God I wish I had a good camera.
We had a bat in the apartment, more specifically, the bathroom. He managed to crawl through the walls and get into the bathroom through a small hole left from some plumbing repairs. I was convinced the chittering I was hearing was due to a cicada or cricket. However, Adam returned home to save the day by discovering that a little brown bat had gotten stuck in a box in our bathroom closet and was frantically trying to figure out why there seemed to be so many corners around him.
After a couple of failed attempts at grabbing him with kitchen tongs and lots of help from growling/yowling/also chittering cats, we finally got him into a carrier. Frankly, I can understand his distress. If I were a small mouse sized creature I would be cranky too after spending a few hours in a box with large house cats circling me like vultures, making it vocally known that should I show my face I would be a quick snack. Anyway so we took irate little bat outside and let him down on the ground.
Bless his soul, the little thing had the nerve to look up at us and let out a stream of what could only be an abusive string of bat curses. It would have been much more impressive if he hadn't been smaller than my hand with a cutely crinkled face. If there wasn't the chance of me getting rabies, I would have held him. There's something about pug-nosed mice with wings that just bring out the "OMG CUTE" reaction in me.
Nature. It is magical. Nothing better than discovering nature in your bathroom.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
By the by.
I'll share with you, generously mind you, my thunderstorm playlist. 6:32 AM.
Fiona Apple - Sally's Song
PJ Harvey - Grow, Grow, Grow
Morcheeba - Talib Kweli
Lyle Lovett - Nobody Knows Me
Radiohead - All I Need
Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone
Cowboy Junkies - Misguided Angel
Bright Eyes - Its Cool, We Can Still Be Friends.
Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
Bjork - Its Oh So Quiet
Iron and Wine - Love and Some Verses
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Mr. Pinstripe Suit
Feist - So Sorry
Yael Naim - Too Long
Placebo with David Bowie - Without You I'm Nothing
The Postal Service - This Place is a Prison
Rachel Yamagata - Paper Doll
Rufus Wainwright - Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk
Fiona Apple - Sally's Song
PJ Harvey - Grow, Grow, Grow
Morcheeba - Talib Kweli
Lyle Lovett - Nobody Knows Me
Radiohead - All I Need
Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone
Cowboy Junkies - Misguided Angel
Bright Eyes - Its Cool, We Can Still Be Friends.
Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
Bjork - Its Oh So Quiet
Iron and Wine - Love and Some Verses
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Mr. Pinstripe Suit
Feist - So Sorry
Yael Naim - Too Long
Placebo with David Bowie - Without You I'm Nothing
The Postal Service - This Place is a Prison
Rachel Yamagata - Paper Doll
Rufus Wainwright - Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk
Parenting...LOLWUT?
Sometimes I'm all in support of complete free choice. Other times I think that maybe we'd all be better off with chips in our brains and a government dictated routine. Not that it would personally be my first choice of lifestyles but I'm convinced that some people absolutely should not attempt to function without major guidance and direction. I'm all about people having kids. Go for it. Make like bunnies and punch them out. There's just a couple of things that bother me. People who have children in order to float off the welfare system (I've heard of more than one girl playing the system right and living that way) and people who find that they can't handle one child but continue to pop out several more.
...After watching Nanny 911 all day today I've decided its the last option that bothers me the most for different reasons.
I was just appalled. Here were people who generally were very well off, had the means for one of the parents to stay home, could make life for their children very enjoyable and fulfilling, and yet these people where utterly failing at it. There were whiny mothers who victimized themselves and considered their children one step from villians. Fathers who considered themselves the Kings of the Castles and made messes expecting mother/wifey to deal with it all. Grandpar
ents who over indulged. Every parenting "no-no" was pretty much covered in every single episode. And I'm not talking each episode covering one particular parenting mistake; one episode usually ran the whole gamut of them.
My opinion is this after watching that show: If your child delights in physically abusing you/spouse/sibling/pet, communicates mainly through enraged bellows, and uses the terms "stupid bitch" or "fucking loser" as terms of endearment...well...you're doing something wrong.
According to today's standards, you can't tell your child "no" (for fear it can scar their tender mental state) and God forbid, give them a smack on the bottom. You could get reported for abuse. However, it is completely and utterly socially acceptable to let your child run loose choking puppies and beating up their siblings. As is clear, I find this mentality more than a little disturbing and shocking. I suppose I'm old and bitter. I remember once upon a time where it was alright to raise children understanding that there were consequences for their actions. If they threw a fit in the store then they wouldn't get that new coloring book they wanted. If they hit a parent they would be put on time out and expected to stay there. Nowadays everyone is so nervous about potentially damaging the child psyche that parents won't say 'boo' in fear that their precious darlings may have their feelings hurt.
When people talk about the "Next Generation" (stop laughing, you Trekkies!), I honestly get frightened. In 20 years our upcoming leaders, college graduates, business owners, etc. will be apart of this new "Me" generation, children who could get away with anything growing up to be adults who consider themselves golden and expect the world to give them everything they ask for with no work put towards it. When I think about children, I think the children I see wandering the streets today are one of the major factors in my hesitance to have kids someday. I'm not worried about being a parent; I know I can handle children and I'll have Adam's support (his soul is mine, yes, I've got it on paper) and the support of my loved ones. But I can't shelter my kids forever. Eventually they'll grow, go to school, and learn nasty habits from their peers. I don't want to home school them because I've never met a home schooled child that was particularly happy or socially well adjusted. I'm sorry for the over generalization as I know there are many successful home schoolers out there but my opinion is based off personal experience. That said, I also don't buy the "if you teach your children right, they will have your moral code and ethics" belief.
I greatly differ from my parents though not dramatically so. Adam from his, my friends from theirs...Perhaps we're just a particularly different group of people but I have meet few peers that are carbon copies of what their parents expected them to be. To believe that a child will be an exact representative of you is an insane, and in my opinion, ignorant point of view. If you want your child to turn out that way then please don't be a parent. My aunt and I discussed this and she put it very wisely: If you expect your child to become nothing more than a shadow of what you are, then don't be a parent; if you're not willing to realize and respect the fact your child has the right to grow into their own person then don't be a parent; if you believe there is a chance that you will not care for your child when you realize that they're not the same as you, don't bring a child into this world.
I look forward to the day I have children that I will raise (which may be a while...turns out my uterus and unborn children are a hot commodity) and seeing what sort of people they turn out to be. I just worry that in an age where drug use, pregnancy, and generally other negative incidences have become common, if not expected, how my kids will ever make it. No amount of parental coaching can prepare a kid for when these things happen. I don't want my children around the brats of the sort featured on Nanny 911 who have no respect for other people or creatures of the world. When I think about it, its terrifying that those sorts of children are going to be the peer group out of which my children will have to pick friends from. I do feel sorry for the kids who are raised with no sense of order, authority, or comfort but I wouldn't take a chance on pitying them if it could affect my own kid's life negatively.
So to all the parents that won't say 'no'...just please...do something other than be a parent. If you can't teach your child respect for themselves and others because you worry about your own precious feelings being hurt when they're sixteen and "HATE YOU" because you won't buy them a fancy cellphone of their own, then just don't have kids. Tie the tubes, snip the cords, something. The last thing the world needs are more greedy adolescents; I'm not kidding people. Look at your average 7-14 years old kid. Would you like them to be President one day?
Anywho, its now officially 5:16 AM. If this looks like nothing but rambling later on tomorrow I'll chalk it up to be being up early because weather has struck yet again and I'm curled up on the bathroom floor with Placebo buzzing through my noise reduction headphones, which I'll have you know, are delightfully ghetto in their size and form. I haven't peeped out the window but the weather website says there's only green over Storm Lake which should mean only rain...but I don't completely trust it. The weather has been known to foil www.weather.com before. If its right then I believe I'm off to maybe have a smoke and eat some mashed potatoes.
You've been awesome.
...After watching Nanny 911 all day today I've decided its the last option that bothers me the most for different reasons.
I was just appalled. Here were people who generally were very well off, had the means for one of the parents to stay home, could make life for their children very enjoyable and fulfilling, and yet these people where utterly failing at it. There were whiny mothers who victimized themselves and considered their children one step from villians. Fathers who considered themselves the Kings of the Castles and made messes expecting mother/wifey to deal with it all. Grandpar
ents who over indulged. Every parenting "no-no" was pretty much covered in every single episode. And I'm not talking each episode covering one particular parenting mistake; one episode usually ran the whole gamut of them.My opinion is this after watching that show: If your child delights in physically abusing you/spouse/sibling/pet, communicates mainly through enraged bellows, and uses the terms "stupid bitch" or "fucking loser" as terms of endearment...well...you're doing something wrong.
According to today's standards, you can't tell your child "no" (for fear it can scar their tender mental state) and God forbid, give them a smack on the bottom. You could get reported for abuse. However, it is completely and utterly socially acceptable to let your child run loose choking puppies and beating up their siblings. As is clear, I find this mentality more than a little disturbing and shocking. I suppose I'm old and bitter. I remember once upon a time where it was alright to raise children understanding that there were consequences for their actions. If they threw a fit in the store then they wouldn't get that new coloring book they wanted. If they hit a parent they would be put on time out and expected to stay there. Nowadays everyone is so nervous about potentially damaging the child psyche that parents won't say 'boo' in fear that their precious darlings may have their feelings hurt.
When people talk about the "Next Generation" (stop laughing, you Trekkies!), I honestly get frightened. In 20 years our upcoming leaders, college graduates, business owners, etc. will be apart of this new "Me" generation, children who could get away with anything growing up to be adults who consider themselves golden and expect the world to give them everything they ask for with no work put towards it. When I think about children, I think the children I see wandering the streets today are one of the major factors in my hesitance to have kids someday. I'm not worried about being a parent; I know I can handle children and I'll have Adam's support (his soul is mine, yes, I've got it on paper) and the support of my loved ones. But I can't shelter my kids forever. Eventually they'll grow, go to school, and learn nasty habits from their peers. I don't want to home school them because I've never met a home schooled child that was particularly happy or socially well adjusted. I'm sorry for the over generalization as I know there are many successful home schoolers out there but my opinion is based off personal experience. That said, I also don't buy the "if you teach your children right, they will have your moral code and ethics" belief.
I greatly differ from my parents though not dramatically so. Adam from his, my friends from theirs...Perhaps we're just a particularly different group of people but I have meet few peers that are carbon copies of what their parents expected them to be. To believe that a child will be an exact representative of you is an insane, and in my opinion, ignorant point of view. If you want your child to turn out that way then please don't be a parent. My aunt and I discussed this and she put it very wisely: If you expect your child to become nothing more than a shadow of what you are, then don't be a parent; if you're not willing to realize and respect the fact your child has the right to grow into their own person then don't be a parent; if you believe there is a chance that you will not care for your child when you realize that they're not the same as you, don't bring a child into this world.
I look forward to the day I have children that I will raise (which may be a while...turns out my uterus and unborn children are a hot commodity) and seeing what sort of people they turn out to be. I just worry that in an age where drug use, pregnancy, and generally other negative incidences have become common, if not expected, how my kids will ever make it. No amount of parental coaching can prepare a kid for when these things happen. I don't want my children around the brats of the sort featured on Nanny 911 who have no respect for other people or creatures of the world. When I think about it, its terrifying that those sorts of children are going to be the peer group out of which my children will have to pick friends from. I do feel sorry for the kids who are raised with no sense of order, authority, or comfort but I wouldn't take a chance on pitying them if it could affect my own kid's life negatively.
So to all the parents that won't say 'no'...just please...do something other than be a parent. If you can't teach your child respect for themselves and others because you worry about your own precious feelings being hurt when they're sixteen and "HATE YOU" because you won't buy them a fancy cellphone of their own, then just don't have kids. Tie the tubes, snip the cords, something. The last thing the world needs are more greedy adolescents; I'm not kidding people. Look at your average 7-14 years old kid. Would you like them to be President one day?
Anywho, its now officially 5:16 AM. If this looks like nothing but rambling later on tomorrow I'll chalk it up to be being up early because weather has struck yet again and I'm curled up on the bathroom floor with Placebo buzzing through my noise reduction headphones, which I'll have you know, are delightfully ghetto in their size and form. I haven't peeped out the window but the weather website says there's only green over Storm Lake which should mean only rain...but I don't completely trust it. The weather has been known to foil www.weather.com before. If its right then I believe I'm off to maybe have a smoke and eat some mashed potatoes.
You've been awesome.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
The KOA experience in crappy art.
Because I don't have any pictures. You would have had to work at the KOA to truly understand and appreciate these spectacular masterpieces.
Should you stay at the KOA you will find that we are fancy people. High tea at 2:oo PM complete with strudels and shenanigans.
I did. However, I figured out if I hit the keyboard enough, eventually someone will think I'm about to do something amazing and look past the look of utter awe and confusion on my face.
Without Kelly there would be many poopy motorhomes cruising around. Also, Nicole and I love to talk about jewelry. We rawk.
Tombone wanted me to go skinny dipping with him. His wife Karen helped me configure Tom and I's game plan. He's going to follow me home to Iowa on the Gator, give the Gator (with the new AND old wheels) to Adam in trade for me, live with me in Storm Lake (OH BABY), whilst Adam returns to the KOA to live amongst the free range homes and Renaissance workers.
When you ask Johnna what her Daddy does, she'll yell at you "DADDY FLY A PLANE!". She gets really mad at me when I ask her over and over again just for the sake of hearing her scream "DADDY FLY A PLANE".
Being the only two smoking workers at the time (usually we have Adam too but he was doing real work), we catch a lot of flak. A lot.
Don't get in the way of serious beaders. Just don't. I blame Karen for this newest and expensive hobby. Need to bead.
Barb says Bob can smell ice cream miles away. I can believe it. He's also handy with a moped, bugle, and his awesome Uncle Sam hat.
Kathy doesn't tell New Ron (AKA Neuron since he was a rocket scientist) about her ice cream stores for a reason. Ice cream is a big thing at the KOA.
We all love my uncle John dearly. Sometimes, though, conversations with him can get a bit out of control.
I'll leave you with this. Sometimes, after happy hour and a few red cups at the KOA, you will find that the trees get a bit unruly. Sometimes you just have to kick a tree's ass to put it in its place. Just sayin'.
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