I Suck At Babysitting

Today, Karen and I did something that we have not done in quite some time: we babysat my niece (Kaleigh) and nephew (PJ). Yes, I suck at babysitting. I can't remember the last time we were asked to watch over PJ and Kaleigh. It has to be at least over two months because I don't think we have been asked to babysit since our baby daughter (Briana) was born on St. Patrick's Day.

Needless to say, the babysitting gig was pretty easy. Despite my best efforts to get them all riled up (it's what uncles do, right?), PJ and Kaleigh are very well behaved when someone has to watch over them. And the both of them are extremely great whenever Briana has been around. Briana definitely has a pair of good cousins.

Anyway, the reason as to why Karen and I even ended up babysitting today is because my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) were asked to attend a special dinner at Alma Nove, a restaurant located in the Hingham Shipyard that is due to open soon. Both Janine and PJ worked with the owner in getting the restaurant up and running. So as a token of appreciation, the owner invited all those who had helped to a special private dinner. It's a very nice thing for the owner to do.

From what I hear, the food was delicious at Alma Nove. The special dinner, however, was apparently spur of the moment, which is how Karen and I came to watch over PJ and Kaleigh. And again, neither Karen nor I would have minded anyway because PJ and Kaleigh are very good. Plus, it gave us a chance to catch up on things. For instance, we found out that PJ and Kaleigh now have a vegetable garden. Who knew?

Aside from babysitting, Karen and I did not have much going on for the night anyway. We had decided to eat dinner at our favorite restaurant, Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. If anyone is curious, they have half priced appetizers Monday to Friday from 3pm to 6pm. Karen and I had the firecracker chicken appetizer... so good. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) We also had the forno baked chicken quesadilla and the vegetable spring rolls too. Those two appetizers were also good, but the firecracker chicken was easily the best of the three.

And prior to dinner at Not Your Average Joe's, I may have done a little venting. So it was good to have dinner and the babysitting follow my venting incident. I'm normally a laid back person. One of my pet peeves, however, is prejudice.

As we were driving (to Not Your Average Joe's), we passed a couple of kids who would best be described as punks. I have no issues with punks unless they do something that ticks me off... and unwarranted prejudicial actions fits into that category. The punks were walking in the middle of the road when I approached in the car. Rather than run them over, I waited for them to move off to the side... which they did. It was not until after I had passed them that I looked in the rear view mirror to see one of the bigger-boned kids making slant eyed gestures with his fingers on his face.

In retrospect, I probably should have just ran the two kids over because I would not have gotten so annoyed. In comparing jail time to having a bout of annoyance, the venting won. I actually had considered stopping the car, throwing the car in reverse and confronting the two punks. But I didn't think that would do any good... especially with Karen and Briana in the car. Needless to say, racism just annoys me to no end.

I could never understand racism, especially when it was unwarranted. It's not like I called the kid "Tubbo" or "Lard-ass" (which technically could be described as genetic physical features of the punk much like the color of my skin) when I drove by. So for him to do the slant eyed gesture... that just ticks me off. (It ticks me off just writing about it now.)

In a way, it makes me worry about my baby daughter. After all, she'll have to grow up in the world and be exposed to such things as racism. As a parent, you never want your child to get hurt... and yeah racism hurts... maybe not always physically but mentally. I've experienced it growing up, especially since at the time my family was one of a select few minorities living in Quincy. (Now Quincy is like the second coming of Chinatown.) It's not a particularly good feeling to be singled out on something that is of no fault of your own.

It's very sad really to know that prejudice still exists and probably will for some time. I can only hope that I raise Briana well enough to deal with the idiotic intolerance of some people. Martial arts training can't come soon enough.