Stressball

Yes, that's what I am. My company is merging with our (ex)#1 competitor, and layoffs should be happening soon. My bet is tomorrow. I've been told that my job is as safe as any that hasn't been announced, but I'm still a bit freaked out. Just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

We are soooo fucked

Sea mamals of the world, unite!

Went to see John Prine on Saturday night

It was a good show. Jenny bought tickets online right when they became available, and got really good seats. 3rd row. I really enjoyed the 1st part of his set, and the rest was okay but he should have played some faster stuff, IMNSHO. Maybe he was tired. He's really showing his age.

Saw an old friend last Friday

He (Wes) gave me a call about a quarter to 11 that night, said the rest of his friends punked out, and wanted me to come over and play poker with his parents and whomever showed up. I hadn't seen him in a long time and thought it's be fun, so off I went. Jenny went back and forth (for all of 5 min) about coming to play, and she finally decided she was tired and had homework, so didn't attend.
We played 7 stud with some funky ass rules. I managed to clean up, though. I was up $15 from a $5 buy in, so yay! It was good to see him and his parents, even though the game was S L O W and the rules/structure were funky. In any case, I had cleaned a couple of people out before the deal got all the way around the table (with only 5 players!), and Wes's parents were ready to go to bed. Wes still wanted to be social so we went to a local bar where some of his friends were. The bar was closing and they wouldn't serve us, but there was an after-party to go to, so we all caravaned there.
The party was very... young. People asking what school I was from, that kind of shit. I don't know if they mean HS or college, but wow. Freakin' ridiculous. It didn't much matter to me, since I wasn't looking to score (love my wife and all), but there was at least one nice piece of eye candy. The whole package was only somewhat above average, but my God, what an ass. If monuments have not been inspired by it yet, they will be.
Anyhow, didn't get home until very, very late/early. Must be sober to drive.

The word of the day

Hey, kids, today's word of the day is "dumbfuck"! When you hear it, scream real loud!

"Dumbfuck" and several variations (dumbfucks, dumbfuckers, etc.) was the favorite word of one of my co-workers today when discussing the way our merger was going.
I felt it needed some explanation.

Haven't heard from Lupe

She has not contacted us over the past couple of days. We last saw her on Friday. I think she's still in the abused women's program, as Jenny drove by her house yesterday and her car was not there. That's a good sign. I still wish she would call and let us know how she is.

Boxing fun

I went to a boxing event on Saturday in one of those redneck cum-suburban towns NE of here, about 30 miles out. There were 10 3-round matches scheduled. They started out with what must have been 10 year olds, then up to some big boys in their late teens/early 20s. In the first match, the taller kid got pwn3d! His trainer threw in the towel a few seconds into the 2nd round. He was clearly outmatched.

There were ring girls in barely-there shorts from the local strip club, and a line of rednecks sitting next to me in the top level next to the beer garden. They weren't too bad until the last match where one of the boxers was black. Then the jokes about how the white kid was going to "pound the nigger" started to come out, and when round 1 was about halfway through and the white kid was getting beat pretty soundly, one of the hicks busted out with an exclamation of appreciation for an especially nice hit, and said "I don't care if he is a brother, I like a good punch". I had a nice spot there, about 50 ft to the side and 10 ft up from the ring, but didn't want to listen to it anymore, so I wandered off to watch the fight from a little further away. It was still a good spot to watch from, and the ref called the fight off in the middle of the 2nd round 'cause the white dude was getting his ass kicked.

It made me really happy that the black guy won, but normally I wouldn't have cared who won as long as it was a good fight. It's amazing how we project our emotions. I don't even remember the black boxer's name, but him winning the match made me feel a little better about the garbage I was hearing earlier.

Lupe, Bowling

Lupe is in a shelter. I hope that she's getting the help she needs. Grrr. Not much to say about it, really.

Now, bowling! I'm trying to develop a spin game. It's not working out that great so far but I've only put in 3 games with it. Hurts my little finger, though. Taping it should help, as the skin on top really isn't used to getting that much contact.

Rough weekend

Andre (Tony) Avilar (his real name, as far as I can tell) is a dirty abusive motherfucker. He beat the shit out of Lupe Sunday morning from about 2-5 am and tried to kill her. Jenny and I were babysitting, and Lupe said that she would be back to our house between 2 and 3 am to pick Fatima up. She didn't show and 5 am rolled around, so I called her house because I was annoyed she didn't show. Tony answered the phone and told me his car broke down and that he would call his cousin to come get Fatima. I told him this was bullshit and that I would bring her home. I was thinking at this point that it would take him a couple of hours to get his shit together and come over, so a 10 minute trip to take her home wasn't so bad.

I got off the phone with him and am getting Fatima situated in the car when Jenny comes outside on the phone with Lupe saying that Tony hit her, and that she doesn't need us to call the police or an ambulance. Jenny and I got in the car with Fatima and went to Lupe's. Lupe answered the door, and said Tony ran off after I called. Her face was red and bruised, she had an abrasion on her nose, and there were bruises on her neck. We took her to the hospital.

Anyhow, things are still in turmoil, but she filed a police report and is getting into some housing for battered women. It's all a bit of a cluster fuck, but at least he isn't beating on her anymore.

If you're reading this, please do me a favor. If you should ever run into Andre Tony Anthony Andreas whatever his fucking first name that day is Avilar, let him know what you think about fucktards who beat women. If it's just verbal, that is what I would recommend as I can not advocate violence against anyone, but if things get physical, I won't be there to stop you and won't think any less of you for having done whatever you felt you had to do. We all make mistakes.

I think I said "fuck" a lot in this post. Oh, well.

Bowled well (for me) last night

Last night was when we set our averages. (Un)fortunately, I bowled pretty well. I had a couple of games where I was closing lots of frames. I think my worst (out of 3 games) was a 112. Doh! I'm gonna have to bowl well the rest of the season if I want to beat my average. I think my average last year at the end of the league was in the 120s, so that's pretty good for not bowling much in the interim.

Jenny's mom bowled for her last night, and posted some really dismal scores. Mid double digits. Can't wait for Jenny to get to feeling better so she can play with us. That, and she's a much better bowler than that. I suppose that doesn't really matter as this league is all about consistency (generous handicapping system), but it will still be nice to bowl with her.

Jenny is home and bowling starts tonight

Jenny came home early in the evening on Monday. She is no longer having fevers, so the docs cut her loose. I am now her IV nurse. She gets infused 3 times a day. Fortunately for me, her Mom knows how to prep and administer the antibiotic, so on some days I get to be off the hook for the afternoon/evening dose. That's nice because it's supposed to be given every 8 hours, and it's hard to do that with work and everything. Not getting enough sleep, but she's only on meds for another 1 1/2 weeks, so I can deal with it.

Also, bowling league starts tonight. Hopefully, we'll have enough people to form a team. Regardless, Jenny got me one of those ball bag/polisher thingies like in The Big Lebowski. I love the scene where smarmy dude is polishing his ball. Also, it has Steve Buscemi. And it's by Joel and Ethan Cohen. And lots of other good stuff going for it. Fuck, I'm rambling. Nevermind. Go rent it.