Lessons Learned

Remember when you were a teenager and thought you knew everything? Yeah... me neither, but apparently we all go through it.  This post is to prove to you that I still have things to learn.  Some you might think are pretty no-brainer, as they should be, but it's still nice to get the reminders every now and again.

• Fireworks can be fun when watched from a car in the pouring rain whilst surrounded by friends and a Yellow Lab named Louie.
• Playing car games while hiding under a tarp in the rain can be a source of more laughter than you can imagine.
• When one flicks a burning cigarette into a wicker handbag, fire is a natural result.
• If you are going to get a tattoo on your arm, make sure people can tell who it is, so they are not squinting at you to determine if it's Bruce Willis or Bela Lugosi that is etched into your skin
• The phrase, "If I'm going to live through this, I'll need another beer," applies to torrential downpours in the middle of a park.
• Bands can play, "like on the Titanic; until she goes down."
• When it's "gonna rain like hell, [you] need to put a shirt on."
• Hurling is a sport.
• Kilts are always acceptable.
• If there are not bagpipes in Heaven, I don't want to go.
• Irish dancers wear curly wigs.
• If you leave unattended papers sitting around and the wind picks up, you'd better hope two silly women are willing to run around chasing them for you.
• Anything said with an Irish accent is automatically ten times funnier than it was meant to be.
• Everyday is a great day to be Irish.

My Life in Stand Up and Song

This is absolutely the funniest thing I've ever seen.  Funny because it's SO TRUE! Please watch it and tell me you laughed as hard as I did.

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno - Michael Palascak - Video - NBC.com

Also, This song really hits home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pq8PwHFhy8&feature=related

And this song... says it all!

http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=dYQvOL9JYuw

Nothing to Say

What can I say? The date is practically set. My parents will be in Colorado in a few short weeks to pack me up and move me home.  I'm not excited. I'm not happy, but I am resigned.  I keep hoping for some amazing miracle job to swoop in and keep me here. But no such miracle for me... yet. I'll not give up hope.

I have pretty much given up looking for jobs. At this point, it would need to be a pretty amazing job to keep me here. None of these just-work-there-till-you-find-something-better type of jobs.  I'm all set to wither away in my parent's basement.

It will be nice to be nearer my family... and I suppose there are a few friends it will be nice to be closer to- but... it's Idaho.  Worse, it's Pocatello. bleh.

My Toy Story

Having recently watched Toy Story 3 (which ROCKS by the way), it's made me home sick for my toys. I come from a family that never throws things away so I still have most of the stuff I played with as a kid. It is all boxed up in my parent's basement, or the more sentimental things are tucked away in my cedar chest.

The dolly I miss the most and want to hug- and will next time I visit home- is Beanzy. She was my first dolly. She was a gift from Santa for my first Christmas. Beanzy was my "Woody." She went everywhere with me. I mean Everywhere. I remember one time hiking the rocks at Ross Park and dropping Beanzy. She never did get clean after that. Then there was the time I gave her a peanut butter facial. I don't know where I got that idea from. No one in my family ever did facials as far as I know. I must have gotten it off TV. I even made her matching pajamas one year. My mom would make our Christmas jammies and once I took the left over fabric and I made some for Beanzy. I think that's what she's wearing whilst tucked away.

I also played Barbies a LOT (I may or may not have still played with them into my mid teens... you'll never know- and neither Wendy nor I will ever tell). My sisters and I would take all the boards out of the games and set them up on end. They would be the walls of a fabulous house. We had milk crates and boxes stacked on each other. Seriously, who needed a Barbie Dream House when you had imagination? Our basement was unfinished so we would string a rope over one one of the rafters and put it through a box to make an elevator. Our Barbies lived well. I think we had a gold corvette and a red jeep. We used my dad's massaging foot bath as a hot tub, and the little attachment that goes in the dishwasher (to put small things in) as a laundry machine. Our Barbies always looked fabulous. We'd spend almost as much time doing hair and changing clothes as we did actually playing. And it was always a soap opera.

Along with Beanzy when I was really small, I had a teddy bear with a wind up music box. His name was Beary. I loved him. I don't know what ever happened to him. Sad really.

Beanzy, from the box was called "Baby Beans" which became Beanzy. My bear was Beary. We were not totally hip on naming our toys. Certain Barbies had certain names.  You can't have ten different characters all with the same name.  Often, if they already came named, they kept their names. Like Valeri's Barbie-esque dolls, Shawn and Star (gymnastic dolls with flexible joints, unlike Barbie and Ken). But mostly, the description of the toy is where its name came from. My Grandma made me a crocheted doll. She was pink. Her name? Pinky. She made my sister one just like it, but blue. Her name? You guessed it. Bluey (which is funny, cuz i have actually recently met someone named Bluey... who knew it was a real name?).

I had such a happy childhood. What I wouldn't give to go back and do it more... but this time really appreciate it. And I would treat my toys much better. My apologies go out to Malibu Barbie for the whole "barbershop incident."

Secret Weapon

Often when I play volleyball we'll get someone on our team who doesn't know how to play. You know, the type that move away when the ball comes towards them instead of even trying to hit it (if you don't want to play- GET OFF THE COURT!). 

These are usually the cutesy little girls who do ballet in place instead of paying attention to the game, or they spend half the game texting.  Why- WHY is it that when they finally do something right (ie- get a serve over while they are standing half court instead of behind the serving line, or accidentally hit the ball while doing a dance move and it goes over the net) that all the guys- and some of the girls- cheer them and taunt the other team by saying, "Oooooh... we've unleashed our secret weapon!"

Just. Plain. Irritating.