Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s there was a great band located in Oak Harbor, Washington that went by the name of Wearing Black. My own band at the time, Kira’s Modern Mourning, was occasionally lucky enough to play gigs with them in and around the Oak Harbor area.

Wearing Black originally consisted of two acoustic guitar players and an electric bass player. Their music was amazing and it was guaranteed that whatever venue they where playing at, they would fill it up.

‘Root For The Bad Guy’ was one of Wearing Black’s' popular songs. People at the time loved to hear it and would sing along with the band when they played it. The song is an anthem to all evil doers and bad guy in fictional genres.

The band eventually disbanded leaving only a few recorded songs on-line for their fans. About a year after the band broke up it’s lead singer and guitar player, Saul Nathaniel McCartney, recorded a solo version of ‘Root For The Bad Guy’. Well, I really liked the song a lot. So, over the last 8 months I worked on a type of music video for it and uploaded it to YouTube. I hope you all enjoy it.

I first saw this film in the early 2000s when I lived in Oak Harbor, Washington with my roommate Brannon. One night randomly he brought home ‘The Ring’ and we both gathered on the couch in the living room to watch it.

We knew it was a scary movie, but it had been so long since either of us had been scared by a movie that we didn’t expect this film to change that. With the lights on and sodas in hands we both sat watching this film.

Because this film is older I don’t feel bad talking about parts of the film. The story is  about this weird short film that is floating around. If you watch it you will get a phone call as soon as the movie is over. The voice on the line will tell you that you have seven days to live. So people that saw the film die after seven days.

At the end of the film during one of the climactic scene the phone rings. At that exact same moment my cell phone rang and Brannon and I both jump up from the couch screaming.

It took a second for us to realize what was going on. I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and answered it like this, “You fucking scared the shit out of us! What the fuck is wrong with you! Fuck!”

On the other end of the line I heard my friend Chris say, “What? Are you watching the ‘Ring’?

“Ok, That is just eerie.” I said. “I am going to call you back.”

I hung up the phone. Brannon and I got new drinks and after several minutes of nervous laughter about the whole thing we went back to the couch and finished the ‘Ring’.

3. Trick ‘r Treat

This is just a great Halloween movie. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it. It reminds me of ‘Pulp Fiction’ with the way the story time is out-of-order. I really think this is a sleeper hit that will end up as a classic.

2. Donnie Darko

The first time I saw this film was in the mid 2000s with a group of friends in an old run down theater in Bellingham Washington. It was the first showing of the extended directors cut. I was blown away by this movie.

1. The Crow

I don’t remember the first time I saw this movie sadly. I remember friends of mine who were obsessed with it in high school. I believe it was through their talking about it that I bought my first copy of ‘The Crow’ several years later.

It’s great! It’s a love story and I am a sucker for a good love story.

View From The Plane

We arrived in Seattle on the 20th of December which was a Saturday. Our plane touched down sometime in the early afternoon. The first thing that Hannah and I noticed looking out the plane window was that there was more snow on the ground in Seattle then in Juneau at the time. We knew getting to our folks house might be interesting because of this.

At the airport we met up with Hannah’s father and older sister Audra. We visited and had lunch with her sister and dad for about an hour which is about the time when her sister had to catch her next plane. She was on her way to California and we would meet back up with her next week.

Guemes Island Ferry Doc

After Audra left to board the plane Hannah, her father and I drove from Seattle to Oak Harbor where we met up with Hannah’s Mother. The four of us got back in the car and drove to Anacortes and took the ferry to Guemes Island and had dinner with my mom and younger brother Abe. It was so nice to be home.

The snow in Washington was not bad at all when compared to Juneau standers. But it becomes an issue when you think  that none of the roads had been plowed. Everyone was driving a little bit slower and safer. Guemes Island was the worst, I would have to say. In the one week we spent on the island I got the car I was driving around the island stuck in the snow three times. Nothing that bad really. Nothing a little push could not fix.

The Festavis Pole

While we were on Guemes for that first week, Hannah’s folks came over for another dinner and visit with everyone. My brother Abe, put up a festivus pole and the two of us engaged in a couple of games of Axis & Allies. Hannah, Abe, and myself built a pretty big snowman man who eventually fell over after his second day of existence. Poor guy.

Snowman!

The three of us went to the park on the island to try and build a snow fort. But we quickly learned that building a snow fort takes a lot of work. Plus, the snow on that side of the island was not as packable.

The day before Christmas my sister Tracy came from Bellingham with her home made fudge. The snow was bad enough at this point that she could not drive all the way up my mom’s drive way. So, we all went down and helped her carry her things from the car, up our driveway, and into the house.

snowman Down

The next day we had Christmas. Mom instructed Abe to hand out the presents from under the tree because he was the youngest. He was happy to learn shortly after that Hannah was the youngest and that he no longer had the responsibility.

Drive To Vancouver

The following Saturday we packed up our things into the car, and said our good byes to my mom and brother and headed out on the second leg of our vacation. We drove to Vancouver Washington where we would end up at another of Hannah’s sisters, Amanda and her husband Scott’s house. The snow had melted quite a bit since we got to the island so driving was much better this time around. The drive was about 5 hours long. There was still snow on the ground in Vancouver, but nothing bad.

When we arrived in Vancouver we were greeted by both Amanda, and Scott. We spent the next hour or so chatting and catching up. Then, one by one the rest of Hannah’s family arrived. Her parents, grandmother, her sister Audra, her brother Shaun, and wife Jennifer with their kids Hailey, and Paige. There were lots of people, smiles, and chatting as everyone got caught up with each other.

In the following days we celebrated Christmas with the whole family. Played gift exchange games and opened our stockings. Christmas dinner was quite the feast and gave us all a chance to chat and thank everyone.

Scott Never Backs Down!

In the evenings everyone but Scott, Amanda, Hannah, Audra and myself went back to their hotels. Scott and Amanda took this time in the evenings to get us caught up with “How I Met Your Mother” thanks to Tivo. It was Awesome! I gave Scott a copy of the film “Never Back Down“. Which is quite possibly the greatest cinematic masterpiece to come out of 2008. Over the course of that week we watch that movie at least two and a half times.

For new years the five of us went out to Applebee’s for dinner and then went back to the house to bring in the new year with some of Scott’s and Amanda’s friends.

The next day Amanda did Hannah’s hair. Scott and I joked around while watching “Never Back down” and geeking out on our MacBooks. That evening we packed up our things and got ready to hit the road for the next day.

We drove back north to Oak Harbor and to Hannah’s folks house. My mom came over for dinner that night and I was really glad I Got to see her one last time before we left for the airport the next day.

Snow Covered Cars

We we got back to our place our vehicals where just barried in snow. Getting them out was fun.

We spent our first week in Chicago at my brother’s house and had our early little Christmas there. It was really nice and I am so happy I got to see most of my family. It was so cool that we all were able to get together in Chicago like that. I hope we will be able to do something like this every year together.

After our week in Chicago, Hannah and I flew to Seattle and stayed with her family in Oak Harbor Washington. We both had a really good time. We had our little early Christmas with her family. Her sister and husband even came up to visit with us while we were their which was great. Actually it was Legendary!

While in Washington State we went and saw some friends. We saw our friend Adam at the Hidden Wave Board Shop while we were in Burlington. I have known Adam since high school. He is a really good friend of mine and I am glad we got to stop in and say hi. He and his shop are doing really well. I don’t ever remember seeing his store so full of merch before in my life!

We also got to see our friends Melanie and Scott for dinner one night. It’s amazing how entertaining Melanie can be with a plate of nachos.

Hannah and I also did some shopping while we were on our vacation. We picked up some new cloths and some new toys. We were saving up to do this because things in Juneau can be pricer then things in the lower 48 states.

But now we are back home. Our suitcases have exploded all over the apartment and we are slowly working to get everything put away in it’s place.