

"Oh holy God, please maketh the Tigers undefeated. Let all their players developeth a quicker bat and an extra calf muscle so that they might run as if they possessed wings of angels. Dear Lord, rain down hellfire and brimstone on the Tigers division rivals, whom thou hatest so much. May Satan possess the devilish members of the White Sox and the Twins, not to mention the Indians. And Lord, although the Royal team of Kansas City already sucketh so badly, send plagues of frogs and locusts on their foul city, and turneth the waters of the Missouri red with blood, so that, as their skin melts and their hair burns, they might know that we, the godly people of the fair city of Detroit, have been praying for thineth Tigers. Amen."

for now...

And yes, I know the pictures are small. I fooled around with them for awhile trying to get them bigger, but the clarity sucked. Maybe I'm the idiot. *edit* I was the idiot, but they're bigger now.