tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24751359292275340592024-03-13T00:23:47.819-05:00The Year That Everyone diedDirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-33784743786222321522011-05-25T12:43:00.000-05:002011-04-21T21:05:54.867-05:001<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKIg7LqqJuuAHx1SYfFR_DgYV5bDREJ5ElmyK4QJrxVZ_cpRWRxDsONnwiIH8Dh85CdSnl7Gydl3sDOPJOHBC4A46EglHlgA20UHgpuy2Sy7e_FGZnCfMHk53oT4jQrYHLYRXEfm0b6Rde/s1600/sean+street.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKIg7LqqJuuAHx1SYfFR_DgYV5bDREJ5ElmyK4QJrxVZ_cpRWRxDsONnwiIH8Dh85CdSnl7Gydl3sDOPJOHBC4A46EglHlgA20UHgpuy2Sy7e_FGZnCfMHk53oT4jQrYHLYRXEfm0b6Rde/s400/sean+street.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598085838146114706" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">In a perfect world I wouldn’t be here.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’d wake up at noon...make that one.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’d shower and my hangover would be manageable.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Me and Carter (my dog) would eat together.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">For breakfast I would have a number 8 on French from <a href="http://www.jimmyjohns.com/">Jimmy Johns</a> and Carter would eat a steak – one good enough for a businessman in town from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo,_Ohio">Toledo</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Green,_Ohio">Bowling Green</a> or whatever.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Rus (my driver) would pick us up and run on over to Wendy’s for a couple things off the <a href="http://www.wendys.com/food/Family.jsp?family=5">dollar menu</a>, nothing too crazy…a double stack and a Jr. Bacon never hurt anyone.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Rus would drop me off at Marietta’s and take Carter to the dog park. Carter loves the dog park. I don’t. Dog owners weird me out.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Me and Marietta would eat homemade guacamole and chips and watch the <a href="http://www.cbs.com/primetime/how_i_met_your_mother/">How I met Your Mother </a>from a couple weeks ago. There’s a manatee and a mermaid. Maybe we’d fuck, no biggie.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;">I’d call Rus from the yellow rotary phone in Marietta’s bathroom.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">(who keeps a phone in the bathroom?)</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And have him pick me up some mozzarella sticks from <a href="http://milwaukee.citysearch.com/profile/35076471/milwaukee_wi/papa_joe_s_pizza.html">that joint </a>on the corner of 56</span><span style="font: 8.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><sup>th</sup></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"> and swing back to get me.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;">Around three me and Carter take a nap. I’d dream that I was in a gallery of antique stringed instruments. In the dream I was the last one to ever see it…go figure.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’d have a second lunch with Dizzy and Darlene(they’re sisters) at <a href="http://milwaukee.citysearch.com/profile/11007172/milwaukee_wi/ma_fischer_s_family_restaurant.html">Ma Fischers</a>.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We’d share some chicken wings and I’d think about ordering the clam chowder. I wouldn’t once I find out they serve it with crackers and not bread. No butter - no business, I always say.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I would drink two glasses of water and a coke…then a diet coke.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We’d go to the bowling alley and I’d watch them throw because I don’t play games.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Rus would pick me up and take me to the movies. Carter gets a milk bone because they’re good for his teeth.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’d get too high in the theater parking lot and forget what the movie is about half way through. I’m laughing and crying and I don’t know why.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’d go home and watch <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_Bridges">Nash Bridges</a> on <a href="http://www.netflix.com/">Netflix</a> and eat <a href="http://www.cheetos.com/">Cheetos</a> in bed, first the originals, then the BBQ ones which are new, and in my opinion, slightly worse.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Carter would lay with me but I wouldn't give him any Cheetos. Cheetos are terrible for dogs, fatal I’ve heard. I’d consider stopping eating Cheetos all together….consider. I love Cheetos.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’d have Rus fetch me a Mountain Dew from the fridge and wait for Nancy to come over.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">She’d come over and maybe we’d fuck but probably not. Most likely I’d fall asleep half way through <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTqenN1SqQ">Caddy Shack</a> and when I woke, she’d be gone.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’d order a Canadian bacon pizza, eat it, and go back to sleep.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’d dream. I’d wake.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Nobody would ask me for anything. Everyone would love me. I’d be rich and free. I’d have 4-5 girlfriends that loved fast food.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaScmkY_mNOPky1sFi2J365sqo9fjZa9obC0NwNQbZboUVey3gpTF09axiCmt7BWFr0SA47ModwxPoMwv7ESzyPkU9oYpMdkgh22_wapb9h2JtVUFsYtshkzIU43qrHg736C5aKLucWstj/s400/caddyshack.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598085171665153490" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 375px; height: 281px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;">-<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Of course its not like that. The world isn’t perfect and I’m a joke.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I can barely afford a <a href="http://www.littlecaesars.com/pizza/hot-n-ready_pizza.asp">Hot-n-Ready</a> and a two-liter of <a href="http://www.fanta.com/">Fanta</a>.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I have debt up to my eyeballs, a bum knee and a drug problem.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">My ex, Rita, threw me out. I still owe her 1,300 dollars. I told her I cheated on her because well…I don’t know why. In retrospect that was a poor decision.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I live in my uncle Donald's basement and write stories that most of my friends won’t even read because they don’t really like me. I’ve gotten old to them.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">My own father only pretends to be supportive. My mother is dead.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I have Carter the dog, so that’s something.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I resent my friends.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I resent bus drivers, waitresses, city workers, bums, rich women, rich dudes, families, spinsters, cab drivers, landlords, roofers, construction dudes, people that sit at coffee shops, college students, college professors, high school students, high school teachers house painters and dog walkers.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And most anything with a human face.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Especially myself.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Lately, I’ve been seeing the ghost of a girl I went to college with for a while. I didn’t know her that well. It could be the depression medication or weird fumes in Donald’s basement. She’s there alright. Plain as day sometimes.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’m pretty sure she’s trying to tell me something. No matter.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I get up in the morning because I have to. I have no choice.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">If I was going to kill myself I should have done it a long time ago. I can’t anymore.</span></p> <p color="#333333" style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’m too far along now.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color:#333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWiEsuihmCMn53CHxD0-4oL9UjWZ4XyEK4D_m5OEc9SozJLqkCihhSpuuVIz0KPt1LLF4XwCAvCylFPu_2DAvvim2Q_cDWJh3RuaEZZHkHVL9aRociVbXnEwh-abtHjvLgk5v2bU-PV80n/s1600/chips.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWiEsuihmCMn53CHxD0-4oL9UjWZ4XyEK4D_m5OEc9SozJLqkCihhSpuuVIz0KPt1LLF4XwCAvCylFPu_2DAvvim2Q_cDWJh3RuaEZZHkHVL9aRociVbXnEwh-abtHjvLgk5v2bU-PV80n/s400/chips.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598084674059361298" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 226px; " /></a></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-50784938763622018052011-04-20T12:43:00.005-05:002011-04-21T12:18:46.586-05:002<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQrmcSYvAUnymA4HaovdYg_6lzQ53R5EfnrxcClHjYMEsBObHmkKlm9Tf0me1a0M8LaikzfZjtDugnlX4154JDf2t_U_T-xLElr_J16G84kzpxzCritSefLhtVjyJptVvWDMSCoiXzJjY/s1600/60569_aka___Old_Priest___by_kubicki.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQrmcSYvAUnymA4HaovdYg_6lzQ53R5EfnrxcClHjYMEsBObHmkKlm9Tf0me1a0M8LaikzfZjtDugnlX4154JDf2t_U_T-xLElr_J16G84kzpxzCritSefLhtVjyJptVvWDMSCoiXzJjY/s400/60569_aka___Old_Priest___by_kubicki.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598086703799626418" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">On saturdays i have to meet with father Boyden. I got an<a href="http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/safety/motorist/drunkdriving/offenses.htm"> OWI </a>five years ago and i had never had enough money or been sober enough to go to the counseling to get my license back.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I figured a while back that a twenty five year old man should have drivers license. Most sixteen year olds do, and Im at least at that level of maturity...eh, maybe. I graduated high school at least...barely.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Anyway. I have to meet with the father twice a week for two months. Today was my last meeting.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“You need to understand Mr. Wilson. You have a privileged life. You have every advantage. From a decent family, above average intelligence, white male. You are throwing what god has given you back in his face. You have been given every opportunity to serve his will.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And I’m out. First staring at the wrinkles under his eyes and the dandruff in his silver hair, then at the the way the fat builds up around his collar. The way his glasses ballon his eyes and dwarf his pear shaped head. He smokes a cigarette and it curls in wisps around his dome.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Two weeks ago he said that the first thing to go when drinking takes over is your ability to make good decisions. “Sure, he said. You can plan not to drink and drive but then the drink takes over and suddenly you believe that you can make it tonight. Just one more drink, just one more shot of booze. What is your drink of choice again?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Whiskey.” I say. It’s a simple answer.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">but out again.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I look out the third floor window of Saint Lukes and snow starts to flutter slowly from the heavens. And the memory and the present flutter down with them. I day dream of walking to the bus stop on Winnebego just past the old brewery. I search for a lighter or matches in the trash that has built on the fence around the footbridge. I go home and make a Hot Pocket and drink a Pepsi, then a Mountain Dew then a larger bag of Cheetos. I go upstairs and eat and watch Mad Men reruns on Mega Video and then I sleep and Carter coils up around my feet. And I dream.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"> Father Boyden snaps in my face. “I don’t have to sign your sheet, you know?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Boyden ... red faced, fat necked fuck. “I understand. I drifted off.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“And you may or may not remember your childhood but i bet as you sat with your friends at the lunch table talking about the party on saturday, or the movie on friday or sunday brunch and football games. I bet there was a friend that was staring into his soup not saying a word. Do you know why?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I shake my head.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Because he spent his weekend alone in his room, pretending to read but actually listening to his drunk father call his mother a stupid whore.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We stare at each other and he puts out his cigarette. I know then, for sure, that he’s right. I am privileged and no matter how poor I get, or how strung out, or how alone - I’ll never be as sad as him. I’ll never put myself in his hopeless position, speaking to walls and praying for nothing.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">He signs my paper and I’ll have my license forever now, or until I get arrested again... which is more likely.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I walk to the bus stop and can’t find a lighter in the trash heaps along the footbridge. It's December now and it only takes a few seconds for my fingers to go numb.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I see her again though, her summer dress blowing in the wind. Its yellow and blue and her black hair swirls around her olive face.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I walk towards her but she disappears. I take the bus home, eat a bologna Lunchable and a cup of Trix yogurt. I nap.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU4EyycLADBt1BeH_MPfRkk87DohDzuwKUr0hG2phV7Z3VrhhNdN9OEIXucoxnr0CHmjOKrVD1BSGavlhI9TT3CWq9LLFOZd8qvvUKQ1Y9Di7SS0Am892lu7lbr7v0Y_Fw0UPr0uzHHSAk/s400/334.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598087295069718898" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 209px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-4830325464217343852011-04-20T12:42:00.003-05:002011-04-21T12:31:35.135-05:003<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQp3EmhaK_DjeY88Ywjt8c7JK6h0YOWunqffogar0aOsH4z_Tr3r6a_mZ1qwUqQOfD3Xl5sZbfSXRXSPM-vlv-dmY20wSYMe_UrIsr2EmTVreg6eWKXepjttXYY3wCKTVAapXm2oeDdfd/s1600/Randy-Moss-Vikings-Patriots-NFL.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 283px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQp3EmhaK_DjeY88Ywjt8c7JK6h0YOWunqffogar0aOsH4z_Tr3r6a_mZ1qwUqQOfD3Xl5sZbfSXRXSPM-vlv-dmY20wSYMe_UrIsr2EmTVreg6eWKXepjttXYY3wCKTVAapXm2oeDdfd/s400/Randy-Moss-Vikings-Patriots-NFL.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598088633953004994" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">People are wary of grown men that sleep on cots. Mines a good cot. Its sufficient and when you sleep alone, what’s the difference?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I once had a friend who had an African King Sized. the bed covered the whole room and i wondered how he got it through the front door...or the kitchen...or the bedroom door...no matter.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I wake. I have a hard time remembering my dreams. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’ve heard that smoking weed would do that. There are lots of names for strains of marijuana. Cali Cush, Kreeper, African Tutti Frutti 5 Some are real and some are fake. They should call the strains what they really are, ambitionless-alicious, spent-the-rent-cush, dream murderer... The terror, the absolute bong rips.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I sit up on the cot in uncle Donald’s basement. I’ve put up a couple posters on the wall since I’ve moved in. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">One is from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Moss">Randy Moss</a>’s rookie year. It shows him long and stringy, flying down the left sideline against the Packers. Man, i remember how they killed the Packers that year on Monday night. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMQ4wjVIqpI&feature=related">1998 was a heartbreaker</a>. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The other is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan">Ronald Reagan</a>/<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._W._Bush">George Bush Sr</a> campaign lawn flier from 84’. I got it from my friends grandmother. We used to sell schwag out of the attic of her house and she gave it to me one day as I left the house red eyed. I don’t know much about Reagan, I don’t think I’d like him if I did. I know he was an actor and a politician. Evidence enough that he was a heartless robot.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFWbwdkek6MeVHOO7wBEnJlsedjbaA9LrfKrQV44Qh56wt8Q2InF5cGsxDNQT-SsGoixfzA_9peq1uFsSJWMQNBrYk8O3pbvrPzniyD7PPJEodlGdcXKYEb7Cxc1qu190YPVwXah490NN4/s400/Ray-Charles-and-Ronald-Reagan.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598089389194343458" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 297px; " /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Steve!” Uncle Donald yells from upstairs.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Yeah!?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Your friend is on the phone.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“What does he want?” I ask dick-headed-ly.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">He says something I can’t understand so i yell for him to repeat himself. He says it again but I still can’t understand. I decide to go upstairs though I didn't plan on leaving the basement tonight.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Uncle Donald is waxing a saddle in the kitchen.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“What are you doing?” I ask.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I’m waxing a western style saddle.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Uh, ok. What were you saying before?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I was saying ‘that last time I checked I wasn't your secretary’” He said. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’m pretty sure Uncle Donald dies his hair. His mustache too. It seems unmanly, cowardly. But sleeping on a cot and playing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaga">Galaga</a> for hours on end seems a little ‘something’ too.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I apologize. I know your not my secretary. I would never hire you as a secretary.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Oh, you’re out hiring people. Good, your poetry blog must be going really well.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Ha.” I say, not laugh, just say, like “Ha.” with a period afterwards.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I watch him wax the saddle for a while. I remember now that he’s into horses and shit. I know he he doesn't own his own horse. He can’t, his house is ranch styled.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I open the fridge and grab a string cheese. There’s milk and I know there is cereal. There is salami but I don’t know if there is bread. I do this at the fridge. I always open it to eat something but with that comes a decision. How much work am I willing to do?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">If there was a sandwich I’d just eat it, a steak I’d fry it, some salsa - I’d dip in it (though I do prefer <a href="http://www.fritolay.com/our-snacks/tostitos.html">Tostitos cheese dip</a>). But if a meal or a snack needs to be chopped, washed or (god forbid) thawed I might as well take a nap. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Arent you going to answer your phone call?” Uncle Donald asks.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Shit I forgot. “Shit I forgot.” I pick up the phone. “Hello?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Steve, It’s Parker.” he said very officially.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Oh hey budday. Hey I got a joke for you...What’s the difference between Jelly and Jam?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I don’t know” Parker said.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I can’t jelly my dick up your ass all night.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Wow.” The other end was silent for a while. "What you up to today?"</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">"<a href="http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food.html">McDonald's</a> put the four piece McNugget back on the dollar menu...I was gonna check that out." I said and got excited thinking about it.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And another long silence...</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“So what’s up?” I said.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“My dad told me something incredible today. What happened was...”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And Parker bored the shit out of me with a story.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3F_0Ud_ycreJs4fSSS8P4gWmLbAPUfr_XDJ9hgAOH0p9AT3zR2TSgcjAZU9NkqsC2kx3vAmaT3kYRzaGOe3LsCsqNJrTX-5WNvLFBB4MqiDKAr27_7gLv9EjMNgfZQAA_SFvSFlx6FVnd/s400/parkyellow.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598090049590619490" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-23579540120165752302011-04-20T12:41:00.002-05:002011-04-21T12:58:20.324-05:004<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNL8nQKEKDdLhBT9IDTx2SMx8hnYv9DHk5IxUW6bgqu7jc4gTMgLbeXVs6Ess6DkpTBVobz_cQsuitvuhcIuFIt_f1qdoylzdxezF5DfPIogHqywgp0RdXzyQwb3g6oMpUl044zjxpxpLy/s1600/xmastree.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNL8nQKEKDdLhBT9IDTx2SMx8hnYv9DHk5IxUW6bgqu7jc4gTMgLbeXVs6Ess6DkpTBVobz_cQsuitvuhcIuFIt_f1qdoylzdxezF5DfPIogHqywgp0RdXzyQwb3g6oMpUl044zjxpxpLy/s400/xmastree.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598093734996478338" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So i woke up this morning and uncle Donald was standing over the cot smiling. Which is weird for a number of reasons.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“What?” i asked. My mouth tasted like a butthole.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“For you.” Uncle Donald said and motioned to a box on the floor.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I reached over and opened the box.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Awesome. a slow cooker.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“For making pot roast and stews and such.” He said.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Not like there needs to be a reason, but why the present uncle Don?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Merry Christmas!” He said.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Oh fuck! It’s Christmas?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I got dressed and out to the bus stop as fast as i could. I stopped at the McDonald’s around the corner and got a McChicken and a large sprite.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’ve been eating there a lot, maybe I’m depressed. I’ve been taking my meds. And doing a decent amount of coke. Maybe that has something to do with it.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://www.fox6now.com/news/witi-122110-west-allis-mcdonalds-winner,0,4925910.story">Some guy just won a million dollars</a> pulling one of those tabs off a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McRib">McRib</a>. Fuck him. Fucking cocksucker. Fuck him.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDhj_o4_o3TAPvEcmQXjeisoK9tdOCue2cIShRO2rFSS2ihqvlEQk7P5dvUFesq0DBbp1TJb00J0cBpsib9z-VnSX4b4kUeKnzRo7ItFh0eobwHgHjGCmq6cBBX6jIfHORIyt7zFmdllmD/s400/tom-selleck-20051102-81881.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598092014870019106" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 246px; height: 297px; " /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I can’t believe I forgot Christmas. Its one of the few times a year I have to actually do something and I blew it. Now i’ll be late to visit my widowed-sad bastard dad. We’ll drink some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_Brewing_Company">MGD</a>’s and watch <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1595859/">some fucking Tom Selleck show</a>. He usually has some green bean casserole and ham and shit that his neighbor brings over. She’s a widow too and definitely wants to bone.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I should get him something. I really should. I remember him telling me on the phone a few weeks ago to not worry about bringing anything. Like that would be some sort of relief. Of course it just made me feel more like a pathetic fucking loser.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So I vowed not to forget and get him that <a href="http://www.coachdungy.com/">Tony Dungy autobiography</a> from the discount book store but i forgot because I’m a retard.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The bus was taking too long so i went into the gas station to buy some cigarettes.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Now I usually don’t buy lotto tickets, but that day I decided I would, and give it to my dad. It would be a funny gimmick. We could laugh at how lotto tickets are a tax for stupid people. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">But the bus still wasn't coming and i was bored so i scratched it.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And you wouldn’t believe it but I won eighty dollars. Seriously, I can’t believe that i don’t do this more often. Thank god.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I can buy something for my dad and its only 3 pm. I can take the bus downtown and then get to his place by 4:30.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5UzdqN8xYuTaGaplDP2DW9vucsUn8FMOC5K5Ps6DkHvpcfcPmEk4znP12m7m0qDFtU6WfcngsPt-asF_whLwEpaxegprCGdW1DsLsxM3ydTyMswXTDbDoaTxN7PuJ-4oKt5HMwMWdEhm/s1600/td_santa.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5UzdqN8xYuTaGaplDP2DW9vucsUn8FMOC5K5Ps6DkHvpcfcPmEk4znP12m7m0qDFtU6WfcngsPt-asF_whLwEpaxegprCGdW1DsLsxM3ydTyMswXTDbDoaTxN7PuJ-4oKt5HMwMWdEhm/s400/td_santa.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598091584667081778" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 400px; " /></a></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">8:24 PM -</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Me and my dad are eating even though I’m not hungry. And <a href="http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1101988121/">It’s A Wonderful Life</a> is on the TV in the other room. It’s not, by the way.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“So, how is your girlfriend? You guys getting along?” He asks without looking up.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">He has a mustache like my uncle. They don’t really talk though. My dad keeps to himself now. Him and my uncle talk on the phone but thats about it. I wish I had a sibling sometimes. Usually not though.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“She threw me out of the apartment.” I said.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Are you fucking kidding me?” He screamed. “What happened?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">He didn't have anything to say about the fact that I obviously forgot Christmas or that I was obviously on drugs or the fact that I didn't come over until 7:45 with no excuse to where I was but he was mad about this.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Well I told her that I cheated on her.” I said. I gritted my teeth.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Why? Why would you ever tell her something like that?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I wanted to be honest.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Fuck honesty. Ugh. Un-be-lievable. The one thing, the one thing that made me think you had a chance and you blew it. Look at you. Un-be-lievable.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I shrugged and didn't say anything. There was a long silence. “Honestly, I wasn't going to but my friends said it would be good. it would make us both feel better in the end.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Friends.” my dad grumbled, almost spit in disgust. “Friendship is just a long line of people giving bad advice.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And we ate the rest of our food and I gave him a present. He opened it.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“A slow cooker.” He said. “Thank you.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“For stews and pot roasts and such.” I said.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Thank you. I gave one to your uncle a few years ago. Very handy.”</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMgZ8h3kHuz67jA161kmuQPAHT9AftUgpO-HNlxDdtiLcUNB4rdJGEJNiKEHhLaTyQGoOZDtqvHkxszCwGFaMc4NFVMtdQOYgDNWVjfSB1GZ1doLYEu_bvutukrB7qN4EbYAHfbqF04fZZ/s400/its_a_wonderful_life11.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598095977865579570" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-2144284767235706312011-04-20T12:40:00.006-05:002011-04-21T14:44:27.238-05:005<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIUqTNr3okN5-0MGJLwB4X4nxFdABri78SYZoP9d_VKTBRGQPNhk1-JBUcbeflI_rddrx8ZqYuviNOk3KJ-YElrvbmgRqotVjM2PnZpSXL3F6ftMLaU7W8MYQsPtDLSubxP94nC0SzdlqZ/s1600/fleetwood-mac-rumours1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 393px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIUqTNr3okN5-0MGJLwB4X4nxFdABri78SYZoP9d_VKTBRGQPNhk1-JBUcbeflI_rddrx8ZqYuviNOk3KJ-YElrvbmgRqotVjM2PnZpSXL3F6ftMLaU7W8MYQsPtDLSubxP94nC0SzdlqZ/s400/fleetwood-mac-rumours1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598123450459819490" /></a></div><br /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And all of this may be funny. but maybe now its not. Maybe now, you’ll be stricken by the power of ringing truth.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">she spoke to me.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">It wasn't long after I got back from the McDonald’s on 1st and crawled back onto my cot that I fell deeply asleep as Uncle Donald played <a href="http://www.fleetwoodmac.com/">Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors</a> on a turntable upstairs.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I had eaten the nuggets of course but it was the extra McRib and small fries that really did me in. For some things napping is the only cure. I would poop when I woke, all would be well.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We were on a beach and I couldn't tell you why. I never liked the beach - all that sand, and sand bugs, and dirt and shit-get all up in your toes and hair- yek - but she walked from a really long way away. It seemed like it took forever and I kept trying to scribble the best idea in the world on a piece of paper but i couldn't read it. And the harder I tried the worse it got.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">( if a shrink couldn't figure out that symbolism I’d ask for my nickel back)</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Anyway she gets up to me and stands there for a long time. And I want to tell her I’ve been seeing her, that I know she’s been following me around town but i figure I had better not. Let her speak first, be gentlemanly.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And she has something simple to say. “Go to Ashland and find Lester Puloski. Ask him where my body is?” and she turned and walked away. I wanted to follow but my legs were heavy and I was yelling all sorts of things like “Why me?” and other boring questions that she wouldn't answer.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">She was still pretty. That was for sure. She stopped and turned and I faintly heard her voice over the rushing wind. I woke but could still hear it. “Christmas is a time for giving up” she said.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Which would be a fancy clue if i hadn’t used that phrase a million times. I’m a joke recycler.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Do you know the difference between Jelly and Jam?</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:130%;color:#0000EE;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyTaYnYBFXt7AlbTzq8s1R0C6FK2I7zNKxC_K6ps4WzcEHdHrxZ8Xb5grxeu7iIUw3CiuYSTgnGx1BmKY2u1hkePJWOU-vVwj-TChmCee_XnY71Q3oFhXlxZYnHheSukfpWX2RF4BvzQci/s400/photos-of-Taino-Beach-Bahamas-pictures.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598124817320734066" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></span></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-3094557195938228212011-04-20T12:40:00.005-05:002011-04-21T13:26:38.241-05:006<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb-6AuzUzJ3LX3hCMWV5RMa2G3kLbvMbRUN5wAI-maXeh1PkBO6guxLbZtoYViHKt2-nQZKlbCH4WY5BPjrFCAgA-odQXNdZKsmdJBWz1pTgLEbFAETD4_QgUGRuLmuwHJn-MSP0eKP9Be/s1600/seancar.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb-6AuzUzJ3LX3hCMWV5RMa2G3kLbvMbRUN5wAI-maXeh1PkBO6guxLbZtoYViHKt2-nQZKlbCH4WY5BPjrFCAgA-odQXNdZKsmdJBWz1pTgLEbFAETD4_QgUGRuLmuwHJn-MSP0eKP9Be/s400/seancar.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598101176629581330" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So now I’m really in the shit.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Fucking telephone got turned off. Thanks T-Mobile.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I gotta find some dickweed all the way up in BFE (Bum Fuck Egypt). Thanks dead girl.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">My unemployment is running out. Thanks United States Of America.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And lets face it living with my uncle is sad at best, Pathetic at worst. And on top of all that it was New Years a couple of days ago.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Now don’t get me wrong, I get hammered on New Years. I wander around blacked out and try to flirt with girls (who are in no way interested), holding my glass daintily with two fingers with the best of them.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">But what a terrible-no good delusion. Celebrating in the hope that the next year will be better than the last, convincing ourselves that anything separates this eternal shitstorm from one moment or year to the next. Fuck it. Insane. Ridiculous.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">When I finally came to late in the afternoon on the 3rd I had a crumpled piece of paper in my pocket that said...</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px">Steve Wilson’s New Years Resolutions</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Stop....</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">AND THATS ALL IT SAID. WHAT HELP IS THAT?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">Shit, i digress.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So i have a lot going on. It’s time to man up. or at least man-child up. But not today.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’ve decided that today would be for me. All those problems are future Steve Wilson’s problems - hell - I don’t even know that guy. Today would be mine.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span> </p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicUbWh2T-8YKO2kILu6JpastT5EMbgSD8srPhRkIClmw7wMtuFRetF7bvo754QilzDus9NBGRklkXDeXT6PDjwNgdaOiGXYONcA7JaxdOT2Ye-nKjulzRwOp99vrCn8QpyPJsWug7qs9QA/s400/fuck.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598102453642860498" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">12:28 - woke up. Watched first five minute of episode of <a href="http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation/">Parks and Recreation</a> before falling asleep again. It was the one where Ron got shot. I dreamt something about cats.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">2:40 - looked at motorcycles on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.craigslist.com">Craigslist</a>. Can’t afford them. Also can’t afford five dollar footlong - look through change - can afford six inch.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">3:30 - Uncle Don is arguing loudly over the phone about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Martin">Steve Martin</a>. I don’t know why. I eat some Texas Toast.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSz-yDnmBsciweL4fGl66fWtXNYPBLBOI1QdIGVUf0rp9wAIPBJgWXdhQ4xro7Hjkd0CUgr8HHDNInxu3X2YR1ynCRHXPVXP7YUBuYquNI-iUf-aj-1eU_UK0N5ENDb294Pz7bfA3y8kxX/s400/steve_martin_04.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598104220520746530" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 173px; height: 173px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">3:50 - Smoke half a cigarette. Look for jobs on craigslist - regret dropping out of college.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">4:36 - Cold. Cut. Combo. Bitches.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">6:12 - Want blow - no blow - no money.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">7:20 - Post Poem on blog, uninspired. Think about re-writing, too lazy.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">9:15 - Convince Parker to come over and bring a case of PBR. We go see <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1055292/">Life As We Know It</a> at Budget South. Sucks.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmWY9IC57AkIzJPFNlvQt_z1_PAL_S8dNH8pIalm4eTO9XR3IMjmM98okMU9Bn9NvHlcb0kde_Y72AK7hen0rRudzGOGrSGx6Ut45M2ZSHm1ozXxPJYSDf7MgusyAUVdkHYRroXb_4HXdU/s400/katherine_heigl.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598103779316738274" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">10:20 - Smoke one-ie in the bathroom at the theater. Little kid gives me a weird look. I tell him to mind his own business - Keeps giving me weird look.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Kids don’t know how easy they got it. No jobs, no rent, no responsibility.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">12:31 - Parker buys me a <a href="http://www.tacobell.com/menuitem/Crunchwrap-Supreme">crunch wrap</a>. I kinda want to go to <a href="http://www.dennys.com/">Denny’s</a>. He tells me his parents may be getting a divorce.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">12:29 - Parker is still talking. I tune further and further out.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">1:47 - Back in basement. Sad lonely. Think about ex-girlfriend. Wonder if she would take me back (prolly not). Wonder about girl I cheated on her with. Wonder what bar she’s in.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I have to get my act together. Tomorrow is the day. I swear it. On my mother’s grave I swear it.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCxAfOexhIroLrad_MUG7kTCaQmzjlR3Or_CCQuH-t5TgpcR2sjksVI3snfTu_ksg6i05ijm5tOdiznuqn-GpYv9x2pQTBvOtgMi5_CYkltUghtspOHVlD0IQsJH6Yewtq-9zbCGHOQGEU/s400/katyperry_at_dennys.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598103872110932498" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-91418792107628629712011-04-20T12:39:00.003-05:002011-04-21T14:50:51.937-05:007<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX6wMuyOu3sftCC9yK9Kx03D2LwDaeW8YrZz7_mDvVfmmDMk1hCHLmbnVWYrYD94VIprA1Fu4pAldi5WJ2O3tca-0uDSu4w3WODtohLsHJ2tnamPMs-J3_X81cg6GrAQ0PMOQYI4fkiyZw/s1600/lamp.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX6wMuyOu3sftCC9yK9Kx03D2LwDaeW8YrZz7_mDvVfmmDMk1hCHLmbnVWYrYD94VIprA1Fu4pAldi5WJ2O3tca-0uDSu4w3WODtohLsHJ2tnamPMs-J3_X81cg6GrAQ0PMOQYI4fkiyZw/s400/lamp.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598126034800155026" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">2 weeks later-</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So, I haven't done anything. I haven't avenged shit. I haven't done shit. I am worthless.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">but late last night I was considering the story that Parker told me.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Here it was...</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0UkLAUvK5-h-m0xQ20Q9LJjCh6t0TA_Kg1nL8uH3GC8-OGHtA05BUTnNfrZYdyonqSQ9ommEEAZukPqROvYloh3bv_Kt5AfzSRpsQtEj2qFXI28IFW_C-ZEjItzlW5Q2CJB9hsJDDIRS5/s400/images.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598126123096037602" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 274px; height: 184px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;">During my dad’s undergraduate career at <a href="http://www.uiowa.edu/">University of Iowa</a>, he lived in a house with four other guys. One was Ken. Ken was in love with this girl Gilda Collins, who was his archaeology TA. Everyone thought she was hot, but Ken would write poems about her. Bryce, another roommate of my father’s and Ken’s, found the poems one time and he read them aloud to the entire house.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">They’re longing and heartfelt and not all together bad poems. They speak of dread of her touch, fear that a single kiss would be so powerful as to catalyze Armageddon. The earth would shake and crumble in on itself. Ken would cry himself dry as paper if she were to just whisper his name.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Bryce finds these and waits until the middle of a toga party at their house to read them aloud, standing above the masses on a hand chair like a Roman orator. Ken smiled at first, knowing only that there was a joke by the hush in the room and gravitating about Bryce. Upon hearing the second line of his poem, Ken disappears into the winter street before anyone noticed his leaving. They all laughed, really considering but also joking whether he had even grabbed a coat to wear over his bed sheet.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Ken gets back at Bryce for this humiliation by propping a bucket of water on Bryce’s door so it would fall on his head when he opened it, forgetting that device only works among the creations of Misters Hanna and Barbera. Like most people do when entering a room, Bryce walks through his doorway instead of waiting in it and the bucket falls after he’s already passed it. Bryce turns and laughs to himself and makes to go out to the living room to taunt Ken for his miscarried prank, but he slips in the bucket’s puddle, falls, and cracks his head open.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">They drive him to the emergency room. He gets 17 stitches, a concussion, and a stripe down the back of his head where they had to shave his hair to stitch up the cut. Of course, everyone calls him “puss-head” after. In fact, U of I alumni call him that right up until he dies on an airplane in ’99, of a stroke.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Bryce is pre-med. Late one night, drinking and doing speed alone in his room to Perry Mason reruns, he concocts a revenge plot. In one of the medical buildings on the campus is a refrigerated room full of cadavers. This, the med students call the “rumpus room” because they sometimes throw parties in it.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">That day, in Bryce’s class, he and his classmates had watched their instructor perform an autopsy on a woman who had died the week before after stumbling over a wasp’s nest on her hike. Some fifty-two stings triggered an allergic reaction and her throat had swollen and closed, killing her as her fiancé carried her on his shoulder to a ranger station. The woman was a mere four foot, eleven, leaving so much of the autopsy table uncovered that Bryce’s instructor would at times hoist himself up and sit on the foot of it during his lecture.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Bryce puts a shirt on and goes to the garage, drunkenly dumps warm water and cans of beer from a cooler, onto the floor, then takes the empty cooler with him on a drive to the school. Less than an hour later, he’s back at the house but now he has to drag the cooler back behind him. Without anyone seeing, he takes this cooler up the stairs and, while Ken is out who knows where, he transfers the small dead woman who was allergic to wasps from the cooler to Ken’s office chair. Bryce turns off the light and goes downstairs to watch TV and drink beer with my dad and some other guys because he’s done with his lonely drinking for the night.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The boys get drunker watching movies and probably smoking a couple joints. Finally Ken comes in and, of course, this is the night he has finally bagged Gilda Collins. He flaunts her in front of the boys, his arm around her, grinning, having met her by chance at the library and then proceeding to get drunk off a bottle of vodka she had in her car and making out ferociously in the same car. Bryce is too fucked up to move off the couch, but his grin is just as big as Ken’s because he knows what’s waiting for him when he takes Gilda up to his room.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Ken and Gilda go up to his room, but there’s no shrieking. This bothers Bryce for about three minutes and then he passes out. Ken and Gilda fuck for two hours, falling in love more and more the whole time, and they fall asleep holding and kissing each other, dreaming of each other after they close their eyes. Of course, they never turn on the lights this whole time.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">At nine in the morning, the shrieks finally kick in. Gilda has woken up and the first thing she sees is the dead miniature woman with her rib cage split apart, sitting upright in Ken’s desk chair. Instantly, she knows what’s happening: Ken, the man she has just fallen in love with, is a serial killer and he has tinkered with her heart as one would an old Volvo’s engine, just so that she would come to his house where he could murder her like he’d done to dozens of others before her.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">She runs down the stairs, screaming in unmitigated terror. Bryce wakes up, still on the couch, realizes what’s happening, and stops Gilda before she leaves. At first, she can’t be reasoned with, but Bryce persists. He runs next to her down the street because she won’t stop going for the police station. Four blocks down the road, Bryce’s words finally gets through the hysteria. She stops running and falls to the ground giggling, high on adrenaline.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Ken, who’s been chasing them both, catches up and Bryce explains to him the origin of the corpse in his room, ending the story by telling him that the joke is, in reality, on himself: his plan had been to scare Ken and then return the corpse back to the rumpus room, but since the science building had already reopened while he was passed out, he can’t bring the body back, for fear of expulsion.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Fuck,” Ken says, catching his breath on the ground next to Gilda. “So what? You got to fucking bury it now or what?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Bryce’s eyes go wide with realization because that is exactly what he has to do. So that’s what they do.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The three of them take that poor women to a field they used to party in and they buried her six feet down. Then they all got breakfast together at a place called Hattie’s. At Gilda’s suggestion, they all split a bottle of cheap vodka. They sneak it into a Clint Eastwood movie. All the tension there is between Ken and Bryce dissipates and after that they become dear friends.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8sFpd5LO7AK5rdBQlwtOPvyk2ixjXNiFEgq4nPj8-SuGW8I7UlRZCRAFRT69YIaEVOxAb-sS5YEbukHgabU0Gd8AT4J2L161xylk8wPoKo6GCxV-i-tO0qVHLnDmFVH6fcbACYCvV3mvC/s400/2858_ClintEastwood.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598126451134684914" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">-</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And he told me that and I spaced out. It was a long story. But it reminded me of how I knew the girl from college. She was pretty.</span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-47741416270908769552011-04-20T12:38:00.003-05:002011-04-21T15:09:36.022-05:008<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYM44m18YBe4y445E1gEC_h9TfSuwY1m6AZb9q6PoYW9xW9iScEYKoylxJjI-ZmJwtK06db_wwi6DqeQxxbQJ0bbmg8rRT5ClXQH39qfCLdg-JCbh_w6xMLhig11d3SxuECXSjO23ZhicQ/s1600/media-C007DC11.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 376px; height: 262px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYM44m18YBe4y445E1gEC_h9TfSuwY1m6AZb9q6PoYW9xW9iScEYKoylxJjI-ZmJwtK06db_wwi6DqeQxxbQJ0bbmg8rRT5ClXQH39qfCLdg-JCbh_w6xMLhig11d3SxuECXSjO23ZhicQ/s400/media-C007DC11.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598128311234034626" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">So it reminded me, not the revenge or friendship or utter morbid humor but the pining. I saw the girl from college a few times and I always pined for her.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">It was one day under the arches between both wings of the library and I asked her for a cigarette while she stood by the standup ashtray. It was a few days before Christmas break. It would be the only time we spoke.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Now, I believe that students, male students in particular romanticize cigarette smoking in college. Entire classes of English majors associate shared smokes with the beginnings romantic interludes on windy french beaches.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The truth is, if you don’t know someone its very unlikely they will ask you for a smoke or share a smoke or what have you. The idea that a beautiful woman will appear out of nowhere and ask for a light is ludicrous...not like the rapper. Especially these days, with vanity and medical research rapidly destroying the already slim probability.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So I saw her and asked her for a smoke. Because women love petty dependancy.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I asked her what her name was and she said “Connie” which i thought was a name reserved for awkward lesbian basketball players or asian-american neurosurgeons. She was neither.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIc8dV0b4OvWsx6KvD8KdqCJ5p0hHZEAa3RyPVzSMWObj8GoAsNycBvS0d3iTTs6t-DZYuQVGyUJW0Zo_QOcaqWJ72MDqk8zNbFKFTvEFixnwCE4LW0RgqX_4rEvirKQ5JmYf7kzWT722X/s400/images.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598130545300391746" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 275px; height: 183px; " /></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;">I told her I was planning on going to the <a href="http://www.bk.com/">Burger King</a> inside the union (because women love Burger King) and she said she was planning on going to Jamaica that summer but her parents were guilt tripping her into going upstate to their cabin by Ashland instead.</span></div> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I said famously that “In this life, you can never have what you want.” which must have struck a chord because she didn’t say anything. She just nodded and smiled.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Then we talked about library fines and finals and I told her there was a good chance I would be quitting school after the semester to focus on my writing. Which, as it turns out was one of the only big plans I ever went through with.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Why now?” she asked.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Because Christmas is a time for giving up.” I said. I thought it was clever but likely that it had been said before. And that was that.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">In the fall that next year I heard through the grapevine that one of the students at <a href="http://www4.uwm.edu/">UWM </a>was murdered and that it was her. Goddamn shame.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I pondered all of this and walked Carter down to <a href="http://www.arbys.com/">Arby’s</a> and got the five-for-six. Four of the five were mozzarella sticks, I figure they are the most expensive thus giving me the most bang for my buck.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">It was something about my lazy attitude that made the girl from college haunt me. I knew that. It had to be. She needed someone who didn't give a fuck. I didn't and wouldn't.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Then me and Carter walked home watched an episode of <a href="http://www.nbc.com/friday-night-lights/">Friday Night Lights</a> and for some reason <a href="http://abc.go.com/shows/cougar-town">Cougar Town</a> and took a nap together. He’s good at curling up on the cot.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGYX3whOq0VaYkW76Oc0l_PUJCHApvBhjlZp4GVM8Cd0B6iqUwIdcXeT7LVbMLE8OgZ0l5jaZeCjjmkFMIDFURZQf7C8aSw7SVNtXQUFqabtpHil_W6aiovFdigX7ZEwFHDLqsCI4q0FsW/s400/cougar-town-250x300.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598131184183925650" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 315px; " /></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-20248032784134179772011-04-20T12:37:00.002-05:002011-04-21T15:18:52.755-05:009<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLyNfP8erp4I3vtcdbJ6nkMJxaJBhcapHiIBS0mvq2LRTL6cXa0XOZe0mZlJX2OKeUwaRoaukrF1B2Fp1dVEzPLeahNMhE7fByiJ5GKd-A1u2CuZ91gZh6ZvDZg5ujjcjNM1chHzEkQoPG/s1600/baby+cart.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLyNfP8erp4I3vtcdbJ6nkMJxaJBhcapHiIBS0mvq2LRTL6cXa0XOZe0mZlJX2OKeUwaRoaukrF1B2Fp1dVEzPLeahNMhE7fByiJ5GKd-A1u2CuZ91gZh6ZvDZg5ujjcjNM1chHzEkQoPG/s400/baby+cart.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598131887086575778" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So I’ve been thinking about it. If I’m going to go find this murderer and avenge the death of some girl I barely know... from college...four years ago...I better (and I say this with all sorts of apprehension) make things right (eck) with the people in my life.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">shit.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So I load up Carter in the car. He’s been playing with one of uncle Don’s old rags for a month now. He takes it with him everywhere. Idiot.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We drive over to my old apartment and ring Rita’s doorbell.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“What do you want Steve?” She says. Then she sees Carter and her eyes light up. She always liked Carter more than me and vice versa but he’s one of the only friends I’ve got so I aint giving him up.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Rita gives Carter a treat and I sit on the couch I originally found behind <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/business/103678904.html">Bella Fat Cats</a>.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhloOWHUEwJ83Q6zCH105Ndw8c-CXctG4BCxG0Dk-aNr8eRgfPTScscW5-K42K8_EqMnUx8GBaS8PqeHzbhxRU7IepHhrvKfGpXs2QBUZUQxyeTlHTFkYo5CTGrLhPb_r2e8hK31BLa3oKQ/s400/mediaManager.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598133480811991026" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">I remember when they used to have two for one burger tuesdays. Now they’re closed because of not having a food license...whatever that is. Huge tragedy, sort off like hurricane Ned. Thats what it was called right?<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I went to california a few years ago and they <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restaurant_rating">give a grade for every restaurant based on their cleanliness</a>. What a bunch of grade-school-chicken-shittery. Californians are a bunch of candy asses.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I digress.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Rita pets Carter and looks skeptically across the table at me. Of course I glance at her tits and she pretends not to notice.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“First of all” I say “I’m sorry I told you I cheated on you.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“What the fuck does that mean? You’re not sorry you cheated on me?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“No no no. Of course I’m sorry about that. I just regret telling you also. Maybe a little more.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“You are a fuck head Steve.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I deserve that.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Don’t warrant my insults. I don’t give a shit what you deserve.” She crossed her arms. and Carter laid his head on her lap.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Let me start over. I love you.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Sure you do. You don’t know how to love.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Ouch, hurtful cliches are the worst.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Also where the fuck is my 1,800 dollars.” She says.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I thought it was 1,300” I say.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Its not.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I’ll give you Carter.” I say jokingly and she smiles. Whew.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i>Use the dog Steve. He’s a furry wingman.</i></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">She walks me and Carter to the door and says:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I think you should go back, all the way back and think about relationships you’ve had. Think about how they ended and how you acted during. Then see if there is a pattern there. Also get a job. Also pay me my 1,800 dollars.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Ok.” I say. I’ll do the first of those three. I owe her that much. “One more thing.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Yes?” She says.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Would you have sex with me?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Get the fuck out of here Steve. Don’t contact me unless you got my money.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Then she calls me a “fucking retard” and slams the door in my face.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Real! Mature!” I yell.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">She isn’t that mad at me and I think I understand why. I don’t think she ever took me seriously. Sure we lived together but it was only cause she thought I was funny.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’m funny right?</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbZLmzZMFtDPTiH6eVbHKMKMqSImjtVrDsCtuJN2GMY_-f7h2BEPTMOktHZ4JYUkTMjYu7NJNopvv4-3R2I5ny8fhDfH4uo07qVIkH1v4BRjQx7Qcf1nCNthMnsH5QGafLbTBaw07sMzbe/s400/ww.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598132569319280818" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-57609221158535671902011-04-20T12:36:00.007-05:002011-04-21T16:00:49.562-05:0010<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2yw9mqYZ_rH2AdRnNl-YtsCog4zII76I665GKZXcJ83NQEfBQSjcO44_pnFOFj2SgjcWm6CeZ7hyphenhyphenDHcGbia9SypEI4j0iI6Gr8P1uUll-uc46HD_civ62Jl35sWytSwCYapAmzC41pi67/s1600/making+a+face.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2yw9mqYZ_rH2AdRnNl-YtsCog4zII76I665GKZXcJ83NQEfBQSjcO44_pnFOFj2SgjcWm6CeZ7hyphenhyphenDHcGbia9SypEI4j0iI6Gr8P1uUll-uc46HD_civ62Jl35sWytSwCYapAmzC41pi67/s400/making+a+face.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598142273344311410" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I made Rita’s list. What a bitch.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Here goes:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">In the 8th grade I dated Randy Calhoun and felt up her shirt. It was pretty dope and eventually we broke up because I was scared of girls. Hot damn, they were crazy back then.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Not soon after I was madly in love with an older girl in high school. Still probably half afraid of girls. She went to college. We broke up. (a few years later I threatened her boyfriend, fell down a flight of stairs, then punched a tree. I broke two bones.)</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I had a more serious high school girlfriend but she didn’t like that I smoked <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marijuana">weed</a>, so I dumped her over the phone...on her birthday.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi45YSLk487qBVcM8M2LrEdibsv-1gUepu0szYqLJ066mnI-bdEX_-i0QAV5pzWIuAXdyrbzJWI2hRFatNhdUYwT3ucuOHoleqgrzpUJ8Tzt04uLQJR4sfjhMh76uvte6PXFGM_-zocOsj_/s400/weed.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598142705520885298" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 400px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">And then I dated a girl for a bit who’s mom died, so we stayed together three weeks longer than I wanted. When I told her it was over she said:<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“You’re dumping me right when my mom died?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">To which I replied: “It was three weeks ago!”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’d do that one over if I could.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Micki Plunkett was too hard to get. Sarah Nash was too easy.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Betty Roberts tried to hit me with her car after I did the double flip-off-crisscross. If I could, I absolutely would not do that over.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I slept with Laura Yorn’s sister and best friend.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Becca Sandoval loved me. So naturally she never stood a chance.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Erica Stephens, great body, absolute sweetheart, didnt like that I watched <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.nfl.com">football</a>. I fucking dumped her...bam!</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And then there’s Rita, who kicked me out because she found out I was a dickweed.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’ve had about a dozen girlfriends that I can remember.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’ve had countless phone and text message girlfriends as well as email, and more recently Facebook girlfriends. Those are always full of promises and dreams but don’t amount to shit, but nothing really does.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And Rita told me I should make this list to see if I can see a pattern. Mostly what it tells me is this:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I am astounded by the number of women I’ve gotten to sleep with me.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’ve got a problem with commitment.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Steve Wilson needs to start being nicer to the women in his life.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And you know, I may try. I really want to try...but if it’s anything like college, cooking classes, learning spanish, learning the bass guitar, screenwriting, rock climbing, or (most pathetically) jogging, the trying won’t go too far.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ50YuXmuvoTE7ngOP140qWAZfQnN6QaK9XFKCi5A0iDHx9gL_MUoVCFXgIMn-yEhnxPiU7Eys49GL9bPIfEXpdL_0uo_KKdFl3RRikzQJ4HDbVRJNKgKlU1WCVmbNqMu7EiH2A0ymY3IQ/s400/andrizzi.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598144399007968322" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-81145878504424786462011-04-20T12:36:00.006-05:002011-04-21T15:49:56.796-05:0011<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUNJf-KYYiYH5bVjv1kkD_wKYbjFhOk6Px5AEh1KcDegmK76VvW0bH4LGiLOeTxYOrjA2b0C3H7PQjQTY9wO4CmuLkHDOpttC4Nvj37xiCX84kDsYmEMOGgKykdlPDO33atNhycXc__-aQ/s1600/jaredloughner-mug.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUNJf-KYYiYH5bVjv1kkD_wKYbjFhOk6Px5AEh1KcDegmK76VvW0bH4LGiLOeTxYOrjA2b0C3H7PQjQTY9wO4CmuLkHDOpttC4Nvj37xiCX84kDsYmEMOGgKykdlPDO33atNhycXc__-aQ/s400/jaredloughner-mug.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598139781858858210" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I hate the fucking news.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">A long list of sensationalized events, a hypnotizing, brainwashing, attempt to convince humans that they have a say in what happens. Marketed, manufactured to give the impression of looking out for common interest.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">You turn it on and they tell you <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/gabrielle-giffords-shot-c_n_806211.html">a group of people have been shot in a supermarket in Arizona</a>, then (with little pause) those opposed to talk radio and extreme right commentators use the tragedy, the true and awful tragedy, to blame those they see as enemies...</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoggCO2pykjUJ7eT4fFFTirYj9-JBtk3KQzy7I2b-ATcWhTfTd2Pa1sRcB3GwsPLifGDN0QQG1rmubceMytrrvjq03yPuZuph2krEmta3CRsvjU-gPFU4WqcUeuxDLxlEcj52IadY1Q2Zl/s400/rush_limbaugh.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598140089754804530" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 315px; height: 275px; " /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And then <a href="http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/today.guest.html">Rush Limbaugh</a> has the fucking nerve to say that “you cannot blame talk radio” even though he knows that things like this are partly his fault. And for once, just for once in his life, or <a href="http://www.glennbeck.com/">Glenn Beck</a>’s life, they could make something better, they could be a voice of compassion and accept responsibility for years of exciting violence and ignorance.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Instead they all see tragedy, a mentally insane man killing politicians in a super market, as an leverage point, as an opportunity to get a leg up in the media against their ‘enemies’.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And we’re all too stupid or blind, or in denial, to realize that this is a fight that nobody will ever win.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And for me maybe thats the only consolation, that while everyone pretends that this or that matters I will be alone, politically uninfluenced, eating my cheeseburgers and crunch wraps in peace.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And they’ll all scoff at me stuffing my face with <a href="http://www.churchs.com/index.html">Churches Chicken</a> and the underage mother of two serving me and the sports section of <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/sports/default.htm">USA Today</a>, and they’ll pity all of it because ‘we don’t understand.’</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Maybe I just need to grow up. But I guess if growing up means joining a giant lie...well...I guess I’ll stick with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac">Big Mac</a>.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>-</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQTUmczJ_GooSRDJEKOIe61Lzdf_nHp7R2dTepOo3_GdCZM2LqN4WecZoQgexwyX3RV6ZuniO0VxtkPUPikamoSIxuRmP2fruvjDvKJKrJPIjJEdhRsIsZjZIpf_ygEXaSsDMkguheCc7/s400/seanmirror.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598140608902402178" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px; " /></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;">I’ve been depressed lately.</span></div> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I have to go see my dad and I don’t really know what to say to him. I know he doesn't approve of me or what I do. I just want us to have a nice time. I think we’ll head down to the bar and watch the <a href="http://www.packers.com/">Packer</a> game. Eat some peanuts, drink some MGDs stare ahead, make jokes at commercial.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I can’t make any calls and I tried to get a job at Jimmy Johns but they didn’t want me. I think if I paid Rita back she might consider taking me back.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Uncle Don has a new girlfriend though. So thats cool.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Carter has been trying to eat the garbage. Yesterday we went down to the park and I struck up a nice conversation with a couple that were walking their pit bull named Tyson. We smoked a half joint shared a bottle of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnapps">Schnapps</a>. The dogs ran together in the snow. It was a nice surprise.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Dogs got it figured out, whatever it is.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I had a dream last night I was on a beach stuck in the mountains.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I saw the girl from college the other day. She was waiting under the bridge on Russell as it rained. By the time I reached its shelter she was gone.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTsAE5I4cTkuFtdTCHizG3LmK5vz6j8FWFsY2fNS9kfESegf9ICiVR3TfQ6aoi66PUmnr6PpVfakv_HcZOTvMSqFAe_ynfoPLKWpqj5INtB1JcWbl6K1_8lVhyphenhyphenwXPzOvTzzvOefh4PBM5G/s400/rainstorm-01.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598141419800659810" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-3197828439376270752011-04-20T12:34:00.003-05:002011-04-22T11:25:23.647-05:0012<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWCsAVCIwzSf6Nunpbl0TV0Y6NMoCI38OW7x2tuwXdkMEuW3VFTaVX9BxuauY1bqiHWZD5b2cQYF3_Zs933NWz6lLf-tqEUn4PG3jGvHx3fL4fnH9LV5GesP1fMm74jey7XFSW5CaFYYO/s1600/100_6165.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWCsAVCIwzSf6Nunpbl0TV0Y6NMoCI38OW7x2tuwXdkMEuW3VFTaVX9BxuauY1bqiHWZD5b2cQYF3_Zs933NWz6lLf-tqEUn4PG3jGvHx3fL4fnH9LV5GesP1fMm74jey7XFSW5CaFYYO/s400/100_6165.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598145707636969618" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I stopped by Parkers with a twelve pack of PBR. Hopefully to make up for all the times I had coned him into bringing beers to Uncle Don’s basement. I put the case in my backpack and walked Carter over. Parker said his apartment manager doesn't like it when I bring the dog over but Mrs. Janikowski can just suck it.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I asked her if <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Janikowski"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#000099;">Sebastian Janikowski</span></a> was her son about a year back and she’s had it out for me ever since.</span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPKXOz0CZjTdOybC2miPLmkEdn9uhdZWdcViomVWmltD7YZ1cmgPFi8JuKWSRnBao9vWka6UlHDdaZCVOVZuzFUtQ8vTAFRA9qiAOxfJUADVXYINhtE5Mnjjitjl3UJIcirTguPVgEms9T/s400/tx_janikowski.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598146257437304770" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 355px; height: 355px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">So he buzzes us in and we sit around for a minute talking about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand">The Stand</a>, which Parker has read but I haven't, either way he insists on talking about it for twenty minutes while I nod along.</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I begrudgingly ask him how his parents are doing with their divorce. He says they are doing better. Which is good to hear. Even though they are usually pretty mean to each other and rude to me. Which may have something to do with the time I left a bunch of blow at their house on accident.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We drink a couple of beers and smoke schwag out of a shitty metal pipe. I also brought a Pepsi and a bag of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funyuns">Funyuns</a> to share. I also brought a small bag of the newer BBQ Cheetos and pretzel M&M’s. I give Parker a couple.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Parker used to be allergic to peanuts, then one day he just wasn’t. Crazy world we live in.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We watch <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Peaks">Twin Peaks</a>, cause he got the show box set for his birthday a month ago, which I forgot.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Damn that show is amazing. Makes me feel better about my quest to find the man in Ashland. Mystery is a good thing, evidently, it leads you to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000145/">Sherilyn Fenn</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000749/">Madchen Amick</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001223/">Lara Flynn Boyle</a>. Maybe I’ll find my own <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Palmer">Laura Palmer</a> in Ashland.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">That is the before-possessed-and-raped-by-demon-father version. You know what I mean</span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyYuYYw4mtjEmVk3nrl7VHIMuMfefvJwfsxXnu7iEtqCV_XBxfYsJ2udIm186TVD8GKO8ClEYVEnWOIAl7s2rGvVpPVbKQELZqPTtWRY0Snf9bu3hEVPWyCQN1IN2sxx3ESIzFkNcxMYd8/s400/Twin-Peaks-tv-19.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598146824182163746" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 299px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">We drink the beers that I brought and we go down to the bar pretty loaded.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And for a long while we don’t speak and some soul song hits the speakers and I rub my hand over my head and through my hair and to my side Parker does the same. And it’s just then that I see that two people rubbing their faces, exhausted by their lot in life, together in an introspective moment...That may be the only time that two people can have any kind of understanding.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">because talking doesn't mean anything, nobody listens, we’re all just waiting for our turn to speak, thinking about how smart we’ll sound and how honorable we’ll look. Talk about a joke: communication is a joke.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Sure, some people can do it but it takes work. You have to be honest with yourself and I’ll be goddamned if I’m going to do that. I’ll also be goddamned if I’m going to go to marriage counseling with every fucking person in my life. Fuck that.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And before I know it Parker is trying to drag me out of the bar because I’m calling the bartender a cock-sucker and that he’s a fat bald excuse for a human and that he’s too old to be wearing vests. I do this sometimes, turn as dark on the outside than I am on the inside.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And then I start in on the rest of the bar and it turns out I’m the joke. They are all laughing.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“And your hat is stupid!” I say</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Nice fucking tie” I say</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">They are losing it. I’m the best thing to happen to this joint in twenty years. And even though I won’t ever go back I will be a legend.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And like most other days I feel myself using my 15 minutes of fame on little moments of insignificance. Always the comedy, never the comedian. Always a bus boy, never a bus.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0K0ae7eP8LpMH5fwgexJa6HLHPCcE_NO-orm7y_LkNsDST2tQ7BaRySVTj17lx47-k3fHjLtRs0MikSROoJ8ojuk-TErUOGcIl2YJcjhlpGefIzYM2D2FJsuQ9-BJU1OWqOl6dB8Ygg4a/s400/bigbeers.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598147155412134850" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-33490897553332358752011-04-20T12:33:00.009-05:002011-04-22T11:26:11.084-05:0013<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRMrwUmvS-23_Ua_Bcjv2w9hTOBZj-fTNs4U9kGlSBbKwPkwQQeZ1FK-lf8nJNl6ECWhY8x_ARRJYA5rINFmuswfTHGOljc8QAtifywZD9_xWrMqizsTNLSDkma4JyWrYUfTyUHqMYhsai/s1600/5811.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRMrwUmvS-23_Ua_Bcjv2w9hTOBZj-fTNs4U9kGlSBbKwPkwQQeZ1FK-lf8nJNl6ECWhY8x_ARRJYA5rINFmuswfTHGOljc8QAtifywZD9_xWrMqizsTNLSDkma4JyWrYUfTyUHqMYhsai/s400/5811.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598147832331553122" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">It all started at the super market on saturday. I went to pick up some specialty brats at the <a href="http://www.metromarket.net/">Metro Market</a> for me and my dad. The plan was to watch the<a href="http://www.steelers.com/"> Steelers</a>/<a href="http://www.baltimoreravens.com/">Ravens</a> game at my dads place then head on over to <a href="http://www.foodspot.com/Clients/WI/Milwaukee/McBobsPubandGrill/default.aspx?accid=21587">McBob's</a> to watch the Packers game with all the other old drunks.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I was walking down the aisle and the place was packed. I mean packed, people really lose their shit during football season, not that i can blame them. Thing is I obviously talked too much shit this year...saying the <a href="http://www.vikings.com/">Vikings</a> would be great and the Pack were a bunch of bums and...most of us know how that turned out.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLewkO-7Y4Y628jxAtSK3LEgW_5dQHq2oUSDixYeYoQAjr_jPa1aaWtBrBaLaAfcInyM0Tj5CkvZr6Ct3pkxejk8iU6LzMGGw-ks-NKuFdqEn9xKN1MlRPPpHlEyF3Hux7HjNEGhb22i-x/s400/brett-favre-2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598148855634098130" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 366px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">Really though, I think that people made too big of a deal out of the <a href="http://deadspin.com/#!5603701/brett-favre-once-sent-me-cock-shots-not-a-love-story">Brett Favre dick texting</a> thing. So fucking what. We hold our athletes to too high of standards, it’s just that Packer fans treated Brett like a god when he played for their team. Then he didn't and got in this sexting business and they were like “See, aren’t we glad we got rid of that guy?” Truth is he was always the same chucking, chugging, pill popping, womanizing maniac the whole time.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">But I like him for those reasons.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’ve always been a Vikings fan but until I saw the fans booing Favre after he got killed at <a href="http://www.lambeaufield.com/home/">Lambeau field</a> and saw the way they talked about him this year, I was never glad I wasn't a Packers fan. Now I am. I thank the god I don’t believe in.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">He didn’t <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Vick">kill dogs</a> or something crazy, he just took a little picture of his dingaling. Bad Idea but he still won Green Bay a Super Bowl and played a million games, so basically, cry me a river.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Anyways, I digress, again.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I was looking at the <a href="http://www.food.com/recipe/frito-lay-bean-dip-68861">Frito bean dip</a> when I ran into my old friend Greg. Greg loves the Packers so we rarely watch games together cause I’m such a hater, not to mention Greg isn't really into doing a bunch of blow and grinding your teeth watching <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.youtube.com">youtube</a> videos until 8 in the morning. Great guy though.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Anyway we got to talking and Greg asked me if I wanted to come over and watch a little of the first game and smoke some grass. So of course I did.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I picked up the brats, tortilla chips, a twenty piece chicken wing bucket, taco dip, twelve pack <a href="http://www.mountaindew.com/">Mountain Dew</a> and a twelve pack of <a href="http://www.pabstblueribbon.com/AgeVerification.aspx">Pabst</a>. With bus fair that pretty much tapped me out.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHMz9mdDGkrbFpD_gjpJiMcAJSI5e_g3_LV2JjJmKPdGL-PcHaRbqcHrKC-UkG5wxZ8qc6EXda1FY9tYhHSDkYdILrDp0OhRbQXuIpmKdww-8vVizV9XDRbuSBWJwF2GXsjtZvLaMvzbSa/s400/NormMacDonaldMain_large.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598149148069672066" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 399px; height: 297px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">Man that Greg, he is a pro at DVR. We watched a bunch of recorded <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlJjNVGMsG0">Saturday Night Live Weekend</a> update episodes and watch a musical performance by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lil_Wayne">Lil Wayne</a>. He’s like an artist with that DVR shit. We watch a the Steelers game but I leave after the Ravens go up 21-3.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I drink eight of the Pabst and take the 33 bus back over to my dad’s house.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Riding the<a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.ridemcts.com"> bus</a> when there is perfectly good football to watch is pure bullshit. Pure and simple bullshit. Some lady in a wheel chair takes twenty minutes to get on, the bus driver jumps off to take a piss, fuck this.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii11ZIz8X75k6rQ_vDxYy9ZoGHETuh285Sk7IhmtrJmrjkIbRDlTO7f92kXZ3EtODMvHZdlzb_OtCClhiJFM7rbWDQOHT56Xq0h2Eupsr_jAO9TiRCM4FA90Ws35mv6myBJb2oiddKaUYq/s400/safe-bus-company.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598149312400752802" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 271px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">I finally get to my dad’s house and he is pretty happy to see me. I feel like a disappointment a lot of the time but I know he’s still happy to see me. I’m all he has after all.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So we throw some brats on the grill and he cooks them up even though its like 0 degrees out. And I pound down about 15 of the 20 chicken wings.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">OH, and the Steelers came all the way back and tied the game! fucking bus...</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We chill for a while and I throw the beers I have left in the fridge and start in on the case of MGD’s he bought.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Steelers win. So good for them. <a href="http://deadspin.com/#!151809/its-good-to-be-big-ben">Ben Rothlisberger</a>, now there’s a fucked up individual. Dick texting? we’re talking about dick texting? dick texting? it’s just dick texting...please.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So we eat some brats. I got the Philly Steak one and a Rueben one and Italian herb and cheese. Metro Market brats are killer shit.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We eat and both pound down some MGDs and head over to McBob’s. My dad says they have good wings there. And even though I’ve already had enough, I think we are both pretty excited about it. We decide to take a cab because it’s too far to walk and as fucked up as I can be sometimes I still know that drinking and driving is bullshit.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">McBob’s is OK and its jumping today.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Now I don’t necessarily like the Packers but my dad hate, hate, hates the Packers.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">My grandma has been dead for a while. Old age, she was 94 but I think my dad is convinced that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Lombardi">Vince Lombardi</a> killed her somehow. He hates them. And that goes for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Favre">Favre</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Driver">Donald Driver</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Mandarich">Tony Mandrich</a> and the ball boys.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Like Denzel says in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx3UipM1XIk">Man On Fire</a>, “Anyone involved, anyone who profited.” It’s like that.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So the game starts and we start doing shots. We get wings and some a quesadilla appetizers (delicious), then more shots. Some dickhead from High School comes up and says “Steve Wilson is that you?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I say “Yeah, how you been?”</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf5_WkCyulYJR5Lpe3O8Dhc5BCvDpUljVyUoVXKIyJCODFF3tZkH5_VzNGNb84p9Rghf6jdToJoGSH_BLhMh7AqfqN22pDZ68G4_FhNFfYfvaBC9sHDViTUSIfqFiN1kS9Yt_lycFMyKga/s400/1378-Flashback_Hells_Angels_medium.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598149816172722930" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 258px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">And this dick cheese has the nerve to tell me about his kids and he good job he has at Harley (even though the plants not doing well, his job his safe) and I say “good for you man” but I can’t get rid of this guy. He’s going on and on about his hot wife (who I had a crush on back then) and their new house when I stop him.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Look man” I say, “I’m pretty addicted to cocaine and I live in my uncles basement because my girlfriend kicked me out, my best friend is a total bore and I’m just trying to get loaded with my dad one more time before I head out on a suicide mission to avenge some girls death from college, who I barely knew, who’s ghost has been visiting me over the last month or so.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And he shuts the fuck up and goes back to his seat.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And right before the end of the first half <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYuiVVvZQMM">Tramon Williams picks off Matt Ryan and scores and the game is over</a>. So we get even more hammered. My dad starts screaming all around the bar that the Packers were losers from Lombardi on and they’ll be losers forever. The situation starts to get a little hairy.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Just like that I’m draggin him out of the bar and calling a cab. One night you’re getting pulled out of a bar, the next you’re pulling your father out of a bar.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Circle of life dude.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We go back to his house and make a frozen pizza. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombstone_(pizza)">Tombstone</a>. (for the record, I prefer <a href="http://jacksfrozenpizza.blogspot.com/">Jacks</a>)</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">My dad talks about how awesome the night was and how it’s good to have me around. and how he loves me. Then we eat and he goes to bed.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYCkFTyADJ0">Love Actually</a> on cable and cry like crazy.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJnmcEgRPr9Ks_5zoxiLjiN7CnNYj5nnVMqKkB8tJMXQhSLDJfpilbGHSSfg5301IbApQv3ssGS6xCE0kzBV-T6SCOfPcDoNMVtcFAMGLKl-A1HfpBhxnH2ONn3yXs9ICFcXvQOe7qRM5/s400/elisha_cuthbert_hot_girl_featured.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598150350764145378" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 259px; height: 400px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-59015741405303892432011-04-20T12:33:00.008-05:002011-04-21T16:38:58.569-05:0014<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB6713Uvt6ve5SGJv-FQ0B0LiOxXZoTp4hhhZqVbsdu7qy2fLbGuf8_2PCggYbyI_E9AklUtWhre5DjPKGuno-Ce30fESIM5YXeTqIelNPNq3XfAhDZEeFSKf9PA2qttTseou0QgAKoOan/s1600/seansick.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB6713Uvt6ve5SGJv-FQ0B0LiOxXZoTp4hhhZqVbsdu7qy2fLbGuf8_2PCggYbyI_E9AklUtWhre5DjPKGuno-Ce30fESIM5YXeTqIelNPNq3XfAhDZEeFSKf9PA2qttTseou0QgAKoOan/s400/seansick.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598150867795287058" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Lets flip the fucking switch already.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I borrowed uncle Don’s car. He didn't mind. He said that if he needed to drive he could his new girlfriend’s car. She’s a bartender at some depths of hell place on National. Her name is Margot.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">This morning I got up and he was standing around shirtless in the kitchen he said - “Sorry if we made too much noise last night.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And I barfed in my mouth a little.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">To think about my uncle feebly pounding his fat bartender girlfriend. fuck. ugh. fuck.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So I borrowed the car and I stopped at the gas station and got a few snacks. nothing much, just two cans of soda (<a href="http://www.pepsi.com/">Pepsi</a>, Mt Dew) regular Cheetos, gummy worms and wax bottles (2/1.00), <a href="http://www.chex.com/Recipes/RecipeView.aspx?RecipeId=6709">Chex Mix</a>, Ice cream sandwich, and two hotdogs for 1.79 0 which seems like a rip off because I can remember when you could get that deal for a dollar - and I had a friend once that said he wouldn't pay more than FREE for a hotdog.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">which was pretty funny.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ2VAH0SHoONrpi7pXp-84OfdqUOvHXt8MsfgZn0_OfbiYfSoao0cT1SandQfQj5bYwJo9S6_Z15Pm7ZrkxCoiQEHv3wKiBRiZ3yOZiL76Trc_lyWiSkSlZjqks6WJN4eulONQ_-ImoSaw/s400/corndogdude.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598152679104108114" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">But really, if there were <a href="http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/a-plus-fair-corn-dogs/Detail.aspx">corn dogs</a> there would be no question.</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’d pay a million dollars for a corn dog. If there was only one left on earth I’d die for it, as long as I could take my time in eating it, I’d die for it.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Besides, if all the corn dogs were gone, what’s the point in living?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">If god gave me the choice of either fucking <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Watts">Naomi Watts</a> one time or eating a corn dog, I’d pick the corn dog. And I really respect Naomi Watts. In a different universe I think she could be my girlfriend. We’d both be school teachers and coach the baseball and debate team respectively.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">But she’s a famous actress and I’m an unemployed writer.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ilmmWR9eewyYHCHJyeOsZkJx9J8pnVnXxN83GOxkM1O21qLSb3Oh5x2SMW3OtGZzzQIC4RQUuwV5nlXpoL8Xdt_2UIOJWahaPKwTxOk2BN5K7ZXdhZ272cyxUvoQNUoy6gstK9JovTlg/s400/Naomi-Watts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598152459994667314" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 367px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">I always thought the day that I found out where they sold corn dogs at college was the beginning of the end. I started skipping class and eating the corn dogs, sometimes I’d take a<a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.ridemcts.com"> twenty minute bus ride</a> to school just to eat the corn dogs.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Rita told me once that all the fast food I eat was going to take thirty years off my life. well you know what I say:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">GOOD - FUCKING - RIDDANCE</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’m way off.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So I drove north to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshkosh,_Wisconsin">Oshkosh</a> to visit a friend of mine from high school. I figured I should go see him because, well, I really never visit anyone. Sure, I’ve promised a lot of things but everyone knows I’m full of shit.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZoOoEn8v5nknv9mNJrO2RjXjyL37x77u4l-q_gDdlzQvW13086bBAEbrD3NB_ENMYmrZnmwaHm89Vd6RatOuadUJkjtv3Cn-aoOpbtHWZXMLUcq9jaS21c38pu0oreJ9_OjpaM_wCDxlt/s400/NBB14.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598153401743662674" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px; " /></span> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">There was a girl I had a crush on in high school and I saw her at the bar one night. Now, in some ways I think I had a chance with this girl but who cares, that was then, ya know - anyway, I told her I was going to come visit her at school and she said</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Steve Wilson, you talk a good game, or you did anyway.” and she walked off. I haven't seen her since. I could have made it happen but I was chicken.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So I stop at my friend Dave’s house real quick. Driving North In Wisconsin is always the same fucking thing - <a href="http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lrb/pubs/wb/99wb7.pdf">abortion</a> billboard, firework stand, abortion billboard, wind turbine, abortion billboard, ATV sales lot, abortion billboard.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">If abortion was illegal a lot of good billboard makers would be out of a job.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Eh ... Sometimes I just say things. Somethings I shouldn't say. I don’t know how I feel about abortion or really anything else...Now I’m back pedaling.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Anyways, he’s fatter than I remember.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We always got along good. Neither one of us had mom’s - his was still alive but hooked on drugs. We used to drink a lot of beers in his garage. He was a distinctive yet vague memory. The taste of sour <a href="http://www.milbestlight.com/av/AgeVerify.aspx">beast light</a> and cloudy moments bleeding quickly into the next.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Still, he was fatter now. We talk about this and that and go out for some pitchers and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_curds">cheese curds</a>. We play darts and hit on some girls who aren’t interested from the get go. And I end up getting wasted and stay at his house.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">But of course nothing really stood out from that night. And I admit that maybe I’m stalling, but I’ve been stalling for some time now. In everything. Once again we leave and I maybe would never see him again. And he waves to me as I drive off and I know that we never were the same.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I know then for sure that the world doesn’t change, we all make the same jokes and the same mistakes. The only thing that changes is our ability to accept that fact.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU7Ok_vO1r26CuAnQTk7GcnurJQdS4DuiIIqF8qerNnVlaLjzBYrMOCP1CFDSRScvj0M0beIp_XHoD3yqjUf8TxfdmkB2_Q1Dy8jwPc2xF8H2wKQXjqRBF9b4xHsXbxtP99gZdzBkSx-pv/s400/abortion-billboard.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598154079473284562" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 246px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-43227329921949116162011-04-20T12:32:00.005-05:002011-04-21T17:30:40.823-05:0015<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_TOMhzB2ftSdOVNzHsT9mHrbQAX8KN-cCawD_OfI09i6qJi4nUJSDJIZdecUp_gtPscPuO-JauQN6_mpZ_6cvL_XKzp2L3tVujQwU2MKwFTCJFJSz8pl24Y-ayRZyw6fVjSkghw_IaItH/s1600/seanpark.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_TOMhzB2ftSdOVNzHsT9mHrbQAX8KN-cCawD_OfI09i6qJi4nUJSDJIZdecUp_gtPscPuO-JauQN6_mpZ_6cvL_XKzp2L3tVujQwU2MKwFTCJFJSz8pl24Y-ayRZyw6fVjSkghw_IaItH/s400/seanpark.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598156275101690546" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">You’re not going to believe this. I found three hundred bucks last night.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Which was good because I think my snacking was severely cutting into my fundage. I was at a way station grabbing a mini pack of Oreo’s and a<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Dew"> Code Red Mountain Dew</a> when these two asswipes started fighting in the parking lot.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Fights are a funny thing, they pop up when you least expect it.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I got punched out at a <a href="http://www.brewers.com/">Brewer</a> game last year - all I did was egg on some guys by motioning to their busted faces and tell them they looked good that way, and some guy came out of nowhere and cheap shotted me.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The nerve of some people.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvIaq4EgaCYhXlJ1U8RvvORQgg7SA1e5LPYlvSGbVSnA5ELGMbx34Y4lTkYw8V62ahsjwbixuwqbxEmcpw1nbplR1TqOHQ2m_49HKnyBqMtGcHqe-uSThVJyHkyVel_BLcbXxWmKo0IyMl/s400/brew.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598156661223664962" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 400px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">-<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">But anyway, these assholes just start fighting and they both of their families are in their cars screaming for them to stop.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I run over and Carter starts barking and he’s ready to get down. I grab one of the guys and push the other off.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Their a couple of red faced insurance claims adjusters or some other pussy job.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Knock it off!” I said. and they start in again and are saying that the other is lucky that I’m not here and that the other better not see the other or the other will be sorry.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’ve gotten into some fights in my day and it’s one of those things that really never makes sense. Raising your hands to another human is stupid 95 percent of the time. Sure, it’s funny and we all have a good laugh about it but it really isn’t ok. Someone could get hurt you know.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So these middle aged family having jerkoffs get in their cars and start their terrible drives to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=whitefish+bay&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Whitefish+Bay,+WI&ei=yVGwTe2QM4K4tgeGjvjnCw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q8gEwAA">Whitefish Bay</a> or <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=mequon+wi&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Mequon,+WI&ei=6lGwTbSFFI22tgfOouGBDA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCQQ8gEwAA">Mequon </a>and everyone forgets all about the fun they had on their skiing trip.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And they don’t know that when they were fighting I snagged one of their wallets. Fair trade I figure, for them causing a scene.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Looks like Steve and Carter and getting a room at the <a href="http://www.hiexpress.com/hotels/us/en/belmont/belca/hoteldetail">Belmont Suites</a>.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I check in and wait till the front desk guy heads out back for a cigarette and run carter upstairs. The plan is to watch a bunch of movies and jump on the bed and head out for dinner at the <a href="http://www.texasroadhouse.com/">Texas Roadhouse</a> and buy those chicken critter things they have. Then I’ll still have about 140 bucks left and I can get gas and snacks for the morning.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Perfect. So I feed Carter and give him a rawhide - which are good for dog’s teeth. Its important to keep your dogs mouth clean with bones and such. Dental is expensive for dogs - and I walk to the Texas Roadhouse next door.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The place is like a ghost town. One bartender, one waiter and me. So I sit at the bar and some short busty girl brings me a whisky and soda. She’s nice and she tells me her name is Sarah.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“And where are you from?” I ask.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Originally from <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=Appleton&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Appleton,+WI&ei=r1KwTbPcG86ztwfLrpH3Cw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q8gEwAA">Appleton</a>. I want to move to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&q=Stevens+Point&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Stevens+Point,+WI&ei=z1KwTZefNM6utwfc_O3xCw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ8gEwAA">Steven’s Point</a> next year.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“For college?” I ask.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“For the peace and quiet.” She says.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“It’s pretty quiet here”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Yeah, but in a truck-stop sort of way. Have you ever been to Steven’s Point?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Yes, I dated a girl there for 3 1/2 weeks. Another?” I ask and point to my drink.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“See, Steven’s Point is a place, all this, all this outside little cities and locations, they’re just checkpoints between something and something else. Between <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&q=Stevens+Point&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Stevens+Point,+WI&ei=z1KwTZefNM6utwfc_O3xCw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ8gEwAA">Green Bay</a> and <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=milwaukee&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Milwaukee,+WI&ei=I1OwTebqFoGCtgfF1PD_Cw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCIQ8gEwAA">Milwaukee</a>. And Green Bay and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis_%E2%80%93_Saint_Paul">Twin Cities</a>. And so on and so forth.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I never thought of it like that.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Have you seen the hills and bluffs in Steven’s Point. They’re amazing.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I shrug my shoulders. “Say, do you do blow?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">She looks around and says yes.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I found a hundred bucks. You wanna get some blow and hang out with me?” I ask.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And believe it or not, she does.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Sarah doesn't get done with work for another hour and a half so I order some wings and the chicken critters, then some fries, then a half rack of ribs, then a full rack of ribs, then a coke, then two more whisky soda’s.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And I throw some peanuts on the floor for fun.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiABvcQYizkdJoH6PQTzP4AuBEVstHaLjwO08hNX5KtC5UUDZXEWmeqRHhBuXPF68hJra1ULnvHSv5M7RC9GePuuUxQWnDjnOSU2WY-BR8K5S2FUDhLwSV0R0P2DQcC_vImGAKDRSIzFJHq/s400/roadhouse.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598157472719017762" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">-<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We drive to some guy named Rudy’s house, who besides being a gun nut and a generally a huge weirdo is also a pretty nice guy.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">He talks about how eventually the chinese or Japanese or something will try to invade the USA and how he will be ready. Which is a pretty ridiculous thing to say and more ridiculous thing to tell other people.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I nod along and eventually me and Sarah leave.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We go back to the hotel and do some blow and she tells me about how she works a few restaurant jobs and goes to all sorts of crazy events and parties in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas,_Nevada">Vegas</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City">New York</a> and stuff.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And I realize that we both do lots of drugs and drink a ton but while I’m wallowing in self pity and pretending that life is hard, Sarah treats every day as a new way to party, a new way to be insane- and she loves it. She works for the privilege to rock the fuck out. I act like its a sentence which is put upon me.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">It’s like we’re of the same race but different tribes.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We laugh a lot and she takes a shine to Carter. We fuck and hold each other and smoke cigarettes in a non-smoking room. Then we do more blow and watch TV and fuck some more - I know then that this is how dependancy should work, to drugs, to humans, to everything. It should all be a cycle, turning and driving and turning and driving, forever, until we all blow to pieces and shower down on the earth.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">When I wake up I’ve already missed my checkout and Carter broke into the mini bar and ate everything. Sarah is gone.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And in a cloud of critters, ribs and blow - once again, I am broke.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSH9T5NYQT900OjO3BGWs20qISCvqsPa2Tp10PaWHMr0txudEzYsm_mcDRRrj4MgvkILW_lvqIyiWcbtj9mV20pOwRvalRuyRzyYT7tAYrF5HreJKesZFuD7zXPkqh43nBdFYSWB3juK4N/s400/rodserling.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598158183275614530" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-10785134972301711102011-04-14T12:31:00.000-05:002011-04-22T11:30:43.952-05:0016<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLJIsiXMicmPzkNbprnWFdVkTepogQylvmFI4T1TiGvTZ_p8EdFPouiLBlCbxJAkvqcVdCsvNo4bT4FFQA2GCxZk98gGRJ9AAMVjmo30OiUPNPekQptRd9oAFVNLJbMvYupY9gl1zYGSkT/s1600/kennedy.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 249px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLJIsiXMicmPzkNbprnWFdVkTepogQylvmFI4T1TiGvTZ_p8EdFPouiLBlCbxJAkvqcVdCsvNo4bT4FFQA2GCxZk98gGRJ9AAMVjmo30OiUPNPekQptRd9oAFVNLJbMvYupY9gl1zYGSkT/s400/kennedy.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598168672523429458" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">So, I stole some gas. I’m not proud of it but it happened. I just pulled in filled up the tank and drove away. Worst case scenario - I get back to Milwaukee and uncle Don is pissed off because I took his car for a week when I said it would only be a day and there is a warrant out for his arrest.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Best case - I die and I don’t have to deal with any of this bullshit.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I won’t worry. I’ll put that in the special mental compartment with my defaulted student loans, credit card debt and the lingering pain in my left foot.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And the stretch from there is eventless. I’ve decided to hold it together. I took this drive a lot of times as a kid. My grandpa lived in <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&q=Waupaca&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Waupaca,+WI&ei=VVSwTe3zMse4tweI0ajxCw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ8gEwAA">Wapaca</a> with his wife, who wasn't my grandmother or anything.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">She always told us to call her grandma, but i was like ‘fuck that’. And I sure as shit wasn't going to make things weird by calling her by her actual name, Joanna, so I’d just wait for her to look at me if i needed to ask a question.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">There was a joint called Rainbow Falls or something in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plover,_Wisconsin">Plover</a>. One time I smashed a go kart into the the wall and bent the shit out of it. My grandpa saw and went and hid in the car. The guys working were pissed and I almost cried.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH1r5CH1BlvoJ-TZ21J-Vmn_tTIXoack-l6Oc3-icCOvGFyA8DJGEVEyzLzhWWAwVwdBVSLMof1I2ODf4Gi4eTT8PF5fpA5o3bYqRNqFeWx_xSlflsHNUgcekhbLfxgdkZwYD_NsUIBTyf/s400/1924_LaFolletteVotes25348.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598168583250669346" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 321px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">These days I’d tell those go-kart fucks to suck my dick and choke on it and run away flipping the double bird, but whatever.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We used to get a lot of snacks those days and I would watch <a href="http://www.mtv.com/shows/beavis_and_butthead/series.jhtml">Beavis and Butthead</a> and old music videos forever because I didn't have cable at my dad’s house.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">My grandpa was my mom’s dad, all my grandparents besides him were dead. It seemed like a lot of family members were dead.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Maybe death runs in the family.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Me and Carter get out at a way station and stretch our legs. its a really nice one with a path that leads down to a lake. I imagine drifters get blown (or blow) down there. It would be weird to be a drifter.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And Then I stop in Steven’s Point to see what Sarah was talking about. And it is a very nice city. Nice little city. I grab a <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/place?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=Pizza+Stevens+Point&fb=1&hq=Pizza&hnear=Stevens+Point,+WI&cid=8759758465744901610">slice of pizza at some joint</a> and talk to some wonky Jewish kid named Micah. Nice guy, terrible haircut.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1jznv4xJGjPaCkTRo-o25s_YxH6Fq0MjCCDvuvKBBjdKmkKnyuFhj7f1KwjphMID-z__wXLykbbc4I-M6GW7PlQhO0XaNuzp8K8xp1KRtiXu01bc5WPZvt1vKbICuUoXq2MazbrO93Jy7/s400/orange+head.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598170183009547954" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">Thats about where it all fell apart. I was well on my way when I stopped in a town called <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&pq=tomahawk&xhr=t&q=tomahawk+wi&cp=10&qe=VG9tYWhhd2sgVw&qesig=eibuQ6KV6pkswq42oS4arw&pkc=AFgZ2tmUFvZ0rV3cfXx2s2-Pd_Q5Sp-9Q1lAecoh3KTYJEpq8zzZ8MxQVAwFTl6jn_-iHo0-ern4v7LlUmwoCPtVjSsJMnt7gg&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Tomahawk,+WI&ei=ZlWwTcK7N4mGtwfBgpSKDA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBcQ8gEwAA">Tomahawk</a>. Now, all I wanted to do was get some snacks and be on my way but there was this dude at the gas station named Frankie, he was leaning against the gas station wall.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">He was kinda strange but had a kind face.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Hey man” he said. You want to buy some mushrooms?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I told him I only had twenty bucks to spend and he was ok with that. He drove a hard bargain. You know how you meet someone and you feel like you’ve been friends forever, it was like that.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We hung around for a while talking about movies and the <a href="http://www.exploringthenorth.com/ski/sched.html">water skiing show</a> that was in town. Frankie said it was pretty cool. He talked a lot. I gave him a lift to a friends house and on the way he told me pretty much everything that happened in his life.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Frankie:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">loved the <a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/322/1322193/restaurant/Wisconsin/Dog-N-Suds-Tomahawk">Dog and Suds Restaurant</a>.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Went to school in Tomahawk (Mascot: Hatchet’s)</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Had some friends who raced at the <a href="http://www.tomahawkspeedway.com/">speedway</a>.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">sold worms at the bate shop as a kid.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Was a dishwasher at the junction restaurant.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Wore Starter jackets back in high school</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">listened to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjJwqDa1QVI">Ace Of Base</a></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">and then we got to his friends house and i let the dog out and ate the mushrooms, and it all went to hell.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJRE-9JOdcEoQ5tBDYn0nQjvDuq-gp8YtoOYbpeO4xPPERQP1ew3JtMxVo7q8cgGs9LM4DNxbWgpHCeolJj2i1bRFuBS3hDg72sTeLnCTqqTJ4VlyIL4_5SDhB4rQOyEg549cR5mvjGI8/s400/ts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598169117390377602" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-75243194117254933392011-04-13T12:32:00.000-05:002011-04-22T11:31:07.670-05:0017<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP3VJYwXBoEKZS9fkHT8p0H3FBAF16YAaYoaMjyQh_fmkTNIMiWIGzlFYv-Ad-py1K4acKMuCrcE7Wf7h5Iecf4lzvI_gdg07WKkDQhR2GRrA4nq3UrLx69n_SnlfKf_ypV9ofzv_YPnb1/s1600/bonfire.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 311px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP3VJYwXBoEKZS9fkHT8p0H3FBAF16YAaYoaMjyQh_fmkTNIMiWIGzlFYv-Ad-py1K4acKMuCrcE7Wf7h5Iecf4lzvI_gdg07WKkDQhR2GRrA4nq3UrLx69n_SnlfKf_ypV9ofzv_YPnb1/s400/bonfire.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598171548180600722" /></a></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">And just when the mushrooms hit some crazy asshole named Kenny throws a cup of gasoline on the fire and it explodes. And fire climbs and rips upwards in the pounding sky.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">and once the embers make themselves brothers with the stars, they are gone. No memory, no history, no future. And I laugh like the devils brother and Frankie throws a wicked grin across the growing crowd.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">If there’s something I could never hate about Wisconsin it was the winter parties. There is something so whole about drinking and doing drugs and laughing in the snow, so close to the world.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I talk forever with a mexican high school kid with a wicked haircut. He goes and finds us cigarettes. We smoke and talk for twenty years and grow old and die before turning into one.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I piss in the field and laugh at my own anxiety, understand that I’m fine, understand that I’m lucky, I’ve always been lucky.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I watch my mother spring off the top of tree ranges and refill my cup from a frozen metal <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keg">keg</a>.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Two girls from <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=Indianapolis&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Indianapolis,+IN&ei=4VawTd-uE464tgf4obD-Cw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ8gEwAA">Indianapolis</a> kiss me on the cheek and hold each other around the waist. In the past I would try to convince them, I would try to be sly, but I won’t.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’m not worried about arrivals, I have already arrived.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLRW1vptVwuyHRPHZdzZ690WoVz8IyAdjYkMGc0DfqzejMZ2n0_2I-OaLQ-x2VxbzQnGHOqdWyj2J0trDcI4LH_llAGfQ6_clRfh-zsaf-6gL-f7173VydbqoUNWI1E3JGO-Woy-9I3Da/s400/Plaza-Mayo-bombardeo-1955.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598172134732310786" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">And decades later but three hours more - people begin to leave and Carter eats snow and plays wildly. He grows taller and fights snowmen and hunting vests, and howls madly - and brothers and sisters if you howl then I howl.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I see her then, the girl from college, she walks amongst us ignored.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And while I can see the trail of the other, I can see the past versions of each person. There are hundreds of Frankies following tonight’s version. They all laugh and cry and grow and fail and differ in attitude and fashion.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The are hundreds of the mexican kids. Hundreds of the girls from Indianapolis. The party multiplies and shows an unending history.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">but...not the girl from college. She walks with only one shadow. The girl I met one day on campus.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I watch history wind around a party in the sticks outside of Tomahawk and I see her there. No history, nothing, no memories left, no ability to create new ones.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Something has stolen her heart.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUncXOqLwBR1P_8cAfH5hmr5TeHo-s1DGqDgJ4nCWji__ak2GyJX8BVMns_wXS0oKPtI5l3hSNxk6ymPj7uovdaRXrk4Uhb0ZMjquJt3-_gVerzrqbaTUX2Rw1zo_daJeep8yz3dRrvvQd/s400/nevada_nuclear_test_dummies_1955.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598172607660181426" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-47398127289307969242011-04-12T12:30:00.000-05:002011-04-22T11:29:51.532-05:0018<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjev3ob_v70QCYT5zOuTR_98Wnu2Dma0K8qryJkATMLpfRLU7b94igmQESguwy-juefr20b4Z_r68Wyso6jAmlvkSTLDYTEDmD6e6uaa7EL3lUWpB3kcg_R2xHjUk7ccFIDdKEpYSTApiY2/s1600/snowstorm.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjev3ob_v70QCYT5zOuTR_98Wnu2Dma0K8qryJkATMLpfRLU7b94igmQESguwy-juefr20b4Z_r68Wyso6jAmlvkSTLDYTEDmD6e6uaa7EL3lUWpB3kcg_R2xHjUk7ccFIDdKEpYSTApiY2/s400/snowstorm.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598174261353819074" /></a></div><br /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Fucking Snowstorm. I should have known.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The day I decide to get serious (not the first try, but the best try) and there are endless milky drifts and waves of car killing frostbiting snow.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">and im in the middle of it. I took a detour right around some place called <a href="http://www.wistravel.com/ironwood-mi.htm">Ironwood</a>. And it was real pretty and I lost track of what I was doing.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">It must have been twenty minutes or so, just driving through the state forest and I realized I was lost...and then the fucking snowstorm and I’m just sitting around.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And I think I’m in <a href="http://www.michigan.gov/">Michigan</a>. Yep, Michigan.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Maps man, maps. They’re trusty guys when you can read em right. So after a half hour or so I figure out where I am. Not matter now though, the fucking snowstorm.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Now, I know that I’m a wooded area, I know that I’m still on the road, I know that there is a world around me, I know this but my eyes can’t see it. That’s for sure.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">It’s empty, all white and howling and lonely. All around the world has turned to static. I’m fucked.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Luckily, (in an uncharacteristic act of preparation) I packed blankets and extra coats and I have plenty of soda to drink and a few good snacks to eat. I picked up some peanuts, cheesy popcorn, two <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_Chew">Charleston Chews</a>, pack of string cheese, taco style Doritos, and a six pack of Mountain Dew. I also had one of those large <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=XXX%20Vitamin%20Water">XXX Vitamin Waters</a> but that was mostly gone.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-QEtKrT8oW11dCjG5iMzNCBKofseESxgWxg95WCIVhvaAGbNgvlP2ELJhI9pDSJHTflWMol4FbGGfNsamFehAGRMQOwx59FNgC8eknTnIFcO7_yfEzAkB8DJBQgjSlscUOsmOnD3H3LvW/s400/the-onion-front-page-001.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598176194193252610" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 240px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">Some things are just too good all the time. <a href="http://www.theonion.com/">The Onion</a> and Vitamin Water - I don’t know how they do it.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So good.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So good.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I pull the blankets up to my chin. I lay some blankets over Carter. I say:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Sometimes there is only hope, what a pitiful nightmare? What a shame but I can’t stop what I am. If you can’t be yourself, then honestly you aren’t anything. If you can’t stand up for yourself, then you can’t stand up for anything. If you can’t kill, the you aren’t worth it. I can kill, I can kill. “</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“When pressed between murder or not, you choose. I’ve chosen.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And Carter looks at me. He’s stoic, he is absolutely the best.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Sometimes” I say “You are just mean.”</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq_H3U8r-A3_2LhgeSI9EMu3YvfBMyKGwtpZ6OYa-EWDsnJ5zWAA5ylc761BUD37ZTP2j0m98L7_fc4PS5wkhY83ahi0Z88cMxaZa1fEGOtv7L0cajUW177xiDKs9OfZyDjVHzuvo-OOWq/s400/carter.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598174698365904210" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">-<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">There is a knock at the window, and I’m almost covered in snow, the car is almost gone.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Times like these, snow days, these moments are mine. This is my time to shine. Eat frozen pizzas, drink juice, cook some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_noodles">Ramen</a> (do you know what Ramen is?)</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">But I can’t. I sit in my car with the snow piling up and I hear the knocking on the window.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I won’t be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut">Kurt Vonnegut</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway">Ernest Hemingway</a> or any literary genius, or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJzHhsWBJxQ">Reggie Miller</a> - or above all else - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkHxySTAmEk">Ricky Williams</a> - He’s better than you and me - he is, admit it.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And the knock at the window. I open the door - cause fuck it.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw_FUVM7uICqKxLFWM302RbV_QRfE9cSKtfl-4Cc-RX5gUS6V_NUhN6Q5ZC7346pLhXby5vlq3pWEvDds5Ie43V30EQ7yr0Bd7hXTUmZtUWBnmTQh5-jZM43PfetQUMNjvgFcVVLof2WsZ/s400/kid+in+road2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598176561988455282" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 400px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-69251432854040674362011-04-11T12:29:00.000-05:002011-04-22T11:29:34.043-05:0019<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoDvR1OZrwz1XS2fwyF0SRzd3rkH3AuKTsOrB8bW3HthoWln4SHPp-1BHLdw7G_613RDpceVMiviI9MCIMWliiU4B9qyhMwPRVoihj0P0yT07URamBl5EC6fZ1xb1eh1OTV3ai9DFpKH6N/s1600/OLDWOMAN.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 283px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoDvR1OZrwz1XS2fwyF0SRzd3rkH3AuKTsOrB8bW3HthoWln4SHPp-1BHLdw7G_613RDpceVMiviI9MCIMWliiU4B9qyhMwPRVoihj0P0yT07URamBl5EC6fZ1xb1eh1OTV3ai9DFpKH6N/s400/OLDWOMAN.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598177276424114514" /></a></div><br /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Hello” I say and the wind and snow streams between me and a cloaked figure. It’s so small and doesn't say anything to me. It wears a coat with a fur around the hood. Over the wind I can barely hear it say:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Don’t worry, I’m a woman not a man.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Which was weird because I wasn't worried about that.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“You should come with me. It isn't safe here. I heard over the radio it won’t stop snowing tonight.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I don’t know her. Or anyone and it’s getting darker. So fuck it.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">She leads me and carter through the blizzard to a shack settled in a cluster of trees and with some effort slides open a door. I shut the door and the world outside turns to nothing. It is silent and the figure pulls down her hood.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">She had a small wrinkly head and tight curls of shock white hair. She looked at me for a moment before smiling and winking her one dead eye.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“What happened to your eye?” I asked “I’m sorry, that’s rude.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“It is, a little” she said.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEzHuQvkueX8seBx3HKJ-bwAQ221M82TuNFBktkBpALpwrRrsnaxNS76XtrC6dQdbBG0xN7BBzn7SzOO32QkWYy8IhjQk97t4DjBpjRUv53-HgZjcQceUk8OZGG7mcfuASFVdLmzq9FOKI/s400/tn_hidden-shack_charcoal_by-d-adams_2008.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598181627048870114" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 280px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">It was a small shack but cozy. I must say, I always wanted a shack. She’s got some canned goods, a bed, a radio. A tiny black and white television flutters near the center of the room behind that a wood stove and a little cupboard area with a sink.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The was a also a shit ton of water filled jugs lining the wall.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">She turns the dial to an episode of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMdS9ExnW-w">Lawrence Welk Show</a>. She stares for a while at the screen before motioning to a chair to the left of the television. I sit.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I saw Lawrence Welk once as a girl. He was doing a show in Milwaukee. Me and my sister ran up and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled and hugged us. That was some night.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I nodded. It sounded fun.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Would you like some of my sandwich, I bought it from the store, can you believe they only charge six dollars for this?” She produced a <a href="http://dudefoods.com/the-b-o-s-s/">mammoth sized sandwich</a>.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I know,” I said. “Makes you feel stupid for getting anything else.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We shared the sandwich and drank some Pabst she had dangling off the back door knob.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“What are you doing out here? didn't you know the snow was coming?” She asked.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Paying attention to shit was never my strong suit.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Fair enough.” She said.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We were silent for a while.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I’m stalling.” I said after a while.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“It’s dangerous stuff.” The one eyed woman said. “You’re life isn't individually precious. Individuality is the worst thing to ever happen to this world.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I chuckled a little bit even though I knew she was serious.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“You excited for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XLV">super bowl</a>?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Yeah! What day is today?” I ask.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Friday.” She shook her head. “Kids these days.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And we talked for a while about how I’m stupid and how her dad was an alcoholic and how booze couldn't kill north woods petrified wood - whatever that means</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Then she cackled for a long while and screamed:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us/16wisconsin.html">WISCONSIN BORN, WISCONSIN BREAD, AND WHEN I DIE - I’ll BE WISCONSIN DEAD</a>”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">and we both laughed our asses off.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And I fell asleep.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And I dreamt there were more. Clamoring towards me - telling me the work is never over.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieXOCBAJe1wyv96oxWu71faxZTKLbClBXMF-bKCIHTPHCAltJvAHPpg0hgd-iBfjmF_K41tDwgifDQLodBiGcllK-dNUEXKozOd-bpuFMKah3SboBcWCTtN1TDvRQ_1t3xS2yPDvlpa8IN/s400/womenballotcover.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598182547174793810" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 257px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">-<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I woke and the one eyed woman was shaking me. It was roasting in her cabin. little fire has a lot of power contained like that.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“C’mon son. I had my cousin come down and plow the road. Storm is over. Time for you to go, stop stalling.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And me and carter staggered out to the car and got in. The one eyed woman knocked on the window and I rolled it down.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I’m Carolyn and you’re welcome here anytime you want.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I nodded and looked down at my lap.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Thank you. I’m Steve.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Son, I don’t think you have a clue as to what you are.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And she walked away. And I drove toward Ashland.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlPoTVM9of6q09whc4Be994WgD0f5MHDdqcmroR9GwSO6IWv9yo3zSnSIrjh63K8CDk12M1AfvVEyH7i3MH6WkWtwl7MiE_UdKoDpu19TMwBg-AjRuY3ETtsPen40ces_dze8mPHYht5x-/s400/scouts-big.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598183583220319458" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 141px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2475135929227534059.post-118816018668177702011-04-10T12:28:00.000-05:002011-04-22T11:29:12.145-05:0020<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfOYPHwhTlmZyiZpkIHwKCX9APKLRti6Qv23iUXXA8vaEE5gVHBBxV5xV17r2ElQHVN97J6K_-FcH4k616VCLnHKxBAbQV6B3OzxuITK9pgnq5Iy8vDgJlyNTfnU8wbeCvEr77qxY3q93W/s1600/Dog+Butcher.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfOYPHwhTlmZyiZpkIHwKCX9APKLRti6Qv23iUXXA8vaEE5gVHBBxV5xV17r2ElQHVN97J6K_-FcH4k616VCLnHKxBAbQV6B3OzxuITK9pgnq5Iy8vDgJlyNTfnU8wbeCvEr77qxY3q93W/s400/Dog+Butcher.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598195283262697474" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;">Most people haven't been to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&pq=ashland&xhr=t&q=ashland+wi&cp=9&qe=QXNobGFuZCBX&qesig=e5b2q_zBrwsdI5H3gFdpug&pkc=AFgZ2tnaj-ygjP0l3t5GmF4Lkbl2EjXvZytyVY-Y7rVHIBI_rOOdcGjLydeiENwN0dDIUpoZFV4E9d2qg0h4yiI89yVHg1pACQ&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Ashland,+WI&ei=R1ywTZnKN5Gctwfl18SDDA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CB8Q8gEwAA">Ashland</a> and unless you like camping or hunting or hanging out in an old woman of a town.</span></div> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">But I guess by that logic nobody in the world or in time has really been anywhere because collectively we haven't collectively been anywhere-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">of course you could say that in that same token - we have all been everywhere. But some glasses are one way and some the other.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I drive into Ashland on highway 2, man thats a little number for a highway. Does that mean it was the second highway ever?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">If I find the first I can trace history.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">For a while I drive along side of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Superior">Lake Superior</a> which is an arrogant thing to call one of the Great Lakes - They’re all great right? It really is magnificent though. I stop and get out for a minute and breath the lake air. Huts sit on the ice as far as I can see and I long for the solidarity of one small shack, a twelve back of beer and a mini television - shit, I prolly wouldn't even drill a hole in the ice.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’ve been stalling long enough, wasted enough time. Twenty Five years to be exact.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">It’s time to find him. Lester Puloski, what kind of fucked up name is that? Sounds like a character <a href="http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/8970">Gabriel Byrne</a> would play.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">There is a swooping main street that leads down a long hill and back up towards a school behind swaying branches and high power lines. And I hit the gas station and buy a butterfinger and ask the gas station attendant if she knows Puloski.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Sure” the attendant says. “Good guy. Runs the taxidermy half mile from here.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Do you know where I can find him?”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Well, super bowl is tomorrow. I don’t know if you’re from here but the Packers are playing.”</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxCOfC93klzpLZ_mILCrCOP8Q8EVIlsdvYy_QIWWQuBG3Z2tY0hP6bJoiRXRx3fnp72f59COLywN_UOJrFke5lnx9-aMnNxZwAuUbL0_yHpL46SuJuYD9_PWIz9tYIZrxrNRb-drx0GaTv/s400/brown.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598192744412655890" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 346px; height: 400px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">I don’t tell her I am a Vikings fan. Its a good way to get lynched when the Packers are in the playoffs - which is a bit of a stretch - but natives may feel genuine disdain for who you are and everything you stand for - its like that.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I nod and say “I know”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Well, all the old timers been drinking all yesterday, all today, all tomorrow and all monday. And if the Pack wins they’ll keep it going for a few days after that - till one of them dies or has a stroke.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Devotion” I say.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Devotion” she says.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“McCoy’s” it was called and snowmobiles and pickup trucks surrounded the tiny structure. Behind the bar streams separated a system of lonely drifting fields. The wind swirls and mashes against itself as the sun turns towards the horizon. Pulling my hood over my head I run inside.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Carter would be fine in the car. He liked the car.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Wisconsin doesn't fuck around when it comes to the Packers.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Inside McCoy’s two plasma televisions replay the Packers three previous playoff games. And old timers and young timers cheer as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Cutler_(American_football)">Jay Cutler</a> pouts on the<a href="http://www.chicagobears.com/index.html"> Bears</a> bench.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtAcoq1ciO-Z_JrtKxzsgXVVqBcZQg7mUX6PjNIO1aGjYlRJcmldTKIfVdQIKgF55Uh7UGovNd57CURW_5hWKgx0OiRhF_6p2tqUoYs6-9YryKg0DiSOiXoJ8i24Qp6Z7w9azBfObx9gM8/s400/Cutler.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598193230118273730" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 362px; height: 400px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">And the wings are going around and the pitchers are emptying as faster than they can be filled.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And if I wasn’t looking for some grave information this could be the coolest day of my fucking life.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">But I walk to the bar and ask the tender if Puloski is in the bar. He shakes his head.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“He stepped out. He lives in that little house back there behind the bar.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So I walked for what seemed like a million years. Then, with my two eyes I saw Lester Puloski’s shack. It was there, standing strong against the winter wind, holding true to the stark moon in it’s background. </span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Im not scared. I won’t be scared.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I open the front door. There is a sign on the door that says “welcome”. I feel I am not.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">It’s silent inside. There are pictures of old people with wavy hair and starchy shirts, I pay them no mind.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I walk past the mountain of dishes in the sink, the stacks of letters from the Energy Department, return letters from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)">Republican party</a>, whatever they are.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And I watch a hunched figure. He’s not laughing but his body heaves. It sobs, great shoulders raising up and down. The television flickers in his tiny shack.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">A ‘jar’, the contents shimmering gold sit before him. He rocks back and forth and whispers to the jar.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I can barely see him - but what I can, it looks so sad. I wanna say:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“BABY DON’T CRY. HURTING IS ALL THE GOOD THINGS,”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">but I can’t. He is my enemy.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Hey Puloski,” I say. And it turns, with weak hungry eyes, a desperate mouth.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Who are you?” It screams. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I want to know where her heart is,” And I am upon him.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I can only kill him and him me. It is clear now. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">He is older and no match for me. He tells me what I want to know. -</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“In that jar,” he gasps “That is your friend Connie. We kill them sometimes but most of all, we take their souls as they pass from this world to the next. I feed on their memories. I’ve done my best to stay underground, but I cannot. You’ve found me, I knew you would.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“How did this happen?” I ask.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“How does anything happen?” He says and of course I don’t know. “This kill was easy shadow hunter. From now on, It won’t be so. I don’t know why I am the way I am, just that I am.”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And I say OK whatever and I strangle this old guy till he’s dead. I take the jar and go.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">It was simple and easy. Just like that. I start driving home.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwOGyp386Dx23igl583XwuRqPsqA2pvpEGVc9Py1DpJ2KW0YdH_xTY01Bo5mEaUT-YLgRsZb7rITtukffFugBwZlK5oU2KLYGp482sN_WmLCua92JsLkgOHjV9v6HQaJM_qMJbI9ZVWPu0/s400/old-gas-station.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598195607960017890" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 296px; " /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">I get gas and snacks and Carter licks the jar riding shotgun. I tell him to stop because in that jar is someone who is neither a lesbian basketball player or an Asian neurosurgeon but a sweet young college girl. Not that all are mutually exclusive.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I stop along the road by <a href="http://findlakes.com/lake_winneconne_wisconsin_vacation.htm">Lake Winneconne</a> and open the jar. It isn't spectacular, it isn't awe inspiring but little wisps of gold float out of the jar and into the lake. And I do a little a round of applause. I do.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Then I go straight to Rita’s house.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I knocked on the door, and she answered and I, all of a sudden, said the best thing I ever did.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I said.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“And I am sorry, which I can’t say enough, and after I turn to dust and all my friends turn to dust, and after everyone I ever knew turns to dust”</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And I took a deep breathe.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“And after every <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac">Big Mac</a> and <a href="http://www.bk.com/en/us/menu-nutrition/category1/menu-item1/index.html">Whopper</a> or <a href="http://www.bk.com/en/us/menu-nutrition/category1/menu-item5/index.html">Whopper Jr</a>, or <a href="http://www.tacobell.com/menuitem/Crunchwrap-Supreme">Crunch Wrap Supreme</a>, or <a href="http://www.wendys.com/food/Product.jsp?family=5&product=128">Wendy’s Double Stack</a> or Nacho grande or four piece fried chicken meal or (good forbid) the <a href="http://www.kfc.com/doubledown/">Double Down</a>, when all these distractions turn to dust, I will be there waiting. For all of these sweet nothings, to turn to dust."</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“I won’t take you back,” She says. “Not now, maybe not ever. You just have to deal with that.” </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">She kisses me on the cheek and closes the door. I turn to Carter who is sitting in the hall next to me.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“Not bad,” I say.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">We go to <a href="http://www.goldrushchicken.org/">Gold Rush</a> and I get a twelve piece fried chicken.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">-</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">For now, I did something. I found Connie’s soul and freed it. Sure I have problems, my uncle will be pissed I stole his car and evidently there is a race of soul eating vampire type things that I know about and may be responsible for stopping. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">But this week, I’m gonna savor the little things in life, like <a href="http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/orange-juice-push-up-popsicle/">push up popsicles</a>, <a href="http://www.foodspot.com/Clients/WI/Milwaukee/SpeedQueenBarBQ/default.aspx?accid=16324">Speed Queen</a>, <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/no-1-chinese-restaurant-wauwatosa">chicken teriyaki sticks</a>, <a href="http://www.jakesmilwaukee.com/">Jake's Deli</a> and forty ounce <a href="http://www.mickeys.com/av/AgeVerify.aspx">Mickey’s</a> malted beverages. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I’m gonna take some me time.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzcNjLsoTD87WZXxm4JtGUsHBnLRNfow0ZL4ORaSVdtv1PaesEIOuWVI5WxSDg81nrQsHxrVX3b_bVPa1WqJ52hAaGlNZsqA2tozjpmr_hUepN64geEdtlHl-SYGQvqvFSZ_nFw5w_S5Qe/s400/seandogs.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598191390069549730" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px; " /></span></span></p>Dirthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13198792668190699416noreply@blogger.com