Extensive update

I do not like my brand new federal government job. At all. Well, I like the money, but the lesson learned is that sometimes it's not worth the money and I don't think this is. Anyway, I've been here since Valentine's Day and I'm already exploring other job possibilities with three outstanding applications so far. Of course I'm in no hurry this time and I'm going to be sure that I will have a good chance of actually liking the job before I change jobs again. I just want to have a job that I enjoy going to everyday and that I will enjoy for a least several years if not the rest of my working years all together. I just don't think I have the ability to stay at a job I do not like just for the money and the benefits. I don't have that in me. My mom did it but I can't. Speaking of my mom:



That there is one of my favorite pictures of all time. I wish I knew my mom then.

Here is evidence of Dad firing the gun in the house:



Other happenings: We went to the Beale Street Music festival April 29-May 1 with Johnny and Ben and had a wonderful time. We had 8 windows replaced in our house June 14th. Eric got a new car at the end of April and his parents sold his Jeep last week. So long Jeep:



Some of the money from the Jeep sale went to purchasing a new television for the living room and that made Eric very happy. I am looking forward to volunteering at the Chick Ball this weekend.

About those guns

So, a couple weeks ago my mom and little brother came to pick us up for dinner. We were on the way to the restaurant and mom says "Did I tell you Dad fired a gun inside the house the other day?" Um, no. Forgot to mention that one mom!
My dad found this old pistol that belonged to moy mother's father. He was messing with it outside and discovered that the piece that allows the chamber to rotate was broken(please excuse my lack of gun knowledge/appropriate terms). He fires the gun outside a few times and it does nothing but fire the same empty chamber over and overa gain. He takes the gun inside to continue messing with it while sitting in his recliner watching TV with the woompas cat on his lap. With the gun pointed away from all living creatures and towards the fireplace/mantel he decides to pull the trigger again thinking nothing will happen because it's broken. This time there was a bullet in the chamber and it shot through mantel. My little brother was upstairs and I can only imagine what those terrifying moments were like as he made his way downstairs. All is well now but after all those years with all those guns and children and people around nothing so dumb has ever happened.

Text messages

Me to Brother Ed: Remember your horse Bucky? With the springs that totally could have amputated our fingers? He was a good, dangerous toy.

Brother Ed: Hahaha. Yes. I think it did actually hurt me once or twice. Good ol days. We had lawn darts at Evas(babysitter) house too.

Me: God. And fucking ponds! In which we could have drowned. And guns everywhere!

Brother: Yeah well we're still here. Now people are afraid to drink out of a water hose.

Apparently I don't like to blog

It's December and I'm still at this terrible job, but I have gotten a new one! I was "selected for the position" in September. I am now hoping to start by March. We'll see how that goes. It obviously takes a really long time to get a job with the federal government.
I don't like blogging very much because my life seems to be terribly uninteresting. So much has happened this year and yet I don't document any of it.

I was looking back at the blog and saw that at the end of December last year I documented things that happened in 2009 so I'll do that again for this year although just a bit early.

Things that happened in 2010:

-Sister-in-law got married January 2
-We bought our first home
-Amber had a baby
-We got married March 6
-We got a puppy in March
-We had Easter Eve at Eric's parents'
-Molly had a baby
-We went to San Francisco for our honeymoon in August
-Sister had a wedding in October
-I got a new job but did not begin new job
-Cary(Vicksburg), Kathryn(Jackson), Jessica(Eric's cousin, New Orleans), William(my cousin), Katrina(Biloxi) and Jeremy(New Orleans) got married
-Eric's cousin LeAnne had a baby
-My cousin Elsie had a baby
-Jason released a CD
-Bobby decided to go to Barbering school instead

And now my Dad wears a neck brace

Sometime Friday, unbeknownst to me, my Dad fell down in the yard and broke his neck. But it's not really as bad as it sounds when you put it like that. Dad fell down and somehow got back up and decided he may have hurt himself so he had mom take him to the MEA clinic. They told him he had arthritis and possibly something wrong but they couldn't tell so call back Tuesday if it still hurts(amazing medical practice if you ask me, which you didn't). Cut to Tuesday when Dad has driven himself to the dentist to have stiches out(totally unrelated boring dental work story) and the MEA calls and tells mom that something is wrong with the X-Ray and Dad should call them immediately because I guess they can't relay the broken neck emergency information to the patient's wife(!). Dad calls and is told he has fractured his second vertebra and should go to St. Dominics right away. He does and has to stay over night and be fitted with a neck brace that he will have to wear for "six weeks or six months I can't remember." Awesome.
Not so important in the big scheme of things sidenote: My wedding is in five weeks!

Friday night Eric and I were given a Stock the Bar Shower by some of our lovely friends, and by our friends I mean Eric's friends who I have acquired through our relationship with one another. So that was awesome and we got lots of booze which I will surely need to get through the next month. I would like to start drinking more during the week, but it sort of interferes with my need to go to the gym and drink lots of water so we'll see about that.

Eric's bachelor party is this weekend and I'm sure they'll have lots of fun in New Orleans. I'm going to have lots of fun here cleaning my parents house and making my little brother help me replace boards on the deck since my dad can't help anymore. If he didn't want to help all he had to do was just say so or just sit there like my mom does. He didn't have to go and break his neck.

I think eventually these posts will get more positive.

Oh, and that reminds me, we officially own the house now as of Friday! So all that shit in November about not being able to close and how awful that was turned out to be what some would call "a blessing in disguise" because we didn't have to pay for that plumbing disaster in December! And I really do hate it when people say "a blessing in disguise" because at that time it didn't feel like a blessing it felt like our shit was in our showers and we had to clean it up.

Things I love. #2

-My siblings

In particular my little brother. I love all my siblings very much. It is a love like no other love but last night we went to my little brother's final high school choir concert so he gets the post love today. Bobby is one of the sweetest people I know. People tell my mother about how sweet he is all the time. And with being raised by a father like we have it's amazing we're not all in prison right about now. Bobby is graduating high school in a couple of weeks and I am very happy for him. I hope he goes on to college and majors in a subject that he absolutely loves, and that will lead him to a career that fills him with happiness. He is very talented and charismatic, much like our older brother, even though they are 12 years apart they have many of the same facial expressions and mannerisms, and sound just alike when they sing. When Bobby hugs me he kisses me on the head. I don't know why he does that or exactly when he started doing it, but it's alright with me.

Snakes in the Pond

"A woman's just like a snake, the last thing that dies is her tail." -Truman Capote

One of the great mysteries in the world is why my father likes Truman Capote. I will never understand and that's fine because there are a lot of mysteries involving my father. This past Sunday I was at my parents' house and Dad was telling me about the two snakes he shot that morning because they were swimming around in one of his ponds eating the fish he had just purchased the day before. We go outside to take a look at the "water snakes" and the first one had already been cut open by my Dad so he could prove it had indeed eaten a fish. There was definately a fish in there. While looking at this aftermath Dad was poking the snake and it's tail was moving around a bit. That's when he quoted Capote although not exactly right but close enough. The second snake had yet to be disected so I took pictures while Dad cut it open. Two fish in that one. Dad was pissed that the snakes had cost him approximately 80 cents.



This past weekend was great. Eric found out he passed the bar exam last Thursday so there was much celebrating to be done (see Eric's blog). I am very proud of him and happy for him and glad all that waiting is over. He is being sworn in today and everything will be official.

Apparently I love my dog the most

"I can hear my next door neighbor being nice to her cat through my kitchen wall. I don’t care for cats, but it’s oddly touching. No one talks to even their most loved ones in the same voice they use to talk to their pets." -From the archives of Sarah Brown's Que Sera Sera blog (http://queserasera.org/archives/2001_11.html)

That kind of shook me a bit. I should be nicer to my loved ones. You should hear the way I greet Gus everyday. It's pretty ridiculous. I put my shit down and pick him up and hug him and kiss him and talk to him. My family members, on the other hand, get a simple hello. Eric gets a hug and a kiss but not the picking up. That would be weird probably and bad for my back.

New year, no words

So, this blog thing is not going so well as I can't seem to do it on any sort of regular basis. Anyway. Moving on.

Yesterday was an amazing day and I have no words to describe it. I am only 27 but I have never been so excited about a President and I can not imagine being this excited again. "Hope is a good thing, if not the best of things and a good thing never dies."

Even thought my dad can be terrible and mean I have decided to take him to see Grand Torino this weekend for his birthday. My mother told me about a week ago that dad wanted to see this movie which was strange because she doesn't think he has been to see a movie since before they were married approximately 30 years ago. Isn't that fucking strange? Then my older brother text me and said Clint Eastwood plays dad in that movie. Isn't that also fucking strange? So, I'm sucking it up and I'm taking him. My sister and little brother are going too so that will make it better. Will have to take a picture to commemorate the moment. I don't know what it is with my dad and movies. I guess some people just don't like movies. I've never known him to even watch a movie on television or rent a movie. It should be intersting and will probably never happen again.

I paid the deposit for an apartment yesterday. So fucking stoked about that. Living with my parents is close to hell. My mood is improving I promise.

Happy Birthday Brother

Today is my birthday. It is also my older brother's birthday. We are exactly three years apart. Sometimes I feel like we are twins and I miss him terribly. He will be home for the holidays and I'm hoping I can convince my little brother and sister to go with us to the bar and sing karaoke. And by that I mean I hope my brothers and sister will sing. There's no way I'm doing that.

Insanity Defense

There are many reasons why I fully expect to experience a psychotic break at some point in my life. The mental stability of some members of my immediate family being the main reason. This is not a very good example, but it is the most recent so it will do for now.

When I got home from work today my mom and dad are standing in the kitchen and the conversation is as follows:



Dad (in thick country accent): Hey Gabie, what is the gestational period of a squirrel?

Me: I don't know. Why would I know something like that?

Dad: I don't know, just thought you might. Well, maybe you can tell me the capitol of Alaska.

Me (Ashamed I did not know): ANCHORAGE!

Mom: Nooo...

Gabie (phone ringing): Let's see if Eric knows (anwers phone). Hey, what's the capitol of Alaska?

Eric: Juneau.

Gabie (to parents): Juneau.

Mom: That's what I thought.

Dad: That's what we thought.

Gabie (to eric): Do you know the gestational period of a squirrel?

Eric: No.

Gabie: Me neither. He doesn't know.

Dad: Get on that computer and look it up for me.

Gabie: Why didn't you just look in the encyclopedia?

Dad: I did, couldn't find it.



So, I looked it up and it varies, but approximately 40 days. I learned at least two things today when I got home from work so I'm not complaining. My dad asks me alot of very random questions thinking I will know the answer because I have a masters degree. About a month ago dad asked, "What's the melting point of copper?" I said, "I have no idea dad. Why would I know something like that?" He replied, "You went to college, I thought you might have learned that along the way." To which I reminded him, "I have a master's degree in Social Work dad. I don't remember learning the melting point of any metals in any of my social work classes."

Holidays?

The holidays always seem a bit depressing to me. Mostly because just being around my family stresses me out and this year I am living with my family once again. Bring it on depression! I vow to never be living at my parents house during the holidays again. Another depressing thing is I don't have alot of extended family so it's usually just me, mom dad, brother(s), sister, and great aunt. This year great aunt and older brother are in California but we will have the addition of E and possibly sister's boyfriend. This is how things will go: (Are you ready E? I'm predicting the future. He loves it when I do this.) I will wake up early, go downstairs, and view the mess that has become the kitchen over the past two days as my dad has begun to prepare the food and not clean up anything as he goes. My mood immediately becomes bitter because I will have to start cleaning becasue noone else is going to do it. I will also begin to prepare the one and only casserole I am in charge of making. My mother and sister will enter the kitchen at some point and begin preparing the casseroles or other food stuff they are in charge of making. My little brother will probably be sleeping or in his room watching TV because he never has to do anything inside of the house (bitter just thinking about it). The remainder of the morning will be spent cleaning up after everyone until it is time to eat. Eating will take approximately 20 minutes after the hours of preparation. Then there is more cleaning and putting stuff away into the refridgerator where there is no room for all the stuff. This will require more cleaning. Then? Mom and Dad will go sit in their recliners in the living room and fall asleep, little brother will go back up to his room, and sister will go to her boyfriend's house. This leaves me and E. E will go to New Orleans at some point and I will be left alone with the dog and the mess and my misery.

The neighborhood

So, I was going through some of the books at my parents house yesterday and discovered "The World According to Mister Rogers." How amazing does that sound? The vast amount of books inside my parents house is a frequent source of contention between myself and my mother. There are hundreds of books in that house. There are books on bookshelves, books in cabinets, books on tables, books in every bathroom, books in every room, and books stacked on the floor and in the corners. I moved back in with my parents at the end of August and have decided to do something about all the books. This makes my mother sad. There are, however, some amazing books and those will be taken with me when I move because I love those books. I love all the books really. Or maybe I love that my mother loves all those books and I love reading good books. I don't really know why my mother has collected so many books and why she has a hard time parting with them. Some of them, like the one by Mister Rogers, are just little readers that might take you an hour and might make a good gift. Others are hundreds of pages long and about subjects I couldn't be any less interested in reading about. My mother hasn't read all of the books either. She just likes to have them around I think. But there are definately, on average, more books coming in to the house than going out of the house. Something I always notice about other peoples' homes is whether or not there are any books. There will always be lots of books in mine.

Bad boys

I was watching TV with my dad last night and lately that will consist of Tru TV or Cops or something like that. This brings up memories for my dad from when he was a cop and it is really interesting for me to hear these stoies because I have no recollection of him actually being a cop. It seems as if he had lived three or more different lives before becoming my dad. The same goes for my mother but she's not as into the storytelling. I wonder if I will tell my children (if I have children) stories about my life now.