What a gift. However, a few side notes before diving directly into that thought:

1. I love my pool table.
2. I love Guitar Hero 2.
3. I love the Pool/Guitar Hero 2 party.
4. I HATE Vodka and Redbulls.
5. My stomach can fit exactly 5.2 pounds in it.
6. I seem to be losing my hair.
7. I kicked Zeromus’ ass.
8. Brothers McManus.
9. Fluorescent Light bulbs are apparently awesome.
10. Matt Millen

Back to the original thought… Obviously I have this on my mind because of seeing “Disturbed” live. I had honestly planned to hang back at this concert and try to just watch. That did not happen. The brothers mcmanus pounded to the front, plunged into the mix, and fought for the freedom of the human race.

It all comes to this point: I wish i could be a front man for a band. I’ve always thought that music is one of the most powerful forms of expression (well, ‘real’ music… not the blackeye peas or Justin Timberlake). To take fantastically epic, sick, powerful, hurtful, punishing, and profound feelings and be able to put that into lyrics is truly a gift… Add to that the unbelievable power of harmony and the result can be phenominal. Beyond lyrics. Beyond music.

For example, Jon Davis of Korn is one who sticks out to me as just pouring out his soul. I’ve seen Korn live quite a few times, and I can attest to the fact that this man’s lyrics are straight from his life force. Whether bright and loving or dark and absolute hatred, it is pure humanity(Watch it). And then it is more (Watch more of it).

Jon Davis is just one example… Off the top of my head, some people who share this same gift are Maynard of tool, James Hetfield, Corey Taylor, David Draimen, Chad Gray, Dave Matthews, Robert Tepper, Stephen Richards, Samuel James Hagar, Eddie Vedder… Even Coby Dick. There are so many more…

A “real” frontman creates an energy that cannot even be put into words. It cannot be described. I wouldn’t mind being able to do that.

If you are reading this, you are invited to a party next Saturday, November 18th.  This will be held at casa del Vanbergen, and include guitar heroes 1/2, billiards, darts, and absolute Vanhood.

The first guitar hero party was an unfathomable success (yes, success = 3 people vomiting at the same time; note to self: watch the red wine).  Now that guitar hero 2 has come out, and I have obtained a fantastic pool table – the time has come for house party 2 to be released.   Sat., Nov. 18th.  Food provided but BYOB.

Vanbergs, you have to make the third video visa vi this party.  Probably to monkey wrench…

So, I’m married. I went to mexico for a week. I snorkeled. I ate like a king. I got a tan. I got a disturbed ticket.

I hate flying. I love vanbergs. I love the sopranos. I love the wire. I hate prison break. I hate nip tuck. I love/hate russellteee. I hate iguanas. I hate the detroit lions. I hate rain. I’m alive.

What a dizzying couple of weeks.

Our wedding and reception was legitimately the most fun i have had in a very long time. I’ve never ever danced like that, and i’m sure i never will again. I dont know who started it or what happened or how it began, but i had so much fun. I was very glad to have so many family and friends be able to make it. I felt truly lucky, and my thanks to everyone for being a part of that.

This leads me to my call of arms. I am begging that anybody who sustained any form of photography at this reception or party to please find a way to get me copies of those pictures. Cdrom, zip file, whatever. I’d really like to have copies of everyone’s pictures from that night. Mainly, im thinking:

• Flo
• Gato/Vanlandw
• Mickeyvb/Vanbergs
• Rusty?

I know alot of you have posted the pics on line, but i can’t really download each one individually (if there is a bulk download option i am missing, please inform me… i’ll do that!) Vanlandw? maybe you can host a zip of the gato’s? Flo maybe you can host a zip of yours? 😛 Thanks in advance everyone seriously.

Now the honeymoon. I hadn’t been on an airplane since i was probably 14/15. At that point in my life, i loved it. I couldn’t stop staring out the window. This time flying was a different experience. Everything went smoothly… no lost bags, no delays. But i hated flying. I hated traveling in general. I hated customs. Luggage. Metal detectors. Waiting in terminals. The whole process drank bleach. It was fun being in mexico, but getting there and coming back made me not want to travel anywhere again for a long time.

All in all, i’m happy. Very happy. No kids anytime soon though…

Quickies:

• I added internet to my phone. ($5.99… seriously)
• I am watching the sopranos season 5.
• I finished the Wire season 2.
• I am proposing a “go out” night this weekend. Anybody interested in uccello’s or BW3s?

COMMENTS

brb

Quite a few things are pretty much hard for me to wrap my head around in my life currently…

1: I seriously get married one week from today. I don’t think this has truly ‘hit me’ yet. The whole idea seems a bit surreal even now. Maybe because we’ve been dating so long already? Maybe becaue we already live together? I’m not sure. I feel passive regarding the whole thing. I guess in my mind it feels like the wedding day is still months away. It’s not, vanberge.

2: Bachelor party to end all bachelor parties. Last weekend was legitimately the most fun that I believe I can have. Getting shot with paintballs hurts, but not nearly enough to shy one away from jumping right into the next round. My legs were soar for 4 days, and i still have bruises from some of the impacts. But overall I feel paintball is something that will soon be visited again by the Vanberge. Losing at the casino, nonstop rain, not even drinking very much… none of these things hindered the weekend even one bit. I had a fantastic time, and I’m glad that everyone was able to make it out. Vanbergs, vanlandw, flo, payner, russ, jja, tom, enfuego… Thank you all very much.

3: Big Vacation. I have to work on monday, and then tuesday… but following that I will not be returning to work until October 18th. I’m definitely looking forward to an extravagant honeymoon… but more so looking forward to ‘not working’. I haven’t had a vacation in quite some time, so some time away will do me some good for sure.

4: Linux. I don’t know what is wrong with me, but for some reason i just have to uninstall / re-install OS’es like every 2 months. Today i embarked on the task of finding a new linux OS for my laptop. The laptop is decent… 900 mhz, 20 gig hd, 256 megs ram. So a good clean OS is worth it… Previously, I had been running ubuntu for some time, but that’s grown stale for sure. So, i being searching for my next laptop disrto… I started with Slackware Linux 10.2 – terrible wireless support (although, a very cool distro). Then went to Simply Mepis 6.0. Mepis has KDE which is abysmal… And i couldnt see any easy alternatives. I tried fluxbox unsuccessfully, and then decided mepis was not for me. Then we stop on Fedora Core 5. The default desktop is Gnome, the look and feel is good… so I decide to stick with Fedora core 5. For some god hideous reason i find it necessary to tweak with this Operating system and hack the gibson to make my wireless card work. I’ve never spent so much time on something in my life. Jesus. Hopefully these steps will help out some poor bastard some day… Since it took me forever to arrive at this scenario.

1. Download ndiswrapper
2. gunzip ndiswrapper.tar.gz
3. tar -xvf ndiswrapper.tar
4. cd ndiswrapper
5. make
6. make install
7. ndiswrapper -i /dev/cdrom/WindowsDriverFile.INF
8. modprobe ndiswrapper
9. echo “alias ndiswrapper wlan0” >> /etc/modprobe.conf
10. Configure Wireless Settings accordingly.

So, i’ve been working on writing little “FAQs” about all the Groomsmen who will be in my wedding.  Evidently this little excerpt goes into the program. Well, I’m not nearly as good of a writer as vanbergs, so especially for a semi formal occasion like this I have some trouble. I figure i’d post a rough draft and take some comments/suggestions on them.

Thanks in advance everyone! Please leave comments/suggestions on these…

—————————————————————————

Steve VanBergen – Best Man
I chose Steve to be my best man not only because he is my younger brother, but because he is truly my best friend. Being close in age, we shared many of the same interests and hobbies as we made our way through childhood, which allowed us to become very close friends. We’ve managed to remain very close as we’ve grown into adults, and I’m very grateful for that. I couldn’t have asked for anything more in a little brother.

Jason “Tom” Farquhar – Groomsman
Jason is our cousin on my Mother’s side. Jason grew up just a few houses down from our family, and has always been close friends with both my brother and I. Unfortunately for him, he’s a few years younger than Steve and I, so he spent alot of time being picked on and pranked by the both of us. Even though we picked on him through most of is teenage life, Jason is really like a brother to Steve and I.

Ryan Payne – Groomsan
I met Ryan during my freshman year of college at Grand Valley State. He lived on a different dorm floor, but his outgoing personality and unique sense of humor allowed him to become pretty good friends with everyone. We kept in touch all throughout college, and eventually lived together during our super senior year. Even though he now lives and works on the east side of Michigan, Ryan has remained great friends with all of us.

Eric Florence – Groomsman
I also met Eric at Grand Valley. He started college a semester later than the rest of us, but quickly became a great friend. Eric and I lived together for most of our college careers, so he’s gotten to know me alot better than he probably wanted to. I consider him to be wise beyond his years, and he’s always provided a level-headed perspective on any trying situation. He’s seen me at my best as well as my worst, and I’m glad to consider him a great friend.

Wesley VanLandschoot – Groomsman
Wes was one of the first people I met when moving in at Grand Valley. Sharing a technical inclination as well as the same nerdy major of “Information Systems”, Wes and I helped each other make it through alot of difficult classes. It was definitely easier to spend 24 hours straight in a computer lab knowing that Wes would be there as well. In addition to classes, we also lived together and both worked for Grand Valley’s I.T. department. Wes carries a mild and humble nature, and over the past 8 years has really become one of my closest friends.