May Movie Preview

Bad year for Hollywood....maybe I should stop these posts?

The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide

Finally got around to reading this last year and just remembered I never made a review of it!

This was a sourcebook I passed on a few years ago but due to a good friend's recommendation I decided to pick it up.

It's not bad. Nice art and is a very light read on just a few of the animals within the Star Wars universe. It only focuses on planets featured in the movies which in my opinion limits the content.

Plus, Endor, the planet which holds the most interest to me and is TEEMING with animal life, wasn't featured as much as Naboo was, which I found disappointed.

Overall, it's not bad for the average fan. Because it was cheap and an easy read I didn't mind it though it's nothing to write home about either.

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Ah the "bean" dance! This was probably at a New Year's Eve party we had at my apartment. There's this short film called "The Killer Bean" (look it up on Youtube) I think it may be "2" but I'm not sure.

Anyway, when I found it, I showed it to everyone. We laughed at one scene where a bean shakes his booty while pumping his arms. The dance took off and we all decided to do from there on out.

Good news is I watched the movie with my nephews this past summer so maybe the bean dance will live on through them....cause I don't know if I'll be doing it any time soon myself.

15 more days

Sadly we won't be joining 12 other states anytime soon in re-opening our state. Sucks. My home State of Mississippi is back up and running. I'm proud of them for stepping up and leading the country in this time of panic.

Sad to be a Louisiana resident today.

Birthday Bash!

Thought I'd share a few photos from my girls 1st birthday.

 Meridian's "Don't you dare judge me" face

Meanwhile, Piper gives her "daddy at the buffet" impersonation. Spot on.

I love these girls.

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Welcome to the "Pudd-o-meter" A rating system invented by my brother where his face would describe how much he loved something. I even have a Christmas video of him showcasing it that's really funny. But here's Caleb showing was the highest level on the Pudd-o-meter looks like.

Yeah....this was stupid too, I know.

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Here's a pic of me at summer camp with a ping pong ball I'd split in two and drew little pupils on them. The point was to make my Dad crack during one of his lectures and I was hoping this was a sure fire way to do it.

But it didn't work. Dad looked at me and moved on, not cracking one bit. This was something all us brothers tried to get Dad to do for years and to this day we're still unsuccessful. (though no attempts have been made in years)

Hmmm...maybe it's time to give it the old college try once again....where's a ping pong ball....

Have a good weekend folks!

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Here's a pic of me and my buddy Spencer. He was always the loveable crazy type that I had a ball being around. We are still good friends today and talk all the time. Mostly during college football season and I'm happy about that.

He lived in Kentucky and I probably won't ever get a chance to see him face to face ever again but I'm thankful for his continued friendship.

Even though he's a Notre Dame fan....

Here we go...

The Governor said today that it looks like Phase one may go into effect on May 1st and that's good news.

Movie theaters open back up (who cares) Dine-in opens up (right on, I plan to go out to eat that night) Gyms re-open (and after dinner I'll go work out) Churches open their doors again (best news of the week)

Sanitation and distancing rules are in effect and gatherings larger than 10 are discouraged but overall... it's a step in the right direction.

Praying for Phase 2 by May 15th.

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I stole this hospital apron after visiting a friend in the hospital and taking it from one of the cabinets in the room. I remember taking a breathing mask, tongue suppressors and hair net and some blue rubber gloves as well.

That night I decided to pose in my gown. I looked like I'd just escaped the looney bin! In fact, I think I still have this apron in a box in my hallway closet today! Weird why we continue to keep silly things like that after all this time. 

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The Puddy Dance. Something my brother would do that cracked everyone up. All he ever did was pat his tummy and coo and people loved it.

Really stupid and he stopped doing it after high school. Though I wondered if I asked him today would he do it again?

Knowing Caleb....the answer would be yes.

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Just another day of being a bachelor.

Ok, in all seriousness, we'd had a party and I was in my room showing talking to a buddy of mine when one of the girls walked in and asked for a picture. Well then all the girls wanted a picture so we posed for this one.

Really makes me look like a player eh? Well not a single one wanted to date me and all married other people well before I was married.

This picture's better labeled "fake news" than anything else.

Getting better?

While most major networks preach gloom and doom to keep you tuned to the channel, in real life it looks very promising that things are slowly getting back to normal.

The beaches in Florida are now re-opened (with restrictions) Oklahoma will have the very 1st shopping strip re-open back for business next week, Texas is lowering it's restrictions and some cities in Mississippi are getting the green light to return to work (unless they're older or suffer medical conditions)

Panic buying has stopped and everything is easily available at the stores (even toilet paper) We've surpassed 600,000 recoveries and I'm hoping all this points to things calming down in my state as well.

Nothing will make me happier than when this is all over. Can't wait to get life back up and running again. I'm tired of fear controlling everyone. It's time to get the world back to normal (step by cautious step)

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I took karate in college. I was the only guy in the class. So the teacher (who coached the college karate team at the time) offered to let me train with them instead. (since hitting a girl wasn't really a confidence builder for me)

So here's my streen bean self posing with the rest of the class after they'd won the state championship. Funny thing was that same day the newspaper was there taking photos for a piece they were doing on the championship team.

Toe (the kid on the far left) and I decided to pose with the trophy for a picture I wanted to take. We each had a hand on the trophy and our fist out towards each other. What I didn't know is that the newspaper loved the pose and took a picture themselves. That picture ended up headlining the article.

A guy, who wasn't on the team....holding their hard fought trophy. Yeah, that didn't go over very well with the team (or so I heard) the semester had ended the next week so I never got to talk to them about it. All I know is that picture would led me into a "fight club" invitation a few years later. But that's a whole other story!

Have a good weekend folks!

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My cousin Thomas and I. We used to greet each other this awkward way each time we met up. In fact, we still do it from time to time today when I see him.

Thomas has always been one of my favorite cousins. Mainly because he was another boy around our age that we could relate to and play with growing up. I'm glad he lives in the same town I do so that we can still keep in touch today. His kids are good friends with my brothers kids who are the same age so in a way, history is repeating itself.

Kinda nice when you think about it.

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This is a picture from my brothers wedding. Another rare photo of the Wilkins Boys all together. There's a few more but this one was the best of them in my opinion. I remember that night being extremely cold. We dolled up his car for the wedding only to find out Dad had rented the car and we had to promise to clean it that night.

So Bray and I (Bray's featured on the far right) went out that night to clean it....it the dead of winter. The water was turning to ice the moment it hit the windshield. I was miserable and hated every minute of it.

I remember writing an email to a buddy of mine who lived up there at the time about how I hated his winters. He ended up editing the email and turned it into an article for his blog. He still talks about that email to this day whenever we talk.

COVID-19 Not a threat to Americans

Interesting that this is what all the top medical doctors (including the CDC) thought about the virus back in January.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/01/officials-say-most-americans-not-risk-coronavirus

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During one of our summer camp trips, we stopped at a rest stop that had a security guard on the premises. I talked him in to playing a prank on my group where he would arrest one of our group for getting in a fight with a senior citizen in the welcome area.

You should have seen the look on my Counselor's face. It was hilarious. Jack (the kid who got arrested) threw water on his face to make it look like he was crying and I was holding my hand over my face faking I was worried.

I don't know who cracked first but all at once we all fell out laughing and came out with the prank to my group. It was really funny. This was a picture we all posed for after the fact.

Good times, good times....

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Last week I shared a photo of me with food on my face. This time it's ice cream and for a different purpose.

This photo happens to be the only evidence of the "legendary" story of how I put a "pick up" line on a girl and she smashed a ice cream cone in my face. It was all in fun and no one (including the girl) was upset about the deal but years later it grew into a little more than what the incident warranted.

The big deal about it was the girl was a little "snooty" so a lot of folks found it hilarious that I'd done it in the first place. I remember once up in Idaho (where she lived) and eating at an Applebees where the guy knew about me and the incident and gave me a free desert.

Crazy times.

New Roof

I remember back in high school my brother and I got hired by a friend to assist them in replacing a roof. We were getting paid $10 an hour. We helped teared it off. Shingles, staples and all. Then after that we went around the house bagging up the shingles around the house while they place new tiles on.

My brother hated that part and decided to quit and walk all the way back home (a couple of miles) It was funny because when they asked me where it was it'd been an hour before anyone noticed he was missing. I stayed and finished the job but I don't know if my brother got paid or not.

Anyway, as a kid I remember thinking "Man, it's expensive to replace a roof!"

Fast forward about 25+ years later and here I am paying people to re-roof my house. Brought back a lot of memories watching them work. And instead of bagging shingles, they brought a bin to throw them in....smart. Wish we'd thought of that back in the day.

Now I have a new roof and just in time...it rained today.

One cool thing (you can see in the picture) is they use old cushion padding to have something soft to sit on. Smart. Again, something I wish we thought of back in the day. The roof isn't the most comfortable place to work on.

Anyway, just thought I'd share my thoughts of the weekend.