when i was 6 years old (this was not last year), i threw a full on kick-whine tantrum in the st. thomas more catholic church parking lot. i believe my exact words were, "church is boring". the inflection on 'boring' made the word come out of my mouth at about 1 syllable per minute with a dog-whistle pitched crescendo (wow, that word was not even paying rent in my brain). thou shalt not walk in late for church so Raymond Sr. and Joan gave in pretty quick and let me stay in the car. Todd (brother) went slack-jawed and began to worry that he too should not be going in. Raymond Sr. told him, "doughnuts". they refused to leave me the keys, so i crawled under the car in my church hot-rod mechanics clothes to get the hide-a-key so i could to listen to rick dees. for my parents, this one defeat dominoed into three distinct 'victories' for me that each blossomed countless sub-defeats for all creatures with ears. 1: i learned the 'perceived'...