A hitch in my get-along

I like that old expression, but I don't have one. Instead I have a nagging pain that runs from my neck to a spot just below my shoulder blade. At times it's just a dull pain, but certain movements (like tilting my head forward) and actions (like a cough, a sneeze, or--at it's worst--just clearing my throat) trigger pretty intense pain. Luckily for me (but mostly for my family), I can still shovel snow. DC was hit with a fast moving storm this week and I was able to clear the Plow Mountain that the snow plow built at the end of my driveway. Yay!!! ;P

I'm sharing this just to explain why I haven't been commenting much this week. I've had no problem doing things that only require mouse clicking (since the pain is on my left side), but typing has been more of a challenge than usual.

I'll be back at full strength soon and writing comments that are too long and occasionally TMI.


PS = Does anyone know how to delete spam messages from Comment boxes???

Blame it on the moon

Around 8:00pm last night the moon looked amazing. I noticed it as I got off the the train on my way home from work. I love the moon and stars and the winter sky in general. The moon was sitting low on the horizon, looking huge and just a little flat on the top. It looked so cool I wanted to share it with someone. So I turned to the two men who had gotten off the train just ahead of me and asked, "Hey, did you see that moon???"

Just as the words left my lips, the man closest to me pulled a collapsible cane out of his bag. He was blind!!! Inside, I shrunk to the size of a Liliputian. Trying to act as if I had not just done something dumb, I turned to his friend and said, "Wow, the moon looks amazing tonight!" He agreed and I walked quickly out of the station. As I walked away, I heard the two share a chuckle. Thankfully the guy had a sense of humor.

But I feel like an idiot anyway. What were the odds of a blind man being the person closest to me at that momment--and me not having noticed that earlier??? *sigh*

To make myself feel better, I'm claiming some awards today. Fatima from Through This Haze passed me the Versatile Blogger Award and Clai from My Life at 20's tagged me with the Stylish Blogger Award. Thank you ladies, I do feel a little better--but still dumb!!! And thank you to all of my blog friends who take the time to stop by. I have a better "thank you" in the works. =)

Base of Operations

This is a picture of my childhood home....the place I returned to after my odd adventures--and the place where I experienced some of them (like the ghostly encounters). I'm not sure when the picture was taken. I remember a huge oak tree being just to the right of the picture, but that shadow on the snow looks pretty slim. Also, the scraggily evergreens near the house were healthy when I was around (and applying Mir-acid regularly). There's a train track about 50 yards behind the house. Yep, the engineer had a great view of our laundry hanging out on the line. =)

An uncle lived in a house at the top of a hill to the right and beyond that were acres and acres of trees and fields and interesting places for a boy to explore. To the left was a house built by one of my aunts--two owners later it belonged to the man I shot with my slingshot. Beyond that and just over a hill was my grandparent's store/house on the main road. It was a nice, quiet place to grow up. Yes, even with me there!!!

I like this picture so much I asked Elaine of I'm Clothed Much to turn it into a header for me. She did a really nice job. See it up there??? LOL, well, soon you'll be able to--even if I have to change my template. This template won't let it show. Oh, I have good timing, Elaine just happens to be hosting a very nice giveaway at the moment.

Hitler!!! Where is he???

Have you ever had your name spit out at you, as if it was Adolph Hitler?

Thanks to one of my older brothers--the one I've referred to as "Sonny", I had the pleasure. But when you follow in the footsteps of 5 older siblings who passed through the same schools, you're bound to encounter comparisons, expectations--and occasionally fear and anger! =)

Most of it was easily overcome. You keep showing up every day and being yourself, eventually teachers get to know you. Sometimes it's a little harder than that. When I didn't make the wrestling team the first year of junior high, I approached the coach about it. I reminded him I had won all of my matches and was the youngest person in my weight class. He said he had to do what was best for the team. I thanked him for his time and started the long walk home--I'd missed the bus. The next day he tracked me down and invited me to join the team. He later admitted he cut me because of Sonny. He worried I might act the same way. But when I called him "sir" and didn't start yelling during our talk, he began to see I was me (not Sonny).

Because of changing school boundaries, I spent the next 2 years in a school across town--none of the teachers there knew any of my siblings. It was really nice having a clean slate. But in the 10th grade I ended up back at the local high school. The first day of class I stayed after school to try out for the soccer team. I'd been team captain the year before (@ the other school). As the coach read off the names of the kids trying out, he got excited when he read mine. Excited as in, "Hitler! Hitler!!! Where is he???" The man was furious. When I answered, he scowled at me and then mumbled something under his breath. The two days of tryouts went well. He matched me against the top, senior forwards (I was a defender). When the coach posted the team roster on the 3rd day of school I scanned the list for my name and found it, sort of. The coach had written my name at the bottom of the list and then vigorously (violently?) crossed it out. I considered approaching him about it, but he seemed a little unstable. I decided to play boys club soccer instead.

So, have you reaped any benefits or encountered problems as a result of elder siblings? If you are an elder sibling, did you leave a legacy for the younger members of your family to live up to--or live down??? ;P

PS - For the record, no, my last name is not Hitler. LOL!

High Maintenance--Not Bitchy!!!

Last month, MizzJ of the wonderful Being High Maintenance, not Bitchy blog, sponsored several giveaways. For the first one, she asked readers to leave a comment giving one way in which they are high maintenance. I didn't enter, but it got me thinking.

Am I high maintenance? Well, I do like to be comfortable. Enduring discomfort is not a problem—you get to be good at it when you’re the youngest of 6 kids! But why endure it if you don’t have to? Right?

I adopted that philosophy at a young age. At 5 or 6, I inherited a roll-away bed from an older brother. I liked sleeping on my little cot. But with 6 kids and 7 beds in the house, we were one sheet short of full coverage. While a single sheet folded in half was big enough to cover the mattress on my cot, I didn’t have a top sheet—I didn’t know anyone did. But while getting into bed one night, I accidentally grabbed the top half of the folded sheet along with my blanket and I climbed in between the fold. Lying there nestled between two layers of the sheet felt heavenly! It was cool, soft and insulated me from the itchy blanket. It was amazing!!! In that moment, the Little Prince was born.

Up until then, I was a rough and tumble little boy who didn’t notice anything. But comfort started becoming important. When my shoes got too tight, I lost them. (Now you know where shoes on the side of the road come from!) If I got a hole in my sock, it had to be fixed—I even sewed a few holes closed myself. (What is “darning”?) When my dad wanted to turn off the A/C before he went to bed, I promised I'd push the “off” button when I turned in—then I’d doze on the couch for hours so I could enjoy the cool air. After chores, I occasionally pushed the forbidden “on” button on the A/C. Why wait for my dad to get home to cool off the house a little? I knew how to push a button—I just had to remember to turn it off before he got home!!!

Sometimes I might go too far in pursuit of comfort. Thankfully, labels on the Hanes t-shirts I wear under my dress shirts are printed on the shirt itself now. But the old tags, made from synthetic material, aggravated my neck. So I cut them out. That left a sharp little stub that was even more annoying than the tag itself. My only option was to turn the shirts inside out—no one could see them anyway. Unfortunately, one day I went to the barber shop with my shirt inside out. The barber giggled because she thought I was being stylish (for once). Also, the seams on some socks are too thick. They can irritate my toes…so those go inside out too.

Okay, it’s clear I’ve taken comfort to crazy-ville with regard to some things. But like the princess in the Princess and the Pea, this prince does not like lumps, humps or bumps. But don’t get the wrong idea. I can tolerate sitting on a backseat hump for hours, in the center seat on a plane, in a theater with my kids elbowing me, or on a hot subway car stalled in a tunnel, all without complaint. I just think the “comfort” things I can control, I should control—even the crazy little ones.

If I was a girl, my only heels would be the two end slices on a loaf of bread.

So, do you know anyone who does weird little things to be comfortable? Believe it or not, I have a sister-in-law who wears her socks inside out for that reason. So I may be crazy, but I’m not alone. =)

noreply-comment @ blogger.com

My blog is set to forward your comments to my e-mail account. On occasion, one of you leaves a comment that is so great, I want to reply right away--without having to go into Blogger (which is always slow). So without hesitation, I hit "reply" to the e-mail and the words flow into my messsage just as they did for Ralphie's theme paper in "A Christmas Story". Some of these messages get through. Unfortunately, my best replies end up not going to you. Instead they go to the "noreply-comment @ blogger.com" e-mail address the system uses for bloggers who don't share their e-mail account on their profile page. My most pithy prose and insightful insights, lost forever. So sad!

Once I realized I was doing that (sending messages w/out 1st checking to confirm they were going to a real e-mail account), I imagined a guy named Larry @ Blogger spending his free time going through all of those mis-directed messages. They're all the poor guy has in his life.

So, is it just me, or have you sent Larry a message or two since you started bloging?

Parking Spaces: Try to fit in (one)

Why do so many people park at odd angles, perpendicular to the lines, straddling the lines, or anything other than between them? I’ve never met any of the drivers in question to find out. But at the start of December my wife did. She was running errands before taking her dad to knee surgery. She stopped at Goodwill to drop off some items and the place was packed. There was only one spot, next to a car that was over the line. It was on her passenger side, so she was able to park and get out of her car. It was just a quick stop—in and out.

Almost immediately she was paged and informed her car was blocking someone in. She went out intending to apologize, but also point out that if the person had parked properly there wouldn't have been a problem. The other driver was an older woman who immediately starting yelling at my wife—that she should learn to park and stop being so inconsiderate. I’m told there was an examination of the physical evidence and a spirited discussion as to which of them didn’t know how to park. Finally the other woman snapped, “Just move your damn car.”

Having spent too much time with me, my wife folded her arms and suggested the woman try getting in her car from the passenger’s side since "there's lots of room over there". But after enjoying the moment, she moved. It was annoying, but not as bad as the time 2 guys stole a spot she was waiting for (with blinker on)—the car backing out blocked her from pulling in and in the meantime the guys swooped in from the other direction. When she told them she had been waiting for the spot, they just looked at her and then went into the mall. Chivalry isn’t dead, but it sure is in short-supply.

Okay, in a big empty parking lot, who cares how anyone parks? Well, I do, just not as much. But in a crowded parking lot it really annoys me when drivers can’t get it right. It’s a little thing, but it shows a lack of regard for others. Whether it’s by omission (not thinking) or commission (thinking, but not caring) it’s inconsiderate. These people need to be reminded that, as Kym’s recent post title says “Newsflash: You’re Not the Only Person in the World!”

Next up: "Proper Grocery Cart Etiquette", "If You Kick My Theater Seat One More Time!", and "It's 2am, Shut the H*** Up!" The last one was inspired by a drunken teenage party next door that spilled into their front yard--the elderly couple across the street send me a Father's Day cake every year to thank me for sending the kids home.

The King's Speech

"The King's Speech" is an excellent film. But don't go based on my opinion--I like a wide range of movies--from great to horrible! Check out reviews to see if it's something you'd be interested in. I went in convinced I would hate it, but instead I really enjoyed it. It's the story of King George VI's reluctant ascension to the throne at the end of 1936. He was the younger brother of Edward, who abdicated to marry an American from Baltimore--which didn't seem like a romantic move in this telling.

She (Mrs Simpson) was depicted in the film in much the same way my grandmother described the woman from Baltimore who married and then (supposedly) poisoned my great-grandfather--stealing the family farm, which she sold. I don't know the woman's name because my grandmother refused to ever say it, instead referring to her as "that woman".

The movie reminded me of one piece of Rick Trivia. In the film, Winston Churchill shares that he was born tongue-tied. According to my parents, I was born tongue-tied!!! The operation to correct that was probably not as gruesome as they made it sound, but thinking about it makes my mouth hurt.

Sorry, got off-track there. There's no magic or action scenes, but to me "The King's Speech" was more than worth the price of admission.