Monday, December 31, 2012

The Twelve Days of Gheorghe-mas: Day Twelve


On the eleventh day of Gheorghemas, Big Gheorghe gave to me...

Twelve Appreciations
Eleven Months of Blog Posts
Ten (ish) Gifts for Gheorghies
Nine Lists of Top 10 Things
Eight Wins Worth Noting
Seven Traits for Winning
Six Facts O'Ghoogling
Five Lasting Images
Four Things to Think About
Three catastrophe 'staches
The Finest Holiday Duet in History
And One Hell of a bloggy Par-ty

I love Gheorghemas. It’s the only time you can expect regular submissions from the Gheorghe staff, and while our random irreverence is what keeps people typing in our URL (in actuality you’ve bookmarked our site) from January through November, the twelfth month brings annual anticipation of Rob’s summation, Teej’s picture, and a number of other recurring segments that actually recur.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year. 

I am grateful for the opportunity to close out each Gheorghemas and the corresponding year’s worth of bloggery with my frequently redundant batch of appreciations.  This is the fifth installment of G-mas, and as I read over Day 12 versions 1 through 4, the first thing I notice is my duplication of either general sentiments or specific mentions in each post.  What can I say, I don’t evolve much through the years, and my memory is pretty holey these days.  The other thing that strikes me is that the four-year period of my Gheorghemas cappers has been a whirlwind of upheaval, discord, new endeavors, and change in my life.  I am sitting approximately 100 yards from where I typed Day 12 in 2008, and yet I am thousands of miles away in many aspects of my life, for better and for worse.  Four years is an eternity in one’s life.  Where will we be four years from now?

As it has turned out, 2012 marked a significant uptick in the day-to-day joy in my goings-on, certainly from the dreck of the three years prior.  Once again, I set the appreciations to music, my favorites from 2012.  Here we go again...


Next summer marks the 20th Annual Outer Banks Fishing Trip.  That’s a big number, and considering the debacle that OBFT the First was, it’s amazing to see the trip rolling on after two decades.  Not one thought of the annual jaunt occurs with great appreciation for the house we inhabit one weekend a year, the lengths to which people go to make the trip, and the good times we crank out every single time.



I appreciate and marvel at the physical feats and eye on bodily health undertaken by the GTBers and the FOGTB.  Rob continues to move further away from his Little Pork Rind days, running a 10k even on New Year’s Day.  Danimal is our resident Iron Man type, Dave goes for a run before other OBFTers even wake up, KQ will work you out and cleanse your body, Mark is battling back from his Peyton Manning-like neck injury, most all of you run races . . . it goes on and on.  And then there’s Maude.  Meaning me, the guy with Bea Arthur’s physique.  I have friends who have executed inspirational game plans to get themselves healthy.  I have friends in the health care industry who stress the importance of being physically fit.  Hell, I have a friend that’s a professor at an Ivy League medical school and whose entire career work has centered around the correlation between physical exercise and cancer prevention and treatment – it’s just preposterous that she ever let me lay my unhealthy flabby body down on top of hers.



I have not been one to make idle threats of improvement in the past – I recall responding to Dave Flynn’s promise that 2003 was the “year of fitness” with a declaration that would instead be the “year of fatness.”  But it’s time, and 2013 shall be the year.  I may consult with some of you as to how to accomplish it, but I appreciate what you all have managed to do in this realm, and I will try to join the movement.



Not so fast, my friend.  The road to being able to see my johnson in anything but a mirror won’t be rapid, and it won’t mean a total abandonment of vices. I just had to use Merriam-Webster’s website to get the meaning of moderation, so it’s time for baby steps.

In the meantime, I will confess to highly enjoying the comments section of G:TB as a place to check in and log the night’s consumption details
.

Here’s one I do every year.  Live music.  Soul-stirring, chills-inducing good shit.  My 2012: Old 97’s in January, Black Keys in February, The Last Bison in March, Drive-By Truckers in April, Avett Brothers in June, Wilco and The Beach Boys in July, Flogging Molly in August, Springsteen in September, Adam Ant in October.  All great fun.  Missed seeing old Norfolk fave Waxing Poetics reunite onstage last night because of a certain football game.  (Well worth it, though.) Old 97’s in C’ville again on Valentine’s Day 2013 (good way to wow your ladies, dudes) and Fishbone in a tiny Norfolk venue that same month.  Live shows make my world go ‘round.


A friend of mine’s family business is Birdland Records, a Virginia Beach classic.  His brother runs the store, and they are stubbornly old-school in their approach.  My friend’s twin sons are enrolled at William & Mary and UVA, respectively, and they formed a great local (now 10-piece) band called Major and the Monbacks.  Playing January 5 at the Norva.  Here’s to the notion that our obviously brilliant taste in music can be passed down to our progeny, defeating the evil empire of pop bullshit music that seems to find them at every turn. 

 
Hope springs eternal in the unending love for our sports teams.  (Unending for everyone except Rob.)  In Day Twelves of Gheoghemas Past, I bemoaned my awful rooting interests.  And though nothing of banner consequence has been recorded into the books yet, here’s where I stand:
  • I saw R.A. Dickey get his 19th win on an amazin’ day at Citi.  (Thanks, Marls.)
  • The not-awful Tribe has its best chance ever to get off the NCAA tourney schneid.
  • Hail to the Redskins.
I’m such a sucker.



Here’s my annual toast to the ladies of G:TB, the G:TBers’ ladies, and just ladies in general.  We are thinking of you, and when we do, we think of you like this:


Sorry.


A hat-tip to good deeds on display every day.  I appreciated the 2012 Santa Stumbles.  I appreciate the fund-raising activities in which many of the G:TB gang participate, even when I am tapped out and can’t give to all of them.  And finally, I appreciate like crazy the chance to work where I work and see acts of giving on a daily basis.  It’s pretty friggin’ great.  Kudos, and here’s to a day when Gheorghe can have a charitable component to it (beyond the free chuckles doled out on occasion).


Hi, Gheorghies!  People don’t always get what G:TB means to those who frequent it.  I get mocked for being a blogger.  The reality, however, it’s that it’s simply a means to staying in touch with old friends and getting to know new ones.  (Mark, thanks for the Gmas gift… I’m still getting accommodated to it, but I like it.)  There’s no way I’d be so in tune with what these college cronies have going on with their lives without Gheorghe.  Facebook and Twitter serve a similar purpose, but before there were those, there was Gheorghe.

And here's the the summits that were GheorgheFest and the Doofus Overlord's wedding. Outstanding.

And the way my chums have picked up on the wee-hours “Hi, Gheorghies!” check-in makes me smile.


Rest in Peace… MCA. Don Cornelius. Andy Griffith.  J.R. Ewing, George Jefferson, and Quincy. Epstein and Horshack. The only one on this list that I was for Halloween, Richard Dawson.  Neil Armstrong and “Ride” Sally Ride. Angelo Dundee and Bert Sugar. Alex Karras. Davy Jones singing, Dave Brubeck at the piano, Earl Scruggs on banjo, Duck Dunn on bass, and Levon Helm behind the kit.  Kid Carter.  

The other Whitney.  And, sadly, on the rebel side of heaven, Igor.  (We’ll miss him most.)

And more importantly, people in our lives.  Grandparents.  More sadly, parents.  Tragically, children.  Friends.  Family.  Evan, Lud, and Flynn, I’m not nearly forgetting you clowns.  Here’s to them all.


I continue to appreciate the contributions all you people make in posts and comments.  Keeps me informed, biased, and laughing all the way.  Ho ho ho.  And, in appreciation for their tireless contributions to the blog, the G:TB staff has asked Danimal and Marls to come aboard for 2013.  (In a related story, I lost in arbitration over my 2013 contract, so I’ll continue to be blogging for the league minimum.)  Here’s to more quality content being churned out in the name of Gheorghe.  And postcount!


This post is a milestone, definitely not for content but merely for a number.  This is the 2,500th published post at Gheorghe: The Blog. 

Happy New Year, friends.  Here’s to another 365, and all the best in Lucky ’13.


Oh, one more thing.  I’m getting hitched again in a few weeks, and you are invited.  Norfolk, VA.  January 26.  Be there.

Cheers, and Hi, Gheorgies!

40 comments:

  1. well done, clarence. somewhere, an angel got his wings. i assume you explained to danimal and marls that this works like a law firm - they need to buy into their partnership stake.

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  2. The law firm of Dewey, Cheatem & Howe.

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  3. Just got back from buying six cases of beer at Wal-Mart with my infant daughter in tow. Pretty sure I locked up Father of the Year with that one.

    Also put a nice little wage on LSU -5. Seems like easy money. So I'm definitely going to lose.

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  4. Wow, Allen Stone. Nicely done. Marls, D'mal - you each have 0.069% ownership of G:TB. Your buy-in is $471k but the blog will loan you the money at prime minus 0.69% and guarantee that you get a return on the investment of prime plus 2%. Don't ask how we do this. Make your checks payable to The Woodbine Fund.

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  5. I'm down with the law firm model. Can we stock the summer associates class with hot chicks from second tier schools?

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  6. I would also like to get in one last "Lane Kiffin Sucks" for 2012. That guy should be living' in a van down by the river by this time next year.

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  7. catherine and i felt like "parents of the year" when we picked up our kids at the ski and snowboard lesson center, and we both had beer in hand . . .

    great post, clarence, makes me feel better about the fact that i am stuck at home sick while my family parties down the street.

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  8. My wife's birthday is New Year's Eve. It generally makes New Year's Eve way more hectic than it should be.

    That was the case today. But it's always worth. Currently deep in beer pong, and NYE revelry.

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  9. happy new year, gheorghies!

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  10. OK, I'm over 2013...nothing to see here...

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  11. this year is not startling the way i'd hoped

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  12. By that, Rob means that he was hoping your first post would be up by now Danimal.

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  13. hi shlara! we prefer gheorghies!

    only had to slow down to avoid puking twice during my race this morning. that was a powerfully dumb idea. who's the idiot that signed me up for that?

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  14. Ah, but I was up at 3:35am, stone sober, picking the sister-in-law up over on Lee Highway because she could not get a cab home. So not quite my usual state at 3:35am...

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  15. soul patch update: wife told me last night that she finds it sexy. of course, she was hammered, but i'm keeping it.

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  16. Happy New Year. Started '13 off w a not so polar plunge but polar enough to result in shrieking and shrinking, in that order.

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  17. And nice job Clarence. Get'ur collards today people.

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  18. Damn I could've used a ride last night.

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  19. which plunge, danimal? my nieces did one in the jax area today.

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  20. that's where they were. small world.

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  21. I think I was over served last night. I remember locking myself in a bathroom, kicking the door open, and getting a ride home. The interstitial stuff is hazy.

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  22. i think my balls were involved.

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  23. jadeveon clowney just made the best play i've ever seen by a defensive lineman

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  24. Clowney is a baaaaad man:
    sbn.to/UjEYZM

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  25. The eagles are going to interview mike Nolan. I guess Lurie reads gtb.

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  26. Jane Goodall is the official coin tosser of the rose bowl?

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  27. Improvement idea for the BCS: Change it to the SEC-USA challenge. Take the top 5 teams in the SEC and match them up with the top 5 teams in the rest of the country. This is basically what the national championship has become already.

    1) Alabama vs. Notre Dame
    2) Florida vs. Oregon
    3) Georgia vs. Kansas State
    4) LSU vs. Stanford
    5) Texas A&M vs Oklahoma (got it already)

    Bonus #6) South Carolina vs. Florida State

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  28. Not a terrible idea. The games would be far more intriguing and likely receive much better ratings.

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  29. Nice way to end year with post, Whit! And best wishes on the 26th...couldn't have picked a better date...this year marks 11 for my husb and me that day. So enjoy!! May 2013 be full of great joy and lots of laughs and a whole lotta gheorghyness for you all!!

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  30. noles favored by 13.5. that seems way low, doesn't it?

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  31. Rob- FSU isn't good. Like, at all.

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  32. Who is Jake Owen and why is he wearing such a snug tshirt?

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