Monday, January 31, 2011

The Evil Piñata, the Duet, and the Dropping Umbrellas

(01-21-11) It’s been two days since I last posted. This will be my third post in a row. I wonder how many times I can use the word “post” in a paragraph.
           Apparently, the answer is three.
          I get bored easily. Do you? I mean, I have homework for at least three of my classes I could be doing (I only have four), I have my own privet project that requires I read and take notes, I could be playing the piano (which is true, but people are watching the television in that room, so I really can’t…), petting my cat, singing to my cat, cleaning my room, cuddling with my cat, reading a book, watching television, decorating my room, petting or singing to any of the three other cats in the house, writing in any of my progressing works of my literary voice (also known as a novel), sleeping, or doing something else on the insipidly dull internet. Whoa. That was a seven-line sentence.
          Last year, for my birthday, Bebo and two other friends gave me a piñata. It’s bold and colorful. We didn’t destroy it. We just couldn’t. As of now, it is staring at me with its creepy, oversized eyes. If I cut off the head, I would love it to death, even if it would be dead. But that eerie grin and those eyesThat’s it. Okay, now it is shut into my closet.
          Okay! You got me. I have an irrational fear of my piñata. I think I always have of piñatas in general. They’re amazing to hit (mostly because it’s the only thing you can legally whack ceaselessly and maliciously with a stick).
          When I was a young child, I went through the traumatic experience of an alarm going off as I went into a store. (I may or may not have kicked those things they place at the entrance…) Into. Not out of. Yeah. My life is that sad. Well, Bebo and Hugo are much sadder. I never thought it was possible until I met (and grew to know) them. But that is their story to tell. I shall not steal their pathetic glory.
          (01-31-11) Oh, how deplorable this is! I was very sick last night, so I missed school. Again. Bebo, Hugo, and Leonard are getting a wee bit upset. Well, so am I! I read this thing the other day that said, “Sick and tired of being sick and tired.” How well that applies to me. I had to go to the doctor the other week and she asked how often I feel well-rested. Yeah… I only remember that happening maybe two times in my entire life. Oh, and one of my professors is figuring out how often I’m sick. I was sick with a cough/cold thing for the first two weeks of school (at least, I think it’s gone…), then I caught some horrible… thing… and missed school for a week, and this weekend, I was finally almost better when I caught yet another thing! But I believe it may just be gone. Well, it should tomorrow. It was one of those quick ones. In and out, just like that.
          Okay, enough venting…
          Recently, Bebo and I went to a deaf comedian’s performance. ‘Twas amazing! One thing that caught our attention was this exercise he had us do with the person sitting next to us. Now, the thing you have to understand is that Bebo and I are learning a duet in ASL (American Sign Language). It’s called Duet With Myself by Charlie McDonnell (You should really look it up. It’s pretty funny.) In the song, he is singing with a copy of himself, so we are, in fact, pretending we are one person. One part is, “You know that I really, really love you/ I really love you, too/ Yes, even though it’s vain, I think we feel the same/ You need to be able to love yourself.” Well, the comedian had us sign, “I appreciate you, I thank you, I love you,” to each other. We had a little bit of a déjà vu moment…
          Hugo has created a new exclamation: “Holy Swiss!” It’s certainly entertaining. The carpool has a daily exclamation. Every day, as we leave campus, the car cries, “Chef in the bush!” Thank you for that expression, Bebo. Thank you.  Except, the other day it was “Eskimo in the bush, smoking!” Yerrr… And maybe it’s just at our school, but the chefs tend to be tall and scary. We (Bebo and I) literally ran one day while we were lost and saw a chef. Until I stopped to take dozen or so pictures of a squirrel. Leonard was with us as well, but he just doesn’t understand…
          As a parting word, I suggest not using any of Bebo’s umbrellas if your name is Joe. Two of his umbrellas have so far closed spontaneously. One of them kept falling on my head. The Dancing Dwarf was too far amused with the situation. Oh, you umbrellas!
          Joe

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Three Sleep-Deprived Hobos and Company

    I, Hugo the Horrible, am horribly exhausted.  Not to mention horribly horrible, as usual (Leonard, a charitable soul, just said that I have "finally" lived up to my name.  Apparently, even his longsuffering patience has worn thin...).  Yesterday and today, I have been running into people, and asking people of the opposite gender unspeakably awkward questions (Joe's fault, it was his idea).  Today, I got stuck in a door.  And on a fence.  Yes, yes, I know, farm boys don't get stuck on fences, which just goes to show that I am a dysfunctional farm boy who does things all wrong.  And then I had a laugh attack until I cried...
    College is having an adverse effect on all of us.  Joe has been deathly ill for quite a while, Bebo has been having nearly hourly hysterics, and Leonard went on a caffeine buzz and acted like a college student possessed.  Perhaps he was...
    On my home-box front, Morgoth puked on the bed again recently.  Fiend was utterly repulsed, especially when he cleaned up the mess himself...
    And here at college, we continue to be crazy.  This morning, Leonard made the grave tactical error of giving me and Bebo a box of two donuts to share.  Something came over me--I hadn't seen a donut in years--and I ran down to flights of stairs with them, then fled the length of one of the main thoroughfares at the school.  Bebo caught up with me when I was forced to slow and catch my breath, so I dived onto a landscaping-topped retaining wall and rolled around in the dirt, screaming "Mine!!!  MIIIIINE!!!" at the top of my lungs.  Bebo tried to steal my shoe.  We got some rather odd stares from some innocent passersby...
    ~Hugo the Horrible

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

A Cat's Poem and Funeral Arrangements

            (Date written was the 3rd of January in 2011) Hugo was right. It’s 2011. (As I typed this, before editing, it looked like, “20110.”) I think I’m going through withdrawals, which is odd because I’m almost looking forward to this year! I first realized when I dated my math notebook and felt the need to throw myself out of the second floor classroom’s window. I can’t be sure as to why… 
            I spotted two fictional characters driving around town today. The first one terrorized me and I froze to the car’s seat. It’s a good thing I wasn’t driving. His name was Edward Cullen (I WOULD say Cedric Diggory, but this guy was a creep). He needed a haircut. The second was spotted by my mum. His name: Mr. Dursley. He was about ten years to young, but the resemblance was uncanny. I freaked out a bit inside. I know where the Dursleys were relocated to! And I know how they disguised themselves.
            The day began horribly. I awoke at 6am. The sun was still brightening the other half of the world. It slowly rose as Bebo, Hugo, a friend who will later be named, and I were carpooling to school. Ice was on the ground. About 11:15am, when the sun was above and not hidden, we tried to skate on the ice. We all just about killed ourselves. I went with Bebo to the gym on campus, where we “worked out” on soft mats by stretching and passing medicine balls. Bebo and Hugo did that a lot last quarter…
            We froze our toes.
            We tagged along behind people without their seeing us.
            We didn’t offer strangers candy… Woe is this day!
            I had to explain to my professor what a TARDIS is. “Tell the class your name and something about yourself the rest of us don’t know.” I couldn’t have gone with “I play the piano,” or “I can’t cook.” No. I had to say the only thing that came to mind right away (I was the fourth, I think, to talk), so I had to go and say, “I’ve been in the TARDIS.” And then, with all the confusion of the non-dorky, I had to elaborate. “My friends build a life-sized TARDIS.” And then there was more elaboration with, “It’s from Doctor Who. He travels in it,” among some other such sentences. I don’t think he, or the other people in class, will forget about me soon… 
            Have you ever not liked yourself? Whenever I say that, people always tell me things to boost my self-confidence, or something like that. I happen to think it’s healthy. I don’t mean self-loathing; I mean you see yourself for who you are because, believe it or not, none of us are perfect. That makes sense, right? How are we to grow when we think we can only rot from where we are?
            01-19-20 I know! It’s not my turn yet, but I am sick and stuck at home. Now I’ve missed two days of class. Luckily, I will receive notes for two of them for both days. A friend who has yet to be named (to my poor, pathetic memory) seems to be enjoying herself while taking these notes. That makes me pleased. I would hate to send her into a zone in which she is utterly miserable. She even got to watch a Lego video. And today there’s a guest speaker. I miss all the good stuff…
            Do you know that when I am sick, I have four cats that flock to me? But when I cough, my cat leaves me…
            Speaking of my cat, Pig gave me a birthday card. Ahem:

            I dedicate this to you, Mom,
            You love me even when I’m wrong,
            You calm me down and hold me tight,
            You even sing me to sleep at night,
            You sing that I’m a little ball of fur,
            And that makes me pur, pur, pur,
            I guess all I wanted to say,
            Is that I love you unconditionally.

            I shouted a thank you all the way across the house (family was over, so he was hiding). I love my Pig, even if he is obsessively cleaning a Ziploc bag… He has such an addiction to catnip. He likes to eat it, and sometimes he sneezes because he inhales it. Oh, my little druggie…
            Bebo and Hugo are, quite frankly, ridiculous. They believe I will marry the Stick. We would have Weasley children. Red hair and skin so pale, Snow White would be jealous. (You do realize the girl(s) would have to have specially-made makeup, right?) We would always be condemned to girly weights (as in exercise equipment) and the art of odd and pained expressions. Our children would hate us.
            Ahem. Here I will insert a quote:
            "It smells like death. Everything smells like death. Salmon smells like death. You eat too much salmon. You should bring salmon to my funeral." -Ramblings of Joe
            I think about my funeral quite a bit. I’m not sure how I will die, but I have it narrowed down to a few options; I will choke on my food (which happens quite a bit), I will be mowed over by those golf-cart-wannabes at our campus, I will be attacked by all birds because they have an hatred of me, I will trip over a brick (Teehee!), my soon-to-be squirrel army will turn on me, their leader,  I will run into a wall, my sister’s cat will kill and eat me, or I will spontaneously drop dead. But, of course, these are just the ones I can remember at the moment.
            Some of my favorite songs are about death. I want one of them to be played at my funeral, but they all mention names. Really, though, “How long? How fast? How far?” I hope I answer that the way I wish to. Now don’t get me wrong; I am not one of those black-loving (Haha, okay, so I’m not goth, but I do love my black shirts), screamo music, suicidal teenagers. Far from it! My death songs inspire me in great ways! Um, I’m sounding kind of weird now…
            I hope no one wears black to my funeral, at least as a main color.  Hmm. Maybe I should start planning it out now…
            Well, I think I will recap our school adventures later, in a proper post, not one put up because I was sick and bored. Bebo, Hugo, I hope this doesn’t come between us. I’m sorry that I couldn’t patiently wait my turn…
            Joe

Friday, January 14, 2011

The Edible TARDIS, The Inedible Domino

(As I named the post, I realized that I forgot to mention that at a Christmas party, while I declined eating a cookie TARDIS, I ate the Doctor's hand. He tastes very good. And I love my friends.)
Today, December 8, 2010, I was whisked away by the Time Lord in his TARDIS. Of course, it’s still today, but he took me with him three separate times. Oh, those were good times. But then he had to get his knickers in a twist about us bickering about drapes or grapes or something. That was when some seven-year-old kid snuck into our abandoned machine and took off, stranding us here. If you should see a boy in a blue box, or a man you’ve seen in pictures from a long time ago, let me know. Actually, no. Just the kid. Mr. Great Powerful Time Lord can get himself out of this mess! Insipid man…
            It is December 12, 2010. I’ve had a rather odd day. I awoke quite a bit early. Bebo and a friend were up during the night/early morning talking, and since I can’t sleep through anything, I spent my time conversing with them, which just made them talk longer. Do you follow? And, to wake me up, someone turned on blinding lights. Of course I dove into my sleeping bag! What else was I to do? But, of course someone trod on my side. Their startled reaction was almost worth the pain. Almost.
This morning, I re-met someone. It was like talking with myself, which I do, on occasion, spend my time on. And get this; his name is Joe. Cue my maniac laughter. Luckily, as we’re so much alike, I didn’t appear to scare him away. We talked about how we knew when we had originally met, we wouldn’t remember each other’s’ name, and we didn’t disappoint our past selves.
            Last night, in my delirium, I decided I wanted a list of all the people who have ever liked me (You know, LIKED me, liked me.). Why, you ask? Well, I want to find them, cackle hysterically while pointing at them, and then refer them to a therapist of the psychological variety. Oh, joy. Now I have another life dream to add to my list. However, I did just cross of “Lock yourself in a car trunk,” only a month ago. There’s room, I guess…
            I went tree shopping with my family today. It’s always been a stressful process. My family will not condone a fake tree (except for that one year when we were in between houses), and we never just go out and buy a tree. No. That would be too simple. We simply must trudge through rain or snow for a few hours before my family has chosen the tree to top all trees (so long as it will fit in the mass of wood they call a house), cut it down, and then haul it home to get it set up. This, of course, includes heaving it through a door. Poor door. As you can tell, it’s not my favorite of holiday traditions. (Although, when we once went to a store to buy a pre-cut tree, it was even worse.) Next year, my dad told me I would get to choose the tree. It will be a Dr. Seuss, double-topped, abandoned bird nested, wild tree.
            The last thing I have to add about today is not about today, but last night. Hugo taught Bebo, a few other friends, and I a little hand dance, if you will, with a cup. I taught it to my sister, and it proved to be rather addicting. We’ve come up with a few varieties of it. Sadly, the video has yet to be recorded. It should be up in my next post.
            It is now the 17th of December in the year of 2010. Have you ever been to a White Elephant gift exchange? I have. Last night was probably my favorite, but not because I got an amazing gift. No. It was the reaction people had to certain gifts, and, well, what those certain gifts were. There were cheese balls, white elephants, spy gear, utility toilet seats, and adult diapers galore! And then some people actually put on the pull-ups. It was quite amusing, but alas! I forgot to take pictures. Luckily, someone else did.
            The most amusing of all gifts were two fish (food and accessories included). Silver and gold, silver and gold! The guy who opened it squealed like a little girl, if memory serves. The rest of the night, he lay on his stomach watching them. “Look! They’re eating!” he announced as the proud new mother he is.
            Tonight I am going to help out at a drive-through life of Jesus. It should be fun. I hope I don’t embarrass myself as much as I did last year… I also hope I don’t freeze. It’s much colder this year. Details on how I humiliate myself will follow!
            Date: 12-18-10. Last night, I did not humiliate myself, as far as I know. However, one of my friends… In between cars, we were goofing off and such. That’s when my friends, who we will refer to as the Deplorable Aye, according to her wishes, began speaking in a British accent. It was rather amusing. Everyone else chirped in their best. After some amount of cars had passed, the Jesus of that scene told us, the angry mob, that we would yell in our English accents for the next car. We were about halfway through when the Deplorable Aye yelled her line of (and this is by memory), “Only God can forgive sins, aye?” She was too convincing, and Jesus started to grin. The whole group of people then lost it, and we broke down laughing. Jesus shouted apologies to the car, and we were about to re-do it for them, when they sped off, obviously scarred by the experience. The car who had been right behind them must have heard, as they too took off.
            Also, when we would finish our scene, we would yell out, “Merry Christmas!” The lame man had a habit of shouting, “Happy Christmas!” It wasn’t anything you couldn’t ignore, until… “Happy birthday!” he shouted.
            It is now December 20, 2010. The last two days have been rather entertaining. On the eighteenth, after I had changed into costume, I was told by a friend who I will refer to as Lars that Bebo had gone through as one of the first people. Bebo should have told me beforehand. I had been there, but I wasn’t yet in costume! I still could have found him! At that point, the Deplorable Aye and I raced around but all was for naught. Bebo and family had left. Now, I only found out about Bebo’s appearance because Lars, who was playing Jesus in the John the Baptist scene told me about how freaked out Bebo had been when he had said, “Hi, Bebo!” Later, I received this message from Bebo over the internet version of Facebook. “There one of the Jesus' said, “Hi Bebo,” and totally freaked me out. How does Jesus know my name?? I don’t talk to guys. And this guy had a BEARD!! I talk to them even LESS!!” Needless to say I went into hysterics when I read that. Oh, Bebo… Just for that, I gave that Lars permission to terrorize her during a one-day class us three desperados will share with him next quarter. Then she can be scared. 
            I have found out during the three-day event, that the majority of volunteers appeared to have a foreign accent fascination. I also found out that Lars cannot handle it when I accidentally say “prophet” in a British accent. It wasn’t even a true one! It was my very sad excuse for an American accent. But I wanted my line to have a different inflection than the other two, and the result was British. Poor Lars. Last night when I was on the scene again for almost the whole night, for half of the time, or so, the whole crowd of people would lapse into an English accent. See, he would take the John the Baptist role for the end of the night to relieve the other man, the Deplorable Aye’s father. Now, Mr. Baptist has a lot of talking to do. So, when we crowd people concurred that since the Deplorable Aye wasn’t working on the scene, we would go English. And we did. Oh! Lars’ face! It wasn’t just my slip of the tongue anymore, it was the whole scene (except Jesus) plotting against him! Or so it seemed. We were just getting bored. For the first line, his face would twitch. For the second, his smile would start. For the third, he was barely contained. He would then almost lose it when the crowd would rally together for the last question. After a while, immunization set in, but we weren’t deterred! We only had our fire and British to keep us warm from the rain, slush, and eventually snow.
And the snow stuck. We were soaked and shivering by the time the last car went through. But that last car! They get quite a different show. Everyone else gets what they get. For the last, though… In the water to wine scene, it was a musical. In John the Baptist, we went full-out British. During the lame man scene, they yell louder than ever. And those are only three scenes! Add to this that they were being followed by all of the volunteers from previous scenes, and you get a very unique experience.
When the Deplorable Aye said her line of, “But only God can forgive sins!” Jesus always would look at her, and say, “Well, let me ask you a question,” looking at her intently, while she acted surly. And then when we would yell, “Stone him!” and he would look at you… I felt like saying, “No, Jesus! I’m just acting! Just… pretending. I’m sorry!”
On the eighteenth, my sister was adjusting my headdress. It was askew. Then the headband that kept the piece of fabric on my head popped off! Because of her. It flew backwards, where the fire was. We couldn’t find it, and gave up, believing it lost to the flames, and I had to become a woman. At the end, we did eventually find it, right at our feet the whole time. Silly sister…
I really think it’s ridiculous that no one pays me any mind when I’m sick because I’m “always sick!”
I feel that I should add some confessions.
1.         I secretly wanted one of a few people from my scene to step just an inch to close to the fire… And then flame for a few seconds. Just to see what would happen. …Is that bad?
2.         I had a short-lived moment where it felt like someone saw right through me, and not in the usual, invisible way, but in the I-know-everything-about-you way. It’s a creepy feeling.
3.         I was beyond stunned that my sister not only willingly helped out with me, but actually enjoyed the people! She’s even more anti-people than I am which says a lot.
4.         I’ve found out that almost no one can creep me out these days. I mean, yes. I am almost as paranoid as Bebo, but I mean people I know. Try as they might, I do have to live with myself, and how could they possibly top me? I lurk, stalk, and add to that my me-ness. Bring it on!
5.         I almost did want a fake beard on the second day, when I was a man person…
6.         I never plan on placing my dead cat in the freezer. Ever.
7.         I should really be doing something more productive. Oh! I see an unproductive pile of books!
This one has absolutely nothing to do with the above event. I have recently developed a habit of singing my cat this song. It goes like this: “Soft kitty, Warm Kitty, Little ball of fur. Happy kitty, Sleepy kitty, Purr, purr, purr.” It’s from a television show I’ve never before seen, but thanks to some friends, I now sing it to my cat as a serial killer would to their victim.
The date is the 28th of December in the year 2010, but I wrote the following to Bebo on the 26th.
“Well, my grandma wore flashing green and red jewelry, my sister may very well have talked more than me, we kind of taught my cousins how to hula-hoop (one of our gifts to them), especially mom, one of our cats unashamedly begged for food and attention until she received it from my cousins (we also gave that cat a bath on the 24th), Mom trusted me enough to halve cherry tomatoes (and I succeeded. Quite a breakthrough), and after everyone finally left by 11pm, my family did a quick cleanup and them played an altered version of Mexican Train until 3am. I warned them at 1:30am (right before I accumulated a horrid 139 points) that we could stop. I practically begged them at 2:08am to let me sleep, and after we finished, we had to play ONE. MORE. ROUND. to finish a real Mexican Train game.
You should have seen my dad. He's ever so slightly loopy from the pain medication (and maybe something else). He wasn't quite as uptight around his family (and there were no massive complaints after!), and then... Dad on meds, Jessica woke up at 6am on Christmas (and the rest of us around 10am), plus my mom and I at any time past 1am... I thought I understood laughing so hard you cry, but it turns out, I've only teared up. Now, however... I couldn't see properly for a good few minutes. All because I said something along the lines of, "I'll let you do my math." Now I do believe I have two more quotes...
Ahem. My aunt to my sister about my dad's behavior around Jessica's gift of money- "He took it from you and smelled it!" Yes. He was on drugs. We apologize. We should have done this to him sooner.
My parents were talking about what if we had my entire extended family do one of my mother's workout things, conducted by her.
Dad- "Bilius would cry." (Bilius is my dad's...no other word... BURLY brother.)
Mom, laughing maniacally, "I know! I'd love to see that!"
Then I heard my aunt (the same one who talked about the money) talking about a business her and her brothers wanted to start. Something about a floating (or was it sinking?) body. Made you wonder...
That and we resurfaced the conversation about after death arrangements. My aunt is making her children dig her up to bury Uncle Bilius underneath her is she dies first. Yup. And now my parents heard some of it. Great Christmas conversation. Oh, and my Nana was referred to as loopy quite a bit.
I will expand upon the earlier conversation of death another time.
Now then, in a parting note, I would like to give a warning about Mexican Train. The set we recently got makes my mouth water. I mean this in every literal sense possible. It makes my stomach quake in hunger. The colored circles in the dominos look like M ‘n’ Ms, the middle thing reminds me of a lighter-colored fudge, and I almost put one of the train pieces in my mouth because it reminded me so strongly of those gummy snack things. It’s a good thing I have self-control, although my logic really needs some work. I mean, I REALLY wanted to at least shove it into my mouth to prove to myself it wasn’t edible. I think that one day, my self-control will fail, and some of the trains will need to be disinfected… Okay, no one should be salivating like this to the thought of marble and plastic.
Warning: Keep all pieces away from toddlers and college students.
Joe

Monday, January 3, 2011

The First of Eleven and Other Beginnings

    Mwah-hah-hah!!!  I, Hugo the Horrible, am the first of the Three Hobos to post in the year 2011!  It was supposed to be Joe who did it, but he didn't, so here I am (much to my own surprise...).
    Today is significant in several ways.  First, it is the day of the first blog of this year.  It is the first day that I am being a vegetarian this time.  Last time I was a vegetarian (it was two years or so ago), it lasted for about six months, or something like that.  This time, I will try for just this quarter, and then go from there... Also, today is the first day of Winter Quarter here at college, and Joe, Bebo, and I have a really strict English 102 teacher.  Bebo is freaking out, but Joe and I don't mind, because Bebo always has something to freak out about, and at least it isn't meese (or moosen) this time...  Lastly, today is significant because it is the two-week anniversary of my having a baby in the box. 
    Yes, gentle readers, Fiend and I now have a delightful, furry black boxmate (his pseudonym for the blog can be Morgoth, a joke for anyone who has read The Silmarillion).  Fiend loves him.  Actually, she's really jealous of him, but Morgoth is still more fun even than stuffed animals to her.  For some reason, her favorite thing to do is to entice him to chase her, and then either climb a tree (she's the best climber I've ever met.  My other cat, Screwtape, who lives in a garage, thinks her a total enigma; the few times he has climbed, awkwardly and teeteringly into a tree, he has had to be rescued.), or, and this is the weird part, allow him to catch her, trample her flat, and chew on her.  She honestly doesn't seem to mind being covered in puppy slobber and being rolled over and over on the floor by his enormous paws (at thirteen weeks, his paws are bigger than my five-year-old dog, Lady McBeth's, are; he is half her size, and we estimate that he will grow to be twice as big...). 
    Anyway.  My animals are weird.  Even my horse, Hank, is a freak of nature: he loves living alone!  Anyone who knows horses could tell you that that is unnatural, and possibly unhealthy.  Of course, his ex-pasturemate, Hamlet, was a bit of a trial to live with... Perhaps Hank is just relieved. 
    I am exhausted.  I didn't spend nearly enough time with Thumpity-Thump last night, and the night before, Morgoth awakened Fiend and I by puking on the bed (he had been eating hoof parings, and apparently they disagreed with him), and I had to get up and mop up the mess (there were large chunks of horse hoof in it.  Fiend was appalled.), and then, Morgoth would NOT settle down, so it took forever to get back to sleep.  At least it wasn't as bad as it was a few nights earlier, when he decided that he was jealous of my pillow (or something), and spent a large quantity of the middle of the night chewing on my head and barking.  The creature is remarkable; he can chew on something, bark, and chase Fiend, all at the same time. 
    Okay, I'll stop babbling now...

    ~Hugo