17 May 2008.  11:28pm. My hair is sticky and crinkled from the sea water, leaving a thin crust to dry on my body as I lay out on my towel, soaking in the sun, letting it burrow into my skin and latch onto my bones. She stirs on her towel next to mine.  "How is the water?" she asks, peeking (as ever) over her large sunglasses. I snicker.  "Oh, you know how it is.  Invigorating, frenetic, tumultuous, exciting.  All of the above." She...

I don't even bother doing a quick paragraph on the top of these anymore.  I figure, if you're reading this and you don't already know that these are excerpts from my travel journal, you must not come around my blog much.  Kick your shoes up!  Stay awhile.  Say hello. I'm afraid pretty much everyone already knows the deal-io, here. -- 26 Apr 2008.  10:11pm. My phone rings early this morning, and I'm miraculously still asleep.  (This has to be a record for...

If you haven't read the first part yet, best read that first. http://sanchonino.joeuser.com/article/303437/La_casa_vidriera_-_A_Tragedy_in_Two_Acts_part_one -- 05 Mar 2008. 4:24 pm.   Hillary and I went for a walk through the old part of town today, just meandering with no particular destination in mind, and with no other goal than simply being together.   As we strolled slowly, I put my arm around her firm, toned waist. She burned with a vibrance, like a spring that can ...

My entry for the JUWC this time is yet another excerpt from my travel journal.  (I know, it's boring, but it fits the criteria, because every single one of these posts is me standing naked in a glass house, for all of you to see.  I doubt the monkey will make an appearance.) It is divided into two acts (because frankly, it's too long to be one post) and we'll call it "La casa vidriera: A Tragedy in Two Acts - or, Flame and Fizzle". Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your big fa...

Another installment from the beloved country of Spain.  I must admit, I'm having one heck of a good time over here.  This is pretty sappy stuff, though, so schmaltz warning from the get-go.  (What can I say?  Situations like this make me ooze sap.  Like a tree.  A big, old, maple or somesuch.) You know you all love it - that's why you keep coming back and suffering through my crappy sappy posts.  (Same disclaimer as last time - BlueDev, Cedarbird, one w...

So . . . I know I do a lot of bandstanding about how great it is to be single, but it's starting to catch up to me. Maybe I'm not as bad about it here, but in the real world, I'm always extolling the advantages to being single. (Mostly because I can't seem to keep a stable relationship . . .) This weekend, I was invited by a couple of friends of mine (the sensational Quilter twins) to a dance party they were having at their house. I promised I'd go . . . mostly under duress. There was ...

I had a friend a couple of years back, a guy I met while I was on my mission. Name of Bobby Nichols. He was a good kid. We were partners on the mision for six weeks together. We had a lot of fun, but he was one of the most immature people I'd ever met. (Consequently, hanging out with him was buckets of fun, but really immature - I mean, I'm pretty sophomoric in my own right, but this kid made me look like freakin' Mohatma Ghandi!) I mean, this was the kid that helped our neighbor bu...

Wow! It's been forever. Long story, but here I am, with a funny story to tell . . . For those of you who haven't read the exploits of my crazy psycho ex girlfriend, you'd probably better read this story first. So on Friday afternoon, I was working at the nursery, of course, and I was walking back to the annual flowers section and I hear from behind me, “Braeden Jones!” I thought to myself, That voice sounds eerily whiny and familiar . . . I spun on my heels, and was terrifie...

(BlueDev, if a word of this gets to the parents, I don't care how much bigger or tougher you are, you'll go down . . . this is not for them) So last Friday I was at work, and Lloyd and I were putting some PVC pipe up on a high shelf. I stood there, trying to hold my end up, while Lloyd persisted in wiggling his. Because of all his movement, all the PVC that I could'nt reach to hold came tumbling down - and right into my waiting face. The bundle of pipe slammed into my glasses, which in ...