March Madness - SHUT UP!
Oh Lord, how long do I have to listen to this shit just to get my NHL highlights? It's not bad enough during football season, then post football free agency, then baseball training camp and Manny "I Can't Work for 42.5 mill, I Need 45" Ramirez and all that hype - now it's this time of year again. There's not enough beer to drown it all out...
"Contractually Obligated" Bonuses
Hey, here's an idea to anyone else crawling to the government for a loan or complete bailout - declare bankruptcy. Restructure all those contracts. "We can't keep top executives without this bonus structure..." There's a recession on - WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY GOING TO GO?!?!?!?!?!?
It was bad enough that the banks paid dividends and bought out small, weak competitors with their assistance money {and I will say shame on the Bush Administration, particularly Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke, for not putting "Thou Shalt Not..." rules on the money} but AIG is pulling the fastest fast one. And the really really sad part is the people who are getting bonuses ARE the people who planned the strategies that brought the company to the brink of failure in the first place.
And I say the same goes for Detroit. Anyone else remember when 'The Big Three' ignored the Japanese import market and the growing demand for higher gas mileage cars - right up until the 1979 oil embargo? That made them change their marketing strategy - A LITTLE. For the last ten years or so, it's been about SUVs and oversize trucks - things that have the largest profit margins. Guess what - now the playing field has shifted again and they're once again unprepared to play ball. They were all ready afraid of the new mileage rules that were coming, now there's one more thing on the plate.
It occurs that to streamline, you have to chop off the dead weight and a lot of dead weight is at the top. I'm not saying that sacrifices don't need to be made on the lines where people hang onto those jobs for 35 - 40 years. But Let's see some top brass and middle managers merged and downsized and humbled - maybe even put back on the lines, if they were ever there in the first place.
And airline pilots need to be paying attention, too. Yeah, not everyone can do it, but a slowing economy is lowering demand for your services, too. Yes, you made concessions to keep your jobs a while back - you still want those $ 130k / year jobs, right?
Tax My Health Care Benefits, Lose Your Job
One more thing - this talk about taxing the health care coverage my employer chooses to provide me as 'income' is a bunch of horse shit. I am lucky that my employer does choose to cover much of my health care. I pay my premiums - pre-tax. And this should all remain pre-tax if the government doesn't want every employer to drop health care coverage and put everyone on government heath care. Oh, but the government does want everyone on the government dole for their health care.
OH, I know a lot of other people who want everyone on the government train for our health care, too - poor misguided souls. The government can't run the government or the fucking post office and you want to trust them with your life and death decisions?
I promise, right here, right now - anyone representative, Republican or Democrat, who votes for this is not getting my vote.
You want to know how to stop that nonsense? MAKE IT APPLY TO CONGRESS TOO!
And finally - Having Their Cake and Eating It, Too.
There was a lot of talk about the 2009 Omnibus Spending Bill just passed - another 480 Billion Congress had to pass to keep the government running through September 31st - being loaded with pork and pet projects known as earmarks. And a lot of Republicans stood up for 'Fiscal Responsibility in Tough Economic Times" and didn't vote for the bill "On Principle" knowing full well that the Dems had enough votes to pass it along anyway.
What got overlooked is that a bunch of the Rs slipped their projects in with the 8570 [disclosed] earmarks - totalling $ 7.7 Billion reported Taxpayers for Common Sense on 3/13. Taken with the other spending bills passed last year for Fiscal 2009, you get $ 14.3 Billion total. Surprisingly, this is down $ 500 Million from Fiscal 2008, but this does not include the Obama "Economic Recovery" bill.
The Republicans stuck their hands out for $ 1.88 Billion - with their names on them. There's no telling how much they're getting of the $ 3.18 Billion earmarked by "Unknown". And isn't that a crock of shit? You want the money, you want credit for it in your district, right? But you don't want to be accountable?
How about Alabama Senator Richard Shelby voting for the spending bill and his $ 114 Million from the trough - including "$800,000 for oyster rehabilitation at the University of South Alabama to $380,000 to the city of Tarrant, Ala., for streetscaping and walkways" according to Conservative website Human Events. Other big spending Senators included Thad Cochran of Mississippi [$ 76 million], Kit Bond of Missouri [$ 86 million] and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska [$ 74 million - what the hell is there to spend $ 76 million dollars in Alaska???]. All crossed party lines and voted for the Omnibus bill. Of course the disappointing Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania disappoints again - why he doesn't just switch parties and get it over with I don't understand.
You can't say "I'm a Republican and a Conservative and I want less government and less government spending / waste" and then do this. Pat Buchanan often says the Republicans lost their gains of the 90s because they came to Washington on a mandate of change and instead got changed by Washington.
This is exactly why we need term limits - in spite of what Joe Barton thinks - yeah, he was one of those Reagan cot-tail rider who was all for term limits until he was there and his self set time limit was about up. We need to roll those clowns over every few years and get fresh ideas and keep the debates going. I say 12 years each - 12 in the House, 12 in the Senate. Run in the House for a while, move over to the Senate if you can. If you can't, tough shit, get a real job again. Politician and career are two words never meant to go together.
That's my big mouth rant for a while.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Years Roll By [Dedicated to the Class of '85]
Years at a time seemed to roll on by
Faces lost and names forgotten
Days we used to spend being young and carefree
Now just memories in my aging, failing mind
Laughter, drink and adventure no longer desired
We take it easy and make it home before midnight
We have become what we feared most
Married and parents and responsible citizens
Safe in our homes in safe neighborhoods with good schools nearby
Diseases hit us hard in our primes and strike fear in our friends
We still think we are so young and we are
But then again we're not.
Did we set out to change the world
Or to not get changed by the world?
Were we fooled by the man who said we could be the change
Or were we surprised when there was no man behind the curtain?
Finally!
If anyone had had told me that I would go 8 months without a radio in my car, let alone some type of CD or tape deck, I'd have laughed in their face and bet $ 50 on it. But it was almost 8 months [July 4th / 5th to March 2nd] I went without. Now granted, at any time, I could have whipped into Best Buy or Frye's, whipped out the plastic and had my unit replaced. But I took my tax rebate money over Monday, paid out of the ol' checking account and was in and out in an hour.
Why so long? I really think I got to use the drive home time in silence - well, relative silence since I really was always singing something or commenting on the poor / stupid assed driving going on around me - to really just take a few deep breaths and unwind. No, my job is not that stressful, but... well, it's hard to explain. But to plug in a real CD and hear real music from my collection again felt really good. [I didn't like the earbuds on my MP3 or the headset on my cassette walkman knockoff.]
Admission of Guilt
Much to the "I Told You So" pleasure on one Scott Downey, I bought the new Oasis, Dig Out Your Soul while I was in Best Buy [and a Muddy Waters collection]. The Oasis is a nice slab of rock and roll, some pyschedelic twists here and there, but a damn fine record. I was so impressed, I ordered their 2005 disc Don't Believe the Truth on Ebay. I found that I like Oasis last year., but this is my first purchase. If Scott were in my living room, I believe his comment would be something along the lines of:
"You name Who's Next best album of 1971, now you're buying Oasis CDs... there's hope for you yet, Chaz."
Years at a time seemed to roll on by
Faces lost and names forgotten
Days we used to spend being young and carefree
Now just memories in my aging, failing mind
Laughter, drink and adventure no longer desired
We take it easy and make it home before midnight
We have become what we feared most
Married and parents and responsible citizens
Safe in our homes in safe neighborhoods with good schools nearby
Diseases hit us hard in our primes and strike fear in our friends
We still think we are so young and we are
But then again we're not.
Did we set out to change the world
Or to not get changed by the world?
Were we fooled by the man who said we could be the change
Or were we surprised when there was no man behind the curtain?
Finally!
If anyone had had told me that I would go 8 months without a radio in my car, let alone some type of CD or tape deck, I'd have laughed in their face and bet $ 50 on it. But it was almost 8 months [July 4th / 5th to March 2nd] I went without. Now granted, at any time, I could have whipped into Best Buy or Frye's, whipped out the plastic and had my unit replaced. But I took my tax rebate money over Monday, paid out of the ol' checking account and was in and out in an hour.
Why so long? I really think I got to use the drive home time in silence - well, relative silence since I really was always singing something or commenting on the poor / stupid assed driving going on around me - to really just take a few deep breaths and unwind. No, my job is not that stressful, but... well, it's hard to explain. But to plug in a real CD and hear real music from my collection again felt really good. [I didn't like the earbuds on my MP3 or the headset on my cassette walkman knockoff.]
Admission of Guilt
Much to the "I Told You So" pleasure on one Scott Downey, I bought the new Oasis, Dig Out Your Soul while I was in Best Buy [and a Muddy Waters collection]. The Oasis is a nice slab of rock and roll, some pyschedelic twists here and there, but a damn fine record. I was so impressed, I ordered their 2005 disc Don't Believe the Truth on Ebay. I found that I like Oasis last year., but this is my first purchase. If Scott were in my living room, I believe his comment would be something along the lines of:
"You name Who's Next best album of 1971, now you're buying Oasis CDs... there's hope for you yet, Chaz."
Monday, February 16, 2009
Some NHL Ramblings...
Well, the players got another coach fired in the NHL yesterday, but not the one who should have according to NBC's analysts on the terrible New York Rangers; the Penguins fired coach Michel Therrien. Therrien led the Pens to the Cup finals for the first time in 16 years, but the team is struggling this year. Is it the coach's fault? Absolutley not - Therrien could only work with what he was given.
Unfortunately, he was given a team with its top two defensemen out for extended periods before the season even started [Ryan Whitney, who was out until December, and Sergei Gonchar, who returned Saturday]. Management was outbid for nose for the net guy Ryan Malone, Marian Hossa spurned a chance to play all year with Malkin and Crosby on the power play to try and win a Cup in Detroit and the replacements Ruslan Fedotenko [who did have a couple OK years in Tampa and was warming before being injured] and Miroslav Satan [who hasn't done crap in the last five years] were not the sniper types needed to finish Sidney Crosby's unbelieveable passes. Jordan Staal's 29 goal rookie campaign has proven to be a fluke - so far - but I think he will be a dangerous third line center for years to come; maybe center the second line if the move is made to put Malkin permanently onto Crosby's line.
But Therrien made the best of things - Tyler Kennedy looks to be breaking out, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski learned the ropes and inproved.
In the end, it's easier to fire the coach than replace 15 inderachievers. Still, I think Therrien got the short end of the stick on this one. Finish the year, then talk and see where things went wrong and if there needs to be a philosophical change. Yes, the Pens want to make the playoffs and have momentum and interest going into a new building next fall - but this is short changing the man who turned your team around.
Sorry Michel. Good luck in your future.
Stimulus and Fixes
I was watching the McLaughlin Group yesterday - yes, I like the chaos - and the commentators, both left and right, there were all ready commenting about how this stimulus package is flawed and won't do the job and we will be looking for another $ 500 billion - 1 trillion deal before the year is out. And all I can say is "What the fuck, Washington?"
Don't kid yourselves, this bill was loaded with pet projects and pork out the ass. Euless gets $ 785,000 to improve Softball World?Fort Worth gets $ 383.5 million for the Trinity Uptown Project [mislabeled "flood control" to get earmark priority] and $ 106 for swimming centers? $16.7 for "Zoo Infrastructure Revovantions: Walkway Renovations [2.37 mil]; Parking garage [14.4 m]." We need the Federal govenment to build a parking garage for the CITY ZOO????
What am I getting as a single dude? I get $ 400 of my money back in a tax cut. $ 13 a week! Whew, now I can go buy that gas guzzling car and go save General Motors!
Well, the players got another coach fired in the NHL yesterday, but not the one who should have according to NBC's analysts on the terrible New York Rangers; the Penguins fired coach Michel Therrien. Therrien led the Pens to the Cup finals for the first time in 16 years, but the team is struggling this year. Is it the coach's fault? Absolutley not - Therrien could only work with what he was given.
Unfortunately, he was given a team with its top two defensemen out for extended periods before the season even started [Ryan Whitney, who was out until December, and Sergei Gonchar, who returned Saturday]. Management was outbid for nose for the net guy Ryan Malone, Marian Hossa spurned a chance to play all year with Malkin and Crosby on the power play to try and win a Cup in Detroit and the replacements Ruslan Fedotenko [who did have a couple OK years in Tampa and was warming before being injured] and Miroslav Satan [who hasn't done crap in the last five years] were not the sniper types needed to finish Sidney Crosby's unbelieveable passes. Jordan Staal's 29 goal rookie campaign has proven to be a fluke - so far - but I think he will be a dangerous third line center for years to come; maybe center the second line if the move is made to put Malkin permanently onto Crosby's line.
But Therrien made the best of things - Tyler Kennedy looks to be breaking out, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski learned the ropes and inproved.
In the end, it's easier to fire the coach than replace 15 inderachievers. Still, I think Therrien got the short end of the stick on this one. Finish the year, then talk and see where things went wrong and if there needs to be a philosophical change. Yes, the Pens want to make the playoffs and have momentum and interest going into a new building next fall - but this is short changing the man who turned your team around.
Sorry Michel. Good luck in your future.
Stimulus and Fixes
I was watching the McLaughlin Group yesterday - yes, I like the chaos - and the commentators, both left and right, there were all ready commenting about how this stimulus package is flawed and won't do the job and we will be looking for another $ 500 billion - 1 trillion deal before the year is out. And all I can say is "What the fuck, Washington?"
Don't kid yourselves, this bill was loaded with pet projects and pork out the ass. Euless gets $ 785,000 to improve Softball World?Fort Worth gets $ 383.5 million for the Trinity Uptown Project [mislabeled "flood control" to get earmark priority] and $ 106 for swimming centers? $16.7 for "Zoo Infrastructure Revovantions: Walkway Renovations [2.37 mil]; Parking garage [14.4 m]." We need the Federal govenment to build a parking garage for the CITY ZOO????
What am I getting as a single dude? I get $ 400 of my money back in a tax cut. $ 13 a week! Whew, now I can go buy that gas guzzling car and go save General Motors!
Sunday, February 01, 2009
More Proof I'm Getting Old
If you were a kid in the 70s, you remember seeing, mostly on late light or on the independent channels on UHF - yeah, if you remember UHF, you must be old -commercials for "The Time-Life Collection." Now when I was kid, between re-runs of The Munsters and Leave It to Beaver, they were pushing The Big Band Era, something your grandmother would buy with Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman - basically old fossil music.
Now back then, these were two minute commercials, not like today with the half hour "Infomercial" with old Peter Fonda pushing The Flower Power Love Generation 14 CD collection or the dudes from Air Supply pushing Soft Rock [and I giggle when I fly by it thinking about the Yacht Rock thing on You Tube - "Gotta keep the smooth in, Templeman!"] or poor Tony Orlando slushing Greatest Love Hits of the 70's... oh, that just breaks my heart. Anyway, from the Big Bands, Time-Life Graduated to the Sock Hop Soda Shop Hits from the 50's to The Beat Goes On Moldie Oldies of the 60's and then moved to infomercials and began pushing The Brady Bunch Have A Nice Day Hits of the 70s...
But dammit, I was watching one of the many cable channels I do scroll through in search of meaningful late night entertainment [and there isn't much] and I see this 2 CD [well, 3 because they throw in a "bonus disc" if you pay by credit card now...]: Hard 'N' Heavy: Up All Night & Talk Dirty to Me and IT'S MY F'ING GENERATION!!!! Poison, Kiss, Judas Priest, Cinderella, David Lee Roth, Quiet Riot... tsk tsk tsk.
Now look, I am not going to buy this because, well frankly, I am trying to forget the hair metal. It's what we had and we didn't know much better. But I mean, damn! Now my nieces and baby sister will look at that and go - your music is old and it sucks! Like we did to grandma when she ordered The Big Band Era or Hillbilly Fever Great Country and Western Songs of the 50s. Not that they don't do that all ready. But I mean damn.
If you were a kid in the 70s, you remember seeing, mostly on late light or on the independent channels on UHF - yeah, if you remember UHF, you must be old -commercials for "The Time-Life Collection." Now when I was kid, between re-runs of The Munsters and Leave It to Beaver, they were pushing The Big Band Era, something your grandmother would buy with Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman - basically old fossil music.
Now back then, these were two minute commercials, not like today with the half hour "Infomercial" with old Peter Fonda pushing The Flower Power Love Generation 14 CD collection or the dudes from Air Supply pushing Soft Rock [and I giggle when I fly by it thinking about the Yacht Rock thing on You Tube - "Gotta keep the smooth in, Templeman!"] or poor Tony Orlando slushing Greatest Love Hits of the 70's... oh, that just breaks my heart. Anyway, from the Big Bands, Time-Life Graduated to the Sock Hop Soda Shop Hits from the 50's to The Beat Goes On Moldie Oldies of the 60's and then moved to infomercials and began pushing The Brady Bunch Have A Nice Day Hits of the 70s...
But dammit, I was watching one of the many cable channels I do scroll through in search of meaningful late night entertainment [and there isn't much] and I see this 2 CD [well, 3 because they throw in a "bonus disc" if you pay by credit card now...]: Hard 'N' Heavy: Up All Night & Talk Dirty to Me and IT'S MY F'ING GENERATION!!!! Poison, Kiss, Judas Priest, Cinderella, David Lee Roth, Quiet Riot... tsk tsk tsk.
Now look, I am not going to buy this because, well frankly, I am trying to forget the hair metal. It's what we had and we didn't know much better. But I mean, damn! Now my nieces and baby sister will look at that and go - your music is old and it sucks! Like we did to grandma when she ordered The Big Band Era or Hillbilly Fever Great Country and Western Songs of the 50s. Not that they don't do that all ready. But I mean damn.
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Patriarch
The heaviest thing I ever had to lift
That summer afternoon
Rolling Sylvanian Hills
The longest walk I ever took
Maybe two hundred yards
No Man's Land, consecrated ground
The sharpest sound I ever heard
Four rifles fired three times
In salute, in farewell
And it's taken me a while
And it's slowly sinking in
What losing you really means
I make myself remember
Your laugh, your voice, your smile
The lessons and the the love
My saddest day
Family holding each other up
Together in love, respect and reverence
-Darrell J. Sheets 11/24/1919 - 8/22/2008
The heaviest thing I ever had to lift
That summer afternoon
Rolling Sylvanian Hills
The longest walk I ever took
Maybe two hundred yards
No Man's Land, consecrated ground
The sharpest sound I ever heard
Four rifles fired three times
In salute, in farewell
And it's taken me a while
And it's slowly sinking in
What losing you really means
I make myself remember
Your laugh, your voice, your smile
The lessons and the the love
My saddest day
Family holding each other up
Together in love, respect and reverence
-Darrell J. Sheets 11/24/1919 - 8/22/2008
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Penance
He sits in the middle cubicle of a line of three, facing east on a rectangle of six cubicles. He doesn’t have a regular station like a lot of people do; rather he jumps from cubicle to cubicle amongst his little work group. Therefore he doesn’t get to add any photos or plaques of achievement or calendar or any of the allowable that are tolerated at work desks to make them a little more personal and comfortable. He does not have a lockable drawer to place his work materials [headset, pens, notepads, manuals] or personal items [book, snack, 2nd set of glasses] so he caries then in daily in a small briefcase. All of which sometimes makes him feel like a temp among his peers, still an outcast or interloper after nearly two years.
The oddness continues as a second shift person, his day starts immediately on arrival. There is no build up to it, waiting for decent hours to return calls, have a cup of coffee and build into the day. For him, it’s log in, plug in, jump into the fire both feet burning. Granted the day tapers off usually halfway through the shift and the build up day shift has becomes a slow winding down until quitting time. He knows this very well having been on second turn for eight of the last ten years. Still he thinks second shift is underappreciated for always hitting the ground running and coming in during the middle of whatever else has been going on in the office all day. And when the day shift leaves and most of the supervisors go home, it’s the end of the day – for THEM. Does the second shift or the graveyard gang ever get consideration, other then shift differential? Not really.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Thirteen
I was listening to the new Paul Weller [22 Dreams] Christmas Eve before going to Mom's. As I'm sitting there grooving and thinking how much Cold Moments sounds like something from the Shaft soundtrack ["Shut your mouth..."], it strikes me how my niece would never appreciate this. Shelby is 13 and I'm sure one day will begin that "music is so cool" thing. But would she appreciate something sophisticated like the Weller album or something more mature like the Hold Steady or the Black Crowes? Probably not - not in the next few years anyway. Weezer - maybe. The Killers? Jimmy Eat World? Fountains of Wayne? Get Up Kids? The Gits? The Ramones? The Faces? Black Sabbath? Please, not rap! Not this current trend of high note holding chicks and not this false boom boom that's not really an instrument and every syllable punched in garbage! PLEASE get over the Britney! [Of course, last year I think she wanted Santana, so there IS hope!]
And I had one of Jim's mix tapes tapes [93] going in my Walkman Tuesday night [yes, I got a new an MP3 player for Christmas]. Just the cool things Jim would put on like Eleventh Day Dream, My Sister's Machine, Bonnie Hayes, Pere Ubu and Junk Monkey - things I've never heard or seen before or since. Will Shelby ever come in and look at my stuff and just go "make me something interesting."
Maybe - someday. And she'll get things like Paul Weller, Paul Westerberg, the Hold Steady, Wilco, X, XTC, Superchunk, the Blasters, Glossary, Bowie and Johnny Cash and throw on something like Sam Cooke or the Impressions or Jr. Walker & the All Stars for a little even more off the wall. And she'll decide never to do that again. Or maybe she'll find something there she likes - like I did when Uncle Mike suggested Frank Zappa, Johnny Winter or Rory Gallagher and I can make suggestions... That would be totally cool! I don't know, though. Who listens to the old crap that their uncle listens to? Oh, me. But who else?
Someday she and Erin may realize I am a soft touch for trips to Borders and Half Price for CDs and books. Or just looking at things, finding new sources.
But she's a teenager now, and I got a full dose last night. 13 with attitude. Beginning down the road to adulthood, but still horseplaying with her sister and aunt [Yes, my half sister who is 3 is her aunt. That's so funny.] and grandfather. But was totally excited about receiving tons of hair care and Bath and Bodyworks things.
13 makes me think Big Star's song Thirteen. Junior high.Feeling freakishly awkward, unsure of one's self and not coping well with changes. Of course some of us never grow out of that. Nerdy at 13 = nerdy for life? Maybe so.
At least Shelby is not nerdy. Well, not too much. Glasses and braces, but she has confidence in herself. I will give her that.
I was listening to the new Paul Weller [22 Dreams] Christmas Eve before going to Mom's. As I'm sitting there grooving and thinking how much Cold Moments sounds like something from the Shaft soundtrack ["Shut your mouth..."], it strikes me how my niece would never appreciate this. Shelby is 13 and I'm sure one day will begin that "music is so cool" thing. But would she appreciate something sophisticated like the Weller album or something more mature like the Hold Steady or the Black Crowes? Probably not - not in the next few years anyway. Weezer - maybe. The Killers? Jimmy Eat World? Fountains of Wayne? Get Up Kids? The Gits? The Ramones? The Faces? Black Sabbath? Please, not rap! Not this current trend of high note holding chicks and not this false boom boom that's not really an instrument and every syllable punched in garbage! PLEASE get over the Britney! [Of course, last year I think she wanted Santana, so there IS hope!]
And I had one of Jim's mix tapes tapes [93] going in my Walkman Tuesday night [yes, I got a new an MP3 player for Christmas]. Just the cool things Jim would put on like Eleventh Day Dream, My Sister's Machine, Bonnie Hayes, Pere Ubu and Junk Monkey - things I've never heard or seen before or since. Will Shelby ever come in and look at my stuff and just go "make me something interesting."
Maybe - someday. And she'll get things like Paul Weller, Paul Westerberg, the Hold Steady, Wilco, X, XTC, Superchunk, the Blasters, Glossary, Bowie and Johnny Cash and throw on something like Sam Cooke or the Impressions or Jr. Walker & the All Stars for a little even more off the wall. And she'll decide never to do that again. Or maybe she'll find something there she likes - like I did when Uncle Mike suggested Frank Zappa, Johnny Winter or Rory Gallagher and I can make suggestions... That would be totally cool! I don't know, though. Who listens to the old crap that their uncle listens to? Oh, me. But who else?
Someday she and Erin may realize I am a soft touch for trips to Borders and Half Price for CDs and books. Or just looking at things, finding new sources.
But she's a teenager now, and I got a full dose last night. 13 with attitude. Beginning down the road to adulthood, but still horseplaying with her sister and aunt [Yes, my half sister who is 3 is her aunt. That's so funny.] and grandfather. But was totally excited about receiving tons of hair care and Bath and Bodyworks things.
13 makes me think Big Star's song Thirteen. Junior high.Feeling freakishly awkward, unsure of one's self and not coping well with changes. Of course some of us never grow out of that. Nerdy at 13 = nerdy for life? Maybe so.
At least Shelby is not nerdy. Well, not too much. Glasses and braces, but she has confidence in herself. I will give her that.