Here’s a copy of a comic strip my subversive parents managed to sneak into my hands last night:
Sure, Karin and I joke about that special day when Tyler asks to borrow the car. Tyler is only two at the moment, but I feel that fateful day fast approaching!
I think we’ll follow the route my parents took when I got my first car; we’ll scour the paper for a used car that has low mileage, and was only driven by old people to and from church on Sundays.
What I eventually ended up with was a brown/tan 1985 Nissan Sentra. Sure, it was ugly, but it was my ugly. I really didn’t mind, and it was a steal for $3000. Fast forward 12 months you’d be witness to it buried under a garbage truck whose driver thought it would be a good idea to make an illegal left hand turn on a busy six-lane road in the middle of a rain storm.
Luckily I wasn’t hurt, but my poor Nissan was dead, through no fault of my own (thanks to the police report, eyewitnesses, and much finger pointing).
So, no Mustang for Tyler when he gets his license. Heck, he’ll be lucky if he gets a swanky 1985 Nissan Sentra with cracked pleather interior and am/fm cassette player ;-)
I’ve seen a double-yolked egg, a two-headed snake, a double entendre, a double-decker bus, a double play, a 2×4, double seating, a twin turbo, a two-for-one sale, dual action formula detergent, dos equis beer, double mint gum, Twin Peaks, a double feature, a double header, two turntables (and a microphone), double parking, two for flinching, two to tango and Tea For Two. I’ve even had second thoughts, second sight, second looks, a second glance, a second to think, and have even gone to second base, double-downed in Vegas, have had two pennies to rub together, double nickels on the dime, and a two dollar bill.
But it wasn’t until last night when I opened up a package of Top Ramen and saw this:
Two packets of flavorings!
What do you think? Is this some sort of a sign? Should I go out and buy a lottery ticket tomorrow?
This past weekend saw us playing host to Karin’s brother and his girlfriend Liz, who we took to the San Diego Wild Animal Park (or as they’d rather now be called “San Diego Zoo Safari Park”) on Saturday. We were lucky enough to get to the Lion exhibit at noon when they open the cage door to feed the lions by hand. If you get there on time you can position yourself roughly five feet from the wire-lattice doors and feel the vibrations from the lions as they purr while chowing down on raw meat.
On Monday we met my sister and her husband at the park, then showed them Queen Califia’s Magical Circle. This hidden treasure of Escondido is tucked away at the back of Kit Carson Park behind the duck pond, and is well worth the quick walk to visit. Tyler and his cousin Rowan had a great time exploring:
2011 was a whirlwind of change, a time for reflection, and a year of uncertainty.
As we countdown the final few days of the year, I thought I’d jot down a quick list of what happened over the past 365 days. I find that as time marches on our short-term memories seem to fail us. With the glut of information at our fingertips we tend to quickly slough off yesterday’s news in favor of the flavor of the moment.
But taking a step back and reflecting on what went down in the short span of a single year can come as a shock to the system, bringing home the fact that we are, indeed, living in some amazing (and odd) times.
So please, if you will, step into the wayback machine with me and ask yourself, “Do I remember….”:
The loss of the iPhone 4 prototype in a bar
Netflix and Quickster
The assassination of Osama bin-Laden via Seal Team Six
The assassination of Gaddafi
The death of Kim Jon-il
The Japanese earthquake and Tsunami
Arab Spring and the role social sites played
The final movie and wrap-up of the Harry Potter series
Obama releasing his birth certificate
The royal wedding
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” repealed
Anthony Weiner and “Weiner-Gate”
The hacking of the Playstation network
The end of the war in Iraq
Earth’s population reached 7 billion
NASA launched its final shuttle mission
The “Occupy” movement
The global economy
Apple becomes the most valuable company in the world
IBM’s Watson beats human champions on Jeopardy
Jerry Sandusky child molestation charges
The NBA lockout
Tim Tebow
News of the World phone hacking
Solyndra and the waste of taxpayer dollars
Salmonella from ground turkey
Listeria from cantaloupes
The Casey Anthony aquittal
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords shot
Mass shooting in Norway
Ted “Golden Voice” Willaims
The trial of Dr. Conrad Murphy
Notable deaths: Elizabeth Taylor, Jeff Conaway, Ryan Dunn, Peter Falk, Amy Winehouse, Steve Jobs, Andy Rooney, Heavy D, Patrice O’Neal, Harry Morgan, Bil Keane, “Smokin’” Joe Frazier, Dan Wheldon, Al Davis, Cliff Robertson, Nick Ashford, Bubba “Hightower” Smith, Betty Ford, Clarence Clemons, James Arness, Jack “Dr. Death” Kevorkian, Clarice Taylor, Gil Scott-Heron, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Harmon Killebrew, Jackie Cooper, Gelandine Ferraro, Warren Christopher, Michael Gough, Len Lesser
And so we wrap up 2011, and look forward to what will hopefully be an interesting 2012 (crossing my fingers that the Mayans were wrong about the end of times in 2012).
Here’s wishing everyone out there a very Happy New Year!
Now, that doesn’t mean that I spend countless days indoors doing nothing more than eating Cheetos and guzzling Mt. Dew. Those days are far behind me. With a wife, child, and a demanding job I look forward to spending time outdoors whenever possible. I guess I’m the natural evolution of a gamer who, over the course of a decade, has had to learn how to rearrange priorities and push gaming to the periphery of life.
Given this, I still manage to carve our 5-6 hours a week to play video games (right now Skyrim rules my world).
But even if you’re somebody who looks down the length of your long, narrow nose at people who enjoy video games, I still think you’ll get a kick out of this clip:
