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1-28-2003 - 5:02 p.m.

Spider and the State of the Union

This morning, I am sitting in my cube at the nursing school, minding my own business, when I drop my pen on to the carpet. I am clumsy, in case you haven�t heard. The pen, being round, rolls all the way under my desk and up to the wall, then gets lost in darkness and the jumble of electronic wires. I have to go diving under the desk to retrieve it, and while I am down there, I see the biggest, meanest looking spider. Seriously, the bastard is out of a Steven King novel; tarantula sized with red shining eyes.

I scream like Olive Oyl , and smack my head against the top of my desk in my haste to get away. Concerned co-workers ask what is wrong and I blubber about �the big fucking spider�

�OMG!� one of them says, but she doesn�t seem scared or upset. Then I hear laughing. And then more laughing. I fail to see the joke. �Did you catch it, JJ?� they ask, innocently

Well, I am no girly man, I�m not afraid of a damn spider, even a big one. I grab my cane and poke at it. The spider doesn�t budge. Maybe it�s dead. I take the hook of the cane and pull it toward me. Somehow the cane flips the spider into my face.

Olive Oyl reappears and cracks her skull again. The coworkers think it�s hysterical, because the stupid attacking spider turns out to be plastic, a remnant of the office Halloween decorations.

Maybe you had to be there.

Maybe I am packing a rubber rat in my briefcase for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, back in Washington DC

Ari sez �President Bush will seek to reassure an anxious nation about the economy and a showdown with Iraq in his State of the Union address, promising to "rally the American people to some great causes."

Hmmm. Now unless George W manages to somehow channel the spirit of Ronald Reagan, a great and effective public speaker, I am wondering how he is going to pull this rabbit out of his hat.

Do you know ANYBODY among your family, friends and coworkers that is in favor of a �showdown with Iraq�? I don�t, but I do have an office mate (yes, one of the laughers) whose son is a Marine heading for the Persian Gulf and she is scared to death. Seriously, ask the people around you�and while you are at it, ask them if they are actively chasing down the HIV virus.

I�ll watch tonight, but I am not going to be easily rallied or fooled�except for plastic spiders and giant bags of feathers on QVC.

Meanwhile, in Blue Springs

Meet the luckiest boy in town: A teenager thrown high into the air after a collision late Monday afternoon in Blue Springs grabbed onto utility wires and hung on until being rescued.

Joe R. Thompson III, 18, of Lee's Summit, was suspended 20 to 25 feet in the air for about 20 minutes. He even managed to call his dad on a cell phone while waiting for rescue.

Thompson, flown to a Kansas City hospital, was treated and released.

"God was definitely in control, that's all I can say," he said.

Blue Springs police said a car driven by another young man struck the Jeep driven by Thompson on U.S. 40. They said the Jeep spun around and rolled at least once. Thompson, who said he was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown into the air but managed to grab the utility wires and hang on until crews from the Central Jackson County Fire Protection District were able to get him down and send him to the hospital.

Sgt. Ray Myers of the Blue Springs police said Thompson was "bear-hugging" the wires when help arrived.

"He had apparently snagged the lower wire, and the momentum carried him over," he said. "He had two wires wrapped together and he was just hanging on to them



Go Back
Previously in Justinland: Our Last Five Entries

Wagons Ho! - 4-23-2004

This Old Barn - 4-17-2004

Death and Taxes - 4-15-2004

MMQB:Leftover Peeps - 4-12-2004

The Alamo; The Movie not the Shrine - 4-10-2004


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