We're up on Youtube! / Who CARES about your hair?! / Insane Asylum

Didn't talk a lot to people today, but did say hi to Jeremy / Citrus / Danielle / Christon / Jen / Mike T. / Quan. I gave Quan's card and peppermint bark to her, and she said thanks... she looked as tired as I felt! Moved my stuff from the "washroom seat" so Jeremy could sit by me, and asked Christon whether he was done with the tapes of a certain TV show (almost): yes, I want it next... haha. Vanessa wants some tapes too, but Steph will check to see whether what she wants is on the ones Christon currently has. Got a chance to talk briefly to Maxine and see baby Keenan - he wakes up for service even if he sleeps at this time all other days of the week. It's like he just KNOWS, haha. Good for him, but bad for his parents since they can't concentrate on the service because of his older brother Joshua toddling around! (speaking of toddlers, I heard David's son Ian and niece Olivia running down the far aisle today!)

In the back parking lot after service, Emily was playfully hitting her boyfriend Mike with her rolled-up bulletin and inserts. She invited me to try, so I told her that she should use a little more strength and hit him harder. I demonstrated, and Mike described it as "hurtingly bad." No, I didn't WHACK him with it... just enough to make an impression. Jeremy mentioned that the rain was a-coming - I knew, and it was evident after Sunday School for sure. Auntie Tracy thinks little Sean is comfortable with me - I noticed he looked up from his toy helicopter when I came in to help! He babbled a lot and seemed to like playing with people's shoes this week, and was also excited when we batted a 30-Hour Famine yellow ball around the table with boy bowling pins! (NEW GAME FOR THE KIDDIES!)

Since my mom had requested that I leave Sunday School early to get Grandma to Green Village for lunch with Auntie Kwai, I did so. Turns out that they weren't done yet at 12:30 (which I'd counted on) and that she didn't want to leave! (which I did NOT count on) She was being stubborn and cranky, so I went back downstairs to kill a few minutes' worth of time while saying hi to Stanley / Adam / Andrew / John / some other teens. (John: "I got banned from playing MAPLE STORY! Not by the administrators... by my parents!") Went back upstairs when they were done and waited for the crowd to thin out before going in to collect Grandma. She didn't want to go out to meet me because she thought I'd see her... I would eventually, but it's just easier that way! Doesn't she KNOW that?! Then she didn't want to have any rain on her hair, so she covered her hair with the top of her coat. She looked ridiculous and didn't seem to think she'd fall. Nobody is going to look at your hair, and it's not even HEAVY RAIN! Mom even publicly scolded her at the restaurant when she got cranky because her hot water teapot wasn't delivered in two minutes. THE WAIT STAFF ARE BUSY!!! HELLO!!!

Waved to Derek, Darren, Chris (who's third in the hockey pool), Joyce, J-Mak, Joanna, and Cordia. So many church people there, haha... it IS across the street! Steph said that her dinner yesterday went well and that they'd had fun. Dallas had called in the late afternoon to wish my parents a Happy New Year, so he's coming for dinner tomorrow. Heck, I will too - since I'm bad at calling beforehand, I told my mom to just assume I'd be there, haha. Well, nah... I said I'd be there since I usually am so far. Steph wants to borrow my hockey Bathroom Reader, hasn't responded to Harmony's email yet, and says Jon's flight comes in at midnight tomorrow. (technically 12 AM Tuesday - good thing it's not 9:30 PM or he'd have to WAIT!) Nathan has some discipline and won't see him in, haha. Jon had texted my sister (with proper English and no Netspeak - it IS possible with a fairly long text message, you lazy bums! :P) to say that he'd tried calling our parents, but the card didn't go through. Oh well, tomorrow it is? Heh.

After lunch (thank goodness we didn't have any SLB - not in the mood for it!), my sister and I went back to church to use the washrooms. I like how my parents left Big G alone in the car so they could vent about her next to the photocopy room without her knowing, haha. Then I established my glasses problem with my parents on the way home, so that's done. Dad hadn't bought church anniversary lunch tickets for his kids - cheh! He'll get some, I'm sure! 32 years now... Lesley pressured my sister into buying a DVD of the video for $20, haha. We saw some of it during service, and it was so cool to see! (it's up on Youtube under "VCEFC Family," apparently...)


Today's Deaf Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

The reigning Miss Deaf Texas died after being struck by a train. Tara Rose McAvoy, 18, was walking Monday near railroad tracks when she was struck by a Union Pacific train. A witness told Austin television station KTBC that the train sounded its horn right up until the accident occurred. McAvoy, who had been deaf since birth, won the state title in June and represented the state "with dignity and pride," state pageant director Laura Loeb-Hill told The Associated Press. McAvoy was to represent Texas at the Miss Deaf America pageant this summer. McAvoy graduated last year from the Texas School for the Deaf, attended Austin Community College and then started at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., in January, but had returned to Texas.

Culled from: The Associated Press
Generously submitted by: Nathan

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Apparently, deaf beauty queens are just as dumb as the hearing ones!

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Update Du Jour!

Apparently, I was a bit dyslexic and so was my source when it came to yesterday's MFDJ about the Civil War Battle of Chickamauga. I typoed the year as 1865, when it was actually 1863, and my source lists the first date of the battle as September 19, when it was actually September 18.

So, let's get this straight: the first day of the Battle of Chickamauga was September 18, 1863.

Thanks to Bo for setting the record straight. The archive has been corrected.

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Ruthless Rhyme Du Jour!

I've been reading Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes and More Ruthless Rhymes by Harry Graham, a collection of hysterical poems originally published in 1899, and I thought I'd share with you some of my favorites.

THE PERILS OF OBESITY

Yesterday my gun exploded
When I thought it wasn't loaded;
Near my wife, I pressed the trigger,
Chipped a fragment off her figure.

Ruthless Rhymes For Heartless Homes

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Ghastly!

Here's an excellent Montage of Terrible Things (Accidents, Executions, etc.) with Type O Negative for the Music.

Thanks to Ken for the link.

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Morbid Link Du Jour!

Now here's a fascinating site that makes the Comtesse dizzy with delight! An online archive of the New Orleans City Insane Asylum records from 1882-1888!!!< The descriptions of the inmates are absolutely delightful!!

"Furious Mania... she is turbulent, vulgar, and obscene when irritated, yet very clean about her person."

"Imagines that snakes are after her, with obscene intentions."

"Speaks of two men whom he (is said to have) killed in the parish prison. Considers his deed as the most natural, and finest ever performed by anyone - Says that he killed them by striking them on the back with a piece of wood and 'so nicely was it done [sic] that not a drop of blood was spilled. I only laid them to sleep.'"

"This woman is a Raving Maniac who can give no account of herself. She is naked in her cell."

Oh, Bliss!!!

Thanks to NightRaven for the link.