Michael Carnell

In My Makeup Bag, What? – Exercise #30

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This is going to be a real short one and an easy one. The task for exercise number thirty out of thirty-one is “What’s in your makeup bag?” Well guess what? I am male! Southern male at that. Smelly Southern male. I have no makeup bag.

I'm too sexy for this blogWhen I go on trips I take my toothbrush, toothpaste, a comb and maybe a razor. Soap and shampoo and all that stuff? Well I rely on the hotel that gets my money (at discounted rate) to provide soap. And again, being a male, I will just use the hotel soap to shampoo what is left of my hair, be the lubricant for my shaving, and clean all other portions of my body. No need to haul lots of stuff around.

On a daily basis, in the man-bag I carry, there is nothing that would be associated with a make-up bag. Sometimes, not all the time but sometimes, there is a comb in there. Various headache remedies are in there, but do those qualify as make-up bag fodder? No idea, but that is about as close as it comes.

Do men even have the real equivalent of a makeup bag? I am sure some do – I have had more than a couple of friends who hauled around all sorts of shampoos, skin care products, and even coverups and tinting products. But on the overall that probably is the exception and not the rule. I would love to hear about it if I am wrong about this!

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Traveling the World – Exercise #29

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I have not done near as much traveling as I would like to. I have stayed mostly within the southeastern area of the US and have only been out of the country a few times. Cruising in a HammockBut today’s exercise, number twenty-nine of thirty-one, is to tell you about the places I have travelled. My travels have not been that many or varied, but I will give you a brief rundown.

Let’s cover the United States first. I was born in Louisiana and currently live in South Carolina, so that covers those two states. I also lived in Georgia for a while, so mark that one off. Family in North Carolina and Tennessee have assured plenty of visits to those two, and Disney World a few other trips have covered Florida. But only the top half of Florida – I have never been further south in the great peninsula that Orlando and Tampa. Finally can round out the that corner of the US via some travels back and forth through Alabama and Mississippi, though no real time spent there. Oh! While we are down that way we can tack on a business trip to Dallas, thereby hitting Texas.

As for the rest of the country, I have had business trips to California, and a personal trip to Washington State and Oregon. That Pacific Northwest trip was a great one with lots of friends and classic cars. Back on this side I have toured through Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. And stuck my toe into Rhode Island. You ask how I did all that and didn’t touch Pennsylvania or Delaware? Well, I did touch them, but only on the throughway and turnpike. That doesn’t count. Just as flying over many other states doesn’t count.

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Looking Forward to the Future – Exercise #28

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Back home in South Carolina! Yup, completed the five hour drive back from Atlanta, and now we are settled back in after being gone for about 4 and a half days. Loved the model train convention, love traveling, but it is good to be home. I will be content to be here for at least a day or two before I get wanderlust again. But not traveling for the foreseeable future. Next scheduled trip isn’t until September I believe.

Now, as for today’s assignment, I am asked to tell you about what I am looking forward to. Does “looking forward to” have to mean that I am excited? That I am happy about what is coming? I looked it up online, and one definition of the phrases says, “to wait or hope for, especially with pleasure.” Screw that “with pleasure” part. The thing is, in just a few more days I shall reach… fifty. Yes, it will be my birthday and I will be clawing my way over the half-century divide. Sigh. I must admit that I am having a bit of trouble with this milestone. I keep reflecting on how old I am, all the things I wanted to do, all the things I haven’t gotten done, and that sort of thing. I know it is self inflicted misery, but still.

I suppose it is natural for us all to take stock at some point – an inventory of the past and the future. And it would be equally natural for most of us to be unsatisfied with where we are or what we have done. Seems many people do that when they hit forty. But forty really didn’t hit me that hard. OK, I had a bit of a mid-life crisis if you include that buying of the Harley Davidson, but that was quickly taken care of by a few trips to the hospital. No, fifty is bugging me for some reason. Mid-life is one thing, but old is something else entirely. I keep having visions of myself as Milton Waddams from “Office Space”. This is not a good thing.

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Picture This – Exercise #26

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Oh no! We have a problem. Low Country Parrott HeadToday’s exercise, number twenty-six out of thirty-one, call for an old picture of myself. The problem is that I am out-of-town and I really don’t have access to any. So instead of going way, way back I am only going to go back to the mid-1990s.

What we have here is a picture from the Charleston Post & Courier. In 1997 I got on TV and in the local newspaper because of my Parrot Head exploits. Click here to check out the newspaper article. 1997 was also the year I helped form the Lowcountry Parrot Head Club.  I am not really involved anymore, but the club is still going strong.

The parrot head clubs are loosely fan club for Jimmy Buffett and his music. But really more than that they are social clubs with a civic mission. The clubs do lots of projects for the communities they are in such as fund raisers for the SPCA, highway cleanups, and of course parties. There is far more involved with being a member of the club than just listening to music and attending concerts. But those components are in there too.

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