AJ's Online Journal

Happy 33!!!

Every year I write a journal entry on my birthday... so here goes number 33!!! It's funny how you can look back from birthday to birthday and see how much your life has changed. Seven years ago I was writing in my journal from the balcony of my beach apartment in Miami. Seven years before that I was sitting in a Pizza Hut across from the Alamo. Not the rental car place but the place in San Antonio. Oh and not the rental car place in San Antonio but the building type of thing in San Antonio. That year I was stationed there for Air Force basic training. We only had one day for a town pass and it so happened that it was on my 19th birthday. So here I am on my 33rd birthday sitting here at our house in London. I wonder where we will be in 7 years from now?
I remember when I was younger I would start counting down my birthdays in January, " Hey guys only 64 days to go until my birthday!!!" The very next day I would run up to my friends and say, "Hey guys only 63 days to go until my birthday!!!" Needless to say by the time my birthday came my friends gave me presents not in celebration of the day of my birth but the day I stopped being so damn annoying (At least until the next year). I used to put so much stock into my birthday and to be honest it never lived up to my expectations. It wasn't any ones fault but my own. In that 1999 journal entry I wrote, "A person is only as loved as those who celebrate them on their birthday". Since then I have gone to the other extreme. I didn't even realize my birthday was coming until 2 days ago. Julie asked me if I wanted to do anything special and I said, "Can we go to KFC?" How's that for celebration? I just wanted today to be like any other day I guess. Well, except that we never eat at KFC. And when I say "never" I mean never as in I never tell Julie when I eat there. :) I guess I just miss American food. So today is almost over and I don't feel any older. I was happy yesterday, I was happy today, and I imagine I will be happy tomorrow. All in all that's all a person can ask for. So, until next year I will sit here contemplating if there is any real difference being closer to my mid-thirties now as opposed to being closer to my early-thirties? Next week I will be in Vegas with Matt and Jeff so really my birthday runs until April 5th. I'll let you know how that goes. ;)

I don't know what this says, but I still find it funny! What do you think it says?

Soccer of my youth...

I was in the fifth grade before I ever played a team sport. That would make me about 10? I remember being on the playground at Albert Pike Elementary in Fort Smith, Arkansas when the fliers were passed out for youth soccer teams. As with most kids during those days, we all thought soccer was pretty lame. Dustin was the only kid I knew that was planning on signing up, but I decided to give it a shot regardless. I always liked a challenge, even at that age.
When the first practice came around I remember thinking, "I have no idea what I am doing". The only time I ever even played with a soccer ball was when I was even younger when I would go out by myself and kick the ball against the school building. We lived in Arizona in those days and I was in some random school with random kids I knew would be distant memories within a few months. Let's just say we moved a lot.
After the first practice the coach assigned us positions. I was to be a full back. The coach told me, "You will help protect the goal. Stay back here and wait for the other team to come to you." As for my soccer skills, I'm sure that gives you some idea. I wasn't disappointed. It took a lot to disappoint me.
It was a cold wet Saturday morning as we all assembled out by the airport for our first game. The coach passed out gold jersey's for us all to wear. When I say gold I really mean yellow. Luckily at age 10 I didn't really understand why kids laughed at the color of our jersey's. I wanted to be the dark blue team. They seemed cool. The game itself went ok. I stood on the field and waited for the other team to come to me just like the coach had instructed. I admit it was pretty boring, but late in the game we found ourselves down by a goal and the coach yelled at everyone to just get the ball and score. Most of my team mates were pretty tired from, you know, playing and all. Standing there all day doing nothing left me with a great deal of energy. I remember running down the field thinking to myself, "Why is everyone running so slow?" Somehow, just moments later, the ball came to me about 50 feet in front of the goal so I did what any normal kid would do... I kicked it. Hard! Even now, I can still see it flying through the air. CLANG! The ball bounced off the top bar of the goal. It happened so fast that I didn't know what to do when the ball bounced off that top bar and came right back to me. I stood there. I heard a voice screaming, "Kick it again!" So I did what any normal kid would do... I kicked it again. Hard! This time the ball flies right past the goalie into the goal to tie the game. I don't remember much after that. I do remember that the coaches son, Chris, scored a goal in overtime for the win.
I wasn't the hero that day, but as a reward I started the next game at forward. This time the coach said to me, "Just run after the ball and score!" Seemed simple enough.
When it came time for us to play that "cool" dark blue team, we were both undefeated. The winner of the game would win the league. When we took the field it was clear we were over matched. They were much bigger and faster than us. Plus they had the power of the cool dark blue jersey. We didn't seem to intimidate them any with our urine colored war garb. We quickly found ourselves down 2 goals and everyone was starting to get discouraged. On top of that the other teams goalie was talking some serious trash. I mean some SERIOUS trash! The things that were coming out of this kids mouth was shocking. Think of every bad word you can think of and you will get an idea of what we were dealing with.
Chris had the ball running down the field, he was about to kick it for a goal, but at the last minute 2 guys from the other team stole it from behind and took off down towards our side of the field. The goalie was still jabbering away, "!@##$ #$%% ^&^*(!!". "What did that guy just say?" asked Chris. "I think he just called you a pussy?" I replied.
There are certain memories you keep through out life that when replayed are always in slow motion. This is one of those memories.
"That's what I thought." Chris said as he turned around, ran toward the goalie, and punched him in the face. Hard! Blood went everywhere and I remember wondering if Chris had killed him. Luckily, the goalie just had a broken nose. Needless to say it stopped the trash talking. Chris' dad ran up to him and kicked his ass. Literally. Kicked him square in the ass. I don't remember what he said to him, but geez was he mad.
We lost the game and finished second in the league. The really funny moment came several years later when I met that goalie. He was very embarrassed by the whole ordeal. He had a huge nose and I always wondered if it was because of that day. I met his dad and I got my answer. It ran in the family.
I was going to play again the next year, but my mom talked me out of it. She didn't like getting up early on Saturdays and I didn't like standing up for myself so that ended my soccer career. The only thing I have left are the memories. It's funny how you can forget things like this and all of a sudden one day it pops in your head so you grab your computer and write it down. That particular memory is 23 years old.

Kissing

Have you ever wondered where kissing came from? I mean it seems such a random way to show affection, don't you think? We could just as easily come home from work, open the door and say "Honey I'm home", and then rub elbows together with your spouse. Wouldn't that be great! We could have phrases like, "Her elbows are soooo soft and tender" or "Dude! She gives awesome 'bow!!!" Now I must say there is probably some scientific theory that explains why we kiss and all but, hell, I'm not a scientist so bear with me here. The reason I bring this up is because of my daughters favorite toy(or at least looks that way). It's called "Baby's First Baby" and it's just a normal doll that is very soft and has a typical plastic smiling face. Now the thing that makes this doll unique is the fact that it smells like lavender. Now does Ella just like the doll or does she like the smell? Either way she is constantly sucking on the dolls face. Slobbers all over it! It's come to the point that I refer to it as "Baby Suck Face". I know, I know... I should be ashamed but it's just too damn funny. Now it MUST be the smell, wouldn't you agree? I am thinking yes which brings me back to my original point... do you think kissing may have evolved from smell? Maybe back in the day when we were all cavemaning it, kissing was a way to smell/taste something good? Maybe Mr. Caveman would check the old Cave Cupboards and say to Mrs. Caveman, "Euuukah liyhhhas du boodf pakka poodah?" Or in English, "Who ate the last of the filet mignon?" After Mrs. Caveman confessed that she indeed ate the last of the steak, he would say, "Well atleast let me smell and taste how good it was". He would then go up and lick and suck on her mouth and go, "MMMMMmmmmm.... I need to get me some of that!" And thus kissing was invented? Hey, I never said my theories were very good. And for whatever reason we have kissing... I'm glad! I'm a much better kisser than a 'bow rubber anyday. In conclusion, here's a little experiment for you, next time you are looking for some kisses with the one you love... rub lavender on your face and let me know how it goes. It works for "Baby Suck Face" after all so why shouldn't it work for you? Oh and a little disclaimer... if it is just a kid thing... I don't condone under age making out because that would just be... wrong...and weird.