Sunday, October 05, 2003

There's always hope

Earlier today, I got a phone call from my friend Laura in Florida. She wanted to catch up and see how things were going with me. She told me about the fund raiser she organized for the deaf center (where she works), and I told her about the fund raiser I attended for the Williamson County Humane Society organized by my friend Shandell (who did an excellent job, I might add). I told her about the boys soccer team I coach winning their game on Saturday, and she told me about how her Party Lites stuff is going.

And then we discussed our families ... I didn't have much to report other than talking about my upcoming visit to Dallas next weekend to see my grandmother, who will be coming in from West Virginia to see her great-granddaughter and to celebrate mine and Ron's birthday (which is on Tuesday ... hint, hint). And then Laura told me about her mom ... On Saturday, Laura got an e-mail from her mother letting Laura know that she got married on Friday. For the ELEVENTH time. You've got to admire a woman who can find nine different guys willing to marry her. (She married two of the husbands twice each.) So, as I sit single on the brink of 36 (on Tuesday, in case you missed it the first time), Laura's mom reminded me that there's always hope. Well, she also reminded me that she might be a little on the crazy side.

Surprisingly enough, I'm reminded of a story. A couple of years ago, Laura attended a wedding in Ft. Worth. Since her husband was unable to fly in, I was called in as the backup date. Laura was helping with the wedding, so she was behind the scenes making sure things went smoothly. Laura's mom and I sat together during the ceremony. Near the end, we were discussing the service, and she told me she thought it was a beautiful ceremony and that it reminded her of her wedding. To which I replied, "Which one?" :)

Sunday, July 20, 2003

Busy, busy week

Wow, it has really been a busy week for me. My company is trying to release a new version of our product, and during the last few weeks of any software development cycle, the QA people (that would be me) usually have to work a lot of hours trying to make sure there aren't any bugs before we ship. And that was exactly the case for me this past week. I spent several nights working some late hours. Not that I'm complaining ... it does put food on my table. Ok, I'm complaining a little. :)

I'm also doing a programming project for a friend's business venture, and he's been waiting for some code from me for several weeks. So I spent my entire Saturday working on that, and part of my Sunday, too. Other than walking the dog and checking my mail, I never got out of the house on Saturday. I'm still not quite done, but I'm much closer.


Oh, and one more thing. Did I mention that I got married today? Earlier, I went with my friends Shandell, Karen, Sinde, and Sinde's parents to see Beehive, a musical saluting the girl groups of the 60's. During one of the segments, one of the performers was dressed as Lesley Gore (who sang It's My Party, I'll Cry if I Want To). Apparently, "Lesley" was crying because her boyfriend left her for another girl (which is what It's My Party is about).

So, "Brenda Lee" and "Connie Francis" try to cheer her up by reminding her that there are other men in the sea. During Connie's rendition of Where the Boys Are, the ladies made their way through the audience trying to find Lesley a new man. They wanted to find her a decent man ... a stable man ... a real hunk, if you will. Unfortunately, they couldn't find that guy, so they chose me instead. And not so surprisingly (since it was part of the script), Lesley was so enamoured with me that she decided to marry me on the spot. Like that hasn't happened to me before. :)

While Lesley prepared backstage, the rest of the ladies sang Chapel of Love, pulled me onto the stage, and dressed me in a lovely white tuxedo jacket. I was then dragged through some choreography that I didn't quite pull off (I'm not a professional). Lesley arrived in her wedding dress, we did the wedding march, we exchanged vows and rings, I kissed the bride (on the cheek), we had cake, we posed for "pictures", and we marched around the stage while confetti was thrown on us by the audience along the stage. After our whirlwind wedding, I was taken back to my seat where I tried to get all the confetti out of my hair.

They didn't let me keep the jacket, but they did give me the picture they took after the vows. The picture quality of the Polaroid wasn't very good, but I did my best scanning it in. We look like such a happy couple. :)

http://donyoung.us/images/goin_to_the_chapel.jpg

Anyway, I hope I'm just as happy with my next wife, whoever she might be. She'll be arriving from Russia any day now. :)

Tuesday, June 03, 2003

My brother Ron is a PIG!

Having grown up a twin my whole life (and the 8-9 months preceding it), I sometimes forget that there are people who have only met one of us handsome devils. This weekend, I was up in Dallas to attend my friend Greg's graduation party. On Saturday, my date Deanna and I were heading to lunch, but I did a favor for my sister-in-law Chandra first. She was in charge of a car wash that their church youth group was having, so I stopped by to get my car washed and to make a donation.

I arrived and parked my car in line. Deanna and I got out, said hello to Chandra, and sat down in the shade in the chairs that were provided while Chandra was busy making sure the kids weren't goofing off too much, as kids sometimes do. I said hello to a couple of the kids I recognized from some of the previous church functions I attended, but I didn't know most of them, so we pretty much stayed sitting in the shade. And Chandra would occasionally stop by to chat when it wasn't too busy.

Although Ron and I are identical twins, we don't look as alike as we used to. His face has always been a little thinner than mine, but now that our hair isn't exactly cut the same and I have facial hair, people have no trouble telling us apart when we're standing next to each other. But apparently, some people have problems telling us apart when 1) we're not in the same place, and 2) they don't know Ron has a twin.

Chandra told me at dinner that night that after we left, some of the kids were upset with "Ron". First, they were upset because "Ron" and Chandra had apparently separated. And second, they were upset because "Ron" had the audacity to show up at the car wash with a hot date. And flaunting her in front of "his" wife ... how rude! They thought "Ron" was such a pig! I guess "he's" just that kind of guy. :)

Prologue: Yes, it was explained to the kids who I was, and that no, Ron was not there with a date. Ron wasn't even there. So perhaps for this one instance, Ron wasn't being a pig. This time.

Sunday, April 27, 2003

Wall of Shame

My friend Mitsi e-mailed me some months ago. Her company (Procter and Gamble) in Cincinnati was having an 80's Wall of Shame contest, in which the employees were submitting pictures of themselves and others taken during the 80's. I had a digital copy of a picture of her and our friend Greg on their way to a high school dance, and she wanted to submit that one. I would post that photo, but I'm pretty sure Greg doesn't want it distributed, and I guess I'll be nice just this once. Mitsi also told me that she submitted the following photo that I was in with my brother and friends at our prom:

http://donyoung.us/images/youth/ssc.jpg

Well, this past week Mitsi informed me that our photo was named runner-up in the contest. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to win since none of the people in the photo actually worked at P&G, but after hearing that the winner was a picture of a woman with big hair wearing MC Hammer pants, I knew runner-up was the best we could have hoped for. It's an honor I'll cherish for as long as I can remember, which at my age, won't be for much longer.

One final note ... the picture of Greg and Mitsi didn't win anything. In fact, Mitsi's coworkers thought she looked adorable in her big hair and polka-dot dress (that she made herself, by the way). However, they had a field day with Greg's Miami Vice suit, thin tie, and mullet. :)

Wednesday, February 12, 2003

Maybe I should grow my mullet again

Growing up in the 80's, I've always been a fan of the hair bands. I spent the high school and college years listening to Ratt, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Faster Pussycat, Cinderella, Slaughter, etc. And of course, I'll always have a special place in my heart for Poison since I met a girl during a college spring break because of one of their songs. She and I meant a lot to each other for the week that we were together ... hang on, I think I'm tearing up.

Ok, I'm better. Anyway, several weeks ago, I was out with some friends, and one of them (Damon) mentioned an upcoming concert that he was thinking of attending. I was the only one in the group proud enough to admit that I would be willing to go, for I had no shame, as I have demonstrated on many occasions. Plans were made, and tickets were later purchased.


We arrived at the concert and made our way to our seats in the nosebleed section. The opening act, Dokken, was already rockin' the house. You heard me ... Dokken! They played all the favorites (well, the ones I knew) and sounded good, but I can't comment on how they looked, since we were so far up.


After they finished their set, Damon and I snuck down to some floor-level seats, getting as close to the stage as we could. Finally, the second band, Whitesnake, kicked off their set. Again, they sang the "classics" which sounded great. David Coverdale still had the range, although he didn't looked like he had aged well. I noticed he was wearing baggy jeans instead of the traditional spandex. He did have the best line of the night though when he introduced a song with: "Here's another old one for you ... what am I saying? They're all old!"


And finally, the evening was capped off with a rousing performance by the headliners, the Scorpions. Most of the principle players were the same as during their heyday, with the only new people being the bass player and the drummer. The drummer rocked, by the way, during his obligatory extended solo. They finished their set, and encored with Winds of Change, Still Loving You, and Rock You Like a Hurricane.


My brother Ron and I had the Scorpions World Wide Live CD back in 1985, which was recorded live in San Diego. I noticed something similar between that concert and this one: for the most part, the only banter from the lead singer that I could understand was when he would say the name of the town. "Blah, blah, mumble, mumble, Austin, Texas!" I hope he wasn't saying anything important.


Damon took a few pictures during the concert, and I've included the links to a couple of them that I placed on my website. See if you can guess which one of us is wearing a wig.