Tall Tales
June 13, 2006
Each time I stretch my arms, or scratch my back, or move my bra strap back into place, my sunburn rears its ugly head. I am constantly under the assumption that the fact that I don't have fair skin means I am invincible to the sun. Every summer I am proven wrong by the pounding rays and ridiculous triple-degree heat in Texas. I am surprised I don't have cantaloupe-sized tumors growing off of my cheek bones or clavicles.
This weekend Roger and I went fishing at the lake, and for several hours the biggest thing we caught was my Dad, who had leapt into the water after his rod and reel fell off the side of the boat. Dad was giddy when he retrieved his prize, and had I paid the price of Manolo Blahniks for my fishing pole, I would have been giddy, too.
The thing about fishing is that it's a very fickle sport. You can't generally control whether a fish will bite your lure, and if it does, you don't always catch it. For me, at least, it generally gets away, and as the day wears the size of the fish on my pole generally grows larger and larger. I suspect that's true about most fisherman. Which is why, when I actually caught a fish (I caught a fish!), it was necessary for me to document the event.
That fish? Totally bigger than it looks on camera. In fact, by the time I got back to Dallas it was 30 inches long. Or so I told my family.
Comments
I love going fishing! How fun that you and Roger got to have a fun trip to the lake this weekend. :)
Posted by: Mel | June 13, 2006 08:55 AM
I thought you wer going to say your dad jumped in the water to set the explosives to detonate a million fish.
~Jef
Posted by: Thunderfish | June 13, 2006 09:39 AM
Ha ha. Fish Kisser! Catfish sounds good right now. I fry mine with Zatarians corn meal and I put garlic cloves in the grease while frying to give it an extra flavorful kick. So delicious. The recipe came from one of my mom's work friends, he was black and you know that some black people really know how to season food up good - especially if they is from Nawlins!
Posted by: eddo | June 13, 2006 10:12 AM
I like to "pretend" to fish. This means that I like to fish (i.e. hold a fishing pole), but I don't want to catch anything. If I did, I wouldn't know what to do with it and I'd probably feel bad that I was depriving the fish of air (or water in this case).
Cooked fish is another thing altogether. Yum-my (at least most fish. Some fish can be too fishy and I'm not as big of a fan of those).
Posted by: Deals | June 13, 2006 12:01 PM
fish kisser
and I would KILL for freckles, can we work out some kind of exchange?
Posted by: Katie | June 13, 2006 12:41 PM
Oooo, I hate those sunburn/brastrap moments.
Posted by: Ree | June 13, 2006 01:47 PM
Wikipedia lies. I'm covered in freckles and not one of them has faded over time. Not one.
I love fishing. Sounds like you had a great time. Nice job representing.
Posted by: heather | June 13, 2006 01:48 PM
Don't catfish have those barb thingys that sting you? If so... how did you kiss this fish and not get stung by one of those barb thingys?
Also, what was kissing a fish like? Please elaborate.
Posted by: ben | June 13, 2006 03:01 PM
I love fishing. Or at least, BEING fishing, not actually fishing. Four years ago, Adam and I tried fishing on our own, but when we actually caught something, there was lots of squealing and screaming and throwing of wiggly fish that we tried to de-hook while wearing GARDENING gloves because we were ill-prepared, and also, stupid.
And I am in awe of SEALS, honestly.
Posted by: jonniker | June 13, 2006 03:35 PM
I feel you on the freckles. I have red hair and pale, pale, pale (PALE!) skin, so when I'm out in the sun for more than 10 seconds, I get a crazy number of freckles. You can almost see them appearing, one by one, all over my face. Sunblock, hats, towels, mummification - they are no match for the freckle gene.
I'm jealous of your day on the lake. Being in New York City, I miss boating.
Posted by: Lawyerish | June 13, 2006 05:15 PM
heheh
Posted by: Jayleigh | June 13, 2006 07:18 PM
Woohoo! Fishing is WAY more fun than camping. :)
Posted by: my life is brilliant | June 13, 2006 11:14 PM
Wait Lawyerish is who I want to be, at least the red hair and the freckles
Posted by: Katie | June 14, 2006 09:30 AM