2,996: A Tribute to the Victims of 9/11

Juan Lafuente, age 61.

Place killed: World Trade Center. Resident of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (USA).

The idea is simple, but powerful: have a special tribute for each victim of 9/11, with each tribute being created by a different blogger. We started 2,996 Project to coordinate the creation of the tributes, and that's what this site is all about. Here you can sign up to make a tribute yourself, on your blog (we'll randomly assign a victim to you). You can also browse or search through either the victims that have already been assigned, or those that have not -- and you can get pointers to more information on all of them.

http://www.jamulian.com/db911/ If you blog, sign up and pay tribute for those who died 9-11.

Old Friend...

I ran into someone last night that I hadn't seen since at least 1978. (He's the 5th one from the right) Sister K and I went to Ugly's to see the U-Joints. I'd seen the guy before at Dale Watson and Jesse Dayton shows but I didn't know where I knew him from. I'd talked to him several times and think I'd danced with him before (maybe at the Continental Club) but I just couldn't place where I knew him from until last night. He walked up to the table where we were seated and started talking to Friend Y and others that were standing around. Then someone tried to introduce us and he said something like I already know her and called me by my maiden name which no one has used since 1980. I gasped out loud and told him "Who told you that was my name? Who are you?" and then he started talking about people that I went to high school with and of course I repeated what I had said earlier...over and over again. When he finally told me his last name, I almost fainted. I know I haven't seen him in forever and how he FINALLY recognize me, I don't actually know. I knew that one of the guys in the U-Joints had the same last name as his but I couldn't remember why I knew that name and why it sounded so familiar. Now I know...Friend M is Friend R's uncle! When Friend M told Friend R that he knew me from high school, Friend R said "I thought you were my age!" Talk about making someone feel old!!! I felt as old as dirt!!! (ok, I AM as old as dirt) We talked and danced most of the night and we had a great time. I know I'll be going back to Ugly's again...

Let's talk about...

yes...I want to talk about me, again. It's been kind of a boring month...laying around the neighbors pool and listening to her babble and ramble about the same thing week in and week out. I've told her before to lay off the pills when I'm around because I can't stand to be around her when she's like that but she doesn't listen to me. So I wind up repeating everything that I've said three or more times. It gets kind of old. I know one day her family will find her dead from an accidental overdose and I've told them this before but no one can control her so I'm sure they're expecting it also.
I've also been having the dreaded headaches again. I've been out of pills all week and have been having a hard time sleeping at night because of the pain in my neck and shoulders. I know...I know. Have the surgery and get it over with but nope, I'm not gonna do it. I don't want to have the surgery since I've seen so many people that have had neck and/or back surgery and they don't seem to be doing any better afterwards then before they had it. It would be a waste of time and money for me to do it. I think I'll tough it out for as long as I can and maybe technology will be different or something else will come up that they can do instead of surgery. I'll have to wait for more steroid shots...which sucks. I know if I had another shot right now, I'd be better tomorrow but too many steroids screw up your liver and I'm destroying it all by myself slowly but surely.
I've got a big weekend planned and I'm so excited that I can hardly stand it. We're going to the horsetrack tomorrow night to see Jason Boland and the Stragglers. www.thestragglers.com Saturday morning, I'm planning on going to Surfside to see my Friend K's new place and then we're going to the beach. Her sister will be in town so I'm sure we'll be having lots of fun. James Hand is playing at the Firehouse Saturday night and if things go as planned, I'll be there, too. Sunday is the roller derby. www.houstonrollerderby.com I'm a volunteer so I'll be there @ the will call desk waiting for you to show up. ;-)