Do I really believe that I'm the center of the universe?

Sometimes when left with too much time on my brain, I over think things. Yes yes I know, you're all shocked to hear that but I do.

So I'm up at my father's Saturday, the day after his birthday to give him his present. While I'm up there, he mentions that my sister made no effort to talk my father on his birthday. No card, no phone call, no nothing.

The question that runs through my mind is...is she really that totally self-centered that she can't even bother or did she not do it just because I nagged her to make the effort?

She's still barely speaking to me since I narced out her lil man friend who smacked her around. In fact her mother called Dad accusing me of spreading fake stories and that I didn't know the whole truth about what happened. Right, I'm the liar. Since I have so much to gain from making up that story.

Now I'm torn between calling her out on it or just leaving it alone and letting her complete her journey into being an assholish adult. What to do...what to do...*ponders*

The Big Six Oh

Yesterday was a big deal. Not for me, but for my father. He turned the big 60. I guess I can't deny it any more, my old man is...old.

He's never been one for a big deal on his birthday. I guess at a certain point it just doesn't matter anymore. I don't mind a big deal for my own birthday, but I don't mind it at all.

I talked to him last night around 9pm. As usual my dumbass brother and sister had not bothered to make a phone call even. This time I think he was genuinely bothered by it. I did all I could. I texted them and reminded them. If they fuck up now, it's all on them.

It's funny though, he's not sixty like you think of most people who are sixty. He's got no gray hair. He's not in declining health. Shit, he still drives a patrol car and wrestles with dummies full time, even though he can retire whenever he feels the urge.

So since I have such shitty siblings, I'll go a little more all out this year. I'll stop and get a small cake and such. Try to make it a little bit of a big deal at least.

Quick turn about

I was laying here at 11:30pm pondering blogging. Pondering what I was going to write about and I was thinking "fuck I am bored" Bored with my life in general. I shouldn't be, but sometimes I can be an ungrateful fuck.

Why should I be bored? I just found out today I'm getting a promotion at work. Now it's not the promotion I really wanted, but it's better than what I'm doing now. Plus there's the fact that my current position is being downsized in November. So...take a promotion or get laid off. No brainer, right?

Today I spent some time with the new boss and the guy I'm going to be working with. Everything looks good. I know I can do the work and they said if I put in 3-6 good months there, they'll take care of me down the road. If not, well it's a big world with lots of jobs out there.

But then at 11:39pm, I got a message. A message that sent a twist of nerves and excitement ripping though me. Seems like there's a good chance I'll have a visitor coming from out of town. I'm looking forward to it if it does come about, but it's a long way off and the deep down Cynic Phil knows better than to get too excited about such things. But right now, Cynic Phil can go fuck himself because I'm going to indulge in a little bit of hopefulness.

More later, we'll have to see how my tomorrow turns out.

Parental skills or lack thereof

There are times when I wonder about how some people actually masquerade as parents. Today when I was watching the news, a story caught my eye for the obvious reasons as listed in the headline below:

Police: Woman Drunk, Passed Out With Children In Car

So you know I had to listen to get the scoop, it was worse than I thought.

SALEM, N.H. -- A mother is facing felony drunk driving charges after police said they found her drunk and passed out at the wheel of her vehicle and realized she had been driving with her children.

Laura Lasorsa, 38, was charged with aggravated DWI and endangering the welfare of a child. Police said her SUV was parked outside a Salem school, and her children, ages 5 and 9, let themselves out of the running car, walked to a chain link fence and called out until an adult noticed them.

Linda Gallagher said she was on her way home from an after-work cocktail at Sayde's restaurant next to the school when she heard the children.

"I heard some kids going, 'Please help me. Help me,'" Gallagher said. "And I looked over the fence over there, and there was a little girl and a little boy."

Gallagher said she couldn't believe what the children told her.

"She said, 'My mommy's drunk and passed out in the car,'" Gallagher said.

When police arrived, they found Lasorsa passed out inside the SUV with the engine running, the transmission in drive and her foot on the brake, Capt. Shawn Patten said.

The children said they were on their way to pick up their father from work. They made it about a mile from home before Lasorsa pulled into the school parking lot, Patten said.

Police wouldn't say how high Lasorsa's blood alcohol content was, but Patten said a breathalyzer test at the police station elevated the charge to aggravated DWI.

"Aggravated DWI is an upgraded charge of DWI, where the blood alcohol content is a .16 percent or over," Patten said.

A BAC of .16 is twice the legal limit.

The children were placed in the care of their father, and the Department of Children, Youth and Families was notified.

"Any time where we deal with a situation where the kids are involved and there's problems with an adult or parents, it's a sad situation," Patten said. "Obviously, our hope is that she gets the help she needs and they move on from there."

Did anyone notice that the passerby who heard the kids was...coming from a bar! Fitting for the state that has the second highest per capita beer consumption in the US.

Hypocritical

I hate being a hypocrite, but being nothing more than a common flawed man I find myself falling into this particular adjective.

One of the things I always have told people is to not pull away from me. Tell me the truth, even if it hurts, but don't just pull back and do the disappearing act. If they do that, I don't know if I fucked up or if it's just them having issues.

Hence comes my own duplicity. I have pulled back, far back from a friend of mine. Her behavior has been scattered at best and for someone who was supposed to be a good friend of over a decade, she's been very careless with her words. I am sick of being on the blunt end when the hammer comes swinging so I'm out.

On the other hand I have a friend I can feel pulling back. It's not anyone's fault, I'm pretty certain I didn't do anything wrong this time. It was even discussed over the weekend, but I still sense it and I don't like it.

But I think being the hypocrite is bothering me more.

So what have my last 7 days been like?

To say I've had a tumultuous week would be an understatement of the first magnitude. Because I'm tired and want to just lay it out, you get it in point form as Cherry is fond of saying.

- I got laid off.
- I got rehired.
- I didn't get the promotion I was going for.
- I got a different promotion instead.
- I got a letter with a return address of the county jail.
- It was addressed to my daughter.
- Found out she saw a kid get shot in the face with a pellet gun.
- Had a friend busted for weed.
- Found out the cops missed the hash he had too.
- Went to a party with IT nerds and actually had fun.
- Heard a confession I never thought I'd hear.
- Realized my father will be 60 this week.

So you'll have to excuse my blog laziness.

Lazy memeage

1. Describe the perfect date for YOURSELF... what you would enjoy most.
Wow...this is a tough one. I don't know that I've ever even considered it. I think a kayaking trip down a scenic river, heading out to catch a really good movie or live music and late casual dinner, nothing heavy, just easy finger foodie type stuff.

2. Do you lean more toward being submissive or dominant?
Who are you talking to? Umm...do I submit to anyone?

3. What do you usually wear to bed?
Nothing unless it's really cold, but I have heat included so that rarely happens.

4. Have you ever seen a counselor?
My mom sent me a lot when I was a kid. She thought I was weird because it didn't bother me when my parents were getting divorced. They were miserable together and together, they were making me miserable.

5. Lights on or off?
Depends. If it's love, lights off. If it's lust, bright on full blast.

Sweet dreams are made of these

So in one dream last night, I ate at McDonalds, rear ended a pick up truck, saved a drowning woman, went for a ride on a tube that gets towed behind a boat, crashed on it and ended up surrounded by guys I made fun of in high school, reunited with the one SERIOUS high school girlfriend I had, ate Chinese food and hung out with Stoner Jamie.

Now if only real life were that exciting.

Then Britt wakes me up with a text at 6:55 am and now I can't get back to sleep. Plus EFX is down, nothing good is on Sportscenter and I'm not hungry.

Of course I could watch the Jeff Dunham DVD that was playing when I fell asleep with the laptop next to me last night.

Brady

Well, Brady's out for the season. I guess my Sundays just got a lot less busy.

I don't have much else going on at the moment. We'll see what pops up in the next few weeks. I get the feeling that something interesting will happen, I just don't know what.

Oh.My.God

Wow, they talked about this today on the radio.

Now I really have seen it all.

The longest 3 day camping trip EVER

Over the Labor Day holiday, I took up my bud Stoner Jamie on an offer to head up camping in the White Mountains. I could talk about the nice camper we stayed in. I could talk about days spent on the jetski, riding scooters, eating barbecue, horsing around with the kids or showing off funny pictures like this, this, this and this.

Instead, you can read a list of all the towns I have been through since last Saturday:

So yeah, I'm sick of driving but it was a great trip. Now I just have to nurse my sunburns and poison ivy.

Peterborough <--- starting point
Greenfield
Francestown
New Boston
Mont Vernon
Amherst
Bedford
Manchester
Hooksett
Bow
Concord
Chichester
Pittsfield
Barnstead
Alton
Wolfeboro
Ossipee <-- where we camped
Tamworth
Madison
Albany
Conway
Bartlett
Jackson
Sargent's Purchase
Pinkham's Grant
Green's Grant
Martin's Location
Gorham
Randolph
Jefferson <--- afternoon at Six Gun City
Carroll
Twin Mountain
Bethlehem`
Franconia
Lincoln
Woodstock
Thornton <--- where we almost got nailed speeding
Campton
Plymouth
Holderness
Ashland
New Hampton
Sanborton
Tilton
Northfield
Canterbury
Concord
Bow
Hopkinton
Henniker
Hillsboro
Deering
Antrim
Bennington
Hancock
Peterborough <--- where it all started

Women, as observed by Kelley

About a week ago, I was chatting with Kelley and we had the idea that since both of us were having issues with the opposite sex, we should guest rant on each other's blogs.

So here it is from her side, thank you muchly Kel, you did a great job.

So, what the heck is up with women anyway? Phil would like to know, and quite frankly, so would I. Is it our duty to act as cryptically and contrarily as possible? Take, for example, Wanted Woman. She knows she's wanted, and she knows that she totally wants Phil in return. Yet she seems to only be denying the underlying truth of the situation - and why? In hopes that their feelings will just disappear? Something I've noticed (and maybe it's just me) is that ignoring one's feelings doesn't really make them go away. In fact, it only amplifies them, and keeps them under pressure. One day they might seem to have been forgotten, but they will never disappear. Wanted Woman needs to quit drowning in denial (ah, I always appreciate a nice pun) and realize what a great guy she could have if she stopped being retarded. Even if she doesn't want to take the chance on "ruining" their friendship by becoming more than friends, that doesn't mean she has to be an elusive jerk and quit talking to him altogether. I mean, doesn't that just defeat the purpose? If you're going to possibly hurt the friendship either way, wouldn't you at least like to know if being a couple could work out - even for a while?

Then there's Simpering Sally, trying so hard to pretend that she's NOT totally hot for Phil, that, well, even I noticed and I'm not even there! Is it so wrong to like someone that you have to deny your feelings? Maybe Simpering Sally should read the above paragraph as well, so I don't repeat myself. Sorry, Simpering Sally - Phil doesn't want you, but there's no use in denying that you want him. So just acknowledge your feelings and move on.

As for the woman who once had Phil and lost him... well, would it trouble her to quit being such an insufferable Hagatha? It doesn't really help anything when one acts like an arse for no reason. And what kind of lesson does this teach to the children that Phil and Hagatha share? It certainly can't be anything good, especially where their teenage daughter is concerned. She's already beginning her rebellious teenage years, so adding more fuel to the "I don't have to listen to dad" fire is really not serving anyone well.

Whew! Sheesh, women! Give Phil a friggin break already!