It's Already December?!?

Today is the last day of November.  The cliche "Where has the time gone?" holds particularly true for me this year...

I have a one year old son.  I'm engaged to get married in 4 months.  I'm beginning to enjoy when things slow down as opposed to always trying to keep things at light speed.  But I'm also pleased with the knowledge that when I need and want to get things going, I still can.  Just not every weekend...

December is always a bittersweet month.  One year ending and another beginning.  Relaxing in the excess of the holiday season before the eventual countdown to the youthful rush of spring and summer.  "This portion of Glynn's blog has been brought to you by schmaltz (and it's connotation not denotation)..."

I'm wearing my Weezer t-shirt.

Chase is crying downstairs while Rachel is working on origami flowers for the wedding.

Glee is on in 52 minutes and Sean and Candace will be over soon to watch it with us.

I like facts.  They're easier to make up than interesting stories and far more entertaining, too...

"What's the point?" 

"... there's supposed to be a point...?"

Cleaning...

... is very tiring.

Especially when done correctly.

Rachel and I don't clean very often, which is a bad habit I'm hoping to break.

It's amazing how many old memories you come across while cleaning.  Receipts that take you back to a specific time in your life.  Old mail that jogs your cranium into nostalgia.  Knick knacks that you acquire without even thinking about it.  In my case, there are plenty of guitar picks and old show tickets and memorabilia from Chase's first couple weeks that send me strolling down memory lane...

The guitar pick that I used for the OC Music Magazine showcase at the Yost in Santa Ana while I was playing with Gregory Brock...

My ticket for the Pixies Doolittle show at the Palladium last November...

Chase's pictures from the newborn photoshoot we had while we were still at Hoag over a year ago...

I guess that's one of the positives of cleaning so infrequently.  All those memories lying around, just waiting to have the dust swept off of them...

*sidenote: When the heck did it become almost DECEMBER!?!?!

Thanksgiving

The giving of thanks.  To whom are we giving said "thanks"...?

I'm thankful for:

- Rachel and Chase and my family.
- Oh Girl
- My health
- My job
- My friends
- Being alive during an age of such amazing opportunity
- Everything I have, everything I want, and everything I'm working for
- The moments when I stop and realize how lucky we really are...
- You.  Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving...

Stuck on the 405...

Mike saved me.

Okay, maybe that's too dramatic. Too hyperbolic. Too Hollywood...

Mike helped me out a whole lot.

My car broke down on the southbound 405 just north of Fairview. And I tried to get over but the closest I got was 3 lanes from the shoulder (which in the grand scheme of things might as well have been the fast lane). I called my Dad to see if we still had triple A. I called Rachel to let her know what was going on. I called a tow truck service.

"30 to 45 minutes."

Rad.

30 to 45 minutes of dirty looks, near accidents, whizzing cars, Colin Cowherd (not a bad thing)... 30 to 45 minutes of being "that guy" and inconveniencing everyone's morning commute.

Then Mike showed up. And stopped on the shoulder. And got out of his truck and stopped traffic and walked over to my car and helped me push it over to the shoulder.

What's your name?

"Mike."

Thank you so much. Do you have a card?

"No. Don't worry about it. Just do something nice for someone else."

Rad... Pretty much left me speechless.

So yeah. Mike helped me out a whole lot. And, hopefully, I can make someone else's day some time soon...

Slow Down... and Manny Pacquiao... and Oh Girl...

My dad is a genius.

He has always maintained that the usefulness of going to Church on Sundays is not to celebrate religion or rack up spirit points or even socialize with all the other Joneses.  The usefulness of going to Church on Sunday is that you get to slow down.

We all clip along at a mile a minute throughout the week.  Deadlines, homework, babysitters, clocking in, lunch break, traffic, road rage, groceries, dinner, dishes, diapers, meetings, outlook reminders, post it messages, voicemail, away messages, to do lists, newsletters, bosses, managers, employees, co-workers, coffee, Kings run... head spin, head spin, head spin, soul fatigue, head spin, head spin...

Then...

Sunday.  And Church.  And slowing down...

I don't go to Church much anymore.  At all, really.  And I don't feel as if my life is any less complete from all the missed sermons and readings and Our Father's...  But I do feel like I could use a gentle weekly reminder to slooooooooooooooooow down...

Oh yeah.  Pacquiao beat the shit out of Margarito last night.  I watched the fight replay tonight, and it was very entertaining.  Manny got hurt in the 6th but still won the round with a flurry at the end.  Margarito almost went down in the 4th and the 11th, but the man has a crazy strong chin.  They're showing the Clottey-Margarito fight later this week on ESPN Classic...  I need to record it so I can study it over and over.  Thank you, sweet sports fan OCD...

Oh yeah.  Another Oh Girl show this Friday, which is also my 29th birthday. 

Oh yeah.  I plan on having my cake and eating it, too.  You know, American Dream styleeeeeeee...

Oh yeah.  Wait.  That's it...

Where do I even begin?

Chase turned one on Thursday.  That was 2 days ago.  Already, I'm thinking to myself, "He's only 363 days away from turning two."  And he realizes I'm typing about him... so he just woke up and is now crying... 12:17am

Now it's 12:26am.  Pretty good, all things considered.  Chase is starting to wake up a lot more throughout the night.  Part of this is probably my fault for always holding him till he goes to sleep.  I need to break that habit...

Anyways, here are my 10 favorite pics from the last couple days... all courtesy of Hipstamatic... in no particular order...

This picture captures so much... curious, whatcha doin?, almost in Disneyland!

I like the wood grain in the foreground and "Birthday" barely peeking over the tray...

The little smirk on Jane's face says it all, "It doesn't get much better than holding my grandson."

So staged, it's almost too contrived, but it's still a great picture...

This was taken while Rachel and her parents were on Soarin'.  I'll always remember this time of the day for how much Chase walked around.  He literally grew right in front of me...

I love my family so much...

Couldn't decide between the two feeding pictures...

Three generations of Montemayors on one couch...

Just a good effin' pic.  Diggin' how in focus the toy table is in the foreground...

He went from barely crawling 10 weeks ago to being able to navigate a party and still have the wherewithal to stop and watch Sesame Street...

Happy Birthday, Chase.  I love you so much...

1:53 am...

... and I'm up.

Chopping up Oh Girl videos from our show at the Blue Cafe in HB.

Possibly booking another show there soon...?

Oh Girl is rock, improv, funny, accessible, clever, unique, fearless, rude, careless, carefree, careful, honest, contrived, fast, slow, soft, loud, easy, difficult, probably crazy, definitely crazy... 

Chase turns one in 2 days.  He's asleep in his crib right now.  The last couple weeks he's been getting up much more frequently throughout the night.  And I used to just go pick him up and sit in the rocker with him on my lap till he fell asleep again and I could place him back in his crib.  Which isn't good because he shouldn't get used to being held to fall asleep.  Apparently, it's a hard habit to break.

Great.

I'm already having trouble letting go...