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Paddy Whacks – The Sequel

Paddy Whacks Addendum

So, I posted this article a few days ago, encouraging people to chat about funny or silly things I have said or done.

Honestly, that was a great trip down memory lane. I had me some great belly laughs. Since you were all so kind, I thought I would reciprocate by posting some funny pictures of myself growing up.

So without further ado (feel free to click to enlarge)…



Infant


They call me Bill Z. Bub…


Yes. To quote Rodney Dangerfield, when I was born they didn’t slap me. They slapped my mother for having such an ugly child.



Me. Au natural…


Honestly. What photo show would be complete without the one photo that parents will always show your closest friends?



Adolescent


Worst…Cop…Ever…


I really don’t know what I was thinking here. I suppose when you’re a kid, you don’t really think things through. Obviously, cops will never be caught dead wearing shoes like that.

Nor will you see them hiking their pants up in such a manner. At least, not north of Tennesee.



Pride of the Boy Scouts…


By pride I meant embarassment. I don’t know how I ever thought this was cool. I always heard that chicks dig a guy in uniform. Er…



Grown Up


The Beginning of the End…


This was one of the first big pants photos that Dave and I took. The idea was to take a photo of us in a huddle using our feet.

Don’t ask me why.



This picture makes us look far too young…


My wife lovingly took this photo because we reminded her of two childhood friends. Given that we still act like kids once in a while, I suppose that was fair.



The Moment You’ve All Been Waiting For


Never pack too light…


Yes. This is the picture of me drying a pair of underwear over the camp stove, as detailed by Tien in the comments of the last post.

What more really needs to be said?


I hope you all enjoyed my tribute to my own embarassing moments. Have a great long weekend!


Paddy Whacks

Paddy Whacks

This is the month in which I was born.

The world most likely regrets this month, as it would have been spared my insanity. However, I’m here, world, so deal with it.

In celebration of this birth anniversary, I’m turning to you, my readers (especially my friends) and offering you the option to participate in a creative exercise*.

In the comments field, I want you to write about three of your funniest memories of me. I’m curious to know what some of these things are. Partially out of nostalgia, but mostly because I think that this could generate a lot of laughs.

Feel free to write as much as you want about each item, especially the funny ones. If you’re like Dave, you will know how to skillfully embellish to get the giggles going.




* – That is, I am too lazy to think of anything at the present time.

Notepad Master

Take a Notepad

I was checking my e-mail recently and I noticed a story in the news section about J.K. Rowling and how she was complaining that she had run out of writing paper to write on when she went to town.

So what did people do? They sent her paper.

I understand that people admire her and love her books. Or perhaps they really want her to get cracking on the purported final novel in the series. But this lady is one of the richest people in the freakin’ world. Somehow I think that she could actually afford to buy writing paper from anywhere on the face of the Earth, and have it shipped priority page by page to wherever she wanted.

It’s stories like this that make me shake my head in disgust.

Don’t get me wrong. I quite enjoy the series (although in my opinion the fifth book could have been better written by a monkey jonesing for heroin), but please!

Send your paper to schools in third-world countries that need it!



Chillin’ With the Master

Tomorrow it appears that I will be hanging out with Miss Jay. We’ve been trying to get together ever since her and her hubby moved to the Big Smoke, but something always comes up that prevents us from meeting.

It’s like the universe will explode if we actually ever met while living in the same city. I suppose you should all hide in your bomb shelters tomorrow night, just in case.

I’m very much looking forward to it.

Depressive Missive

Preramble

A friend of mine has been feeling under the weather (emotionally) lately, and I told her something that actually took me by surprise.

Actually, it was something of an epiphany that allowed me to understand myself a lot better, or at least understand the way I used to be.

It’s essentially my thoughts on depression and why it’s something that’s so hard to shake.
I hope you enjoy it.


Depressive Missive

Depression is one of the biggest problems that plagues our society today. It’s a silent assasin that steals your happiness away from you.

Certainly there are many levels of you upon which it feeds: Mental. Emotional. Physical.

Perhaps this is why it is so hard to pin down.

Is it wrong? I’m not so sure.

We, each of us, is entitled to being in the dumps once in a while. But letting ourselves stay there is when the problem becomes severe.

Why do we let it stay?

Well, let’s just drag the reason out into the light: Sometimes, malaise can become so comfortable that it becomes a habit. We become negative. Withdrawn. We look at ourselves in the mirror and wonder why we would even bother to pick ourselves up and start fresh because we are useless.

So we sink further into the black hole.

This is only really a stop-gap, though. We simply end up at one step waiting to take the next one down a flight that leads us to complete and utter despair. Therefore, the easy way of surrendering to sadness appears more attractive in the face of the hard work to start climbing back up into the light.

But that’s where one would be wrong.

It is only perceived to be easier, when in fact, it will probably turn into just as much work.

Consider the alcoholic: At first, there is simply drinking. After a while, though, there is the withdrawal and the need to fill the emptiness with more drinking, which at this point may take some footwork to achieve.

The same goes for depression. You end up living to sip the next bit of malaise.

Is that’s why it’s so hard to stop? Maybe, like happiness, the body considers depression and sadness to be a deviation from the norm*, and thus wants more because it is different.

Perhaps this may seem odd, but I seriously wonder if that’s what may be happening. Depression and happiness could be two sides of the same coin, affecting the body with the same method yet yielding different results.

It would certainly explain why it affects us on so many levels. It would be something that integrates itself into the fabric of our being, and would take a great deal of coaxing to get it to let go.

Think of it as putting your foot on the accelerator of a car. Almost everyone craves the feeling of more speed. But does it matter what direction they are going in?

I think this might be something I would like to continue to explore. Perhaps you can help with your comments?




* – See this article about contentment.

The Opening Wednesday

The Opening

Saturday night saw the opening of my show, Juxta-Pose at one of the local establishments.

It was interesting for me because I spend every Thursday night in this place. I suppose one might call it a pub, as it is not really a bar (allows kids in) and not really a restaurant (due to the fact that the bar counter takes up almost a quarter of the floor space.

I had reserved space for a number of peolpe and arranged for munchies to be brought out at relatively regular intervals for the three-hour period of the opening, to show my appreciation for my guests.

And so many people came out!

Certainly I knew that a good number of folks would be attending, but there were many surprises during the evening.

Right from the get-go I was treated to a visit from my uncle and some of my cousins from Rochester (Em’s boyfriend in tow)…


Uncle Rui: Nice work, Jorge
Jorge: Thanks!
UR: These are all very good.
J: [Trying to be funny.] See that one up there? [Points at a chalkboard above the Kitchen window that has the name of the establishment on it.] That one’s not mine.
UR: Oh. That’s too bad because I was actually going to buy that one.


As the evening progressed, more and more friends poured in. During events like this, it’s always tough to manage to sit down with any one person and have a meaningful conversation, but I always try. Mrs. J is really good at making sure that I don’t miss anyone by getting caught up in any given conversation for too long.

A lot of people besides my friends went through the place, checking things out. I saw some taking notes and actually received some really nice compliments from people.

A few people bought me drinks (Thanks Dar & Reay), and others bought my work (Thank you Giles’ and Wendy!).

I just wanted to express my gratitude to all who attended, and invite those of you who have not to check it out. You can read the details here. I will not be there all the time, but I should be there every Thursday this month.
If you can’t make it, or missed reading the booklet that explained all of the photos you can click here.



Wednesday

Dave was over on Wednesday. It was the first time he’s ever been out to see any of my work, what with him holed up in the O-Dot.

I was a little nervous, as Dave is quite the talented wordsmith and I deeply respect his opinions. There was no need, though, as Dave seemed to really enjoy the exhibition. Mrs J. and Reay joined us for dinner after which we skidaddled back to our place and watched House and Lost.

Reay ended up taking off after that. Mrs J. bid us a good night and left Dave and I to our own insidious plots.

We ended up watching old home movies involving us creating stupid fight scenes and odd backwards-moving dancing. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in a while.

We also ended up playing Gamecube for a few hours, starting off with some recently-released games and then moving onto the retro 80’s video game disc.
It’s amazing how much technology has advanced in the last twenty years. Some of the games we used to play look horrible by todays standards, but are still fun to play. Back then, when the graphics and sounds weren’t so fancy, one had to rely on making simple and addictive gameplay to keep us entertained.
It’s always good to hang out with my friends. Dave lives quite far away, but I would say that we are much closer friends these days then we ever have been in the past.