Here, There, and Everywhere

Gathering some thoughts and story snippets of the pertinent and impertinent variety...

Ha!

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Kelli noted recently that right now she misses John Lennon.

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Accidentally put hazelnut cream in my coffee this morning. Who likes this junk? Coffee tastes good the way it is. I don't want flavors in it. Heck, I like corn too, but that doesn't mean I want my coffee to taste like it.

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Going to Angleton this weekend to see some family. I'll also spend some time in the company of sifu Whit McClendon, getting a crash course in the finer points of choking someone.

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The lousy week continues: I took THEBOY out to see Christmas lights last night. We were driving around this one nice neighborhood we always check out. In the middle of it all is a gazebo, and we got out of the van so he could explore it. I set him down and resisted my typically overprotective urge to warn him of all the steps around, all the things he shouldn't touch... but I didn't.

He took one step, tripped, and landed on his face, busting open his lip and bruising his forehead.

He had blood in his teeth, was wailing... I felt awful about it the whole night. Still do.

He was a trooper, though, and calmed down after a few minutes. This morning he said it didn't hurt, but it looked pretty bad.

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I've known a lot of people who broke up. Hell, seems like more break up than stay together. And these particular two may have taught me a valuable lesson.

I won't go on and on about their dissolution. I will say, though, that I certainly found myself angry at his wife regarding some of the things he confided to me. Hurt my friend and you piss me off, right?

I didn't think she was a bad person. I still don't. Hell, he and I are alike in a lot of ways, and I imagine he can be as hard to live with as I can. I can be one moody bastard.

So I'm guilty of giving a cold shoulder, being distant. They broke up, so I remain exclusively on his team, right?

Not necessarily.

Now that they're apart, they seem to have pretty much put their marriage-related problems aside and managed to blaze a post-breakup trail I'm unfamiliar with: friendship.

So they split, do the mature thing by remaining friendly, and I'M the dope who probably held onto bitterness longer than either of them.

But not anymore. (Cue the Southpark music). I've learned something here...

Eh, I won't go on. But you understand. And I hope they do too.

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Five great Christmas gifts from the past... as inspired by Mike Llorca (and semi-stolen from Georgina)

In no order...

A huge stereo Mom gave me when I was junior high.

An electric guitar and amp from my father. He either paid out the nose for that rig or swung a hell of a deal.

A leather jacket and matching driver's cap my stepmother got me for Christmas. Very nice stuff that I wear frequently.

Get in the Van by Henry Rollins, a gift from my sister, Amanda. And you know, not that the book is so great (it's solid), but this is typical of her to be the one bold enough to get me the freaky thing no one else has ever heard of but she knows I want. Thank the gods for the Amazon wish list, right?

Time/Life blues CDs from my mother. Kinda like Amanda, she always had that knack for getting me something off the beaten path. And these CDs are better than you'd think.

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In Heaven I'll be able to sing, right? It'll be the first thing I'll ask when I get there. Well... second.

The first will be, "Say... is Salma Hayek here?"

(Just joking Kelli).

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Ya'll be good.