The Unique Universe of New Orleans

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The city of New Orleans is like another universe in comparison to the small city where I reside. My parents and brother and I recently took a train ride to New Orleans, Louisiana. It was only about my fifth across states train journey I’ve ever embarked upon. The trip lasted around 14 hours and was worth every second of time it took to arrive at the remarkable city.

It was such a fun five day adventure! We stayed at the hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter on Royal Street. I feel this must be one of the most fascinating parts of the city. There are so many people out and about taking in the sights and sounds. There are restaurants and antique shops and all sorts of shops really. The famous Bourbon Street was nearby and one of our meals we had there. We had several exquisite meals right there at our hotel’s restaurant. Of course we had adult beverages at The Carousel Bar that really does spin slowly as you’re seated. I’ve sat at many bars since age 19 but I’d never before sat at one that rotated round and around!

I love that New Orleans has such a variety of people and culture! Music is everywhere and so is art. Like the city of New York it seems that New Orleans never sleeps. At one point we were walking down the street near our hotel and a band was set up in the street as cars passed by directly next to them. In Carbondale, where I live, if there’s a band playing in the street then that street is closed down for the evening. In New Orleans this is simply not the story. I live in a really small city and a big city is quite different. I love the differences.

One evening we went to see a famous play titled Blithe Spirit at The Petit Theatre. What fun we had! We attained balcony seats in the front row! There’s two movies based on this play and now I must see them because I thoroughly enjoyed the performance. It’s a comedy and it did deliver much laughter. I enjoy live theater and I plan going forward to take in more of it at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

We visited the World War II Museum. There’s so much to see at this museum! It’s enormous and full of information about such a tragic time in history. The last time my family and I visited New Orleans back in 2013 we also visited this museum. I found it even more fascinating this time around.

During our stay we ate all of the delicious food and drank the fancy drinks and Abita beer and enjoyed our gorgeous hotel and savored the music and enjoyed the people we met and Dad bought a fine new pork pie blue hat with a feather and I bought two limoges art works for Dad and also one for my beautiful girlfriend, Jennifer. The Carbondale Amtrak got us there and returned us back with roomettes and onboard dining. I enjoyed the journey both ways and obviously I enjoyed the unique universe that is New Orleans.

I hope to return again soon!

From Paducah, With Joy

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My new year was brought in with much fun and joy! The other day, on the eve of the year 2026, Jennifer and I took a trip to Paducah, Kentucky to see the sights. We played shuffle puck at a place there we love named The Old Fashioned Cigar Bar. I recall losing more than I won, but we don’t need to dwell on this too much. And we checked out The Foxbriar Inn and had highly fancy drinks and highly intriguing conversations with strangers. Of course I mustn’t forget our delicious meal at Max’s Brick Oven! The baked brie appetizer is worthy of its very own blog just about it. Also we played some pool at The Silver Bullet bar against a couple nice young folks we’d just met. The afternoon and evening were a remarkable time and we even made it home by midnight.

A favorite part of our recent Paducah adventure was having our photos taken in front of a gorgeous Christmas tree. Recently I was gifted a Polaroid printer that will print small pictures from one’s IPhone through bluetooth technology. Obviously I printed some of them to give to Jennifer. They are such beautiful photos in honor of such an incredible moment.

On January first we watched the conclusion to the blockbuster TV show Stranger Things. I’ve been a fan of this show for over four years and Jennifer has been a loyal fan since 2016 when it first premiered. One word: Wow! It was such a terrific ending to the five season long show! I won’t offer spoilers. But I loved all of season 5 just as much as the other seasons.

So here it is the third of January and tonight my trivia team is having a house party. I’m excited! There will be a post holiday gift exchange and games and some shenanigans I’m certain. Jennifer and I and the rest of our awesome team are ready to party at teammates, Dan and Elisa’s, home. Let the dice roll and allow the fun to continue!

I hope you enjoyed your new year! No matter how the celebrations happened I so hope you made some great memories and captured some epic photos and perhaps even got to kiss someone special. Cheers to 2026!

And to All a Good Night and to All a Joyful Morning

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It was a wonderful Christmas day! The fellowship was rewarding. The gifts were beautifully wrapped. Holiday cheer was all around. The Christmas Eve service was glorious. And now I don’t return to work until the fourteenth of January. It is a highly sweet time of the year!

The presents happened on Christmas morning. My mom gifted me a Polaroid printer that prints photos straight from one’s IPhone via bluetooth. My brother gifted me a cool Nintendo Switch game. Dad gifted an amazing light blue pork pie hat. My beautiful girlfriend gifted me a beautiful engraved watch with a band the color of cranberry. Other gifts were also graciously given. Of course I passed out presents also to my loved ones. It is good to receive and to give.

The fellowship happened in Centralia, Illinois. I have family that lives there and they were such a joy to be around. Jennifer, my girlfriend, and her son Lee joined my parents and brother and I as we made the hour’s trip to where my uncle and aunt and cousins reside. The feast was way above average and most delicious! Laughter was among us all. The spirit of Christmas was present as some spirits flowed. We told old stories and new stories. New friendships were formed. A great time was had by all.

The night before Christmas was the service at the church I’ve belonged to since 1998. Jennifer and Lee joined me and my brother and parents. It’s a candlelight service filled with songs and scripture readings. I truly enjoy it every December 24th! It was an extra joy this season for Lee and Jennifer to be there!

When it comes to Christmastime I don’t care at all whether folks say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas. I accept any and all good cheer and well wishes. People could go around saying Keep the Party Going, My Friend and that would make me happy also. Good cheer is a great thing! Our world needs more cheer and good tidings. So Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and Keep the Party Going and Rock On and continue to Live Life Large and to All A Good Night and to All A Joyful Morning!

This Card is a Keeper

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I enjoy giving and receiving cards of celebration. I love all of the celebratory occasions. Everything from Thank-You cards to Christmas cards to birthday cards to condolence cards to any other type of handwritten and thoughtful card are keepers for me. Seriously, I’ve kept pretty much every card I’ve been gifted since I was around age 19.

So obviously this is my sort of happy season because of Christmas cards. I’ve been giving out cards in honor of this holiday season since 2008. The cards of my choosing have consistently been the highly fancy pop-up cards. The first ones I passed out 17 years ago had a mouse popping out of a holiday stocking. Yeah, they were super cute and cool. The folks I gave them to were quite impressed!

After the first season of giving out pop-up cards I felt I’d found my calling regarding Christmas and the type of card giver I wanted to be. From then on it had to be pop-ups! A flat card simply would not be sufficient. For the longest time I went with the pop-ups crafted by Robert Sabuda. Sabuda is a big name in the world of pop-up books. What Michael Jordan is to the game of basketball Robert Sabuda is to the craft of beautiful pop-up masterpieces.

Sabuda stopped making his wonderful pop-up holiday cards several years back. One year I skipped passing out cards because I could discover no new Sabuda cards. I missed the giving, though. Not gifting cards took a little joy away from my holiday season. Every year since I’ve gotten back to the magical world of pop-ups and bringing joy to my friends and family.

Holiday cards don’t mean that much to some of us. We glance at them and then soon after they are trashed. And I’m not judging this behavior. No, I’m only stating a fact. With the pop-up holiday cards, however, many have told me throughout the years that they save them. Just recently someone who works in the same library as I do, in the library’s coffee shop, displayed a holiday pop-up train I gave her last year in the coffee shop itself! She pointed this out to me and my morning was made complete!

The small stuff in life can be so amazingly special. If you are a sentimental soul like I am then I know you already know this. Thanks for popping in to read this short piece on pop-ups. I wish you a joyful season filled with love and flat cards and perhaps even a pop-up or two.

Golden Holidays

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The holiday season is here! I love Thanksgiving and I love the month of Christmas! The decorations are already out and up in my home. Presents are already being bought. The advent calendar is stuffed. I’m plotting what cards and gifts I will give my loved ones. Thanksgiving is tomorrow and we shall be a party of nine happy people at my house.

What are you thankful for these days? Ought we only give our thanks once per year? An attitude and practice of gratitude I’m convinced is healthy for us. So let’s be as healthy as we can be!

This year I am thankful for those who care about me and the story of my life. In our life stories not everyone is in it for the marathon race. Some folks just sprint with us for a short while and then find another path. The people we should truly rejoice in and be thankful for are the ones that love us and continually display their care and love. These folks are golden. They might be your immediate family or your significant other or an old childhood friend. Let’s tell those who are gold to us how much we value them!

Tomorrow will be a day of thanks and a day of delicious food and fun and a day to share with our special people. Let us rejoice! We mustn’t miss out or take for granted the great stuff life has to offer us.

Keep the party going through cold December. If you cannot afford a gift or card for a loved one then don’t worry and just show up for that person instead. There are so many ways to give and show love. Enjoy the lights and decorations this season. Enjoy the food. Enjoy one another. Enjoy the gift of life. Enjoy time off of work. Enjoy a vacation. Yes, enjoy it all.

Life is a marathon. If we practice thankfulness on the racetrack we won’t regret it and we’ll be the best runners, or humans, we can be in the area of gratitude. Happy holidays!

Punk Rock Show, St. Louis, November 14th 2025

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On Friday night, with my wonderful girlfriend, we got to go experience one of my all-time favorite bands! The band’s name is MXPX and they’ve been around and playing music since 1992. I first started listening to their music in 1998 on a CD playing in my brother’s Discman CD player. One evening that year, when I was 14 years of age, I played their song “Tomorrow’s Another Day” over and over because I loved it so much. Yeah, I’ve been an MXPX fan ever since 1998.

Friday evening’s show consisted of two bands, The Ataris and MXPX. I enjoy the music of both bands. The Ataris have been making music since the 1990’s as well. Each group is considered to be in the genre of pop punk. The venue for the show was The Pageant in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis is only around two hours away from my town in Southern Illinois. The Pageant is such a cool venue and Jennifer and I had balcony seats. The show was full of enthusiastic energy and we were quite entertained throughout.

One of my favorite parts of the evening was when the frontman for MXPX got off of the stage and into the crowd with his microphone so the crowd of concert goers could sing along into the mic. Another epic moment was the dual guitar toss in the first song across the stage from bandmate to bandmate. And of course the view of the moshing and crowd surfing from up high was consistently fascinating. Moshing and crowd surfing can be chaotic in nature, but the young and young at heart really love it.

I’d seen both groups before live. Jennifer hadn’t ever seen either band. A couple of weeks ago she and I sat down and watched a music documentary from MXPX they put out back in 2005. And we both laughed so much and enjoyed the documentary. 2005 at The Pageant is actually the last time I’d seen MXPX perform. 20 years ago they were playing that night’s show with another band I love named Relient K. MXPX had just put out a new album titled Panic. That tour for them was The Panic with a K Tour. I was 21 years young and oh yeah I did get in that mosh pit that evening! At 41, the other night, Jennifer and I had zero desire to mosh or crowd surf.

I’ve discovered a plethora of other music I love since I was 14. Yet I still cling to the music that sounded beautiful to me when I was so young. I must simply be a dedicated fan. If it wasn’t for the dedicated fans there wouldn’t have been a show on Friday night to even attend. It brings me tremendous joy that The Ataris and MXPX are still putting out new music and bringing crowds to their shows after 30 years.

Jennifer is a newer fan of these two groups. She bought the coolest MXPX tshirt on Friday and bought me a sweet stress ball of the MXPX logo that I’ll cherish forever. I was so happy I could share Friday night’s fun experience with her! MXPX and The Ataris on Friday in the year of 2025 is now my new all-time favorite show I’ve ever attended!

A Weekend of Celebrations

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Last weekend was worthy of writing about. I took a couple of vacation days to make it an extra special four day weekend. On that Friday was my dad’s 68th birthday. And yes we celebrated! My girlfriend, parents, brother and I went out to dinner at a local spot called Global Gourmet. Their food is delicious and the service is excellent. We five had such a wonderful time. At the close of the meal the owner gifted Dad a double shot of Grey Goose vodka in honor of his birthday. Dad sipped it like a gentleman.

Then of course it was back to my home for carrot cake and Polaroids. The pictures were beautiful due to the beautiful people captured in them. I do love instant photographs; they bring me great joy. The carrot cake also brought happiness. Cake and priceless memories go well together.

Dad had so many loved ones wish him a happy birthday on Facebook. It was difficult for him to keep up with all his responses of thanks. Birthdays are supposed to be a big deal and his was an enormously large deal. I know the birthday wishes meant everything to him. It’s good to know that we are special and loved by those whose lives we have touched.

Several writings, blogs, were crafted by my father during the week of his birthday and I enjoyed reading them all. I am similar to Dad in that I also grow excited about my birthday celebrations each year. Let us eat carrot cake and snap photos.

The other excellent experience of last weekend was a gorgeous wedding I attended with Jennifer, my beautiful girlfriend. I was so thankful that I was invited as her plus one. The bride and groom are friends of hers. I’ve heard Jennifer speak of the bride many times and I know she thinks of her as such an incredible friend and person in general. I was happy to be there!

The ceremony was outside. The vows were so sweet, funny and charming. The crowd was in fine attire and ready to party. This celebration was held in a small village in Missouri named Marble Hill. It was an awesome choice for an awesome day.

After the ceremony of course was the inside reception. It was quite the after party! The women were dancing and the men joined in as well and, surprise, I even joined Jennifer out on that dance floor. Now me dancing is truly a miracle of sorts because I am a little terrified of dancing. Before the wedding I’d informed Jennifer that I would slow dance but I wouldn’t dance to the fast songs. Well, that plan went the way of the dinosaurs, because I did in fact get out there on the dance floor and fast dance. And I was so happy I did so! Jennifer and I had a great time out there! It’s good for me to exit my comfort zone and try new and exciting aspects of life. I regret not a thing about fast dancing with my love.

So cheers to birthday celebrations and weddings and laughter and love and Polaroids and cake and all the wonder our lives have to offer us. We must look around and not miss out on the beauty of life. Getting out on that dance floor is good for us. And whenever someone snaps your picture smile like you mean it. Life is meant to be celebrated!

Peace

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Peace of mind is wonderful. We live in a world that can be so chaotic. Our minds also can be filled with turmoil or chaos. What brings you peace? What delivers me peace? Whatever it is it’s worth figuring out or pursuing or allowing to grace our spirits. Our world isn’t at peace, but we can have peace inside ourselves.

I have bipolar and I know what it’s like to not have peace in my mind. I’ve been on good medicines for the mental illness since I was nineteen years of age. Bipolar is a real monster. A lot of folks who have it attempt or commit suicide. The illness itself causes the horrific thoughts that lead to those devastating choices. I don’t much care for horror films because I lived through one once by having a manic episode.

A healthy fight has been fought for me to attain peace inside myself. Peace of mind and spirit and peace with my fellow life travelers didn’t always come easily. I love to laugh, experience joy, have fun times, make and keep friends, and take in the beauty of every new day. None of this would’ve continued without my fight at a young age. Good mental health is worth taking medicine for and worth doctor’s visits and worth reading books about positive mental health and worth the fight.

Anger and irritability have never done me any favors. Peace and calm have done multitudes of them. One of the best things about peace is that we don’t just get to keep it for ourselves. I truly feel we get to give it away by being gentle and peaceful with the people in our lives. A calm attitude can help diffuse a chaotic situation. Yes, the world as a whole still won’t be at peace. But our small impact of peace can help bring our little universes more peacefulness while making them better and happier places. Life’s too short for us to be rage-filled and destructive.

I hope this short blog post brightens your day. Let’s go and offer peace and be at peace. Let’s be world changers of our small universes around us. People’s lives are often in chaos. We can show them something different; we can illuminate another way of living. Or as some places say on Sundays: Peace be with you.

A Week of Unfiltered Joy (Happy Birthday, Dad!)

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As long as our lives last there are celebrations awaiting us. Causes for rejoicing are yesterday, today, tomorrow, forty years ago and forty years from this very moment. Life can be a joyful celebration! Let’s not settle for sorrow or missing out or ignoring the great stuff our lives have to offer us.

My dad turns 68 on Friday. He is calling this current week his birthday week! And why not!? Why shouldn’t we all keep the party going all week long when it comes to the anniversary of our birth? In recent years I’ve taken a week off of work for my birthday festivities. I must’ve learned that one from my dad.

So cheers to my father and 68 years! He’s always been there for my brother and I. A lot of life is to keep on showing up for those we love and he’s always shown up. And I’ve consistently been grateful for this effort. I love that Dad, like myself, gets stoked about his birthdays! I find it sad when people don’t celebrate or get enthusiastic about their birthdays; I feel they’re missing out. Cheers to not missing out!

In three days time Jennifer and my brother and my mom and my dad will have a delightful dinner out and we’ll get some photos to prove it happened. The joy will be genuine! The cake will be delicious. The memories will be happy ones. Because birthdays like life itself are cause for rejoicing. I even hear talk of a surprise gift or two.

Hooray for Dad and for showing up and for birthdays and for unfiltered joy!

The Art of Listening

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Banned Books Week for the year of 2025 just ended. I’ve greatly enjoyed some books through the years that have been banned. Reading has been a tremendous love of mine for over 20 years. I am 41 and I’ve been a lover of literature since about age 19. “Fahrenheit 451” was one of the first books I ever read for pleasure and it set my future reading habits on fire.

According to my Goodreads page I’ve read 897 books so far. I don’t always know much about the latest TV shows because I enjoy books more than television. I’m not the fastest of readers but I am consistent in my reading habits. For the longest time it’s been around 40 books per year. I read before that Stephen King reads around 80 books a year. That’s awesome. I’ve never hit that number though in the span of 365 days.

Reading helps me learn and it teaches me more about the art of listening and paying attention. It’s a quiet hobby in a world filled with loud hobbies. I have bipolar and my mind is already loud. Our world can be so fast and chaotic. Reading says slow down, relax, and listen. For this I love books.

I’m no book snob. People should read whatever they like and love! I don’t feel the books I’ve read are superior to those books others have read. Different books for different folks are a great thing. It’s wonderful that people are still reading at all. I read a statistic the other day that stated only 16% of people currently read books. I suppose this is because of the plethora of other options for our time and our entertainment.

Yet books will still be published and enjoyed! The written word lives on! Audible books live on! It’s never too late for anyone to become a devoted reader and literature lover. I went around 19 years without loving books and then Ray Bradbury illuminated a new path for this former English major.

Read and listen and pay attention and enjoy the quiet.