March 2002 Week 4
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March 2002 Week 4
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"It is not true that life is one damn thing after another.... It's one damn thing over and over!" ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay~ Monday March 18, 2002
I took "B" to Dr. Sagerman to get his teeth coated with something. 1045 to 1300... it irks me to lose a chunk of time right out of the middle of the day. Ho Hum day... Christy went shopping for a new couch, the old one is totally destroyed... totally... I won't even sit on it any more, it think of it as "the smelly dead thing in the living room". well, it needed to be replaced, it will be a happy day when I throw it in the dumpster. Deleted 463 SPAM e-mails from Hotmail... incredible... my common-sense says that they wouldn't be sending that crap if people weren't responding... who responds to SPAM? damn... I haven't been to my Yahoo account in a month or two... I wonder how much is there.. Tuesday March 19, 2002 Fourth week of March... damn, tempus fugit's (cool website... interesting concepts of time... ) Went out looking at motorcycles, the ones I can afford I don't want and the ones I want... I can't afford. Went looking at trucks/Vans... I need to decide pretty soon what I'm going to do... I would like a bike but it's the most impractical thing in the world to spend my money on at the moment, Christy needs a new car and I am tired of the Taurus, I am thinking about trading in the Bucking Fuick and giving her the Taurus and I'll go get another used truck... decisions decisions decisions... Sandy appears to have appropriated the Cadillac, that's OK... the 15 passenger van still needs a transmission... but it's a mess... Cindy's B'day tomorrow, need to get her something. We will take
her and the kids out someplace. She wants to invite her friends all two of them
(I am not being cruel, it's a sad truth) Cindy's friends are outgrowing her,
this has been apparent for several years but only lately has it become
Tomorrow is the first day of Spring... yesterday it was 28F degrees with snow on the ground... Iceberg the sizre of New Jersey floating south...
My cousin in Missouri said: "I need to do some morning pick up around here. We can be messy!!" It's just her and her husband, both retired, cracked me up...
She
uses her dishwasher twice a week... and it isn't full, I wash dishes 2-3 times a
day and it is filled with engineering precision to half again it's recommended
capacity each time. She does laundry once a week I do laundry three times
a day with enough left over to run the washer and dryer all day
That was fun to write... thanks Margaret... Cindy has to be at the Regional Center in Lancaster for further evaluation for services, I am psyching myself up to be calm. It appears to me that these people have one goal, "Provide the minimum amount of service possible to fulfill my obligation to the taxpayer and still take a paycheck at the end of the month without using a gun and a mask". They spend more time justifying their existence than they do actually helping people. It makes me crazy, if you know what therapists can do when they are properly motivated and trained and then you watch what these people do to... you would be as exasperated as I am. I can't afford $75.00 - 150.00 an hour for PT/OT & Behavior Modification ad-infinitum , I need the County and State 's assistance... but I am not getting it... yet. I liked the therapist, she was East European, German I think, A very strong accent, a very stern demeanor, but she smiled easily and seemed to be willing to listen to us and confirmed the Autism, it will be Aspergers Syndrome or Pervasive Developmental Disorder or PDD. The Regional Center person we dealt with last week informed us that they won't treat people with this disorder... they are too high functioning, in other words she feels that Cindy isn't bad enough for them to waste their time on. Christy is already composing a letter to Sacramento, we will wait to see what the Psychologist says in her report, if she recommends treatment then... OK... if she is denied Christy will go to war... The kids and I cleaned like dervishes today to get the house clean for Autumn's Potty Trainer, the appointment was for 1500... she called at 1450 to cancel, her car broke down. You believe it?... neither do I. Mike got Suspended from school for a day for fighting... damn... I hope this isn't the tip of another iceberg... I am not thrilled. If you remember the "B" story above... this was similar, only Mike played the role of the Brain Donor.
Autumn
had to be at the school at 1830 for the "Talent Show" she was part of the first
act... I had told the Aide
that Autumn wouldn't be there but I Christy asked Sandy to watch the boys (Christy was
teaching her MAPP Night
class)
and Mokie while I took Autumn, Calie and Cindy to Meadowlark School.
Since Calie stood in for the Aide. Her class
marched up on the stage, Autumn was the last one, Calie helped her climb the
stairs , Calie kneeled behind Autumn and held her so she wouldn't lose her
balance. Autumn knew the whole act, The class sang a song about "Helping Hands"
she clapped and made all the hand movements and belted out Haaan! ("hands") when
she could catch up to the words in the song... when the song ended she bowed...
the audience applauded... I cried... and smiled and clapped and
Federal Income tax check came into the intermediary bank, it should be deposited by Saturday. State check came in last week. "Facts are the enemy of truth." - Don Quixote - "Man of La Mancha" Amazing how much insight there is in Cervantes' work... I wonder if he just plugged this in with no intent to enlighten, just a tossed off aside from poor demented Senor Quixote or was he really poking his finger in the eye of convention. I have been waiting to go see "Monster's Ball"... I make an effort to see everything Billy Bob Thornton does...I must have some voyeur's neurosis in me because I always feel like I see too much when I watch him act... he impresses me every time I see him. that said, I don't recommend this movie it is excellent, the acting is impeccable, the characters are so believable it hurts to watch them, sometimes it's like you're peeking through a crack at the closet door seeing things you aren't supposed to see. Halle Berry is beautiful and the love-making scenes range from pornographic to heavenly...There is so much ominous tension and you find yourself giggling at the most nightmarish things just to release tension... good movie... hard to watch... and an ending that still has me wondering what the hell is going to happen... Billy Bob is awesome The Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival has made some subtle changes, some good some not so... they raised prices which I suspect is driving some potential attendee's away, the Poetry and Music is now alternating on the same stage, that's a little weird... There are female Poetry contributors there this year, they may have been participating before but I have never seen them. The parking and Bus pick up and drop off is much improved. I spent the morning at the "Bus Gate", with a fellow volunteer named Paul... We had one instruction, Busses may go in and out but non-bus's can only go out. We only screwed up once, we let in a charter bus that should have gone directly to the venue. We followed directions thoughThe morning passed quickly because Paul and I were able to discuss the problems of the world. We had coincident views on the way the world should be run, what was wrong with it and how it should be fixed... there was enough of a difference to make the discussions interesting but not enough to turn the discussion into an argument... No hassles to speak of and there were only a few grumps that got irked because we wouldn't let them in the gate... but that's all. I got into Melody Ranch at about 13:15 I took about 140 pictures, the law of averages says that some of them should actually be pretty good. I will try to find a place on the Net to post them on Monday. I worked as an usher at the Melody Ranch Theater today... 1030
till 1230, it was the "Sunday Morning Inspirational Cowboy Music Show". Not
actually my cup of tea, faked spontaneity, contrived patriotism, maudlin... I
should shut up now... The Sons of the San Joaquin are a pretty polished group,
they have been together for a long time, I they harmonize like the Sons of the
Pioneers, even the Hokey Hymn's they sang were fun to listen to... their fiddle
player is excellent... Richard Chon, Chinese, from Buffalo, New York... I bought
his CD. He is very good... He plays Texas Swing, Bluegrass and even puts a few
Celtic licks in... lots of fun to listen to. I also bought a Sons of the San
Joaquin CD... I was overcharged so if anyone wants a copy of that let me know...
There were some pretty Big-time performers... Don Edwards is a really nice
fella, I talked to him for a minute or two and he was very nice... "genuine" I
guess is the best word... the Sons of San Joaquin are amazing performers,
absolutely flawless harmony... beautiful voices and well above average
musicians, if you like western music you will love these guys... anyone wants a
CD I will burn ya' a copy... just ask. There are a few who seem to bask in their
"Celebrity" though, they can be very tiresome... I suspect that once a person is
told they are "Special" often enough they start to believe it... and they once
they are convinced they are special they start to act Special and get huffy and
down right rude when they aren't treated with the proper deference. I like the
poetry, I think a little Cowboy Poetry goes a long way though... the sentimental
stuff doesn't turn me on, but the humorous ones do... the trouble is that it
takes I left the CPMF early and came home to get Cindy for the "Party" I had promised her. We went over the Blattenbergers house and picked up Heather and another girl who's name escapes me. I took them to the Cinemark Theater in Lancaster... The watched Big Fat Liar staring the kid from Malcolm In The Middle... they liked it. Then I took them to dinner at Sizzler (that's where they wanted to go). They sat by themselves which seemed to be a thrill for them... I would have felt a little out of place, some dad's can "hang-out" with their kids... I can't... they had fun... it was worth the time and money...
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