Well this past week we celebrated our birthdays (my wife and I) and here are the gifts the girls chose to give us.
For Christina’s birthday Faith went ALL out and broke her little toe. This resulted in a trip to the ER on a Saturday and a visit to the pediatrician for the Monday following.
But for My birthday the girls decided to tone it down a little and so they just had Holly choke on a piece of trash carelessly left on the floor. Which prompted me to delve into my CPR training and have to administer real live anti choke techniques on her.
I am glad by the way to have that training to be able to use it. At least that meant we could avoid the ER again.
So on we go swinging onto a new year for each of us. I really hope that this is NOT the trend for the entirety of our year/s at this age. If it is I am going to have to be committed for my next birthday, well if we survive it that is.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
WHAT IS MATURITY ANYWAY?:
So I just finished reading the catcher in the rye. My first impression was "wow there sure is a LOT of bad language in that book, and I would sure not want my children to see all of that language."
My second thought was "gee I remember going through all that 'angst' and being a teenager". I really understood the jaded perception/s of Caufield. but then I came across the line that made me think the most.
"the mark of an immature man is the desire to die nobly for a cause; the mark of the a mature man is to live humbly for one.
I pondered the meaning of that statement and I ended up finding myself in disagreement. I would instead say the mark of the Immature is to want to be a hero the mark of the mature is to be quietly heroic.
I think that is actually what the author was getting at.
See I think that when you believe in something (a cause) to the point that you are willing to sacrifice your life is a very mature thing. The United States of America wouldn't exist if not for this drive, Slavery would not be abolished, and no one would be safe to sleep at night because there would be no police officers to keep us safe. (I mean do you really want the immature to carry guns?)
Our country was founded by men and women who felt that to die nobly for the cause of freedom was the greatest thing possible (Nathan Hale and his " I regret that I have but one life to give..." statement leap to mind.) and it has continued thanks to that sense of sacrifice. Slavery was abolished in our country and in England by the same kind of sentiment.
Even the Christian faith, which has done so much for the world though the world would deny the good done, was comprised of people who were willing to die for their belief/s.
In fact when I think of Rome and Christianity and I think of the many Christians who were sacrificed to lions as entertainment for the general populace of Rome I have to say that I find those who were entertained by the violent death to be MUCH more immature than the way that those Christians died, NOBLY FOR A CAUSE.
So I will stick with the idea that it is the desire to be a hero, because you don't realize the sacrifice involved, that is the mark of immaturity. And it is the man quietly, HEROICALLY going to work daily to feed his kids, the mother who goes without a new dress so her daughter can have dance classes, the son who fights the war, the daughter who helps her family, these people are going around quietly being heroes and I think that is the most noble AND the most mature thing there is.
My second thought was "gee I remember going through all that 'angst' and being a teenager". I really understood the jaded perception/s of Caufield. but then I came across the line that made me think the most.
"the mark of an immature man is the desire to die nobly for a cause; the mark of the a mature man is to live humbly for one.
I pondered the meaning of that statement and I ended up finding myself in disagreement. I would instead say the mark of the Immature is to want to be a hero the mark of the mature is to be quietly heroic.
I think that is actually what the author was getting at.
See I think that when you believe in something (a cause) to the point that you are willing to sacrifice your life is a very mature thing. The United States of America wouldn't exist if not for this drive, Slavery would not be abolished, and no one would be safe to sleep at night because there would be no police officers to keep us safe. (I mean do you really want the immature to carry guns?)
Our country was founded by men and women who felt that to die nobly for the cause of freedom was the greatest thing possible (Nathan Hale and his " I regret that I have but one life to give..." statement leap to mind.) and it has continued thanks to that sense of sacrifice. Slavery was abolished in our country and in England by the same kind of sentiment.
Even the Christian faith, which has done so much for the world though the world would deny the good done, was comprised of people who were willing to die for their belief/s.
In fact when I think of Rome and Christianity and I think of the many Christians who were sacrificed to lions as entertainment for the general populace of Rome I have to say that I find those who were entertained by the violent death to be MUCH more immature than the way that those Christians died, NOBLY FOR A CAUSE.
So I will stick with the idea that it is the desire to be a hero, because you don't realize the sacrifice involved, that is the mark of immaturity. And it is the man quietly, HEROICALLY going to work daily to feed his kids, the mother who goes without a new dress so her daughter can have dance classes, the son who fights the war, the daughter who helps her family, these people are going around quietly being heroes and I think that is the most noble AND the most mature thing there is.
Monday, September 13, 2010
To Wii, or not to Wii...
Lately my wife and I have decided that we are going to splurge for our birthdays and buy a Wii.
We were very excited at the prospect of this purchase though we thought it to be an expensive one. The problem is that the games themselves are VERY cost prohibitive.
I suppose I can understand paying a couple of hundred for the game system, but why do the games themselves have to be so expensive?
I remember owning a Sega Genesis. That was a cool machine! It cost me about $150.00 but once I bought that game system I was able to play a lot of my favorite old arcade games including Altered Beast, Shinobi, And Sonic the hedgehog. The games themselves only ran me about 15 to 20 bucks each.
I also had one of the old Nintendo boxes for a while, same deal only the games there were top gun, Mario brothers and such…
I got rid of them way back when because I thought they were becoming too much of a problem in my budget, in that they were getting obsolete and I wanted the next big thing(that is why they were a budget problem because I couldn‘t afford the next big thing without divesting myself of the old).
Now I am wishing though that I had kept those old systems. The games were good, (at least they were good enough) they were entertaining and they cost a heck of a lot less.
Games for the Wii can easily run 50 or 60 bucks a pop. To me that is ridiculous. But that is what I am going to have to put up with now because of the folly of selling off the old systems. Ah well. That is life.
So we all try to “keep up with the Joneses“, but I still wonder… What reason is there for this kind of expense? I don’t see it. But there you are. Anyway hopefully at the end of the week we will have a new way for our family to “bond” and with any luck we will have the games that we can all enjoy together. I will tell you one thing, the girls are going to have a tough time convincing Daddy that we “NEED” that particular game. Particularly in the middle of a recession.
I wish game companies would learn to think that way too. Maybe, as parents, we ought to be more inclined to say “no that is an unreasonable expense for us.”
Then when the kids CAN’T buy the system by begging, cajoling or threatening their parents, the makers of these systems would wake up and make things a little easier on the pocket book.
Well that is my thought for today.
Hope you all have a great day (week).
We were very excited at the prospect of this purchase though we thought it to be an expensive one. The problem is that the games themselves are VERY cost prohibitive.
I suppose I can understand paying a couple of hundred for the game system, but why do the games themselves have to be so expensive?
I remember owning a Sega Genesis. That was a cool machine! It cost me about $150.00 but once I bought that game system I was able to play a lot of my favorite old arcade games including Altered Beast, Shinobi, And Sonic the hedgehog. The games themselves only ran me about 15 to 20 bucks each.
I also had one of the old Nintendo boxes for a while, same deal only the games there were top gun, Mario brothers and such…
I got rid of them way back when because I thought they were becoming too much of a problem in my budget, in that they were getting obsolete and I wanted the next big thing(that is why they were a budget problem because I couldn‘t afford the next big thing without divesting myself of the old).
Now I am wishing though that I had kept those old systems. The games were good, (at least they were good enough) they were entertaining and they cost a heck of a lot less.
Games for the Wii can easily run 50 or 60 bucks a pop. To me that is ridiculous. But that is what I am going to have to put up with now because of the folly of selling off the old systems. Ah well. That is life.
So we all try to “keep up with the Joneses“, but I still wonder… What reason is there for this kind of expense? I don’t see it. But there you are. Anyway hopefully at the end of the week we will have a new way for our family to “bond” and with any luck we will have the games that we can all enjoy together. I will tell you one thing, the girls are going to have a tough time convincing Daddy that we “NEED” that particular game. Particularly in the middle of a recession.
I wish game companies would learn to think that way too. Maybe, as parents, we ought to be more inclined to say “no that is an unreasonable expense for us.”
Then when the kids CAN’T buy the system by begging, cajoling or threatening their parents, the makers of these systems would wake up and make things a little easier on the pocket book.
Well that is my thought for today.
Hope you all have a great day (week).
Friday, September 10, 2010
JUST WHAT IS MY PROBLEM?:
I hear people talking about homophobes and such all the time and I get the idea that I am lumped into that group. But I really do have a reason for my distrust of the homosexual community and I hope that I can explain it here.
I did NOT start out with this feeling about the homosexual/s I knew. They trained me to that distrust.
I have had a lot of interaction with people of that persuasion, even living in Hollywood for a time and in every experience I have had I have seen them deceive and twist things so they could try to force everyone to follow their view…
For example during the time that I lived in Hollywood I worked for a company that also employed a man who was gay.
He insisted on forcing his beliefs on me and he tried very hard to coerce me to go on a date with him. I said no, repeatedly, and he NEVER accepted that. He kept trying to force me to accept his lifestyle choice, but more than that he refused to let me be straight, it wasn’t enough for me to let him be gay As far as he was concerned I was good looking to him and so nothing else would do but that I become gay to just to satisfy him.
And I have seen the same thing played out time after time.
Before the encounter I had with this guy, I worked at the Grand canyon I had a coworker who was a good friend of mine.
Now my friend was a redneck and there was NO doubt how he felt about homosexuals, namely that as long as they left him alone he would leave them alone. In short he was not interested never was and never would be.
One of our coworkers, who was gay thought my friend was attractive. The gay man did everything he could do to try to force the redneck to become gay.
It didn’t work in that situation either but the attitude of the gay man was that the redneck had to not just accept him (the gay) but also had to concede to the gay man’s lusts.
It made for a very uncomfortable time for all of us working there and in both of these cases this would, in a heterosexual reality, be a clear cut case of sexual harassment, but because they were gay there was no real recourse for the persons being harassed, because of the issue of P.C. ness.
In both the cases cited here neither myself or the redneck at the canyon had the option to try to assert our own sexuality or beliefs because the homosexual in each case was considered to be a protected class because they chose to be gay.
I did NOT start out with this feeling about the homosexual/s I knew. They trained me to that distrust.
I have had a lot of interaction with people of that persuasion, even living in Hollywood for a time and in every experience I have had I have seen them deceive and twist things so they could try to force everyone to follow their view…
For example during the time that I lived in Hollywood I worked for a company that also employed a man who was gay.
He insisted on forcing his beliefs on me and he tried very hard to coerce me to go on a date with him. I said no, repeatedly, and he NEVER accepted that. He kept trying to force me to accept his lifestyle choice, but more than that he refused to let me be straight, it wasn’t enough for me to let him be gay As far as he was concerned I was good looking to him and so nothing else would do but that I become gay to just to satisfy him.
And I have seen the same thing played out time after time.
Before the encounter I had with this guy, I worked at the Grand canyon I had a coworker who was a good friend of mine.
Now my friend was a redneck and there was NO doubt how he felt about homosexuals, namely that as long as they left him alone he would leave them alone. In short he was not interested never was and never would be.
One of our coworkers, who was gay thought my friend was attractive. The gay man did everything he could do to try to force the redneck to become gay.
It didn’t work in that situation either but the attitude of the gay man was that the redneck had to not just accept him (the gay) but also had to concede to the gay man’s lusts.
It made for a very uncomfortable time for all of us working there and in both of these cases this would, in a heterosexual reality, be a clear cut case of sexual harassment, but because they were gay there was no real recourse for the persons being harassed, because of the issue of P.C. ness.
In both the cases cited here neither myself or the redneck at the canyon had the option to try to assert our own sexuality or beliefs because the homosexual in each case was considered to be a protected class because they chose to be gay.
Monday, September 6, 2010
LOVE IS A TIGHTROPE ACT:
I have to tell you that I am not looking forward to having “the talk” with my daughters.
I know, I know… NO parent is looking forward to that; but I have to wonder how many of them have the same reasons as me.
One of the reasons I do not look forward to it is because of what society has done to portray love. Love has become an icky thing, all about emotions and stuff that rather hurts. But I think most people don’t really know what REAL love is all about.
In movies books and on TV we see the idea that love is all about physical infatuation or lust and that when it reaches the scary bits or the parts where we have to work at it we can just throw in the towel and say “this isn’t what I signed up for!” and leave. But that isn’t really love.
Love is abut sacrifice. Love is about caring, love is about putting the needs of the one you love before your own, Love is abut work!
As I have pointed out before this is anathema to today’s society (“think of you think of what you want forget everyone else.”) and to people today (ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME,).
The thing is there are unscrupulous people out there right now who will take that very concept and twist it to their own ends, “If you loved me, you would…”
Sadly they take that which is good and make it bad.
I love my wife and so I do things for her BECAUSE of that love. I deny myself.
Unfortunately I also hate to get hurt so I have learned from her that I need to not ask her to do stuff for me, because if I do she will probably say no, either in words or in actions.
So I have learned not to ask for her to do things for me. And that makes me sad because sometimes it makes me doubt her love for me.
I went through some really tough times as a kid, emotionally, and some of the reasons for that I have already blogged.
But one of the biggest issues I had to confront was about sex. There I said it, it is out there.
My idea of love and sex are occasionally very skewed.
One because of the pervasive attempt by our society to make all things sexual.
Two because of certain people who, during my formative years, attempted to sexualize me before I was ready, while I was still a child (and others who should have stopped it stood by and allowed it).
And Three because of the addictive patterns I developed when I came across some old playboy magazines.
So when the day comes that I have to give my little talk to my girls about the “birds and the bees” I am going to find it hard to NOT superimpose the things I have learned that are wrong. At the same time I need to let them know how LOVE, REAL love enters into the picture.
I suppose that because of my Christianity I have a few fall back positions that will help, because at least in Christianity I have learned that there are several words in Greek that define love and I can use those to tell the girls better what love they ought to be seeking in their relationships and the way that all works, but I still don’t know exactly what I will have to say, and it still makes me nervous.
One thing I will tell you all right now though, love needs to be a two way street, and you need to try to see not only what you can do for others but what they are doing for you.
Sometimes I find it difficult to see when my wife is doing things to show her love. Earlier I said that I cannot ask her to do things for me because the “no’s” hurt, a LOT. And it often seems to me that I am doing more of the heavy lifting for our relationship than she is. Part of that is my own selfishness and my thoughts about me instead of focusing on her and I do not blame her for all those feelings, they are my feelings and I do own them.
But she does try and there are times I can see it. I need to let her know more often that I do appreciate her, and what she does.
But here is my big tip on that issue for you in your life. Be ready to deny yourself, try to understand what your loved one likes or wants and maybe once in a while give that person exactly what they want. Even if that seems a little weird or creepy to you. (like going on a roller coaster, or trying something new NOT TOO NEW in the bedroom. DO NOT TRY THE NEW BEDROOM THING ON THE ROLLER COASTER THOUGH, I mean there ARE laws and decency and quite frankly I don‘t want to see that…)
When they ask for something, don’t make excuses, don’t put them off because they need to know they are loved, and if you do not let them know that then who will? (supposed to be a rhetorical but think about all the people who get a divorce every day).
On the other hand, if you are the one asking, when they can’t give you what you want, don’t go looking for it somewhere else. That is a dangerous road that will lead you straight into trouble. And that is a trouble you do NOT need.
I know, I know… NO parent is looking forward to that; but I have to wonder how many of them have the same reasons as me.
One of the reasons I do not look forward to it is because of what society has done to portray love. Love has become an icky thing, all about emotions and stuff that rather hurts. But I think most people don’t really know what REAL love is all about.
In movies books and on TV we see the idea that love is all about physical infatuation or lust and that when it reaches the scary bits or the parts where we have to work at it we can just throw in the towel and say “this isn’t what I signed up for!” and leave. But that isn’t really love.
Love is abut sacrifice. Love is about caring, love is about putting the needs of the one you love before your own, Love is abut work!
As I have pointed out before this is anathema to today’s society (“think of you think of what you want forget everyone else.”) and to people today (ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME,).
The thing is there are unscrupulous people out there right now who will take that very concept and twist it to their own ends, “If you loved me, you would…”
Sadly they take that which is good and make it bad.
I love my wife and so I do things for her BECAUSE of that love. I deny myself.
Unfortunately I also hate to get hurt so I have learned from her that I need to not ask her to do stuff for me, because if I do she will probably say no, either in words or in actions.
So I have learned not to ask for her to do things for me. And that makes me sad because sometimes it makes me doubt her love for me.
I went through some really tough times as a kid, emotionally, and some of the reasons for that I have already blogged.
But one of the biggest issues I had to confront was about sex. There I said it, it is out there.
My idea of love and sex are occasionally very skewed.
One because of the pervasive attempt by our society to make all things sexual.
Two because of certain people who, during my formative years, attempted to sexualize me before I was ready, while I was still a child (and others who should have stopped it stood by and allowed it).
And Three because of the addictive patterns I developed when I came across some old playboy magazines.
So when the day comes that I have to give my little talk to my girls about the “birds and the bees” I am going to find it hard to NOT superimpose the things I have learned that are wrong. At the same time I need to let them know how LOVE, REAL love enters into the picture.
I suppose that because of my Christianity I have a few fall back positions that will help, because at least in Christianity I have learned that there are several words in Greek that define love and I can use those to tell the girls better what love they ought to be seeking in their relationships and the way that all works, but I still don’t know exactly what I will have to say, and it still makes me nervous.
One thing I will tell you all right now though, love needs to be a two way street, and you need to try to see not only what you can do for others but what they are doing for you.
Sometimes I find it difficult to see when my wife is doing things to show her love. Earlier I said that I cannot ask her to do things for me because the “no’s” hurt, a LOT. And it often seems to me that I am doing more of the heavy lifting for our relationship than she is. Part of that is my own selfishness and my thoughts about me instead of focusing on her and I do not blame her for all those feelings, they are my feelings and I do own them.
But she does try and there are times I can see it. I need to let her know more often that I do appreciate her, and what she does.
But here is my big tip on that issue for you in your life. Be ready to deny yourself, try to understand what your loved one likes or wants and maybe once in a while give that person exactly what they want. Even if that seems a little weird or creepy to you. (like going on a roller coaster, or trying something new NOT TOO NEW in the bedroom. DO NOT TRY THE NEW BEDROOM THING ON THE ROLLER COASTER THOUGH, I mean there ARE laws and decency and quite frankly I don‘t want to see that…)
When they ask for something, don’t make excuses, don’t put them off because they need to know they are loved, and if you do not let them know that then who will? (supposed to be a rhetorical but think about all the people who get a divorce every day).
On the other hand, if you are the one asking, when they can’t give you what you want, don’t go looking for it somewhere else. That is a dangerous road that will lead you straight into trouble. And that is a trouble you do NOT need.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE:
O.k. let me explain why I am concerned about a lot of people most especially Homosexuals and liberals. It is well summed up in the children’s book “If you give a mouse a cookie.”
And the long and short of it is if you give a mouse a cookie he’s gonna want a glass of milk.
See no matter how much you give these people it is NEVER enough. They are going to want more. And it never ends.
It doesn’t matter how much suffering or effort you have to go through, they are never satisfied and they will want more. And this is something I speak of from experience BTW... see my later post on this subject.
This attitude actually makes for good reading more than you would think. The First book did so well that there is now a whole series with moose and pigs and mice and more.
And the long and short of it is if you give a mouse a cookie he’s gonna want a glass of milk.
See no matter how much you give these people it is NEVER enough. They are going to want more. And it never ends.
It doesn’t matter how much suffering or effort you have to go through, they are never satisfied and they will want more. And this is something I speak of from experience BTW... see my later post on this subject.
This attitude actually makes for good reading more than you would think. The First book did so well that there is now a whole series with moose and pigs and mice and more.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
3D OR NOT TO 3D:
Lately I have been noticing a tendency for movies to start trending to the 3d thing. Like someone quipped though the whole idea seems to be “instead of making a good movie let’s make it in 3d so people will want to watch it. Instead of trying to make a quality product these people are trying to use gimmickry to draw in viewers.
Now don’t et me wrong here! There are good movies being made in 3d format, And I look forward to seeing some of them, but I prefer the good old 2d method for a couple of reasons. One they are cheaper. the theaters have taken this gimmickry and used it to make more money then they do with 2d formats by charging you a rental fee for the 3d glasses you use. And they don’t care if you save your glasses and bring them back to watch another 3d movie, they will still charge you the extra 3 bucks for the glasses anyway.
To me this seems like a scam. Why would they do this? Except to make extra money off the moviegoers. They don’t seem to realize that the economy is not booming right now, and they ought to.
All their sales are in a slump, that is probably one of the reasons they charge more, to try to make up the difference.
But they think (I guess) that the reason people aren’t going is a lack of gimmicks when the real reason is a lack of funds. So raising rates is NOT going to solve the problem, it will make it worse! What they need to do is to make the movies more affordable so people can get out and see them without spending all their rent money.
Now don’t et me wrong here! There are good movies being made in 3d format, And I look forward to seeing some of them, but I prefer the good old 2d method for a couple of reasons. One they are cheaper. the theaters have taken this gimmickry and used it to make more money then they do with 2d formats by charging you a rental fee for the 3d glasses you use. And they don’t care if you save your glasses and bring them back to watch another 3d movie, they will still charge you the extra 3 bucks for the glasses anyway.
To me this seems like a scam. Why would they do this? Except to make extra money off the moviegoers. They don’t seem to realize that the economy is not booming right now, and they ought to.
All their sales are in a slump, that is probably one of the reasons they charge more, to try to make up the difference.
But they think (I guess) that the reason people aren’t going is a lack of gimmicks when the real reason is a lack of funds. So raising rates is NOT going to solve the problem, it will make it worse! What they need to do is to make the movies more affordable so people can get out and see them without spending all their rent money.
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