Donald Rumsfeld Hands On

A Real Post

Okay, here's a real post.

Easter, as always, wasn't so much about religion around the house. Nope, it was two little kids running around being happy as can be, with the permission to devour as much candy as their little bodies can handle. They had three hunts, one at a YMCA, another one indoors at home, and one at Grandma's house. The YMCA hunt was okay, the disproportionate amount of people versus eggs was fairly noticeable - Alex only got like 4 eggs and Zoe got 6 or so. There was a toddler who had a basket full of eggs, and I'm sure the mom got a lot of evil eyes for that. Good god, what a terrible example to pass on.

We did the Redmond Senior Center last year, but this year decided against it because after the cost was all tallied up, it would cost us 19 bucks just for admission. Excluding Zoe, who is still young enough not to be charged. I'm sure we would have gotten better candy, more eggs, and a smattering of eggs and bland pancakes that is the included "breakfast", but I dunno. 19 bucks seems a bit steep for something like an egg hunt.

So we did one at home as well, and the kids enjoyed going around the house, finding coins, chocolate eggs, weird foam edible bunnies, and lost souls in the little plastic eggs strewn all about the house. Yesterday was yet another hunt, although Grandma used real eggs, which Mr. Alex found out when he punctured an egg with his thumb expecting chocolately goodness only to find a bruised yolk staring back at him.

Easter, like Halloween, has become a boon for the candy industry. Alex can get kinda weird about candy, obsessed really, and this morning the first thing he wanted in his mouth was more candy. He was quickly shot down by his parents.

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This is the problem that I've been having lately, and it's something that I really need to work on. I have a very short span of patience now, and I think it's hugely in part that I feel like I'd rather be doing something else with my time. Yes, yes, I'm a parent, and quality time with my children is something that I should look forward to, and it is. But this internal battle that I have regarding how I should spend my time goes back a long way. It's not just like, oh, I have kids now. Okay, I'd rather be doing something else.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm an oxymoron. Yes, I'm a pimpled face ointment junkie who happens to be a moron. I'm an oxymoron because I'm a private person most of the time, but I'm also very open about my problems. I practically broadcast that I'm not a great parent. But in real life, unless I'm comfortable with you, I usually keep to myself. I like my own time, and there are a lot of times whereby I don't really talk to people much, because I don't really have anything to say to them.

I've found people on myspace who are from my past, met them enthusiastically, and then... nothing. It's anti-climatic because I don't really have much to say to people. I lack skills to small talk, which impairs and probably dissolves a lot of relationships that I have with people. I don't try awfully hard to keep in touch with even my closest friends, and I don't maintain the friendships I have very well. It's just my loner personality. My family left me pretty much by myself growing up, so I've grown to adapt to being self-sufficient to a fault.

Anyway, what this has to do with my kids is that I need to knock it off. I know that if I continue of this path of not giving them quality time, and time to enjoy them for who they are will evaporate. Kids grow up and out of their parents anyway, but there is no reason why I shouldn't try to keep them close. It hasn't been easy lately, since Alex is getting combative and argumentative, and Zoe is passively defiant, and I feel like I have absolutely no control over what they do, and how I react. I'm sure it's just me refocusing my goal in life. This Videography thing has really thrown a wrench in my system, and I just need to get into a groove.

Sigh. I try with the kids, and I need to try harder. I don't want them to grow up and be like me. All anti-social and possessive of my time.

Easter Pics

Above is the slideshow of Easter 2007, they're scattered, but that's Twango for you. One of the photos is just of a car driving ahead of me, and since I was driving and didn't have my telephoto lens, I did the best I could and scaled the photo up for you.



Basically, the lady driver was wearing bunny ears, but since her ears were taller, she opened her sunroof to accomodate her detachable ears. Hmm. I worry about the world we live in.

iRack

Not usually a big MadTV fan, but this skit is pretty good.

Snazzy!

As you can see, I got my Nikon SB400 in the mail, and I was jumping around like a little boy. I told my wife that day that I needed a man in shorts to visit me, and she just looked at me like I said something homosexual. Wonder why. Anyway, as you can see, the photos above were taken with the flash bouncing off the ceiling, and every shot looks like a well-lit room, despite the fact the fact that it was dusk and the house was pretty dark. It's so awesome! In addition, I can now use my 18-55 lens indoors, because in the past I just didn't have enough light to make any good shots. I took some more but I'll upload them later. What a great speedlight. I even played with the continuous flash, and boy, I'm a happy little boy.

For those who might have noticed, Alex has bandages all over his face because he's got this obssessive habit of scratching his healing wounds, so they never seem to get better. We tried bandaging his fingers, but so far the band-aids seem to be doing the trick. Of course, they went out today and all the neighbors were telling him what cool bandaids he had, or in parent-speak, "What the hell do you let your kid do to himself?" I actually forgot about his face and took him to the playground - and he got a few looks. But don't worry, it's still the same old boy.

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Finishing up another wedding, doing the compression right now so I have a slight excuse to be goofing around. I've been falling a little behind - just seems like there's never enough time in the day, does it?

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Bundled up a lot of old toys to be sold on ebay. Seems like a waste to just toss them, and donating them is alright, I suppose. The little bit of extra change will help us, with all the phantom medical bills and all. Turns out that I still owe about 700 bucks on my tooth extraction, and this isn't including the 200 plus that I initially paid before the whole thing. I just the insurance company covered 90 percent, but there was a cap on the limit. So it's another chunk of change we don't have. Sigh. And then some of the medical bills that I thought was done with got up there again. We're making our premiums awfully fast this year.

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Well, gotta go say hi to mom. Will post more pics later.

Alanis Debunking Fergie's Credibility

Sad Fool Who's Hopeful.

The Sad

I read a lot of news, mostly to keep myself informed with the world but mainly to look for things to do other than edit, and I come across some truly sad things. Everyday, CNN.com has at least one really depressing thing about a parent being a bastard to their children, or bad things happening to children. I imagine journalists do get jaded and callous because it's the only way to deal with all these everyday tragedies. Anyhow, it wasn't on CNN, but last night when I was stalling bedtime (yes, I procrastinate going to sleep too) I caught the tail end of "American Experience" on PBS, about David Vetter, a.k.a. Bubble Boy.

Now like most of my generation, I only know about "Bubble Boy" as a movie that John Travolta was in, and there was some stupid teen movie and was featured in Seinfeld. Didn't really think much of it, and I knew very little about it.

But after watching the documentary and also reading about it, I have to say that it's one of the saddest stories I've ever read. David being put into a sterile isolation 20 seconds after he's born because he had effectively, no immune system, and living in the plastic space for 12 years before a failed bone marrow transplant ultimately ravaged him with hundreds of cancer tumors. Reading about it was sad, but watching the documentary and seeing the photos of the poor boy, who looked polite but genuinely sad in the photos, and listening to all the people who have helped and watched over David, and even his Mom, whom only got to touch her son only once before his death, was just terribly sad. I couldn't imagine how any of them had cope with this for 12 long years, but the photos of David looking into the camera, resigned and sheepishly hopeful, has been lingering in my mind.

The Fool

Of course, today's April 1st and though I haven't played any pranks, I was a victim of one nonetheless. I admit, I was a little baffled at Google announcing their "Paper Archive" feature on their email, I have to say that I only bought it because I read it last night, not realizing that it was indeed April 1st, and that the cost of printing and mailing your documents was free due to ad placements on the copies. Why is that plausible? Because they offer so many cool features free anyhow, why not?

The Hopeful

I'm highly skeptical of anything I read today, and nothing on the web has confirmed this report, but it could be plausible... though likely not. Being such a big fan of Grand Theft Auto, it is a little bummer that the new GTA will premiere on 360 and PS3, and the spanking new trailer sure got my saliva going. It stated that because of the hardware limitations of the Wii, the port will be downgraded of course for the Wii. It isn't a rumor that Nintendo's Reggie has been courting Take-Two to bring over some GTA action, but right now it actually being on the Wii is just me hoping. It would be really cool if they did though.

Our Wedding Anniversary

It's hard to think that it's been four years already since you and I got hitched, and a lot of things have changed since, but the thing that stays the same is how easy it is to be with you. Can't think of anything that hasn't been said before, but I'm sure fortunate to have a best friend for a wife. Someone who can tell jokes on par with me and also make sure that I'm emotionally fulfilled. I can't imagine a life without you, without the kids that we had together - it would be an existence without laughter or joy, funny faces and goofy dances, water fights and wrestling beatdowns.

You always take the time to listen to me, to nurture my aging and decaying body, to play a displacement prank on me, and to say something odd to diffuse my overpowering sense of seriousness. And I'm glad you take the time to do all those things because it reminds me of how I need to do that more to you.

I only try to be a better husband because you are a good wife to me, in fact, I don't think I'm as good a spouse as you are to me, but I'm working on that. I wish I could fulfill all your wishes and needs so that you could be as happy as you make me.

Happy happy anniversary to you!

Rip Van Diego

The day before yesterday, the toothache came back with a vengence, and I was strung out on Percocet, Vicodin, and swigging of whiskey - Well, needless to say, the pain didn't really go away, but my brain was adequately fucked. But not enough to launch me into a slumber. Everytime I laid down, the pain came rushing back from my love tool to my face, and my tooth would scream. Seriously, if one was really quiet, one could hear the quiet squeal of my tooth.

So I got propped up and popped in Eddie Izzard's "Glourious", and proceeded to do the head bop sleep. After an hour of impacting my necks muscles, I got into bed and crashed, despite the pain. It was like 4 in the morning.

At ten, my wife woke me up and told me to call the dentist, in case they had an opening. They did, and it was at 11, so I had to drag my half-asleep butt out of bed to look somewhat presentable. I was reluctant to move because I was tired, but also because the pain actually subsided a bit.

At the dentist, I was on nitrous oxide and they decided to to fill the cavity in my lower right, which I think was the original problem - before all the wisdom tooth crap. But you know, laying there, half awake and drowsy, looking up to a bright light and the shadows of two masked people with metal tools hanging out of your mouth, I wonder why I don't go more often.

I went home, and went to bed, sleeping till 3 in the afternoon. I was up for a couple hours, and then spent about an hour on the couch, waking up occasionally to tell the kids to cease beatings, and then went back to sleep. My mom finally told me to go back upstairs to rest, which I did. Woke up around 9, thinking that the kids were already in bed, but they were just brushing their teeth. So at least I got to put them to bed, which was kinda nice.

But then I just spaced for a couple more hours before sleeping again.

And today I've got a dull headache, probably my brain being surprised that I wasn't comatose after all.

My Body is a Temple... of Doom!

I don't like drugs very much. Never touched the illegal stuff, and the legal drugs I usually use as a last resort. But these toothaches that's been plaguing me piehole has been so severe, that it seems like I'm trying to take my weight in pills.

Yes, after a thousand bucks of tooth extractions, the pain is back. I was fine till this afternoon, and after two Tylenols, one Vicodin, one Percocet about an hour later, I decided to resort to the old wives remedy of swigging the affected area with whiskey. The first time worked pretty well, but when I laid down to rest, the pain came back. I reckon it was the blood rushing to the infected area. So I tried it a second time, and I held it in my mouth so long that the fumes in my mouth made me cough, and then I just imploded. There's nothing left of me. Just a hand. To type this.

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So I haven't done anything on the wedding front for a few days now, and likely won't tonight. The pain subsided, but my brain is pretty scattered.

Swirly.

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Speaking of which, I don't remember where I was going with this. So...