weatherwise, today was a beautiful day. high 70's, mild humidity. freaking gorgeous. i could get used to this.

i was at church earlier this evening, and instead of staying with the junior high and high school kids like i normally do, i was asked to help out with the younger kids. there were 15 of them, ages ranging from 3-10. during the school year these kids participate in activities tailored to their age groups, but during the summer, church attendance goes down so they toss them all together. how interesting. i'll have you know that i'm not very good with kids as it is. i don't really like them all that much and i don't really speak their language. a normal conversation with a five-year-old and i normally goes as follows:


me: "sooo... yeeeeah... how 'bout them dodgers, eh?"
kid: "can we play dodge ball?"
me: "you don't know who the dodgers are?"
kid: "i want to play dodgeball."
me: "ummm... ok"
kid: "you suck."

so perhaps you can imagine my ineptness when i have to do this with 15 kids. although it really wasn't that bad. i was just the helper. mad props to the chick who led the Bible lesson, which was supposed to be about God's compassion. trying to explain the word "compassion" to a three year old is like trying to explain snow to an African, or at least it would be to me. but she put it in terms of sharing toys so that seemed to work. we were talking about Jonah and the whale at one point and this 6 year old real heavyset kid, who bears a striking resemblance to Chunk from "the Goonies", randomly just laid down on his stomach, lifted his legs and arms, and yelled repeatedly, "i'm a whale! i'm a whale!" THAT was pretty funny.

i was watching all of these youngins and i was trying to determine what they would be like as adults-- which ones would be hot, which ones would make great spouses, which ones would end up in mental institutions or prisons, etc. might sound a bit shallow, but it was an interesting study. there was this other kid who was 6 years old and looked exactly like a young Joaquin (sp.?) Phoenix-- you know, the dude from "Gladiator" and "Signs"? Joaquin has that scar above his lip... this kid didn't have the scar but one of the points of his upper lip was higher than the other, and he talks like he has a cold. JUST like Joaquin Phoenix. so cute. anyway, i don't have anything extremely humorous to say about that, just that it was interesting.

but it does bring me to another point. has anyone seen the movie "XXX" yet? i saw it last week and was rather impressed. not because the acting was superior or the plot was ingenius, but honestly, it was very entertaining. totally unbelievable, but entertaining. can i just say that vin diesel is the man? that guy can do, wear, or say anything and still be cool. did anyone notice that at the beginning of the movie, in the diner part, that he's wearing what kind of look like 80's hammer pants? but he still looks cool. vin diesel could sell tampons and be cool.

"you want extra-absorbant? no problem, they're in aisle 12, like the number of cylinders in my car's engine. midol is in the same aisle, but really, if i can be thrown from a plane and live with the consequent aches and pains, you can get through a week of cramps and feeling bloated on your own. don't be a pansy."

he's just dripping with testosterone, and how cool is that?