Pig Flu and Black Panther Parties

1. There's a gathering of the New Black Panthers close to Beaumont today led by none other than Quanel X. Nothing like a strong name to show that you're serious.

They're on the news protesting injustices. I really want to go but the police have warned people to stay away from the protest site or their cars will be towed. When I was at BYU I had a class where a former Black Panther spoke. I don't really remember anything because at that time I didn't care. I guess it doesn't matter anyway because really the only thing I can think of when I think of the Black Panthers is Forrest Gump saying, "Sorry I ruined your Black Panther party."

3. I'm not going to lie, I had a fabulous Sunday. The other lady who teaches the Sunbeams made Child-From-Hell's mother come and sit with her child during sharing time. It took her less than five minutes to haul the kid out by his wrist. She never brought him back. Instead, we just had two kids. We took them outside, poked ant hills with sticks, played with Play-Doh, and learned about saying sorry. When we asked Little-Kid-Who-Looks-Like -Chris-Farley what he should say to his sister if he ran into her and knocked her down he said, "Nothing. I'll just punch her in the stomach and run away." Looks like he learned the lesson well.

4. If you are what you eat, I have become a pig. We've eaten pork nearly non-stop for two weeks. That swine flu business really brought the pork prices down.

5. Husband is taking me to Sea World in three weeks. I can't even tell you how excited I am. I've wanted to go to Sea World since I was a little kid. I'm hoping to accidentally fall in the dolphin tank so I can swim with them for free.

6. We are one step closer to starting our food storage. We bought some shelves on Saturday. Of course,what I didn't count on was the fact that the shelves were too tall to fit under the stairs. As such, we now have it in the corner of our living room where we've filled up one and a half shelves with DVDs. Maybe we can barter our DVDs for food when there's a disaster.

7. I've gone off birth control. My thyroid has been running high for two years because of it. I finally researched the effects of hyperthyroidism and found that it causes fatigue, anxiety, increased heart rate, and digestive system hypermobility (meaning diarrhea). WHAT THE?! Those are all the things I've had for two years and didn't understand why. Seriously.

I've been off of it for almost a month and haven't had a single anxiety attack, haven't had a single unexplained stomach ache, and haven't been nearly as tired. I don't know if it's all mental or actually because of the absence of the hormones, but it's fabulous. I guess the only side-effect of not being on birth control is that there's a possibility of a Little-Nick-and-Erin. Hopefully not too soon.

8. I massaged a dude in class for the first time last week. Other than the hairy legs, it was pretty much the same. The guy was just a little guy...who wouldn't tell me if or when something was feeling good. Listen man, I need some feedback. When they finally filled out the evaluation forms at the end of the session, one of the other practice dudes wrote "Yes, unfortunately." on the question reading, "Did the student respect your modesty and privacy?"

9. Every Sunday night we watch The Amazing Race. Then, I dream about it all night long. Last night was the first time I didn't get lost in the dream.

10. They branded at home this past weekend. I didn't get to go. So sad. Husband and I were talking about the specifics of branding the other day and after I had seriously questioned Husband's cowboy abilities, he said, "I can know how to do stuff, you know."