when i asked you to be my friend, you said 'shut up'

i hurt. i hurt a lot... the bloody weight machines at the hper [for those of you who have no idea what the 'hper' is: it is the hub of physical activity on the campus of the university of arkansas at fayetteville] have made it quite difficult for me to walk today - for this i can say with certainty that i do not like those machines. they have made my day very unpleasant... no fun.

i almost forgot that i have a story to tell... so, i went down to new orleans to visit my bestest friend and her beautiful child [and to attend the aias forum] over new years... i had my first total 'maternal' moment at city park on new year's eve eve - so me and my friend's kid are playing around on this regoddamndiculously large oak tree, on a branch about four and a half feet off of the ground... well, the kid starts to fall and what do i do? do i just stand there [yes, i know, i'm stupid... i shouldn't have been standing on the bloody branch in the first place] and watch the child fall? no. i pull the kid to my chest and fall with her... but the thing that sucks is that the kid somehow ended up with a black eye anyway... as for yours truly, my ass, ribs and shoulder blade were sore as hell for three days... not to mention the guilt i felt [still feel] for letter the kid get a shiner anyway.

dara, the kid's mom, and me tried with all of our might to get the kid to say that she'd gotten the shiner in a bar brawl, but it was no good. when asked what happened, the kid would smile, point to her eye and say with pride 'i fell out of a tree'. i love [most] kids... they just say the darndest things...