Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Dateline Houston

I have arrived in Texas and I am SO tired. I can't even begin to explain how tired I am after getting up at 3 a.m. (my valiant attempt to force myself to go to bed at 9 p.m. did not pan out), but I made it. Oh well, who needs sleep anyway?

Apparently not the ten year old who was sitting by me. Upon plopping down next to me, she announced that she had been up since 1 a.m. and had drank two Monster energy drinks. The energy drinks explain a lot. She was this little strawberry blonde, freckled whirlwind hair metal band afficionado who talked my ear off the whole time. Most of our conversation went approximately like this:

Her: I'm going to visit my mom

Me: Really? Are you excited to see her?

Her: No, not really. Do you know what an Xbox is?

Me: Sure

Her: Do you play?

Me: No, not so much.

Her: I am OBSESSED with Xbox! Do you have kids?

Me: No, but I have a godson and he plays video games.

Her: I don't know what that is but I'm in third grade, but supposed to be in fourth.

Me: Well, sometimes we need a little extra time to learn things.

Her: Do you like rap?

Me: Some.

Her: You do????

Me: Sure, I like most kinds of music.

Her: Well, my favorite is 80's rock. Do you know who Brett Michaels is?

Me: Sure…

Her (suspiciously): What band is he in?

Me: Poison

Her (thinking): Who sang Cherry Pie?

Me: Some blonde guy with long hair

Her (mildly disgusted that I didn't give a better answer): I'm going to put my ipod on and listen to my favorite song over and over again, but I'll be right here.

Me: Ok, then

[I close my eyes to take a nap]

Her (the minute my eyes open): Do you watch Lifetime?

Me: Not really

Her: Have you seen The Wizard of Oz?

Me: Lots of times

Her: Is the Wicked Witch East, North, West or South?

Me: I think she was the Wicked Witch of the West

Her: Did you know in the old days they used to pull your tooth out with a string?

Me: Yeah, I think I heard something like that.

Her: In the old days when you were little, did you wear those things?

Me (trying not to laugh): Yeah, we wore things all the time back then.

Her: No, I mean those things with the straps and the thing in front that you attach.

Me: You mean overalls?

Her: Yeah

Me: I think that is more of a farm thing. I grew up in the city.

It went on like this for about two hours. In between she had time to quiz our other neighbor in much the same manner and also fill us in on her feelings about math (no good!), reading (even worse!), brothers (she hits hers with a bat(!) sometimes), ATV's and any number of things I am too tired to remember now. She also wrangled us into helping her with the book of word search puzzles she'd brought along and told us her favorite colors (there are seven, in case you wondered) and provided a list of her favorite movies.

If only I had an eighth of her energy. I would not be about ready to nod off right now.

More later. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we go on an offsite adventure, which actually sounds kinda fun.

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