Sunday, December 29, 2002

Just got back to Lexington from our Winter Wonderland of Death tour (aka Christmas with Kathy's brother and my parents). We left Davisboro GA at about 10:30 this morning and got back here just after 11 pm. It would've been a quicker trip, but we made a few stops in Augusta and Charlotte along the way. We also tried to hook up with friends in Columbia, but apparently they were'nt home *casts hairy eyeball at Crink*

In any case, I will try to share a cople of choice photos from my new digital in the next couple of days; right now I need sleep! *flop!*

Friday, December 27, 2002

Kathy, Mom, Dad and I went to Augusta yesterday to find a new washer and dryer for Mom, and some Christmas bargains for Kathy. We were successful on one account, but on the latter point, nada.


We did, however, find a few neat things while we were there. Monsoon Wedding, which is an AWESOME movie. A couple of books, a new cutting board, a Hello Kitty travel toothbrush and cup (for Kathy, not me).


Oh yeeees, and a 14k white gold wedding band for me. I stared at it on my hand for a while before we purchased it. I've worn wedding rings for shows before, but this was vastly different. Just seeing it there is a reminder that things in my life are changing, and this time next year, I will be committed to one woman for the remainder of my life. A pretty humbling moment to be sure, but in its own way, incredibly cool and satisfying.


Hopefully, Kathy and I will be joining the other three couples in our generation of kids (my sister, brothers and their respective significant others) to go see The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers tonight. If it works out, it'll be the first time we kids have all done something together since we actually were kids. Hope it works out.

Wednesday, December 25, 2002

On the first day of Christmas, the Clintster gives to you...

A blog post in a pear tree. :)

Christmas has come and gone and I have a rundown of my booty:

Spiderman on DVD
Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones on DVD
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on DVD
A River Runs Through It on DVD
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring deluxe edition (with all the bells and whistles) on DVD
A photo album
A holder for our remote controls
A foot-bath
PJ bottoms
A scarf
and...

A DIGITAL CAMERA!!!! I have finally gone digital, and I LOOOOOVE IT! I've already taken a good many pics with the camera, and I plan on posting some of them on the other blog... emmm, soon.

I think the kids (my nieces and nephews) had the most fun, since Santa and Mrs. Claus came all the way from the North Pole to visit the house. Maegan, the youngest, kinda freaked out, though, and refused to sit on Santa's lap. Well, maybe he'll come back and visit again another year.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Kathy and I managed to survive the trip to Knoxville and made it on to Davisboro relatively intact. We are here now, having gone through two gifting ceremonies. Lots of cool stuff, which I will tell you about in the morning. Until then, sleep tight, and may we all enjoy peace on Earth, at least for one day.

Saturday, December 21, 2002

My last post for a few days. Kathy and I have been busy most of the evening with last-minute cleaning and packing for our week long trip to see relatives.

I also spent a couple of hours scanning photos to CD-Rs to take to our relatives and share. It's a little easier than getting a bunch of photo albums. :)

Hopefully I will post again between now and Christmas Day. If I don't, be safe out there on the roads and have a Merry Happy Christmas Holiday-n-stuff. :)

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

Kathy and I have been cleaning up the place in preparation for our Christmas travels, and the pet sitter who will be looking in on the cats while we're gone. It's looking better, but still we need to do a good bit of work before Friday.


Of course, once we're ready to go, we face a quandry: how to get all the presents, our luggage and a dog to Tennessee (her brother and his family) and Georgia (my family) and haul our booty (and booties) back to Virginia. We're taking the Toyota, so there's not a whole heckofalotta room for everything. We'll probably have to put Heather in a smaller carrier for the trip. Why must I have SO many relatives? *bangs head on wall*


Anyways, not much else to report at the moment. Check back tomorrow.

Monday, December 16, 2002

Back from the mountains, and it's in the 50s here. The snow we had almost two weeks ago is nearly gone now, and I can finally take off the garbage (yay).


Kathy and I had lunch today at a place called Spanky's, which is kinda like Macado's, which is sorta kinda like Ruby Tuesday... anyway, if/when any of you guys make it up here, I/we'll take you.


In any case, on our way back to her office we stopped at a place called CocoaMill Chocolates. It's a little shop in town that specializes in making FRESH chocolates. Swear to god, this is some of the best chocolate I have ever put in my mouth. We got some Jack Daniels-filled truffles for Kathy's stepfather, almond bark and a wine-filled chocolate for me, and some white chocolate cranberry bark for her. Yet another reason to love Lexington. :)

Friday, December 13, 2002

Me and Kath and the Heather girl are in Blowing Rock, surrounded by Westies and waiting for the snow that just may keep us here past tomorrow. Oy.

Kathy had her first of two voice lessons this afternoon, and I suppose it went okay. All's I know is I spent four hours with her in the Toyota listening to her practicing all the way. There ARE worse things, y'know! ;)

May I make a cuisine suggestion? Next time you're out and about and find yourself in a Denny's, order the Ranch Chicken Melt. Tres magnifique! Or, if you're looking for something more "breakfasty", get the Breakfast Dagwood. We had both on our way to NC today, and were most satisfied.

*patiently waits for the lifetime supply of Denny's that will surely come from this gratuitous plug*

Anyhoo, I'm putting up my first list on the other blog. Link's on the right, listed as "CL&L". Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Click here, and scroll down a bit to see what's in my bonnet.


The whole episode with Trent Lott has me angry. Very angry.


I have been a Southern boy all my life. The first time I ever traveled north of the Mason-Dixon line was in 2000, when I went to New York City to see my first Broadway show. I love this region of the country, and I hope that at the end of a long, long life, I will be buried here.


However, when I hear statements like the one Trent Lott made at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party last week, I want to hide under a rock somewhere. I've heard pundits making excuses for Sen. Lott, saying that he got "carried away" in paying tribute to a "great American" who has "changed his views" on race and civil rights.


I don't buy it. I've seen and heard evidence that shows me that Trent Lott had a pretty damn good idea of what he was saying. I'm not entirely convinced that Sen. Thurmond ever changed his views, either.


It's a funny thing about Southerners. There are many of us who seem to put on a paper bag when it comes to race relations. There are many who say "oh, the civil rights era was back in the 60s; what do we have to worry about now?" Plenty.


Sure, there are no more signs that say "whites only" or "colored only", but the ugly scars of racism remain etched on the southern heart. I have relatives who still sit around and tell incredibly racist jokes. I usually have to leave the room, because there are only so many times I can hear the word "nigger" used in an evening's conversation.


I encountered racism in college, too. I had a friend who would sing a borderline tasteless song called "Christ! Here Come the Negroes" whenever he got drunk. One of those occasions, he asked me point blank "Clint lemme ask you, would you ever fuck a nigger?"


I stared at him for a few seconds, unable to say anything. What kind of stupid-ass question is that, I wondered. Finally after weighing my options, I looked at him and said,


"If I loved her and she loved me, it wouldn't matter to me what color she was."


He kind of shrugged, and said something about cultural mixing, and soon the conversation drifted to "Caddyshack" quotes. Still, when I think of this guy, the pleasant memories I have of him are tainted a little by this incident.


Much as I abhor this kind of talk, I can almost excuse it coming from someone in their own house or in a private setting. However, when you're a public figure, particularly a political leader, and you say something like Trent Lott did in a public forum, you'd better be ready to ride the storm that follows. In my opinion, Trent Lott is either a totally clueless moron or a lying racist for making almost identical statements in 1980 and 2002 and for addressing the Conservative Citizens' Council (with high praise) several times during the 90s.


That's all I got for now. Sorry if this is too political, but I had to get it out.

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

What's shakin'? Well...


I'm spending the next few days cleaning up the house 1) on general principle, and 2) in expectation of the cat sitter we should have dropping by whilst we are on Christmas vacation. I finally got 95% of the walkway by our house cleared off just in time to hear that we have another winter storm watch set for tonight. Whoopee.


I've also been sleeping away from Kathy for the past couple of days. The reasons are that I have some nasal congestion, I snore, and Kathy has had to put in some long hours lately. It's only temporary, but still... I miss my honey bunny at night! WAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! *sucks thumb*


In happier news, I have finally determined what to do with my Xanga blog site. Go here to find out. :)

Sunday, December 8, 2002

We made it through the concert last night. Well, sort of. Kathy sang her part in the Monteverdi piece very well, and looked absolutely beautiful in her little blac number. Me? I almost passed out from standing for nearly two hours straight in a heavy tux under very hot lights. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to sit down before I keeled over. A lot of people asked me afterwards if I was okay. Okay I was, but a little embarrased.

Friday, December 6, 2002

Got back a few minutes ago from community choir rehearsal. Actually, we just got back from choir rehearsal, followed by a trip to Walmart for dresses and ice cream. Two and a half hours of standing in one place with NO respite. AND Kathy had to sing for an extra hour before that. Ahh, the things we do for art.

Speaking of, I had to go get a tux for the concert tomorrow, today. I, uhhh, kinda put it off until Kathy screamed in my ear to do it or have my toenails forcibly removed with a pair of tweezers. The first place I went to, I walked in and asked if they had tuxes. The clerk there said that they had a selection, but they had to be brought in from either Harrisonburg or Roanoke. I asked her if there was any chance they could get one in tomorrow, and she asked me "Did your wife just call here?"

I sighed and said "Probably". Turns out it was indeed Kathy. Goofus.

Luckily I found a place in town that carried a few tuxes. Only cost me $35 for the rental, and the best part is, it's actually black and NOT baby blue with Englebert Humperdink ruffles! In any case, I should look pretty sharp tomorrow night.

Thursday, December 5, 2002

And so the Clint McGuire "750 Miles of Edutainment" tour comes to an end, at least for now. For those of you that didn't know, I took my GRE on Tuesday and went to Richmond VA to take a look at the VCU theatre program. Here's how it all went.


I left for Boone Monday, leaving Kathy at home with a stomach virus she caught from her (our) nephew Ben, who caught it from one of Kathy's mom's friends. Anyway, I got to Boone and settled myself in for a night of studying. When I couldn't take it anymore, I went to bed and tossed and turned in anticipation of the next day.


Tuesday, I went to ASU and checked in for the GRE. Now, I had last year's guide, and I studied based on that one, which had the analytical questions section in it. Well, when I got to the testing center, I was in for a nasty surprise, because I found out that the Analytical section is now an Analytical Writing section, and it was the first friggin' thing I had to get through. Well, I got through it and the rest of the test, and when I finished, I got my preliminary test scores.


Verbal: 650

Quantitative: 600


The Analytical Writing will be graded later by a board of scholars, so I'll have to wait for my official scores to come back to see how I did on them. I left Boone and heard that they were expecting 11 inches of snow there on Wednesday. I got home, told my still-sick honey"I love you" and went to bed.


Wednesday morning I went to Richmond. I took the back roads, thinking it'd be faster than the interstate. Turns out it was only marginally faster, and once I got on the other side of Buena Vista, I had to climb and then descend a pretty steep mountain. I decided that if the winter storm was as severe as they were predicting that I would take the Interstate back.


I got to VCU just in time to meet with the head of the grad theatre department. She talked to me for a while then handed me over to a graad student for a tour and a sit-in on two classes: movement and directing. I really felt at home at VCU; everyone seemed to get along quite well, there was a strong sense of cameraderie in the air, and they made me feel welcome. The professors even took time to talk to me, with the directing preofessor even asking me my opinion on a one-act that we saw rehearsed for the class.


I stayed over with my friend Chris Booth, and we watched the snow falling on Richmond. This morning I set out at 10, and took the Interstate back to Lexington. As I mentioned before, it took me about as long to get back to Lexington as it did to go to Richmond via US 60. This despite the crappy condition of I-64, a werck that slowed everything up badly, and my damn near sliding off the road on a couple of occasions.


The funny thing is, when I got home I realized that somehow I had grabbed Chris' wallet by mistake when I left this morning. I Express Mailed it back to him this afternoon, and I made some chicken soup for Kathy and I to nosh on for dinner in our little house surrounded by snow and ice.


I'm pleased by how things have gone the past few days; I'm just glad that I get to sleep in my own bed tonight. Between being at Carol's place in NC, and couch-surfing due to visitation (Chris'), and sickness (my Honey-Bunny-Bear), I haven't slept in our bed in more than a week. Nitey-nite all! :)