And before that...

On The Weather:

Trans Am got rained out for Fort Reno last week, and it looked like Fugazi was going to be, but the Fugazi show happened. On the way there, I got stuck in an honest to god hail storm. Decent-sized pellets too, this was no joke. It was a fantastic sound and a fantastic lack of visibility; the whole freeway sort of ground to a halt and we all just sat there in our cars going "fucking hail. Unfuckingbelievable."

Trees are down all over the place; there was one completely blocking the Spout Run expressway last night, which was also fantastic... I have a soft spot for Spout Run as it is, but to be there with the car shut off, just standing there waiting for something to happen, someone to make the tree disappear: I have never heard that many crickets and frogs and the like in my life. It was a symphony. And dark and lush and moist and creepy and great.

On The O'Shaunnessy's:

I went to my Uncle Tom's house this weekend with my sister and parents. His birthday was sunday, he turned 73 I believe. His wife (whom he married at age 20) died earlier this year, and he's in some pain. It was tremendously sad to watch, but at the same time, it was a celebration and a reunion and a barbecue and good things. But all four of his sons live nearby, and he's got a gaggle of grandchildren. He's quite the patriarch really, it was an impressive display of family.

The story is: my dad has 9 brothers and sisters, and my mom has 4 brothers and sisters, which means I have a great many cousins, and even more cousins-once-removed. But in all honesty, I barely know any of them. On my dad's side, the majority don't speak English, and we've only met once (if that). The exceptions live in California and I've met them maybe three times or so. On my mom's side, we all used to hang out every Christmas, but when my grandmother died that seems to have stopped. So all of these cousins and their children at my Uncle Tom's this weekend, I hadn't really seen since I was about 13. At which point they were all just sort of this mishmash of relations; I had no real concept of whose children were whose.

I am the caboose of my generation (the youngest of my grandmother's grandchildren), and I'm the same age as the engine of the following generation (the oldest of my grandmother's great-grandchildren). So for instance this weekend, I was talking to my first cousins Tim and Elise, who have a son my age. It's a little confusing, but mostly just sort of The Way Things Are for huge families I guess. It was strange though that I gravitated more towards the cousins-once-removed, the oldest of whom are in their early to mid twenties. They call my Uncle Tom, "Pa," and after a while, I was looking at him as a grandfather-type-figure too. Both of my grandfathers died before I was born, so I'm not sure how all that works, but: it's definitely weird for me to look at my Uncle as the quintessential Grandfather type when he is about 2 years older than my dad.

Who, incidentally, lost 20 pounds on Herbalife.

Suffice it to say: Chenny's a bit lost in the head when it comes to extended family.

On Britney:

Anyway, my cousin Denis (everyone in my mom's family is named either Denis or Mary) runs the bus company that my grandfather started, and they do rock star tour buses, and they do N*Sync's buses and Britney's! And Cher, and George W. (Oh p.s., everyone got just the biggest kick out of that Nader bumper sticker on my car.) Anyway, I just thought I would tell you that Britney and Justin are so dating.

On Johnny Cash: