October 2001
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October 2001
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Monday October 1, 2001 The meeting at the Jr High made it impossible to get Cindy and Autumn to school on time... I did get Mokie, Calie and "B" there by the bell though. Christy and Christian had two classes today so they were gone from noon to 1500 and from 1700 to 2000 Mike has an appointment at the Regional Center with a Therapist named Steve, We got him there but the therapist was a little late, Christy and I went in and we sort of prepped him for what our expectations are, then Mike came in all surly and full of himself, He laid down on the couch and mumbled, all he talked about was how he didn't want to be there... The guy seems pretty sharp but, like most folks who work for the county he appears to me to be a bureaucrat first and a therapist second... I never get the feeling from these people that they see the kid they're dealing with only the circumstances of his being there and how it fits into their job description... We get the standard line of "If you miss two appointments we will reevaluate your status." and in almost the same breath he said "I am in the Crisis Intervention Response Team and I may have to cancel visits at the last minute..." I said; "We would appreciate at least 30 minutes notice" he said; "I may not be able to do that..." I asked; "Then may we then have the opportunity to reevaluate your relevance as a therapist?"... He smiled the bureaucratic "I don't make the rules, smart-ass" smile. I am just a "good little Nazi" I do vat I am told. I dropped of Christy and Christian at the car and got Mike some food and dropped him off at school and went home. I decided to treat myself to Don Cuco's I didn't order my customary Zerape's and had chicken enchiladas instead... they were a disappointment, bland... I told the waiter, "The next time, no matter what I order... bring me Zerapes!" He looked at me funny and said "Sure" and looked at me weird. Autumn got her hands on a kitchen knife, Monica yelled at her to put it down and then reached to take it away from her, Autumn grabbed for it at the last second and got a cut just behind her thumbnail... It bled like crazy but it wasn't that bad, I put a band-aid on it and she was fine, but Mokie was hysterical, she was convinced she had really hurt her bad ... Autumn was crying and Mokie was crying... what a commotion. Mike asked to go over to Scottie's and spend the night, I said "No" He said "Well I'm going." I said "No, you're not" He said "WHY!" "Because I said NO!" But WHY!?" "It's a School Night Mike" Well, I am spending the night there tomorrow then, there is no school Wednesday... If I had had this conversation with my father, I would have been unconscious after saying "Well, I'm going.", the laws protect children from corporal punishment, I could probably spank him and get away with it, he would just laugh anyway... There is no way to reason with Mike if he has deemed you to be standing between him and something he wants... one of these days he will not be able to control himself and hit me or Christy, and on that day he will be gone... Tuesday October 2, 2000 ...Cindy refused to go to school this morning... she screamed and swore and went back to bed... it is really exasperating, we have no control over her... none what-so-ever. I took Mike to school and came back up to get Autumn, Calie, "B", and DaMoke... I dropped the big kids off and then took Autumn to CCS, we had asked for a new Jogger for her. We were told that it had come in and would be delivered today... it is really slick, it is big enough to hold her and strong enough to last for a long time... she even seems to enjoy using it... Janie said "By the way, it's time you should consider giving Steve back the K-Walker" I said "Huh"... I don't have a K-walker... I have the "Strider", She said, "No the walker that Autumn uses at school." I said that that walker was donated to the School, I was not consulted, I was not involved, I am not allowed to touch it..."... She said "Oh, never mind..." Christy went to the Dr. about her back and her eye... On the way to take Autumn back to school Christy called and said I needed to go to the Acton School because "B" threw up... "B" is able to induce vomiting and will do it to elicit sympathy or to get out of doing work... He didn't even bother, he just went back to class and told the teacher he threw up in the bathroom... it wasn't worth a fight to me so I brought him home. I met Christy at Acton School at 12:35 for "B"'s re-admittance IEP... It went civilly and we are going to continue where we left off last year... Christy left the IEP a few minutes early and went to Optometrist, he found that there is a problem with the cornea in her left eye. She got eye drops and an ointment... scary, we will know later Dr's Hospital called Cindy has a thyroid problem, a thyroid problem could explain a lot of things Mike riding Husquavarna 500cc MC First Aid and CPR.
Wednesday October 3, 2000 No school today... Autumn had to go to Therapy... I had to take all the kids with me because Christy was teaching... Kids were OK... Mike stayed home, After dropping Christian at the college I made it home in time to watch the Motocross race I have been trying to watch since 9/22/2001 at 09:00 I sent this to ESPN: Dear Sir it is 9/22/2001 at 09:00 I am sitting here looking at a CART race expecting to see the AMA Motocross race at Delmont Pennsylvania ... (Actual race was Sept 3rd, but you pretend it's live, that's OK, I live for illusion) the banner across the top of my Direct TV picture says "Motocross Race"... this is not the first time this year you have pre-empted Motocross... this is actually the third time. I have heard the commentators at the race advertise upcoming events... I see football scores... I do not see or have I heard mentioned why the Motocross race is not on... your Website has even published a description of the race and posted the results. I realize that Motorcycle enthusiasts are in a minority but Schitt!!! We at least deserve an explanation... They wrote back... cool... told me it was rescheduled for today at 11:00... actually I found that out yesterday... there is nothing in the Direct TV Guide... it wasn't on the schedule at the ESPN site yesterday but it was today... hmmmmm Alan, a neighbor from across the way, came by and showed me two signs in the back of his pickup truck that he had put up to try to get folks to slow down. They had been kicked over and destroyed. He said that a neighbor had seen the culprit come over to my property, he was wearing a white helmet... I don't own a bike any more but the neighbor kids are coming over here all the time, they were here today., Mike was riding with them but he was riding a "Quad"... I suspect that there is a possibility that Mike knows who did it or that he did it himself... I don't know... he says he didn't but there is nothing in my personal history with him that would lead me to trust him any further than I can throw him. It just doesn't sound like his way of doing things. "Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration -- courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth." - H L Mencken
Thursday October 4, 2001 ...Posted a "Rant" from my cousin Linda... (she is a 9th Cousin once removed)... nice to get e-mail in the morning... she said she couldn't get to my Journals... she was probably using the link on the Home Page... I always forget to update it... I wrote a rant on youth Soccer several years ago, I have been trying to find it in my coffers... it was really funny. Mike is in a real funk... not sure what that's all about... He says it's because we won't buy him a motorcycle... he is convinced that it's that we "won't"... He is unable to understand the reality of the fact that we just don't have that kind of money at the moment... he also seems to equate happiness, love and satisfaction with our willingness to spend money on him... He couldn't live without a Nintendo, $400.00 motocross bicycle... $400.00 roller blades, $200 Saga Dreamcast, what ever we get for him is irrelevant because in order to satiate his self esteem he has to keep raising the bar... "If we really loved him... Friday October 5, 2001 ...It occurs to me that I should make not of the time on these pages because the tense changes from paragraph to paragraph... bad form to do that sort of thing... it is 0630: Cindy is going to go on a Field Trip to "A Museum" there is only one museum within 30 miles of here and that's the Indian Museum in Lancaster... It is cold and foggy this morning... feels good to me. I love cold weather for sleeping wish I could take advantage of it... I don't usually type into my Journal at this time of day but I can't get connected up to the internet for some reason... I suspect that they are having trouble at my ISP... I access the ISP but I get the discordant tone of death and it times out. That is one trouble with dealing with a small locally owned ISP... they are not manned 24 hours a day and not at all on Sunday... really annoying but when you weigh that occasional inconvenience against having to deal with a large impersonal ISP like AOL or Earthlink or ATT or one of the others I think I prefer the little guy... Service has been flaky for about 3 days now though, I hope they aren't having trouble. The morning was a little rockier than usual... I took Mike and Cindy to school, drove down to the Acton Market and got a "Lunchable" for Cindy to take on her field trip and drove it up to the school... I went home and got Autumn, "B" was ready but Calie wasn't dressed and Mokie looked like she had been sleeping in a trash can... I took Autumn "B" and made Mokie go change, I dropped them off and went back for Calie and DaMoke... Mokie was ready but Calie was throwing a fit.... the bottom line was that she hadn't done her homework and didn't want to confront her teacher with that fact... I am not sure I want her so traumatized by that sort of thing... I left her for Christy to deal with and took Mokie to school.... I came back and Calie was still having a snit... I gave up... I told her to do her homework and said to hell with it... Mike and I went to see "Training Day"... Ethan Hawke & Denzel Washington, Denzel played someone I had never seen him play before... he did a good job, I never knew where he was coming from, every time I thought I had him figured out he twisted in my sights... do not read about, or listen to anyone talk about this movie... It is violent, wall to wall cussing, not for the faint of heart... Mike is still upset with me for not buying him a motorcycle... He said I could get him a bike if I wanted to... I should sell the van, or my tractor or take out a loan or ...He is making me very angry... I can't get through to him at all... I don't have $1000 to buy him a bike, If I had $1000 I wouldn't buy him a bike anyway... I would fix the transmission in my van... I don't owe him a bike... I am tired of this... really tired... he is convinced that I am the unreasonable one... Saturday October 6, 2001 ...I got an e-mail from Lydia Gallant, a distant cousin, she said, if we are related to Butler's we are probably related to another reasonably famous celebrity... after a few minutes on the internet... by god... she is right... I am a 14th cousin of George W. Bush... shoot... I didn't even vote for him... My sister the rabid Republican in Arizona (Could "Arizona Republican" be considered redundant?) will be amused. I had to run a few errands while Christy was at church with most of the kids, Mike decided he wanted to stay home so I took Cindy. I had to get dog food and I decided that since I also needed to get a lot of people food and some cement I had better just run the food back up to the house so I would have room... you will never guess who I passed on the way back up the road... Mike (thirteen year old Mike... my Mike, my "How come you never trust me." Mike) driving down the road in the Cadillac... it was funny in a way... I could tell by the maneuvers he made exactly when the expression "Oh SHIT!" crossed his lips...he came to a complete stop in the middle of the road and sat there for a full minute... he then pulled ahead to a place to turn around and drove sedately back to the house... I, to this day, regret to the core of my soul the day I betrayed my dad's trust... I was (coincidentally) 13 when I got caught shop-lifting a jack knife from a Sears Hardware store at Bay Shore Shopping center in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. Sears called the police, I was taken to the Sheriff's Station... placed in a jail cell (with the door open)... My dad was called... I listened to my dad getting lectured about controlling my behavior "or else"... he drove me home... sent me to the basement, then to my room... didn't talk to me for three days... I felt like the most worthless human being on the face of the earth... there was no way to mend the hurt I had caused him... I learned a wonderful lesson in a very painful way... My dad's love and trust mattered to me, I spent years trying to undo that one stupid act... I wonder if I ever did. I wish I felt that Mike felt something other than a twinge of remorse that he had gotten caught... After this episode I had to take Mike with me and Cindy... we ran a couple errands and I stopped to get them lunch... Mike acted like a 5 year old... We went to CostCo and Mike wandered off... He came back and threw a $35.00 computer game in the cart and said "Here, buy me this so I won't be bored while I'm grounded." I said; "Sure Mike, think of it as a reward for stealing my car." He gave me a dirty look and took it out of the basket and threw it up on a shelf of dishes... I tried to continue shopping but I gave up after he wandered off again... I drove them back home... in the car he said; "So what's your problem dad." "What's MY problem!" I damn near drove off the freeway.
Sunday October 7, 2001 ...Christy went to church and picked up the kids... she went to a meeting after... she got back about 1430... I watched football... forgot about the world for a couple hours... Packers got beat... barely... in a brutal game with the Buccaneers... damn good game... when the final whistle blew both teams just collapsed... if the game had been played in Green Bay it would have been the other way around...
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