At the end...

OF NOVEMBER

I had every intention of doing a full-month worth of blogs to prove to Walt that I did, in fact, like to write.  I had to give up shortly before Fredmas eve because the folks came to town for a wonderful weekend of birthday celebrations (which included muh mommy’s, mine, Nathans, and Jed’s).  I simply couldn’t find a single minute in the day(s) to sit down and jot down a simple thought.  Work kept me busy during the day, school and the boys kept me busy in the evenings.  The following weekend Yai Yai came to town to celebrate Nathan’s birthday and I, again, found myself trying to find a second to breathe.  The visit with Yai Yai was a blast.  We got to take the boys to see the Longhorns play some team from up north.  Truth be told, I can’t even remember at this point because of the whirlwind of activity.  The very next weekend (this past weekend) we found ourselves in the car heading to Galveston for Thanksgiving.

 

OF I-45

We had a wonderful time in the gulf city, as always.  We arrived early Thursday morning, just in time to hop in the car again to head over to Jim and Carol’s for Thanksgiving dinner.  There was lots of family and friends.  The food was to die for.  There was not only turkey, but ham, pork roast, all the trimmings.  By my fourth plate of food I had to have Jed help me out of the chair.  There was a brief moment of excitement when baby Luke fell into the pool and Derek had to dive in after him.  I was just thankful it wasn’t one of my kids, cuz I had my good boots on.  We ate so much at lunch on Thursday that we didn’t eat for the rest of the day.

 

Friday morning Aunt Jan woke up at 4 to go “Black Friday” shopping with me.  The shopping excursion started off a bit of a bust…the first place we went to sold out of the main item we went for (I CAN’T TELL YOU, CUZ PEOPLE READ MUH BLOG!) and another item I went for, DESPITE BEING ADVERTISED IN THE HOLIDAY FLIER wasn’t carried by the store because they “don’t support T-Mobile anymore”.  I asked why they had it in their flier if they weren’t selling it and I never got a good answer.  We went to Wal-Mart next, where some filthy whore stole some items that I had picked up to buy when I set them down BY MY FEET to look through a bin of pajamas to find the right size.  Now, mind you, the items weren’t even anything good.  It was two board games for the boys.  But some lazy, fat, low-income, filthy whore was too fucking lazy to walk her lazy, fat, low-income, filthy whore ass pussy to the toy section and pick up her own games.  I fucking hate Wal-Mart and lazy, fat, low-income, filthy fucking, chlamydia dripping pussy, whores.

 

That morning we hit (in order) Sam’s, Wal-Mart, Game Stop, Best Buy, J.C. Pennys, Lowe’s, Target, Game Stop, Target, and T-Mobile (because Sam’s, DESPITE ADVERSTISING T-MOBILE PRODUCTS NO LONGER SUPPORTS T-MOBILE).  We had put in a full-days worth of work by 9 and were ready for a hearty breakfast.  We met up with the fam at El Gusto’s for lunch and then I went to Jan’s house to put together/fix everything we had just spent the morning shopping for.  Then I went home to Yai Yai’s to take a much needed nap.

 

That evening we all met up at Gino’s for a delicious dinner before heading over to Moody Gardens to see the Festival of lights and talk to Santa.  The boys are hopeful they’ve been good enough to get a visit from the old fat guy this year…but I aizn’t so sure about that!

 

We wrapped up our visit Saturday morning with breakfast at my favorite Island restaurant, Sunflower before loading up and heading back to Austin. 

 

OF MY ROPE

I woke up at 4 this morning filled with dread and anxiety about the remainder of the year.  I have so much to do, yo, and I really don’t know how or even if I’m going to be able to get it all done.  I’m awesome and amazing at prioritizing, but everything I have, really, is a priority at this point.  In no particular order:

·         I have two major projects at work that, really, should have been done last week.

·         I have to decorate the house for Christmas with the boys today.

·         I have an appointment with all of Nathan’s therapists at school on 12/1.

·         I have a final drafting assignment due 12/5.

·         I have a birthday party that Adrian has to go to 12/6.

·         I have my final exam in Texas State and Local Government due 12/7.

·         I have my final exam in another one of my classes due 12/11.

·         Two more final exams that same week (now that I think of it).

·         I have to do all my effing Christmas shopping.

·         I have my work Christmas party.

·         I have to make sure my children are happy and well-adjusted.

·         I have to figure out what the fuck I’m going to do with them while they’re out of school for the “winter break” which seems like the entire month of December and half of January.

·         I have to help plan and facilitate Adrian’s school “winter party”.

·         I have to drive to the Oklahomas for the holidays.

·         I’ll have to, at some point, pay some bills, do the grocery shopping, mow the yard, exercise, and take Jed’s fucking car to the fucking tire shop and have a fucking nail pulled out of the fucking new tire(s) that I had to fucking by in fucking Galveston this weekend because I had a fucking blow out (I forgot to mention that above, didn’t I?).

 

I feel like I’m at the end of my rope, but at the same time I love this time of year being reminded of how thankful I am that I have two wonderful kids, a wonderful finger puppet, lots of great family, and two stinky dogs.

 

I may be silent for the next two weeks (you should be used to it by now!), but I’ll drop in when I can.  Hope y’all had an amazing Thanksgiving.

On the twelfth day of Fredmas my true love gave to me

WEIGHT LOSS

Thursday night can only mean one thing, the weekly weigh in.  I hit the scale at 187.6 tonight, which was another 1.6 pound loss.  So it appears that I’m slowing down on my weight loss, and that’s okay.  My ultimate goal, despite what I jokingly said earlier (that not one of you commented on!), is 175 pounds (NOT 140, as I previously stated!).  175 will be a few ounces over a 50 pound loss, and I thinks that mo plenty. 

 

PROJECT RUNWAY

I want to date Tim Gun.  He looks hot in a suit and apron.  

 

WTF?

Can anyone tell me the secret to making soup in the crock pot that has potatoes in it and it cooks for over 8 hours?  This is the second time that I’ve made a soup (last night was vegetable beef) that the potatoes aren’t cook, at all.  Everything else is cooked, but the taters are hard as a rock.  WTF?

 

MORE, GIMMEE MORE

I wish I could, but the folks are coming tomorrow and I’ve got to get my house clean. 

On the eleventh day of Fredmas my true love gave to me

A BAPTISM BY FIRE

I seriously underestimated the number of things I would be able to get done while going back to work.  I think I may need to hire an assistant.  Any takers?

 

WORST FATHER OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TO…

My baby boy’s 4^th birthday is coming us so very quickly and I have COMPLETELY dropped the ball.  I may add this responsibility to my new assistant.  My folks are coming down this weekend expecting to celebrate his birthday with him and I have AB.SO.LUTELY nothing planned.  I’m a dick.

 

THE SHORTEST SOCCER SEASON, EVER

I can’t believe we’ve already finished Adrian’s first soccer season.  Okay, not technically, yet…but he’s only got two more games before the season is over.  He’s done amazingly well.  He LOVES soccer.  I can’t tell if he actually digs the game or is more into the uniform.  But he loves it.  Hopefully next season’s practices are later in the afternoon so I can take him again.  As it stands right now, I’ve lost the ability to take him.  The downside to a later practice is it’s so dark outside by 530 right now.  His team, literally, practices in the dark…which may explain why they seem to be so good!

 

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

I’m sitting in my Con Law class right now, on break, of course, having just listened to a very brief discussion on the Equal Protection clause as it could potentially “change” the face of gay rights.  I’m a bit disappointed, frankly, because we were promised an “extensive” discussion on gay rights and it amounted to a whopping 7 minute discussion.  We’ve had a 9-hour discussion on racial inequalities, gay rights get a whopping SEVEN FUCKING MINUTES.  Maybe he’ll pick it up again after the break?  I’ll report back tomorrow. 

On the tenth day of Fredmas my true love gave to me

OLD HOUSES TRULY DO SUCK BALLS

I’ve always had a pet peeve relating to businesses who take fabulous old houses near the centers of downtowns and turn them into businesses.  In hindsight, it may have been a little bit of jealousy that I couldn’t afford one and wished I could be working in one?  Now that I’m working in one, I can tell you, they truly do suck balls.  And not in a good way.

 

My second day on the job, and I’m having issue with the location.  Not enough of an issue that it’s going to be a deal killer for me, but an issue nonetheless.  So my new office is in an old two bedroom one bathroom house smack dab in the middle of downtown.  The former living room is now the reception area; the former dining room is now a conference room/office space for the junior associate; one of the bedrooms is one of the “adult” lawyer’s office; the other bedroom is the other adult lawyer’s office.  My office is located off the back of the ORIGINAL kitchen of the house, what I imagine, at one time, was the laundry room.  The washer and dryer have been removed.  My issue is with THE BATHROOM.  The firm has the original 1940’s bathroom, it’s been upgraded with new tile and fresh paint over the years.  It still has its original (working) tub.  It’s clean.  It doesn’t look as shitty as MY 1940’s bathroom. 

 

While I have an enormous bladder stem, I have a microscopic bladder.  And I’ve had to rethink my coffee intake.  My first day on the job I peed no fewer than 20 times in a two hour period.  I’m sure I made quite the first impression.  And every time I have to go to the bathroom, I have to clomp through the old house, on the hard wood floors, with my big heavy steel-toed boots…basically announcing to EVERYONE in the office, “Hey, Frederick’s going to the can…again.”  Heaven help me the day I ever have to pooh. 

 

For those who don’t know, the first year I knew Jed I made him go outside of my house whenever I had to pooh.  I have issues.  There were days that he said, “But we’re under a tornado watch…” and I just shrugged my shoulders and told him I didn’t care.  I had to pooh and couldn’t have anyone in the house while I did it.  I’ve lightened up, a bit, since having kids…but I’m trying to think of a polite way to ask my new co-workers if they’d mind stepping outside of the office in the event I have an emergency. 

 

Next time you find yourself bitter about those old houses, count your blessings.

On the ninth day of Fredmas my true love gave to me

A BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT

To my mommy.  Yes, folks, the woman who spit me out her vajayjay periodically reads my blog from time to time.  She says it saves her money on a perm, cuz what she sees and reads periodically curls her hair.  Muh mommy had a birthday today, and to quote Adrian, “DAYUHM WOMAN!  SIXTY-THREE?  That’s Oooooold”.  We started the day off with a call to granny, Adrian singing “Happy Birthday to daddy’s mommy” and then counting ALL.THE.WAY. to 63!

 

A JOB OF THE NON-BLOW VARIETY

Today was the first day on the job, and it was your typical first day at a law firm.  The first 3 hours were spent trying to get access to the computra network, mixed in with a little “this is what we expect from ya”, and a little bit of “this is what I expect from the y’all”.  I’ve being granted quite a bit of responsibility in my new digs.  I’ve even been given a key to the office.  After lunch, I was thrown full-on into the fiery pits of hell with a gaggle of tasks, which I barely finished before daycare closed.  But it was so nice to be busy, productive, needed, and appreciated again.  I don’t like the fact that I’m not getting home until after dark again, and missing out on some quality afternoon kid-time, but we’ll work something out!  I may need to adjust the boys sleepy time schedules to accommodate my need for squeals of delight, and crazy mad games of chutes and ladders.

 

TURKEY CHILI

Knowing full well I wouldn’t be home in time to make dinner for the family, I dusted off my crock pot and pulled out some old favorite recipes so I wouldn’t have to mess with dinner when I got home.  I made a delicious pot of turkey chili.  It was so good, in fact, I didn’t even have to force feed the kids.  Of course that could have had something to do with the fact that it was 2 hours after our “normal” dinner time, but…  Dear BESSIE, do I love my crock pot!  Got any recipes you care to throw at me?

On the eighth day of Fredmas my true love gave to me

ASTROBOY (***SPOILER ALERT)

I wanted to give Jed a break today, so he could study, and decided to take the boys to a movie.  They’ve been asking to see “Astroboy” sine McDonald’s switched out their toy give-a-ways in their Happy Meals this month.  The previews looked cute enough.  I felt like it was going to be a modern day version of Pinocchio.  The beginning of the movie caught me a little off-guard.  Cuz I thought Astroboy was a robot and was surprised to see that he was already a “real boy”…a real boy who dies in a horrible industrial accident while he’s trying to get his workaholic douche nozzle dad’s attention.  That was BIG fun explaining to Adrian in the theater.  Following the death of his son, douche nozzle feels like a dick and decides to build a robot version of his son to make up for being a shitty father and relieve some of his guilt.  Except for the sobbing at the beginning, Adrian actually enjoyed most of the rest of the movie.  Nathan never stopped sobbing.  Fun times.

 

KERBEY LANE

We said our farewells to Amy this morning after a delicious breakfast at Kerbey Lane.  We ended up having to go to the location on the drag this morning because there was a 3 hour wait at the Kerbey Lane location.  The drag location kind of skeeves me out a bit.  Perhaps it’s because I obsessively watch KVUE’s “Food For Thought” segment and have seen that location on it twice when they’ve failed their city health inspections.

 

SLACKER

I have NO idea what to do for Nathan’s birthday this year.  My folks are coming down next weekend to celebrate his birthday and may be expecting some time of party…but I’ve not planned anything and have no idea what to do.  Suggestions?  He’ll be four, so strippers are definitely out this year.

On the seventh day of Fredmas my true love gave to me

WURSTFEST!
We had to skip the fabulous 10-day Salute to beer and sausage last year, but we made up for it this year! Yes, sir! We hit Wurstfest 2009 this weekend and had a super fantastic time.



For starters, when planning our little weekend, Jed asked if I had talked to our Amy about going with us. Huh?!? I hadn’t thought about it, but no sooner had the question mark been placed at the end of his sentence I had her on the speed dial asking her if she wanted to join us. She jumped at the chance to see me down a bratwurst and drove all the way up from Houston to play with us for the day.

Amy mentioned on the way into the festival that one of the main reasons she wanted to come with us is that she “so loved the picture of me deep-throating a bratwurst” from Wurstfest 2007 and she wanted to be part of that magic. I had to oblige.



And she returned the favor…



We had so much fabulous food (in no particular order)…


The Wurstcone


The funnel Cake


The beer


Did I mention the beer?

Amy and I danced like mad fiends to “Roll Out The Barrell”



SERIOUSLY.MAD.FIENDS



Adrian and daddy got to ride the Ferris wheel while Nathan, Poppa, and Amy got to ride the carousel. Amy even found someone she wanted to date!



It was such a super fantastic family fun day.



Both Amy and I even found some Wurstfest schwag!!!



I HAD to have this!



It even looks better from behind!



The weather was great, the food and beer was delicious, and we couldn’t have asked for better company. More pictures of the day follow, hope you enjoy.

On the sixth day of Fredmas my true love gave to me

A POWER NAP

I took my last nap of unemployment today and woke up feeling refreshed and anxious about the amount of things that I could have gotten done over the last 7 months, but didn’t.  The good news is, now I’m making money again and can afford to pay someone to do it for me! 

 

DINNER AT SAGO

One of our new favorite places to eat here in town is Sago.  DELICIOUS “modern Mexican”.  We went tonight for a celebratory dinner of margaritas, brisket quesadillas, shrimp salad, and hot dogs.  I love the fact that, before 8, everything on the menu is so dirt cheap.  For all we got tonight, we didn’t spend a whole lot.  It was worth every.single.penny.

 

FAMILY

I’m reminded tonight of how truly grateful I am for my wonderful family, and my friends who are my family.  We’ve had a tremendous amount of support over the last 7 months from so many people that I couldn’t possibly thank everyone enough for all they mean to me.  When you come from having so much to having “nothing”, you realize how much you really do have in life and how little you really need to maintain a wonderful quality of life when you have so many awesome people to share your life with you.  Take a moment to sit back and count your many blessings.  (And that’s not just the two margaritas talking…or maybe it is!)

On the fifth day of Fredmas my true love gave to me

A JOB!

Looks like my very long, unpaid, vacation is over.  I was offered a job today for a small local firm.  I’m really thrilled.  I feel like it’s going to be a great learning experience for me. 

 

A POUND

So I’ve had better weight loss weeks.  I gained a pound this week, and I’m okay with it.  I’ve still lost 38 pounds, therefore I’m still better off today than I was in August.  Truth be told, I didn’t get nearly as much exercise this week as I have in weeks past.  I was a hair lazy this past week, I’ll get back on it next week.  I guarantee you I won’t be up again next week.

 

A PLAN

The folks are coming to AusTex next weekend to have  a blow-out family birthday party.  My mommy’s birthday is Monday, mine is on the 15^th, Nates is on the 22^nd, and the Boo’s is on the 3^rd of December.  Good night, nurse!  We have a whole lotta birthdays coming up.

On the fourth day of Fredmas my true love gave to me

HAIR-PEAZ

This shit’s for the birds man.  The tale-tell signs of the itchy lip means the blister is a coming.  Nothing builds your self-esteem more than unemployment and mouth herpes.  Or “fever blister”, or whatever.

 

HAIR-PEACE

I got a much needed haircut today.  GOOD GOD do I feel human again.  It was a bit embarrassing being seen out in public with the weave I had on my head and I grew tired of telling people that it was for our Halloween costume.  It was folks.  I didn’t make that up!  I had to be a young, hot Luke Skywalker.  At least I was hot.  But the 70’s hair just about killed me.  I was really pleased with the clipping I got today.  Granted it wasn’t from the BFF, Jimmy, but it was the best I could do in a lurch.  The woman who cut my hair, coincidentally, is the mother of one of Adrian’s classmates.  It’s a small, small world.

 

MAINE IS OFF THE TABLE

A sad, sad day for marriage “equality” in Maine.  I love that the folks defend “traditional marriage” don’t seem to mind the mockery celebritauntes like Britney and Pamela make out of the institution of marriage.  I suppose, as long as your straight, marriage to multiple folks (as long as it’s one at a time) is a’ight and in the vein of “traditionalism”.  Whatever.  Fuck you, the majority, who would vote on the rights of the minority. 

On the third day of Fredmas my true love gave to me

RITES OF PASSAGE

I don’t know why, but I love this picture, hard. Jed and I discussed a possible retake, but I think we have to keep it. It’s a requirement, right? To have these pictures to look back on when we’re older? It cracks me up, because I know this isn’t his smile, I know this isn’t his hair. I don’t know, exactly, what happened when this picture was taken but I loves it.

RITES OF PASSAGE, PAR DEAUX

While on the subject of Adrian and awkwardness, I had the following conversation with him last week:

ADRIAN: Daddy, I have a girlfriend

Freddy: YOU DO?!? That’s fantastic. Tell me all about her.

ADRIAN: It’s Amanda. You know Amanda.

Freddy: SOLID CHOICE ADRIAN! She’s a looker. What makes her your girlfriend?

ADRIAN: She mouth kisses me.

Freddy: WHAT?!?

ADRIAN: She mouth kisses me.

Freddy: Ummm, what does that mean exactly?

ADRIAN: DADDY! YOU know. She MOUTH KISSES ME.

I’m so not ready for this conversation. The good news is we may have given proof to the whole nurture v. nature debate? I mean, I know there’s a few years left to be certain, but I think we’re on a good roll!

0300

THAT’S WHAT TIME NATHAN GOT UP THIS MORNING. THREE IN THE MORNING. I’m only slightly bitter.

VOTER ID

I’m enrolled in a Texas State and Local Government class this semester and am doing it on-line rather than sitting in class EVERY night of the week. As part of the on-line course, I’m required to participate in a minimum of 2 “discussion groups”. Each week the Prof posts a question relating to Texas politics on-line and the class participants are supposed to discuss it. The directions for the discussion board reads as follows:

“…You must reply in a reasoned way, either in response to the forum question itself or in response to something one of your classmates has posted. ‘Reasoned’ means you’ve thought about the question and present your ideas in a coherent fashion…”

With that in mind, yesterday I logged on to participate in the Unit II discussion on voting history of Texans. This was the question, as posed:

In the most recent Texas Legislative session a bill was considered but not passed to require a photo ID in order to vote. Republicans argued that positive identification was necessary to protect against fraud, especially voting by illegal immigrants. Democrats argued its purpose was to intimidate and discourage voting, especially among the poor, minorities, and the elderly (people least likely to have photo ID's & more likely to vote Democrat). Should it be required that people produce positive identification in order to vote? It’s a fairly simple question, right? Here’s was my “reasoned” response (agree or disagree, I really don’t give a shit. I’m not putting it out here for a debate): The issue of voter ID is just another smoke screen being blown up by the legislature to keep from working on real issues. It’s another method of mobilizing their base, nothing more than a scare tactic to get people out to the polls to vote for them and keep them in office so they can keep working on absolutely nothing. Much like “the gays are going to indoctrinate your children if we allow them to legitimize their relationships”, the fear of “aliens” attacking the very nature of our culture and statehood is a brilliant way to get sheep to the voting booths. Where is the evidence of voter fraud? Why is an ID necessary? The Republicans have already seized control and flexed their dominant muscle. They’re certainly not proposing an ID to keep their voting population away from the polls. I’ve not seen any evidence of long lines of “natives” lurking outside of any polling location in recent elections. The book very clearly states that Texas has an abysmal, shameful, ridiculously low voter turn-out rate to begin with. Are those of you advocating support of a voter ID bill seriously PROUD of a 36.2 – 45.6% voter turn-out rates (p. 74) for our state and national elections? Do you enjoy being SECOND only to Louisiana in THE LOWEST NATIONAL AVERAGE VOTING POPULATION? We do NOT need to further hinder access to the voting booths. We should be ashamed of our legislatures for preying on the fear of the voters of Texas, as well as the scare tactics they’re using to keep legitimate voters away from the polls by clouding the REAL ISSUES with this nonsensical talk about IDs. Otherwise, I really don’t have an opinion one way or the other. Here are two of the other “reasoned” responses to the same question that I found humorous (cut n’ pasted with typos and all): I think that if people take the time to go to the polls and vote they should be allowed to vote. I wonder how low voter turn out would be if the the elderly and immigrants did not vote.All of the registered voters in Texas don't vote so if we take away those that do hit the polls because they don't have I.D. will that make things better? Umm, isn’t this just a restatement of the original question? And (muh favorite) It should be required that people produce positive I.D in order to vote. I don't understand how someone would be intimidated to produce an I.D unless they were either hiding from someone, or guilty. It should be required that people produce positive I.D in order to vote. I don't understand how someone would be intimidated to produce an I.D unless they were either hiding from someone, or guilty. I believe carrying a photo I.D. is a responsible thing to do, and elderly should be very aware of this. This is for the well being of a lot of people. If their is an accident or injury, they can readily be identified. Fantastic. If she’da mentioned the elderly and pre-cog injured should wear clean underwear in the event of an accident, this would be sound and ‘reasoned’ advice. Perhaps I put too much thought into it? While on the subject of Texas State & Local Government, there’s a one-sentence statement in the book: “Tolerance of Gay and Lesbian lifestyle in Texas is improving”. On the publisher’s website on their on-line practice tests there is a T/F question, “Gays and Lesbian in Texas are seeing an increase in tolerance”. Knowing the truth, I answered “False” (as I’ve watched my rights to have a legitimized relationship constitutionally stripped away from me) and wasn’t shocked to find I got the answer wrong. With the exception of this one sentence in the book, there’s no other information anywhere in the book that argues the contrary. I’d like to know what study they’re looking at. Now I’m rambling.

On the second day of Fredmas, my true love gave to me

Fall

Fall is always a mixed bag for me.  I totally dig the temperature change, and love being able to cook my all time favorite meals: Soups, chilis, and chowders.  One of the things I hated the most about dating boys from the south was the whole soup thing.  They just didn’t *get* it.  They didn’t understand the concept of soup.  Fortunately, Jed *got* it.  I love the traditional Chicken Noodle Soup (muh daddy makes the best) and my all time favorite soup is Split Pea (feel free to gag silently).  Since moving to Texas, I’ve become a huge fan of Chicken Tortilla soups (MANY varieties to choose from), and lately I’ve been experimenting with different “baked potato soup” recipes (not heart healthy, of course).  I loves me a hearty, meaty bowl of hot delicious soup, and a big old heaping helping of spicy chili, with rice, of course.  The rice is a new thing that Jed introduced.  I was a bit skeptical, at first, but am whole-heartedly a fan.

 

So I get to eat my delicious soups, again, but this darn time change has thrown me for a loop.  I suppose I should be happy with my “extra hour”, but frankly, I’m not.  It takes me forever to get adjusted to it, and I think the kids are totally oblivious to it.  Sunday, for example, they still got up at their old standard 630, but in reality it was 530.  I tried running around town to work on some of my errands, but nothing opened for a good 4 hours later and I just found the whole morning wasted.  My biggest complaint is that it gets so dark so early now.  I thought the purpose of daylight savings time was to afford us more daylight hours?  It makes no logical sense to me to have the extra daylight so early in the morning when I’m still waking up.  What’s wrong with driving to work when it’s dark outside (HAHAHA!  I said “driving to work”!  As if!) and then having some extra daylight at the end of the day when I’m fully awake?  I think the asshats that came up with this plan got it all backwards.  I think we should Fall forward and Spring back giving us more daylight at the END of the day when it is more useful and beneficial.  As it is now, I’m ready for bed at 6 in the evening when the sun goes down.  How can THAT be a good thing?

 

CRAPPY ELECTRONICS

Has anyone else noticed lately the trend in crappy electronics?  I’m thrilled the prices on things are coming down to where things are affordable, but at the cost of dependability?  Jed and I were watching a movie on the DVD player this weekend in the living room.  A little over 2/3 of the way into the movie the DVD player crapped out, so we moved it to the bedroom.  I’ll be go to hell if 10 minutes later the DVD player in the living room crapped out.  Seriously?  What the hell is wrong with this stuff?  It’s not like they’re crappy brands.  I mean, Phillips?  Didn’t they used to be good?  I guess the good news is they only cost us, like, 40 bucks each.  But it’s not just the DVD players.  Everyone who knows me knows I’m on my 5^th laptop in under two years.  I had to buy the one I’m using now at the end of the summer semester because the one I had purchased for the spring semester had started failing (monitor malfunction).  Since I needed a computer to finish up my school work, I purchased another one so that I could send the ONLY THREE MONTH OLD ONE back to be fixed and wouldn’t be computerless while they repaired it.  I gave the almost new one to Jed to replace his old one when it got back from being repaired, and NOW I’M HAVING ISSUES with my NEW one.  I realize I only paid $300 for it, but shouldn’t it last more than SIX MONTHS?  Is that the attractiveness to the new lower prices of these things?  Disposability? 

 

SUPER TUESDAY

For those of you in states that matter, I wish you the best of luck tomorrow.  PLEASE get out there and vote, even if you don’t think the issues apply to you.  Don’t sit back and let others vote for you and think that someone else is going to take care of your needs.  PLEASE get out there and vote.

On the first day of Fredmas, my true love gave to me...

I ab.so.lutely cannot believe another month has flown by and there’s only two months left to the year.  You know what that means, folks?  Yes, Fredmas is coming up quicker than you can say “do me, daddy”. 

 

This may be confusing for those of you who may already think I’m 39, but this will be my last official year of the thirties as I look ahead to the big 40.  I really can’t explain why, or how, I started aging myself up on my birthdays, but I’ve done it for longer than I can remember.  It drives Jed bonkers, but it’s just how I do.  I will officially be 39 this year, though…as always, the day after my birthday I will hold myself out as 40. 

 

I can’t tell you how forward I am looking to my 40’s.  The growing older thing doesn’t scare, or bother me, in the slightest.  Every decade I survive is better than the previous decade and it gives me nothing but hope for the future decades.  I see my life going nowhere but up.  Here’s how my decades have compared:

 

My teens were all about decadence and debauchery.  I don’t remember much about it, but I worked crappy jobs for crappy money to eat lots of crappy food and sneak in to my favorite bars with my crappy fake ID.

 

In my 20’s I began my professional career.  I made my money and spent my money like crazy acquiring “stuff”.  Stuff I thought I needed, such as music CDs, movies, books, etc., and sensible stuff, such as household furnishings.  I wasted my money on apartment rentals and worked to be able to afford happy hours and meals out with friends.  Somewhere along the way I stopped wasting money on rent and started buying and fixing up houses.

 

I spent my 30’s continuing my career, refocusing on it at times.  In fact, I’m in a position of clarity in that regard right now.  I grew tired of revolving and credit debt and figured out a plan to get rid of all my debt and pay myself, rather than pay credit companies.  I watched my savings soar and created my dream family. 

 

I have high expectations for my 40’s.  I know I can’t plan out what’s going to happen, but I have feeling of wonder and amazement as I look ahead.  Coming up in the next 11 years Adrian will be hitting SIXTEEN YEARS OLD, Nate will be hitting FIFTEEN.  Adrian has already started talking about his “girlfriend” and how she likes to “mouth kiss” (something I’m SO not ready to discuss yet!).   Big, exciting changes are coming.  And I’m ready to embrace whatever life has to throw at me. 

 

So happy first day of Fredmas, I hope it was as good for you as it was for me.