I'VE BEEN ROYALLY SCREWED OVER!!!!

WA HOO WA!!!

My Virginia Caviliers won a close one today. They played Wake Forest. By the fourth quarter, it looked like the Hoo's were losing. In the last 3 minutes of the game, they were down 24 to 21. In those last few minutes, they got in close enough to let the Virginia kicker kick a 53 yard field goal to tie Wake Forest. I was shouting and hollaring so much my mother had to come down and ask what was wrong. I told her and she said I was crazy!!!
Anyway, Wake got the ball after that and after a couple of plays, Virginia got an sack to give them 4th and 2. They tried to go for it but Virginia stopped them. Then it was Virginia's turn. In the last minute, they went down the field. Around the last 15 seconds of the game, they kicked another field goal to go ahead 27 to 24!!!! I was so f*&king happy that I was creaming in my pants.....figuratively speaking. It in those last 10 seconds of the game was I was hoping that Virginia wouldn't caugh up the game so I was holding my breathe and crossing my fingers. When on the last play, Wake dropped the ball and my Virginia Cav's won the game. I was so excited that I was jumping up and down on my couch yelling!!! I heard my father too!

Anyway, that was my excitement for today. I didn't catch the first half of the game because I went up to my property to dig open the septic tank. My god that was scary when we opened it up. Apparently, in the fifteen years that my uncle lived there, he never flushed out the septic tank!!! EWWWWW!!!

BTW I just set up the "Question of the Week" series above the Discussion Board. Everybody is welcome to add to it!

So last night we played a double header on my company softball team. We lost both!!! We suck! I didn't do so great offensively, going 0 for 2 in the first game and 0 for 1 in the second game. However, defensively I was great. I caught a pop fly while I was in the outfield and at another time, I gunned down the runner at second to get an out. So all in all, our record is now 0 and 6, with only 4 more games to go.

Are there times in which you feel that you can save the world by yourself? Times in which you alone can be the savior of the entire planet. Where you can move the masses to decide to say in one loud voice, "YES....we are one and we will not fall!" Times in which you feel like the mighty Atlas and hold the world upon your shoulders. You are the savior...you are salvation....only you can save this world from the abyss of despair.
And yet, are there are times that you say to hell with this world. When you wish that the hand of God would just wipe out our entire civilization in one swoop. That we are too far gone for redemption. That our sins are too heavy to even pass on to the next generation.
The time in which there lies no distinct line between what we call good and evil. Sinners and saints hold on to and walk the same ground. We are caught in between time.

The funny thing is I find it difficult to distinguish either at the moment.

Ok....so we didn't have a hurricane party at my place!!!

But we did survive it! Well, not completely. A tree fell on my deck and damage a piece of the railing. That's it.

Saturday, we spent the morning working on clearing and marking the area to build my house. Man, it looks small!!! We didn't do much after that since my father wasn't feeling well!

Sunday, it was Loreley's and I's third month of dating anniversery. Hey, it's a big deal to me since I had one other relationship that last this long but only for five months. Besides, to me, I consider 1, 2, 3, 6 months and 1 year a real celebratory thing in a relationship. Six months will the be the big one for me!!!
Anyway, I wanted to at least plan something for it so I thought about taken her out to lunch.....someplace that doesn't take 1 minute to get your food from. I was hoping to take her to The Woodgrill Buffet but that was packed because most people were still without electricity. So instead, I took her to Cici's Pizza. It's a good thing that she's not picky! Besides she said it was alright but you can be too sure when women say that. After lunch, I took her to see "Underworld". I can't say much about it because I was too bored when I watched it. I have to say it's an interesting story but I couldn't get into it. I don't think Loreley did either. After the movie, I thought I had a softball game scheduled. We went to the field only to find that a co-worker of mine, Chris, and his girlfriend Christy, were the only one's there. I didn't find out until after I got back home that it was cancelled because the other games were cancelled due the lack of electricity. BUT IT WAS SUNNY OUTSIDE!!! Anyway, the three of us practiced and Loreley watched from bleachers. I felt bad since what I was hoping for that day didn't even remotely come to pass for us. She was tired so I told her to go and get some sleep.

Today was pandemonium at work. I think the IT department had it worst. The system was still down this morning and everybody was getting pissed.

But to top it off today, I get an IM from somebody that I least expected it from! I haven't heard from her in about over a year even though I do see her occasionally on AIM. However, with our history, I never expected to hear from her again! But it did make my day to hear from her.

So they just announced here at work that we will be closing at 3!!! Whoo hooo! Hurricane party at my place.....if it's still there!!!

101 Things About Me

Well, I keep seeing this in other journals so I figured I give it a shot!

1. I was born on December 24, 1977
2. Yes, I am a Christmas Eve baby
3. I hate it when people tell me that
4. My lungs collapsed when I was born
5. I still have the indentation of where they put the tube in me
6. I hate my birthday
7. Everybody forgets about it because it’s around Christmas
8. My cousin was born on the same day, a year later!
9. I used to tell people that I had a second birthday in the summer!
10. I am an only child.
11. I was very shy growing up
12. So shy that when people tried to hold me as a baby, I cry so much that I would pass out.
13. I have a poor memory
14. Oddly enough though, the following things I remember
15. Though I have jet black hair, I was once blonde!
16. I had my first crush at 5 years old
17. Her name was Courtney St. John.
18. Her family moved down the street from us.
19. I first saw her when my parents brought her to pick me up from my babysitter.
20. My babysitter at the time was Mrs. Droppa.
21. Mrs. Droppa would take me on nature walks and show me “Lady Slippers”
22. Lady Slippers are my favorite flower
23. My Uncle keeps telling me every time he used to ask me what my name was, I would always say “Fishy” when I was 4
24. My family loves telling stories about how I love chocolate and Dr. Pepper
25. I asked my aunt once if I could have some Dr. Pepper, she told me I could, and I drank a whole 2 litter bottle by myself
26. I’m a picky eater
27. The only vegetables I like are green beans and mash potatoes
28. I went through kindergarten twice, because I was too young the first time.
29. I meet Brook Steere in kindergarten
30. I had a crush on her all the way up through High School
31. I never told her
32. I still get butterflies when I see her
33. My first cat was name Curtain
34. I named him after seeing him climbing up curtains
35. He died a few months later....not my fault!
36. I moved into my current house in 1985....still there!
37. Right after we moved in, my grandfather died.
38. It was the only time I saw my father cry.
39. I’m still miffed that I didn’t go his funeral but I was only 7 years old!
40. When he died, we got his dog, “Lady”, and lived to be 18 years old!
41. We also got, and still have, a cat named Tink
42. I had to get braces when I was in High school
43. They had to take out 8 of my baby teeth before getting them
44. I have also had to take out 5 wisdom teeth
45. I also had to get a nose job because I had a deviated septum (couldn’t breathe)
46. I have taken 3 cruises
47. Two have been to the Caribbean
48. One to the Bahamas
49. I have been to Disney World 4 times
50. The last time was three years ago after I graduated from college
51. I have been to Dollywood once.
52. In high school, I had still had a crush on Brook Steere
53. and my science teacher Ms. Wood
54. and on Brandy Jenkins
55. who I had a crush on all through high school and never told her
56. until on Monday (Sept. 15th, 2003)
57. I went to the prom with my cousin Dee
58. I once hit her in the eye swinging a golf club
59. I graduated 9th in my class of 150
60. I didn’t get my license until I was 18
61. I didn’t like driving much
62. My first kiss was in my senior year
63. Her name was Jackie Edwards
64. I think I can honestly say our first date was playing Bingo with my mom!!!
65. We broke up after 3 weeks!
66. I started writing poetry when I started dating her
67. After high school, my first job was during the summer at a concession stand near the local pool.
68. I applied and got accepted to William & Mary and James Madison
69. But I went to George Mason University in Fairfax Virgina
70. because it was close to Washington DC
71. and the National Zoo
72. My major was in Biology
73. My degree though was a Bachelor’s of Science in Integrative Studies
74. My sophomore/junior year roommate was Luis Marcano
75. My senior year roommate was Chris Robson
76. I’m still friends with both
77. I met one of my best friends, Ginger, in college
78. Oddly, I had meet her at a wedding years before and didn’t remember
79. We dated for a couple of months
80. I had my first taste of alcohol after my 21st birthday
81. My friend Ryan made a movie of all our friends called Hijinx
82. It showed us throwing TV’s and computer monitors off buildings, blowing up things, and breaking into the cafeteria
83. He also gave me my nickname, Crispy, because he just wanted too
84. I thought it was either because my last name is Rice, first name Chris
or because every time my mother came to visit, she would bring Rice Crispy Treats
85. In January of 1999, I went on a class trip to Andros Island in the Bahamas for two weeks
86. It was arguably the best time I went to anywhere even though the place I stayed at was shitty
87. There were large brown spiders, ants, lizards, and roaches in the rooms
88. Before we came, a dog had puppies and I could hear them whining everynight
89. They had a wedding reception for three nights under us
90. After I graduated, I worked at the Monticello ticket office for several months
91. Until I got a job at the local SPCA (kennel)
92. Only worked there for six months because I got tired of the people, not the dogs
93. I dated a co-worker for two months but she broke up with me because I too nice
94. I went back to Monticello, working from the ticket office, the gift shops, and the garden center
95. I meet my first love, Aubrey, while working there
96. She just graduated from high school!
97. We dated for 5 months
98. I regret breaking up with her
99. On January 2, 2002, I started working at the place I work now called Autosport
100. I meet my currentnow ex-girlfriend, Loreley, while at church
101. I'm now single and looking! ;)

!!!ISABEL IS A COMING!!!! ISABEL IS A COMING!!!! WHOO HOOO!

I just set up another journal account, this time on Live journal. I'm still working on it but check it out.....I would like those who already have Live journal accounts give me some advice on setting it up like adding friends and pictures. Anyway the site is The Wonderful Mind of Crispy!

I wrote a entry on Sunday but I think Blogger ate it!

Anyway, this is my recap of my weekend.

On Friday, after work, Loreley came over to have dinner with us and watch "Hijinx", the movie that my friend made of us in college. After the movie, we talked about our relationship. I found out that she is also scared about getting close to me knowing that she might leave next year. That is why she tells me she hasn't told me she loves me. She asked if that bothered me and I said no, it didn't, because I understand that some people have a hard time saying it or don't know how to say it. I'm not pressuring her to say it anyway. This is just so frustrating though since we don't get to spend much time with each other since I make her focus on her school and work.

On Saturday, I went up to my property to do some work. My father and I started by putting locks on the shed so we wouldn't have to worry about people getting in to the tools. We then cleared out a hundred feet of barb wire fence and bushes so it would be easier to allow my uncle clear the land when he started. It was raining so we left at 1 since we couldn't get anything else done that day. We then went to go see my Uncle and told him what we did and he tells us that we have to put it back because there are cows back there! WHAT!!!! He told us to talk to the neighbor because she sometimes has cows back there. Now he tells us. Anyway, we went to talk to the neighbor but luckily for us, she didn't have any cows since she sold them last year because of the drought. Anyway, I was just glad we didn't have to put back the barb wire fence.

Sunday, after church, we went to Orange to check out a bedroom suit and kitchen table for my house. My mom had put an ad in the Bucksaver to advertise for a bedroom suit for my house and we recieved a call from a woman in Orange on Saturday night. So we went to Orange to check it out. Oh my....this was some beautiful stuff! The bedroom suit, which came from Ethan Allen orginially, including the Sleigh bed, the mattress, two night tables in cherry, and two table lamps for 700 dollars!!! I also got a cherry framed table with green tile on it with four chairs for 350 dollars and nice Magnvox tv for 250 dollars! Lets just say I got a great deal on all this stuff. Last night after work, we went to pick this up from the woman and brought it back to my parents place. I can't wait to finish my place and move in!

Last night my company softball team played it's fourth game of the season. We didn't look too good. The other team scored 7 runs in the first inning. By the time it finished, the final was 14 to 4! That makes our record now 0 and 4!!! Damn...we suck. We made a lot of errors and the other team hit mostly up the middle bloopers. We actually could have scored a couple of more runs but we didnt' have a third base coach to tell people to go home. I'm the one has been doing the third base coach but I didn't since I was trying to keep the scorebook.
On a brighter side...if you can call it that...my parents came to the game. It's their first game to my company softball. They wanted to meet everyone that I work with. All my co-workers now know where I get my grin.....which I get from my mom.
Well, they got to see probably one of my best games offensively since I started playing last year. I was the designated hitter (DH) of the game, playing at the 12th position. You can have 12 players hitting in the line up only if there are 6 girls and 6 guys. I elected to be the DH to let another guy play in the outfield since he was new to the team. I went for 2 for 2, a single in the 4 inning and a big shot to the outfield in the the 6th inning to give me a double. I later heard that my mom was so excited for me that she was dancing and yelling in the bleechers!!!
After the game, I introduced them to some of my co-workers. They all seemed to like them. After they left, the rest of the team decided to go to BW3 but I decided not to since I'm trying to save my money for the house. Well, after hearing about this morning, I'm kicking myself in the ass for not going. All of them had a good time, got drunk, had a lot of conversations, and even a few stayed till midnight. I'm promising myself that next time they go, I'm going!

I also signed up for a Live Journal account last night. My friend, who has a website called, Muppethouse, is setting up Live Journal accounts for anybody who wants one. I thought it was pretty cool of him to do so but I have to figure out what I'm going to design on this new journal. I'll keep you informed about the new journal when I set it up.

Also heard this morning that both Johnny Cash and John Ritter died! Now I would have expected Cash to die since he was 71 years old. I figured since his wife, June Carter Cash, died 6 months ago, he would go soon too since I hear that couples that stay together for that long usually die one right after another. But John Ritter....that was a complete shock. Everybody knows him as Jack Tripper from Three's Company, which I always enjoyed watching, and he was only 54. I enjoyed the one show where there was a miscommunication with one of the roommates....that was the best one (yes...I'm being sarcastic here. There was always a miscommunication)! But it was just a sad thing to hear after you grow up on watching him.

Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity, and some people have mediocrity thrust upon them.
Joseph Heller (1923 - ), "Catch-22"

Lately, I've been realizing that one of the things I fear is being mediocre. Actually, the truth is that I don't ming being mediocre in my eyes, but I'm afraid to be mediocre in the eyes of my family and friends. Does that sound at all a bit strange to you? Now, I constantly hear from my family how special and wonderful I am, but aren't most families suppose to say that. It's a strange feeling to worry that everything you hear about yourself is not true. From what I hear, I should be glad to have such a positive environment to grow up in. But I still worry that it is not enough for me anymore.
I worry that friends only see me as a mediocre friend. They say it in words but never actions. I just want to be told that I can be a great friend, or a best friend or even a good friend. I worry that as time goes on, I won't be remembered much as a friend as those who I call friends move on with their lives.
I worry about being a mediocre boyfriend. Will I be remembered at all by those that I dated and/or loved. Will I be just another scratch on the wall, just another guy that she dated, just a memory that is only stirred when someone asks her "Oh, whatever happened to him?"
Or being remembered as a mediocre lover. Someone that you don't remember how it was when you kissed him. Someone that you said was just not that memorable when you slept with him. I wonder would she ever think about me at night when she was in bed with her new boyfriend or lover or husband?
In turn, I worry about being a mediocre husband whose wife wished for that old flame again or felt trapped by the bonds of marriage or kids. Does she think of him late at night when she is beside me? Do I ignite the passion that we felt when we first dated or is it just a tiny candle in our lives?

I guess mediocrity can be a scary feeling. Maybe this could be the reason for our wanting to be on top of the world, to be the best of what we can be. Would the world be a better place if we just strived to be mediocre?

”It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.”
Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh, Chapter 77

That quote seems to sum it up for me. On Friday, after I had dinner with Loreley, I came out and told her that I loved her. I was debating to say it because I was truly scared of that feeling of loving her. The reason....she wants to transfer to another school once she finishes at the local community college, Piedmont. She says that she doesn’t want to stay in Virginia anymore and she wants to get out and travel. She doesn’t want to settle here. She’s been looking at colleges in California, Chicago, and Ohio to name a few.

So I’ve been asking myself, what’s the point of loving someone when you know they are going to leave in a year/year in a half? What’s the point of getting close to someone when you know it will only break your heart when you know they are going to leave. Hey, things can change between now and that point. She may decide to stay in the state. But somehow I don’t believe it. She’s only 19 and she wants to do so many things before she “settles down”.

So what did she say when I told her those three words? Well, she gave me that deep look she gives, smiled and told me that she was happy to know that I felt that way, and gave me a big hug. She didn’t reply back with those words, though I won’t push her to say them. Maybe she hasn’t gotten to that point yet in our relationship. I’ve heard that there are some people who can’t even say them and may never say them. With her, it’s hard to tell how she feels. I can only assume that I make her happy enough to stay with me.

I realize how love can be one of the scariest things in this world. It comes easy to me when I say “I love you” to my family and friends. However, when it comes to being in love, it’s much more difficult to say. Other than Loreley, I can honestly say that I’ve only been in love with one other person, which I considered my first love. Yet, you can never fall out of love with that person that easily. You just move on until you find someone else to love, but you never forget it.

When I told her I loved her, Loreley asked me why. I told her that I feel empty, that empty feeling in your stomach when she’s not around and when I do see her, I have butterflies in my stomach in the excitement in seeing her every time again. I don’t know if she felt that I was genuine when I told her. I can only wonder if that was how she felt with her previous love, whom she almost married.

Love can be frustrating and wonderful. Yet how can you define it, feel it, make it true? That’s why love can be the scariest thing in the world. So what Samuel Butler says true in that it's better to love than never at all?

Life….or something like it!

Here’s a basic recap of my Labor Day weekend!

It started on Thursday night after work when we played a double header in my company softball team. I’ll just give you a basic gist of it…..we lost both of them! I actually didn’t do so bad….but that’s because I was a sub for both games. When I did come in, I went 1 for 1 in the first game and 1 for 2 in the second game. We are now 0 and 3 in the standings!

When I got home that night, I learned that my uncle and aunt were planning to move out of the trailer….that lies on my property of where I’m building. The plan was that I build on the spot where the trailer is but they live in it now since they are building a house for themselves. I didn’t want to push them out but they knew that I wanted to start soon. Anyway, with the news that they were moving out over the weekend, my folks were in a rush to find out some way to get the trailer off the land. The original plan was that my father found someone to take it to use as a hunting trailer but found another one a couple of weeks ago. So my folks, especially my mom, who was trying to help me on this, started looking up numbers to give away the house. I was helping her looking up numbers and all of sudden she was bitching on how we have to do this now!!! I am just there reading the numbers in the phone book when she did this so I started shouting back feeling that she unjustly bitched at me, and all of a sudden it was a shouting match between her and I. For those that know her, and me, we never argue about anything in way like this before so it was an unusual outbreak of emotions between the two of us. However, we calmed down to finishing looking up numbers.

Friday, after I got off work, I came back home. I found out my mom had called around about getting rid of the trailer but only found that would cost me $1200 to get a guy to come and take it away. I was feeling the pressure on me at this point but it then that my mom got a call from my uncle….the same one that I bought the land from….found someone to take the trailer away for FREE!!!! I was so relieved to hear that.

Saturday morning, I got up early to go help my uncle/aunt to pack up and move out of the trailer. But, when we got there, they moved most of the stuff out already. I helped though move out the fridge and some large cabinets. They moved all their stuff into the large shop that they have below where they are building! Now, all that I have to do is wait until they move the trailer!

After helping, I left around 3 to come back home and get dressed to go out to dinner with Loreley. Her mom came down from Ohio for the weekend and she wanted to meet her. I was a bit nervous about it and I dressed up for them. However, I seemed to have been overdressed because they dressed in shorts and t-shirts and I had on my Sunday best! I meet them at the Kroger parking lot…where Loreley works. It was Loreley, her mother, aunt, her grandmother, and her mother’s friend and we all got into the Suburban and went to dinner at the Outback. I actually had a good time eating out with them. After dinner, they drove back to Kroger and I said goodbye to her mother. I think she liked me because she hugged me before leaving. That is a good sign right?

On Sunday, I went to church that morning. I ran into Loreley after the early service and she was heading out with her mom to Fredericksburg. I went to my mom’s cousin house to have a birthday party for my aunt and uncle, who are twins, for their 42nd birthday.

On Monday, I was off from work because it was Labor Day. I slept in that morning but decided to go town to go see Loreley at work to ask about going out after she got off. We decided to go for a drive to Skyline after work around 2, so I went to Lowes to check about a sample of aluminum siding for the house that I need to get to compare for bricks I was getting for the house. I then went to Loreley’s house to meet up with her. We left around 2 and drove from Greene up to Skyline Drive. We decided to stop and hike up Humpback rocks there but about half way up, it started to rain. When we finally got back down, we were both drindged! We decided to drive back to Charlottesville, where we decided to get ice cream at Kohr Bros. I don’t know if that was such a good idea since we were still cold from the rain! We then headed back to her house where I realized that my windows in my car were down and some rain poured. Luckily, her parents were home and put towels on which I’m thankful for.

Hope everyone else had a good Labor Day!