bear clawed

This is called getting bear clawed. It's also called wearing flip flops with BMX pedals on a road bike that slips a chain ring.

Yes, those are jorts and my floor needs refinishing.

Those are Poverty brand pedals with very sharp claws. Very good in the winter. Not so good with flip flops and slipped chains. When you have a slipping chain ring it usually happens right before you head into traffic, which makes it both painful and embarassing.

clams casino - crystal

blue shorts

M 12:43 PM those are my party pants
P 12:43 PM oh i know. when i envision party, i see chow go down and visions of your blue shorts
M 12:44 PM they signal 'anything goes'. I'm not responsible for my behavior.

kankakee river houses

huskies rowing

I tried to get Nick into rowing. I enrolled him in an Afterschool Matters program that actually paid him to row. The teacher thought he was a very good cockswain which is not an actual rower but, to me that was amazing news. He thought Nick was very good at taking charge of the boat.

Nick never allowed me to be any where near where he was rowing and for some reason I respected that. I never saw him in a boat.

systemic

You know you have a weird job when 1 failure is catastrophic and 2 is systemic.

high laughs 1982

So you're coming home from school and stop at a friends house.
You are either doing bongs or jonesing for bongs.
Some days the group is feeling mellow and watch The Price is Right just for the color and because you knew the price of everything. Refrigerator, new car, or a trip to Acapulco.
Other days, you needed something more intellectual and you put on Barnaby Jones.
Cause Barnaby was better for high laughs than Rockford Files or Columbo.

Your worst days were spent staring at album covers while the music was too loud to talk. For hours...
You grew to enjoy the awkward silences for this reason. Let them float like balloons. Much of your character is based on your ability to endure things like this.