I've Got Full Moon Fever

It's not just the name of a Tom Petty album.  It really exists.  Those of us who are a little imbalanced in the first place really get messed up in the days leading to a full moon.  Really, I'm serious.  Combine that with a little PMS and you've got a raging psycho on your hands.  That's my problem....

I don't have a whole lot to say today.  I wrote a letter to my dad and his wife last night.  I'm giving it a couple of days to make sure that's all I really wanted to say and I'm sending it.  They don't have a computer, so yes, I have to actually mail it.  Maybe I'll let you guys read it tomorrow.  It's pretty emotionally charged, but last night after I posted on here, I felt like I needed to write it.  They've been dicking around with me and lying, so I felt like I needed to clear the air.  Now they'll know exactly how I feel.  Anyways, on to less depressing shit.  I feel like I've been a real downer lately and I'm sorry for that.  As soon as I get back to my old self, you'll be the first to know :)

On a happier note, I don't think I mentioned this last week.  I run a football pool each week.  Being the HUGE football fan that I am, I took this responsibility over from a guy that used to work with us.  It's turned into a work/friends/family pool each week.  It's cheap, $3 a week and the winner gets around $45 if they win depending on how many people play.  At the end of the season, the top three people take home additional money.  It's simple, I don't require an over/under, just 30 games, college & pro.  It's all the pro games for the week then the 15 or so college games with the lowest point spread.  You pick the winner.  The person with the highest number of wins gets the money each week.  Easy right? 

I've ran the pool for 8 years now.  People come and go, that's ok.  My game, my rules.  My mother is traditionally number 1.  She's strangely good at it, considering that neither her or I ever even watched football until we moved here.  I won 2 weeks in a row earlier in the season.  It's always nice to have extra $$ in your pocket.

Gavin has been a huge football fan since he was around 5.  He's my all around sports kid.  He's got my fuck you personality and isn't afraid to do his share of smack talking about his teams.  He tends to pick out specific college players and follow them into their professional careers rooting for them all the way.  Once they turn to shit, he'll start following someone else, but still have an interest in that player.  If he decides he hates a player, it's the funniest thing ever.  For some reason, he had it out for Peyton Manning for a couple of years.  Every time he would be on tv, either playing or in a commercial, Gavin would profess his hatred for him.  He's not a kid that doesn't know what he's talking about either.  He'd be like "stupid Peyton Manning, he sucks butt, did you know that he threw three interceptions last game?  How the heck does someone as crappy as that get his own commercials?"

At one point, about two years ago, he had over 25 college and pro jerseys in his closet.  He wore them every day.  He still does, the ones that still fit him anyway.  I let Gavin start playing the football pool the year Roethlisburger was a rookie for Pittsburgh.  He killed everyone all season long, but I wasn't letting him play for the money because he was a little kid.  We had a deal that if he won the season, I'd buy him an authentic Roethlisburger jersey.  Needless to say, I had to buy the jersey.  He spent week in and week out studying teams and players and really did well.

Gavin's always played since then.  He's had good years, he's had mediocre years.  He's never done poorly though.  This year, I started paying for him to play, not a big deal, it's $3 a week.  He's pretty decent this season.  He doesn't research like he used to.  Every Friday after school I call him and read him the picks over the phone.  He chooses them and we go down the list.  What would have been two weeks ago now, I called him and he did his picks over the phone as usual.  He didn't really want to do them, but he did them anyways after I told him he'd be pissed if he didn't do them, like the week before when he took his drop week.

I gather everyone's picks at the end of the week and then send out a combined sheet so that everyone knows what everyone else picked.  I normally don't look at them until Sunday night when I start tallying everyone's scores.  When I did on that Sunday night, I was blown away.  Gavin didn't do average.  He picked EVERY college game correctly.  In my 8 years of doing this pool, I've never seen anyone pick ALL the college or pro games correctly, let alone a 12 year old.  He ended up with 26 out of 30 games correct.  That's the highest score anyone's ever gotten. 

I finished scoring everyone's sheets and called him back to my room.  He thought he was in trouble, because my room is usually where we talk about things they've done wrong.  I asked him how well he thought he did and he had no clue.  When I told him that he didn't miss any of the college games, he was unimpressed for a minute. Then I think the reality sunk in.  He realized that because of the perfect college games, he won the week.  Suddenly, there was a gleam in his eye.  He won the money.  To a 12 year old, money is AWESOME, no matter how much it is.  We settled on the fact that since I payed for him to play every week, he would get $20 of the $45.  Needless to say, he was a happy kid.

On Monday, I sent out a message to all the participants.  We had all been beat by a 12 year old.  Everyone laughed with the exception of my mother.  She asked who really won.  I told her he did, I paid for him to play every week, so the money was technically his.  She didn't like that.  I shouldn't be letting a kid gamble.  You know what?  Whatever, just because you didn't win this week doesn't mean you need to be salty because the kid did.  Later on that week when my step-dad saw him, he congratulated the kid.  That's exactly what Gavin needed.  He's a kid that fronts that he doesn't give a shit what you think, but is always looking for acceptance.......Just like his mother........

Agree with it or don't.  Like I said, my game, my rules......