Infantile Shananigans

Hello www, My prayers are for you to be well, happy, and blessed. Numerous special prayers for Bridget, who is going through a rough time right now. This past weekend I went on a rafting trip with my church. It was a fun time and I got to hang out with what I would consider my idea of the superheroes from X-men, but these are "X-women": four talented, intelligent, fun, athletic women. I am blessed to have had such groovy company, and to be surrounded by these brilliant people. We prayed a rosary in my car on the way to the river, which was uniquely special. Austin, Tx is an interesting place. I was amazed by the variety of people who live in the city, and surrounding area. For example, while en route to a jazz club, there were two women painted in black Lycra (like Mystique from the X-men) outside the place where the jazz club was, who were waving people in to view a photography show being held above the club. (By law the women had to have underwear on, but 'everything else' had Lycra covering it.) Then there was the man with a beard and huge breasts...he would give Dolly Parton a challenge in a wet t-shirt contest. Austin is doing just fine in keeping itself weird, lol. I was disappointed, though, Austin, you didn't offer up a good live U2 mimic band. But then for four dollars, what was to be expected? Maybe next time... The rafting was uneventful, which was nice, UNTIL, we hit/landed on a boulder (okay a ginormous stone) and could not break free. The six people raft, with four passengers inside it, sat sadly on top of the peak of the jagged rock, wanting to go with the flow, only to be restricted, which was scary in and of itself, but what was even more frightening were the two people who got swept beneath our raft. Joel and Heroine were able to get them out from underneath, but there were some tense moments. The water angrily gushed into our raft, YIKES! With the help of a few kind strangers (The Austin area has highly affable folks) we did get free and continued our float down the waterway without anymore harrowing events, and the ensnared persons were okay. Thank you Lord for always being with us. I will forever remember how fun it was to watch and egg on Heroine, Claire and Joel as they used a rope and jumped off a small cliff towards the end of the river ride. Heroine, Claire, Joel and Elizabeth got in and out of the raft to swim, looking elegant as they were engulfed by the stream, and help with moving the raft along, for which I am very grateful. I know Bridget is too. Thanks you all, we wouldn't have enjoyed the rafting nearly as much if we had been with a different group of people. :)I am also genuinely happy to comment on how well the five of us got along. Watch out world! :) We are a force to be reckoned with, he he. There was a bit of a debate about Should folks be allowed to live close to a natural watercourse? I didn't think they should be, my reason being that some places are sacred and should be treated as such, and natural areas, like this trivulet, was one of those places; I also mentioned how Central Park in NYC was treated with inviolability...Others said people had a right to own land, even if it were near a beautiful torrent. Men. I remember a Seinfeld episode where Seinfeld says, "Men...You see men with women. How are men getting women, many people wonder. Let me tell you a little bit about our organization...We have a man working on the situation right now. Now, he may not be our best man, OK, we have a lot of areas to cover, but someone from our staff is on the scene..." Three men on the trip were not the finest for any given situation. Heroine, Claire, and Elizabeth had to ride down with an AH. AH was too enamored with the breast size of his new friend, BB, who was sitting in the front seat next to him, to properly drive his vehicle. He was swerving a great deal and this was making Heroine sick to her stomach, on many levels. When he was asked to please watch where he was driving, he veered off the road and back on again, joking, "You don't like this?" Heroine and AH had become friends leading up to this trip. Friends, in Heroine's mind anyway, through and through; AH had called her while out of town, shared personal information with her. Not asking her out, but certainly talking on the phone to her a lot, which was fine with her; as a result she happily got to know someone who was dissimilar to her in almost every way. It helped that AH wasn't too hard on the eyes either. But with AH's behavior towards BB, and subsequent actions he took later, she was quickly finding him repulsive. Well Bobo and Obob were hard on the eyes, and they did not play well with others. I'm always suspicious of people who brag about being 'outgoing,' and 'the most pleasant people in the world.' Bobo and Obob turned out to be punks. Only later was it found out the 'genius' of their humor. Bobo claimed to have thought about becoming a priest, and that he was a runner...Bobo didn't take communion at mass on Sunday, not that I'm judging, I was just surprised by his behavior if in fact he was considering the priesthood (found out later he wasn't), as for the claim to be a runner: he was also not exactly the tiniest of people... I wanted to take the Fab Five (FF) in my car to the river, so we'd be sure and get a raft together...We thought swapping out Bobo and Obob for the Fab Five would be an easy transition. Since AH drove some of the FF in his vehicle, we asked if it would be okay that Bobo and Obob, who drove down with me, could drive down with him in his automobile. AH agreed to the swap. Or so we thought. As all of us were leaving in my motor vehicle, we see Bobo and Obob trailing people who were not of AH's group. AH took BB and two of her friends instead! We were furious! I especially felt bad about the turn of events. But then too, I became conscious of the fact that Bobo and Obob were not exactly the outgoing, friendly people they claimed they were...With this realization, I felt slightly less guilty. (Later it was learned they went in a four person raft by themselves.) When on a trip like this, you need to meet people, or hang out with people you don't know! But maybe this is not universal knowledge, I admit. Even if I knew individuals, I met new human beings, intentionally sometimes, but also by default of the seating arrangements. Certain people, maybe lots of people, are just clueless about social circumstances. Bobo and Obob were. When the whole group got together to eat, I became more cognizant of these two gentlemen's social ineptitude. It was as if they purposely sat by themselves, apart from everyone. All in all, the trip was a decent experience. :) There is much more to say about AH's, Bobo's, and Obob's behavior, but that would take energy that can be better spent ending this blog entry on a positive note, which is this: always be thankful for your state of affairs, taking solace knowing God is with us through everything. God has our backs. :) Addendum: A good friend tonight mentioned how I was being mean and hurtful to some of the abovementioned people, and for that I do apologize. I thought I was only 'stating the facts,' but maybe that was the wrong approach. Again, NOT judging Bobo on not taking communion, but you know what, all in all, that is NONE OF MY BUSINESS, and to that I do admit. Again, my apologies. However, I do believe in my right to free speech, and I am leaving this entry as it is, but I did tell my friend that I would post his comments for him about this entry. SO there you have them. Make of them what You will.