well, whaddahyaknow!?

It was around 930 pm, and I was riding my bike to the trusty 24-hour BiLo up the road to get some stuff to make for dinner, and I pass a K.O.-ed home along the way. Kind of out of the ordinary.

hey there, columbia

This gent that I encountered told me bits and pieces of his story about riding his bike from Columbia, SC to Minnesota for a family reunion. Even with (or perhaps especially with) all the drunken antics included in his tale, it kind of made me feel good about humans for some reason.


"American Air Pirate" ... that shirt rules.

I was riding down Assembly Street, and low and behold, there was some exotic roadkill. What in the world was an armadillo doing crossing Assembly Street?

Also, babysitting lesson du'jour: Moon sand is some grand stuff. I think we created and destroyed a sand universe at least 8 different times today.

http://www.moonplaysand.com/Default.asp?Redirected=Y

slide showsies

Through observation, I can inform you that of the many varieties of larval-yuppie-childhood-recreational-activities, swim team appears to be one of the more miserable options. As these young swimmers flail and gasp for air with each blow of some coach's whistle, I can only imagine that they long to splash and scream, "MARCO! POLO!" and slap eachother silly with those neon-colored noodles.

It only seems natural that it would begin downpouring right before their scheduled swim meet against mighty Greenville. This resulted in a bunch of granola and gatorade-infused 6 to 7 year-olds and their Ann Taylor Loft- clad mothers crowding into the "club house" area. After approximately two horribly claustrophobic minutes, Sydney, the girl I was responsible for, looked up at me and asked if we could go outside. thankyousweetjesus.

Watching Sydney play in the rain was oddly inspiring. She asked me if I'd like some of the raindrops she'd captured in the palm of her hand. She then extended her arm and shook my hand, in order to share this wealth. (I guess this story did not have a point...)

This is a series of photos I took while riding my bike down a parking garage at around 2 a.m.

strip mall scenery

I had an especially good time the other day while I was making chalk murals with the girls that I babysit, and I decided that drawing in the Walmart parking lot would be great fun as well. Sadly, this mural could not be finished due to interruptions by mall cops. You know how it goes... I think that the beefy-necked patrol man was thoroughly confused ... he thought that I was partaking in a, "senior prank."

in the Boozer shopping center, we found an obscene amount of donuts, although none of these were taken home.

mmmm, love.

playing

FACT: Sidewalk chalk is fantastic.

... so today, during my babysitting duties I had a grand old time. We ventured to a nearby park and boarded the mothership and giggled while swinging and created a pavement mural. Imaginations are not for suckas.

coastal-ness

Well, just the other day I took a trip out to the South Carolina coast, and gollllley, did I see some sights. American vacationers are the bee knees.

Also, in the remnants of a home that had burnt down we found something overwhelmingly adorable, KITTENS. Unfortunately, kittens do become cats, and a cat person I am not. I dubbed one of these creatures Firecat and almost took it home with me. (What a silly notion!) ... but I guess I may always have the fate of poor, helpless Firecat lurking in the back of my head.. or maybe not. (We did feed the kitties, so I do not feel completely heartless.)

This is where we found the peculiar bunch....

Fire Cat and Company.

Project Waffle House

So, one fine eve I decided to trek over to the good ole' Waffle House, the late night cultural staple of the Southeast. My pal, Amy, and I met a mixed bag of funky folk while enjoying some greasy hashbrowns and I took some pictures (you most likely will have to click on the picture to see the full sized image.) Anyway, this was great fun... and hopefully this will be continued.