"Buy me some peanuts and crackerjack..."

Okay, so I didn't eat any peanuts OR crackerjack (not even that fond of either), but this weekend WAS spent largely at ballgames.

I went home for my birthday this weekend. That's right, another one has come and gone. This was a special one, though, since I hadn't been home with my family for my birthday in seven years. Seven! But since my mom called me a few weeks ago and offered to help pay for a ticket, I decided to take her up on it, and off to Sweet Home Alabama I flew!

I got a few good presents, but you know which one stood out the most?

The first full day I was there, my nephew Cody (5 or 6 years old) asked if I wanted to go to his teeball game. I told him that I'd love to. I got there a few minutes late (after about an inning or so, I think), and when I got there, I was told that Cody had been coming over and asking where I was.

"Uncle Bill's coming, right?"

"Yes, Cody, he's on his way."

*Later*

"Uncle Bill said he'd be here, but I don't see him."

Right after I got there, the kid hit a grand slam homerun! They ended up trouncing the other team. Seriously, that kid's a stud.



The next day was my birthday, and I went to another nephew's baseball game, as well as my niece's softball game and another of Cody's teeball games.

Unfortunately, my niece didn't win, but my nephews won each of their games.

Can I tell you how long it had been since I had been to a baseball game? When I was younger, my older brothers and sisters played ball (I did, too, but let me tell you, I had NO talent!), and I was, of course, always dragged to their games. My siblings laugh when they talk about how I always brought a stack of books with me, went off in the corner or sat under a light pole and read.

No, I did NOT bring a stack of books with me!

...

I brought A book with me, though...

However, I didn't read it. Instead, I pulled out my camera and took over a hundred pictures. (Lots of them were rapid-fire.)

I had a little fun with Photoshop when I got home, though. Yes, it's cheesy, and probably kind of dumb, but I enjoyed making it. I love this program...

Heh. Who'd have thought I'd spend my birthday at the ballpark?

*walks off whistling "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"*

"Yew tawk fuuuunny..."

I grew up in the South. The deeeeeeeeep South. Now, however, I live in Utah, and people are always surprised when I tell them where I'm from. "You don't have an accent!" they say.

I have a few reasons/excuses. First, when I was younger, I had a lisp. My first few years of elementary school, I went to speech therapy classes to correct it. I think that's a part of the reason.

The other reason is that I was raised by a mother who was the oldest daughter in a military family. As such, her family moved around quite a bit, and she never really developed any sort of accent. (My dad, however, has a strong accent. One of the only people who has a stronger accent that I know, in fact, is his mother, an amazing little Southern fireball of a woman. The long I vowel sound isn't even a part of her repertoire. "Hah!" or "He-low-oo" are her greetings of choice.)

Actually, here's a funny story. One time, years before I was born, my mom was helping out with one of my cousins from my dad's side of the family. He was about two or three years old, and as she was helping get him situated in the back seat of a car they were driving, he looked up at her with a confused look on his face and said, "Yew tawk fuuuuuhnny."

Heh. From the mouths of babes... Er, chillun.

Anyway, it's kind of funny, because I have no trace of accent (though I'll slip into a slight one if I get really excited or am talking to one of the more-prone-to-drawl members of my family), but I definitely subscribe to the Southern dialect.

A friend of mine (from the South, of course) filled out this little survey, and I thought it was fun. So, for your reading enjoyment...

1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks.
Creek

2. What is the thing you push around the grocery store is called.
Shopping cart. (I know many who call it a buggy, but I never picked up on that one.)

3. A metal container to carry a meal in.
Lunch box.

4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in.
A skillet or a fryin' pan.

5. The piece of furniture that seats three people.
Couch

6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof.
Gutter

7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening.
Porch

8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages.
Coke. Doesn't matter the flavor. "Do you want a Coke?" "Sure." "What kind?" "Sprite."

9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup.
Pancakes

10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself.
A hoagie or a sub.

11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach.
Swimming suit

12. Shoes worn for sports.
Tennishoes. (One word.)

13. Putting a room in order.

Straightening up

14. A flying insect that glows in the dark.
A lightning bug

15. The little insect that curls up into a ball.
Roly poly

16. The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down.
See-saw

17. How do you eat your pizza?
From point to crust.

18. What's it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff?
G'rage sale. Even if there's no garage involved.

19. What's the evening meal?
It depends. If the main meal of the day was at noon, then the evening meal is supper. If the main meal of the day is at night, then the evening meal is dinner. The main meal of the day is dinner, though.

20. The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are?
Basement

21. What do you call the thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places?
Water fountain

22. What do you call the thing with wheels that you put a baby/small child into to take them for walk?
Stroller, though I've always liked the term "pram." Very British. But it's not one that I've adopted.

Springtime!

Have I mentioned how much I love Spring? Because I really do.


First off, I just love the more temperate weather of Spring. It's not frigid like Winter (though Utah sometimes gets confused on that issue), it's not sweltering like Summer, it's got nice breezes, it's more prone to rain (though it balances well with gorgeous, sunny days, too), and it's just all-around nice.


Doesn't hurt that my birthday is in May.


But one of my favorite things about Spring is the abundance of flowers. Seriously, I'm just amazed at how beautiful they can become! They're some of my favorite things to photograph.

I love Spring. I love my camera...

Life is good.

Photography and Photoshop

Recently at work, they've been having me take some semi-professional photos of my co-workers for magazines that feature the company. Group shots, headshots, etc. So yeah, I'm kind of published. Just kind of, but still, it's a step.

As such, I've been playing around with Photoshop. (No, I'm not just wasting time. Since this is something they want me to do for work, I'm familiarizing myself with the program so that I can do a better job. It works best when you've got something to work on.) I've got CS4 at work, and it really is an amazing program. I try not to overdo it, of course, and in some ways it may not look like I've done anything, though if you compare these images to the original shots, you'll definitely see a difference.

I figured I'd share them here. Enjoy!

D'oh!

So last night I went over to Dylan and Rachel's to watch Much Ado About Nothing (the Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh version) with Joni and another friend of Rachel's that I don't know. Please note that I have been rereading the Harry Potter books lately, and so I kind of have that series on the brain.

As we were watching near the beginning, Kenneth Branagh began a somewhat pompous monologue, and without thinking, I said, "You know... He would actually make a really good Lockhart!"



Needless to say, Joni enjoyed that immensely. Repeatedly. Over the course of the entire evening.

I told her that she could post it on mylifeisaverage.com, but then she had to drop it.

MLIA