Beginnings

This is the duck.

His name is Duck, or Duckie, if I'm feeling loving. Some people have tried to give him a more sophisticated name. One friend suggested Victor. But his name is Duck. Just Duck. That's the name he likes.

I don't remember where he came from. Neither do my mom, my dad, or my best friend, Kelly. He's been in my life and, more specifically, my car, for at least a couple of years. I recently had to repaint his bill, because the Texas sun is not kind to anything that spends as much time in it as Duck does. 

He is not just an ordinary duck. No - he is a traveling companion, a source of entertainment, and a fully functional GPS. 

Erm, well, about that last one. Maybe he can't direct me from my apartment to the WalMart in Bowlegs, Oklahoma, using step-by-step directions. Maybe he doesn't even know where Bowlegs, Oklahoma is. Or if there is a WalMart there. (Maybe I don't know that either.) But he is still a very useful duck. He helps me tell my left from my right. 

I know. I can hear it now. How old ARE you, anyway? And you can't tell your left from your right? The short answers to those are: I'm 20. And no. Just mark it down as one of those quirky little things that grow to be endearing. I hope. Right? RIGHT? Good. In any case, Duck sits on the right side of the dashboard of my bright yellow Volkswagen Beetle. And when I ask for directions, I ask for them in a very specific way. No left and right for me - it's Duck and Non-Duck. People laugh when I tell them this, and typically they ignore it. Until they tell me to go right, and we end up in Bowlegs, Oklahoma. And since we live in University of Texas country, Oklahoma is usually the last place we want to end up. (Sorry Mellie, it had to be said.) Needless to say, people only make the left/right mistake once, before they accept that in my world, Duck means right.

You hear me? That means the duck is always right.

So, about me. I'm a full time student at the University of Texas here in Austin. I love it. Love it, love it, love it. I'm studying Social Work, Psychology, and Slavic Culture. The first two are my chosen career path. The last... let's just say that I found myself in a class on vampires in my first semester, and never looked back. 

I live with a chocolate Labrador named The Super Duper Cooper Pooper Puppy... or just Cooper. Or Coop. Or "STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!" He lets me sleep in his bed, and only demands steak and potatoes twice a week. Uh, wait. That doesn't make me sound good. That makes me sound like one of those crazy people who say their dogs are their kids. Uh... oh well. You caught me. The Cooper Puppy is my baby. But I swear, on all that is cheesy, you will never, ever catch me dressing him up in a sweater and rain boots. That's just creepy.

My parents live about an hour south of me, in a town of 11,000 called Lockhart. I should say that we aren't actually FROM Texas. Three years ago, because of a video game, we came for a baby shower and just never left. Yes. You read that right. I'll explain later.

The baby in question is now a wild and crazy three year old. Mono, my little monkey boy. He has an eight-month-old sister. Sometimes I call her Posa, short for mariposa, or butterfly. Lately, I call her please stop crying, please please please I know you're teething but I can't take it anymore! Both of these munchkins belong to my best friend Kelly, who is fourteen years older than me, and quite often, fourteen years wiser. She even helped me through biology this last semester.

I have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Panic Disorder. Really. Like Monk. Only, with less detective work. That might make it cool. Most days, it just sucks. But, in the immortal words of Popeye, "I yam what I yam."

Other, equally uninteresting things about me include my love of partner dominoes, webboggle, and scrabble. I also love photography, and shoot with a Canon Rebel. I'm a Mac. I wear Sketchers and Converse. And I hate bacon. 

I started this blog so I'd have somewhere to inflict my opinions...uh...share my ideas and daily life. It should be fun. Or at least funny. 

The Duck is my mascot. That is all you need to know.

*Bobs