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Thirteen Things I’ve Learned This Week

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There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t learn something, despite my hard occasional hard headedness. This has certainly been an edumacational week!

Of the many things I have come to know this week, I’ve selected 13 to share with you:

1. Baby Madelyn has hair!

2. Once you pick up a baby, they are awful hard to put down.

I got to hold my darling niece for the first time today. I got to feed her and burp her and nurse her through her first bout of the hiccups. And she smelled so good! I love the smell of clean babies!

3. Say what you want about the U.S. Postal rates, they have really produced some nice stamps this year.

The Star Wars set was terrific, and these are the best Madonna and Child Christmas stamps I have seen in ages.

4. No matter how old you get, you never outgrow that sickening feeling you get when you break your glasses.

You who were saddled with specks as a child know exactly what I am talking about. That horrible realization that your glasses are broke, you’ll have to spend money on new ones, and until then tape will be the great healer. I shudder just to remember some of those childhood broken glasses incidents.

I knew these were getting weak, a fact that I mentioned to Mary a few weeks back. Monday night I took off my glasses and the side piece came off in my hand. I went and ordered new ones today and they’ll be here in a week (insurance doesn’t do one hour joints). A week of taped up glasses…yeah, that will be cool.

5. It is nearly impossible to explain the One Ring to someone who isn’t versed on Lord of the Rings.
My dental hygenist asked about my ring today. I told her it was the One Ring. She said, “I can’t read it”. I said, “It is in elvish”. She countered with, “So what does it say?” Rather than quoting the whole thing, thus prolonging the conversation, I said it was from Lord of the Rings. She said, “You must have really liked it”. I said, “Yes…and I am a just a big kid”. Which led to lesson six:

6. It is cool to be a geek when others understand to some degree your geek references. Otherwise it can be downright awkward.

7. I got some really cool hand-made cards for my birthday that I have neglected to share with you.

Zach and Ashley made me birthday cards along a Star Wars theme. Probably because my more recent gifts to them have included Star Wars merchandise. That and I loaned them my copy of the Star Wars Legos, the original trilogy.

Ashley’s card started with the “A Long Time Ago…” in the same blue and yellow motif. Opening it revealed the rather cryptic reference to the myth that maybe I wasn’t born. Whether that means I was immaculately conceived or that I am a robot I do not know. What I do know is that those kids know too much!

Zach’s card included the above pictured artwork that makes me smile each time I see it. I particularly like the lightning shooting out of the Emperor’s fingers and I like C3-PO.

8. When you ask your mom to look for certain specific pictures from your childhood, don’t be surprised at what she might end up bringing you.

Needless to say, the envelope she handed me today had some real gems in it, including the above shot of yours truly (lady in red) and my friend Monty. Working at the restaurant wasn’t a big money maker, so we often rented ourselves out as ladies of the evening….

Okay, in point of fact there was more than one Halloween party that we attended over our teenage years dressed as women. On a few occasions Monty and I put on brief plays in talent shows where we were a husband and wife. I certainly wasn’t self conscious as a teen…and just look at that rack!!! Is it getting hot in here?

9. My wife looks like a child in these pictures! No wonder my in-laws-to-be weren’t thrilled about us getting married when we did!

Obviously from the same batch that mom brought down with her. There are a couple of pictures of Mary and I together in the group and she looks sooooo young. She didn’t look that young to me when we were that age, but I look at these pictures now and I see my 15 year old daughter who is only a few years away from being the age Mary was when we started dating. I think I need to lie down, I’m getting a case of the vapors.

10. If there were a pair of giant glasses manufactured anywhere in the tri-state area during my childhood and adolescence, I owned them.

11. Walking on a layer of iced over snow makes a tremendous amount of noise, gives you the brief sensation that you are walking over a frozen lake on thin ice, and is just as fun now as it would have been were I still 8 years old!

Since I have to take Charlie out during the day I have had the opportunity to crunch my way through my own and neighbor’s lawns. The noise is like a gunshot at times and it is a fact that no doubt thrills the neigbors when I am doing it at 10 o’clock at night.

12. When you exhibit self-control when book shopping for others for Christmas, sometimes good things come your way.

I have looked at this book for weeks…months even. Not only is it by a recent addition to my favorites list, Charles De Lint, but it has the coolest Scott Fischer illustration on the cover. It is hard to tell in this picture, but the whole image has a shimmering quality that gives depth to the image and makes this one of my favorite book cover illustrations this year.

Which leads to:

13. Acts of kindness, random or not, can bring the biggest smile to the recipient’s face and make his heart glow with the warmth of frienship.

Stephanie, who incidentally was the person whose name I had for Secret Santa, sent me a package that arrived today. One thing she had written in the card that I have to share is:

“This is to thank you for the amazing Christmas present. I originally bought it for me, but the spirit of giving sort of overtook me!”

Following reading the card I opened one present to find the De Lint book, a book I have literally been craving to own! And she gave me the copy she bought for her…that is EXACTLY what Christmas is about. I am so touched and so thrilled.

She also sent me this terrific Pulp Art day planner. Isn’t it fantastic? There are so many great images in there. This is so me.

Thank you so much Stephanie. You really did not have to do this but rest assured that you have my most heartfelt gratitude for your generosity and for thinking of me. It is that kind of selflessness that the season is all about. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.!

Well, that’s today’s Thursday Thirteen. Have you learned anything this week that you’d like to share?

26 thoughts on “Thirteen Things I’ve Learned This Week”

  1. So much cool stuff there I don’t know where to start 🙂

    I love that de Lint cover. And your photos, I love them too.

  2. love the glasses! heh, you need to pay a visit to Hogwarts and let Hermione fix them for you!

    Some neat photo’s there Carl… you had some curly hair!

  3. Always had the curly hair, Deslily, sometimes more out of control than others! 😉

    Thanks Fence!

  4. A Quick Question: Did you actually make any money as a lady of the evening?? Cause that outfit is something to behold!!

    I’m so glad you liked the gift!! I was really worried that you already had a copy of the de Lint. I bought it a week or before I got my Secret Santa gift. (and yes, mostly because of the cover!) After I opened you package, I was on my way shopping for one last present for MY Secret Santa recipient. I actually had a calender in hand full of M. C. Escher prints (one of MY favorite artists) when I saw the Pulp Art calendar. I thought it looked a LOT like something you would like.

    When I got home to send it, it just seemed so lonely, and the de Lint book was there. And I knew YOU would appreciate it. Other than my brother, most of my friends and family aren’t readers. Sad, but true. It’s so much fun buying books for people that appreciate them.

    So…that’s a long explanation. But I really was touched by the gift, and I just wanted to show my thanks. I know it wasn’t necessary, but it felt right. And it’s Christmas. So enjoy it!!

  5. I went “Oh god” when I saw the picture of you in red. Your mom kept those pictures?

    I love the cover art on the Charles De Lint.

  6. That was so sweet of Stephanie! That book does have a wonderful cover. I got my first Charles De Lint today. Like I promised Rhinoa, 2008 will be the year I finally read him.

    lol, I love those pictures of you 😀

  7. Great pictures! A fantastic way to start my day. I will now always think of you as the ” lady ” in red! 🙂

  8. Well thank God I’m laid off because if not I probably would’ve been fired after the uproar of laughter at the lady in red picture! This was such a great post Carl! Had me smiling from beginning to end. Just what I needed.

    I know all too well about the horror of broken glasses. I’ve broken way too many pair. The most traumatic were my black rimmed glasses that were my favorites when I was a teenager going through my Buddy Holly phase. They fell off and I somehow ran over them with my car and there was just no way of saving those 🙁

    Those Madonna and Child stamps are awesome this year. I hadn’t seen them yet. I was waiting in line to get some the other day, but I gave up because the line was so long and just went to the machine and got generic “holiday stamps” which have pictures of snowmen, reindeer, christmas trees, etc…I’m too impatient.

    Loved the story about the one ring! I can just see you trying to explain it, lol! And I love the cards. Those had me cracking up too.

  10. Well, well, weren’t you one hot little number?!! (By the way, are you sure that’s not the reason your in-laws were not so thrilled about you marrying their daughter?)

    How incredibly sweet of Stephanie!

  14. Pussreboots: Glad we aren’t the only ones! 🙂

    Bellezza: that might not be very acceptable in the ol’ school system. Ha!

    Thanks Debi, Annie. I was hoping that you would do that. I am really looking forward to your challenge. I have my first book sitting close to my computer desk ready for me to grab come January first.

    Debi: They were probably wise to be a bit leary of me, I was a bit of a wild one compared to their sweet innocent daughter.

    Suzanne: You should’ve seen it today. The sun came out and since all the trees and powerlines looked like that it was raining ice all day. It was very surreal and fun to watch and listen to.

    Chris: Well thank God for small miracles, I wouldn’t want to be responsible for your unemployment! Glad you enjoyed the post, it was a fun one to do. I’m going to miss these glasses alot, they’ve been my favorite and I don’t like the ones I piced out near as much as these ones.
    I hit the post office just right the other day when the weather was getting bad as there was only one person there.

    Jeff: Yes, I was a real beauty, no doubt about it! Maybe I can find this outfit and be your date to the next comic convention. 😉

    Nymeth: Okay, you cannot just throw out that you got your first De Lint without saying which book it was!

    Dark O: oh yeah, I’m sure mom has even more embarrasing pictures stashed somewhere.

    Stephanie: Thanks again, I am so touched and thrilled by it. I’ve been looking at the cover over and over since I unwrapped it. “When I got home to send it, it just seemed so lonely”…that is funny because I’ve had similar thoughts when sending/packing gifts.
    And I cannot wait to use the pulp calendar next year. And what do you mean, did I make money? What do you think! 😉

  15. What a great blog! You’ve outdone yourself. I loved your comment about how wonderful babies smell, especially that you specified “clean” babies. What great presents you got. And I can let you know that a male walking across that ice on the lawn makes a terrific racket. I was sitting on the couch when the mailman walked across the lawn and I thought something horrendous had occurred. I’m sure your neighbors enjoyed it as much as I did.

  22. ah, thanks for sharing!

    i love that one ring! very VERY cool!

    and those birthday cards are absolutely the best!! 😀 i love them. i especially like the “carl was born” one! 😀 😀 is there a story behind that?

  23. Not at all War Eagle, I think she’s pretty cute myself! That Scott Fischer can draw!

    The story, JP, is simply that they are currently pretty Star Wars obsessed and since I had given them Star Wars items for recent gifts they made me Star Wars cards. They are both so much fun. Between them and the cool drawings I get from James’ daughter Lydia, I get some really fun kids artwork from time to time. And it all gets saved because I cannot wait to show it to them when they get older.

  25. Actually I can’t take any credit for introducing them to Star Wars, they’re parents did an admirable job of that…I’m just helping to feed the addiction!!! 🙂

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