The Newest Redbird
ISU Welcomes Li'l Q-Pon to Normal
ISU Welcomes Li'l Q-Pon to Normal
(Pictured Above: Li'l Q-Pon as an M&M in a parallel universe)
In the puzzle of life, one often finds himself sitting at the table with myriad pieces stacked forebodingly in an indecipherable heap. It is hard to make much sense of anything when one's world is hopelessly chaotic and the outstanding contingencies can randomly steer life in any number of directions. Eventually, decisions are made - often after much paralyzing procrastination - and circumstance often dictates posthumously how wise a particular choice appears to have been. One way or another, though, life settles down with time and allows you to drift along and live with the choices you've made, for better or worse.
Today an important piece of my puzzle fell into place: youngest sibling Laura (referred to in some circles as Li'l Q-Pon) received her acceptance to the prestigious Universidad Estatal de Illinois (ISU). And with this, a decision that I made a few months ago with much trepidation begins to look a great deal better.
That decision, of course, was to detach myself from the Steak n Shake mothership and set off in my lonely little pod to open a D.P. Dough Calzone restaurant in my collegiate home of Normal, IL. Other things have fallen into place to date, it's true, but today's news adds an important element that would have otherwise remained lacking: family.
Family has always played an important role in shaping my being. My cheap bastardry traces its origins to my grandmother, who spends twenty minutes calculating her tip to the penny at restaurants (tips calculated pre-tax), as well as my father (referred to in this space as Toadman) who regularly engages me in games of chicken in the Walgreen's checkout line to see who will flinch first and pay so we'll stop holding up the line. However, much of my latent sarcasm and quizzical expressions have no doubt been sharpened by the osmosis that can only be achieved living under the same roof as a dynamic 17-year-old (she recently turned 18).
Laura is a special one, though. She has known true suffering, having rescued me from chronic understaffing multiple times at a Steak n Shake that she otherwise would have rather avoided like the plague; her 3rd and 4th of July were spent saving my ass there til past 3 AM and then going to swim practice three hours later.
She also possesses the inimitable ability to drive Toadman to drink. Any of the Fiala boys (Ste, Pooke, and myself) are free to do anything or go anywhere we please. When it comes to Li'l Q-Pon, however, movies like Dazed and Confused or Swordfish set off alarm bells in the old man (he disappears around the corner to dust off a bottle of scotch previously untouched for years), and when Laura attempts to lead them astray as to her true whereabouts, Toadman instantly picks up the scent and tracks her down in his trusty Toadvan.
So this leaves us with little sister finally ready to spread her wings come August, with a mandate to spread the gospel of the calzone and a security blanket of a brother in town (and another down the road in Champaign) to help her out if ever she needs.
Bottom line: I'm thrilled she'll be here and welcome her to ISU.
In the puzzle of life, one often finds himself sitting at the table with myriad pieces stacked forebodingly in an indecipherable heap. It is hard to make much sense of anything when one's world is hopelessly chaotic and the outstanding contingencies can randomly steer life in any number of directions. Eventually, decisions are made - often after much paralyzing procrastination - and circumstance often dictates posthumously how wise a particular choice appears to have been. One way or another, though, life settles down with time and allows you to drift along and live with the choices you've made, for better or worse.
Today an important piece of my puzzle fell into place: youngest sibling Laura (referred to in some circles as Li'l Q-Pon) received her acceptance to the prestigious Universidad Estatal de Illinois (ISU). And with this, a decision that I made a few months ago with much trepidation begins to look a great deal better.
That decision, of course, was to detach myself from the Steak n Shake mothership and set off in my lonely little pod to open a D.P. Dough Calzone restaurant in my collegiate home of Normal, IL. Other things have fallen into place to date, it's true, but today's news adds an important element that would have otherwise remained lacking: family.
Family has always played an important role in shaping my being. My cheap bastardry traces its origins to my grandmother, who spends twenty minutes calculating her tip to the penny at restaurants (tips calculated pre-tax), as well as my father (referred to in this space as Toadman) who regularly engages me in games of chicken in the Walgreen's checkout line to see who will flinch first and pay so we'll stop holding up the line. However, much of my latent sarcasm and quizzical expressions have no doubt been sharpened by the osmosis that can only be achieved living under the same roof as a dynamic 17-year-old (she recently turned 18).
Laura is a special one, though. She has known true suffering, having rescued me from chronic understaffing multiple times at a Steak n Shake that she otherwise would have rather avoided like the plague; her 3rd and 4th of July were spent saving my ass there til past 3 AM and then going to swim practice three hours later.
She also possesses the inimitable ability to drive Toadman to drink. Any of the Fiala boys (Ste, Pooke, and myself) are free to do anything or go anywhere we please. When it comes to Li'l Q-Pon, however, movies like Dazed and Confused or Swordfish set off alarm bells in the old man (he disappears around the corner to dust off a bottle of scotch previously untouched for years), and when Laura attempts to lead them astray as to her true whereabouts, Toadman instantly picks up the scent and tracks her down in his trusty Toadvan.
So this leaves us with little sister finally ready to spread her wings come August, with a mandate to spread the gospel of the calzone and a security blanket of a brother in town (and another down the road in Champaign) to help her out if ever she needs.
Bottom line: I'm thrilled she'll be here and welcome her to ISU.
posted by Ryan at 11:08 PM
1 Comments:
i worked until 4am for you and swam two hours later..
and why would you bring up the tracking down incident..hah the van can't follow me to bloomington
& the trick of getting him to drink, well that's just talent ;)
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