Sep. 23: Why I blog

Day #23, blah-dee, blah-dee, blah… Today’s topic:

Why did you start blogging?

I said in this post that I started my blog to easily share news and photos when we were expecting our first bebbeh. A lot of the things I posted back then have since been deleted, not because they were ultra-private but because the way I used to blog was really, really dumb. Back then, apps like Blogger were not readily-available; I had to edit HTML pages. Instead of updating a page with new news and photos, I would simply replace old content with new. See? Dumb.

My blog really hasn’t changed that much since it started, except for a few years in which I blogged almost every day. I still share family news and photos, still post silly images I find around the ‘net, still try to make y’all believe I’m a better wife than I am. I’ve occasionally tried new types of post, but nothing really *sticks* for the long term. Sherilee has posted a “Friday Night Grateful Moment” every week—such dedication! Some people do “Wordless Wednesdays” (photos only), “Throwback Thursdays” (an old photo, sometimes accompanied by fun memories), and other regular post types. I do my monthly summaries, but I don’t think there’s much else you can count on seeing on a regular basis at Stuff Jen Says.

Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of posting something because someone says to. It’s one thing if you’ve set up the tradition for yourself (like Sherilee’s), but if you’re blogging only because some all-powerful site says “post a picture today but don’t use words,” well, shouldn’t you just do that any time you feel like it? I realize that this month I’ve been blogging exactly like someone’s telling me what to do, and as I’ve hinted over the last few days, I’m getting tired of it. However, Sherilee and I came up with the list of topics on our own (yes, some topics were inspired by other blog challenges, but we still put the month together ourselves) for the purpose of getting back into the habit of posting regularly. And I’m pretty sure neither of us will continue posting every day, answering questions that we answered two days earlier.

I’ve been trying to get my mom to start a blog for years. She enjoys writing, and there’s nothing like the good practice you get from writing for publication. Well, she finally obeyed my command (ha!), and I’d like to recommend her blog to you: Flying Free. It’s been up for a couple weeks now. Take a minute to leave her a comment—it’ll totally make her day.

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And now I’ll share a story with you that makes me glad I have a blog on which I’m allowed to vent.

Sometimes Fighting Cancer is really super-duper annoying

The other night I went to a poker fundraiser for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I knew there’d only be one other person there that I’d ever met (Theresa, one of my BFFs), but because L&LS is an organization I care about, I didn’t mind spending the evening with strangers. Of course, Theresa and I ended up at different tables and I was stuck playing poker with six people I didn’t know. They all knew each other. It wasn’t the most comfortable setting, but, y’know, it was still POKER. I loves me my poker.

Our table was very long; I was seated at the end and struggled to deal cards to the players at the opposite end without flipping them. EVERY time I dealt, this loud guy at the other end would say NO, NO, START OVER. YOU MESSED UP. I’d stop and count, along with everyone else at the table, and the rest of them would say KEEP GOING, YOU’RE FINE because I hadn’t messed anything up. Every time, he’d yell. I really wanted to tell him to shut the hell up, but I kept quiet.

At one point he yelled at me that I needed to get the cards “somewhat close” to the person they were for because the wrong person would touch them. Did he want me to place his cards directly in his booger-stained hands? Why was this jackass telling me how to deal? I kinda channeled Val for a sec and yelled right back: NO ONE ELSE IS COMPLAINING. IF YOU WOULD JUST PAY ATTENTION IT’D BE PRETTY EASY FOR YOU TO FIGURE OUT WHICH CARDS ARE YOURS. I even threw him a dirty look. (Val, aren’t you proud of me???)

He made a big deal about the rules of the game, betting amounts, and playing only when it’s your turn, blah blah blah… I didn’t have a problem with his know-it-all-ness, because there were newbies at our table; it was good for everyone to be reminded of the rules. Funny thing was, sometimes after the cards were dealt he would just get up and leave. He might have planned to fold when it was his turn, but he didn’t tell anyone that, so we’d sit there and wait for him to come back. People would call for him, but there were three other full tables in the place, and he was doing lots of socializing. BUT if someone else at our table got up during a hand, this a-hole would start a very loud countdown and then declare their turn “lost.” He also changed the rules of betting increments halfway through the game. There was no use arguing with this guy, so I didn’t say a thing.

One time after I dealt the cards he accused me of dealing too many to him. He actually hadn’t turned in his cards from the previous hand, but when someone suggested that, he insisted that that wasn’t it. Yes, he was probably right—I dealt two cards to everyone else, but four to him. That makes perfect sense.

As the evening went on, the beer was flowing and a lot of it went straight into his giant, noisy, asshole-y face. He started arguing with two other players about who was dealer and how he’d been the big blind for at least three turns in a row. I wasn’t drinking at all (I know, I can’t believe it either), and was obviously the only player who could focus enough to see what was going on, but even when I spoke up he wouldn’t stop insisting on whatever he was so “completely, 100 percent, totally, definitely, bet all my chips sure” about. Blerg.

After two hours, the hosts started moving players around so we were down to two tables. I was getting my things together and looked up to see Mr. Loud Guy pick up my chips, knock a bunch to the floor, and take off to the other room. I went up and said WHAT ARE YOU DOING?, grabbed my chips back, and he bellowed (yes, bellowed!) I’M TRYING TO HELP YOU. I should’ve have blamed it on how drunk he was, but I had reached my limit with him and was D-O-N-E DONE. I got down on the floor to pick up all the chips he’d dropped and he came back to me, yelling down at the back of my head that he was just trying to help. I yelled back I CAN TAKE CARE OF MY OWN CHIPS. I had been doing really well in the game, had four full trays of chips, and would have loved to keep on playing, but I soooo needed to  punch that guy in the throat. It was time to go. Theresa had left. I had contributed to the L&LS fundraising, and that was the important thing.

I handed my chips over to someone else and asked her to finish for me. I thanked the hosts and headed home. Theresa texted me yesterday to say the host contacted her and wanted to apologize to me for Mr. Loud Guy’s behavior, which was very kind of him. Too bad he has such a d-bag for a friend.

As if cancer isn’t bad enough, trying to prevent it means having to deal with jackholes like this? Yikes. Not that I want to stop fundraising for cancer, EVER, but maybe next time I’ll bring Val to be my bodyguard.

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If you’re a blogger and want to do our blog challenge with us, let me know and I’ll send you our list! Otherwise, tune in here (and on Sherilee’s happy little blog) every day in September.