The Big Benford Show

Well, I’m here in Commerce, TX at Jazz Band Camp. I’m teaching trumpets and helping where I can with the full ensembles. It’s really a lot of fun and I feel like there is so much I can write about but really, most of it is little things that happen during the day and aren’t funny when you aren’t here to experience it. Timing is everything, you know? Anyways, if you’ve never been to Commerce, let me tell you, don’t rush to get out here. There is a university — Texas A & M at Commerce, formerly East Texas State University — and a Wal-mart and that’s about it. Tonight, we’re going to head to the next town over for dinner ’cause they have a Chili’s and Applebees. I really hope we don’t go to Applebees. Not my favorite.

I’d like to hook up with Len’s nephews Pat & Matt. He needs to send me their numbers…. Also, going out to the lake in Sulphur Springs with Connie’s brothers sounds pretty good, too. I guess I should have gotten their numbers at Connie’s birthday party. Connie, can you help me out here?

Speaking of Connie’s birthday party, it was a BLAST!!! The margaritas, food and company were so good! Mostly parents of Sami’s friends from Bowie HS Band. I love band parents!!! They can be a lot of fun when they let their hair down (and when you put a water gun in their hands).

So, my rehearsals start at 9 and go until 4 with a lunch break in between so I get time to work out and read and play on “the internet”. The guys I’m working with are a lot of fun, too but they’re night owls and I can’t hang as late as they’d like to. Especially when I’m trying to keep to working out every morning. I really wish I would have stopped to get some glucosomine before I left. No supplelment store for MILES!!!

Okay, that’s it for now. If there is a late breaking, funny story that you’d get without being here, I’ll make sure to post it.
~B

Funny flick! Anyone who has been a girl in high school can understand and somewhat relate to this movie. It’s about how teen girls can easily get caught up in being bitchy and judgemental. It’s quite the chick flick so if you want to watch this movie and haven’t, be prepared for it. It is funny so if you can deal with all the chick stuff, it’s worth watching!

Jason: [reading from the Burn Book] Trang Pak made out with Coach Carr! And so did Sun Jin Dinh!
Trang Pak: [in Vietnamese] You little slut!
Sun Jin Dinh: You’re the slut!
[both start swearing in Vietnamese]
—————————————————————
Regina: Oh my God, I love your skirt! Where did you get it?
Lea Edwards: It was my mom’s in the ’80s.
Regina: Vintage, so adorable.
Lea Edwards: Thanks.
Regina: [after girl walks away] That is the ugliest f-ing skirt I’ve ever seen.

3 out of 5 stars

Well, as you might be able to tell, we’re back from our vacation. We had so much fun this week, I didn’t want it to end! On a sidenote, I’ve learned that I take quite shaky pictures when I feel akward about taking said picture. I also think my camera is very sensitive to movement when zooomed in. You must excuse some of the blur.

We left on Sunday and headed to Fredericksburg, TX. We didn’t really have specific things planned for specific days so there wasn’t much of a schedule to keep to. At first, this was odd for me to get used to — I’m such a schedule driven person. It took about 2 hours and a few reminders from Len on Sunday but I was good by the time we hit the road. We stayed at this cute little inn owned by a cute Asian couple. It is called The Peach Tree Inn. The room we stayed in was really small but we really didn’t need much. We spent most of the time out of the room, anyways.
So, what all can you do in the Fredericksburg area? Lots! We went to :
Antique shop viewing through downtown Fredericksburg,
the Fredericksburg, Becker, and Grape Creek vineyards/wineries,
the LBJ Ranch & birth home (I’m not necessarily an LBJ fan but the property & stories were cool),
the Wildseed Farms (when I start planting things again, I’m headed back there for sure!),
+ had some of the best Chinese food ever (who’d have thought we’d find that in Fredericksburg??),
- had the worst Pizza delivery service ever (I’ll have to ask Len what that damn place was called so you can be forwarned),
saw the Nimitz Pacific War Memorial & Japanese Peace Garden,
and walked a lot!

That was Sunday through Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, we packed up, checked out and headed to HEB to get our supplies for the rest of the week. Because we had packed for 2 completely different activities on one vacation, there wasn’t much more room in the car. So, we did some re-organizing, got things better packed and headed for Enchanted Rock. It was HOT out there but a lot of fun. Here’s a trail map of the park. We went to the peak of the main rock by going up Summit Trail. Then, we headed towards the Scenic View point behind Little Rock on Echo Canyon Trail. Despite the sunscreen, we were starting to get burned so we decided to head back to the car. The rest of Echo Canyon Trail and the Scenic View point would have to wait for another trip. We decided to go back a bit off the beaten path. Kind of rocky terrain and my muscles were sore the next morning but it was fun!

So, sunburned shoulders & sore legs starting, we head to Inks Lake. Here’s the map to that park. We pitched our tent, got changed into bathing suits, and headed for the water. It was nice. Most of the swimming area we stayed in wasn’t more than 6 feet deep so it was at least managable for Len. I just kept on hanging on!

Mostly, while at Inks Lake, we got up, had breakfast, chilled out, went swimming, ate lunch, chilled out, went swimming, had dinner, chilled out, went to bed and at about 2:30 or 3:00 am, it finally cooled off. There are plenty of funny little stories and anecdotes of our time at Inks Lake but you really had to be there for it to be funny, you know? I do have to tell you that if you go car camping and find a desperate need for air conditioning, making a trip to town for some bread is a great excuse!

Before we left, we went to Longhorn Cavern. It is a really cool cavern, literally. It stays between 65-70 degrees all year around. Most of it is not active because it was formed by water rushing through little cracks in the ground, making bigger cracks. After millions of years, a cave system was formed! There are only 19 other caves in the world (I think?) that were formed this way. There are some rooms in there that are absolutely amazing. The history behind this cave is really interesting as well. It’s said that Sam Bass hid a two-million dollar treasure somewhere down there. It was also used for drinking parties during the prohibition.

There are LOTS of wonderful pictures from our vacation in my Gallery. Len is an amazing photographer so I let him run with the camera. I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I have since we’ve returned. I had to put all the pictures into smaller, type-A albums. If not, there would have been something like 23 pages of pictures!

So, to make a long story short, we had a blast! What’s next, Len?

Saw “Batman Begins” today. Really liked it a lot. I felt it was dark but with hints of light and optimism. The story of Batman’s history was quite detailed but not cumbersome and I appreciated that. The character of Rachel could be better developed, though. I can see this being a potentially excellent series of movies if each one is approached as this one was!
4.5 out of 5 stars

That Garfield, he just cracks me up!!

Not a bad movie. I got to see it this morning with my friend Cathy (not talking about myself in the third person). I’m not really a big Brad Pitt fan nor am I an Angelina Jolie fan but it didn’t deter from the movie itself. You guys all know the main plot, right? Cute suburban couple seem to live normal lives, but each has a huge secret — both hired assassins. They’ve managed to keep these secrets from everyone…even from each other. There are a few twists in there and I found myself second guessing things that seemed obvious in the plot. The action scenes are pretty bad ass, too. Pitt & Jolie do have good chemistry together, too. I’d see it again.
3.5 out of 5 stars.