General Malaise
Footballguy
I think that's all they have there. And lots of liquid cheese, if you're into that sort of thing. Which I am.Do they have boneless burgers?
I think that's all they have there. And lots of liquid cheese, if you're into that sort of thing. Which I am.Do they have boneless burgers?
Is this a good place to talk about you wearing socks and sandals in your FB father day pics?My mom cancelled on coming over for father's day dinner (a request she made) because of diahreeah. WTH? I have toilets. God.
Like.....maybe 7 minutes of drive time.How long's the trip, though? Do you have toilets in her car? Otherwise, General Momlaise could have been forced to deal with an explosive situation on the drive over.
They're slides. Not sandals. It's what athletes wear when they are chilling with their homies.Is this a good place to talk about you wearing socks and sandals in your FB father day pics?
So why are you wearing them?They're slides. Not sandals. It's what athletes wear when they are chilling with their homies.
This is exactly what I envision it would be like if Barry Sanders came out of retirement tomorrow. Well....if he was also a soulless, ging, but I digress.
Imagine Michael Jordan and Barry Sanders decided to go fey for one another and wanted to genetically engineer a son.....with Andy Dalton.Blocked here at Our Lady of The Hosted Bar.
You know why all those defenders are wearing gloves?This is exactly what I envision it would be like if Barry Sanders came out of retirement tomorrow. Well....if he was also a soulless, ging, but I digress.
Guessing that the chick on the right is going for the raisins in your pocket?
I AM NOT A GINGER~~~~````111111!!!!!Imagine Michael Jordan and Barry Sanders decided to go fey for one another and wanted to genetically engineer a son.....with Andy Dalton.
It's kind of the less athletic version of that.
GoldenplaneI started a jazz funk band over the weekend. Any name suggestions?
Ginger Socks and the SlidersI started a jazz funk band over the weekend. Any name suggestions?
Country and Western?Conservative. She did. My dad was a dirt farmer though. Interesting dynamic because I learned how to interact with both types of people.
I started a jazz funk band over the weekend. Any name suggestions?
So airfare toHawaiianywhere over Christmas is pretty outrageous.
To give some perspective, my grandpa's last job before retiring to daily bottles of Jack Daniels, was wrangling wild horses for the Nevada BLM.Country and Western?
Soulless GingerI started a jazz funk band over the weekend. Any name suggestions?
Good lord, that's so bad I assumed you were making it up. Then I googled. :(mr. furley said:near as i can tell it's with Mike Myers in some sort of faux fat ******* makeup, doing Robin Williams shtick, as host
this post. What kind of basic things you take for granted was he asking you about?mr. furley said:to piggyback off this, i attended a wedding this weekend. some friends of mine came up for it.
originally, it was my friend, his wife and their son that were coming. my friend got called in to work and couldn't make it.
instead it wound up being my friend's wife (known her forever) & son. my friend's sister (love her), her 2 kids, one of their cousins (known her forever) and two of her grandkids (almost 2 and 11 y.o.). these people are family to me.. close as my own blood.. but as happens over time, you don't get to see each other as much as you once did. get togethers only happen ever other year or so now, and 98% of the time it's me & my family visiting them at their place.
this was a casual wedding.. but in Green Bay (way out of his element) and the reception was at a "fancy" joint.
i'm pretty sure the oldest grandson had never seen so many white people in his life. much less congregated together all at once. and i know he'd never seen food like was served at the reception.. because he told me as much. the look on his face most of the day.. the sheer wonderment of it all.. was amazing/hilarious. it made me think to myself "this is how i felt the first time i ate shrooms". everything was so vivid and fascinating.
nothing out of the ordinary about the proceedings for me. some family in attendance, some friends of the bride & groom that i knew. event location that i'm familiar with. in my town so i know the surroundings, etc.
but to that kid.... mind. blown.
to say it was a whole new world, one that he had no idea existed, would probably be accurate. he kept asking me questions about basic things that i take for granted and reacting as though it was the most incredible thing he'd ever heard.
this is going to stick in his memory until the day he dies, no doubt.
it took me so much by surprise that i actually rewound the commercial to confirm that i wasn't that drunkGood lord, that's so bad I assumed you were making it up. Then I googled. :(
this might be long.this post. What kind of basic things you take for granted was he asking you about?
Crap, that made my eyes well up with tears (which I learned from the Russia thread is just what we women do when we're not being shrill, anyway). I'm glad you were able to spend time with him. Hope he'll be able to visit you again soon.this might be long.
i had no idea he was coming with the rest of the crew that arrived. they got in to town at 3 AM. terrible drive through thunderstorms. i guess they mostly fell asleep around 5. it was a morning wedding (9:30) and we'd arranged for a limo to pick them (and a few other people) up. the limo arrived at 8:15. the ladies were just getting organized and nowhere near ready. no one has ate, so i picked them up some breakfast (bagel sandwiches and some smoothies - he had never seen a bagel sandwich before.. and i'm pretty sure i'm the first white dude that he ever interacted with so he looked at me handing him a sandwich like one would an alien). he tentatively picked at it while i was in the kitchen, then when i walked in to another room, he choked down half of it in about 15 seconds.
took the two boys with me to keep them from ####ing around and making mom, aunt and grandma mad.
we drove on the highway from where they were to my place. on the way we passed Lambeau. both boys thought it was so cool. he asked if i played for the Packers (no), did i know any of the Packers players (not anymore), did i go to the games (yes), could he go to a game (yes).
we got to my house and he asked if we lived in a "mini-mansion" (it's a 2-story, not that great, in a middling neighborhood.. but we have a nice yard). when we got inside he asked if he could stay because our house was so nice. not just stay and skip the wedding, not for the weekend, but for the summer. we have a dog. he loves dogs. he showed me pictures of his dogs and told stories with the fervor of a religious zealot.
i told him not today, but he was welcome anytime... and that maybe we could come back and hang out with the dog after the reception. or we could go swimming. there's a muni pool down the street from my house with a couple big slides. we drove past it on the way to the wedding. i thought he was going to hop out of the car and make a break for the pool. he said he didn't know how to swim but that he was going to jump off the diving board
the thing that stuck out most was when we walked in to the reception (at a local botanical garden) he was just wide-eyed. speechless and slack jawed. it's nice outside but nothing shocking. when we walked inside and down the stairs, there was a play area for kids. younger kids. he was ECSTATIC! he ran right to it with my youngest (6) and the three other younger girls (almost 2, 3 and 5) and didn't want to leave. not all that shocking for a kid, but it's really more a play area for 2- 6 year olds. he said "is it okay to play in here?? can i stay in here??" with a level of excitement that i absolutely did not expect from an 11 year old boy.
it was pretty clear that he hadn't seen anything like it. room was like a library with toys and a bunk bed setup. highly doubt he goes places with toys where kids are just free to... be kids.
after playing for a bit i went to round him up for breakfast.. the buffet spread was not quite setup but they had a few things out. he saw that bacon and nearly yelped "THEY HAVE BACON! THEY HAVE BACON!" and grabbed.... 20? pieces? ate every last one of them
he had no idea what eggs benedict was. he wouldn't touch it. they looked like marshmallows on an english muffin with diced peppers. he couldn't sort out that it was an egg.
they had stuffed cinnamon french toast. he was agog because it looked like "rich people food". it was so richly flavored, heavy and sweet. amazing.
there was a tray piled high with all kinds of fruit. he demolished the fruit. he tried the mango juice, cranberry juice, he even drank what i think was creamer from a pitcher setup near the coffee.
he wanted to walk around the garden grounds but there wasn't time before the reception portion closed down and they got back on the road for home.
(rewind, on the way out of the church service he called his dad. i had no idea at this point but he was visiting his grandma the night before, he was supposed to go home but decided he wanted to take the 3 1/2 hour drive to GB instead. didn't tell his dad. 11 years old. so he calls his dad via facetime and says "dad, i want to stay here. it's so beautiful. i love it here. can i live with uncle matt???" his dad say "what? where are you? buddy, you have a haircut appointment at 7! tomorrow is father's day"!
he told his dad he wanted to stay so we could go see a Packers game, the zoo and go swimming! when i suggested there was enough time for one of the three he picked swimming but it was a toss up between that and the zoo since he'd never been to one)
he lives in Englewood. i doubt he's been much outside of there. maybe to the park near his house (quite possibly not as it's dangerous). i know his dad (not his mom) and have known him since his dad was..... 3 or 4 (pushing 30 years). to say they had a rough upbringing and some family tragedy would be kind. so much loss to violence. so little to get by. i can remember visiting them, years ago now, at their apartment. they had a table, a tv, a refrigerator and that's pretty much it.
things have changed some. they are doing better now.. by a lot.. but you can see the physical and emotional scars. he's timid and fearful. i've met a lot of kids through my relationship with these people.. some have had it worse.. some better.. but most are outwardly tough and or appear confident to at least some degree. he's the opposite. you can tell he has suffered.
he's one of those kids you want to love on because you can see he needs it. not to say his dad and grandma don't love him but he lives in a tough, tough, cold environment and he doesn't appear suited to it. breaks my heart.
I've been meaning to talk to you about that...Did you throw a trident?
it sure puts things in to perspective.Crap, that made my eyes well up with tears (which I learned from the Russia thread is just what we women do when we're not being shrill, anyway). I'm glad you were able to spend time with him. Hope he'll be able to visit you again soon.
Isn't there a kitchen someplace missing its woman? That naan ain't gonna bake itself, Toots.Crap, that made my eyes well up with tears (which I learned from the Russia thread is just what we women do when we're not being shrill, anyway). I'm glad you were able to spend time with him. Hope he'll be able to visit you again soon.
Awesome, cuz the kid just called and said he'd reeeeeallly like to see video of "that funny guy you work with that you told me about" posted to YouTube.without going in to a bunch of detail.. i owe these people my life. i'd do anything to help them out, any time.
effortingAwesome, cuz the kid just called and said he'd reeeeeallly like to see video of "that funny guy you work with that you told me about" posted to YouTube.
What else are you supposed to put all those Jolly Ranchers into?New York Seltzer Water and Zima.
Isn't there a reason these things quit being sold the first time?
very cool story about the kid. it brings up so many questions for me about you and them and your connection to them. where is englewood? share if you want.it sure puts things in to perspective.
without going in to a bunch of detail.. i owe these people my life. i'd do anything to help them out, any time.
Chicago. i heard someone say recently "when you hear people say 'Chicago is so dangerous', they mean Englewood, not Chicago." if you hear about bad #### that happened in Chicago, good chance it happened there.very cool story about the kid. it brings up so many questions for me about you and them and your connection to them. where is englewood? share if you want.
I can only imagine how mind blowing middle class/upper middle class America would seem to a kid from Englewood.Chicago. i heard someone say recently "when you hear people say 'Chicago is so dangerous', they mean Englewood, not Chicago." if you hear about bad #### that happened in Chicago, good chance it happened there.
how i know them is not really much of story
What area are you staying in?I'm heading to Baltimore for work for the rest of the week. There's lots of good hiking to be found there, right? Maybe in Hamsterdam or out by the container ships?
ah... I was thinking INglewood, CA. but not Englewood NJ.Chicago. i heard someone say recently "when you hear people say 'Chicago is so dangerous', they mean Englewood, not Chicago." if you hear about bad #### that happened in Chicago, good chance it happened there.
how i know them is not really much of story
Hmmm, Baltimore has areas - who knew? Just looked at a map and it seems to be Inner Harbor. Will I be near the Sobotkas? Or at least Valchek's stained glass window?What area are you staying in?