Between this entry and a bunch of recent posts on the Three Peas blog, I've probably been overusing the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. I can't tell if it's aiding my creativity or stealing it from me, but either way it's pretty addicting to use and I always have my phone with me, so a lot of photos are being generated.
I haven't been writing much of anything lately. Actually I've been starting and re-starting this entry for six weeks. Uninterrupted stretches of time are rare and usually filled with more pressing things to do. Plus, my thoughts have been widely scattered. Maybe the problem is there's too much to say. I'm horrible at decisions. I don't know what to mention and what to leave out. As a result, you can expect this entry to be a jumbled mess... if it gets finished at all.
I've been on leave from work since early May, which has been great. I will never forget this time I've shared with Veronica. She is everything I could possibly want in daughter. No, that doesn't capture it. The thousands of photos I've taken of her don't capture it either. She's this perfect, innocent little being with a personality that is completely her own. I love the way her face lights up when she sees her favorite book ("Farm Peekaboo"). I love listening to her murmur to herself as she plays with a box. I love that she laughs at my lame jokes. I love that she is so curious that she'll try to grab the next thing before letting go of the last. There is so much more. She just melts my heart.
There used to be more to this blog entry, but it was too revealing and I ran out of time to properly edit myself. So I'm scrapping it. I will leave you with the photos I intended to include. They tell a better story than I can with words anyway.
This clip is nothing new if you caught it on Facebook last week or if you are a lucky owner of the limited edition Cottage Cheese DVD from a few years ago. It's not exactly brilliant filmmaking (nor singing for that matter), but I wanted to include it here because of its connection to the title of my blog. I had completely forgotten about the video when I wrote about the origins of "Midnight Toast," but it would have fit into that entry quite well.
What any of this has to do with my 30th birthday, I don't know. The big day was yesterday, and it got me thinking about things. Two years ago, I questioned whether or not hitting 30 would bother me. To be honest, I feel better about it now than I did then. I think a person reaches their full potential in their 30s, and there will be a lot of things to look forward to in my next decade, like having kids and seeing how Lost ends :-)
29 was one of my favorite ages, right up there with 4, 17, and 21. I won't bore you again with a list of everything that happened in the last year, but I've been very fortunate to have things work out the way they have. I really like my life right now. It scares me a bit to have things going so well because it seems like they can only change for the worse. But let's not talk like that. I'm just going to knock on wood and keep thinking positive thoughts.
Positive thoughts... like how wonderful yesterday was. Work wasn't too stressful. Afterwards, I took a bike ride along the beach. R arrived home early, and we went out to a happy hour at The Melting Pot. Then we returned home and uncorked a bottle of good pinot noir to drink while I opened my gifts. I was once again reminded why I love this woman so much: she got me a chess set (I'll explain this in a future entry) and a shotgun microphone for my video camera! Now I have no excuse for not shooting more video. I can't wait to start some new projects.
I also received a few cards in the mail with some kind words in them (as well as some moola :-). My parents also went so far as to record a video and email it to me. Between the acting, the editing, and the U2 soundtrack, they did an awesome job. I'd love to share it with you, but I'm not so sure my parents want it online. Let's just say I can see where I get some of my toast-singing lunacy from.
That's all I'm going to do for tonight. Thanks for reading, everybody.
