And More

MONDAY

Hopefully this should be shorter than the last post. It's just that I have so much to say about so many things that I don't wish to forget and I'm trying not to take any shortcuts. I can just hear my brother saying "take the shortcuts! Take the shortcuts!" He's offered to make me an "Indenta' Killa" for my blog and limit my posts to three paragraphs. But we all know what would happen then.... my posts would become one huge paragraph and that would be worse than it is now. Of course everyone can just skip it, read the last paragraph and comment on that and I probably would never know the difference so it's up to the reader ;)

Grandpa William loves to see us boys eat, for breakfast we just had cereal but he wanted to take us out to a buffet called "Ryan's" for lunch. I was pretty hungry by the time we got there and ready to "feed my mouth" as my friend in California said. He is always so mild and then one day he sat down at the table (he was visiting) and abruptly demanded "FEED MY MOUTH!" It was so unlike him we all had to laugh, and it's been something of a standing joke especially between my brother and I. He was just playing around of course but it honestly caught me off guard! Oh and what a lunch we had! Fried chicken, sweet potatoes, spaghetti with delicious meatballs that nearly melted in your mouth, fried Okra, which I actually do like quite a bit. My great-grandparents used to eat it, being from Texas and Missouri respectively though I'd never really tasted it until coming to Oklahoma, where apparently it is almost a staple in many people's diets. I had three platefuls but didn't eat to the point where I felt I would be uncomfortable, I'm not THAT much of a glutton, only a little glutton I suppose ;)

It was very good and my parents say I have lost weight at school so I need to put some back on over the holiday break. I don't know if I have lost any weight or not, but I suppose it's better than what I usually hear about people going to a University for the first time, and that is that they put on about 15 pounds the first semester! Partially that is due to worry I think? I guess that wouldn't pose a problem for me because I rarely worry about anything and then it's only for a few minutes at the most, save a few times in my life where I have felt actually distressed. Mostly I feel that tomorrow will bring what it will and I can't really do a whole lot about it. I know a lot of people worry about grades after they finish a final exam and while I admit to curiousity, I don't worry because which of you by worrying can change one C to a D? Or make your percentage go up one point? What's over is over and though I do hope I did well, I can't change anything so why worry? Sometimes I'm perhaps too lax though, hopefully I don't seem like I don't care about anything, because I surely do, it's just well..... trying to look at things in a biblical view, it isn't that I don't care about anything. It used to drive my grandma crazy, she would tell me she got me a Christmas present that she thought I'd really like. I'd say "that's nice Grandma." And she'd ask "aren't you going to try to guess what it is?" and I would say no, I was patient and could wait, no use torturing myself!

The rest of the day was spent with our grandparents, they gave me something of a board game called Sudoku. At first I had no idea what it was, it was just a 9 x 9 grid of squares composed of 9 smaller 3 x 3 squares. But after reading what you were supposed to do I got really interested in it! My brother and I did 4 of the easier puzzles. Apparently this game is taking the place of crossword puzzles in many newspapers. It's interesting because you start off with a certain number of tiles on the board and from there on, every row must contain one and only one of each number from 1 to 9, each column must have the same, and each 3 x 3 square must have the numbers 1-9. So for each "puzzle" there is only one solution but it is logically deduced if you work at it. I thought it was really fun, much better than crossword puzzles where you apparently have to know about the lives of a bunch of hollywood actors and who is married to who etc. I have NO idea what goes on in modern "culture" these days. I think I'd do well at crossword puzzles if it wasn't for that! Singers, actresses, actors....

It reminds me that in the newspaper at the University (which I have only read a couple of times) they usually have crossword puzzles like that and then a cartoon as well. The cartoon is really not funny though. For example: in the first frame two guys with baseball caps are standing looking out of the picture over your shoulder and saying "looks like the cold front is coming in." In the next frame, both have snow on their caps and shoulders and the other guy says "the cold front came in." And I'm sitting there scratching my head and wondering what on earth posessed the cartoonist. Did he stay up at one of those parties until 0400 until his brain was fried and then drew it the morning it was to be published? No idea. That in turn reminds me of a Homestar Runner cartoon, where Bubs is talking about the Bazooka Joe Bubble Gum, he says:

"I never get the comics on those bubble gum wrappers. I mean, the first frame is some guy saying 'Look! The sky is fallin'!' and in the next frame, some guy in a sweater gets hit on the head by a rock and I'm sitting there thinking 'what just happened?' And before you know it, I've swallowed my bubble gum!"

Our Grandparents had a little dog that was named "Dixie" and was a "Puggle" apparently, a cross between a beagle and a pug. She was pretty active but by the end of the day she couldn't be dragged out of her bed, she was plumb tuckered out!

We also were able to meet two of our cousins for the first time! There are five children in the family and when we first met the family about 5 years ago (it's a long story) we only met the two youngest girls. Now we were able to meet the oldest girl and our cousin who is a Senior in high school I believe. There really wasn't a whole lot in common though, he is just celebrating his "six-month anniversary" with his girlfriend, they have been dating 6 months now. I'd never heard of such a thing, he's something of a ladies man I believe. I asked the girls what sort of music they liked and they said that (with my cousin Chris) they liked Rap and hip-hop... I think it was. I'm not extremely familiar with either. They took my brothers and I to their house so we could see their rooms etc. They said a small tornado had gone through their area a few days before and I think it must have stopped by one of their rooms, because honestly, it was the kind of thing you read about in books or see in a movie, clothes everywhere! Haha, nothing is safe, eventually all gets posted on the Internet!

Anyway, on the drive over he was trying to find some music and he asked what kind I liked. I chuckled to myself and said I preferred classical but I also did enjoy some Big Band music as of late (Glen Miller) and some soundtracks. I know I must have seemed extremely weird to them but I honestly don't care too much. We both agreed that we didn't like Country though, so that was good. To be a country singer you have to sing about a beat-up pickup, sing with a twang, and sing through your nose. It's handy to play a "gee-tarr" but not necessarily a requirement ;)

I found out that my eldest cousin (whom I had met for the first time) is to have a baby in a couple of months, her husband was there as well. I'm not sure if that would make me a second cousin then or not, anyway, it was a surprise I thought. It was getting late so they left and we all went to bed. I have to say that I was reading in one of the old Nintendo Powers that Mr. Y gave me and I came across a game that I read about and it literally had me crying I was laughing so hard! Things have come a long way since then eh? It was called Blaster Master and while it looked pretty fun, the story line was ridiculous, here it is, transcribed for your enjoyment:

"This is the story of a boy named Jason and his frog Fred. One day Fred jumped out of his bowl and escaped into the yard. Jason ran after him, but was unable to catch Fred before he jumped onto a huge box marked: "Danger--Radioactive." Jason watched in horror as Fred grew larger and larger until he became a huge monster frog! He then disappeared into the earth. Jason jumped into the pit after him, but Fred was nowhere to be found. Instead, he found an armoured vehicle designed to foil the plans of the evil Plutonium Boss and his band of radioactive mutants. Jason jumped into the cockpit and sped into the cavern beyond."

Now the story line is just riddled with gaping plot holes. I thought it was quite convenient to have a box of some radioactive stuff outside the window and then to find a special machine designed specifically to foil the plans of the enemies. Really, I was tired that evening (and always laugh harder then) but still, this made me laugh so hard I had to share it. Frog named Fred. Pfft!