being from a long line of white trash, backyard grease-monkeys, at an early age i learned how to maintain a car. oil changes, belt changes, body work, you name it. i've even helped rebuild a few engines from the block up. it should be noted that this was a long time ago when car engines were engines with simple and accessible moving parts. not these computer driven, sensor-laden, precision instruments that you have to be a mechanical engineer to even change the air filter.
i always scoffed at all the pansies driving their cars into the services bays at the local jiffylube station. "god! what are they thinking?? can't they even change their own oil??? sissies!"
well, to put it simply, i wasn't that bright back then. that, and i wasn't really as well funded as i am now. so i never saw the light. nonetheless, there is something to say about convenience and good service, all of which i witnessed for the first time at my local jiffylube station today.
literally five minutes after i rolled my van into the bay i was handed my receipt with a proud smile from a skinny, greasy haired kid with crooked teeth. they worked on my car as if they were a pit crew at the indy 500. they certainly weren't kidding about the well-oil machine part of their corporate slogan.
i don't think i will ever stop changing the oil in my car because i still get a certain satisfaction knowing that i can. and being l always be proud of my white trash roots, especially when dissecting kant over a bottle of cabernet.
the mariottsville landfill in howard county, maryland is the happiest place on earth to me. my own little secret disney world of trash and recyclables.
the simple act of tossing all the useless crap that i've accumulated over the years into a dumpster gives me a firm sense of renewal. a fresh start.
i get a real satisfaction when the garbage hits an empty dumpster 15 ft below landing with a big metallic boom. its the sweetest music on earth.
now i have more room to accumulate more crap.
for a long time i have had a secret fantasy of running away and learning how to play the cello.
there, i said it...
i've been obsessing over this lately.
recently a friend of mine who's getting ready to have his first child wrote me to update me on the baby and to tell me how is wife is doing. he is really new to the idea of being a father and you can tell he is scared shitless and i am enjoying watching him figure it all out.
anyway he also said he was starting to feel that familiar fire in the belly again where he needs to change things up. which made me offer up some cautious advice to avoid making any rash changes in his life before the baby. i suggested that he should do what i do when i need a fresh perspective... rearrange the living room. i literally do this every 3 or 4 months just to keep myself from buying a motorcycle or getting a tattoo sometimes.
but honestly, i've been feeling the exact same way lately. restless, actually. like i got something to do (or finish) that lies just outside the realm of normalcy for me. i don't know. i've been playing a lot of music lately, been talking to a lot of old friends, writing a bit and exercising like i am going to compete in the olympic tryouts and i feel real good about it. but i feel that something is rising to the surface. not a bad thing but something nonetheless. i'll keep you informed.
...heat, humidity and hangover, i will run this morning.
if i don't make it back bid my fat ass farewell...
p.s. i made it back..alive. and i am not so sure that i am a better person for it. the only thing that kept me going is that my sweat tasted of rum and smelled of 3 cheese taco dip. ugh.
it really has been a long time since i've written in here. ages actually. but not quite as long as it has been since i've last connected with old friends.
i initially created accounts on myspace and facebook with the intent to just see how it all worked. since nathalie is almost 9 and will be getting her own email address soon i wanted to fully understand the whole social network scene before she somehow gets involved in it. i think we have some time because all she wants to do is play webkinz online. but some of her friends already send inappropriate emails to lynette's address now so who knows when she might branch out. i was ignorant of the applications and wanted to do what i can to protect her from the common victimizations that we hear about online.
anyway, i sign up for a facebook account and just lurked around for a while. it didn't take long before i got an invite from my best bud grant to be a "friend". then in rapid succession, another invite ...then another....and another. all with emails that were basically all the same:
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XXXXXXX added you as a friend on Facebook. We need to confirm that you know XXXXXXX in order for you to be friends on Facebook.
XXXXXXX says, "OMG! Long Time No See, what has it been like 15 years. what have you been up to? i am still doing (whatever they were doing 15 years ago). are you still playing the trumpet? what the hell is a health physicist , anyway????
XXXXXXX says, "OMG! Long Time No See, what has it been like 15 years. what have you been up to? i am still doing (whatever they were doing 15 years ago). are you still playing the trumpet? what the hell is a health physicist , anyway????
plspstpix kthnxbye omgwtfbbq! "
To confirm this friend request, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?reqs.php
Thanks,
The Facebook Team
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then i think - oh great facebook is just the college version of classmates.com. I've been on classmates since forever and have always thought of it as the place where all the people that i ignored from high school (intentionally or unintentionally - you know exactly who you are so just stop) come to find me...mostly like how stumbling, flesh-eating zombies find people's brains to eat in the movies.
To confirm this friend request, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?reqs.php
Thanks,
The Facebook Team
---------
then i think - oh great facebook is just the college version of classmates.com. I've been on classmates since forever and have always thought of it as the place where all the people that i ignored from high school (intentionally or unintentionally - you know exactly who you are so just stop) come to find me...mostly like how stumbling, flesh-eating zombies find people's brains to eat in the movies.
pleasantly surprised i found that facebook isn't just more of the same old attention starved, 30 somethings reclaiming their youth and or to show you how unbelievably hot they've become (you know who you are so just stop) but a really cool app to connect with people (intentionally or unintentionally).
floods of memories have come back to me in the last couple of weeks as a result. all good ones too. as any of the so-called "bad" memories have been reclassified as memories of indifference. because basically the bullshit drama of the past was exactly what it was then as it is now... bullshit. and we all know that it is was no big secret back in the day that given the opportunity to make a poor decision i would always take the path of least resistance. this is by no means any sort of reconciliation on my part but just a plain simple fact. i look fondly back at my recklessness.
well maybe not everything as fondly as i'd like but i am a totally different person now. with a life so unexpectedly different than what i thought i'd have way back then. and by different i mean unimaginably fulfilling with undeserved happiness from a beautiful family. i've been insanely lucky despite all the opportunities to make poor decisions.
anyway...it has been fun thinking about old stuff. and like i said before i don't think nathalie will be facebook'ing or myspace'ing anytime soon but when she does i hope she doesn't allow 10, 15, or even 20 years to separate herself from from the memories and people that have shaped who she is at the present time.
p.s. if you don't know what a health physicist is google it
lynette took nathalie and a friend to the mall today. nathalie decided that she wanted her ears pierced. she is almost 9 and all of her friends have already had theirs done.
she was so scared and she cried a little, but she did it.
i am very proud of her going through with it.
it is going to get warm here shortly and the pollen is not far to follow.
so i decided to be proactive and start on the allergy medicine preemptively. my 8 yo daughter has been on the zyrtec off and on since she was about 5 and it really made a remarkable difference in her seasonal allergies. since it is now available over-the-counter and it was on sale i decided to use it than the regular alavert/claritin that i normally use.
i've made two discoveries.
- zyrtec is a very strong and effictive antihistimine
- zyrtec is a very strong and effictive antihistimine that makes me terribly drowsy.
seriously...it is worse than the benadryl. if you plan on using it definitely take it at night. and give yourself some extra time in the morning so you can drag your sleepy ass out of bed and into a cold shower to wake yourself up.
so glad that FPR is back.
[this truly is good]
