DD # 38 - The Tail Twitch

I was walking outside  to head to a wrestling show when I couldn't quite get myself to close the garage door.  With a strange chittering coming from the rafters, I decided to get the opinion of my father before making my next move. We were shocked to discover a raccoon hanging out on top of the garage door and were forced to come up with creative ideas to get him down and out before enjoying our evening.  After a few tennis ball tosses and a broom didn't result in raccoon freedom, we decided on closing the garage door he was perched on, hoping that jostling would motivate him to jump down and scurry away. As the door slowly moved down, we each had a moment of trepidation as we saw him try to squeeze himself between the door as the opening was shrinking by the second.  He avoided getting squashed. . . mostly.  What we did see was shockingly surprising, and gruesome.  When we re-opened the door, he angrily left the premises without his tail, as it was pinched off. The tail still twitched as we swept it up. We left silently, hoping to never see our masked friend again.

DD # 37 - BirthDay Disappointments

Childhood birthday parties are extremely important events.  they provide lasting memories to be enjoyed forever.  I can proudly say that i enjoy these memories because of the absurdity of events that happened to thwart my juvenile plans to throw an amazing party. To celebrate my 8th birthday, my family reserved a picnic area at Greenfield park for an outdoor party.  I was disappointed as we were forced to relocate to my house as the park and surrounding area was flooded out.  Having been disappointed, we tried again when I turned 9.  While we avoided floods, the party was once again relocated thanks to Mother Nature 's late deposit of about 4 inches of snow.  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  I was NOT going to be fooled a third time. . .or so I thought. My 10th birthday involved a reserved room at Leaps N' Bounds, a venue made entirely of ball pits, slides, and tubes. Besides being an absolutely gorgeous summer-like May day, the host who ran our party had the worst games for 10 year old boys, including impersonating a wild animal for cake.  Birthday parties and I just don't get along!

Live and Love

Stressors overwhelm us at times. Were often tied up in the daily responsibilities and rituals of our lives. We often lose sight of the present because we are worried about the future or frustrated with the past.  Sadly, tragedy is often the kickstarter to a new way of looking at how we live.  Is focusing on the past and future truly living anyway?  Preparing for the future is responsible and prudent.  Fixating on it is seemingly worthless.  We can't control it, so why pretend that we can. Obsessing over the past is one of our favorite activities.  Learning from the mistakes of our experiences is not a terrible option, but I think making new experiences (and potentially new mistakes) is just as important.  Knowing a close friend experience tragedy in their lives is heartbreaking, but knowing their strength and witnessing their positivity is truly inspiring. Also, seeing the outpouring of love and support is absolutely amazing.

I 've seen my fair share of sadness and pain in my life and I am working on moving past it and starting fresh. I want to.  I need to. I urge all of us to use the past to guide our present to better our future.

Above all, love!  Love each other. Respect each other. As I tell my kindergarteners, "you don't have to be friends to be friendly" and "Kind words lead to kind results." Ignore negativity, overcome bigotry and hatred, and promote kindness and acceptance, but most of all. . .

Live a life of love.

DD #36 - Train Chasing

Living a block away from a creek had its advantages.  I remember garbage races, searching for graffiti, attempting to catch frogs, and wasting days away. However, one memory that sticks with me is connected to the train tracks that ran alongside the creek. My father is a train enthusiast and otherwise quirky man who loved memorizing when the trains would come, predicting how many cars the trains had, and literally sprinting down to the creek to count the cars on the train as it flew by. I recall wiffle ball matches and yard work  being interrupted by the distant roar of an oncoming train, an immediate sprint down to the creek, and the inevitable counting of the cars. This habit continued in my grade school years,  Being at a school whose playground faced that same creek, I spent recess time counting the cars of trains I happened to see, reporting them to my dad, and having tell me what train company it was, where it was coming from, and where it was going.  While I can't guarantee this specific tradition will happen with my child, I can only hope to create memories my child can look back just as fondly.

DD #35 - The Lonely Red Seat

June 18th, 1991. I spent the evening at County Stadium.  The Brewers faced the California Angels on a desolate night, at least attendance-wise.  I was in my usual Pepsi Fan Club green outfield seats down the left field line with my pop and sister. I had my glove and was ready to go.  I even managed to sit in the red seats just a few rows down, which were a price range above my seats.  But with no one, and I mean no one, in that section, the usher must've felt especially generous. However, mid-game, I felt the urge to do what I did every game I attended as a kid, the speed pitch. I don't remember how well I threw that night, but I do remember the disappointment I had for the timing of my dismissal beneath the grandstands. While I was gone, Angel slugger Dave Winfield lashed a round-tripper down the left field line and into the section I had all to myself.  Plus, to rub salt in the wound, the ball landed directly in front of the only seat pushed down that night, my seat.  I never did get a home run ball that summer. . .or ever.

DD #34 - Musical Moron

In my middle school years, music was just beginning to be an influential aspect of my social development.  A hot techno/pop band during that time was the British group, Ace of Base. Just recently, I had purchased my first CD player and bought my first three CD's. . .a Simpsons sing along, The Lion Sleeps Tonight the single, and the best of The Village People.  Yes, I was a cool kid. I was excited when I would pick up every new Ace of Base song.  From All That She Wants to The Sign, every time I went Best Buy or Target, I took the time to look for a new song and was pretty excited when I found one. Of course, none of this excitement compared to the feeling I got when I found a collection that all of these songs on one CD. You see, my naive prepubescent self was unaware of the difference between singles and albums and it took my sister to explain to me that musicians offered all  songs on an album. Luckily, I learned this lesson from my sister instead of a peer.  This most certainly saved me a great deal of grief and ridicule.

DD #33 - Brothers, the worst bar in the world

Regularly in college, I could be found at a drinking establishment known as Brothers with two friendly and attractive ladies.  While this may seem very exciting, I assure you my role was anything but. Brothers was known for expensive drinks, LOUD music, and guys. . .lots of them. Two close friends loved going to this place for all the attention they would get from the males who frequented there. However, while they were  social and didn't mind striking up conversation, they needed an out in case the conversations went dry.  I was that out.  I was able to spent many a night at Brothers to be the pseudo boyfriend in case one of my friends felt a gentleman caller was a bit too touchy-feely or aggressive. I was quick to take over that boyfriend role in spirit without any of the actual boyfriend benefits. In no way was I the bodyguard, as I am not a fighter or physically intimidating, but I was there to be the buffer and was called into buffer duty regularly. Every walk home, the girls would complain about the way the guys treated them and every following weekend, we'd all find ourselves back in the same situation.

DD #32 - Come Get Lei'd at the Desk

Working through college was more than an option, it was a necessity.  I was able to work for University Housing. After one year in the food service realm at Pop's Club, I was fortunate to get hired at Tripp Desk, the residence desk for TAS (Tripp, Adams, Slichter).  Being an Adams resident, this was convenient and much more appealing than stocking the shelves or scraping the plates at the dorm cafeteria. My desk was also a fully-functioning post office so I quickly became familiar with money orders, delivery confirmation, and all sorts of stamps. My sophomore year, I enjoyed coming to the desk, interacting with my cohorts, and doing the tasks of selling postage, stuffing mailboxes, handing out replacement keys, and putting money on food accounts. My final two years, I became the Desk Supervisor and had many adventures while in charge.  This was the beginning of the nickname Donkey, the duct tape chair fiasco, the "Come Get Lei'd at the Desk" mistake, and the famous Rollin' dance.  I worked with some amazing people who always made me laugh, saw some interesting residents with unique issues, and gained experience making decisions and handling scenarios that proved vital for the future.