Humble Tidbits of Vacuity

Well, hey there everybody! What would a post-Christmas entry be without my usual bitch and moan session about gifts given and received? Should you feel an overwhelming curiosity to read my posts from previous years, you can click here.

Anyway, this year is about how my kids got the shaft from my MIL. As I’ve mentioned in previous Christmas posts, my wife’s family exchanges gifts a few days before Christmas. This year, we had our gift-giving night at our house. Our family, wife’s sister’s family, and wife’s parents. My niece got dance game for PS2, along with the floor pad (which was sold separately. My one nephew got a handwriting analysis kit and a fingerprint detection kit. My other nephew is younger (like 3) so he got something age appropriate.

My kids gifts were as follows: a toolbox (with tools) for Z. That was awesomely cool, since Z likes to build things and figure out how things work and are put together. But then came my daughters. S got a shirt and a small purse. A got a shirt and a small purse. MIL kept saying, “Those bags are Longaberger.” “Those bags are Longaberger.” And that’s all fine and dandy, but the kinds don’t know (and don’t care) about Longaberger. All they saw was that their cousins got something to do and play with, and they did not.

My oldest came to us the next day saying that, while she liked the shirt very much, she felt kinda bad that she and her sister didn’t get anything to play with. She wanted to know if it meant that grandma loved her cousins more. We did our best to explain to her that the bags were kind of expensive and that grandma really thought that they would like the bags and shirts. We went on to explain that she and her sister behave more maturely than the other kids and that grandma probably didn’t think about getting something “fun.” She said that she understood and went on her way. But I’m fairly certain that it’s still in the back of her mind.

I mean, come on. We all remember when our Christmases stopped being about getting toys and fun shit, and started becoming about handkerchiefs and hair clips. It sucked. But I think it sucks more when 2 kids in the same family, the same age, get so diametrically opposite gifts.

Not an hour later the phone rang. It was MIL, doing what she always does a day or two after giving the kids something…calling to see how they liked it and how much time they’ve spent with her gift. She asked about it, and my wife told her. The immediate excuse was that the PS2 game and pad were on sale, as where the handwriting and fingerprinting kits. Each grandchild had approximately the same amount of money spent on them, give or take a couple bucks. ::Sigh:: That was never our complaint, and our explanation of what was upsetting to our kids was never understood by her.

This post was hand-crafted especially for you by Kevin at 2:14 AM | 10 of the live studio audience members commented already

Thanks for visiting my blog. After you're done here, you could check out several quality blogs over there in my side bar or you could also check out the blog carnival over at Who Are We.

This post was hand-crafted especially for you by Kevin at 6:14 PM | 2 of the live studio audience members commented already

I’m 36 years old and have never been able to wrap a present in such a way that it looks presentable. My wife wrapped about 30 presents in 2 hours and I can’t wrap a present to save my life. 7 gifts, 4 rolls of wrapping paper, two and a half hours, 1 roll of tape. I either cut the paper too small or I cut it way too large. A couple of boxes I ended up just cutting the paper to the size of each side, top and bottom and taped them on. I hate hate HATE this part of Christmas.

This post was hand-crafted especially for you by Kevin at 11:59 PM | 7 of the live studio audience members commented already

Two weeks ago, I had to cancel a racquetball game because the kids had their Winter Concert at school. My opponent and I agreed to make up the game on Monday 12/18 at 9pm.

So, 9pm Monday 12/18 comes around and I show up at the Y and my opponent is there and he said to me, “Y’know, when we scheduled this make up game, I forgot that the Bengals were on Monday Night Football.”

I said, “Oh yeah? I had no idea. Didja wanna reschedule or…?”

“No,” he said. “You came all the way out here to play, so we’ll play.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

So we proceeded to play our three-game match. I lost most decisively. 15-0, 15-0, 15-0. But those scores don’t do my loss justice. These three matches lasted a grand total of 17 minutes. And to really put this into perspective for you, the other guys who were playing their game at 9pm in a different court hadn’t even finished their first game.

My opponent apologized to me, saying that he really wanted to get back to the football game. I told him not to apologize for that, but instead he should apologize for not playing that way the previous 6 times we’ve faced each other. I mean, I’m never going to get better if I’m being treated with kid gloves.

This post was hand-crafted especially for you by Kevin at 4:47 PM | 4 of the live studio audience members commented already

Hmm. It seems as if December is a very light blogging month for me. Been busy, busy, busy. What with basketball, boy scouts, girl scouts, indoor soccer, ballet, newspaper club, choir, art club, spelling bee, geography bee, and getting ready for the upcoming holiday…I just haven’t felt like sitting down and taking the time to pound out a blog post.

So…it’s not you. It could never be you, so don’t think that. It’s me. But I hope we can remain friends.

Anyway, I feel as though I owe you some kind of content here, since you did take the time to google me or click the link from either your own blog or a blog you were reading.

Hey, did you hear about the Christian Fraternity that is suing the University of Georgia? The University is refusing to recognize it because it requires all its officers and members to be Christians. The University says that the fraternity’s membership rules violate the University’s non-discrimination policies for student groups.

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the whole point of a fraternity to be discriminating in who it chooses to accept or not accept? From what the University’s policies state, it would seem that guys could join sororities (which would be way cool because then they could be present at all the “pillow fights in underwear” events), girls could join fraternities (if you’re a girl, feel free to insert a reason here), people with blue eyes could join the brown eye fraternity/sorority, etc etc.

I’m on the Christian Fraternity’s side. If the fraternity Fucka Buncha Yu can reject a pledge who didn’t tie a brick to his papa parts and then toss the brick off the roof, then I think the Christian Frat should be able to reject a pledge who answers negatively to the question, “Do you pledge your belief in Jesus Christ?”

This post was hand-crafted especially for you by Kevin at 5:07 PM | 7 of the live studio audience members commented already

Here is...in my humble, vacuous opinion...what is wrong with overprotecting our kids and "keeping them safe" from life's little disappointments such as losing a soccer game or being "IT" in a game of tag. Teen Murderer Says Jail Is Too Hard, Appeals Sentence

This post was hand-crafted especially for you by Kevin at 11:53 PM | 4 of the live studio audience members commented already