Independence Day!
And a happy July Fourth to one and all!
Among other things, we watched the annual Nathan's hot dog eating contest and saw a local San Jose boy bring home the title by downing a record 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes--beating the record Kobayashi set by 13 hot dogs (Kobayashi himself, "struggling with a jaw injury," downed 63 hot dogs). I actually wanted Kobayashi to win, but oh well, whatever. I hafta say, it was one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen--watching the winner, Chestnut using a hot dog to cram food down his throat while drool and soggy bun slid down his arm... I haven't gotten this close to actually throwing up because of something I saw on TV since watching the pie eating contest/barf-a-thon in Stand By Me. Grooooooss. Half the contestents in the contest thought they were professional wrestlers and the other half were a mixed bag including two tiny, tiny women (one of whom was known as "the black widow") and a guy in his sixties (apparently his wife was also a former competetor. Keepin' it all in the family is what they do!) Hey, we all gots ta have our hobbies...
I also had my annual run-in with white trash: "Hey, you gonna sit there all night? My kids wanna lay down to watch the fireworks..." (It's a giant field, dude! We can sit where we want and your kids can scoot a bit to the right on the blanket if they're so bothered by my big 'ol back!) My sister and I got up and totally moved anyway 'cause we didn't want to have to deal with those people, which was just as well since the parents seemed to be so dedicated to providing a good example for their kids by lighting up a pipe in front of them--whereas when they just wanted to smoke a cigarette, they both had to get up and walk half a field away, leaving their kids totally alone in the dark. Nice. Still, this was better than last year when I almost threw down with an entire family for spitting out half the contents of a water bottle on my grandma. (The parents were encouraging this method of water fight by doing it themselves...fool, ain't nobody want to get sprayed by water that's been in your mouth!) Ah...God Bless America (well, most of it anyway).
And tragically, with the close of Fourth of July, about half my vacation's over. Nooooooooooooooo!
Seriously, I need to go to Disneyland sometime soon.