SPACEMANSPIFF2112's blog: "almost scalped today"

My little girl started her first job today. I can't believe she Is old enough to be working! It seems like only yesterday that I brought her home from the hospital and began my journey as a father. She turned 16 on March 10th, and that was shocking enough! I'm not really old, and I don't really feel like I am. But It seems as If the time Is flowing very quickly. A lot has gone on In the 16 years since she was born, and most of It I have been a part of. However, since her Mother and I divorced 4 years ago, I have not been In my kid's lives on a day to day basis. I accepted this when I divorced their Mother, but I miss that bonding time I enjoyed so much. Now I only get to see them every other Weekend. That's not enough! Also, my kids are at that stage of a teenager's life when it's just not "cool" to hang out with their Parents. So when they come to my home, they spend minimal time with me. They hang out In their rooms watching TV, or playing video games. I'm not here complaining about It, just giving a generalized look at It from my perspective. I was once a teenager, and I went through the same thing. Now, back to the subject at hand. My Daughter Is In orientation for the new job as I write this. I wonder what Is going on In it, and I worry about the pitfalls of her working around so many other people. I used to be the "bad boy" who tried to get with the sweet,innocent girls...LOL. I think that her Mother and I have raised her pretty well, and she has good morals and values. But she Is young and quite possibly could be an easy target. I risk the possibility of her rebelling against my wishes If I harp on this issue with her. So I have had to hold my tongue and hope her Mother Is having the good old fashioned Mother Daughter talks and relationship. You see, my little girl has a boyfriend who Is 18. I am very upset about this, but I can't do too much about it. Since I don't live with her, I can't keep my watchful eye on her like I would like. In fact, my ex-wife keeps telling me I don't need to meet this kid. HUH??? I feel totally left out on the process of helping her maintain her status as a good girl. I don't want to treat this kid bad, or threaten him that if he does something I will beat his ass. I have heard from the ex that he Is really a nice kid. Well, I want to make that determination for myself. For all I know, he could be putting up a front as Mr. Good guy, and my ex I buying It hook-line-and-sinker. I want to see for myself what kind of guy he Is. I'm not stupid, and I'm no fool. I know eventually my daughter is going to have sex. I just want to be there to keep a watchful eye for the tell-tale signs that her boyfriend might be trying to pressure her. I In no way would condone for her to be Involved In a sexual relationship, and I want her to remain sex free for as long as possible. I am proud of my little girl, and I am happy she has her first job. I just have a whole new set of issues to worry about now. These are the days I was dreading would come when she was a little baby. I'm just trying to be the best Dad I can be while not living with her and her Brother.

OK, here's the deal. Today while i was vacuuming my living room, the belt to my vacuum cleaner came off. This is not the first time for this to happen. I really need to replace the damn vacuum. Well, to fix this little problem, I have to take a fillips head screw driver and take off the plate on the bottom of the vacuum. Then I have to remove the roller that Is covered with bristles. The roller turns and the bristles brush the dirt and pet hair so the vacuum can clean more efficiently. I successfully removed the roller, and replaced the belt to where It would make the roller turn again. All was going according to plan, when apparently my right hand hit the switch that turns the vacuum on. BIG MISTAKE! I had just finished putting the plate back on, and was actually finished putting it back together. If you haven't noticed by now, I have some pretty long hair. Well, with the vacuum upside down and my hair hanging right in front of the damned thing, you can get a pretty good idea as to what happened next. The roller caught the left side of my hair and just like that, my hair was rolled around the bristles, and my head was slammed into the bottom of the vacuum cleaner. I freaked out! Luckily I was able to not panic and turned the switch off pretty quickly. The problem was with my head pinned to the bottom of the vacuum cleaner, I was having some trouble finding the screw driver that was on the floor. I yelled for my kids to come and help me. They found the screw driver, and I then got to the task of trying to put the screw driver head into the slot of the screws to take them out. It took some time, and I had to resist the urge to simply pull my head away from the vacuum cleaner, since that would have surely caused me to lose a great deal of my hair. Once I had the plate off, I began unrolling my hair from it. It took nearly a half an hour to get It unrolled, but I managed to do it successfully. Surprisingly, I didn't lose as much hair as I thought I would. The only real damage was in the form of a massive headache. My hair was pulled so hard that I felt as if I had tied It to a bumper of a car and was dragged behind It. But other than that I can see no physical difference In the appearance of It. Now the next time the belt comes off, I will make sure to have my hair In a ponytail, and the vacuum cleaner unplugged...