who's keepin score?

i recently saw a "great aunt" of mine... i guess that's what she is anyway,,, she's an old lady that used to babysit me while my dad was at work... that's all i know,,, and she's at all our family reunions...

anyway,, on with the story.. I saw her at a funeral.. we hugged and she made all the usual comments and asked all the usual questions:

"my your gettin tall!" (i'm 25 yrs old... i haven't grown any in probably 8 yrs)

"where you working?" "where do you live?" "are you still in school?"


you know,,, and then she started talking about when she used to keep me while my dad was working... as usual she brought up how everyday i would make a fort out of couch cushions and a card table and a blanket. and this monstrosity was parked right in front of the tv,,, so i could watch in peace..

and she talked about how i used to play cards with her husband... and then she got off on how smart i was as i kid,,, (i'm not bragging,,, i think i've lost a lot of that)....

anyhow,, what she said next was significant to me.... for one, because i had no recollection of the incident,,, and two, because i think it's amazing,,, and exactly something i would say,,,, then and now... i haven't changed a bit...


she said that, one day, we were sitting on the porch together. she was watching me play with my tonka trucks, or something of that sort. There was a blue jay flying around in the tree in front of us, occasionally stopping for as second and then hopping to another branch. Joanne said to me,,, (joanne is her name by the way),,, anyway, joanne said to me,

"look ryan, there's a blue jay in that tree over there."

I looked up from my toys long enough to catch sight of the thing,,

and told her, "looks like a bird to me",


i don't know why,, but i'm proud of that...

everyone sitting near us laughed at her story,, and i did as well..

why can't more childhood stories be like that,, something i can own up to...

usually they entail me running around in my underwear (if i was even wearing any) with a towel tied around my neck jumping off the couch pretending to be superman and eating hot dog weiners straight out of the refrigerator... and sharing them with the family dog.. (i've always loved dogs)..

anyhow.. thought i would share that.

home again.

ah to be home.. even though it is just a tiny room in an apartment crammed full of guitars and amps and tools... and outdated stereo equipment.. and dirty clothes..

actually i devoted my whole afternoon to laundry today.. but i got side tracked and slept most of it.. anyhow, my laundry is done.

I can't remember my original intention for this blog.... hmmmm.


so,, i guess i'll just ramble on about all the sweet stuff i did in washington d.c.


(that's what you wanted anyway,, right?)


let's see here... i sat down for a little self reflection on George Washington's very own back porch.. which is on a huge hill looking over the potomac river.. very nice.. i wondered what george washington thought about when he was sitting there. i'm sure he wasn't contemplating his class schedule for next semester... or his current living situation, and how to alleviate the current problems without adding financial problems.. or if his cell phone is broken because none of his friends seem to be texting him back..

i also nearly shed a tear at the WWII memorial when some lady and her granddaughter started singing the national anthem and a whole crowd of people stopped what they were doing and sang along.. myself included...

I went to The Arlington National Cemetery,, where i saw the kennedy's graves.. and also the grave of a soldier of the revolutionary war... that was pretty crazy.. and about a million other graves too.. and i saw a horse drawn hurst,, with a fallen soldier in a casket on the back of it.. pretty sobering..



i went to the holocaust museum.. not enough space to write about that... except, i will say that, all of the nazi suits i saw were tiny,, i don't know if people were just tiny back then,, or if it's just germans...



I stood at the foot of abraham lincoln and stared him right in the face.. one thing i noticed about ol' abe lincoln.... he was wearin some big fuckin' cowboy boots..


while walking up the steps to the abraham lincoln memorial i said aloud, "and this is where forest gump gave his famous speech." and turned around to my family acting like a tour guide... a few people laughed... i was satisfied...



in a similar fashion,, while at the capital building, i noticed a wax statue thing of a man from apollo 11... the famous lunar mission.. he was in his space suit... and people were taking pictures in front of him so i couldn't see his name or birth/death date... so when my brother asked who that was,, i replied, (loudly)"That's a statue of Tom Hanks"... "you know,, from that movie".. and we kept walking.... i thought it was classic....


while on the supreme court tour a lady asked if they have murder cases there.. the guide explained to her that most of the cases heard by the supreme court were appeals that deal with the constitutionality of laws... the very next lady,, i mean the VERY next,,, asked, "do y'all ever have celebrity cases here?"!!!!! good god!!!... i was appalled.. these were grown women, mind you.. i wanted to ask the guide if she ever got to shake paris hilton's hand.. or michael jackson's...

anyhow... over and out..

oh,, and i feel the need to say this:

THIS BLOG IS NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, ABOUT DUSTY PURVIS... HE WAS NOT IN WASHINGTON D.C. NOR HAS HE EVER SEEN NANCY PELOSI.. AND HE PROBABLY WON'T EVER GET TO.. WHICH MIGHT BE A GOOD THING.. BUT JUST TO REITERATE, DUSTY PURVIS WAS NEVER MENTIONED BY NAME OR PSEUDONYM IN THIS BLOG, NOR DID I USE ANY OTHER MEANS OF TRICKERY, IN WHICH TO FALSELY INCRIMINATE HIM BY MEANS OF ALERTING HIS GIRLFRIEND'S EVER INTUITIVE MENTAL RADAR FOR DETECTING SHADY BEHAVIOR ON OUR PART..

DUSTY PURVIS DID NOT HAVE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH NANCY PELOSI.


AMY.

blogasaurusrex

Wow!! nearly a whole month since i last wrote...

it's been super busy,, i feel like we should have been playing "Where in the World is Ryan Hagood" for the last few weeks.. nobody would have won.. I think i've slept a grand total of three whole nights in my own bed this month... the rest have been in Indianapolis, Eastland, San Angelo, and now Arlington Virginia..... which is about 2 miles from Washington D.C.


Washington D.C. is AMAZING by the way... for real.. I thought i would be half interested for the most part.. but i was wrong.. i've seen so much stuff here it's system overload.. the only downfall is that I am forced to get up at six am and board a tour bus every day of my vacation... lame... and stand in lines a lot...

I saw nancy pelosi... just a little side note there... and her entourage.. about ten people all talking on cell phones or tweeting or making sure people like me didn't bump shoulders with her.. all the while she was giving her little parade wave to us normal folk as she walked out of the house chamber...

i also got to sit in the balcony of the house chamber and watch our congress at work.. it was pretty weird actually.. nobody was doing anything.. they were all walking around socializing and then one guy would speak into a microphone and say the cause number that they were about to vote for, and they would all vote electronically from their personal desks and their votes would go up on the projecter.. all the while everyone was still socializing and tweeting and ordering lunch.... crazy stuff.



i have so much other stuff to write about... when will it all happen...

oh yeah,, before i go..

the white house was a total freak show.. there was one guy quoting bible verses into a megaphone in slam poetry style... really freaky.. another guy dancing while he sang into his megaphone..

but one old lady in particular. she had a whole little campsite set up across the street. complete with tent, umbrella, large signs, pictures, the works.. she was an old palestinian lady,,, the cops told me that she had been sitting in the same place since 1981.. if she were to leave the cops could take her campsite and she would have to obtain a permit to set up there, but since she was doing this exhibit before any law existed, she remains untouched... if she does leave someone else has to take her place momentarily until she gets back.. anyhow,, all her signs were protesting nuclear wars, and had pictures of people with injuries resulting from nuclear bombs... she was calling for us to stop sending money to israel, who is attacking palestine... all of which i know almost nothing about... what i do know for a FACT is,,, that it appeared as if a bomb went off in her mouth... she had about 3 interlocking teeth... all of which were about an inch and a half long... gross.. and she was wearing sandles... and on her right foot, her middle toe was on top of her big toe... i mean all the way on top of it... i couldn't believe it...

to make matters worse my step mom asked if she believed in Jesus.... you can imagine the bomb that went off in that court yard then.. she got all riled up and started saying Jesus wasn't divine because the Jews were able to kill him,, and that christians say that homosexuality is an abomination but still allow them to marry, and that we allow the jews in israel to blow up palestinians... whatever.,.. then a jew walked up... and he seemed irritated and started shouting that she didn't know what she was talking about,, and that the palestinians started the whole matter... i don't know...

it was quite entertaining,, and nothing was solved... i'm still in my hotel lobby being a christian... she's still sitting on the sidewalk,, with a full view of the white house mind you,, hating america... and christians... and her own teeth, i'm sure... she must not have a mirror in that tent... and the jew is in his hotel room,,, i'm not sure what he's doing... he probably is upset with the fact that the most fervent and vocal people in this world have almost no ability to reason...

also i'm pretty sure she wasn't doing a whole lot of researching in that tent over the last thirty years... but i could be wrong.

i heard a quote one time,,, and i don't remember it,,, but i think it was something like: An intelligent mind can entertain an idea without accepting it...

i kinda liked it...


anyhow... i'm out.... also i used the word fervent,, and i have no idea what it means... oh well...