- 1 -
It's My Party: My birthday was this week and, as usual, I did think back to some of my fun birthdays growing up as a kid...and how they've changed over the years. For a few minutes I thought, you know what would be fun... why don't all of us adults go to Chuck E. Cheese's, get a ton of tokens, wear party hats, blow on noise makers and rub it in the face of the 5 year olds there that we can totally destroy them in ski ball! The thought of a bunch of adults raiding the game lobby did seem funny.
Then I realized... when I was little and I had my party at Chuck E. Cheeses... it was called Billy Bob's. After that realization of my ancient-ness, I abandoned this lousy idea.
- 2 -
Mr Mom: So last week my wife found out her hip was... out of place, not where it should be... messed up. The pain was shooting through her hip, back and shoulder. Lucky for us her sister just opened up her Chiropractic practice (the almost sounds redundant, doesn't it??) and after a solid week of resting and getting adjusted she's back on her feet.
Get it... she's back. Yeah, I thought it was corny too.
While my wife was down for the count... you guessed it... I had to take over as primary baby-lifter, dish-washer and head chef. I'm used to helping around the house but I was not prepared for how much more demanding and exhausting it would be to do it solo. Our daughter also decided that it would be a good week to make filling her diapers with regularity an Olympic sport. I'd give her an 8.5. All in all, last week I didn't so much look like 'Michael' as I did Mr. Mom's Michael Keaton.
It takes things like that to make you appreciate what another person does. But moreso than that, it makes you appreciate dealing with life and tackling those problems together. I'm sure most of us have those moments where we think of our spouses and the egomaniacal thought runs through our mind, "It'd be so much easier if I did this all by myself." While there may be individual tasks that each spouse can each do better independently of the other, when it comes to running the whole shebang... I'm glad we're a team.
Especially when there is a poopie diaper involved.
- 3 -
In other news: I turned 30 this week. I'm not entirely sure what I think about that number. Part of me shrugs it off as just another birthday. The other part of me did think about it a lot. 30 sounds so... adult; and I'm not terribly adult. My official position on the big 3-0 is to settle for the position Jimmy Buffet takes: I'm Growing Older, but Not Up.
- 4 -
Bye-Bye 20s: It is funny how birthday celebrations change as you get older. Of course it has been a long time since I've had dozens of kids over for big birthday cakes, conical shaped hats, bags of party favors and games like digging marbles out of a swimming pool of Jello-O with our toes (yeah, that happened). Over the past 10 years birthdays have been quieter... have friends over for some good food and usually my wife and I would take a small trip to Chicago or something.
On my 30th birthday: I woke up, took my wife and 10 month old daughter to the swimming pool, ate Which'Which for lunch and met some of her family for dinner at the local Mexican restaurant. I went to bed around 9:30 or 10:00.
And it was a good day.
Of course this weekend is still the big shin-dig... jerk chicken, bags, locally brewed beer and coconut pie in place of a birthday cake. So, maybe I still am a big kid after all. Except I didn't have beer as a kid.
- 5 -
Under the Black Flag: I am notorious for starting books, really liking them and never getting more than halfway done. Exhibit A: I picked up the book Under the Black Flag, a great intro history to pirates, back in high school... read a few chapters, really liked them, went all ADD on it, and never finished it.
Fast forward to this week. I'm browsing the shelves of the library, I just turned 30 not 24 hours earlier and I have beach on the brain. Throw in a little, I-just-turned-30-so-how-about-turning-over-a-new-leaf remorse and voila... I mean... avast ye scurvy dog!
Let's see if in my next 30 years I can finish some of what I start.
- 6 -
Piratical Irony: I've always known pirates weren't the romanticized, adventurous rogues often portrayed in movies. The mere fact that they became popular, idealized ruffians in actually quite surprising. Imagine that in 100 years people are making movies about heroic drug dealers. It really is that absurd. Most of the pirates were nothing more than twisted, murderous criminals. And cruel to boot... Think I'm kidding?
According to the book, in one seaman's encounter with Chinese pirates he witnessed them literally take a Chinese officer, nail his feet to the deck of the ship, beat him with wooden planks until he vomited blood and then took him ashore and chopped him up into pieces. In our age of stylized, big-screen violence that might not shock us so much... but when I think about that happening to real people, in real time... it makes me sick. Not just for the atrocities done to someone, but for the twisted condition of the soul that makes someone do that someone else.
- 7 -
Mashed Potatoes and Kale: If you need to stretch out some leftover mashed potatoes or if you just wanna sneak in some green-veggie vitamins, consider mixing in some kale greens. Take some kale leaves, sauté them briefly in olive oil and garlic, dump em in your spuds. It may sound like a match made in Hell (and if you hate the taste of 'greens' you'd best avoid it), but kale and potatoes have a combined flavor that is divine.
Read the original at Conversion Diary.
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