I Hope
I hope that today you can recognize someone who helped make your freedom possible, regardless of whether you agree with the political reasons for putting them where they might be defending your right.
I hope that tomorrow, you are still thanking them, not just on Veterans Day.
I hope that you are safe, healthy, and happy, and if not, think of one thing you can do for someone else to make them safer, healthier, or happier. I guarantee it'll at least make you happier.
I have hope that at some point, the United States will be united once more, and the bickering about complete bullshit will end. I know it's a vain hope, but it's still a hope.
I hope that someone will step forward and do something right. I equally hope that others will see this and do something similar.
I SINCERELY HOPE that the above people do the things they do just because they're right and not for fame, fortune, or glory.
I hope I can get off my ass and get back into shape and not use my elbow surgery as an excuse to sit on my ass and do nothing.
I hope that this makes ONE person think about how they can effect/affect someone or something positively.
I hope no one corrects my grammar because I've never known when to use effect and when to use affect.
I hope that for some of you, that you find the peace you have been so desperately looking for. Sometimes peace is just sitting still and breathing, not constantly looking for that missing something.
I hope that everyone who reads this will do something to make the world a better place. For some of us, it's as easy as recycling something. For others, just smile at someone who passes you in the street.
I hope you help someone for no other reason than because you want to help someone.
I hope that We the People, In Order to Form a more Perfect Union....Form a Union.
Union: a number of persons, states, etc., joined or associated together for some common purpose
I hope that we put down the petty crap and decide that the common purpose for this country is the betterment of this country.
I hope people wake up and realize that the country we're handing to our children is sort of like that toy that no one plays with anymore that's gotten beaten up and used for parts for other things.
I hope that I am not the only one who is still proud to be an American. I'm not proud of everything we stand for, nor am I proud of some of the decisions that have been made.
I hope that more people realize that we're humans first, and that should count more than color, race, religion, political view, or sexual preference.
I hope that you made it this far, and that I made a difference in your day.
I hope you find peace, even if it's for a moment.
Marching Band Dad
I'm a 'freshman dad' for my son's marching band, I help out with the crew. We cart all the equipment on and off the busses, as well as pack up all of the gear they need- podiums, screens, you name it.
I had no idea it was going to be this much work...and this much fun:). I'm at Towson Univ. right now with them, and they were amazing in prelims. We're hanging out right now waiting to go on for finals. We're one of ten teams that is competing for 1st. The difference between prelims and finals is this afternoon we compete within the division, tonight is 10 teams competing together. The prelim divisions are according to school size, ours is the largest in 4A.
We have a good shot at winning tonight, wish us luck!!
When the cats away….
The mouse is going back to sleep man, ugh. Fae and Gillian are going to a family friend's bat mitzvah in Florida for the weekend. We got the tickets using skymiles, they're staying in her grandmothers still vacant apartment, and our friend is loaning them a car. Nice and cheap 
Aidan has a competition at Giants Stadium this Saturday, and since I'm on the crew, we stayed home.
Her flight was at 6:45 at Newark. We woke up at like 4am. Three cups of coffee and an everything bagel with cream cheese and butter aren't even making a dent in my exhaustion
It'll be good though. Aidan's got plenty going on, I'm going to do a few projects around the house, gonna hang out with some friends and watch baseball and bad kung fu movies. All in all it should be a good guy weekend. And to tell the truth, I'm sort of looking forward to missing them. I'm usually the one going all over the place, so it's a change to be the one staying home holding down the fort.
I just wish I could have gone back to sleep
Somebody give me a shot!
Had to look around for the song, but it's a Van Halen tune.
I have been getting allergy shots for about a month now, cats, dustmites, mold, & tree pollen. The dustmites are by far the worst. So I went yesterday for my shot, bringing my wife and daughter who get them as well, and my son and his friend. I get the shot, they put ice on my arms to stop the swelling, and had a seat. 10 min later, I started getting hot, my skin started turning alarmingly red, and I got my wife's attention. The nurse, who was standing next to her, hauls me out of the chair and into one of the backrooms. They get me on the table sitting up, and a minute later I say "I'm going to pass out"
And so I did. Luckily, I was on an examining table and the nurse caught me so I didn't roll off the bed. Pretty strong little girl, I'm 230, and she's maybe 100.
They told me I was out for all of 5 seconds. I swear it was like two hours, had such vivid dreams/vision of a meeting in my old office with three guys I work with going over a project we completed like 6 months ago. Very vivid and detailed. Next thing I know, I look up and see people leaning over me asking me if I'm okay.
I think that might have been the weirdest point. So they pump me full of benedryl, and make me wait 30 minutes and I'm feeling okay, so I go home. I get in bed, I fall asleep, tired, but feeling okay.
Woke up and felt like someone was standing on my chest, every deep breath made it worse. My ears felt swollen and I was having trouble getting a deep breath. Throat was fine, chest was not. Every deep breath made my chest feel tighter. Wondered why the Jolly Green Giant decided to stand on my chest, but it got to the point where I was getting scared, so I looked at Fae, who was on the phone telling my aunt that I was okay, and she said, I'll call you back, I need to take Matt to the hospital.
She called 911, a cop showed up like 2 minutes later, gave me oxygen. At this point, my skin was starting to get that purple feeling again and the Jolly Green Giant was now jumping up and down on my chest. The oxygen helped a little I think because he seemed to take longer between jumps, but I felt better when I realized the EMT's were there. At this point, I'm burning up, my eyes and ears had practically swollen shut, and I have an EMT asking me loud questions that are hurting my head. I tell her what she wants to know (mostly to shut her the hell up) and the head EMT moves in.
Calm, nice, and the coolest hands on the planet. At least they felt that way to my burning skin. She's asking me how I'm feeling, if this hurts, if this is okay in a nice soft, calm voice and I realize how amazing these people are. As she's taking charge and giving me a different mask to wear instead of the tube with the things that go up your nose, I start shivering. Uncontrollably. I thought I was having a seizure or convulsions, but nice EMT lady assures me it's just my body reacting to the shot. It's bad man. I"m not falling off the bed, but it's moving my arms and legs and making it hard to get a good breath, thank goodness for the oxygen.
They got me into a chair, and now I'm sweating profusely, and manage to get me down all of my flights of stairs. Oh yeah, did I mention that I'm in my boxerbriefs and that's it? Yeah, thankfully they wrapped me up in a sheet to take me outside where it's nice and cool finally. They gave me more epinephrine on the way, and some benedryl for good measure as well as something to help with nausea which I didn't really need.
Rest of it is boring, just sat around in the ER for a couple of hours making sure I didn't have another reaction and they let me go home around 1:30. Thank god for neighbors and friends because Fae sent them down to wait for the ambulance, my neighbor snatched them away from the whole fiasco before they had a chance to see me doing the funky chicken in the bed.
When you get that envelope in the mail, asking you to donate to your local EMT or Fire Department? Please do me a favor and drop in a couple of bucks for me. I don't think I was in any serious danger, but the peace of mind they gave me was more cure than anything they stuck in my arm. Or my leg, holy crap, whatever it was still aches like a mofo!
Not something I'd care to repeat thank you very much. Not one little freakin bit. I'm just relaxing today and taking it easy. Going to work tomorrow like I normally do, just be in bed with my laptop tho instead of downstairs at my regular machine.
Marching Band – it begins
Update: I'm a big dork and didn't read the guidelines - we're not supposed to post any of the video.
Aidan joined Marching band this year (at my urging) and is doing really REALLY well not only musically, but also socially. Remember your first day of High School? He started with 142 new friends, and a lot of them pretty senior girls
This is taken on my blackberry after two weeks of practice. I still don't understand how they learned it all that fast, and how they didn't kill one another doing some of this stuff.
First piece:
Second & Third pieces:
So what are you gonna do now?
So it's now 9/12, we've all thought about and remembered those who died 10 yrs ago yesterday. I cried several times yesterday.
What are you going today? Keep thinking about what happened ten years ago, how people's lives were changed/destroyed/ended. Think about how people came together in a moment of horror and desperation, and helped each other because it was right, and did for each other because that's the way human beings are supposed to believe and act. Why did we lose that? Why did we turn back to the way things were before and ignore, and do the same thing the same way again?
Was it because we wanted to forget the horror of the day, or the fact that terrorism can happen here on that scale? I certainly did. I wanted the world to get back to the way it was because I knew what to expect, I knew what would happen next. A bunch of fanatics turned our world on it's ear in an instant, or in this case, three instants - 1 World Trade, 2 World Trade, and the Pentagon. Thankfully for a bunch of heroes on another plane, we have a White House.
Can we forget? No. No, we can't forget what it was like to be friendly, and helpful, and looking out for someone elses interests just because it was right. We can't sit around and watch groups of people tear the country apart through fear, and media ploys, and lobbying, and other bullshit. We are in trouble right now as a country. I'm not going to start pointing fingers because that's the biggest part of the problem. We all want someone to blame, someone to load the problems on and feel better so we can go back to doing things the way they were before.
America the free. America isn't free, freedom isn't free, and liberty sure isn't free. We have to work at it, and we have to work at it TOGETHER! We all have to work together to heal a country that is running itself into the ground. Put aside the differences, and the past hurts, and all of the other things that are getting in our way. The terrorists did away with all of that in 3 instants, at a huge cost to all of us collectively, and a lot of us personally. I am thankful every single day because I know how close I came to losing people I know.
I take it back. This country isn't running itself into the ground, we're letting it happen. What can we do? I honestly don't know. I know I can do things around me, and talk to people around me, and blog to people who will listen. I don't have the answers, but I don't want to sit by and watch NOTHING HAPPEN! I really hope I'm wrong, and we aren't on a free fall, waiting for someone else in the world to step up and set policy.
I've said my peace, and it's 9/12, and we're all still here. Hopefully this will touch some of you. Hopefully you'll share this post, or even just the message - Be good. Be helpful. Be an instrument of change for us ALL, not for ourselves.
True Blood Quotes
Lafayette is my hero. Nelsan Ellis is the actor who portrays him, and he's by far my favorite character. Funny thing is, in the books? He's dead in the end of the first one, so I'm glad they kept him around.
I had to google the line he has, and I came across Offcolor TV. So, there is a woman who is possessed, and the spirit leaves her, so Layfayette says:
Oh, shit! Marnie just puked a bitch out!
I had to pause and rewind to make sure what he said. Then I laughed my ass off for 20 minutes. There were some other memorable quotes as well, the second one by Pam is hilarious:
- Fuckin’ Sookie!
- Do not tell me you’d put our entire species at risk for a gash in a sundress!
- That ship has fuckin’ sailed.
- We are in a world of fucked up.
What are you waiting for?
Change is good. Same ole same ole is bad. What are you waiting for? A train, a cab, a friend, a lover, the end of the world?
Why do we wait? Why do we sit and see what happens instead of making things happen? (this is mostly directed at me, just my way of writing) Why would you let this conflict sit and rot, or that opportunity pass you by? Why do we all feel like we're stuck? Bills, tuitions, house/car payments, status quo.
Me? I want to go and open a dive shop in Madagascar and never wear anything besides flipflops ever again. I want to grow my hair and my beard out, wear all 5 of my earrings again, and fuck industry, fuck all that crap, just run and dive, and swim, and enjoy life.
How many people really enjoy what they do? If you do, congratulations and I hate you (j/k) Some of us are lucky enough to do what we enjoy, and truth to tell - I do like my job and the people I work with. Are there changes I'd like to make? Sure, but all in all, I do like my company.
So what's my point? Do I think we should all quit and go pursue our hearts desires? Lets be realistic, a lot of us have kids and/or responsibilities and things that are tying us down, and you know what? That's okay. We have made decisions that have lead us here, and we do all need to be responsible for what we do. Do I ever think I'll open that scuba shop in Madagascar? Probably not, but for now I can look at ways I can dive more. Just the feeling of being under water for extended periods made me feel 'right', like I should be doing it more often.
Realism - diving is EXPENSIVE!!! So I'm bending my thoughts on how to make some things possible without being irresponsible.
I've also been a douche to be around the last two weeks or so. Need to work on that. Okay, so that part was one of those things that comes pouring out my fingers before my brain really notices. May be playing Sorry or Clue during lunch today.
The point I was really trying to make is, while we all need to be realistic, why don't we pursue the things we've always wanted to do? A friend of mine (I was going to say an online friend since I've never met her, but she is a friend) has a gift for writing that comes through in her blog and it's lovely. I'm really hoping that she takes the opportunity that a change in her life will allow her to pursue that. I have a few other friends whom are going through some rough stuff right now and I hope they try to see opportunities to change things or take advantage of opportunities that present themselves that will help them come out healthier on the other end.
One of our favorite musicals is Rent. 'No Day but Today' is one of the songs that inspired this post (Gillian is watching it and I heard the song as I was taking my sickie wife some tea). The lyrics are powerful and I wanted to share them, and hope that it'll hit you like it hit me.
There's only now
There's only here
Give in to love
Or live in fear
No other path
No other way
No day but today
Today is all you have control over. Today is what you can do something about right now. Tomorrow will come soon enough, and yesterday is already gone. Let shit go that you've been holding onto and reach out to people you miss. Tell the people you love that you love them, and make sure they see your face and know you mean it. Go for a dive in your head, and come up with one thing different you're going to do today that will allow you to get closer to that dive shop, or that restaurant, or that relationship, or that finished book.
Don't tell anyone, just do it. Don't promise anyone, just do it. And don't let yourself get in the way of doing something today. And when tomorrow becomes today, do it again, or do something different.
I wish you peace in all that you do, and all that you are.
Vacation time! Day 1 & 2
So what did I do with my first day of vacation? I drove about 8-9 hours, yay!
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Now I'm sitting doing laundry while my kids swim in the lake. Doesn't seem like fun, but to tell the truth, I couldn't be more relaxed. I spent about 3 weeks cramming in as much work and projects and got 99% of it done so I'm very happy and very calm right now. Last year I had some big deadlines to get back to, so it was a little hectic. This year, nada.
Fae is still home because she's working this weekend and Monday with her Dad, so I took Aidan with me to go get Gillian at Celiac Camp in Rhode Island, and from there we drove up to a campsite about 8 miles north of where we are now. Put up the tent for the night, went and got an ice cream nearby and promptly crashed.
Dude, it gets cold up here at night Good thing there were three of us!
The Silver Bay YMCA is kind of like the Dirty Dancing place - lots of things to do, people to hang out with, things like that. My Mom used to come up nearby as a kid and wanted to start a tradition for the family, so here we are in Year 2 of the Cushing/Kingsley family retreat.
The kids love it because they can swim, kayak, hike, shoot hoops, rock climb, and their favorite - archery. There's a really big archery range at the other end of the complex. We stay in two cabins, and it's comfy.
So, this is the beginning of my vacation journal. Day 1 wasn't super eventful because it was all driving Day 2 is looking to be really nice. Supposed to rain tomorrow and maybe Monday, but it said that last year and it got cloudy for a few hours and that's about it.
Kids these days…
My Mom forwarded this on to me and I wasn't sure what to make of it at first. You have to understand, my Dad is a pilot and teaches Aeronautics at Downling College, so I took it seriously at first.
I was always a strict disciplinarian with my kids. But most people nowadays think it improper to discipline children, so I have tried other methods to control my grandkids when they have had one of 'those moments'
Since I got my pilot's license, one method I have found very effective is for me to just take the child for a flight. During this time I say nothing and give the child the opportunity to reflect on his or her behavior.
I don't know whether it's the steady vibration from the engines, or just the time away from any distractions such as TV, video games, computer, iPod, etc.
Either way, my grandkids usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our flight together. I believe that eye to eye contact during these sessions is an important element in achieving the desired results.
I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my grandson, in case you would like to use the technique.
And yes Terri, this makes three in a week