Thanksgiving, part deux

So, Thanksgiving.

We had a delightful dinner at my grandparent's house, with a table full of insults and witty banter. Most of us laughed more than we ate, and we ate quite a bit.

After dinner, we had a rousing game of Apples to Apples. If you know me, then you'll understand me when I say the I get my sense of humour from my mum's side of the family. Meaning, everyone there had the same sense of humour as I do. You can probably tell how that game went.

But we ended it soon to catch the Texas vs Texas A&M game. I'd go into detail, but I don't know enough about football to describe the game very well. It was extremely close and everyone was on the edge of our seats the entire time, but the final score was 49-39, Texas. Sad day.

Also, Operation: Hemingway has been called off for a variety of reasons. It may resurface over Christmas break in the form of a camping trip. Who knows?
Anyway, I apologise for how poor this post is, I am exhausted. Hope your holiday was as good as mine.

Au revoir!

-David

My break so far.

Quite a few things have happened in the past day in a half. I'll try to address them all chronologically.

So, yesterday was the glorious event of A Ben's Thanksgiving. I picked up Rin in Mobile at around 11, and made it to Ben's just in time to get some food and a place to sit right as everyone was arriving. In total, we had 19 people actually eating with us outside: Sarah, Lauren, Davis, Meaghan, Kathy, Rin, Myself, Wally, Houston, Sam, Cormano, Erin, Macey, Chris, Jordan, Jew Sam, and then a few others I can't remember. Our tables got so packed, we had to send away a few friends that showed up (Cleveland and his girlfriend Sophie). It was pretty much a complete success and we'll be doing it annually from now on.

Oh, kind of a break in the chronological order of events here, but Rin and I are dating now. :D
It feels kind of odd to be dating someone again. I really hope that she's not like all the other girls I've liked, I want this to work out. :/

But anyway, after A Ben's Thanksgiving, I showed Rin around Fairhope (Took her to all the major places: Coffee Loft, The park, Cleveland's House, the pier) and then brought her back to my house. She met my parents, lol, and then we went up to my room and hung out for the rest of the afternoon. I showed her a bunch of the random trinkets and such that I keep in my room, you know, that sort of stuff. Well, it turns out that my house is pretty boring, so after a few hours I decided to take her back home.

I drove her all the way back to her house in Springhill (About a 40 minute drive) where I was invited inside to say hello to her mother (Who I adore, she's a wonderful lady) and her two older siblings who are in town for the Holiday. I don't think Rin's older sister liked me, but her brother seemed alright.

So I dropped her off and headed back to Montrose to go to my grandparent's house for dinner. When I got there, my Aunt Sue was there, and so were my cousins Matt and Nicole. Matt is basically a more cynical and sarcastic version of me, and Nicole is basically Sarah in fifteen years, but less hyper and more annoying. We spent a while conversing (We were waiting for my cousin Gordon to arrive before we ate dinner), and did some catching up.

This reminded me of how much I love my mum's side of the family. When you, your cousins, your little sister, your aunt, and your grandmother are all reading the articles in Cosmopolitan and pointing out the things that are stupid or just downright untrue, you know you have a certain bond shared between the group.

Soon, Gordon arrived, and all the men went out back to grill the steaks. Gordon just graduated from the Air Force academy back in May or something, and he's working down in Gulfport now. The steaks were done in a bit and we all went inside to eat. After a delicious dinner and witty banter, we said our goodbyes and Matt came back to stay at my house. We spent the night playing video games and making fun of each other, and didn't go to bed until around 5.

And then, we woke up and IT'S THANKSGIVING! So we're celebrating by playing MORE video games while everyone else cleans up and cooks food for us.
I'm thankful that I don't have to do any of that shit, I guess.


-David

Gonna start your holiday right.

Surprisingly, I can't think of a good pun for "Wii" that'll work as a title.

My Wii's been broken since April.

It works again.

That is all.

(Gonna kick ass with Ashley in some Mario Kart online woooo)

Back in Fairhope, just in time for they holidays.

It's exciting, to be home again after staying a way for a while. The friends, the family, just Fairhope in general. I always tend to forget how much I love this little town.

So, after my two classes this morning, I grabbed a quick lunch and was out of Hattiesburg before Noon-thirty. Wooo, Thanksgiving break!!


On the way to Fairhope, I figured it would be nice to stop by and visit Rin at her place. We hung out for pretty much all afternoon, it was nice. She also gave me what might be the coolest trinket I've ever seen:



It's a little trombone! And it's surprisingly accurate, anatomically. Would that be right? I mean, would a trombone have an anatomy? Or is it just a structure. Either way, it is both fairly accurate from an anatomical and structural point of view.
I'll be headed back to Mobile to see Rin again tomorrow, too, because I'm going to pick her up for...

A BEN'S THANKSGIVING!
Yes, it's almost here. I am ecstatic. Like, seriously. You don't know how excited I am about this thing.

But anyway, when I got home earlier this evening, I got to meet my family's new dog, Zoey. Now we have *two* loud and hyper dachshunds, huzzah! I don't know what they were thinking, to be honest, but she's cute enough, I guess. Also very licky.

The first place we ventured this evening was to El Mexicano, for a delicious dinner with Sarah and mis padres. We talked and ate, it was a pretty standard dinner. Whatever. :)

I'm just glad to be back in town.

And there was much rejoicing

What has two thumbs and a new thingie of blank CDs?
This guy.

You can't really see it, but when I said that, I pointed both of my thumbs at myself, you know, because that's how the joke... nevermind.


Anyway, excitement is building because not only do I have the ability to make kick ass mix CDs AT MY LEISURE now, Thanksgiving holiday is coming up quick. And with that means the plethora of exciting things I have planned.
According to the Facebook event page for A Ben's Thanksgiving, there are 13 confirmed guests and 8 "Maybes," as well as Forrest and all of his percussion people. This is going to be a big thing, people. Probably the biggest event going on in Fairhope that day.
Of course, that really isn't saying all that much.

But if you'll excuse me, I'm going to burn me some CDs. Awwwww yeah.


-David

I hate football.

Seriously. I hate football.

Well, most of the time it isn't that bad. But tonight was especially horrible.
It had been raining on and off all day, and when the band met up at 16:00, it was lightly sprinkling. It was around fifty degrees outside, and coupled with the rain, it was pretty miserable. Luckily, we had ponchos so it wasn't too bad, but it was still pretty icky.

Anyway, we march Eagle Walk in the rain, and then an hour later we line up to march through the District and into the stadium. By now, the sun was down and it was pouring.
Soaked and shivering, we marched into the stadium.

Luckily, just as we were taking the field for pre-game, it stopped raining. We performed without a hitch, and the first half of the game went by just like any other game. It rained lightly off and on, but it wasn't anything too bad. Then we did our halftime show and went back into the stands.

And then 3rd Quarter.
It went by terribly slow. I'll admit, I know absolutely nothing about football, but in 3rd Quarter, the clock stopped every few seconds. I honestly took like an hour to get through the "15 minute" 3rd Quarter.
At this point, everyone was thoroughly miserable. But hey, one more quarter until the game's over and we can go home!

Oh, wait, what? The weather's getting worse? You're going to delay the game until it clears up? Oh, that's not too bad...
Oh wait, WE HAD TO SIT THERE AND WAIT UNTIL THEY STARTED PLAYING AGAIN.

That's right. The band sat there under the stands for an hour and twenty minutes, doing nothing. We weren't allowed to go home, because the game wasn't over. I was cold, wet, tired, hungry, and livid. It was ridiculous to the point where I don't even know how to describe how bad it was.

After that, the levels of apathy in the band were so high, half of the band didn't even bother getting up or playing for 4th quarter. Which also just seemed to go on, and on, and on, and on, and on.

It was the worst football game I've ever been to. But, on the plus side, there were fireworks at the end.


Anyway, in lighter news, I am starting a new book: A Wizard of Earthsea. It looks kind of dumb, and the title is stupid and I got it for free, so I don't really have the highest of hopes for it. But apparently, it's won quite a few awards so I don't know, maybe it'll be a good read.


-David

Terrorism in Star Wars: Everything you know is wrong.

This is one that's been bothering me for a while, recently rekindled by a debate I entered with an acquaintance: Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance were a group of terrorists plaguing the established governmental body, the Galactic Empire.

Yes, I am saying that the protagonists of episodes IV, V, and VI are nothing more than an insurgency hell-bent on toppling the current government and establishing their own regime, regardless of the consequences (Consequences: Billions of deaths and decades of civil war).
Okay, first of all, the Galactic Empire isn't this evil oppressive totalitarian government. In fact, the majority of the Galaxy was loyal to the Empire; the Rebel insurgency represented a pretty extreme minority. The Empire was efficient, well-managed, and it made sure that peace was kept in the Galaxy. Most importantly, it made sure there was bread on the table and that the trains ran on time.
Oh wait, no, the whole DECADES OF GALACTIC PEACE is pretty important.

"But what about the Death Star blowing up Alderaan? That shows they were evil!"
Hahaha, shut up. In essence, the Alderaan fiasco was nothing more but a large-scale demonstration of power to shut down a protest. Alderaan had been openly opposing the government for some time, and if left unchecked could cause major problems for the stability of the Empire. The Empire's decision to destroy Alderaan was much like America's decision to bomb Hiroshima.
Sure, it would be a devastating loss of life, but in the long run, it would prevent an even LARGER loss of life.
The flaw in the plan there is that the Rebels would then destroy the Death Star, which is a key military base and an important structure in the Empire, catapulting the entire Galaxy into Civil War.
And whether their cause was "good" or not is completely irrelevant. If today, somebody bombed Fort Knox because they didn't agree with what it was doing, IT WOULD BE CONSIDERED TERRORISM.

"But David! Rising up against a government is a right held by the people! If what you're saying is true, the early Americans were terrorists!"
You're an idiot. Of course they were terrorists. Let me paint this picture of America's war in Iraq right now, fighting Terrorism:

We send troops over there to make sure their government runs smoothly and to protect the people living there. Unprovoked, militants destroy our bases, riot in the streets, kill innocents, fire on our troops, and stage protests against us. And unneeded war breaks out.

Sound familiar? Oh yeah, THAT'S HOW AMERICA WAS FOUNDED.

Britain sends troops to America to make sure things are running smoothly in the colonies and to protect them from Natives and the French. Almost entirely unprovoked, the "Patriots" destroy military bases, riot in the streets, kill innocents, fire on the British troops, and stage Tea Parties and such. Unneeded war breaks out.

Hey guess what? Thomas Jefferson was a terrorist.
George Washington? More like George Bin Laden.

Needless to say, history is written by the winners. People tend to remember the early Patriots as "Freedom Fighters" rather that terrorists, but that's just because that's how we described ourselves. If Britain had won the war, The American Revolution would be likened more to the Boxer's Revolution and the Sons of Liberty would have been described as a terrorist group.

Which brings me back to Star Wars: It's all about how it's portrayed. George Lucas WANTS you to side with the Rebels and root for the fall of the Empire; it just makes the movies more enjoyable. But it distorts the facts because of the point of view.

All in all, the Rebels were a militant minority that tried to overthrow the established government and used violent means to do so. That is terrorism, plain and simple.


But to be fair, modern day terrorists aren't allied with Ewoks. Maybe we'd heroize them then. After all, Ewoks are pretty damn adorable.

-David

How can I help it if I think you're funny when you're mad?

I'm sure you all know the song "One Week" by the Barenaked Ladies. If you don't, you must be deaf or completely out of touch with society.
I've always liked the Barenaked Ladies, and this is one of their catchier songs. It's an upbeat song detailing an argument that Steven Page and (Who I assume is) his girlfriend got into.

Well, I was listening to the song again this morning, and I really paid attention to the lyrics, and I've decided that this is one of the stupidest couple fight I've ever heard of. Here, let me show you what I mean:

One Week Ago:
-You looked at me, cocked your head to the side and said "I'm angry"
-You looked at me, threw your arms in the air and said "You're crazy"
-You looked at me, dropped your arms to the side and said "I'm sorry"

Five Days Ago:
-You laughed at me, saying "Get that together, come back and see me"
-You tackled me. I still have the rugburns on both my knees.
-I laughed at you and said "You just did just what I thought you were gonna do."

Three Days Ago:
-I realised it was all my fault, but couldn't tell you.
-You realised it's not my fault (And not a moment too soon)
-We realised we're both to blame, but what could we do?

Yesterday:
-You'd forgiven me.
-You just smiled at me.

Now:
-I sit back and wait till you say you're sorry.

Two Days From Now:
-We both say we're sorry.


Okay, that is just ridiculous. Why did they only communicate every other day? Why did she apologise the very first day, but so adamantly believed that it was his fault until they *both* apologise two days from now.
(I'm still trying to figure out how he can predict the future)

Either way, I just figured this deserved some attention. If a girl ever tries to pull this shit with me, I'll probably just punch her in the mouth.
Haha, just kidding.

I'd tackle her. See how much she enjoys rugburns on both of her knees.



-David

Excitement

Dear world,

I am excited.


Why am I excited? Well, Thanksgiving break is approaching quickly. This, in itself, should be reason enough to rejoice; a break from school, a chance to visit friends and family, and as much mashed potatoes as I can physically stuff into my mouth. But no, it's more than that. So much more.

You see, I am BUSY this Thanksgiving break. Busy in an awesome way.
Unfortunately, I have class on both Monday and Tuesday of that week. I am upset by this. But, luckily, the rest of the holiday more than makes up for this scheduling folly implemented by Southern Miss.

On Wednesday, the 25th, I will be leaving Hattiesburg for my home. This is the first day of my Thanksgiving holiday, and it is so filled with awesomeness, I don't know how to even BEGIN to describe it.
Oh wait, yes I do.
A Ben's Thanksgiving.

Yes, you read that correctly. Just give that a minute to settle into your brain-matter. "A Ben's Thanksgiving" is the title of quite possibly the best event ever dreamed up by human-kind (Next to Dinosaur Racing and Whaling).
In a nutshell, "A Ben's Thanksgiving" will consist of myself and anywhere from 12 to 25 of my friends all meeting up at The Original Ben's Jr BBQ to have a day-before-Thanksgiving celebration. It will be glorious in every sense of the word.
I'm salivating just thinking about it.

And that's not even the end of it. I will spend the rest of that afternoon with the beautiful Catherine, gallivanting around the town and being generally silly. There will be coffee and cuddling, both of which will be sweet.
Well, not the coffee. I don't like sweet coffee.
Sweet coffee is for the weak.


The next day is ACTUAL Thanksgiving, which won't be quite as much fun, but still rather enjoyable. To be honest, there isn't much to say about this. It's fucking Thanksgiving.


And then, Operation: Hemingway.
Imagine it, a handful of friends joining together to brave the polluted and festering waters of Mobile Bay, kayaking 20 miles to Dauphin Island, just for the hell of it.
Hemingway would be proud, I'm sure.
This trip is going to take around 5 hours of kayaking across the open bay. We'll probably be mauled by alligators, BUT THAT'S A RISK I'M WILLING TO TAKE. It's been so long since I've been on a *true* adventure, I can't help but eagerly tremble in anticipation.
We have no clue what we're going to do once we get to Dauphin Island, to be honest, but hey, who cares? We'll figure it out as we go, like real men.


That's the extent of my holiday plans, really, but I'm sure that Saturday and Sunday will be equally entertaining. Who cares, I still can't get over "A Ben's Thanksgiving" and Operation: Hemingway.

I'll bet you like six bucks that my holiday will be way more awesome than yours.

And THAT my friends, is why I am excited.


-David