I have been delaying a major blog. I have watched several movies and have had various other real life experiences I feel compelled to mention, but those things will have to wait. I need to cover a few basics first.
Congratulations are in order.
I’d like to give a shout out to my friend Eric, for becoming engaged to his girl Stacey. Eric is an Officer in the Navy and lives in New York. Eric apparently could not resist the marriage bug after hanging out with me and my wife* for a short time. *(This probably had nothing to do with it.)
Apparently, there is an outbreak, because…
I just found out that my friend Mark also needs a word up for becoming engaged to his girl Erin. This is contingent on Mark surviving a hiking trip this fall. I have been on two hiking trips with Mark and am certain that Mark will survive much better with Erin around.
Word up to all of you! Now you will be happily married like me!
(suckers.)
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Jun 3, 2003 | THE WORLD IS CHANGING ALL AROUND US |
First things first. Theater Hopper has slipped down to the number two spot on the Web Comics List. I think I know why. You guys haven’t had any new incentive sketches since last Friday. It’s understandable that we’d take a little slide since last Friday’s sketch was, admittedly, a little lame.
But no worries! Today’s sketch is five times awesome! Vote for Theater Hopper to witness Ben Affleck in his post-bee attack state! Everyone wins!
Second order of business. Thanks for giving me the day off on Monday. Between packing up our stuff, hauling furniture up flights of stairs and performing the family and social obligations of the holiday weekend, I was far too depleted to come up with anything original or witty.
I feel bad about it because I’m not one to normally miss updates. And although most of my American readers were probably out celebrating the Independence Day holiday, my international readers got the short end of the stick and no updates at all! For that, I apologize, mes amis.
I think it worked out for the best, though. Because I’ve been sitting on the idea for this strip since last Thursday when I learned Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner got married and I wanted as many people to see it as possible. I’m just really happy with the way it turned out.
In case you’re only vaguely familiar with the site, Mr. Affleck and our good friend Jared have been entangled in violent encounters since February of 2003. In fact, they’ve met on several different occasions. So many times, in fact, that I’m considering assembling all the strips where their paths cross and selling it as “Ben Affleck’s Greatest Hits.” It would sell like hot cakes, I tell you. If it ever came to fruition, this would undoubtedly be the cover:
I have to give points to Affleck for keeping his nuptials hush-hush. Fleeing the country to wed in a private ceremony is much more preferable than the J.Lo spectacle of a year or so back. Who care if Jennifer Garner is knocked up! It was the classy thing to do.
I wonder though, does this mean that Affleck is starting to mature? Does becoming a family man mean that he can no longer be the object of my scorn and ridicule? Who else will I hold up as my bloated, only-in-it-for-the-money avatar of Hollywood excess? Whatever happened to the hard partyin’, hard drinking’, hard gambling, stripper tippin’ Ben of yore?
Oh, well. I suppose I should be happy for him. I think he did himself a service marrying someone with a strong jawline than his. Now there will be NO MISTAKING who the “man” in the relationship is!
Oh, c’mon! You know I can’t resist!
Bonus points to Ali Graham for delivering a rockin’ guest strip. Any comic that has fun with Jared’s well-document hatred of all things related to Ben Affleck warms my heart. The good lad has been paying attention to the comic!
Unless you live under a rock that doesn’t get the internet, Ali is the fevered mind behind the web comic HOUSD. Ali has been consistently knocking out great work since March of 2003 and has a jaw-dropping 750+ comics in his archive.
Ali’s really upped his profile lately, churning out not one, but TWO great guest strips for my friend Zach over at Joe and Monkey back to back! So I feel pretty honored that Ali could squeeze me in! 😉
Thanks again, Ali!
If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you probably caught my announcement yesterday about celebrating my 10th wedding anniversary with Cami. And, if you didn’t, well… you are now!
It’s difficult for me to talk about the anniversary without sounding like I’m bragging or too proud. But, darn it… I’m proud! 10 years is a big deal and worth celebrating. I think it’s cool that I’m able to share it with so many people.
Cami and I have actually been together a lot longer than 10 years. The wedding anniversary is just the celebration of a legal document. In fact, we’ve been together for 15 years – almost half our lives. We were high school sweethearts and we married 5 years to the day of our first date. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s cool.
But, of course, I love it when dates and stuff like that line up neatly. I think it’s awesome that Cami and I got married in 2000. Not only because of symbolism of starting a new life together in a new millennium. But it means I can always do some simple math if I ever forget how many years we’ve been together when I’m old and senile. “Lessee… It’s 2056 and we were married in 2000… So that means we’ve been married… 56 YEARS!”
I’m telling you, fellas, it’s a bulletproof plan. Maybe I’m a closeted numerologist, or something. More likely, I suck at math and need all the help I can get!
To celebrate our anniversary last night, Cami and I recruited my parents to babysit Henry and Pearl and we had a very nice meal at a restaurant we love. We had the best time just talking, eating and sharing a bottle of wine. Afterwords, we ran an errand at Target and got a car wash. We joked about it. “What did you do on your 10th wedding anniversary?” “Oh, we got a car wash.”
We we were younger, we used to fantasize about our 10th wedding anniversary. We vaguely planned to go to Hawaii to celebrate. Of course, we had kids and I lost my job last summer. Then our oven crapped out on us last month, so we decided to buy a new oven and count that as our anniversary present for each other.
It sounds unglamorous on paper, but it’s not. It’s representational of how we’ve built a life together, how sometimes plans change and you go with the flow as best you can. How you grow, adjust and learn. If you’re lucky and you’ve picked the right person, hard times are never really hard. And you become a better person because you have someone to share these things with.
Cami makes me a better person and I’m having a blast being married to her.
Happy 10th anniversary, Cami. Here’s to 10 more… and 10 more after that… and 10 more after that.