2ndchance

FedEx commerical with a twist

The 'exchange student' in this tv spot is one of my former youth.  After all these years, he still makes me smile.  :)    For realz. . .

 

Then there was fall

Ever since I can remember, I have loved the fall.  I grew up in New England. . .which has four actual seasons.  The winters were long and cold, frigid.  It was fun to play in the snow, ice skate on the rink that my dad would make in the back yard, and sled down the hills.  But by mid-February, it would be getting old, and we were ready for a change. Spring would come with new growth. . . propelled by rain and warmth. We could take off our winter coats and scarves and ride our bikes again.  Then there was summer. . .school was out and my family would usually take a two-week vacation at the beach.  We would rent a cottage, play in the surf, eat salt-water taffy, and ride our bikes all over the coastal town.  There was plenty of work to be done in the backyard garden and grass to be cut.  There were usually some 'summer dog days' that were so hot that I would have a fan blowing directly on my bed at night.

Then there was fall.  I really loved fall. . .with the return to school, changing colors of the leaves, cool breezes, roasted pumpkin seeds, and playing fetch with our dog, Elsa.

Now that I live in the south, there is less of a feeling of four seasons.  This past winter was pretty intense. . .for the south.  But then it seemed to go directly from winter to summer, with some of the hottest days on record for the area.  Now that the heat is fading, I find myself hoping for some extended cool days. .before the winter hits again.  I like being able to open the windows, walk around in short sleeves outside, roll the car windows down for the first time in months, and take day trips to the mountains to see the changing of the foliage.  The power bill will drop and the gas bill will be neglegible.  I will find excuses to be outside, and the cats will sit in the window sills.  I will be able to take clients to the park, and not be cooped up in the air-conditioning.

I hope it lasts as long as possible.

Seven Years

I woke up this morning. . .glad to be awake and alive.  Tomorrow will be the anniversary of both my first and second chances.

My life at the moment, is not perfect.  But when does that ever happen anyway?  It is certainly better than it was seven and even five years ago.  I am fortunate to have family and friends who care about me; to have a job where I can make a difference; to have a safe/warm/cool/whatever place to sleep and live; and to have enough financial resources to pay my bills and get along.  FB this morning is full of birthday greetings.

Enough reflection on the past.  Now for the future.  I would like to return to school and finish a Master's Degree.  I would like to take guitar lessons.  I would like to return to work full-time again.  I would like to be able to travel some again.  These are all within my reach.  Just have to take the small and big steps to get there.

Many thanks to the friends and family who continue to support me.  And many thanks to God who has never given up on me.  Today is a good day.  :)

Remember

It is a rainy, cold day here in mid-October.  A perfect day to stay indoors, listen to old music, and write in the blog.  (which is obviously something I haven't done recently).

I finally got my tape deck working, and I've been listening to some old recordings from the late 80's and early 90's.  One is a sing-along among members of one of my graduate school classes.  There was this class we had to take the first semester called 'Formations', and we got pretty tight as a group.  It's fun listening to us laugh, tell jokes, and sing along with several guitars.  It reminds me of a 'good' time in my life. . .difficult, but fun.  I was working three part-time jobs and going to school full-time.  So were pretty much all my classmates.  How we ever did it is beyond me.  Yet to listen to the tape is to remember the good times.

Another recording was made at Christmas in 1992.  My then girlfriend had flown to my hometown. . .meeting my family for the first time.  I remember picking her up at the airport and driving around for about an hour (at her request), because she was so nervous.  Anyway, all of the women living in Mom's house joined our family for another one of those sing-alongs.  We had guitars, keyboard, and a hammer dulcimer.  We actually sounded pretty good.

I could go on.  There are loads of old cassettes gathering dust in my collection. . .each one with a story to tell. . .representative of old memories in my head that have also been gathering dust.  It's nice to shake loose the dust from time to time.

Still raining. . .sleepy cat in my lap. . .irish music playing on the tape deck. 

The Great Quake

Ok, so my friends in CA and Asia are going to laugh at me. . . .but we had an earthquake in Virginia in 2003.  Which was a VERY BIG DEAL for us.

In my cleanup process today, I found an article which I cut out of the newspaper in December of 2003.  The news of the earthquake was front page news the next day.  The epicenter was at Elk Hill Farm where I was working at the time.

I know exactly where the epicenter was.  Under my cottage.

An Old Article

I had an English house-mate from 1993-1995.  He was a graduate student at the University of Richmond, and we always got along great.  He taught me about 'real' beer and how to play tennis.  I remained his friend even after his gf came to live with us.  For three long months.  (Did I mention she was extremely selfish and a lousy cook?)  He put decidedly British message on the answering machine and introduced me to Monty Python.  I helped him figure out his spirituality, and supported him when the above-mentioned gf broke up with him.  He introduced me to Daniella. . .but that's another entry.

At some point, he met one of my former youth who was finishing his Army training at a local base.  Soon after that, my house-mate decided to write an article for the UR newsletter.  An excerpt, with name changes, follows:

The relationship we have with our children is a very wonderful thing.  However, it also can be a confusing and difficult time in our lives.  David ****, the minister with youth and children at **** Baptist Church in Petersburg, has had plenty of experience with the complexities of dealing with children.

No more peeing in the dark

Well I found something very useful today.  A bit of back story first.

We don't lose electricity here very often. (unlike some people I know who live in Asia, ha!)  If there is a bad ice storm, or like when a transformer blew about a year ago. . .then we are in the dark for a couple of hours.

And I do mean in the dark.  We have been reduced to one Coleman electric lantern, which lives on the shelf at the top of the stairs.  We keep it there so we can use it to see in the attic.  Last time we lost power, I realized very quickly that I had forgotten to change the batteries in the lantern.

Don't you just hate when that happens.

Four

I guess it may be a bit macabre to write about a day which may have been the worst in my life.  But to remember the day means I have a milepost marker to show where my life has gone since then.

Four years ago, today, I made a mistake.  A mistake which cost untold suffering for my family and friends.  At the time, I didn't feel like I had any options.  It seemed to be a logical thing to do.  Which can't possibly be explained to most people.  But when I talk with other survivors, there is an unspoken understanding of why such things can happen. 

Three

Three years.  Still alive and kicking.

Thanks to all who stood by me and stand with me now.

Game Geeks

In his blog today, Wil Wheaton reminisces about the history of video gaming. . .especially the games from the 80's.  It made me want to break out my Commodore 128 and play 'Elite'.

He referenced this article which traces the tracks of several men who were instumental in inventing the concept of video gaming.

One man mentioned in the article is Ralph Baer. While we were living in New Hampshire when I was a kid, my mother taught with Mr. Baer's wife.  I can still remember going over to their house where Ralph took me down to the basement and showed me one of the original Odyessy's that he had created.  I got to play his version of Pong with him and everything.

How cool is that?