Dirty Banana Pants

I have finally been lured onto the evil Internet by the likes of Facebook.  I refused…and still do, to do MySpace.  For one, I hate all of the backgrounds people put on their MySpace pages…too busy - I sound so old, don’t I?  Plus, I don’t want to know if you are straight-bi-tri-whatever…nor do I want to listen to the shitty music that you like.  I loathe MySpace.

I did finally relent and jump on Facebook and I must say that I am enjoying it very much.  Although, there is this little insecurity that kicks in when sending a Friend request.  You’re clicking along and then you send a request only to wait to see if you are “approved”…kind of like highschool but without the public humiliation.  I recently grabbed some old pictures from my elementary school days and posted them on my Facebook account.  It was really fun to see what kind of reactions I received from my former classmates.  I had a few people request to be my friend as a result and have approved everyone that has asked to be my friend.  Soooooo…..I see an email today notifying me of a request.  I check the name and it’s not quite familiar.  I text a friend of mine to see if she recognizes the name - and she doesn’t so I wait until I get home.  Surely, this person has sent a message along with their request which will trigger my memory and I’ll feel horrible, only temporarily, for not remembering them and then will approve the request.

I get home, pull up Facebook and see the picture of the person requesting to be my friend.  MOTHER!  I think I my have graduated high school with this person, but I also graduated high school with 818 other people.  He looks to be rather large, rather bald, and kind of creepy.  I am keeping an open mind and at least had the politeness to send him a message asking, “I don’t seem to remember you, did we have any classes together?”.  I have a feeling that I won’t hear anything back, which is fine…but at least I won’t feel so bad about rejecting this person….I just hope I never….EVER run into him!

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I am trying to demonstrate how to “give” to Jake.  Shelby, it’s not that she doesn’t care, but she’s impartial.  If she happens upon a toy that doesn’t belong to her, she’ll give it up, maybe whine a little, but she’ll move on to something else.  Jake doesn’t seem to take it that well.

Last week I purchased a couple of toys for a few children who live at local shelter.  They have been removed from their homes because of abuse and/or neglect.  I pulled out two large Transformers, along with two Transformer backpacks and began wrapping the gifts so that I could drop them off before I left for my trip last week.  Jake was none too pleased.  I explained to him that these little boys were very sad and that their parents would not be with them for Christmas.  Jake replied that he was also sad.  No dice.  In the end I stuck to my guns and Jake went to his room, but did emerge asking if he could meet the boys.

Over this past weekend I took Mr. Jake with me to run a few errands, one of which included buying a fire truck for Shelby.  Rather than tell him I was buying it for his sister, I told him that we were picking up a gift for a little girl.  Immediately his wheels start turning:

Jake: Mama.  I’m sick.

Me: You’re sick?

Jake: Uh-huh.

Me: Hmmm, that’s too bad.

Jake: My arm hurts

(Jake picked up his limp arm to demonstrate how bad off he was - which was pretty bad, apparently.)

Me: You’re arm hurts?  I’m so sorry.

Jake: Yes.  And when you don’t buy me toys, it makes my arms hurt.

Yes….he’s FOUR.  Let the games begin!

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OKAY…I’ve been a little lazy busy lately and have been so very crappy about mustering up the strength to post anything.  I’m madly in love with my job….I’m still pinching myself.  Last week I was gone the entire week for a whirlwind trip of the Southern most tip of Texas, a state I loathe, and finished up in Austin, TX, one place I actually like, quite a bit.

I set out on my journey with one co-worker and lucky for me, she didn’t suck.  She’s one of those people, that no matter how hard she tries, she’s a nerd.  But, I found her very interesting and we had quite a bit in common, although I found her book smarts far outweighed her street smarts.

We drove into Austin, TX on Thursday evening and had to stay the night before catching a flight home the next morning.  If you’ve never been to Austin, it’s a city that’s rich in music…all kinds of music.  Look up 6th Street…’nuff said. No words that I have could possibly describe the awesomeness that exists there.

After dinner my co-worker and I walked down 6th Street and passed a placed called Emo’s.  They had lines out both of their doors and displayed big signs stating the concert had been sold out.  We walked past Emo’s, slowly, and heard people pleaing for tickets to no avail.  Once we reached the corner we looked to cross the street and noticed a tricked-out tour bus on the other side.  With our curiousity piqued, we decided to venture back to Emo’s just to ask who was playing.  We approached a bald guy in line with his friend:

Me: Hey, who’s playing tonight?

Bald Guy: The Ting Tings

Me (talking to my co-worker): Awwww, MAN!  That would have been a GREAT show to go to!

Bald Guy: Well, you are in luck…I just happen to have two extra tickets.

He hands us tickets, refuses to take payment for them and barely lets us buy him a beer to thank him.  We didn’t see him again all night.  What are the odds?  Scoring free tickets to a sold out show…with no strings attached? 

I hadn’t been to a concert like this in so long it was like I was at my first concert ever.  They had two stages set up and I think a total of about 7-8 bands played.  Let me just say…I’ve never been so glad to undergo severe sleep-deprivation the next morning.  The Ting Tings didn’t take the state until late and I believe I was back in my hotel room around 2AM - yeah, that’s right….2AM….I have kids….if I stay up past 9:30 it’s a freakin’ miracle.

There were a few band there that I really liked.  The first one was the Eagles of Death Metal - they were odd yet mesmerizing all at the same time.  The next band that took the main stage were the Black Kids - the voice that came out o the lead singer reminded me of an 80’s alternative singer from the U.K.  And lastly, the Ting Tings…are you kidding me?  There are two of them….TWO and they had the crowd jumping around freaking out….I came straight home and found each of them on Itunes and added them to my shuffle…

While the music was absolutely insanely great, my favorite highlight of the evening was a statement I overheard from the lead singer of a band called Shapes Have Fangs:

SHF Lead Singer: Yeah.  We partied with some fat chicks in the green room, smoked their weed and snorted their blow.

Classic.  I bet his mom is proud.

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