A cheerful post

Tonight I will be going out with my kids. Yep. My. kids. I have somewhere between 8 and 12 kids. They are all between the ages of 19 and 22. No, I am not a teenage mother. Let me 'splain. For seven years I worked part time at a drop in center for teenagers. It was open weekend evenings and I was there often twice a weekend. There is a story behind why I started working there. I was at the mall and some stupid asswipe teenager said some stupid comment at my general direction. As I was driving home, I was pissed. I hated teenagers in that moment. I decided I could either add teenagers to the list of people I hate, or I could try to work with them to help them be a little more tolerable to the adult population. I opted for the latter. I knew about this teen center in a suburb close to my house. I called them up and they were hiring. I became staff, and quickly became a supervisor. I was responsible not only for the kids, but also for the other staff on nights that I worked. I loved working there. I have to admit it wasn't always easy. At times it was the hardest thing in the world. I found I have a knack for working with teenagers, something not everyone can do. I also had a soft spot for my "regulars". More than a few kids came in nearly every night. It was my job and also my privilege to get to know them. These kids were smart. Some cunningly so, others surprisingly so. I know that I tried to help them all, in some way. Sometimes just listening to their music and playing a game of pool was enough. Other times were harder, like the month I spent consoling the girl who's boyfriend (another one of "my" kids) had died in a stupid, avoidable car accident. I spent more than a few car rides home after a shift crying my eyes out because one of my kids had disappointed me, or pissed me off, or had died. Unfortunately more than one of them passed away. The kids I am having dinner with tonight are the ones that best define MyKids. They even call themselves that. They are sophomores, juniors, and seniors in college now. They go to different schools, all across the country. I had tried to keep up with them, but last winter I also decided to let them go. I didn't want them to have to carve time out of their precious winter and summer breaks to spend time with me. I was satisfied to have known them, and was going to be ok with it. Happily, they had a different opinion. The message I got a couple of weeks ago on my cell: "Von. It's V. We were thinking about you and would like to all get together for dinner before we head back to school. Everyone wants to go. Give me a call." It took me 1/2 second to call him back. I choked up a little, he sounds like a grown-up (almost) now. I guess he should, he's 19. I left the teen center almost two years ago. It was a personal and difficult decision, but I don't regret it. It's time for me to do other things. Someday I hope to work with teenagers again, but for now, I'll just look forward to that call every six months or so, when my kids think of me.

Picture Proof

I wasn't kidding:

The Bride wore RED

Back from Denver. Here's what I learned about Denver: Lots of tattoos Lots of dogs People are WAY too nice. They look you in the eye and stuff. It creeped me out. I wanted to punch someone in the face by about day two. Strangers just chattin you up like no one's business. Hated that. I had a fantastic time. It went something like this: Friday I checked in to my crappy hotel. You get what you pay for, so I knew it would be crappy. VonCousin picked me up and I got to have lunch with her and her adorable baby girl. She dropped me off at this fancy schmancy mall. I walked around and went to the movies. I was pretty tired so I went back to the hotel. Saturday was the wedding. The location was fantastic. It was in this really cute art gallery. Chris wore this fantastic zoot suit. It was black with red pinstripes. He looked great. His lovely bride Megan wore this incredible red dress. Hell yes, I said red. It was amazing. I had never met Megan before, but once I saw that dress I knew Chris had been right when he said that she and I would click. We really did. Chris' friends are all very cool, and I had a great time. I didn't get too drunk because we had to be up bright and early for Sunday's adventures. On Sunday about 35 of us went on this all day tour. First we went to Red Rocks and it was as cool as I had always imagined. I'd love to see a show there! After that we went up, and up, and up into the mountains. We went over Loveland (I think that's right?) pass at the Continental Divide. We got out of the bus there to take pictures. I felt a little queasy up there, but not bad. After that we went to Breckenridge. It was beautiful. We had lunch there. I sat with Chris' friends Rudy, Amy, and Rebecca. They are hilarious. After lunch we headed back down to Denver. We stopped at a real and actual gold mine and went on a tour and did a little panning for gold in the creek. We were all pretty tired when we got back so I just went back to the hotel and had dinner and packed. I am so glad that Chris and I have stayed friends. He's the best thing I got out of my last job. Megan is wonderful, and I feel that she and I will end up great friends. I will definitely go back to Denver to visit them. I'm really glad I went by myself, too. I now have my first solo vacation behind me. I feel confident I can and will do it again. It was pretty cool to do what I wanted when I wanted, and not have to worry about anyone else. I came home feeling really relaxed. Yet, still tired! Thankfully I am not going out of town this weekend!

Denver and douchebag

Tomorrow bright and early I am heading to Denver. I've never been there before. Here's the conversation with my buddy Chris that led to this trip: Me: "So, I've been thinking of going to either Seattle or Denver this year." C: "About when would you be going?" Me: "I dunno. Late summer, early fallish?" C: "Why don't you come to the wedding then?" See - this is why I love my guy friends. No bull shit, just a + b = c. Von + trip = Chris' wedding. Easy breezy. I'm looking forward to it. I get to see my cousin and her new(ish) baby girl who I'm meeting for the first time. I get to travel solo for the first time. I get to see Chris and meet his awesome bride Megan. I wasn't supposed to be going alone. Since I had promised that I wouldn't be cryptic on my blog, let me just say this - fack you ShannonG (she is ShannonG here so as not to confuse her with Shannon See Glass Run Shannon, who I still love lots). ShannonG was supposed to go with me on this trip. We talked about it more than once. Then, not for the first time she fell of the face of the earth. I sent emails, I called, she blew me off. Funny how she did that considering the last time I saw her I said "Blowing me off is bad. It hurts me a lot, and it makes me want to write people off." So, for that she is a spineless pussy. See, she postures she's all big and bad and tough, yet instead of saying "I don't want to go on this trip with you." or "I'm done being friends with you" she just blew me off. So let ME be the one to say it - I am done with you. I have enough friends who are actually worth something to me, and I to them, and I don't need you and your white trash bull shit anymore. We are no longer friends. Basically, you no longer exist to me. *Ahem* So, for the rest of you who are Not ShannonG, have a nice weekend, and hopefully I'll have some good stories upon my return Tuesday.

Something bothering me

So, something's been bothering me this summer. It's a trend. I guess. If you can call it that. I've seen a lot of people (mostly women - isn't it always?!) wearing scarves. And sometimes hats. Like Winter scarves and hats. Not. cute. people. Not cute at all. This is Chicago. In summer. It's 85 degrees with high humidity. It's not like you can be cold. If you are, see a doctor. Eat some soup. I think the next person I see wearing this ridiculousness I might just have to rip it right off of them. On another topic, I have an infatuation with my pedicure dude. Yep, he's a dude. And not at all gay. He's kind of pouty and pissy every time I go in there. So what do I do? Of course I try to engage him in chatter and try to get him to at least crack a smile. Last night I went to see him for my pedi for the wedding this weekend in Denver. Of course, he was cranky. I walk up to him and hand him the black polish I have selected. He said "Why? Why black?" I tell him I am going to a wedding in Denver and need something a little edgy . He thinks about it for a minute. He says "Ok" So, after a fabulous pedi he starts painting my pretty toes. He puts on one coat of black, and follows it up with a coat of pearly pinkish fun. So now my black toes are now purply black. I heart him lots and lots. Am I ready for my trip? No where near ready. But I'm thinking about it!

Weekend in review

I know. It's late. It's late Monday afternoon, hardly time for the weekend in review. But this is the first chance I've had to sit down at all this weekend, so here you go. As you know, AG and MenD came to visit this past weekend. Friday afternoon AG and I sat in the yard and had some cheese and crackers and fruit. After a while we meandered over to Shannon and TheMarty's house for some pizza (best pizza I've probably ever had). We met a couple of TheMarty's friends. I'm starting to love when I say "Hi, I'm Von" and the other person says "Oh! Von! That Von!" It's pretty awesome. Anyway, after pizza we took a drive to Sid's. On our way we drove past Lollapalooza and heard some of Radiohead's show. I LOVE this city. Sid's was good. I had an ok time. I also promised Timmy I would be back, and we all know I don't lie, so I will indeed go back at some point. After getting home at 3am, I had to get up about 3 hours later to pick up MenD from the train station. MenD is teh awesome though. I would sacrifice sleep for him any day :) Anyway, after some more sleep, we got MenD to make us breakfast - can any man so NO to AG and Von? Not so much - . After yummy breakfast we sat around and chatted for a while. Saturday evening we met up with Shannon and TheMarty. We went to Kuma's Korner for dinner *if you live anywhere near Chicago and haven't had a Kuma's burger, get your ass there n o w*. We had a couple of beers there because we had some time to kill. I ended up wearing one of TheMarty's beers. I have no idea why he hates me, but anyway. We then went to see my cousin in Let's Go Love, a fantastic show created by the masterful and wickedly hilarious Matthew Hollis. I was a little concerned that the show might not have been for everyone (gay men dancing around in fishnets and heels at one point) but everyone said they loved it, so that was cool. We headed over to Daily for a few drinks. I would be remiss if I didn't take my guests to Daily. It's like my "place". I was the designated driver, so I have no silly anecdotes about my drunk self from this outing. Sunday we had brunch at Tweet (my God tasty). So, I am pulling into the prime parking spot right in front of Tweet and some stupid twig girl says "I don't think that's a parking spot." The windows were open, so of course I heard her, and of course I was then a little irritated. So, I felt the need to respond. It went something like this: "Fack off. It is so a parking spot, and I don't think I even asked you." Or something along those lines. She was evil, and should have minded her business. Brunch was delicious, all agreed. Shannon and I then took AG and MenD to the South Shore and Chinatown. Alas, it was then time to send AG back to the East Coast. After dropping her off, we went back to Shannon and TheMarty's and finished off the pizza from Friday night. The four of us went to see Batman, and then I took MenD to Jet's for a couple of beers. MenD headed (bravely solo) off to downtown this morning before heading back to the airport. It was a great weekend. It was good to do things that I've missed and things that I've been meaning to do. A whole lot of Chicago in one weekend. This weekend I'm heading to Denver, this will be the last of my whirlwind of a summer for a few weeks, until Shannon and I head to Galena in about a month. I'm getting a little tired.

So, hm. John Mayer

Good news! Internet working! Landoverlord installed or plugged in or whatever the wireless router thing. My computer is a little slower than it was, but I am so not complaining. Anyway. I've been wanting to write about this for a little while now, so here it is. A couple of weeks ago, I went to see John Mayer. I went for two reasons (and ONLY two reasons). 1) it was a favor to Tonya. She had tickets, and no one else wanted to go, so I went. Sometimes, I'm a sucker. 2) Colbie Calait was opening. Now, I generally don't like female singers at all, but I have her cd, and I like every song on it, so I wanted to see if she can bring it live. She totally can. I was even more impressed with her live than I was with the cd. She's got a groovy husky voice going on, and she's all of like 19 years old or something. Girl needs to eat a sandwich or twenty, but we'll forgive her. Now. John Mayer. First, the bad. He has a stroke face when he sings. Like, big time. Like, all the time. However, I think he knows it. He said something about not being a concert singer, I think that's what he meant. So, I admit, I giggled more than a few times at his weird facial contortions. Also, when he played those awful over-played radio song I groaned, whined, and sank down in my chair, practically to the floor. Dude, the world is not going to change just because you said so. Take a happy pill. Stop whining. Shit. Now for the surprising good. Boy can play a guitar. For real. There were times during the show when he would practically just sit down on the stage and start playing the blues. In those magical moments it was like no one else was there but him and his guitar. He would concentrate, like he was thinking 'what can I make this thing do' and he would just play and play. If he had kept he strokey mouth shut more and played more guitar, I'd have liked it even more. He DIDN'T play "your body is a wonderland". Big bonus points for that. He took an audience vote, and actually listened to the crowd. Didn't play it. Big plus. He played four covers. This impressed me because he has an extensive lyrical library of his own, yet maybe even he gets sick of his own songs. He opened with "Sweet home Chicago" - not original, but well played. About 1/4 of the way through he played "Free Falling" it was a unique twist on a song I already loved, so cool. A while after that "Crossroads" - blues, perfect, he owned it, telling you the man should switch to all blues (ok, with a few ballads thrown in, I am a girl after all.) The first song of the encore was "Panama" during which JM played his Van Halen red and white authentic, and one of his band members was singing - this was Fantastic. Until. Until the dumb bitch hussies in front of us looked around confused and one of them said "Who's Pamela?" I shit you not. I wanted to hit her just for that. Another big big plus (that, or I'm going soft) is when he appreciated the crowd, which he did a lot, I really felt like he meant it. Not a gee-whiz look at me, now I'm going to go backstage and say how fackin stupid people are, but a real and actual appreciation that he gets to do what he loves and that other people dig it. I really think he was sincere, and he spoke earnestly. Plus - he had no shirt on for the encore. Kudos, Jen, the man is ripped. He closed the show with "Say what you need to say" which is a big theme song in my life right now. I am a huge music lover, and also a devourer of lyrics. This song matters to me. It made me actually contact M&B, instead of just thinking about it. It makes me tell my parents I love them a lot more than I did before. It's making me think about telling a lot of people a lot of things. Plus, I sound g o o d singing along with this one.