A Visit From Aunt Rachel

Twas five months before Christmas...

Forget that. Maybe in my younger days I would have taken that idea and ran with it, but I'm no spring chicken. Or any other kind of chicken. Or a spring anything.

Before I forget: Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk: Ruth, Leslie. Click the name to see their site.

Aunt Rachel is in town (and so are Cousin Karen, Cousin-in-Law Jim, and First Cousin Once Removed Cami) for Cami's softball tournament (I don't know if I'm spelling it right, but surely someone will tell me...) and I got to see them all tonight. Also, I saw First Cousin Once Removed Bryant as well.

I'm glad I got to hang out with Rachel, and not just because she wanted to buy us dinner. We got to sit around and talk, and I saw Sara, Kathy, Elizabeth, and Melanie for the first time in a while. It was a good time.

I'm very much wanting to do a full family reunion, complete with shirts. Okay, a Hickerson family reunion, specifically the offspring of Ada Hickerson. Complete, as I said, with shirts.

I watched another softball game. My second this summer. I remember enjoying playing baseball at one point. I think it started being unfun when they kept having to put me in the older kids' group, because not enough kids my age would sign up. Oh well.

Fun night. Long day yesterday with little sleep last night. Long day tomorrow. Going to bed soon. Bye.

Late Night Emotional Roller-Coaster

First, let me begin by saying Leslie & Ruth could both still use some support in raising money for their Breast Cancer Three-Day Walk. If you havn't looked at Ruth's drawing yet, to quote Riff Raff, "Go. Now."

Now, that plug and those links out of the way, I can go on to say how I've been laughing out loud for a while now over about three different things posted either on a blog or on myspace. Also, my heart has ached, and I was mortified to see I've had a typo in my profile here since the day I created it.

So, emotional roller-coaster.

A big Happy Birthday to my brother, Dane, who is celebrating the 38th anniversary of his arrival on the planet... I mean out of the womb. Whatever. No pro-life flame comments, please. Big family hoo-ha next weekend, so he'll have to wait for his card and lack-of-gift from me until then. We did just have a lovely late-night IM chat on Yahoo, although he needs to work on his closings, as now I'm wondering if something fell on the house and caused him to just suddenly stop typing.

Oh well. I guess if that's what happened, someone will call and notify me. And big shout-out goes to Patsy for THAT little attitude on life.

Mustard and...

Okay, time to play catch-up...

Tuesday I took the girls to see a BeTickled or Betickled program/concert/thingy. It was a fun concert. Maddie for some reason became shy, which was funny to see. She sat and acted like there weren't a lot of kids dancing around her. Olivia, on the other hand, seemed to really enjoy herself.

We played in the church playground afterwards, then walked over to a nearby park to play some more. It finally got to be too much for Maddie that there was this perfectly good swimming pool complete with lifeguards, and here she was without her swimsuit, so we went to have lunch.

Lunch at a fast food place... wow, I have a new respect for any parent who has taken more than one kid to a fast food place.

Anyway, active Tuesday.

Had a class all week. It was very informative, but during the parts that I got quickly, I became EXTREMELY bored and frustrated while the class kept focusing on what I'd gotten. Shades of math classes in college.

I was hoping to go to the concert thing Tuesday after next, but forgot I have a class/in-service/thingy that lasts all day every day that week.

I'm going back home for the weekend of the 29th. I'm looking forward to that, oddly enough.

Friday night I had a great duh moment. I was working, and this guy that I have delivered to was in, having ordered a pizza for carryout. I recognized him as the guy with some sort of hearing issue, as his doorbell is a "doorbell for the hearing impaired", for lack of the actual terminology, and he never "says" anything when I rattle off the "here's your order, here's what you owe me".

I looked at the carryout orders, and see one for a "bob" (and that's how it was written, and so shall I write it here). Me, being big "I used to teach basic sign language to 6th grade kids" guy, decide to sign to him "b-o-b" with an inquisitive expression, as if to say, "Are you Bob?"

He gives me this strange look, so I sign it again. Forgetting in my panic onset that I know the signs for "is", "your", and "name".

He makes a gesture for pen and paper, and we go from there. He wasn't "bob".

Right as his pizza is ready, and as I'm handing it to him, I realize my mistake. I had been signing "d-o-d" and not "b-o-b", so the poor man was probably confused as to why the Department of Defense had something to do with his pizza.

So, there's my "Stupid Mark" moment for the week. To celebrate, I went out to a drinking establishment.

And that brings me to a thought I had today about public dancing. There has to be one of three conditions for me to dance publicly: sufficient intake of adult beverages, "Love Shack", or choreography with rehearsals. Friday night, two of those conditions were met, and I was dancing and making a fool of myself, to be sure.

Well, work, work, sleep, Buffy, work, work. That's my life right now. It's not a perfect life, but it still beats last summer...

Don't forget, Ruth and Leslie could always use more donations for their Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk--and I still highly recommend viewing Ruth's page, just for the drawing she put on there.

(SFX: knock on door) Housekeeping!

Well, I've finally figured out how to add links. Hooray!

Also, I've started another blog, inspired by Reverend Andy and the movie Smoke (or whatever that movie was called.. Robert DeNiro (or someone Robert DeNiro-like) played a character who took a picture of the same spot every day in it). I'm striving to take a picture with my newly-working camera every day... and my guidelines are as follows: 1) It must capture, in some way, a part of that day, and 2) It must not contain people. I was thinking about it not containing animals, as I'm not apt to be around them much, but then I remembered the cat that thinks it lives on my porch, and how the day I finally decide it does understand what I'm saying when I say, "If you don't leave my plants alone and if you don't stop pooping all over the place here, I'm calling Animal Control," and I actually call Animal Control, I'll want to get a picture of the creature. That was a long sentence.

Leslie has made her walk goal, but both she and Ruth would both probably be okay with raising even more funds. Feel free to click on those links, if you'd like to help. (Also, Ruth's has a funny drawing she did of herself and my older sister, Rusty.)

No other news to report at this time, I guess. Housekeeping is temporarily complete.

People Are Great

Okay, I make no secret of the fact that I think people--in general--stink. I'm the inverse of Damon Wayans, who once said something along the lines of "People are a great concept, but a poor actuality." Again, not a direct quote.

When I think of people in the abstract, I tend to think they're just awful. In reality, I often times enjoy the company of people.

Oh, don't get me wrong... there are plenty of times I dont' enjoy the company of people... mostly because the people are antagonistic, irritating, or--worst of all--irritated... with ME! (How could anyone EVER be irritated with ME?)

Anyway, I sent out an e-mail plea to help my niece make her walk. It went to several people I wasn't sure read this regularly (and thus wouldn't see links--like this one--to Leslie's walk site). Not only did several people respond with positive words, etc., but several also donated, and at least one passed the link on to another family member--who also donated.

So, people are great. And I just came from delivering pizzas and I'm saying that!

P.S.: I know there are lots of reasons a good person may not be giving financial support. I'm not thinking any less of those who choose not to donate. I just want to put the opportunity out there for those who would like to take advantage of it!