Great Expectations

I find that it's always tough to get going on this thing after a lot has just happened. There is simply too much expectation to document all the fun properly and entirely. The expectations are my own more than anyone else's, of course, but that fact doesn't stop me from creating a large mental obstacle that needs to be overcome before I can even sit down and just get going on a simple blog post.

The irony is that the whole process reminds me of work. At work, I don't mind seeing the patients (most patients that is), but rather it's the lengthy and laborious documenting of the encounter afterwards that I've really come to hate. Similarly, I sure as hell enjoy going ON the vacations, visiting with friends and family, and traveling Europe, and rocking out to Priest, and watching summer movies, etc; it's just the documenting of the experience that I have come to lament. (And yet of course still expect of myself.)

It's hard to say how many times I've sat down to get going on a post only to stop and say to hell with it. It happens a lot, actually. Such is the way of blogs I guess.

And I would probably just stop doing it actually (I mean who needs more administrative "paper work" in their life?), except that every once in a while I like flipping back through the old posts and seeing what I was doing back in the old days, what I was thinking about back in those days, etc. I wish I had something like this through high school and college, now that I think about it, because I find it's harder and harder to remember details from those days as the years go on, and I'm of course a sucker for nostalgia. That said, I can't really imagine actually reading anything I would have written in high school or college without reddening embarrassment. (I certainly wouldn't talk about anything as immature as Transformers, Spider Man, or ninjas in THIS day and age. No, of course not.)

So I guess I keep doing it for the diary effect more than anything. Plus I get giddy when I think about a potential child of mine reading this thing in their 20's, and seeing what I was saying about shizzle back in 2006, or whatever.

So that's where I sit in general with this blog. OK, enough justification. Onto the actual post.

Here are the recent big events in my life:

Early June: Went to Croatia for about 8 days with Gwen, Pete, Mallory (sis), and Eryn.

Following that: Eryn stuck around for another week. Highlights from that week included a fair amount of viewing Euro Soccer from the Euro Cup 2008, a Judas (Effin) Priest concert in Luxembourg, and a quick shimmy up to Amsterdam.

On top of all that, Gwen and I have been taking in the occasional movie and watching some good stuff on the DVD player to boot.


Regarding Croatia, ain't no way I'm doing a full recap. The trip was awesome and I'll leave it at that. I will mention that similar to last year's vacation, one of the highlights was the Adriatic cliff jumping. We ratcheted it up a level this year, seeking out higher and crazier cliffs, mostly on Pete's lead. Anyway, I got a real charge out of some of our highest jumps, which we estimated were in the 50-60 foot range. (A year from now, we'll be telling people 150 feet of course). There comes a real adrenaline rush with looking over a height, contemplating rationally what you're about to do, and then just pulling the trigger, followed by the harsh slap of the water. What a kick!

Other highlights from Croatia including spending time with my sister, and together touring our "Motherland" as Prince and Princess of the famous house of Stuparich. Dubrovnik, a walled city, was amazing. We toured several islands, some national parks, and absorbed the local culture. I ate a lot of seafood. We also got to watch Croatia play soccer in Croatia, while we were in Zadar, which was neat because as everyone knows the Euros are NUTS regarding soccer. (During this cup alone, I've seen the Croats win while IN Croatia, the Dutch win while in Amsterdam, and of course the Germans win while IN Germany.)

Most of the Croatia pictures are still being assembled (they were taken on no less than four cameras for eight straight days - that's a lot of pics), and I'll try and post 'em up in time as they roll out with a choice selection or two here today. I know everyone just wants to see the pics anyway.


After Croatia, Eryn, Pete, a buddy from work (Tony), and I headed up to Luxembourg to check out the one and only Judas Priest, my favorite metal band which I've resurrected in my life here a few months back. I listened to Priest a lot in high school and then only intermittently until recently. Turns out they're still alive and kicking and Rob Halford, the lead singer, is one of my all time favorites.

The show was a blast. Priest is getting up there in age, of course, having gotten their start in the 1970's. So it wasn't exactly what I'd call an "impressive" group of men who rolled out on stage that night. That said, once the music kicked it didn't matter how old and hard livin' they looked, how balding they were, or how much their leather sagged off of skinny limbs. I'm proud to say they can still rock hard with a purpose. Rob himself was a sight to behold. He's older now, there's no mistaking that. No longer the lithe, young, almost pixie-like "hellion" who so entranced me in high school, he now resembles something more like an older, heavier, slower, Hell's Angel type. I commented to Pete at the show that if you put a hat full of pins on him and stuck him in our waiting room, he'd fit in with every other Vietnam-looking veteran that's in there. He can still hit the occasional high note, though he's clearly lost a step - I'll admit that much. Overall, the show was still great and yet really made me wish I had seen them in 1990 right after Painkiller came out.

I was impressed with the song selection as well. Priest has more than 12 studio albums, and lots of classics in the genre, so I was definitely curious to see what they would play. And here is the set list from what I recall: (This is not in order)

Song (Album)

Painkiller (Painkiller)
Hell Patrol (Painkiller)
Between the Hammer and the Anvil (Painkiller)
Leather Rebel (Painkiller)
Sinner (Sin after Sin)
Hell Bent for Leather (Hell Bent for Leather)
The Green Manalishi (Hell Bent for Leather)
Metal Gods (British Steel)
Breakin' The Law (British Steel)
Electric Eye (Screaming for Vengeance)
You Got Another Thing Coming (Screaming for Vengeance)
Devil's Child (Screaming for Vengeance)
Rock Hard, Ride Free (Defenders of the Faith)
Eat Me Alive (Defenders of the Faith)
Angel (Angel of Retribution)


They also played two or three songs off of their brand new concept album, Nostradamus. Again, I was pleased at the selection. I think the best songs at the show were "Rock Hard, Ride Free" and "Metal Gods".

Anyway, since exactly three people who read this thing probably like Priest, I'll stop there.

And now this post was just interrupted by a long phone call and I lost my train of thought.

Post over. (Pics to follow another day.)