Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Fate, Sexual Predator and An Old Bag


FATE...

Isn't it strange how fate works? I've been looking around on the internet for quite some time researching the concertina world. I've often visited the website of a musical instrument store in a nearby town. Fate led me there again last night while perusing the cyber world. I had never been to their bulletin board page and decided to click the link. On March 31st, a musician that teaches concertina in Chicago is holding a workshop just down the road. It's a 3 1/2 hour intensive Anglo concertina workshop and it said they will "have us playing tunes by the end." I'm not sure if they took into consideration a nine-fingered 40-something-girl with a 1 week old concertina attending the class when that statement was made. Regardless, I was on the phone with the owner of the shop at 8:56 a.m. and I am signed up! Isn't fate cool?



SEXUAL PREDATOR...
I found out today that a former co-worker was arrested for sexually abusing a minor. He is 65, she is 13 and there are more girls coming forward. It makes me sick to my stomach. It also didn't surprise me. He had this surface niceness about him but those gut instincts were right. He had a candy coated shell covering a twisted, evil soul. If he is truly guilty, there is no punishment on this earth that could ever equal the damage he has caused. My thoughts are with the girls and their families.



AN OLD BAG...
An Altoid scented sigh of relief was released by me in the office of our accountant as I set the yellow plastic bag of paperwork in a chair. I could hardly see him peeking over the stacks of manila folders on his desk. We've been taking our taxes to Ed for over 10 years. He's an old school accountant. No e-filing here. He still fills out our forms in long hand. He works his magic every year and we get nice returns that almost pay for our outrageously high Wisconsin property tax.


I have always used a bright yellow plastic bag with a CAT (Caterpillar) logo on the side to transport our paperwork to Ed. I didn't think I was going to fit it all in this year but I managed with only a couple of puncture wounds to the bag. We'll see how good Ed is at repacking! One year I walked in the door to hear the comment "Hear comes the Johnson* bag." To which I replied "Oh thanks! I'm an old bag now?" I made my accountant blush. Hopefully the bag will survive for next years trip to town.

*Johnson is an alias. I still like my anonymity.


12 comments:

lime said...

you have a BALL at your workshop...

if rthe guy is guilty then castration via rusty grapefruit spoon is my sentence...

LOVE your retort to the accountant!

Logophile said...

Good stuff, Balou, well, cept for the middle bit.
Clearly it is fate, I mean, a workshop? Right after you got yours? It was written in the stars.

Balou said...

lime: I'm so excited about the workshop! Good sentence choice. And thanks for visiting me here! I enjoy your blog.

logo: Will be fun to see where this little twist of fate takes me. The concertina has not arrived yet. I've been assured it will be here by Saturday. Sitting on pins & needles here waiting for the sound of the UPS truck driving up the driveway!

robkroese said...

Just goes to show that more often than not, those gut instincts are there for a reason. 65 and 13? That's just messed up.

Balou said...

diesel: I hope those gut instincts in us evolve into seeing through candy coated shell people. This world would be a better place if we could "see" people's true nature.

Sornie said...

The predator bit is just downright crepy. I think that if I were working alongside someone like that I'd quit or find a way to make that person quit.

Balou said...

Sornie: Thanks for stopping in. Thing is, you could be sitting next to one and not even know it. We didn't know it either. Just knew that I couldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. Well, even less than that, he was a little guy.

Unknown said...

So ... you eat Altoids? Do you just suck on them or chew them? I chew mine, which tends to freak some people out. OH MY GOSH, YOU CHEW ALTOIDS? WHAT KIND OF TWISTED FREAK ARE YOU? Others are just "eh ..."

Balou said...

DD: LOL! I'm a chewer. Did you know they now have chocolate covered cinnamon altoids? They're awesome!

Bone said...

I never understood how anyone could harm a child :(

morealyera said...

Congrats on the concertina workshop! That sounds amazing! (Some day I would love to learn the hammered dulcimer.)

I was commenting to Hanu just yesterday that I don't understand what could be wrong in someone's head that would allow them to see a 13 year old child as a sex object. If this fellow is guilty, I hope that the laws there will keep him from harming another child ever again.

On the topic of "old bags", I still remember a trip to the store with my grandmother when I was very young... she had purchased some yarn and a pair of bedroom slippers, and after ringing up her purchases, the clerk asked her if she would like a bag. Her reply? "No thanks, I already am one." :)

Craig D said...

Huh! A co-worker of mine was arrested a few weeks ago, as well. I don't know enough specifics, but I think we're in the same ball-park.