"I was an Ugly Child"

You may or may not have noticed there's no article on the site, as promised. I do my best to not get to personal or emotional on the site...because whenever I see it displayed so openly it's often ridiculed or somehow overly sappy. The reason there's no article for you right now has a lot to do with how my grandmother is sick and our clan's been spending a bit of time in the hospital hoping for the best. Even now I'm not sure what to type because excuses are excuses, but real life always comes first. I'm having a lot of trouble writing about a killer Gingerbread man or the time that Scooby Doo farted on a pirate while a family member is in intensive care. But instead of focusing on a sad note, I'll give you guys a preview of something ELSE I was working on that'll eventually be on the site.

When I was 9, our class made a time capsule. I don't remember what I put into that one, but apparently I thought it was a good idea so when I got home I made a time...box. I threw some things into it and then taped it up....promising to open it when I reached an age that seemed so far away. I decided I'd open it when I turned 13. Years later, 13 rolled around and while I couldn't remember what I put in the box, I didn't feel enough time had passed...so I decided to wait until I was 15. At 15 I decided to wait until I was 21. At 21 I was in New York and had long forgotten about the time capsule (box). So when I came home a week or so ago at the age of 26, I figured it was a good enough time to open it.

Inside I only found 2 things. 1 was a softball. This is pretty funny because when I was 9 I was pretty active on the softball team...but quit playing mysteriously because my ball vanished mysteriously. So my softball was important to me when I was 9, so I put it in the time capsule...which sort of creates a paradox because by putting it in the capsule I guaranteed that my interest in softball would fade. Or something like that.

The other thing in the box was a stack of pictures that I'd stolen from our family albums. I didn't steal particularly good photos, but it's pretty telling. I'll walk you through all of them in an article eventually, but for now I'll share two. Here's me with my family enjoying Christmas hotdogs of all things (that's my grandmother in the middle).

I can't even fathom what the glowing phantom bird is doing in the foreground there.

The other realization, that must have been obvious to everyone else, is that I was apparently one goofy child growing up. Goofy-looking I mean. Take a look at this photo taken of me at Space Camp:

That's one of my favorites mostly because I still wear that outfit from time to time. :shudder:

Enjoy yourselves and, well, I'll keep you updated as to the drama.

-jared