I didn’t sleep too well last night, despite having taken some NyQuil. As I was falling asleep I happened to, well, I was a little gassy. Apparently it was pretty bad because Amanda complained about it. A little later I was lightly asleep and Amanda poked me and told me I was snoring. She got up and got me a cough drop. After that, to try to help the situation, I piled my pillows up and slept somewhat upright, which I think helped some. It was nice of her to get me a cough drop despite what I’d done before. Or maybe I got those events backwards.
Bruce decided he wanted to go to the bathroom at 3:30. I almost didn’t get up to let him out, but I knew if I didn’t I’d end up regretting it. So with all of the above and the fact that I was getting up early to do the directing at church today, it just didn’t add up to a good night’s sleep.
Directing went well I think. Or at least pretty well. I don’t think I was fully on my game, but we still did pretty well. I went in a little later than usual because I had called Mike Paschal, who coordinates all this stuff, and I told him I probably wouldn’t make it at 6:00 since I knew I’d be taking some drowse-inducing medicine. I said I’d be in at 7:00 and he told me it’d be okay if I came in at 7:30. Between the time I woke up and the time I got to church I must have hocked up a bucket of phlegm. Lovely, I know.
I did have a good crew today. I had Parrish and Martha on the stage mobile cameras, Philip in the back and a girl I hadn’t met before named Anna on the floor camera for the first two services then a guy I hadn’t met before at the 12:30 service. I think his name was Ed. It was something short like that.
Joey Connelly was looking at the features on my iPhone during the 12:30 service and took a look through the photo gallery on it. He happened to zoom in on what I’ve labeled my Portfolio Pictures and commented positively on a number of them. That’s a nice thing because his father is a photographer and despite his age he’s a talented filmmaker.
I talked to Amanda after the 8:30 service and we talked to Kyle and Lorin Van Zandt. They were going with some friends they were trying to hook up to the south end of Wrightsville Beach, which just happens to be where we always go, so we planned on meeting them out there. After I got finished at church I headed home. I got to stay there just long enough to change into my bathing suit and lather up on some sunscreen and put some on Amanda’s back before we headed out. Amanda was already ready and had everything ready to go.
Kyle and Lorin’s friend wasn’t able to go, so we ended up meeting up with them at the Wrightsville park and we all drove together in the banged up Jetta to the Frazelle house. We dropped off the car key (just in case they needed it, even though we weren’t blocking anyone in) and said hi. Anna showed me the newly painted floors. You could still smell them, but they look really good. Scout, their King Charles Spaniel, had thrown up a few times and they were worried that it might be the fumes from the paint.
It was pretty hot out today. My throat was still hurting, but I felt fine otherwise, as opposed to yesterday when I just didn’t feel like being out in the heat. We all sat out there for a little bit just talking and such. Lorin was the first to go for a quick dip in the water to cool off. A little bit later Kyle and I went in. The water wasn’t rough, and it was nicely cool. Just a tad on the cold side, but you got used to it real quick. There were a few surfers out, but there didn’t seem to be a whole lot to catch. There were some decent waves for body surfing though, and that was fun. I guess I got to work a little on catching waves, right? It was pretty fun, actually. You start kicking then feel the wave catch up to you and start to power you before it overpowers you and you just stick your arm out like you’re flying. I got plenty of water in me from it. One time I think a secondary wave hit the first one and some water got in my mouth, went up my throat and came out my nose. I also scraped my chin on some sand one time, but fortunately it was just the one time. It wasn’t enough to break the skin, but I kept checking for a couple minutes. After that I started holding my arms a bit lower so my arms would let me know if I was hitting the bottom before my face told me.
On a side note, apparently it’s Latino Appreciation Month or Hispanic Heritage Month or something, which is being highly promoted during the Cowboys and Bears game. There was even a commercial for the video game Madden ’08 completely in Spanish. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a commercial on a major show in a regular timeslot totally in another language.
Speaking of football, Donovan McNabb finally came through big today. LaDanian Tomlinson was decent too. I should win my fantasy football game again this week, although it looked shaky early. McNabb did well, but I was playing against (my sister Andra’s husband) Josh Sawyer’s dad, and a lot of his points came from Brian Westbrook, who was getting fed by my McNabb, so the better my guy did the better his guy did. But it’s currently 165-138. All of his people have played while I’ve still got most of three quarters left with Terrell Owens. There’s usually a little bit of point adjustment overnight, but I should have enough padding not to worry about it.
So anyway, back to the beach. Kyle and I were out in the water, talking and body surfing. The ladies were on shore laying out and, presumably, talking. They came in after a while and I challenged the Van Zandts to a game of chicken, but Lorin forfeited so I guess we won. They went back after a bit and Kyle and I stayed out a little while longer. Eventually we went in and left. We decided to grab some PT’s to eat before going our separate ways. We dropped them off at their car and met them at the PT’s Grill on Eastwood and Oleander.
Amanda and I came home and took showers. I feel pretty good, but I’m really hoarse now. I’m doing my best not to talk at all right now.
I just got an e-mail from Kelia Pless (Hester, back when I knew her in high school) letting me know that she and her husband Jon are expecting a baby in March. Congratulations to them!
So here’s a kicker. I just found out that the NyQuil gelcaps I’ve been expired sometime in 2006. So I guess they’ve done a good job of making me sleepy and loopy, but they probably haven’t done much for my symptoms.
Zach Dotsey