Saturday, December 14, 2002
Well, it's six pm. Everyone is out to dinner and I'm here in the newsroom by my lonesome. As I'm typing this, the Christmas parade in the burb town of San Benito is beginning and a good portion of my family will be traveling down a major thoroughfare of lights, glitter, and synthetic snow. Current weather is clear and a mild 72 degrees. A beautiful Saturday evening and once again, I'm here at work.
Not that I'm bitter, right? Right... Well now, the San Benito Christmas Parade is one of the most highly anticipated holiday festivities of the Valley. SB may be a tiny town, but they know how to celebrate. It's tradition that after the parade, there is a huge block party and carnival. To this day, I've never attended. Although, I was fortunate enough to ride in the parade a couple of times when I was about 7 or 8-years-old.
My uncle asked Hershey (the chocolate company/his employer) if they would be willing to sponsor a float in this year's parade. They agreed and even sent the Hershey Kiss mascot suit. I designed the banners for the float, which is actually my sister's and her fiancee's truck. My aunt will be wearing the mascot suit, while her daughter and son and four of my other cousins will be wearing Hershey's kiss costumes in red, gold, green, silver and blue. Another aunt, her eldest daughter and her friend will be walking along behind wearing Santa hats and distributing Hershey's candy to the parade audience. My mom, dad, uncle, and eldest sister will be in the truck supervising the children and waving alongside them. My sister and her fiancee will be in the truck driving and waving as well. All in all, it promises to be a great event, and I hope I get to see some great pictures.
At the same time, two other cousins of mine will be in another portion of the parade. They will be in the Rangerville Elementary Cheerleading Squad. The squad won top honors at every competition this season and took 1st place in the Harlingen Christmas Parade. The best of the best I suppose. My cousin Meaghan (whose father commissioned the Hershey float mentioned above) was part of that squad as well. That's until she was kicked out.
Here's the story... As I mentioned, the squad is the best. They will win at all costs, even if it means keeping some members out of the performances and competitions. I've been in teams like this -- in high school and among adults in college. This is elementary -- 1st thru 5th grade. My aunt and uncle paid a lot of money to put their child in the squad... There are no tryouts for that age group, only enrollment. Her parents put her in the squad because she wanted nothing else than to be a cheerleader, and they thought it would be a good opportunity for her to expand friendships and utilize her gymnastics skills. See, Meaghan is also a gymnast. She competes and trains at Palm Valley Gymnastics School. And although she is fairly tall and built, Meaghan is only 6-years-old... and the squad had previously never allowed anyone younger than 7 to enroll. This year, the school board changed that, and the sponsor/trainer wasn't pleased. Three girls under the age of 7 were enrolled... All three girls perform outstandingly. But, because of their age, the sponsor refused to allow them to perform in competitions... they could attend practices and pep-ralleys, but not perform when a trophy was on the line.
When Meaghan and the other two girls were pulled out of the competition, my aunt and uncle demanded an explanation. The sponsor said, the girls didn't know the routine, which was simply untrue. Meaghan knew it as well, if not better than the some of the older girls. I know because I took her to practice. It was obvious the three girls were weeded out because of their age. This made my aunt and uncle furious. After being shut out of the rest of the practices, they demanded to speak in private to the sponsor. She refused and made my aunt and uncle speak in front of the entire squad. After they voiced their concern, the sponsor was flabberghasted... how DARE they insinuate such a thing?! The woman, who has a very foulmouth began cussing at my aunt and uncle right in front of the squad. They demanded some respect, which she refused by actually shoving my aunt and mouthing off to my uncle. The three started yelling at each other and when it looked like it was about to come to blows, my uncle seperated my aunt and the woman. With that, she proclaimed the Meaghan was no longer part of the squad. She was out. Plain and simple.
They beckoned to Meaghan, who was sitting in the bleachers terrified, gathered her things and were on their way. The next day, they reported the incident to the school principal, the PTA president, the SBISD School Board and Superintendant. By the end of the day, Meaghan was back in the squad. And the woman, although still the sponsor, was reprimanded for her behavior. Meaghan was allowed to perform in the regional championships, and was part of the squad that took home the first place trophy. She was on time with each step and wore a smile the entire time. Her voice was as powerful as the pom-poms she shook, and did several roundoffs and cartwheels to punctuate her cheering.
Unfortunately, that was the last event Meaghan was allowed to participate in. She was "not invited" to perform with the rest of the squad in any of the county's Christmas parades. As my other two cousins, who are still in the squad, prepared for the parades... pulling out their lavish costumes, and festive pom-poms, Meaghan's self-esteem diminished. She lost interest in gymnastics and sobbed silently every time she saw the cousins practice their cheers.
That's why my uncle entered the float for Hershey in the San Benito parade. And she's probably having the time of her life at this very moment.
Not that I'm bitter, right? Right... Well now, the San Benito Christmas Parade is one of the most highly anticipated holiday festivities of the Valley. SB may be a tiny town, but they know how to celebrate. It's tradition that after the parade, there is a huge block party and carnival. To this day, I've never attended. Although, I was fortunate enough to ride in the parade a couple of times when I was about 7 or 8-years-old.
My uncle asked Hershey (the chocolate company/his employer) if they would be willing to sponsor a float in this year's parade. They agreed and even sent the Hershey Kiss mascot suit. I designed the banners for the float, which is actually my sister's and her fiancee's truck. My aunt will be wearing the mascot suit, while her daughter and son and four of my other cousins will be wearing Hershey's kiss costumes in red, gold, green, silver and blue. Another aunt, her eldest daughter and her friend will be walking along behind wearing Santa hats and distributing Hershey's candy to the parade audience. My mom, dad, uncle, and eldest sister will be in the truck supervising the children and waving alongside them. My sister and her fiancee will be in the truck driving and waving as well. All in all, it promises to be a great event, and I hope I get to see some great pictures.
At the same time, two other cousins of mine will be in another portion of the parade. They will be in the Rangerville Elementary Cheerleading Squad. The squad won top honors at every competition this season and took 1st place in the Harlingen Christmas Parade. The best of the best I suppose. My cousin Meaghan (whose father commissioned the Hershey float mentioned above) was part of that squad as well. That's until she was kicked out.
Here's the story... As I mentioned, the squad is the best. They will win at all costs, even if it means keeping some members out of the performances and competitions. I've been in teams like this -- in high school and among adults in college. This is elementary -- 1st thru 5th grade. My aunt and uncle paid a lot of money to put their child in the squad... There are no tryouts for that age group, only enrollment. Her parents put her in the squad because she wanted nothing else than to be a cheerleader, and they thought it would be a good opportunity for her to expand friendships and utilize her gymnastics skills. See, Meaghan is also a gymnast. She competes and trains at Palm Valley Gymnastics School. And although she is fairly tall and built, Meaghan is only 6-years-old... and the squad had previously never allowed anyone younger than 7 to enroll. This year, the school board changed that, and the sponsor/trainer wasn't pleased. Three girls under the age of 7 were enrolled... All three girls perform outstandingly. But, because of their age, the sponsor refused to allow them to perform in competitions... they could attend practices and pep-ralleys, but not perform when a trophy was on the line.
When Meaghan and the other two girls were pulled out of the competition, my aunt and uncle demanded an explanation. The sponsor said, the girls didn't know the routine, which was simply untrue. Meaghan knew it as well, if not better than the some of the older girls. I know because I took her to practice. It was obvious the three girls were weeded out because of their age. This made my aunt and uncle furious. After being shut out of the rest of the practices, they demanded to speak in private to the sponsor. She refused and made my aunt and uncle speak in front of the entire squad. After they voiced their concern, the sponsor was flabberghasted... how DARE they insinuate such a thing?! The woman, who has a very foulmouth began cussing at my aunt and uncle right in front of the squad. They demanded some respect, which she refused by actually shoving my aunt and mouthing off to my uncle. The three started yelling at each other and when it looked like it was about to come to blows, my uncle seperated my aunt and the woman. With that, she proclaimed the Meaghan was no longer part of the squad. She was out. Plain and simple.
They beckoned to Meaghan, who was sitting in the bleachers terrified, gathered her things and were on their way. The next day, they reported the incident to the school principal, the PTA president, the SBISD School Board and Superintendant. By the end of the day, Meaghan was back in the squad. And the woman, although still the sponsor, was reprimanded for her behavior. Meaghan was allowed to perform in the regional championships, and was part of the squad that took home the first place trophy. She was on time with each step and wore a smile the entire time. Her voice was as powerful as the pom-poms she shook, and did several roundoffs and cartwheels to punctuate her cheering.
Unfortunately, that was the last event Meaghan was allowed to participate in. She was "not invited" to perform with the rest of the squad in any of the county's Christmas parades. As my other two cousins, who are still in the squad, prepared for the parades... pulling out their lavish costumes, and festive pom-poms, Meaghan's self-esteem diminished. She lost interest in gymnastics and sobbed silently every time she saw the cousins practice their cheers.
That's why my uncle entered the float for Hershey in the San Benito parade. And she's probably having the time of her life at this very moment.
Mikey was being stupid at 6:40 PM ::
Thursday, December 12, 2002
Well, the past two days were spent preparing for the holidays.... I've gone shopping for presents for the past three days and ended up spending a lot more than I really wanted to. And that's because I didn't get presents for all of my family. I bought my dad Elvira's Haunted Hills on DVD, though. He should love that. I'm clueless as to what to get my mom. My eldest sister got two Strawberry Shortcake toys and will be getting a Care Bear soon, and my other sister got some scrapbooking supplies from Creative Memories.
The kids (cousins) ... Well, I only bought four presents even though I have over 20 of them. And I drew my uncle's name for Secret Santa... I have no idea what to get him.... Umm... Home Depot gift card? Ok... possibly. I'm still working on gifts for others. Though I honestly don't have the time to get it all done. God, I feel like Jessie Spano on speed... not enough hours in the day. Then I go and pull stupid shit like waking up at the ungodly hour of 9:30 am. I'm here with my eyes all heavy and bloodshot. My head was killing me too, so after a couple of ibuprophens, I'm pretty drowsy.
It was pretty dead for a while here at work, so it was okay that I zoned. But now, I've gotta do the website work... and there's a ton of it.
I should also mention that I put up my Christmas Tree yesterday. Adorned it in various elaborate colors and ornaments with the help my mom and sister. It was up not even an hour and Lily had already broken four balls. BTW, it isn't a pretty thing when you hear your mother constantly commenting about the "blueballs" ... I swear, she even SAID like it was one word, so it sounded extra ... bleh.
Last night I fell asleep on the couch, which is probably the biggest reason why I woke up so early. I laid down on the couch at about 4:00 listening to Norah Jones and beaming at the beautimous lights on the tree... They reminded me of a fruit cake tin.... Dunno why I always loved the way those things looked. So, at 9:30 this morning, I awoke to Lily BITING my armpit hair. Never again will I sleep in a wife-beater with my arms stretched behind my head.
Well, I'd love to say more, but work beckons. My boss is here (at this time of night??) and he expects me to be working... for real.
Mikey was being stupid at 11:45 PM ::
Monday, December 09, 2002
Damn... I'm so sleepy. Everyday's an adventure here at work, huh? .... See, Mondays are fairly busy here in the newsroom. There's always something to be done. So, it works out well that there are two guys at the graphics desk. Thing is, Saturday, my co-worker came in to work on a big graphic we needed to finish. So, he decided to take the day off. I was pleasantly ambushed by several higher ups to work on things that I just didn't feel like doing. I mean, I've been sick for the past few days and to top it off, today is my Friday. The work included a small and ultimately useless locator map, which took a good chunk of my time just decided what to do with it. Also had to work on the new layout for the weather page, and other stuff was just annoying and tedious. But I managed to get it all done. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to plug in the Christmas Tree on my way into the office, so I felt I let some of my co-workers down by being the humbug I so vehemently despise.
All in all, it wasn't a terrible day... I just feel wrecked from the past week and I really don't want to be sitting in this uncomfortable chair for a while. So tomorrow, I'm gonna try and get my haircut. I dunno if I'm gonna end up bleaching it again... A lot of people seemed to have really liked it this way. I do too, but it makes my hair feel like hay. Wednesday's payday, so that's good... It's got my holiday pay for Thanksgiving on it, and lucky me, I got to work 8 and half hours that day... need more moonnneeyyy... How fucking Ebenezer am I?!
Oh wow... I just got my Geico liability insurance card via fax.... Now I can go tell those anuses down at Farmer's that they can stick it to someone else. I'm married to that little lizard guy now. I'm actually paying about half as much with Geico as I was with Farmer's for the same coverage. So my monthly bill will be substantially less than $249.99.
All this talk about money is making me agitated. I don't wanna think about it anymore. What else will I do tomorrow? I think I'll stop by the comic shop to ask if my order for my ninja turtle statue came in. Sounds like a good idea... Then I can also stop into the embroidery shop and ask if they still have the patterns for our mock Harry Potter school patches. Also gotta stop by the movies and purchase LOTR tickets.... and what else... oh yeah... shit... I gotta clean up the entry room of my house to prepare it for holiday madness..... Ohhhh, methinks it'll be perfect for a little Winter Wonderland...
All in all, it wasn't a terrible day... I just feel wrecked from the past week and I really don't want to be sitting in this uncomfortable chair for a while. So tomorrow, I'm gonna try and get my haircut. I dunno if I'm gonna end up bleaching it again... A lot of people seemed to have really liked it this way. I do too, but it makes my hair feel like hay. Wednesday's payday, so that's good... It's got my holiday pay for Thanksgiving on it, and lucky me, I got to work 8 and half hours that day... need more moonnneeyyy... How fucking Ebenezer am I?!
Oh wow... I just got my Geico liability insurance card via fax.... Now I can go tell those anuses down at Farmer's that they can stick it to someone else. I'm married to that little lizard guy now. I'm actually paying about half as much with Geico as I was with Farmer's for the same coverage. So my monthly bill will be substantially less than $249.99.
All this talk about money is making me agitated. I don't wanna think about it anymore. What else will I do tomorrow? I think I'll stop by the comic shop to ask if my order for my ninja turtle statue came in. Sounds like a good idea... Then I can also stop into the embroidery shop and ask if they still have the patterns for our mock Harry Potter school patches. Also gotta stop by the movies and purchase LOTR tickets.... and what else... oh yeah... shit... I gotta clean up the entry room of my house to prepare it for holiday madness..... Ohhhh, methinks it'll be perfect for a little Winter Wonderland...
Mikey was being stupid at 11:02 PM ::
How would you feel if you went to Wal-Mart and purchased a space heater for $26.95. Sure that's a little high, but it's frickin' freezing in your house... But then, you see the True Value circular in Monday's paper... and there's a sturdier looking space heater for $14.99. Well, that's just what happened to me. I really hate it when I get screwed money-wise. I'm poor enough as it is, and then I go and do something stupid, and I'm out 15 bucks.
I'll give you another example. When I moved out of my apartment. I had my mail forwarded through the post office and left a forwarding addy at the apartment office as well. A month and a half after I've moved out of the apartment, I get a letter from DMK Rewards... which was forwarded from my old addy... It says that unless I call them before October 1, 2002, I will be automatically enrolled in their program, as they are in partnership with Verizon Visa. I will only be billed if I do not call to refuse enrollment. Of course, I'm receiving this letter on October 12, 2002. So I figure, what the hell... Too much trouble to deal with now. My next statement is mailed to me the following week. I'd been billed $99.99 for DMK Rewards.
To this date, I have not received a bit of information as to what this is. But it sure has caused some damage. Not only did it max out my card (incurring a 30 dollar penalty), but it also caused my card to be denied when I was running on empty halfway between Dallas and the Rio Grande Valley (that's a 10-12 hour drive). I called the credit card company and said the only thing they could do was put a flag on the charge and I'd have to sign all sorts of documents... Still haven't received those either. I dunno... I'm just really stupid when it comes to money management. And you know it's REALLY bad when you get so nervous about money that you consider moving back home to avoid bills. Ugh.....
I'll give you another example. When I moved out of my apartment. I had my mail forwarded through the post office and left a forwarding addy at the apartment office as well. A month and a half after I've moved out of the apartment, I get a letter from DMK Rewards... which was forwarded from my old addy... It says that unless I call them before October 1, 2002, I will be automatically enrolled in their program, as they are in partnership with Verizon Visa. I will only be billed if I do not call to refuse enrollment. Of course, I'm receiving this letter on October 12, 2002. So I figure, what the hell... Too much trouble to deal with now. My next statement is mailed to me the following week. I'd been billed $99.99 for DMK Rewards.
To this date, I have not received a bit of information as to what this is. But it sure has caused some damage. Not only did it max out my card (incurring a 30 dollar penalty), but it also caused my card to be denied when I was running on empty halfway between Dallas and the Rio Grande Valley (that's a 10-12 hour drive). I called the credit card company and said the only thing they could do was put a flag on the charge and I'd have to sign all sorts of documents... Still haven't received those either. I dunno... I'm just really stupid when it comes to money management. And you know it's REALLY bad when you get so nervous about money that you consider moving back home to avoid bills. Ugh.....
Mikey was being stupid at 9:47 PM ::
Sunday, December 08, 2002
"AND AH KNEW AH'D NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!!"
Fuggin' preacher guy on tv... this shit is annoying. I love God and Jesus and all that... But well, some fat ass yelling and spitting in my face isn't gonna make me love God any more than I do already. Oh sheezus... I have the remote control right here...
Well, I've been somewhat better today... I didn't throw up, which is good.... But I've still had this headache all day, and my eyes hurt from the sockets. I guess I did have fever too because i've got blisters in my mouth UNDER my tongue... not fun. So yeah... last night I just went over to my mom's and crashed till 3:30 today. Got to work half an hour late again, but no one noticed.
Since I slept at my mom's, I had to wear some of my dad's clothes to work. God I look like hell. Of course, they are clothes even my DAD wouldn't wear... I swear, why does my mom buy him these things? Anyway, my cousin also spent the night at my mom's and she kept on pouncing on me this morning "ARE YOU FEELING BETTER??" Then, my dad got back from out of town, and he as well, "HEY I HEARD YOU WERE SICK? HOW YOU FEELIN?"
Today was pretty odd weather. The skies were blue and the air was around 70 degrees. Yet it was raining continuously... still is actually. It was raining torrentially as I went on my dinner break. I had to sprint across the parking lot, getting drenched in the process. Of course, the rain immediately stopped the second I buckled my seat belt. Sounds like it's going strong again right now, though.
I guess I'm gonna head over to Wal-Mart after work... Tomorrow's my aunt's birthday, and I really wanna get her something. Oh and Lily needs a pooper scooper.
Fuggin' preacher guy on tv... this shit is annoying. I love God and Jesus and all that... But well, some fat ass yelling and spitting in my face isn't gonna make me love God any more than I do already. Oh sheezus... I have the remote control right here...
Well, I've been somewhat better today... I didn't throw up, which is good.... But I've still had this headache all day, and my eyes hurt from the sockets. I guess I did have fever too because i've got blisters in my mouth UNDER my tongue... not fun. So yeah... last night I just went over to my mom's and crashed till 3:30 today. Got to work half an hour late again, but no one noticed.
Since I slept at my mom's, I had to wear some of my dad's clothes to work. God I look like hell. Of course, they are clothes even my DAD wouldn't wear... I swear, why does my mom buy him these things? Anyway, my cousin also spent the night at my mom's and she kept on pouncing on me this morning "ARE YOU FEELING BETTER??" Then, my dad got back from out of town, and he as well, "HEY I HEARD YOU WERE SICK? HOW YOU FEELIN?"
Today was pretty odd weather. The skies were blue and the air was around 70 degrees. Yet it was raining continuously... still is actually. It was raining torrentially as I went on my dinner break. I had to sprint across the parking lot, getting drenched in the process. Of course, the rain immediately stopped the second I buckled my seat belt. Sounds like it's going strong again right now, though.
I guess I'm gonna head over to Wal-Mart after work... Tomorrow's my aunt's birthday, and I really wanna get her something. Oh and Lily needs a pooper scooper.
Mikey was being stupid at 11:46 PM ::