Which Does the Most Damage...

The Roller Gods have spared me. My boss (it feels weird calling him that) must have seen the fear in my eyes on Friday when he said we were heading out to go skating. He gave me the option to come skate with them or come along and take a walk along the river- "It is up to you, if you want to try or be excluded." I don't know if he was trying to make me feel bad or if it's because of the language barrier, (I used to to think some to the bluntness was the language barrier but now I kinda think its them...) but I had no qualms about being excluded from the group for an hour or so.

The path along the river was nice and peaceful not exactly the most scenic walk ever, but it still quite lovely, well that is until I glance down at the person sunbathing literally right off the path and realize it is a 70 year old man tanning every little bit of his body. So not what I wanted to see, and why so close the walking path man? Thats just not nice. So I kept walking trying to shake the horrible image from my head and I then encountered a group of topless women (not that uncommon for Europe) again, right off the path. There was a huge field off to the side, but for some reason all the nudies were clustered around the path- I am talking I could kick you you are so close. Why, why?! Then further down the path I see like a nudist family. Dad, Mom, kid, and maybe an aunt or something. I saw them from a little ways off, because the Dad got up walked over to the bike path and started peeing. Peeing. Completely naked. Less than two feet from the bike path. Now looking back, maybe I should have gone skating with the family. Any bruises or gaping wounds I accrued during the outing would have been far less damaging then the scarring all those naked people caused. That is unless I was the unfortunate one to come around to corner to find a naked man relieving himself. Yikes.

You Want Me to do What?

There are some things that just make your heart sink into your stomach, and the nausea never seems to go away. In my case these words yesterday had this very effect- "We have a new family activity every Friday that  you will joining us in- skating." Then he proceeded to tell me its down by the river on the same path as bikes and they go for about 3 miles. Mouth on the floor, sweaty palms, overwhelming desire to tell them how horrible an idea this is... Anyone who has seen me attempt something that requires balance should now how disastrous this will be. Children will be skating around me and laughing, and they will realize they hired someone who is mildly retarded to watch their children. It is not going to be pretty. I am praying for rain tomorrow or that they will just forget about me...

Utini!

It was my Golden Birthday this year, and I felt like I was becoming a grandma so I knew I had to have the most awesome birthday ever. My family knows what it takes to throw a fantastically nerdy party, and it was delightful. There were homemade t-shirts, costumes, a training droid pinata, the Millennium Falcon, candy lights-sabers that actually lit up, Han Solo trapped in Carbonite Jello and tons of Star Wars themed food. By far the coolest birthday party I have ever had. Thanks family! 

Here We Come, Guns Ablazing

The semester ended and I had about a week free before heading to the Czech Republic so I spent it in California with my family.Bryan and Aaron recently decided they needed to have a heavy arsenal, so I of course had to help break their guns in. My nieces (6 and 9 yrs old) came along and shot for the first time. It was so awesome to see tiny little Sarah wielding massive guns that were pretty much bigger than her. Sarah and Amanda were both pretty hardcore and had a go shooting each of the different guns there.

At the end of the day Bryan decided to load up the shot gun with each of the different size shells he had (we had been shooting his smallest size) and let me feel the difference in the power of each shot. I think the pictures of me say it all. Those larger shells pack quite the punch... To say I felt like Rambo while shooting the shot gun from the hip is an understatement. It was pretty freakin sweet.