"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Home is not where you live, but where they understand you." - Christion Morgenstern
"There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them." -J.K. Rowling

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

There isn't anyone quite like us

"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though they know that you are slightly cracked." - Bernard Meltzer

For some odd reason I’ve been thinking a lot about this little family, we are truly unique. No matter what happens, and there have been some moments, we all still love each other. Lucky for us we still only judge on Tuesdays. I don’t think I’ll ever understand everything they have done for me; these are the kind of people worth fighting for, because there isn’t another group of people in this world that are so willing to accept me with all of my imperfections and insecurities. For that I will never be able to thank them enough.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

In response to our theme song...

"True friends are two people who are comfortable sharing silence together"—Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Old School -our theme song- is a very evocative song for me. Whenever I hear it, it brings me back to summer days of being crammed into Denton's backseat, surrounded by friends, heading off to our next adventure.
Back then, things were so easy. No school, no outstanding obligations to worry us.
Just us.
Looking back, I now fully realize that I had it pretty good.

And although people, lives, and circumstances change, we'll always have perfect regard for how cavalier with beautiful insanity we used to be, and when everything is different and we forget who we are, we'll always have our old reckless ways to reflect back upon and realize that we made each other who we are.


Moments like these can't be taken for granted.

Theme Song

With how close our family is, we share a lot of things - even if we all have completely different opinions about pretty much everything. We share souls, thoughts, and emotions more deeply than with anyone else. It is an interesting thing to try and explain but I think these two, obviously unnamed quotes say it best:
1) “It is only that which cannot be expressed otherwise that is worth expressing in music.”
2)“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”
Since a lot of what happens in our family is uncommunicated, it is hard to get across how attached we really are. Thus the choice of Hedley's Old School as our theme song. We're all still extremely close, but we've got some interesting things in store. Lyrics:
Don't believe everything happiness says
Nothing feels better than hiding these days
We bury our fears in the drinks, in these tears
For the days we believed we could fly

Call up your brothers and sisters and friends
We'll go back to the place where the night never ends
We'll remember the fires, the burning car tires
Boy how in the hell did we get here?

So why don't you meet me, down behind the old school
We'll waste away the weekend, with perfect regard for how
Cavalier we used to be, that beautiful insanity
The apathy's surrounding me
Don't close your eyes or we'll fade away

Over and over and over again
We sat down for a minute, grew up into men
Now we're putting out fires and changing car tires
Man how in hell did we get here?

So why don't you meet me, down behind the old school
We'll waste away the weekend, with perfect regard for how
Cavalier we used to be, that beautiful insanity
The apathy's surrounding me
Don't close your eyes or we'll fade away this time

And we'll never get back what we
Gave away, when we still have that fire in our eyes
Don't believe everything happiness says
Nothings as real as our old reckless ways
When we drink by the fires
The burning car tires
Bad girls and good liars
The dreams we'd conspire
The days we went crazy
The nights wild and hazy
Man how in the hell did we get here?

So why don't you meet me, down behind the old school
We'll waste away the weekend, with perfect regard for how
Cavalier we used to be, that beautiful insanity
The apathy's surrounding me
Don't close your eyes or we'll fade away

Why don't you meet me, down behind the old school
We'll waste away the weekend, with perfect regard for how
Cavalier we used to be, that beautiful insanity
The apathy's surrounding me
Don't close your eyes or we'll fade away

I couldn't find the official music video, this link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9AXKkJF1sM&feature=related) is just the songs with pictures of the band. This song has been played during every one of these stories with out fail. No matter where we end up, the different ways that we go, the different people we meet, or the fights we might have, this song will never fail to bring a smile to any of our faces because this song IS the Moments Like These.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

I just learned that Ryan Ditty is imaginary, and Tanner Cutler won't stop crying.

Tanner always comes over on Sunday’s, sometimes he stays for church and others he just pushes me in the gutter in an effort to smash a poor misunderstood dead leaf and goes to his ward. Today happened to be one of the Sunday’s where he found himself, along with Maddy –The Little Samurai-, watching me scramble to finish getting ready for church. Finally the three of us were off, as to be expected we got a couple looks from the people in my ward, most of which are completely convinced I’m totally antisocial because to be honest I have never had any real connection to any of the youth with one exception, Donavan –The Italian- who is currently getting ready to serve a mission and is now in a different ward anyway, because when our Stake so lovingly decided to split our ward they cut him out of mine.
When the three of us found a place to sit we were mistakenly in the eye of the Bishopric, which will become important later. Maddy leaned over to me and whispered, “I feel like a neon sign at midnight!” she gestured to her shirt that looked so out of place on her. Dark sapphire and glittering with sequins Maddy looked like a lost child in a department store, not that I would ever say that. My dear Little Mumzi sat next us and the Sacrament Service began. It started with some random hymn that none of us had ever heard, Maddy kept laughing at how everyone in the congregation sounded lost, including us.
After the Sacrament Tanner leaned over to us and started playing with the cards in his wallet, Maddy started laughing about the Starbucks card and taking hers to the Temple. We began fighting over all of the picture ID’s because of how much Tanner’s work ID looks like a different person. I looked up as Tanner was holding my hands to contain them from getting to his drivers license just to see the entire Bishopric staring straight at us, laughing I pointed this out to Tanner; who quickly let go of my hands and enthusiastically waved! In horror I grabbed his hand and began holding it to stop him from embarrassing me in front of my new Bishopric.
A few nerve-wracking minutes later after continuing to contain Tanner and trying my hardest to laugh at Maddy’s discomfort caused be the ridiculous shirt. We looked over to see Little Mumzi playing with erasers! Green and yellow snakes, red, blue, yellow, and green turtles, Mumzi sat role-playing with each of the erasers. Of course Tanner and I did the only thing that could be done, we gave each of our friends an eraser character! Paige became the green turtle, Maddy the red turtle, Tanner the blue turtle, I became the yellow turtle, Alex –The Scottish Ninja- the yellow snake, and Ryan the green snake. Suddenly to our surprise Paige was replaced by a green snail!
Fear shrouded each of us as we wondered who would be replaced next; suddenly Maddy was gone, only to be reinstated by a red snail. “NO” the Little Samurai’s pain permeated the quiet meeting hall, disgust radiated from the omnipresent Bishopric. But the horror wasn’t to an end, Maddy’s face contorted as she pointed down to Little Mumzi. A scene that should’ve never been beheld met my eyes followed by Tanner’s. “Um who is kissing?” Tanner stated concern coating every syllable. Little Mumzi was making the snakes kiss!
“Tanner,” a laugh dripping in my voice, “the snakes are Ryan and Alex.” The outbreak of muffled laughter that couldn’t be contained erupted and refused to desist for at least the next 15 minutes, every time we looked back at our misshapen eraser family Alex and Ryan hadn’t finished kissing! The Bishopric continued to stare as we cried tears of blatant shock and irony. Containing ourselves in that moment became harder than ever as we felt their eyes glued to our crippled forms.
A note was suddenly shoved under my tear stained red face asking us to teach Little Mumzi’s primary class, she was feeling a tad under the weather. I wrote back saying that my stray friends and I would be overjoyed to tackle a couple eight-year-olds for the afternoon.
We scuttled our way to room 113, which was much more like a broom closet than a classroom, glad to be out of the gaze of the Bishopric. We started teaching our lesson as any good teacher team of three teenagers who had just been oh so reverent in Sacrament Meeting would, “Now everyone be reverent like you should be in Sacrament Meeting.” Maddy and Tanner snorted as I struggled to keep a straight face, the image of the kissing Ryan and Alex was at the forefront of my mind. Suddenly a little boy in the class punched Tanner, but disregarding this minor issue I proceeded to teach the lesson. As the lesson progressed Tanner continued to be abused by the small boy, finally Tanner got up and left.
Maddy and I pulled out the erasers just then and told them that if they were reverent and stopped hitting Tanner they would get one. “Tanner is a VERY sensitive person and is probably out there crying right now.” Maddy said to the class at large.
The little abusive boy’s eyes grew huge, “should I go make sure that he isn’t out in the hall crying” Maddy nodded smiling. The little boy scampered out of the room and returned with the news that Tanner was indeed not in the hall crying and he couldn’t find him.
A few minutes later, Tanner wandered back to our humble broom closet. The abusive boy stared up at him and in a small voice inquired, “Were you crying out there?”
Confusion glared off of Tanner as he looked at Maddy and I, “what have you been telling them?”
“You’re a very sensitive person, and they need to stop hitting you.” Tanner’s face went red with contained laughter as tears began flooding his eyes; he buried his face in the sleeve of his jacket.
The little boy patted him saying, “I didn’t even touch him that time and he is still crying!” At this Tanner cried harder.
Finally we got to the point in the lesson where the erasers became important, we pulled out a board game at the back of the teachers manual that Little Mumzi lovingly book marked ‘’game’’, each child laid their erasers down and began to play, the object of the game was to do righteous things so you could find your way to the Celestial Kingdom. There were some spaces that you had to go back on for not doing Christ Like actions. During the intense fighting of each child trying their absolute hardest to go the Celestial Kingdom first Tanner slipped in that he hated me, right as he said it one kid chimed in, “we don’t say the ‘hate’ word!”
“That’s right Tanner,” Maddy scolded, “go back two spaces!” Tanners face fell and he began crying again from laughter, however none of the kids could see that he was laughing, they could only see he was crying. As the game progressed we found ourselves bugging Tanner about Ryan for one reason or another.
At this one child asked, “who is Ryan?”
“Now Tanner, don’t cry.” I said carefully, “Ryan is his imaginary friend who never loved him!” At this Tanner started ‘’crying’’ again! Lucky for us this concluded class and we headed into the primary room. While we were waiting for primary to start the primary president scampered up to me and handed me a plastic bag that contained two Hershey’s treasures and a note. On the back of the note I wrote, “Sorry there were only two pieces of candy, please don’t cry <3/ Katie and Maddy.” And handed it to Tanner.

Moments Like These.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

"OH! Sorry to disturb you. . . "

It has long since been made known that Tanner and I can be just a tad flirtatious at times, sadly some of these moments have turned really embarrassing! My favorite from the plethora of times deals with the white couch in my basement, it was a Sunday afternoon. Tanner had got off from IMAX -The eater of Tanners summer- early; as was customary he was at my house for the afternoon and evening.

My dear Mumzi's side of the family was also paying us a visit that day. Tanner and I decided to take our conversation to a more private setting, so we headed down stairs to the white couch. I was sprawled out as usual on one end under a blanket, Tanner was on the other end sitting up. For a reason only Heaven knows he decided to lunge across the couch! Before I had the time to react my blanket was halfway across the basement and Tanner was on top of me tickling my very soul from me!

Just as he landed on me, my uncle Carlisle -Mumzi's dear younger brother- entered the room. I was screaming, Tanner was on top of me, which was all that Carlisle -Mumzi's dear younger brother- had to see.

"OH!" the shock in his voice permeated the room, "I'm sorry to disturb you. . . " he edged awkwardly out of the room and scuttled his way back up the stairs. Tanner and I stopped dead in our efforts, his to tickle me, and mine to shove him off of me. We looked at each other and died laughing.

Moments Like These.

Monday, November 15, 2010

The Pagan Series: Part Two

In the olden days, when Ryan was still Birdie-less, I - the Driver - ended up driving him, and everyone else, everywhere. I never had any problem with it, it was kind of fun actually - the experiences have added many a story to the history of Denton the Dented.
One of these days, Katie and I pulled up to Ryan's house to pick him up for something and found that he was not yet home. So, being Katie and I, we ended up taking a walk around his neighborhood. We headed down the street, not really realizing that we were, in fact, headed directly toward the Pagan House. As you have read, in Part One of this surreptitious series, the Pagan's house frightens us greatly. However, that statement doesn't even begin to cover the way we feel about the people that call that haunted house home.
Unbeknownst to Katie and I, these demented dwellers had ventured out into the unkempt jungle that was their lawn - and we were much too close to the boundary line. I glanced up and experienced a thrill that left my heart beating in my throat when I realized the Pagans were out and about.
"Uh, Kate?" I asked, nodding discreetly in their direction.
Her face went white and she looked away determined not to make eye contact with any of them.
"Geez, I didn't know that Pagans could come out in the sun," I muttered. "They're not even steaming or anything."
Katie had to hide her laughter until we made it around the corner so as not to bring the attention of these nocturnal neighbors to us. As soon as were out of ear shot her cackle echoed across the skies as I pulled out my phone to text Ryan: Woah! Apparently Pagan's can come out in the sunlight!
When Ryan finally ended up at his house he demanded an explanation and, naturally, Katie and I were more than ready to fill him in on the latest of our encounters with the paranormal.
Moments Like These

From Vampires to Three-Somes

“Mandi!” (-The Gothic Manager) I whined over the radio.  “Can Katie and I leave since there’s no movie playing?”  It was the second day after the midnight shows for Twilight: Eclipse, and we were sitting over at the dinosaur museum three hours early, and we wanted to go home. Now.

“Tanner, you stay for a couple more minutes, Katie, you can leave now. Just make sure you’re back in two hours.” she replied. Katie cheered, and I suggested that we go to Zupas to have lunch during this two-hour “break”.

“YEAH! Let’s bring Ryan along too!” Katie exclaimed (Paige was working at that time). Katie asked if she could take my car to pick up Ryan, and after a little lecture on the proper care of my car, I (hesitantly) agreed, and off she went with my keys.

-Ten minutes later-

“Okay, where’s my car?” I asked. Katie just snickered, I knew I was in for something. Katie then pointed out the back door toward my car. I looked out to see my car parked out beyond Canada, Russia, and Narnia. I turned to her, glared, called her a whore, and lead the trek out to my car.

Finally, Ryan, Katie and myself were all sitting down in Zupas talking, eating, and just enjoying life. Suddenly, me and Katie got into a tickling war (something very common with us) and she kicked me out of the booth onto the floor. It must have looked like I fell off, because an employee, shocked, ran over to my aid. “Are you okay, sir?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I was able to squeeze out between fits of laughter. She asked again if I was okay, so I reassured her that I was alright. She continued to ask if I was alright, and finally I convinced her that I was just fine. I stood up, sat back in the booth, and bust up laughing again.

“Are you okay?” Katie mocked. We all laughed and continued eating (after I tickled Katie a couple more times for revenge). After we had got over the fact that I fell off the bench, Katie said “Haven’t you guys noticed that we always seem to go on these little ‘dates’?”

“Yeah,” Ryan and I agreed. “It’s almost like a three-some,” I said in a joking manner. Katie and Ryan laughed (if you haven’t noticed, we laugh a lot), and it seemed that it was true. We always did go on dates with each other. But, despite that fact, nothing could have prepared us (by ‘us’ I mean Katie and myself) for what was about to happen next.

“Wait, so you’re also dating him?” Katie yelled at Ryan, pointing her angry finger at me.

“We’re having a three-some, I though you were okay with this!” Ryan almost screamed. After half a second of silence, Katie and myself started crying from how hard her and I were both laughing. Never, in a million years, did Katie or I expect to hear anything like that, especially from Ryan. All three of us could not stop laughing for quite a few minutes (it hurt). Whenever the laughter started to die, one of us would just repeat “We’re having a three-some,” just to make us start laughing again.

This has become one of the most well known inside jokes within our group, and still, do this day, you can see Katie, Ryan, and me laughing at the most memorable quote from our experience working during the Twilight movies.

Moments Like These...