MDM RIP

New blog launched... http://livingmanlife.blogspot.com/

Grace be with you

Upcoming alterations

I am going to be making changes to my blog site soon. I am growing weary of logging in and out of accounts to do the blog so I will be changing the address and starting from scratch. I will let you know when it happens so you can follow the new one if you so choose. Sorry, but until then...

Grace be with you.

Unintended joy

The other day I was driving down the highway in a sort of stressful mood. As I was taking the ramp from 496 to 127 I looked to my left and saw something wonderful. What I saw was a child about the age of 12 that appeared to have down syndrome, with his head out the window, and his tongue sticking out his mouth. It made me smile and say to myself "That is why I love people!" This little encounter made my day and he may never know....but you do

Grace be with you

An aging child

In my old age I have found that I am starting to get fat and lazy. Yes yes I love exploring and my heart and soul is of a child, but my physical body is no where close. So I decided to start riding my bike to counteract this aging process. Yesterday was the East Lansing art festival so I decided to grab my bike and hit the trails. I started at the Professors house and we went to East Lansing, viewed the Art, then continued on. We took the Riverwalk trail from East lansing to Morse River park, from there to the fish ladder in Old Town and back. It was the first time I have made that ride and it was beautiful. I am going to do it again soon and take a lot of pictures. I know that Prank has made that trip a couple of times when he was here and I am sad that I never got the chance to do it with him... maybe in June?

Grace be with you

The Collins Brothers

This weekend I will be meeting up with "The Dave Collins" to work out songs for "The Collins Brothers". I have been putting in countless hours learning to play the violin with an embarrassing  slow progression in talent, but it is starting to pay off. We will be beginning to work out some songs together so that when we play shows as separate artists, we will also have the ability to play together. I am really looking forward to this new musical venture. It would also be nice to add an inexperienced banjo to the lineup as well, but we are having difficulty locating such a musician....hmmm.

As an unrelated side note, I am always attempting to learn and grow. I want to become more intelligent in areas that mean something to me such as...let's say..... literature. I say this because I want to be kept accountable. Not accountable that I continue to read (well maybe that too), but that I never feel like I am better than or look down on someone because I convince myself that I am more, "enlightened" shall we say, than them. I may be better informed on a given topic, or disagree with them, but to be arrogant and pompous when engaging in conversation with another person shows a true lack of intelligence. We are all kids, young and ignorant.

Grace be with you

MT3 wild and free...

Well, I just got back from MT3 and it was amazing. We started off the trip by going out and buying a number of toys for activities which included, but not limited to: Whiffle ball set, bent golf club, sling shots, paint balls, fire works, and fine beer. Things started off a little shaky because once we got to the camp site, we found that it was closed for the season. This made us a little worried but we quickly found another one, in a better location, and most importantly...free. It was directly next a river that is used mainly for white water rafting but since it was the off season, the place was nearly dead. The first day was pretty much getting the camper set up and getting the lay of the land before the sun went down. We started a fire for the night, played a few songs, then went too bed. Man trip part 3 had officially begun.

The next morning we started with our daily ritual of bacon, egg, and cheese sammiches. Wash it down with a couple of beers, then off to explore. Our main area of exploration for the day was the river near our camp. We spent most of the day climbing boulders and shooting pictures. Yes, yes I was yelled at a few times for climbing on things I probably should have not been, but sometimes you just need to climb things. While we were out climbing we came across a fisherman that gave us some great ideas for more places to explore, wonderful. During the times we would return to the camp site, we would normally pass the time target practicing with slingshots or hitting rocks with the gulf club. Because it was such an exhausting day, we called it an early night to be ready for what's to come.

Saturday we awoke and started the morning routine, then packed ourselves up and headed to Longpoint (with a few scheduled and not so scheduled stops along the way.) We stopped at a few touristy attractions that were kinda cool but most importantly we started making plans for MT4 which will be white water rafting. Our main goal was to get to Longpoint but we had a few miscommunications  with the directions (James said he knew where it was and he really didn't) So we drove around for quite sometime and walked about a half mile in the completely wrong spot. Eventually we found the 2.5 mile trail that took us to long point... Well worth the hike.

After this we returned to the camp site to make our famous Man Trip Chili and have a few drinks. Once the sun went down, the guitar and harmonicas, and song book came out. It was not long before a few of our neighbors came over and wanted to hear us play. Now these were real deep woods, drunk, high, throw motor oil on the fire, West Virginians. We found that not only they, but other people as well like our music. One guy even told us on his way out "That was some mighty fine pick'n and a'grin'n last night" We thanked him.

Sunday was our last full day there and we were exhausted from days prior. We pretty much laid low other then a good whiffle ball game in the rain (won by the one and only MDM). That night it was too rainy for a fire so we played a good old fashion game of Euckre. 

Monday we packed up and headed back to James's house. We took showers and attempted to have another fire that night but again, we were rained out. The night ended up being beers, music, and fireworks in the garage... not bad.

Finally, tuesday. This was the morning we left for home. The town wanted to give us a good bye we would never forget so since they had just finished building a new bridge from Ohio to West Virginia,  they decided to blow the old one up right before we left. This was a wonderful experience that will not soon be forgotten. An explosion that hit your chest from a half mile away. Amazing. 

Overall, MT3 was a huge success.

Grace be with you

Music from my basement

I have a lot to work on... but I'm getting there.

Grace be with you.