Back in the saddle

Well, well, well. Where have you been? Oh, ok, where have I been? I'm here, just pluggin' away at life. It's been a long time since I've posted anything and that's mostly because I've got a million and one things to do at any given moment. It's not that I didn't have anything to do before but now, the house and the job take precedence over the blog. That's sad... me time involves t.v. and beer... I've even cut my twittering in 1/2 since July. Yeah, I started the Twitter account and fell in love with it for like a month or so. It was fun and very interesting but again... life gets in the way.
A sad thing happened last Sunday morning. My good friend Jr. Garcia passed away. It actually is not so sad because in my opinion, sometimes death is a blessing. He was a really great man and did a lot of wonderful things for people, myself included. He was my friend Heather's dad and I think I actually met him even before I knew her. Everyone who came in contact with that old son of a bitch could not forget him. He was that kind of guy. He helped a lot of homeless people get their life back in order. He was a hero, saving people kind of person. He gave toys and clothes to the orphans in Mexico, he used to get the breakfast left over from McDonald's from me and take it to the shelter or the river bottom. He wasn't afraid to go right down into the places that the guys sleep and live with their shopping carts and crazy old bicycles that were rigged to hold their dogs and all their worldly possessions. He was always on a mission and had to get stuff done. He was sick for a while, overcame cancer and has battled diabetes and heart trouble. He was a friggin' trooper and a tough cookie. Jr., you will be missed and you are dearly loved by a lot of people that you'll never meet. I hope you know how valued you were as a person here on Earth. Heaven has no idea what it's in for...

So, the Health care bill passed the House and now it's up for debate at the Senate. We'll have to see. I'm not holding my breath...(the insurance I currently have does not cover breath holding related illness especially if it's a pre-existing condition). I'll tell you something though, the dumbass republicans really pissed me off this summer with the tea bagging and the town hall meetings. They make themselves look so ignorant and it's really helpful in this fight for common sense. I have done a super good job at not paying attention though. I'm proud of my own ignorance. I choose to focus on the positive. I've stopped watching CNN for the moment. I, so luckily, don't have to listen to the horrible talk radio that I used to have to hear...(since the move, I only drive 12 miles and my awesome NPR stays within range for the whole drive!!), and, I haven't had too much down time...I have lawns to mow, sprinklers to fix and a garage to organize. Whoop-eee! Oh, don't forget the holiday decorations that are mandatory. Halloween, I set up the house and had a scary guy in a rocking chair, creepy music and flashing black lights. It was awesome. Now, I'm working on Christmas stuff. Nothing outrageous, outta cash or I'd go "balls out", but just the lights on the house, and a wreath or whatever. It's fun getting ready for Christmas. My kids are too old for Santa and that is a sad thing to me. Not believing in Santa is like sacrilege for children. I'm disappointed in them and they are in trouble. No presents! Sorry kids, too bad for you. Just kidding. They can't stay babes forever right? Tooth fairy is like totally over, saving me some money is nice. 2 years ago, Lily tells Amy and I, the day before Christmas, that she wants a guitar and when we said we can't get her one because we don't have any money left, she really casually says: "I'll just ask Santa". Oh my God, we had to go out and get her one right then, I mean really! Seriously Lily, you had to say that! That's how it goes though. Gotta do it, gotta stay with the Santa thing. Now, we don't. It hurts.

I cooked the Thanksgiving dinner this year and it was great. Not as good as I had hoped, however, it still was delicious. I wanted to give Suzanne a break this year and although I can't quite pull it off as well as she does, it felt good to take a crack at it. I love cooking but when you cook the dinner, it doesn't taste as good as when someone else does. We'll see about Christmas, maybe just crackers and cheese. Oh no, I make Christmas Bark. That's right, I forgot. I think I'm really good at that. I don't know if anyone else likes it as much as I like to make it but... who cares, it's not about them... it's all about me.
So, that's what's been going on... oh shit, I almost forgot... drama with the neighbor...

So, we have neighbors on either side of our house. The neighbors to our right are super cool and we've known them for years and we love them. The neighbors on our left however are total assholes. The dad is a complete dick. I don't mean kind of a jerk, I mean a total dick. He has already made Amy cry twice. She's not a cry baby but this guy pushed her to the edge. I can't get into all the details but lets just say, he pissed Grandma off. The first week we moved here, after being warned by several other neighbors, not just my mother in law, I tried to introduce myself to him and he just sort of grunted towards me. He was cordial but not friendly. I knew, but didn't really mind, some people aren't friendly. His twin daughters share a birthday with our daughter and were invited to the party, the kids all played together just fine for the 1st month that we lived here. Then suddenly, after an argument outside involving whether or not lizards found outside should be held in captivity, the tempers flared and the war amongst the 10 and 11 year olds began. The twins told Lily she was stupid, her mom was stupid and her Grandma and Grandpa were stupid too. That's a pretty bold statement to make. This comes after an incident where they had told their mean ass dog to attack another little girl in the neighborhood. Amy tried to tell Mr. Dad that his crazy ass kids are threatening this other little kid with a snarling, drooling, angry dog and that fuck told Amy "I don't care". She asked him if he knew that they were fighting with Lukas and Lily and he said "I don't care", she said "your a nice guy then huh?" he nodded and said "yep". She was furious and the girls stood behind him snickering. It went on like that for a bit and we learned that the rumors were true, he's an asshole. The twins continue to torment, they ride their bike by and give dirty looks, they say things and stare at us but they're kids, they do dumb kid things. He's a grown up, he shouldn't be so childish. Now, we have just sort of let things go. Then the lemons...DUN DUN DUN... the lemons showed up in the back yard a few weeks ago. Rotten lemons thrown over the fence into our front and back yard. The twins and the little a-hole that lives 2 doors down. He's been drama since our kids were really little. Just a mean little kid that says mean things to my son. Now, as I've spoke of before, my kid has ADHD and he is a little crazy sometimes. He says things without thinking (like cuss words mostly) and so when we moved in, the little kid 2 doors down was told by his mother, not to play with my son because he is a "bully". Now my kid is a lot of things, but a bully he is not. I went over to her house and said "oh, someone has called Lukas a bully and I would like to let you know that he is a nice kid". She told me he cusses and I politely said "yes he does and we are working on that". I did not say "your kid is an asshole". I wanted to, but I am a grown up. Now, the reason I bring up that kid is because he is in cahoots with these little twins. They have been throwing lemons and the kid around the corner has been throwing grapefruits too. All this because of my kid. It's ridiculous because my kid just wants to be friends with everyone and he really tries to just play with them, even after they've been mean to him... So... Amy tells Mr. Dick Dad that she would like it if they girls stopped throwing lemons in our yard and he proceeds to tell her that Luke has been throwing rocks in his yard and nobody in the neighborhood likes our son. STOP RIGHT THERE!! Nobody in the neighborhood likes our kid? Really? That kid plays with everyone. His grandma lives 2 doors down (on the right), the next door neighbor on our right is his best friend, the kid at the top of the street has him over everyday to play video games, the kid at the end of the street has a dad that takes Luke to the park to play soccer, the people across the street drive him to school every morning, the people 4 houses down across the street call him their other son and the lady that lives 4 houses down on our side loves him like her own. Really you dumb ass hillbilly son of a bitch, nobody likes our kid? Lukas, after being grabbed by this guy and told not to throw rocks in his yard, told him "Fuck You!" when he called him a liar. Luke, stop cussing. In this case though, you just said what us grown up were too mature to say.
Now, all this being said, the guy next door really screwed up when he questioned Luke's grandma, my mother in law, Suzanne. He said "who are you?". When she told him, he said "why don't you go back to your side of the street and mind your own business". Oh hell no! No you did not! He doesn't know what he's just done. Our neighbors to the right also got involved and she told him if he even breathes wrong she'll call her sheriff friends and get his ass in trouble. It's funny to me because all I want to do is be neighborly, I want to bake a batch of Christmas bark and leave it on their doorstep. I don't think I'll put Ex-Lax in it but Lukas and Suzanne might. Would serve that shithead right now wouldn't it?

So, after months of nothing, I just spew out all this ridiculous crap right. Not politics but nothing like a little drama. Welcome to the neighborhood bitches!
See ya next time.

Uncle Art passes away

I just found out that my uncle Art died. That is sad. I didn't really know him though so it's not as sad as one might think. But still, flesh and blood has passed on over to the other side. I feel sad to that. He was my father's only brother and was older than my dad so he must have been at least 75 or so. My dad's sister, my aunt, is still alive and doing well as far as I know. My dad passed away when I was little and I really didn't have much contact with that side of the family. Actually, we moved out of Ohio when I was like 6 so I don't have much contact with any of my family, other than the occasional phone call with my brothers and my sister. It's really a drag, I love my family, I miss them. Whenever we get together (it's rare, due to the distance), I am in awe of them. After living almost my entire life without anyone really like me (I'm a pretty odd duck), other than my crazy ass mother, I get giddy spending time with my siblings. They crack me up. The laugh like me and have the same sense of humor. It's really weird. My brother and I are 7 years apart and we actually grew up in the same house so I know him better than my oldest brother and sister. He was a total asshole to me when I was growing up and I stop resenting him for that recently when he "found Jesus"... that's a total different post (see "conversations with crazy" from 2008 postings). I am glad that he finally sees me as someone with a bit of intelligence and a real idea of how life works. He must have finally accepted the fact that I'm smarter than him... bitter much? I'm working on it. Any way, my oldest brother and sister are the ones that I have spent the least amount of time with and considering they are 14 and 17 years older than I, they are more like parents than siblings. They are really cool people and when the four of us are in a room together, I am happier than I ever thought I could be. I really wish that we lived closer or that I could take a trip to see them every other year or so. I want to have my kids grow up around them and spend Thanksgiving and Christmas at their house and them at mine. I have a family where I live now, my wife and her parents, brother and sister in law... even her grandma is like family, but that doesn't stop me missing my own flesh and blood. So, even though Uncle Art wasn't in my address book or even knew where I live or who I am (he did know who I am I think), it's still a relative and a part of my family and he will be missed. I wish his immediate family well and I hope he died peacefully. I think when my dad was around him and their sister, he was really happy too. There truly is nothing like your brothers and sisters keeping you reminded of who you are and where you came from, (especially when you occasionally can't remember where you came from or how in the hell you got to where you are). So long Uncle Art... see ya on the other side... have Thanksgiving dinner ready for me would ya?

Keeping kids dumb and republican... just how we like 'em

Hello all!
Pathetic... that's what I will use to describe the Right at this moment. I use that a lot to characterize the Rights but this one has it pinned for them. Obama's speech tomorrow. It's directed toward school age children and it's intent is to motivate and stimulate children about education. To give children thoughts about how important it is to stay in school and how a good education can help them have a better future. I mean I probably shouldn't assume so much. Maybe he plans on hypnotizing American children and turning them into future socialists. He's probably got some subliminal messages he's planning to throw in there and splash millisecond photos of Sponge Bob Square Pants smoking crack on the street corner and then standing in line to get free health care to get himself off drugs. I mean it's ridiculous to think and hear that some parents are considering to not allow their children to go to school because the schools plan on playing the speech in class. My daughter's middle school called with a message tonight stating if we didn't want our child to listen to the speech, to send a note and she could sit in a room where the speech won't be on. I wonder how many kids will be in that room, more than we think I'm sure. That's really friggin horrible in my opinion. If Bush or Reagan gave a speech about how important school is I wouldn't deny my child the right to hear them out. If Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck gave a speech, I might question the content, but I still would allow them to listen, while I sat beside them and taught them how to heckle appropriately. It's wrong and silly and crazy. He's not a bad guy, he's not any sort of crazy speech giver. He's not a socialist either.
Rushy pants really started a little "war" when he said he wanted Obama to fail. I mean, I really feel like he started the ball rolling and no matter what Obama wants, the right will put every effort into fighting against it. And... ooh this really pisses me off... "we want our America back!"... that is truly pathetic. Obama, as far as I know, hasn't tried to change the constitution, hasn't tried to turn all of America against each other by stating: "your either with us or against us", he hasn't started a stupid war that we can't possibly win, he didn't try to run the country using Jesus as his main adviser and he hasn't taken the country away from Americans. The town hall meetings are more proof of how ignorant people are about this administration. I thought "tea-bagging" was nutty... these town hall meetings are insane. Whose the guy that said he was going to take his gun to Washington. Did anyone else hear about that? Isn't that like a threat and illegal or no? I mean come on! Then a few days ago I hear some clown say a handicapped person should not be allowed to speak before him. Am I just hearing bits and pieces? Am I being told only sound bytes from the media. Is this a "liberal media" doing it's job at only showing the crazy people or is this shit really happening?
Now, shouldn't we be happy about this health care thing? Especially the poor people right? I understand Glenn and Rush not wanting it, they probably have really good insurance for themselves and their family and could care less but some of these toothless people in the town hall meetings that are screaming out about how wrong this health care thing is just baffles me. It's a little confusing. It's not as if no other country has done this. It's not like we haven't seen universal health care actually work. I mean WTF? I guess we will have to see what happens.
I really hate to say this, and maybe I'm way off base but when I see some of these people who are so adamantly against Obama, I have to wonder if it's because he's black. I really hope that's not the case but so many people call him "our Kenyan President" and so many tweets read "show me the birth certificate". I even saw a bumper sticker here in my town asking for a birth certificate. It's sad and scary but I think that might be a lot of it. I mean, obviously I love Obama but I don't agree with everything. I mean I am concerned about some things going on in Washington, I don't think the man is perfect, but really, not letting your children hear his speech, wishing he would fail, questioning his citizenship and comparing him to Hitler. That's hateful. As much as a fuck up as I think George W. Bush was, I never compared him to Hitler (Dick Cheney to Satan but not Hitler), but maybe it's not a racist thing. Some racists think Hitler is a hero so, maybe I'm wrong. I don't know, I don't want to go there, too touchy just yet. In any event I am appalled that some parents are so ignorant they actually think that Obama is some crazy communist and plans on brainwashing our children to become black or Kenyan or socialists. If my kid wants to be black, more power to him...

Hello!!!
Where have I been you ask? Maybe you didn't. That's ok, I'm cool with that. I've been working and moving and working and moving and working, working, working. I have been so busy at my gay ass job (no, I don't do male-gay-porn) that I have been too friggin' tired to type or think. I didn't even go on Twitter during that time. I'm making tonight's entry short because it's midnight and I have to work some damn more tomorrow. No sleep for the manager.
Today my soccer team had a scrimmage and I'm proud but embarrassed to say we creemed 'em. I'm proud because my boys played really well and I'm embarrassed because I shouldn't have let the score get to 10 to 2. That's just wrong. It was a damn scrimmage, not a playoff game. I got side tracked and didn't get the key players out of the front soon enough. Then it sorta spiraled out of control and kids who I thought would never score were scoring. It was just crazy. Any way, looking forward to Saturday when we play our first game. I have tasted the blood and I want the kill. Last years win made me an animal and I want to have a championship team every year. That's not asking much right?
So, the new house... it's friggin' awesome. We love it. We have a garage and a nice backyard. My son has a basketball court in the backyard and my daughter has a boy next door that's her age and that she likes... wait, we're moving... bars on the windows. It's really nice here, not super duper hot like our old town. Grandma and Grandpa 2 doors down. I did have to do a little regulating with the neighbors already but that's a different post for a different day.
I have to go to sleep now but I promise, on Sunday, I will take a few minutes to write some more. If anyone actually reads this, thank you. I really appreciate you lonely reader. Leave a comment if you feel brave, if not, that's fine too. Just the fact that I have a reader is very exciting.