Tips For the Ol' Family Vacation

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

Ex,** Swampy** You guys are the best. Everyone else… well, you’re still pretty darn cool.

Indeed, the Young Master really did enjoy his first dip into a body of water bigger than his little blue bathtub! He was somewhat trepidatious at first (is that a word?) and did lots of the ‘Mai, Mai’ (which is hokkien for, ‘don’t want’) but then settled in and realised how much fun it was, just stay close to daddy, cos it’s DEEP! Well, deep if you’re less than three feet tall. Actually, now that I think about it, he IS three feet tall, he’s 90cm, and that’s three feet. Anyhoo, his head did pop out of the water, so I didn’t have to explain to the missus that we’d have to do THAT thing again, and he had a wonderful time and yelled at a lot of kids and hid behind daddy, (or ‘dadd-u’) and then hit dadd-u and then we got into the BIG pool cos that kiddy pool was FILTHY!!! and I mean FILTH-Y! There was hair and skin and all sorts of nastiness floating in that water. I felt unclean being in there. Icky icky icky! So, we got in the big pool where the Young Master couldn’t stand up, cos he’d be like under a couple of feet of water, so he hung on and still managed to splash and shout and hve lot of fun!

Then we went downstairs to have the requisite after-swim strudel. We asked for apple, but got mango. I didn’t mind, but I hassled fraulein Chan to let me use her sink to wash YM’s milk bottle, so I guess revenge was mine or something like that. (I’m not very good at this revenge thing).

good golly, my posts really ARE cafeinated, aren’t they! I swear, i’m half alseep, about to go to bed, this frenetic SDMB-persona is in no way a reflection of the sweating, hairy manly-man now pounding keys…

and back to the action.

well, Young master then promptly fell sick, although maybe he was already sick, i’m not sure. I’m certain if he was already sick going swimming wouldn’t have made it worse, he’s tough, ‘it’ll put hair on yer chest’, I said. ‘Geewagha’ he said, cos he’s a baby and doesn’t say much, but I figure that means, ‘shut up dad, genetics will put hair on my chest, you friggin’ doofus!’. (He’s quite disrespectful sometimes, I’m sure he gets that from his moth… er um… me!). so sunday was a loverly day at the doctors and then home dealing with 38 and 39 degree baby-fevers whcih the young Master seemd to be totally unaware of, cos he kept playing and throwing things around. Los dangerGene spent monday and tuesday home being a big wuss who’s afraid of a little peanut (vomit, shiver, shake, stir well, repeat) and watched YM get sicker, but happier! ‘How odd’, I says to myself. and we trundle him off to the doctor again and again.

Anyways, needless to say he’s now fully aware of what medicine is and will shake, rattle and scream (heh, gotcha didn’t I?) to get away from the dreaded medicinals! so much so that this evening he gave me a clean, sharp, stunningly painful head-butt in the mouth. Yeouch! I said ‘golly’, but used the versio nthat starts with F and YM knew he’d done bad so clung on and did his best apologies. In fact, it still hurts! durnit!

but it doesn’t feel so bad, cos he discovered the very fragile Buzz Lightyear doll this evening (packed away cos it’s fragile) and enjoyed opening and closing the visor (letting alien atmosphere into and possibly suffocating Buzz) and pressing the voice buttons, which still work on the same batteries after eight years! Gosh and golly and gee-whiz!

I shuld go and finish reading page one then sleep and cease tis mindless, bizarre reptition of my earlier, and more succinct post.

until I return, anon, anon.

102

…I’m BAAAACK!

awwww who am i kidding? You’re ALL the best! (said in Judy Garland voice).

Hey, first post on page three! woowoo!

Og i need to sleep (and stop eating this chocolate! :smiley: )

103

Side Note to dangergene: psst… dangergene… chocolate has caffiene, ok? :smiley:

Sounds like YM is getting better. YAY!

Tupug I’m expecting all kinds of turning 50 evil. My sister is coming to the pool party. :eek: She lives to heap evil upon me. :eek: But that’s ok, cause March 1, 2006, sis hits the big 5-0 and evil shall be heaped back upon her then. :smiley:

104

What this town really needs is a decent fried chicken place.

105

He who laughs last, yada, yada??? :wink:

Ex, you volunteering?

106

This is what I love about my job. The “this” that makes me love my job is that today I get to help with a barbecue. I could be writing a brief or prepping for an oral argument I have next week, but instead I get to go feed people hamburgers, hot dogs, gardenburgers, chips and soda pop. Feeding people is always a satisfying pastime. Pasttime? No, that doesn’t look right.

This also means that I get to wear my spiffy new blue Converse All Stars Sneakers to work. I love these shoes! Really I could wear tham any time I wanted because we don’t have any sort of dress code per se, but I do try to dress the part of a labor lawyer most days. I specify labor lawyer because we are a different breed than most other lawyers–scruffy, the underdog, under-paid. Yes, I said underpaid and I mean it! My fellow lawyer and I are the lowest paid in-house labor lawyers in the State. But that’s another story. My point is that labor folks don’t require that their lawyers dress in suits and such, so my dressy for the office would be most lawyers’ casual and my BBQ attire would be reserved for working in the yard (except high-priced lawyers never have time to work in their yards, so they hire someone to do it. Actually, I hire someone to do my yard, but not because I don’t have time to do it myself, but because I don’t like to do it.).

My birthday is in September, but it’s not to early to start thinking about it.

107

Dang it! I meant to end that last post with
Kallessa (putting the Pointless in MPSIMS)

108

It is? So’s mine! :slight_smile: What day?

Tupug
(Pointlessly nosey)

109

Hi everybody!!! I’m posting from Miami - does this look all tropical and stuff? It’s very hot and humid and I’m about to go back to my room and veg. The hotel provides this computer for guest use, so I checked my email and I decided to pop in and say howdy. Ahem:

HOWDY!!!

Air kisses all around! :wink: Carry on.

110

Awwwwww… FairyChatMom popped in to say howdy and give air kisses all around. Ain’t that sweet!

Know what I learned this week? I learned that another doper has a birthday the same day as mine. Bear_Neeno and me are both July twenny niners. Course I also learned that he is half my age. Still, I think it’s all :cool: that I gots a doper to share my birfday with.

See, that’s the great thing bout this here Straight Dope. Ya learns sump’n all the time.

111

Swampbear, I need you to trot over to New Orleans for me. Be a dear and pick me up some creamy pralines from the Southern Candymakers on Decatur. Thanks, and get a frozen daquiri at one of the little drive through places on me.

Your back facing the door is bad feng shui Taters! No wonder your poor little self was trying to compensate by growing an extra eye. It would just be easier to turn your desk around you know.

Kallessa, I’ve always wanted red Converse tennies, so I’m envious of your blue ones. Are they everything a pair of tennies should be?

Oh, OH! I almost forgot, I may be getting a vacation. Well, not so much a vacation as helping my aunt and uncle move. See, they have this gloomy ol’ house that they don’t need anymore, now that the kids are long gone, so they’re moving to Tucson where they will have a smaller place near my mom and other aunty. They are moving from the dark into the light, lots and lots of light, but that’s okay because it’s a dry light.

And I get to help, plus I’ve been promised fireworks because it’ll be for the fourth of july. But I’m suspicious because I wouldn’t have thought a dry place like Tucson would have fireworks. But what do I know? I think it’s utter folly for New Orleans to have drive through daquiri stands but they do. Or they did last time I was there.

Nobody missed me. Not even one tiny “where’s that what’s her face-cinders- gone to?” I am officially crushed.

For those who like the popcorn flavored jelly beans, may I suggest you try some Mike and Ike’s jelly whatevers in that flavor? I will judge not your devotion to that flavor because I like licorice with a passion that frightens me at times. But I hate licorice jelly beans, weird huh?

112

I am so happy! Yay! Yay! I’m taking tomorrow off! Yay! And stuff was screwed up at work today - BUT - I was the one to catch the problem, find a solution - and any consequences tomorrow will have to be dealt with by my boss. The perfect day - all the good!

I’m taking off tomorrow because my cousins are visiting - and we are going to lounge by the pool in the morning, and groove into the city in the afternoon. It’s always that way - you live near a major city, but you don’t spend time there unless people are visiting.

Oh, and last night after my cousins got here, we went grocery shopping. We got ice cream, cookies, crackers, Eazy Cheese, Doritos, cheese popcorn, candy, bagels, frozen pizza…and baby carrots. 'Cause we’re healthy! All that food - so little time!

Susan

113

September 5, I was born on Labor Day. When’s yours?

FCM Air kisses right back atcha! Iced tea is supposed to be good in humid climes. Have a new England iced tea and see if that makes any difference.

Ashes x 2, of course I noticed you weren’t here (just as I notice dangergene hadn’t posted, but I didn’t want to alarm everyone, so I took on all the worry about where you were and why you hadn’t posted on my own shoulders. It’s okay that I worried about you, don’t feel badly or anything, making me worry and all. I was happy to do it. Not happy you weren’t here. Not happy to be worried. But I don’t mind worrying. It’s all right. Really, don’t give it another thought. If you need to be gone and you don’t post and you don’t let us know, rest assured I’l miss you, I’ll worry. (Like you couldn’t take a minute so I wouldn’t worry, how hard is it to say “I won’t be here tomorrow?” I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me.) :wink:

swampy, while you’re in New Orleans for Ashes x 2 (mentioned for the second time, no less), could you pick me up some begniets–you know, the powdered sugar thingys. You’ll need to invent instantaneous travel first, though, because I’ll want them hot (like you :smiley: ).

114

Well that’s more like it! I always knew there was a reason I lurved Kallessa most. I’ve kept that quiet until now because of the horrible jealousy it would unleash, plus there’ve been times when I thought maybe Kallessa and I were the same person (only she’s more spiffy-fied). So I had this issue you see, that if Kalley and I were the same person and I lurved her, that would be self-lurv and we all know what happens with self-lurve. That’s right; og kills a kitten with hairy palms.

I forgot about the beignets! I’ll take a few of them, too, plus the chicory coffee they have at Cafe Du Monde. That’s a dear, Swampy. Get another frozen daquiri on me. I hear they help in the hot weather, too. Though the idea of a New England Iced Tea intrigues me. Is it a Long Island Iced Tea that turns color in fall?

susan_foster, you do know that those carrots will cancel out the junk food, right? Just like how a diet coke and a snickers equals no calories. That’s just science.

115

I don’t know if a Long Island Iced Tea turns color in fall, but it certainly causes ME to turn all sorts of colors. Urp!

116

Well, it’s time to pack. Tomorrow it will be time to remember the one essential thing that I forgot to pack, which I will undoubtibly remember just as the plane takes off. I’m taking the old laptop so I might get a chance to keep tabs on you all, but I don’t know if I will get to post. **scurrying around distributing tabs **
Try to think of ol’ what’s-'is-name once in a while, and I’ll ‘see’ you all on the 15th, if not before.

Bumbazine - on a wing and a prayer.

117

buh-bye Bumba waves hand enthusiasticly

Ashes[sup]2[/sup], can we share Kallessa? Please? Cos I think I might be in love with her the most too! Although Swampy’s waaay up there on the list too! Cos y’know, if we can’t share, we’ll have to meet around the back of the bicycle shed after school and fight for her! growr.

I don’t know what beignettes or lorgnettes or New Island Daquiris are, so Swampy can you just grab me something nice? And remember, no nuts, cos I’ll vomit and that’ll mess up the boards. Yucko!

(and probably nothing with caffeine, unless y’all like those posts).

Young Master says ‘da-u Unca Swampy’ (YM for ‘thank you’), he’s all better this morning and did the most darling ‘dyy-ee’ (which is YM for ‘bye’) out the window this morning as we walked across the car park. He’s not done that before and I really ought to post it in the adoring parents, ‘that guy’ thread, but I’ll post it here, cos it’s more of an FMP kinda thing. We also have a new plan for giving him his medicine which involves crackers and much skullduggery wherein we offer a cracker and then swoop in with a spoonful of medicine. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I figure he can get his revenge when the wife is old and grey (I’m gonna live forever, so no old and grey for me).

I had all sorts of funny stuff to put in here and I even composed the whole post in my head during this morning’s shower (eek! Picture that, hairy, nekkid Dangergene* composing SDMB while shampooing). But now it’s all gone! Blah! I’m sure it’ll come to me later.

Oh, here’s a good one. MrsDangergene and I dressed in couple colours today completely unintentionally! She’s got the black denim skirt and red t-shirt on, and so do I! Well, black denim jeans, cos I don’t have the hips to do a skirt justice, and my red t-shirt has Monkey on it (the one from that Japanese live-action series back in the seventies).

Oh, and Kallessa, we’ve got SO much in common, doncha know? I’ve also got blue Converse sneakers! (but I usually wear my black 12-hole Docs -actually, 24 holes, cos it’s 12 on either side- they’re so comfy, and they make me look ginchy-cool!), AND AND AND… my birthday is on labour day too, except it’s Singapore Labour day, not US labour day. I’m on May day, and we get a holiday for my birthday here. But not back home in Oz! sigh

FCM I noticed how tropical your post was, cos it was similarly frenetic like all my tropicale posts. There’s something in the weather, isn’t there? You don’t want to be all languid and laid-back, you wanna let the world know it’s HOT and there’s coconuts! WOO WOO!!!

*I’m not sure of the proper etiquette on this one, does one bold one’s own name? Is that puting on airs? Eve?

118

I’m all sleepy, but I was reading The Rules at work and it’s hilarious! Has anyone else read it? I have figured out that Mr. Lissar doesn’t love me, because The Rules specifically states that my significant other can’t possibly love me if he doesn’t buy me jewellery and candy.

Mr. Lissar buys me books, which I like better. And sometimes cats.

According to that book, I shouldn’t tell my husband that I love him more than once a day, should always wear makeup, and be busy all the time so he has to pursue me.

None of that matters, because he already proved he doesn’t love me because I don’t have enormous diamonds studded all over. That would hurt.

119

Ashes, Ashes, I would LOVE to be able to turn my desk around, but it is a big flippin’ workstation and I CAN’T turn it around because they’ve crammed three people into a space that is barely able to contain TWO people.

And now…for the big update I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for regarding the growth/hole on my back. I’m real embarrassed to even report this…first what it’s not:

It’s not another eye…dang that would have been too cool! :wink:

It’s not another limb…sure would have made scratching my back easier!

It’s not not cancer…thank goodness!

It was nothing really, nothing at all, but a [SIZE=7]BIG, HUMONGOUS, ABSOLUTELY, EMBARRASSING…BLACKHEAD![/SIZE]

It took the doc awhile to get it out due to it’s placement and then he showed me the ah…results. How **GRODY!!! ** He told me I now had a hole the size of about a 22 caliber bullet, but is should heal up fine, with MAYBE a slight depression. I’ve never had a blackhead before, so it was news to me. Since I was there I asked him about the numerous moles and dark freckles on my back and he said they were nothing more than your average garden variety moles and freckles.

Well, one more day of work and then I’m off for the weekend hoo-RAY!

Also, there is another job that would be a promotion that I stand a chance of getting. They are trying to get an exception for the recruitment (due to a hiring freeze) and I made it known that I would be VEEEERRRRY interested in applying for it. Questions were asked, answers were given and now we’ll see what happens.

Fingers and toes crossed everyone (well except for Swampy 'cause he can’t in his shoes).

120

My goodness, Taters, I’ve never been so happy to hear about a blackhead in my life! Which is not to imply that I have ever been happy to hear about a blackhead, or that I hear about blackheads on a regular, or even irregular basis, but is merely an indication my relief and satisfaction that nothing untoward has become you. Hooray!!

Hey, I’m a lawyer. Sometimes it leaks out. Deal.

Ashes x 2 and dangergene, darlins’, you needn’t fight over me–there’s more than enough of me for everybody to love! (Yes, I did just manage to put myself down while accepting the accolades of others, I am hardcore). But I am basking in your love and approval, you’re both just too sweet for words. I know swampy loves me, too, even if he doesn’t realize that sometimes a joke is so old, it’s new again. :stuck_out_tongue: Bumba would love me, too, except Mrs. Bumba won’t let him, and I don’t blame her a bit. That would be against The Rules. BTW Lissla, the “if he loves you, he will buy you jewels” rule is superceded by the “if he loves you, he lets you have husband #2 and husband #3” rule. Just so you know. Quasi-daughters aren’t mentioned. Yet.

Which is better–buying twins matching gifts, toys, etc. (one green, one yellow, yadda, yadda, yadda) or buying each of them two of something completely different (two so they can share the toy with their twin, but each still gets a distinct “for him/her” gift)? I need to decide these things. Well, not really, I’ll just do the opposite of what their parents do–if they are dressed alike, I buy them non-alike, if they are studiously given individuality, I’ll play the matching game. Oh, and if it matters, they won’t be identical twins.

I’m torn between my desire to watch the new Graham Norton show (tempered by my intense dislike of his guest, Sandra Burnhardt) and my desire to play poker against 7 computer generated characters. Oh well, he’ll introduce another guest soon, and then maybe I’ll be able to ignore her.

Ta-ta for now, my lovelies! (We need an “air kiss” smilie)