The People I Know Are Definitely The Best

IMG_3084, originally uploaded by JakeEbel.

I don't know how it happened but all my friends are stupendous.

It's like they all grew on little Fantastic Trees until they were ripe enough and then fell off right in to my friend basket.

Tonight they surprised me and got me a gift.

I love gifts.

Gifts, especially out of the blue, make my head explode with joy x 2. This one was given to me on a day that could have been a very unhappy one for me. It was kind of an unofficial end to a massive joint endeavor I had hoped to fully accomplish. It seems though that the chances of that are highly diminished at this point in time. Will that change? I really wish it would.

But that's not the important thing at the moment. The important thing, at THIS VERY MOMENT, is that my friends are so splendid I had FORGOTTEN about the tragic part of today. Can you believe that? I mean how do you pull that off? How are you so fantastic a group to be with that people can't actually focus on anything else except how amazingly cool it is to be hanging out with you!?

I don't even know what else to say about it! (That isn't true. I actually have a plenty more to say but I thought I'd type that for you to read as a kind of mini intermission.)

Get this; What I got was a gift certificate to Tiffany & Co. Am I one of the only men on the planet that is excited about that? Probably. Is it wicked cool that my friends know me this well? Ummm...yes!

Do I feel like a jerk for saying that I think gift certificates are kind of a boring gift during the conversation my friends maliciously baited me into about gifts just slightly before I received mine? A little. But that's in the past now! And you guys set me up anyway. (Oh yeah, back on you.)

Is it weird that a night involving great food, good friends, Tiffany & Co gift certificates, and watching The Scarlet Pimpernele would be ideal in my mind? Not if you knew me.

And here's another thing: Today I went to work, did some grocery shopping, hung out with my friends, got three loads of laundry done, made strawberry shortcake, and watched a movie. A couple of years ago it would have been a miracle for me to accomplish any ONE of those things in a given day. To get them all done and be happy still is a surreal feeling, and I couldn't have gotten to this point without the incredible support of all those around me. I've seen some dark days and the appreciation I have for everyone that has helped me is beyond my ability to express here.

I don't know if I can ever repay all of you fully, but I don't mind spending the rest of my time trying.

And so I find myself incredibly excited about what tomorrow can bring. Because with friends like these the insurmountable seems as easy as dinner & a movie.

Seeking editor. Inquire within.

Seeking editor. Inquire within., originally uploaded by JakeEbel.

So, I'm leisurely driving home today and as I'm passing by the local tattoo parlor/leather store I see this sign out of the corner of my eye.

"Did that say 'SPING'?" I said to myself.

So a quick U-turn was pulled, which quickly got me back to the parking lot in question, and there it was in all it's glory.

Now we see misspelled signs and horrible grammar everywhere these days. I myself indulge in it from time to time. But I would think that getting things spelled correctly would be very high on a tattoo parlor's list of things to do to attract customers.

I mean I'm no marketing guru but this one seems pretty straight forward.

Trying to give them the benefit of the doubt I thought that perhaps "SPING" is a term that tattoo people know and I'm just foolishly unaware of. But it doesn't seem tough enough sounding for that. Then I noticed that for some reason the only lowercase letter on the whole sign is the "h" located right in the center of the word "leather". Although that "k" in "ink" is looking a little suspect also.

Either way it made my day. And if you go there for ink work make sure it's all graphic. You don't want to end up with "Haley" instead of "Harley". You couldn't wear enough leather to offset that.