This kid has more talent and motivation than the last five creative directors I have worked around. Go see more, I ganked this image from his site at http://www.havesomehats.com/

Love this kid. Love love love. Not the "against the law in some states including Tennessee" type of love. But the kind of love that others might call extreme admiration.

"Kid." Jebus. I sound like freakin' geezer. Well, he is a kid. He's in high school, I think. My brain tumor I've named Hairy is telling me that's right. I have a bad habit of not reading all the way to the end sometimes. It's Hairy's fault, we'll talk about it some other time. But he is extremely talented. Not Hairy. This kid. He writes stories, too. Much more creativity than any of us around here have been exposed to in the last five or so years. Carry on, kid.

And it's official. I'm think I'm getting... old. It wasn't the blogging about watering the yard that did it. Or about my feet hurting versus the expected blown vertebra. Or that I have a bad knee that hurts when it rains, and that Demi Moore is the Older Woman with that Aforementioned Type of Love for Young Men. It wasn't those things that made me feel old.

It was the desire I had this morning to visit Ripley, Tennessee, tomorrow for the 20th Annual Tomato Fest.

Maybe I'm just overreacting. Maybe I'm just going for the material. Maybe that's what I'll just tell everybody. But if I do have a good time, then someone send me a link on how to build an ancient funeral raft, and push me out onto the River down by the Pyramid so I can die with some dignity.

Nevermind, I found one myself: http://www.kingtutshop.com/freeinfo/egyptian-boats.htm. And I thought I was boring. Yee-awn.

Oh what the hell am I worried about. People go to festivals all the time and have fun, and they aren't old... maybe I'm just a nerd. No, not a nerd. Geek maybe? Spaz, most definitely yes; nerd or geek, no.

I've been to the Belzoni Catfish Festival. I've been to Strawberry Fests, Big Loud Music Fests. Stinky Spinning Hippie Fests. Almost went to the Possum Town Pigfest. I've even been to two or three Mule Fests. I've been to many, many Crawfish Boils and Sudsfests. And a Barbecue Fest where no one could eat the barbecue. All before the age of 21.

I'm not old. I'm just weird. Yes. Screw old, embrace weird. Victory. I'll let you know what happens at the Tomato Festival. Maybe it's the absence of alcohol that makes this festival experience seem geriatric.

Hairy says I have to go now. He also says I'm right; I'm not old. He says I'm just weird and insufferable when my knee hurts.

Hairy is beginning to scare me. I think I'll douse him with a nice white merlot tonight. Mmmm. Cheers to Hairold, ol' boy.