I'm too old for this shit...  I hit the road early Saturday morning with a trip to WalMart to buy ingredients for the crap I decided to take to my friend's party Saturday night. Then back home to unload the groceries. Back out to vacuum and wash the truck. Ugh. Neither of these things is my favorite. Came home, fixed the party stuff and packed it into containers. THEN, I laid on the couch and watched my Fightin' Texas Aggies. Ugly as they are this year I still have to watch 'em. Later I went to a football game to watch MY guys (from my workplace college). Aggies won, my guys lost. Whooop and Hisssssss... An assistant coach rode with me to the party - Chuck followed - and more assistant coaches came later after their football duties were done. We had SO MUCH FUN!! We got there around 11:00 and left at 5:30ish this morning. In all that time I only had three beers - none of us got shitfaced. We just sat around talkin', laughin' and sippin'. I got mooned twice, "accidentally brushed up against" a coupla times, had a bare chest then bare ass rubbed on me stripper style, and saw a pole dance done by a 6'9" guy in my honor (and I didn't even have to tip). Not a bad night. Ha!! By the time we all got to the party most of "our kind" had been and gone, or were fixin' to leave. The remaining party-goers were mostly hippies (and all that implies) and realllly drunk people that were taken home or passed out shortly after we got there. The band played until midnight so we didn't get to hear much of them. What I heard was really good. We were visitin' along and I was reallly diggin' the band so I said, "These guys sound JUST LIKE the Eagles!" The friend I was talkin' to looked at me like I'm an idiot (which turned out to be appropriate) and pointed at the stage. The band was packin' their shit and obviously had been for several Eagle songs they were playing through their sound system as they packed. Duh?! Ha!! oops...no wonder... The fire spinner was back this year. That was so cool! It was pitch black out at the lake so you just see these balls of fire spinning around in rhythm - so pretty. There was also a guy who would spit Everclear outta his mouth and light it making a big fireball. And then there were fireworks (on a small scale). VERY good party!! Wish y'all all coulda been there!!! Next year...

 

I got in the bed around 6:00 this mornin' and was up by 9:00. Ugh. I wanted to be asleep but couldn't get there. I'm tryin' my damndest to stay awake this afternoon so I can go to bed early and not screw up my sleeping pattern for tomorrow morning. It's hard enough to wake up early in the first place, much less if I take a nap and then stay up late again. If Timber could have done it I think I woulda been grounded when I got home this morning. He met me at the door and we all know what THAT means when ya get home late late late. Ha!!!

 

Gotta run - the Cowboys & Indians are playin' today...  Thanks for all the support ya'll gave me last week when I had my attack of insecurity. I hope you know I feel the same about y'all.

 

LATER...

 

 

 

I have several blogs that I've read for a long while, maybe a coupla years give or take a few months either way. In my mind, these bloggers are my friends (emphasis on the MY). Just as I have "my turf" at home and at work, I feel that these blogs are "my online turf." If I see new people leaving comments on my online turf I often visit their spaces to read their posts. Well, I did that earlier this week. I read my friend's post, then read the comments prior to posting my own, and then moved in to check out the new girl. Her comment wasn't much - just some inane prattle like ya put on newly visited spaces. I noticed she was pretty (women notice that about each other). So off I go to check 'er out. Lots of pictures of herself...posed pictures. And she's pretty, and her kids are pretty, and she wrote confidently of her doings. And as I looked at her pictures and read about her successes, I heard a cry somewhere deep inside my 51 year old pudgy body. I realized it was me, my cry. It was me at 14 when I tried out for high school cheerleader and lost out to the prettier, more athletic girl. It was me in high school when I had the biggest crush ever on a senior boy who smiled at me like he knew it but didn't give me the time of day. It was me at thirty - in love with someone I couldn't have. (Yeah - don't ask.) This whole thing has me wonderin' when the hell those feelings of inadequacy will go away, and also what on earth is it about this particular woman that triggered such a reaction? It's more than just her looks that triggered it because there are lots of good-lookin' women leaving comments on my friends spaces. I just know that I suddenly felt that my friend would no longer be as interested in hearing from me as they'll be anxiously waiting to see if "she" visits their space again. Any wit or humor that may have meant something to my friend before would mean nothing anymore compared to the bright light "she" casts. Intellectually I know that my feelings have nothing to do with my friend or the new person commenting - this is all inside me, cultivated by years of rejection and feelings of inferiority that I thought were mostly in the past. I think, how on earth can someone like me who is so confident and content on one hand be reduced to that snivelin' little 14 year old again? Shit. It's disturbing. This has been buggin' me for a coupla days now. I guess time will tell if I'm right or not. But I tell ya what, if I could figure out how to knock that heifer right off this internet I'd do it today. Ha!!

 

I posted pix of my soccer teams. I like watching the guys play, but I watch the girls play to be polite and supportive. Well, that and their coach is incredibly h-o-t. For some reason Chuck didn't get any shots of the coach. Haha!!

 

This oughta be a fun weekend. Football on Saturday night, big-ass party afterwards at the lake. Good times...

 

Y'all excuse my whinin', okay? I'll do better next time.

def. "Happs" - slang for "happenings." Context: "Wass happenin'?" "Ain't no happs."

 

I played hooky from work today (with the boss's blessing). I was gonna go to the municipal rose garden but I remembered that the Fair is goin' on and there's no way I'd get into THAT mess. Ugh. I like to go to the State Fair of Texas (Dallas in October) but I wouldn't give two hoots or a holler for the smaller Fair they have here. Aw, I go every year or two, but this is my off year. Ha! The friend I usually go with thinks I'm weird because I like going through the livestock barn. "It stinks in here!" I like it. I like the earthy sweet smell of animal poop. I don't want a candle scented like that but I like smelling the real thing. Reminds me of my childhood (when we had livestock). Anyway, instead of the rose garden I went to a move (Righteous Kill - didn't care for it) and to the nail salon for a pedicure. I'm having a deep, emotional attachment to...the massaging, foot-whirlpooling chair at the nail place. ChaChing looked at me funny today - I think I might have moaned out loud. Ha! And, as usual, I nearly kicked her teeth out when she pumiced the bottom of my foot. ACK.

 

Chuck and I are tailgating at the soccer game tomorrow night. I'm making shish-kebobs to grill. Also got some fruit to skewer and grill with some pound cake and whipped cream. I fix the food, Chuck grills it. (Although Chuck's a pretty good cook...for a guy.) No beer, though - we're in a dry county. We started to go "prom night" and pour liquor into coke bottles but it would be so embarrassing to get busted doing that. I can just hear my boss..."REALLY? Coke bottles? Sheesh!" hahahahaha...

 

Football coach telling us a story about team meetings... First of all, football has more team meetings than any sport on earth. They meet about what they're GONNA do, then they meet about what the other team might do/has done, then the coaches meet to decide what they'll meet with the players about, then they meet and watch film over what they did right and/or wrong, then they meet with the players, then they break into groups and watch film with each of the player positions, then they finish it off by meeting about what they'll meet about next. I digress... So anyway, Coach was watching game film with the offensive line. Remember - there's more than one reason they're called the "offensive" line. They play on offense, but they're also the most offensive of all the players. The nickname for most offensive lines is "Hogs." They're the biggest, fattest players on the field. They burrow down in the dirt/mud on the line of scrimmage to protect their quarterback. So what happens when you have a big guy that eats a lot and then exercises? They expel gas. Lots of gas. Lots of toxic gas. Coach tells us, "I'm going over the 3rd quarter debacle when all of a sudden "Guy" (the real name will not be used) lets out this horrible fart. It sounded like he shit in his pants. You KNOW he's gonna itch." I admit, I wasn't really listening - I hear and have heard (and perhaps told) my fair share of fart stories so hearing them told is like living next to a railroad track - I know it's there but I pretty much ignore it. Until I heard him say "You KNOW he's gonna itch." I had never heard that description in this context, and it struck me incredibly funny. I giggled for a couple of days everytime I saw this coach. Not just because of his descriptive phrasing but because the point of his story was to tell how he nearly puked and had to go outside until the room cleared out. Ha!! I'm sorry - it's jock humor...

 

A phys ed instructor, depressed because he hasn't been able to have class in many days due to our facility being an evacuee shelter, came through the gym yesterday. Somebody had thrown away a box. The guy gets the box and asks me if he can have it. "Of course." He looked at me sadly and said, "This is the best thing that's happened to me all week, getting this box." Me, "Wow. Do you want me to empty out some more boxes so you can have them?" The guy, "Noooo. Thanks, though." He looked so sad as he turned to walk away. I called out, "Hey Jack!?" The guy, turning back to my office door, "Yeah?" I evilly smiled and asked, "How about a little head to make you feel better?" And then I held up a little pirate head that used to be on a keychain. The guy, "Oh gosh. I didn't know... I thought...Aye aye aye." Then he turned and walked away, not sad anymore but laughing. I think I have a gift. A very warped yet effective gift. {giggle}

 

My old-maid friend and I keep threatening to have shirts made to wear when we go places together. "I'm NOT With Her (In that way)" and "We Are NOT Lesbians." I took off work today not realizing she had a hair appointment early this morning. My boss tried to call her about something (she works at the same college as I) to discover she wasn't at work, either. So he texts her, "Where ARE you? Are you wearing the shirts or have you put them away?" Insinuating, of course, that we were probably together somewhere. Jerk. I hope he reads this. You see this, Tim-may? J-E-R-K!!! Hahahhahahhaha.... FYI - we were NOT together. But we will be tomorrow night at the soccer game!

 

I hope all o' ya'll have a good weekend...

I didn't even lose my electricity! Woohoo. My neighbor's tree knocked one brick off my chimney when their frickin' pecan tree limbs were being whipped around by circulating winds. I may start a war but I'm gonna have those damn limbs trimmed off my house because he's obviously not going to. I found out last year that if a "live" limb falls on your house it's an act of God and your insurance has to pay; but if the limb is dead the neighbor's insurance has to pay (if they have insurance). There were lots of limbs in the streets here and several downed trees - about 15,000 households without power - but things have gotten cleaned up and power turned back on pretty quickly. There were a few incidences of trees on houses and that's the worst damage in my area. However, further south...

 

They opened Galveston back up today for people to go in and look at their property (if it's still there) but they were supposed to leave again by curfew. The lines of traffic were so long that many hadn't even gotten on the island yet. The devastation there is unbelievable. I even made the comment last week "it won't be too bad as long as it's a category 1 or 2 storm." It was one mph under a category 3 on the storm scale measurer but the fact that it was posted as a Cat2 kept many people from evacuating. (In my opinion.) A Cat2 is usually nothin' on the Gulf Coast. Many, many people in South Texas are still without power. At least two tiny communities are completely wiped out.

 

My brother is a city manager for a town west of Houston. Where he is the winds were maybe 40mph, and they got about 4" of rain. Not a bad storm at all. HOWEVER, they get their power from Louisiana through the Houston area so...no power for up to two weeks. The city offices are getting bombarded with calls asking for FEMA "gift" cards, buses to take them somewhere [anywhere] thinking they'll be more comfortable, and asking when ice/water/beer will be delivered to them at their neighborhoods. I told my brother he oughta get the buses and send them to a big evacuation center because, I promise you, they ain't no ShangriLa! That'd show 'em.

 

My little city began preparing for evacuees when the storm first showed signs of hitting the Texas coastline. But then they backed off of that when forecasters predicted landfall in the Corpus Christi area. People evacuating from that area would go to San Antonio and Austin (Central and South Central Texas). Then, on that last coupla days before the storm hit it turned back toward Houston/Galveston. The nursing homes that just left our Health & Phys Ed building less than two weeks ago came back. One of them couldn't get buses so they had to ride it out in Silsbee. My city, in an effort to assist as many people as possible, began converting an old WalMart building (that company built a SuperWalMart about 1/2 mile down the road so the old building has been vacant for over a year) into a large shelter. Trustees from the jail were hauled in to clean up the place. A local air conditioning manufacturer repaired the a/c at no cost to the city. Port-a-potties and temporary shower facilities were constructed on the parking lot. The Red Cross and Salvation Army brought hundreds of cots and floor mats. The building could safely (and as comfortably as possible in the situation) house about 700 people. By midnight the day before the storm hit the coast the building had almost 2000 people placed there. I don't know what the Texas Guard is but some of the people they have working on their behalf are absolute assholes. They were on our campus during Katrina and our admin said never again. Anyway, that's the group that said the City had to allow that many people into the facility. We're now calling it the WalMart SUPERDOME. It's hot, overcrowded, some of the people there are not the kind of people you want to be sleepin' next to...it's bad. There was a big fight there Saturday night that required nearly every law enforcement officer in the county. Sunday morning they moved about half of the people to another shelter in Fort Worth. What a frickin' mess! Not only that but the businesses close by have been robbed blind.

 

The media is STILL talkin' about Katrina - comparing Ike to Katrina and Gustav. Wassamatta, media, didn't we get enough devastation for ya? Ya need some bodies floatin' in the Gulf or somethin'? Well, there WERE some, but the governor's office and mayor of Galveston requested that media not show them on national television out of respect to the families. Bummer, huh? Kinda sad that it had to even be voiced - it shoulda just been common courtesy to respect the dead. I feel like, when I hear the media talking about the hurricanes, that it's some sort of contest...and Katrina's score is still higher because of the levees breaking. That's okay - that's a contest I'd just as soon NOT win.

 

Now...how do I go about gettin' my FEMA "gift" card? Should I take 'em my brick?

 

Thanks for the thoughts, concern, and prayers.

I've prepared all I can for Ikey-Boy so now I'm just sittin' here waitin' on him. Took my flag down, moved my plants to the corner of the porch. There's a good chance I could lose power this afternoon from uprooted trees, broken branches, broken poles, so that meant humpin' it last night to get Saturday/Sunday chores done early. I washed & dried my clothes so there wouldn't be nudity involved in next week's workdays (whew!). The dishwasher is runnin' right now so I won't get stuck with 1/2 a load of dirty dishes. My beans (for a party I'm goin' to later on) are cookin' on the stove and I've made the salsa and dip. So come on, Ike, you Mo-Fo, let's get this thing over with!!!

 

In my little city, preparations were being made early last week for a few evacuees from the Houston area. At that time Ike was expected to make landfall around Corpus Christi, meaning evacuees would head toward San Antonio/Austin. Later in the week, Ike yelled "PSYCH!" at Corpus Christi and turned his nose toward Houston/Galveston. So city officials started scrambling again for the anticipated evacuees. They arrived here in droves yesterday. Tired, anxious...hands out... It wasn't long before city officials realized that the hotels, churches, and schools previously used for Gustav were filling up quickly, so the search was on to find accommodations for more people in need of a safe place to spend a night or two. Ahhhhhhhhh!!! The clouds parted and the sun shineth down upon an old Walmart building - abandoned after a Super Walmart was built right down the same street. Trustees from the county jail were brought in to clean, Carrier Corporation provided an a/c system to cool the building, port-a-potties and temporary showers were set up in the parking lot, hundreds of cots were brought in. The building was set up for 700 evacuees. There are now 1,800 people staying in the building. It's not a good situation - but it's better than being in a flood or stranded on the roadside. FOX news (ever fair and balanced) posted on their ticker last night that there were 3,000 people staying in our abandoned Walmart building. Not quite... But, even with "just" the 1,800 it looks like we got us our own little Superdome. It irks me to no end, though, for this city or any city to try to help by providing the best place possible and then be bad-mouthed by the people being helped. And to be misrepresented on the news. I guess gratitude went to the same place where customer service now hides.

 

The wind is gusting pretty good now. It comes and goes, evidence that the bands are getting closer. It's kinda like a woman in labor - the bands come in one at a time with several minutes between, then they come faster and closer together, until the eye gets close and the wind stays intense for awhile. And, sadly for Mother Nature, most of her children are unwanted visitors. Mostly because they don't behave well when they come to see ya. Ha!

 

I woke up this morning EARLY (to pee, of course) and couldn't go back to sleep. The clock said 2:26. I tossed, I turned. I decided the coming storm must be makin' me antsy. I flopped over onto my back and opened my eyes. My room was kinda bright, especially for that time of mornin'. I checked the cell phone. 7:01 a.m. Uh??? Usually if my power goes off the clock will flash. I guess I did lose electricity sometime during the night but it wasn't even storming. Not sure why the clock wasn't flashing.

 

Supposed to go to a birthday party for a coworker around noon. I'll be one of the idiots driving in the worst part of the storm. Oops. We didn't know when we planned this thing that we'd be at the tail end of a bad-ass hurricane. But, as I said before, I've made my preparations - and the keg is on ice over at Eddy's - so I guess I might as well go on over there and help 'em float that bitch. (No, for the curious among you - no kegstands for Ang. Not with coworkers!) But, for all you male bloggers - be very glad I don't have your phone number. It's very possible there may be drunk dialing later on today. Hahahaha!!! If I have power & internet - maybe a buzzed-blog.

 

Everybody in the storm's path - take care! My apologies to Jean, Nadine, Greg, and Kelly but I don't think I'm gonna squeeze enough rain outta Ike. I think he's plannin' to save it and dump it on y'all later tonight and tomorrow. But maybe he won't give y'all the blow-job I'm gettin'.

 

PEACE!

The smell you smell is not poop, burning rubber, wet dog, rotting flesh, dead fish, burnt popcorn, or the cat's ass. The smell you smell is my football team stinkin' it up on the field last night as they lost to our archrival. Ugh. The only thing worse than our offense was, well, the defense. We went from last week's victorious heroes to this week's ugly goats in 60 minutes. Isn't it funny - I just noticed that when the team wins I say "WE won" but since the team lost I say "THEY lost." Doesn't take a brilliant psychiatrist to figure THAT shit out, does it? Ha! Everybody loves a winner...

 

My little buddy football coaches were bluer than blue, lower than snakes' bellies - you get the picture... So what do we do in the south when people are sad? We feed 'em. So today I fixed Sunday dinner for my buddies. And what's the second best thing to do? Give 'em a piece of ass. But, since I'm a lot older than they and know you should never get your honey where ya get yer money (that and they weren't willin'), I combined the food and piece of ass and served a lovely rump roast... with gravy, roasted vegetables, rice, green beans, salad, and potato rolls. It was so good they probably wanted to slap their own mothers because they can't cook like that. Ha! My friend Denny gave me the ultimate compliment when she said my gravy reminder her of her mama's. Her mama was a homemaking teacher and awesome cook. White Boy is getting the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

 

Timber and I are dogsitting for a friend. We have Newman with us for a few days while his people go to a funeral down in Port Arthur. Newman is an English bulldog, but he looks like a puffy stool or an ottoman. His owner calls him "fat bastard." I don't think he's Timber's favorite. He's tolerating him but he got puh-issed a while ago when Newman was trying to hump him. He can only do it when Timber's layin' down because of the difference in height. You girls can probably relate to how irritatin' it can be to be settlin' in for a little nap only to be jumped on and humped. Timber hopped up and told him about it, too! DOG FIGHT. I know Timby was pissed because he's so non-aggressive; for him to bark and get riled up is huge. They mostly just yelled at each other and then things settled back down. I think maybe Timber learned his fighting style from me. {embarrassed giggle}

 

I had semi-vowed NOT to watch the stupid NFL this year but, shit, I watched. I felt like a drug addict at 11:00 when it was time for Fox NFL Sunday. I got a tic in my left eye, my hands were shaking, cold sweat - all of which went away as I turned the tv to Fox. As soon as a game started I got drowsy and had a delicious 30-minute snore-filled spit-droolin' nap on the couch. Mmmmm..... Life is good.

 

My phone rang at 7:30 this morning and woke my ass up. It startled me so I answered it without thinking. This deep voice says, "Hey, baby. You layin' there in that bed thinkin' o' Daddy?" I figure it's a wrong number, so I say so. "No, I don't have the wrong number." So I ask, "Who IS this?" (I couldn't see my damn caller i.d., and I was my usual cranky for bein' waked up self.) The voice says, "This is Long-Dick Bob." More awake now I respond with, "If this is Long Dick Bob then your ass better be callin' from my driveway since there's only one thing worth gettin' up this early for on a weekend morning." Ha!! It was my friend that used to play professional basketball. He's hilarious. I don't know why the heck he was up so early but I was his "keep me awake" call on his drive from Dallas to Houston. I told him he needed to find somebody else to call that frickin' early in the morning. So he says, "I thought old people got up early." Ass-wipe. But it was good to hear from him.

 

I spent two hundred frickin' dollars at stinkin' WalMart this morning. Damn! It do add up quickly. I had to buy dog food, a trash can, washin' powder, fabric softener, new pillows...stuff like that, in addition to basic groceries (milk, bread, eggs, Rotel tomatoes). I came home with fewer sacks than ever but spent twice as much as I usually do. Kinda freaked me out...

 

I'm in the middle of my Sunday night wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow why the hell don't I retire and be done with it I hate waking up in the morning I sure do miss my parents and my old dog and I wish I could afford a new roof funk. Bleah. It's not a depression, exactly. Well, maybe it is. Ha! I don't know... can a person be manic depressive on only one night a week? Hmm... hahahahhaa!!

 

Okay, I'm gonna go put my clean sheets on my bed and lay my head on my brand new Simmons, firm, "perfect for side sleepers" pillows. Don't they sound luscious? My old pillows were supposed to last forEVER with their foam core and spaceage padding. The manufacturer underestimated how I can wad 'em up, scrunch 'em up, fold 'em over, etc. They're all wocker-jawed now and not very comfy at all! And they don't fit in my pillowcases very well, either. I spent about twenty minutes in the "pillow aisle" this morning trying to decide which pillows to buy. I naturally migrated to the cheaper selections first but they didn't feel "sturdy." So I moved down the aisle to the more expensive choices and ended up with the ones I bought. They were the next to the last bin - next to the down filled ones which were $30ish dollars each. Mine were $14 (thank goodness for those ROLL-BACK prices...pfft). I'm a weird shopper. I'll spend $14 for a pizza that is going to be consumed and pooped within a few days and think nothing of it; but it was difficult to make myself spend $14 for a pillow that I'll use for months. Which, as you can probably tell, is how I justified buying the pillows I wanted. Another thing that always makes me shake my own head at myself is feeling like a lazy bum for buying already-peeled carrots or bagged salad - but think nothing of spending money for bakery items. Makes no sense. I'm over it. I buy my cheese already grated, my mushrooms sliced (sometimes) and my salad in a bag. It's better than buying a hunk of cheese and letting it mold or a head of lettuce that will sit in the icebox and rot. Yeah, Mary Angela...keep justifying to yourself...

 

Off to my pillows! G'night, ya'll...

In Jacksonville, Florida this past weekend, an NFL player was shot while sitting in his SUV outside an apartment complex waiting for some girls. It was a middle- to upper-middle-class area of town. A guy walked up to the Escalade and fired shots into the window. No suspects have been arrested. It was 2:30 in the morning; they had been partying; they were waitin' on women. A recipe for disaster. The Jaguars coach said (and I wholeheartedly agree) that it would be wrong to try to blame this young man for being out and about. He wasn't doing anything illegal. The man with the gun was the bad guy. So now there's a young man barely clinging to life. He had just signed a contract extension with the Jaguars. He had a reason to celebrate; and in a split second went from celebrating to critical condition in a hospital. A young man who squandered some opportunities right outta high school but worked his way back up the ladder to achieve his goal of playing professional football. A NICE young man; polite, gentle, caring. He was a kid you wanted to see have success. He worked hard and earned his success. If he survives this attack, there's no telling if he'll ever be the same. (Details of the shooting have not been released but if he was sitting in a vehicle one can assume he was probably shot in the head/chest area.) This young man was one of MY boys. The coaches at my college were the ones who gave him a leg up after those squandered opportunities and helped him regain the confidence and skill he needed to continue his pursuit of a dream. So this week there's a piece of my heart in a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. Be strong, Richard Collier. Keep fighting...

 

My parents always defended my midnight curfew by pointing out that nothing good happens after midnight. I'd put it a little later in the evening, say, 1:00 a.m., but I think my parents had a valid point. If you're not at home at that time of night you're probably partying or lookin' for somethin' to do that could land ya in a mess o' trouble. I thought my parents were idiots, of course. Didn't they know I was invincible and bullet-proof? Aren't all teenagers invincible and bullet-proof? Honestly, I think I still kinda believe that I'm part superhero and incapable of being harmed. I've made some dumbass decisions about driving home late at night (it's so much more peaceful with less traffic) or speeding or whatever.

 

I'm gonna have to buy myself a saddle. I've been ridin' White Boy's ass so much lately that I think I'd be more comfortable if I put a saddle on him. He was rockin' right along, doing well in school and at work, when all of a sudden he began a downward spiral that I could see but couldn't stop. I talked til I was blue in the face - but I was an idiot (in his opinion) because he had everything all figured out. Now he's walking to school everyday, and to work, because he drove drunk, fell asleep, and wrecked his car. The car was totaled but he was [thankfully] not hurt. He told me on Wednesday that this was not the time for me to say "I told you so" but just to support him as he tries to dig out of the mess he's gotten himself into. "Au contrare, White Boy," I said, "this is EXACTLY the right time for me to say I told you so!" Bless his heart. He means well but he really does think he's a lot smarter than anyone else. I catch myself in the middle of bitchin' him out [which happens pretty regularly], and I have to calm myself down to keep the top of my head from blowing off. God love him, he takes it real well. I told him yesterday that there's a fine line between love and hate and he walks the tightrope between them alllll the time. I've been working on myself lately not to be so hard on him. I believe I expect more of him than I do others. He's smart, he's talented, he's LOADED with self-confidence - but he halfasses nearly everything and it drives me nuts. He sets lofty goals for himself but if he doesn't learn to focus on one thing at a time he's gonna have a hard time reaching those goals.

 

Bleahhhh. I'm kinda bummed out tonight. I hope y'all are all doing well...

Raigen was telling us a cheerleader story the other day. She was trying to make the point that the cheerleaders were trying to show the rest of the student body how to be supportive. "We were doing cheers and working real hard to be, umm, examplemental." Followed by a frustrated shake of her shiny black hair. Me, "Examplemental?" Raigen, "Yeah - you know - setting a good example." Hahahhahaa! Don't have a word? MAKE ONE UP!!!

 

Went to a movie tonight with some work friends (three young assistant coaches). There was one other guy in the theater when we got there (it's church night in East Texas - Wednesday, plus it's a school night, plus this movie has been out awhile). We were talking smack to each other before the previews even started. One of the guys made a comment about the people evacuating from south Texas to our gym for the hurricane that wasn't what they thought it would be. Followed by comments like "I'd never leave my house," and "I bet they feel stupid for leaving when the storm was so weak." This guy behind us says, "I lost my entire family to a hurricane." Without even looking at him I said, "Duuuude!?!" The guys with me were totally quiet. I turned around and looked at the guy and he was grinnin' real big. "I KNEW IT!" It was so funny. I love it when you bond with a complete stranger who is a fellow-clown. I knew he was funny because, when we got there and saw the one guy sitting right in the middle of the theater, I said, "Oh good, let's go sit right in front of this guy so he can't see." And he said, "Yes, PLEASE. I enjoy kicking the back of the seats." Ha! We watched "Tropic Thunder." It was good for a few chuckles all the way through, but there was one scene at the end that had me cryin' laughin'. I won't tell it in case some of you want to go see it, but OH! it was funny.

 

I was talking to an assistant coach today when I noticed that his hair was a lot darker than usual. "Did you dye your hair?" "Yeah, I did." "Why?" "I had never done anything like that and I felt like I should just GO for it." "Okay." So then I tell some of the other coaches, "Hey - E dyed his hair black." SO, they all go to lunch...the soccer coach says, "I'm gonna tell y'all this because you'll notice something different, but I'm going to start using Grecian*Formula." This guy has a buzz cut and a monk's cap and could care less about his hair. The entire lunch conversation was a discussion of dying hair, toupees, and haircolor - all in an effort to poke fun at this guy that dyed his hair. Each story became more and more elaborate. We're like a pack of wolves...if we sense a weakness or notice something different we attack. But in a funny way. It's like having a bunch of pesky siblings. We do a lot of laughing...

 

I was so pissed this morning. I bought two gorgeous red apples at the store last weekend. They looked as delicious and beautiful as the one given to Snow White by the wicked queen. They were as tempting as the one Eve plucked and fed to Adam. I'm thinking I'll cut it into slices and eat it for breakfast with some peanut butter (a very yummy food pairing). So I wash it, dry it, think how pretty it is, and then cut it in half. The entire inside was streaked with brown. I mumbled some expletives and chunked that booger out into the yard for the birds to eat. Luckily I also had some golden delicious apples so I got my breakfast anyway.

 

We found a 1965 yearbook today which contained a photo of our head football coach when he was in high school. He was bent over a desk with the principal holding the paddle like he's fixin' to whip the guy. This was a pose used in yearbooks throughout the 50s and 60s to the amusement of all. SOOOOO.... We enlarged the picture and taped it to the front door of the gym for all to see. He hasn't seen it yet....can't wait 'til tomorrow.