More on the Picture Side of Things

I'm going to pose a question - and in turn embarrass the hell out of myself. (Anything for a joke and a laugh, right? ;-)

How do you know when you've had too much fun at a wedding?

Anyone?

Give up?

You go from this:

To this:

Yep. PJ's OVER the dress you wore to the wedding. And I slept that way, too. Sometimes, I amaze even MYSELF with the amount of class I possess. HA!

Hold 'Em

Barry Greenstein is a professional Texas Hold 'Em poker player from Chicago, IL. A large amount of his tournament winnings he donates to charity - primarily children's charities - so I guess I can't dog the guy too much. However, tonight I saw something that struck me as really odd...

Dustin was flipping back and forth between two different shows tonight - World Series of Poker 2008 and High Stakes Poker. Barry Greenstein happened to be on both. (In two places at once?! Hardly.)

Anyhoo. On High Stakes Poker, pros compete - using their OWN money - and are able to "re-buy" if they get knocked out early. These guys (and gals) sit at the table with stacks of chips...AND bricks of money. Bricks of $100's, to be exact.

Greenstein seemed to be doing alright; however, I did see several hands in which Daniel Negreanu (love that guy - quite possibly THE BEST, and smartest, poker player I've ever watched) completely outplayed and beat him. Greenstein was VISIBLY on tilt; the disgust and disappointment was written all over his face. I remember thinking, "Daniel's just going to wipe the table with this guy...HE's a PRO???"

On WSOP, I watched the hand in which Greenstein was eliminated from the tournament. I can't remember now exactly what the hand was (it's way past my bedtime for a work night), but as the River card (and Greenstein's losing fate) was revealed, he slid his chair back from the table and I saw him scribbling in what I thought was a notebook. "Does this guy keep track of the hands that beat him? Is this some sort of weird study tactic?? What the HELL is he doing???" As I was wondering, Dustin answered, "Every time he gets knocked out from a tournament, he signs and gives a copy of his book to the person who eliminated him."

WHAT?!?! Let me get this straight. He signs. And gives. A copy of HIS book. To. The. Person. Who. Eliminates. Him. From. The. Tournament.

Barry Greenstein writes a book on how to play poker and, presumably, how to play it well. I'm sure, as all the other pros' books do, it contains the "secrets" on how to win, beat the odds. And the guy who kicks his ass at the poker table gets a copy of it. Does this seem really freakin' weird to anyone else??? I'm not sure, but I'd venture to say the person who knocks him out already knows what they're doing - and has the right amount of luck on their side. I don't think they need a book.

If I Am Missing or Dead

A couple weeks ago my mother-in-law loaned this book to me, and I managed to finish it in the span of a day and a half. To be honest, that's how quickly I read most books - ESPECIALLY the ones that drag me so far into them I simply can't put them down.

If I Am Missing or Dead (A Sister's Story of Love, Murder, & Liberation) is written by Janine Latus, and was released in paperback on April 15 of this year. Janine is the middle in a family of five children - one brother and four sisters. The book begs the question, "How did two seemingly well-adjusted, successful women end up in strings of physically or emotionally abusive relationships with men". But that's not the whole story...

From the website: "In April 2002, Janine Latus's youngest sister, Amy, wrote a note and taped it to the inside of her desk drawer. "Today Ron Ball and I are romantically involved," it read, "but I fear I have placed myself at risk in a variety of ways. Based on his criminal past, writing this out just seems like the smart thing to do. If I am missing or dead this obviously has not protected me..."

At the same time, Janine was struggling to gather the courage to leave her own marriage - a marriage to a successful, wealthy, handsome doctor. It was a marraige which appeared appeared perfect on the surface, a marriage which other emulated. For Janine, though, it was a nightmare. She was belittled, objectified, controlled, afraid, and trapped.

Janine finally leaves her marriage and is on a business trip, reveling in her freedom, when she gets a phone call from her sister, Jane: "Have you heard from Amy???" Immediately, Janine knows something is wrong...the above note is eventually discovered by Amy's coworkers, helicopters are sent up, search dogs sent out, and Amy's picture adorns posters that are plastered across the county. Her body is discovered more than two weeks later, wrapped in tarp and buried at a building site.

These women were victims. If I Am Missing or Dead takes you on a journey (mostly through Janine's life) - from childhood with a perverted father and subservient mother, to attempted rape, to marrying a man who does nothing but objectify and control her, to finally standing up and saying, "THIS IS NOT RIGHT. I CAN NOT, AND WILL NOT, LIVE LIKE THIS." She describes both hers and her sister's victimizations with unflinching candor. There were times while reading I would literally draw back, but I had to continue. This book is detailed. It is graphic. It is a TRUE story. It will grab you, pull you in, and not let go until the last page. And it will DEFINITELY leave a lasting impression on you.

"At once a confession, a call to break the cycle of abuse, and a deeply felt love letter to her baby sister, Amy Lynne Latus, If I Am Missing or Dead is an unforgettable read."

Visit the websites:

www.ifiammissingordead.com

www.janinelatus.com

Lavender

I haven't blogged anything of substance for a couple of weeks now, and it's been even longer since a color blog post. I promise I have much to tell, and lots on my mind. I also recently finished reading a FANTASTICAL book that I simply MUST blog about...once I gather my thoughts and ideas adequately enough to write a review that will do it justice.

Until then, here are some pretty Lavender pictures I found via google. (My hope is that, if I set one of them as my desktop background, it will help to calm my jangly nerves and ease my stresses!! At least a little bit!)

The last one is definitely my favorite. One of those pictures that just makes me smile. :-)

catching my breath...or at least trying to...

It all started August 28...

(morning) - Dustin called me at 9 a.m. complaining of severe right side pain, and told me his boss told him to go to the doctor or ER. The way Dustin made it sound, I thought it was something similar to what I experienced in May when I had appendicitis. So I left work, picked him up, and took him to St. John's Mercy Medical Center to the ER. They did an ultrasound & chest xray, ended up diagnosing him w/ costochondritis (inflammation of the cartilage joining the rib cage and breast bone), and gave him 2 days off work. (He was back in Urgent Care Saturday, then to a PCP Wednesday of this week - turns out it's just a severe muscle strain in his rib cage. Luckily that's all it is! They were thinking cracked ribs for a while, which unfortunately you can do NOTHING about.)

(evening) - I was leaving to go to mom & dad's, about 8:30 p.m. The apt complex was repaving our half of the lot, so we had to park at the opposite end. Long story short, they pulled up a couple of those concrete blocks you park behind (on the part of the lot NOT being repaved) and left the metal rods (about 6 or 7 inches high) sticking up out of the ground...completely UNMARKED. You guessed it. It caught & punctured my leg, then ripped down to the top of my foot. (The picture is from last Friday, while I was sitting in Urgent Care waiting to get my tetanus shot. Let me assure you, the night it actually happened, it was a bloody mess and looked a HELL of a lot worse. I'm lucky I didn't need stitches! TWO ER trips in one day would NOT have been fun!

Other than injuries and phone calls / visits to doctors, insurance companies, and apartment complex managers (don't even get me STARTED on that last one...), I've been trying to "keep on keepin' on" by making sure I made time to get out and celebrate the long Labor Day weekend:

Much of it I spent in Millstadt, IL (and the surrounding towns) at Millstadt's Homecoming "fair", Smithton taverns, and Paderborn bonfires. Not to mention a birthday party in Hecker with BBQ and homemade ice cream - yum!

Monday mom & I made the trek to the Hecker Community Center (aka, the HeckerDome) where the Moving Vietnam Wall was on display for several days. I was at the "real" one when I was younger, maybe 7 or 8, but at that time I didn't understand or appreciate it. To me it was a big mirror that caught my reflection dancing and twirling and giggling. But to see it - even the miniaturized version - as an adult, knowing what it MEANS and being able to appreciate it, gave me goosebumps. Mom & I stopped at the table to look for our cousin so we could find him on the wall and get a picture. And there it was. Panel 49 E, line 51: Daniel Branson. (Pay no mind of my capri clad legs reflected in the memorial!)

Many people had placed mementos - cards, pictures, flowers, a can of beer, etc. - at the base of the wall, which was just neat to see. My absolute favorite picture I captured, however, is below. I managed to catch ONE person gazing at the wall, with no one else around, and had overheard him talking about being a Vietnam Vet himself. This picture says so much to me...