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Why do I insist on letting toxic people intrude on me? I have an acquaintance who is about as toxic as they come. They are lonely and insecure, they were put under lots of pressure to be perfect when they were kids and now they not only put that pressure on themselves but they put it on those around them. Every conversation I have with this person is a repeat of the last conversation. There are non- sequiters , there are blurbs, there are pronouncements, there are silences but most of the conversation is "Why do people do this (what ever this is) to me?" This person actually told me this weekend that they could not, I repeat, could NOT, accept the fact that everybody has different skills! How ridiculous and narcissistic is that? Jesus, if someone gets to their station in life b/c they know how to talk to people instead of graduating " Magna Cum Laude " big deal, right?! I get really frustrated. The thing I can't get past is in my eyes our upbringing is extreme...

Yesterday I turned 40 years old. I took the day off from work, did some laundry, spent way too much money at Brooks Brothers , and went to the park with Johnders. I haven't really talked about him, have I? I will. Later. Last night we planned a little dinner party at one of my all time favorite Nashville spots, Bosco's . It is home of the best beer in the state, maybe the country. I hadn't been in a long time and I didn't think it was a real possiblity b/c it tended to be pretty smokey. I don't do smokey as well as I used to and Tara doesn't do smokey at all. Was I pleased to find out that they are non-smoking? You're damn skippy! Come 1 Oct all restaurants will be non-smoking but some, like Bosco's jumped the deadline and U thank them for it. I gave Tara a list of people to invite. Many were out-of-towners who I just wanted to let know something was going on, didn't really expect to see any. Lo and behold two came in specifically for the party. One ...

This story goes back a couple of weeks but I've been busy or lazy or something. Actually, I haven't really felt like writing. During the summer we host our neices and nephew for overnighters. Tara has an agreement with them that once they turned 7 they could spend one night a month rotating between all the other kids who are at least 7 (there are currently 3). Well, something happened and we ended up with two sisters, Jahliya & Yasmin (I think I spelled their names correctly), at the same time. Yas is the older, she's 9. She is kinda quiet & shy. She is the girliest one of the family, most like her mother. You know, the "Ewwww, gross it's a bug." kind of girl. I can also see her acting more and more like the oldest, telling the younger ones what to do or directing them toward or away from activities and things. Her insane younger sister, Jahliya, is 7 and she loves to play in the dirt. She goes to Grandma Bonnie's and helps with the garden basicall...

Last weekend I attended my wife's college reunion. This was the first reunion I have attended since we've been together. Things are different at a women's college. I am used to homecoming, football and debauchery. Wellesley , apparently like a lot of New England colleges, has reunion shortly after their graduation and it seems pretty common that the alumni (alumnae, in this case) stay in the dorms - we didn't but Tara wanted to. We, along with 6 other adults and 2 sub 4 year olds, stayed at a friends swank condo in Brookline, MA . Saturday we drove over to campus and you could feel the excitement in the car. These women were all very excited as they pulled towards and through the gates. Then reality hit, we got out of the cars and were greeted by lightning and claps of thunder. We meandered across campus, greeted at every turn by a cheerful young woman and driver of a limo offering us a ride. Of course, these 92ers were mockingly appalled that someone would think they w...

My friend Billy lives in Scotland, my friend Billy plays guitar, my friend Billy taught me about Stravinsky and my friend Billy wrote us a song: