What a BuzzKill

My last post was kinda heavy, so I decided to post something a bit more upbeat…

I’ve been there before; standing in line at the food bank because I couldn’t afford to buy it for myself. This wasn’t the worst of it, as food is just a necessity – you do what you need to do in order to survive and provide food for you and your family. What it really hit hardest was to my self esteem, my pride, my feeling of being worth something. More than anything, I was ashamed.

It hadn’t always been like this. There hadn’t been a time in my life when I wasn’t working. I had always had a job since I was 15, working at Santa’s Village, and sometimes 2 jobs. Suddenly losing my job, then our car, and ultimately our apartment was a major blow – and one that came out of nowhere. I was left reeling from these events and fell into a depression, which didn’t help the situation.

We moved into a motel and I became a miserable person – not only to myself, but to my wife and son, too. To make matters worse, I came down with gall stones… a painful and sometimes unpredictable affliction that causes excruciating pain. Without a job and without insurance, I was forced to visit emergency rooms, who could do little more than confirm my problem and provide me with limited relief via pills. One thing I’m thankful for during this time was that I was paranoid of addiction to the painkillers, so I was reluctant to take them until I could no longer cope with the pain – and only then take just enough to get me through it.

Eventually my gall bladder got to the point where it was life-threatening, so the hospital had no choice but to remove it. The ER visits, the hospital stay(s), and the surgery ultimately left us with an insurmountable debt – above and beyond what we were already dealing with. I felt hopeless about ever getting out of this situation.

This stage of my life lasted only 8 months, but it felt like years. Living in a run-down motel room, with boxes of our possessions lining the walls, a mini refrigerator, and a hot plate to cook with. I was fortunate enough to have a car, but having enough gas to just get around for necessities often proved a challenge. After a couple of months, I managed to pull a favor from an old boss I had and got a job waiting tables (part time). That was what ultimately pulled me out of the situation I had stumbled into.

Luck for me, during my time waiting tables again, a young gal started working the same sift as me. She was working nights waiting tables to earn some extra money for the holidays. A couple of months went by and she noticed my ability with computers, which prompted her to helping me get my current job. I’ll always be grateful for her help.

There was a lot of personal growth for me, coming out of all of this and getting to where I am now. It showed me a lot of how the world works and how easy it can be to get blind-sided by something that causes a sudden downward spiral. It has ultimately led to me taking life less seriously and to enjoy every day more. There’s less focus in my life on material things and more about spending time with the people I care about. I’m working on creating a financial cushion so I’m not having to worry month-to-month about my employment.

Now I find myself in a pretty good job, making a enough for a decent living for me and my son. It feels good, but the fear of going back to that food line has seemed to paralyze me into trying for something better. Where I would have jumped at better opportunities prior to the hell I went through, now I’m more bent on security and not chancing going back through any of it again.

Is it maturity? Is it fear? Is it a mix of both? I don’t know, but this is something that’s been on my mind recently.

Thanks for listening!

This entry doesn’t want to live like that again.

Why is it that it would be perfectly acceptable to hear a father say “I know more than 101 ways to kill a person” or “I own a gun” to a daughter’s boyfriend, but if said to a son’s girlfriend it might cause some serious legal woes?

This entry finds society’s norms rather restrictive.

People do the strangest things. I know I’m guilty of needlessly adding stress to my own life. I came by this blog post about the topic. Check it out and see if any of it applies to you and maybe you can figure out a way to reduce the stress in your own life.

This entry dislikes stress.

Well thanks to my wonderful friend Christine, I was able to go flying twice in less than a month. It was out of respect for my mom that I didn’t post about this sooner, as she had asked that I didn’t tell her about it until I was all done and safely back on the ground. Well, that time is now.

Christine had originally given these flights to her ex-husband as a gift a couple of years prior. He never used them and found them while he was getting packed to move. These flights were no cheap gift and Christine didn’t want them to go to waste, so she gave them to me, knowing that I’d definitely make the most of them.

On December 19th, 2006 I went on the first one; an aerobatic adventure flight. This was a lot of fun, as I learned how to make a plane do flips, spins, and all sorts of other maneuvers. My stomach got all queasy by the end, but I didn’t lose my lunch. That was some crazy stuff!

The second flight was on January 12th, 2007 — the dog fighting flight — where I had the opportunity to fly up against another pilot as though we were trying to shoot one another from the skies. He had a little bit of former flight experience, but years ago and I had the recent aerobatic flight as my experience to go by. As it turned out, we were both French Canadian – he was from Quebec, but living in Texas and me being born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We found this to be an interesting coincidence.

After some practice maneuvers we went in for 6 rounds against one another. This was some intense action, I tell you! The first round I lost very quickly. I just couldn’t figure out where he was and how to react. That sudden defeat kicked me in the ass, I have to say, so I went after him with all due aggression. I managed to win all 5 remaining rounds against him!

While the action as going on, I was ignoring the effects that all the maneuvering was having on my equilibrium. What I seemed to have forgotten came back to me as we started our flight back home. Yep, I admit it: I had to make use of the air sickness bag. But I felt much better after!

I have both of these flights on tape and will be putting them together into a video as soon as I can convert the recent one from tape into a format I can edit on the computer.

Thanks again, Christine!

Darkness comes.

The deepening wall of nothingness surrounds all as the ball of fire falls into the sea.

Watching, waiting, wanting.

Hunger of a nocturnal nature takes me. It comes from within the black recesses of my mind.

Hidden, unknown, yearning.

Sloshing about in the midnight sea. Bottle to lips. Mind spins. Appetite strong and focus dim.

Where does it go when light springs forth? It slips away during dreams not remembered at dawn’s awakening.

Forgotten until the dark canvas of night returns.

This entry…

These guys created a very entertaining stop-motion movie. At some points you’ll wonder how they did it. Rece and I really enjoyed this one.

I almost forgot to post a link to the photos from our trip up to the snow.

This entry is still sore from the sledding.

A couple of methods for washing your kitty. What? What were you thinking this post was about?!

First Method

1. Thoroughly clean the toilet.
2. Add the required amount of shampoo to the toilet water, and have both lids lifted.
3. Obtain the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.
4. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close both lids (you may need to stand on the lid so that he cannot escape).
CAUTION: Do not get any part of your body too close to the edge, as his paws will be reaching out for any
purchase they can find.
5. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a ‘power wash and rinse’ which I have found to be quite effective.
6. Have someone open the door to the outside and ensure that there are no people between the toilet and the outside door.
7. Stand behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift both lids.
8. The now-clean cat will rocket out of the toilet, and run outside where he will dry himself.

Second Method1. Know that although the kitty cat has the advantage of quickness and lack of concern for human life, you have the advantage of strength. Capitalize on that advantage by selecting the battlefield. Don’t try to bathe him in an open area where he can force you to chase him. Pick a very small bathroom. If your bathroom is more than four feet square, we recommend that you get in the tub with the cat and close the sliding-glass doors as if you were about to take a shower. (A simple shower curtain will not do. A berserk cat can shred a three-ply rubber shower curtain quicker than a politician can shift positions.)

2. Know that a cat has claws and will not hesitate to remove all the skin from your body. Your advantage here is that you are smart and know how to dress to protect yourself. We recommend canvas overalls tucked into high-top construction boots, a pair of steel-mesh gloves, an army helmet, a hockey face-mask, and a long-sleeved flak jacket.

3. Use the element of surprise. Pick up your cat nonchalantly, as if to simply carry him to his supper dish. (Cats will not usually notice your strange attire. They have little or no interest in fashion as a rule.)

4. Once you are inside the bathroom, speed is essential to survival. In a single liquid motion, shut the bathroom door, step into the tub enclosure, slide the glass door shut, dip the cat in the water and squirt him with shampoo. You have now begun one of the wildest 45 seconds of your life.

5. Cats have no handles. Add the fact that he now has soapy fur, and the problem is radically compounded. Do not expect to hold on to him for more than two or three seconds at a time. When you have him, however, you must remember to give him another squirt of shampoo and rub like crazy. He’ll then spring free and fall back into the water, thereby rinsing himself off. (The national record for cats is three latherings, so don’t expect too much.)

6. Next, the cat must be dried. Novice cat bathers always assume this part will be the most difficult, for humans generally are worn out at this point and the cat is just getting really determined. In fact, the drying is simple compared with what you have just been through. That’s because by now the cat is semi-permanently affixed to your right leg.

7. You simply pop the drain plug with your foot, reach for your towel and wait. (Occasionally, however, the cat will end up clinging to the top of your army helmet. If this happens, the best thing you can do is to shake him loose and to encourage him toward your leg.) After all the water is drained from the tub, it is a simple matter to just reach down and dry the cat.

In a few days the cat will relax enough to be removed from your leg. He will usually have nothing to say for about three weeks and will spend a lot of time sitting with his back to you. He might even become psychoceramic and develop the fixed stare of a plaster figurine.

You will be tempted to assume he is angry. This isn’t usually the case. As a rule he is simply plotting ways to get through your defenses and injure you for life the next time you decide to give him a bath. But at least now he smells a lot better.

– Stolen from a craigslist post (which seems to have been stolen from someplace else)

This entry is still snickering about the title of this post.