the unlikely orange

 talk about a throwback thursday. on this day, may 29th, exactly 20 years ago, i received a diploma from jessamine county high school at the memorial coliseum on the campus of the university of kentucky. twenty.  years.  ago. i guess that is supposed to make me feel old, and i guess in one sense it does, but the more powerful sensation is one of utter disbelief that it has been twenty years since that day.  of course, the camera holds no such surprise.  i look twenty years younger in these pictures.  and about 40 years skinnier.  but my existential reality allows for some wiggle room when it comes to self-image.  so, in my mind, even though my appearance has changed - i've grown some grayer hairs and some deeper lines in those years - my self is still my self.  i have learned some things and lost some things along the way, but it feels more like five to ten years ago than twenty.  i have lived in 4 different states during that...

  here's me in 1977.  notice how i'm rockin' the steelers 'boggan and thinking about doing some sewing.  now here's quin last month.  notice he's not sitting on a 1970's couch surrounded by an army of afghans.  he's also not getting ready to be industrious with a thread and needle.  you can see a cultural shift right there.  back when i was one, i was already hard at work.  i had to.  times were tough.  not like today, when kids just lie around in piles of soft plush animals, without a care in the world.  just look at him.  all barefooted and pants-less.  i guess you can dress that way when you've got nothing to do but lie around and watch reruns of baby einstein's greatest hits of the baroque era.  but what's that say about our world today?  i mean, look at me up there.  i had obviously just come in the house after being out in the cold, chopping wood or shoveling the walk, or something like tha...

after my freshman year in college, i spent the summer working in marion, illinois as an intern to the youth pastor at a large united methodist church.  even though i was far away from home, i had a great summer just loving on youth and growing in my own faith and understanding of ministry.  during that summer we went on a mission trip to mexico.  and on the way home from that mission trip (and probably at many other times during it), i employed one of my favorite ways to relate to young people: being an absolute crazy person.  for some reason, i have just always found that if i can lose my conventions and inhibations enough to do something fun and memorable, it tears down all sorts of barriers and walls and allows me to seem like a regular (if a bit odd) person and not an intimidating "leader."  so, during the flight home from somewhere in texas to the st. louis airport, i went ahead and just let loose and had a great time and, in the meantime, made some great m...

ah yes, here i am circa easter, 1992, singing in my church's youth choir.  we were called the revelation choir.  we were not only known for our singing classicly arranged Christian SATB pieces from the late 80's, but also for our progressive fashion sense.  look at those floral prints.  that's me right in the center of the back row, clearly in the middle of scratching out a pubescently pure-sounding "holy" or something like that.  i am one of the few revelation choir members actually looking at our conductor.  always the rule-follower. in other news, the mlb playoffs started yesterday, which officially makes this the greatest part of the sports year for me.  baseball playoffs.  nfl season.  good stuff.  in even better news, the yankees won their first game yesterday against the twins, which sets them up nicely for the rest of this series.  first team to 3 wins.  we'll see what happens, but i was proud of my boy derek jete...

howdy, ya'll.  about ten years ago shannon and i were invited to a cowboy wedding, and so i tried to dress the part.  the bride entered the wedding riding a horse.  we had a blast, channeling our inner rednecks.  thought some of you might enjoy this picture.  in other news, my ipod crashed last week, and i'm just now coming to terms with that.  i'm preparing to take it to the ipod store today to see what they can do with it.  i'm nervous. also to be filed in the "things i'm just now coming to terms with" category is the fact that the steelers have lost two straight games.  i don't know what to make of that, especially with a very tough game coming up on sunday night.  nervous doesn't even come close to describing my state right now. great quote i read on len sweet's facebook page yesterday:  Too many of us living out there as if Jesus were coming tomorrow when we should be living as if Jesus were here today. Because he is. ...

since i posted jack's 'back to school' pic this week, i figured that it would be great for today's throwback thursday to include one of my own.  this one isn't throwing back too far, but long enough, really.  it was 8 years ago, my first day of graduate school (read: seminary).  it was 2001.  september.  less than a week before 9/11.  i was as nervous as a pimply-faced high school freshman.  but it certainly was the beginning of a great journey for me.  this picture was taken in the first house shannon and i lived in, a small parsonage that the church affectionately termed "the cottage."  shannon made those curtains. 

on this, the first day of the 2009 nfl season, i thought we would throwback to my days playing for the steelers.  there is, for some reason, a real shortage of photos/gamefilm from that era, but here is one of the few pictures i was able to dig up.  in case you didn't realize it, this is kind of an exciting day for me.  and by exciting i mean that i may need to change my pants a few times today due to, well, accidents.  this is the kind of excitement that causes me to do the following (much of which i have already begun here at 9am): -put my ipod on the "steelers" playlist (which includes 'renegade,' 'the steelers polka,' and many many more) -dress myself, my wife and my children in black and gold -turn on the nfl network and leave it on for the remainder of the day -read every conceivable blog/article/tweet dealing with steelers football -change my pants (see above) -pace uncontrollably -recheck the aforementioned blogs to see if they've upd...

just stumbled across this pic where i look like i want to be a NBA star, circa 1974. i'm not sure when this pic was taken, but it wasn't very long ago. maybe right around the time of my sister julie's wedding (she's the good looking one on the left)? not sure. i was too busy ballin'. or maybe arranging centerpieces for the reception. but either way, no - i repeat NO - sweat got in my eyes.

while i've never really been in the slammer, this is a picture of me from 11 years ago when i was thrown behind bars in some restaurant in order to raise money for something that i cannot now remember. i think you normally get one phone call, so i used mine to call my mom (this is a true story) to ask her to make a donation. seriously. i called my mom. can you imagine that conversation? mom: hello? me: hi mom. i'm in jail. mom: what? what happened? me: um...well, they came and got me in a limo and then brought me to fuddruckers and now i'm behind bars. mom: what did you do? me: well, i called you. mom: no, what did you do to end up in jail. me: nothing, mom. they want me to get donations to help people with chronic hangnails. mom: oh. that sounds awful. me: yeah, its really bad. we only get the regular fries. the curly fries cost extra. and these horizontal stripes make me look heavy. mom: no, i mean the hangnails. me: oh, yeah. terrible. hey, can you make a donation to t...

its throwback thursday here at agent orange records, kids! so turn that frown upside down and have a laugh at my expense! here i am 10 years ago, having a little fun with a comb and brush. you see, i never brush my hair. i don't. it's curly, so i don't have to. i just run my fingers through it to get it where i want it, and that's it. if i brush or comb it, my hair turns into a brown chia pet from hell, and believe me, you don't want to see that. in fact, this is picture here will give you an idea. i mean, i don't look the president of the hair club for men here, i look like the supplier. hope your thursday includes a laugh. even if its directed at me, keeping bald men covered for over 10 years!

i know its been a long time since we've had a throwback thursday, but here's one from probably 8 years ago or so. it was taken on the atlantic city boardwalk, right after i drank the shrinking potion. have a great thursday.

awww yeeeaaaahhh. check out that little boy scout. this picture is totally rad, and taken near the beginning of my 14-year "awkward stage." dad was the troop chaplain, and i think i made it all the way to the rank of second class. that sounds about right....a second class scout. this was taken in waynesburg, pennsylvania, where i grew up until i was 12. i was probably 11 or so in this picture. one more thought: why don't i incorporate striped scarves more in my wardrobe? i mean, that's a hot look, don't you think? i could just wear a button up shirt and then wear a 'fashion accessory' (fancy term for scarf) with some kind of brooch or something to tie it all together. i think i need to bring it back, baby. bring it back.

this weekend is my 10-year college reunion, which i won't be going to, but i thought for a throwback thursday pic this week, i would show you a picture that typifies me in college. notice the following: +uniform wardrobe color (i wore orange nearly every day in college) +fashion accessory (guitar) (unfortunately, the guitar has never been much more than that for me) +the fake tattoo on my arm, which my friend christina drew. being a pretty sheltered kid and all, that was about the extent of my rebellion in college - a fake tattoo that said 'jesus loves you.' crazy. its hard to believe i've been out of college for 10 years now, but it is true, whether i believe it or not. i'm getting old.

watch out, bro. that collar is about to hurt somebody.

here's a little throwback for your thursday. this little gem highlights the fact that i've been a steelers fan from way-back. and what young steelers fan doesn't want a steelers corkboard? actually, it was a really cool gift because the pushpins were actually the helmets of all the nfl teams. these were useful for holding up important documents (what important documents could i have possibly had?) as well as (threatening to) poke my sisters with them. also important to note in this old photograph taken at my grandparents house, at christmas time, i guess, is the wristbands that i'm wearing with my wrangler jeans and long-sleeved collared shirt. why was i sweating? working so hard thinking of how i was going to use a corkboard? in any case, i still love wristbands, and i still love the steelers, so, as much as things change, they stay the same. greg. ps. i did awful golfing the other day. i hit the ball straight (most of the time), but i hit it low, along ...

oh yeah. here i am. football player extroadinaire. and no, my name was not "trader." supposedly, the random word at the bottom on the card indicates that these classic little numbers can be traded for others. so instead of trading a mantle for a clemente, you can trade a ridiculous picture of yourself for an equally ridiculous picture of one of your teammates. awesome. i played for the green demons. i played a variety of positions, including running back and linebacker. i mean, you can tell that i was a born linebacker in this picture. look at those thick arms. and notice how the football is 2 and 1/2 times the size of my cranium. i think i was like 11 in this picture. and in the prime of my football career. sigh.

here is a polaroid picture of me in high school. now, i don't share this with pride and joy. on the contrary, i share this only as an act of humility and because i want my readers to feel better about themselves (well, at least my awkward stage was never that bad). it is a complete breakdown in all that is good and right in the world, from the jacket on through the intricately patterned paisley shirt, the giant specs, and, let's not forget to mention the mc hammer posture that says, "hey, i may not be cool, but i can stand like i am." i hope you feel better about yourselves today. i really do.

aww...here i am at 4 weeks old. what kind of hat is that? some kind of beret? what am i, french? this picture would be more complete if i had a long thin cigarette hanging out of my mouth.

yep, this is me. sometime in the early '90s i think. in florida, most likely. i thought i was so cool. not much has changed.... ps. today is shannon and my 9th wedding anniversary. we're celebrating with a day at the beach and a nice dinner out with just the two of us!

yes, this was my actual driver's license. i got it in 1994. yes, those are my real glasses. yes, that is my real hair. yes, i was a dork. this complimentary lol was brought to you by the following sponsors: lenscrafters bozo's clown school keystone license design: we design the ugliest possible driver's licenses! the high forehead club triangle hats, inc: for those whose hair is shaped like a triangle