pagan

My nephew (Broderick, a.k.a. Brady) now weighs the same amount as the Cat Named Jack. Of course I told my brother this, and, while he found it slightly amusing, I believe he also finds it annoying that I made a reference to the connection between an infant and a feline. I’m not saying that Jack is as important as a baby, but…wait…yes I am.

This may be one of the reasons that my brother and his wife had decided that I would be unfit to be Brady’s godmother. I am the one who asked my brother, before Brady’s birth, who the godparents would be. He threw out a couple options, myself not included. Upon hearing that I wasn’t a contender, I explained that I would have thought it odd had my sister-in-law chosen me to be in charge of their child’s spiritual wellbeing. My sister-in-law and I are quite different, as I may have mentioned previously. She finds me to be crude and most likely believes that I would be a bad influence. I don't feel that her reasoning has anything to do with spirituality, of which we have some common thoughts, but rather because my church attendance is limited to Christmas Eve and I live in sin and use naughty words quite regularly.

During a recent phone conversation I asked when the kid would be baptized, as he will soon be to big to fit in the baptismal font (although I don’t actually know how they do it, maybe they drop the kid in, or dangle him by his heel like Achilles’ mother did). They still don't have a date picked because they are waiting to see what would work for the godparents. Of course this begged the question of "who are the godparents?" This led to the most surprising statement of 2007 (ranking only slightly ahead of the roommates' decision to finally move out). He said “Bill and you,” meaning that his brother-in-law and I will be the chosen ones. Perplexed, I asked him to repeat. He said “Y-O-U. You.” Obviously, the lack of sleep due to new parenthood had thrust them into insanity, or the little one has already pissed off all likely candidates and they are scraping the bottom of the barrel. The former is more likely than the latter.

Bill, my godparent counterpart, is also without child. Perhaps they chose to spread the duties around so that those of us who are childless will not end up living in retirement homes with no one to visit us. Now, Brady will be guilted into visiting his godmother/aunt Trish, and I will call him Henry and pretend that I don't know who he is, just for my own amusement because I will be old and people will expect that I be senile.

Long story short, I’m the kid’s godmother. My brother confirmed that there isn’t much responsibility attached; since they already go to church each and every Sunday. Godmother is pretty much an arbitrary title that will only serve to justify the already copious amounts of gifts I bestow upon the baby. Plus, now I am able to add it to my business cards if the opportunity ever arises. And, if the kid grows up to be spectacular, which he likely will because we share genes, I can stake more claim to him. After all, his parents are just his parents, and I, the heathen that I am, am both aunt and godmother. Double bonus.

limerick

There once was a woman named Trish.
Dead roommates were her only wish.
Rather than them stopping breathing,
She's settling for them leaving
and that is something she will truly relish.

Well, I haven't posted about the horrors of home for fear that by some horribly slight chance, one of the worthless dickbag roommates (two of the three fall into this category, the other does not) would happen across this blog and miraculously learn to read something other than the back of a pack of Marlboro's and make my home life even more miserable than they had previously. By worthless dickbags, I mean the roommate and his live-in girlfriend who pretends not to live with us so that they can get by with paying very little rent and even fewer utilities (I can count the times they have actually chipped in for utilities on two fingers). Oh yeah, and they've lived there since the man moved in over two years ago - approximately 8 months before I moved in.

Their contributions to the household are as follows:
- occupying three parking spaces in the driveway (one of which is in the garage)
- occasional purchase of toilet paper
- leaving dirty dishes in the sink and refusing to wash said dishes
- smoking in their bedroom, despite the man's rule that smoking is not allowed in the house
- slamming doors at all hours of the day and night
- leaving trash in the upstairs hallway
- throwing cigarette butts off the balcony into the flowerbeds
- refusing to clean the bathroom (leaving me to clean up their nasty pubes, trust me...I know what I'm sporting and that those aren't my short and curlies or the man's)
- failure to operate an electric toothbrush without leaving the bathroom bespeckled with their likely herpes-stricken Colgate foam
- abuse of the Cat Named Jack to the point that he must remain in our bedroom and that he hisses whenever he hears one of them speak, despite the fact that he is on the other side of at least one wall
- leaving their rice cooker half-full of cooked rice...and then waiting until said rice grows fungus the color of a Gay Pride parade banner and then shrugging when asked why they haven't cleaned it
- doing a minimum of 13 loads of laundry per week, laundry that (when wet) smells like ten kinds of raunchy, putrid ass...and then leaving said laundry to occupy the washer and/or dryer for days at a time (and we are afraid to touch this laundry as no one in their right mind wants that stench to come into contact with one's flesh)
- fighting about everything and anything at the drop of a hat in the hallway, in the bedroom, on the balcony...wherever and yelling obscenities foul enough to make Andrew Dice Clay blush

I would continue, but I'm getting exhausted. And...ta da! They are finally moving out. It came to the point that I had decided to move out in the upcoming months if they weren't gone. I even went so for as to look at apartments for me and my feline and fish friends. Unfortunately, it went on so long because the roommate owed the man so much money, that he was afraid to kick him out as that would result in nonpayment of many, many monies.

But, like I said, it is finally over as they will be vacating the premises in the next month. They will not be replaced, which means the man and I are one step closer to living like adults. At least now we have more of a housemate than a roommate. To be honest, I think having one roommate is a good thing, not only fiscally: the man and I are both friends with the roommate and it is easier to cook for three than two (and he is a good cook).

Anyway, ding dong the dickbags are almost gone.