Happy Happy Birthday!

Some people fear Severus Snape, who most of us realize come from a wondrous fictional series of fine novels. Every now and then, you find a freshman who is adamantly scared of speaking to his or her Algebra II teacher. And the red power blogger never knew she would one day fear(not anymore!) someone because he was smiling at her.
Anyway, from an early age, I had a slight fear of my mother. She would sarcastically joke in a highly realistic way that she needed to procure a special stick just so she could spank me more effectively. Apparently, rulers weren't didn't meet her standards of punishment for four year olds. And the thing is, four year olds can't usually run away from their parents, or wrestle their way out of a strong, motherly grip. The last time this happened was probably about seven years ago. She warned me that she would hit me ten times for each incorrect music theory problem. I was in shock. And in even greater shock as soon as she checked my work and found five mistakes. It wasn't the best afternoon of my life. Eventually, I grew taller, thank goodness, and the corporal punishment was replaced with extremely cruel lectures.
My father has always had higher expectations, but he only really swiped at me once when I was about 10 or 11 years old. But somehow, he incites more fear then my mother ever did. The thing is, we never really speak to each other. Holding conversations isn't even a thing of the past, because it didn't happen. The most contact I had with him was probably around the age of three. Each evening, he would read library books to me, and eventually, I read them to him. I'm a lot like him, being stubborn, and sharing many other qualities, and that doesn't really work out.
I'm actually writing this on Wednesday, July 9, 2008, and look forward to the slew of posts that will sit in my Google Reader, waiting for me to read voraciously. I hope you enjoyed reading the 50th post last Friday, by Anna Plevak. Of course, I'm sure you had a marvelous nine days or so without any of the MAO Nationals kids, who are such perfect people. Wait, that means you had to have missed us. There may have been a rule about not commenting on other power bloggers' posts unless it is within your own post. So, ten days late in public, but I loved Lacey's apology post, and it was funny because it was the day I tried to call her, so it was even more marvelous. Today is also my big brother's birthday. Happy birthday, June, you get at least two birthday wishes on here now, thanks to the great timing of the trip. It was different when you talked to us all the time in freshman year, and I guess maybe I would have gotten to see you more if I liked tennis, as the rest of the family does. Please forgive your little sister (and boss) for not contacting you enough this year, and I hope you have had loads of fun... at home... not doing anything... being away from us... not even in the same time zone or close. And you're still really extra super cool because you were born in Green Bay, WI.
Have a happy Friday.
-Kejing