We had a really nice 4th of July last night. We didn't do go anywhere, but our neighborhood ended up having kind of a block party. It was a lot of fun! We can't set off fireworks here though, so that part of the experience was lacking a little. But it didn't stop people from trying anyway.
You could see the glowing backyards now and again, and you knew someone was setting off a fountain. And we saw plenty of bottle rockets too. And those are super illegal around here. You can't even buy those unless you go to Nevada or something. The only fireworks I had were those little white popper things. Where you throw them on the ground and they pop? I don't even consider them 'fireworks' because they don't do anything. But they're still fun to throw at people. And also easy to conceal if a police car should happen to drive by...
Earlier in the evening, Nat and I barbecued some steaks and figured that was the extent of our celebration. But when everyone was out front gathered around, we couldn't resist going out there too. We live on a culdesac so it was like a private little party. Kids were riding their bikes and their skateboards, tossing water balloons at everyone. And throwing those little poppers too.
And all the adults were drinking beer, wine, or margaritas. Someone brought their blender out into the front yard and it was a like a lemonade stand for the over 21 crowd. The old lady next door is pretty grouchy and I figured she'd be really mad. But I saw her sitting on a lounge chair with a beer in her hand! It was kind of cute and funny. You don't expect to see that, but I guess she wanted to have fun too. Plus, her son was with her and I assume he got her to lighten up and join the fun for once, instead of calling the police the minute someone turns their music up too loud.
But there is this one family that lives at the end of our block. I don't really see them too much, or know them. I just see them driving in and out of their driveway a lot. I know they've got 3 kids of various ages. The oldest is about 14, and the youngest looks to be about 5. So there's a BIG gap in ages. But the mom lady looks fairly young. She must have had the oldest when she was a teenager herself. But anyway, she was out there with everyone and she appeared to be about 5-6 months pregnant.
She was wearing one of those roomy shirts that are tight at the top, and then sort of billow out around the middle. I didn't think much of it at first except to think, "wow, another kid huh?" But then I saw her knocking back glasses of wine like it was going out of style. She was clearly drunk, and showing no signs of putting the wine glass down.
I was stunned. And I kept asking Nat if that was okay. Even if I knew it wasn't. Nat said that one glass of wine was alright, according to some doctors. But not a whole bottle. We were a little disgusted by her and curious why her husband or anyone else wasn't trying to stop her.
Finally Nat and I asked one of the other neighbors what was up with this lady. How could she be getting drunk when she's pregnant? That's when we found out she wasn't pregnant. She was just fat and wearing an unflattering shirt. Oops. I seriously thought she was pregnant!! So did Nat. She's not a large woman, and her face and her arms and legs were all thin looking and normal. And then she had a big round belly. Plus the shirt made her look even rounder. I'm so glad I didn't say anything to her like, "so when's the baby due?" Because that would have been really, really embarrassing!
After that bit of unnecessary drama, I started playing around with some of the older kids and their poppers. We were throwing them at each other. It was kind of like a game of tag, only with mild explosives. But these were 14-16 year olds. They can take it. But apparently I can't!
This one guy tossed a handful of these things at my legs and it burned off some of my leg hair. Yikes! It hurt, but it was so freaking funny I couldn't stop laughing. But this is why fireworks are illegal here. Because idiots like us can't be trusted to be 'safe and sane' with them.
But no harm done. The hair will grow back. And it was worth it because we had such a good time. I love it when you don't have any actual plans for an evening, and then something fun ends up happening anyway. Plus it was nice to actually spend some time meeting the neighbors I'd never talked to before.
I really like where we live. And I don't think it's that typical around here to have such a friendly outgoing neighborhood. I know the neighborhood where I grew up wasn't like that very much. People lived behind gated fences and didn't want to know their neighbors. But over here it's very down to earth and really feels like Norman Rockwell painting. Well kind of. I don't think Norman Rockwell ever painted kids throwing fireworks at people, setting their leg hair on fire. Or seemingly pregnant women downing glasses of wine....
But the feel is the same! It just seemed very down home and not at all what I'm used to. I liked it. And I hope everyone else had a fun time yesterday too, no matter what you did.
evil_twin posted on Jul 05, 2008
| views: 225
Comments
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botoni said on Jul 05, 2008....
Sounds like my kind of party Kyle. Your hair removal system is causing my creative juices to flow. This could become a very commercial enterprise. People will go to major painful lengths for hair removal and where else but LA would it start off with a bang? (pun intended). Imagine the excitement of a white bomb Brazilian bikini job! -
gingersoul said on Jul 05, 2008....
Kyle.......be aware of those Norman Rockwell thingies.....they always hide some dark side....
Like in Wisteria Lane ......where everybody seems so nice and friendly but they hide dead bodies in the basement....lol....
At least.....this is my take on things that look too "perfect"..i always ask "Ok, where is the juice?"
I am glad you had fun beside those kids and odd women....:-)
I had a pleasant day as well......after a morning of lazy sweet nothing....i went to my ex-sister-in -law b-b-q ....only .... what was supposed to be a small family gathering turned out to be an unexpected pretty big party......
But it was ok....i met some new people and a group of us decided to drive down to the lake to have a closer view of the fireworks......they were purdy......the lake was all colored with their lights...
Nice weather too.....the evening wasn't too hot and for Texas it has been quite a miracle...
Only thing......i ate so much watermelon i peed all the way to Canada.....lol... -
soaringraven said on Jul 05, 2008....
Block Parties can be a lot of fun. I am always pleased to find that you can take the mundane and turn it into interesting reading.Hair removal by popper probably isn't the most reccomended method although. You might want to look into some alternative methods. I undertand turning on the gas on your grill, waiting a few minutes before lighting and standing real close when you do works quite well. That method works best for facial hair though, you may have to wait a bit longer if you want to remove leg hair as well.soaring -
the_infernal_optimist said on Jul 05, 2008....
That does sound like a lot of fun, except the leg hair removal incident (and worrying about the drunk not-so-pregnant woman, whoops). I can totally picture you running around with poppers.. :-D
~Infernal
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skald said on Jul 05, 2008....
Kyle I think I would become nuts if someone threw fireworks at me. I don't like people to do such things. I could not help laughing when I found out that the lady was not pregnant. Your posts are always so interesting. Entertaining really. -
Mr_Box said on Jul 05, 2008....
I love those poppers! They are fun to toss at people's feet. Although I do try to avoid actually throwing them on someone's legs. I wouldn't want to catch their hair on fire.But it definitely sounds like you had a good time. I like block parties like that too. Our neighborhood was fairly quiet this year. I think everyone went someplace else.That is kind of funny about the lady you thought was pregnant. I think I'd be pretty disgusted too if I saw her throwing back the wine. She really shouldn't wear a shirt like that! But I'm glad you didn't say anything to her ;-) -
quietone said on Jul 05, 2008....
how fun for you all! Even the old lady joined in in her own way! Yes, that would have been really funny (not for you) if you had asked that lady when the baby was due..... oops! LOL -
Eilan said on Jul 05, 2008....
We got some of those poppers for my girls, too. They had a lot of fun with them.
In Ohio, it's legal to sell fireworks, but it's illegal to set off most of the fireworks that are sold. Pretty screwed up, huh? Doesn't stop people from setting them off illegally, but the cops don't really do anything about it.
I'll bet you're glad you didn't ask that woman about her due date! I almost did this once when I started a new job. One of my co-workers wore a lot of stretch pants and big shirts. I thought she was pregnant, but it turns out she just had a little bit of a pooch.
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CayenneMan said on Jul 06, 2008....
Sounds like you had a great time evil twin, about those poppers . . .I don't know if your talking about the same thing but I remember I took a box of them to school when they first came out. They were white and looked like spit balls and came packed in a small box filled with saw dust to keep them from popping.
One day I went to class a few minutes early. My english teacher ( a beautiful blonde named Miss Steck was busy putting up an assignment on the chalkboard with her back to the class) I put a popper on a guy named Mike's desk before he got there. I had no idea what he would do when he saw it. ( they looked like spit balls and being new nobody ever saw them before) Well good ole' Mike walks in and spots a spit ball on his desk and kicks it with his finger and it flew over to the chalkboard next to Miss Steck and explodes. It must have been one of the loudest in the box ! Miss Steck almost jumped out of her dress showing plenty of leg. I'll never forget that look on Mike's face, he must have thought that it was one powerful kick !
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queenparanoia said on Jul 06, 2008....
that sounds fun kyle!!! and good thing you didnt tell her she was pregnant cuz that would be super offensive... =) -
evil_twin said on Jul 06, 2008....
botoni--I don't know if the hair removal by fire trend will catch on. But anything is possible in this town!
ginger--It sounds like you had a really nice holiday yourself :-) And I agree that there is always some darker and hidden in those Norman Rockwell paintings. No one is that perfect!
soaring--I'm glad you enjoyed reading this :-) I don't think I want to lose any more of my body hair, but if I do, I'll try your gas grill idea!
Infernal--The poppers are the best part. And leave it to me to run around with the teenagers instead of trying to make adult conversation :-P
skald--We didn't throw the fireworks at anyone who wasn't part of the game. But they're not flaming fireworks anyway. It's hard to describe, but aside from losing a bit of hair, they're not really dangerous. But I'm glad you enjoyed reading this. Thank you :-)
Mr. Box--I don't usually throw the poppers at people's legs either, but sometimes you get caught up in the heat of battle! That lady really should throw that shirt away. It wasn't flattering!
quietone--I would have been mortified if I'd ask about her baby and found out she wasn't pregnant!
eilan--That's strange that you can buy fireworks but not set them off. What's the point of that? Too weird. Usually I can tell if a woman is just chubby and not pregnant, but this lady? Her stomach was round and the shirt looked like a maternity shirt! She needs better clothes :-P
cayenne--Yes, those are the poppers I'm talking about. The sawdust gets everywhere! But that's a hilarious story. I can definitely see how that would scare the teacher!
queen--It would have been offensive if I said that to her. But I really thought she was pregnant!
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RollingC said on Jul 07, 2008....
Wow....sounds like a blast. Next time you all have a block party put the word out so soulcasters can go.Sounds like a good time and that's the kind of neighborhood that I like to live in if I could.:^)Rc -
wombat said on Jul 07, 2008....
Sounds like so much fun....! I like it when the fun "just happens, too. Especially with neighbors like that. You won't see that where I live. Ours got mad because we had too many cars here and were sort of in "their" space out in the street. Anyway....I would have liked all that, except I am afraid of fireworks up close! -
evil_twin said on Jul 07, 2008....
Rc--That would have made it even more fun if all you guys were there too. It is a really great neighborhood.
wombat--It is nice to have friendly neighbors who like to have fun. The lady next door is usually pretty grumpy, so it was a nice change to see her having fun too! We didn't really have any fireworks except for the poppers. But after my experience I can see why they'd scare you!
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RollingC said on Jul 08, 2008....
Talking about firecrackers....here's something that happened to me way-back-when and that's why I don't mess with firecrackers anymore....lola short true story.....Rc -
tizzygirl said on Jul 08, 2008....
Thats funny about the poppers! I've done that way too many times to count! But I've never burned any hair on my body thank god! Although I'm sure my legs are much less hairy then yours :P Glad you had a good fourth! -
silverwhisper said on Jul 09, 2008....
bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! does starchini know you're moving in on her turf with your new leg hair-removal technique? :D
you know, i'd probaby have thought the same thing about that pregnant-looking neighbor and similarly thought bad things about her--you're right, that description does not say "overweight"! yeesh, i'm really glad you didn't say anything, man: that would have been really embarrassing. that sort of thing is why i tend not to say stuff like that. :>
i had a great time on my 4th of july--i spent it completely geeking out--and i'm glad you guys had fun, too. :>
ed -
PassionTraveler said on Jul 12, 2008....
My lease is up in September. Any vacancies there where you are? I would love a neighborhood like that.
PT
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