September 2002
|
September 2002
|
|
Sunday September 1 , 2002 Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out - it's the grain of sand in your shoe. -Robert Service, writer (1874-1958)
Aside: They have a "Beauty Pageant" every year to elect Miss Acton and her Princesses... Several years ago my girls heard about it and decided they wanted to be in the pageant, they got real excited... so I looked into it. I was naive enough to think it had something to do with being pretty and perky and sweet and maybe even smart... boy was I wrong, what it has to do with is MONEY. If you invest enough money you get to have your daughter be a princess... It cost a fortune to just enter the "Contest" then it costs another fortune to buy the clothes, hairdos, makeup, and on and on, I have no idea what the whole ticket comes to but it was definitely out of my league.
Christy took "B" and Cindy out to buy clothes for school, I don't want to know what she spent, she got home about 1500 and Mike and I took off at about 1600 to get him some school clothes. We ended up at Ross's and picked out some shirts and pants... we got in line and there were three clerks working their butts off at the cash register... A youngish African American woman with florescent purple hair started complaining loudly to no one in particular about the long lines and how they needed to open up another register, and can't they see how long the lines are... then she yelled angrily at the clerks and said "Hey, Why don't you call for some help! Can't you see the people waiting?" One of the clerks said "I'm sorry for the wait, but all of the people that can work the registers are here working registers." The lady with purple hair shut up... finally. I got to the counter and I could see that the fella waiting on me (who was also black) was really pissed, and a little embarrassed... the register next to him run by the lady that apologized became free and the rude lady said "FINALLY!" and walked up and paid for her $5 tee-shirt and left... I told my clerk and the one next to him "It's people like her that give Women With Purple Hair a bad name." It apparently wasn't what they expected me to say, my clerk looked at me funny and just cracked up, so did the other clerks... made my day. Chocolate is not just a basic food group. It is an honorary vitamin. The countdown to September 11, 2002 begins, I think the the last thing I will do is turn on the TV set on September 11th, I couldn't take another second by second blow by blow of that day... I think Osama is sitting in a cave some where just rubbing his bony hands in glee to know that all the Major Networks are wringing every ounce of the pain and suffering from from every angle and every viewpoint. I would rather they have a respectful minute of silence and play Roadrunner Cartoons... giving those terrorists the satisfaction of seeing and hearing our grief is just encouraging them to try for a more sensational blow next time... I heard today that there is a move afoot to create a National Holiday on September 11... I am sure that every terrorist in the world is going to be High Five'n his buddy when they catch wind of this lame idea. We still haven't caught Osama bin Laden or any of his cronies, I think that the day we catch that SOB is the day we should celebrate, having a 'Holiday' to commemorate an atrocity is just wrong. A day of remembrance like December 7th seems appropriate, a moment to reflect and a time to resolve never to let it happen again. "...a unilateral attack of Iraq is inevitable." Sen. Fred Thompson, Rep. ... WHY? What the hell am I missing here? Doesn't the concept of an unprovoked, preemptive, unilateral strike on a virtually defenseless country (No Navy, No Air Force, an already defeated Army) bother anyone? Where is the threat? Washington is spouting a lot of unsubstantiated gibberish about suspected "Weapons of Mass Destruction", unproven "Terrorist activities". Why don't they tell us what's really going on? What is the real motive? Who is going to profit from this risky business? Now, we have real proof that Saudi Arabia was heavily involved in murders on 9/11. Most of the suicide loonies were Saudi's, most of the money to support Al Qiada comes from Saudi's why the hell aren't we attacking them? This is a lot of writing for me, it's late... School starts on the 4th...1 down 2 to go... What, me worry? Alfred E. Neuman Monday September 2 , 2002 ... I just heard NPR's plans for September 11, 2002, they are going to start their commemorative endeavors tomorrow... to what end I wonder... having a cynical streak, I suspect it's the same thing that is motivating commercial stations... ratings. The most dangerous and lowest paid job in the country is laundry worker. I didn't know that... I plan to take the kids out today and tomorrow, they didn't get a real vacation, well... some did get to go to camp, but that's not a family vacation... I wonder if we'll ever get one. If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead. Erma Bombeck Sorry for this next paragraph, this website is maintained by me, for me, to keep me sane...if you are going to read my inane ramblings and petty trials and tribulations then you will occasionally have to put up with my whimpering too. I didn't do the dishes yesterday the sink was overflowing, I almost took a picture of it but it would be too embarrassing, the kids wanted ice-cream last night and instead of washing out a dirty bowl they took mixing bowls, measuring cups and a soup pan unbelievable... I make sandwiches, I rarely use a plate, I use a napkin or paper towel so I have a hard time cleaning up after people who are so lazy they can't reuse a glass or rinse out a bowl before they put it in the sink. Rice Krispies and other cereals turn to concrete and will adhere to anything and everything they come in contact with... I think that Rice Krispies were a failed experiment by 3M and deemed to be far too dangerous to be used as an adhesive. Two seconds rinsing out a bowl can save me five minutes of chipping cereal off plates, bowls and spoons... (I know; "Will he ever stop complaining!?!") Another bitch... my e-mail is down again... My ISP is supposed to take calls till 2100... I have been trying to get hold of them since 1900... all I get is a recording. It's exasperating, I know most folks couldn't care less... most folks I know wouldn't know their e-mail was down for a week or two... If I don't get two or three e-mails an hour I feel marooned... silly I know, but I have become accustomed to responding to emails throughout the day as they come in... It may appear as though I sit in front of this PC 24 hours a day but I am in and out of the house all day shuffling kids and running errands I must sit down and check emails and read news 20 times a day... at least. I dropped "B" and Mike off at Crystal's house about 12:30and took Calie Monica and Autumn to the park and to get something to eat... we had a picnic on the grass and they played for a while, it was pretty hot out here today, 111 I am told, it didn't seem that hot but the kids tired of playing pretty quick and we went home... about 15:00... We cooked steaks and had a big dinner, that's pretty unusual... there was about 10 minutes during the meal when everyone was at the table. Christian will be home tomorrow... Mike starts for school at 06:25 the rest of the kids start on Wednesday... Cindy will be going to the SDA school with Christian and Calie... I am not thrilled, they don't have a Special Education class there so Cindy will be at the low end of her class, I am afraid we are setting her up to fail, I want her to go to the local Public School... they know her. I don't know that she is getting a terrific education there but I'm pretty convinced that she is getting as much education as she is capable of assimilating. I just want her to feel good about herself and to be able to make a life for herself when she leaves here. Calie, Monica and Autumn put on a puppet show in their room... Calie tries so hard to perk things up, she is an organizer instigator... I hope she can hold onto her positive attitude, she will tackle anything. Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles. Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959) Tuesday September 3 , 2002 I got my butt out of bed at 0530 and made some coffee, I got Mikes medicine, woke him up and gave it to him. I let him go back to sleep and woke him up again at 0600, his bus arrived at 0628, only 3 minutes late. I will have to pick Calie up at her school at 1500 for soccer practice 1530, Mokie's is canceled today... Pictures on Saturday. I want to take Mokie out to breakfast but she beat me to it, I will take her and Autumn to McD's for lunch... Cindy came along too and we went to the McDonalds at Wal-Mart... I needed to get some supplies for Autumn's first day of school tomorrow. After Wal-Mart we got the van washed and then we picked up Calie, I had brought along the wrong shorts for her and had to stop at Sports Chalet to get her some new ones... I met Autumn's new teacher at Meadowlark, Mrs. Scott, Mokie had her for first grade... she seems nice. Mokie liked her. There are two big fires visible from my house, one due East and one South West... the one Southwest is in Bouquet Canyon, about 10 miles as the crow flies... the other one East of here is about 35 miles away, it's a big'un though. I saw the Bouquet fire just after it started, as I was walking the kids to their table at Wal-Mart it was impressive. Autumn was adorable at Soccer Practice... she horned in on everything... the coach, Rosanne, was very understanding.
The fire pictures are from The Soccer field looking West about 1630, and the other is from Palmdale looking South West about 15:15 When you're a dad you can't keep your cool car. Fancy stereo, power windows' sunroof - the kids will kill all that stuff. Take an ordinary cookie. In the hands of a kid it becomes a sugar hand grenade. You take the car into the shop because chocolate chips are clogging the carburetor. David Adkins AKA 'Sinbad' Wednesday September 4 , 2002 Woke up with a sore throat from breathing smoke from the fires all night, the house reeks of it... Mike got off to school OK, I took Christian and Calie down to the 76Cindy was trying very hard to be a big sister to "B" and "B" was having none of it... I wish "B" could lighten up a little... "B" and Cindy are in the same class room... pretty volatile situation... First day of school for Autumn, Monica, "B" and Cindy...We got all the kids to school on time, even a bit early, we walked Autumn to her class and Autumn looked for her name, marched to her desk, pulled out her chair and sat down and clasped her hands... what a doll. Christy stayed while I took Monica to her school, before we got out of the van Monica asked me 5 times not to call her Mokie or Moker or Moke or Mokie'doke, she wouldn't hold my hand and only grudgingly let me take her picture.
I picked up Christy and we went to Otto's for breakfast... haven't done that in ages... When we got home I even took a nap... what a deal... nothing of note happened till I got Christian to soccer, I was sitting there watching the practice and a young woman came up, talking loudly on a cell phone, not unusual but still annoying, I put on my radio headphones and turned up the volume on NPR... I could still hear her harping about something I glanced over to see if I was the only one annoyed and saw that she had hung up the cell phone and was now railing about how indignant a woman was about her saying that before HER Daughter spent the night she was going to inspect the house, she said she wouldn't let her daughter stay there because one of the fire alarms wasn't working... I tried to imagine what it would take for me to let some whacko come in and test my fire alarms... I listened to her telling the other mom's how hard it was to micro-manage her petty little life as long as I could and went for a walk... damn... as I was walking it occurred to me how lucky I was that I was incarnated in to this body and not her daughters... what a pure hell her life must be. Thursday September 5 , 2002 I argue very well. Ask any of my remaining friends. I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me. Dave Barry The adage about too many cooks spoiling the stew applied today, Christy and I working together managed to do what we wouldn't have done if we worked separately, we forgot Autumn's medicine... Christy went to school at 1400, she got back at 1730... Calie had soccer practice... went through the seven gates of hell to get there and they canceled because it was sprinkling. On the drive from Acton to Lancaster to pick up Calie and Christian, Cindy went totally out of her mind, yelling hitting screaming throwing things... I am at a complete loss as to what to do about her, she is playing a manipulation game the way a two year old would. She was so disruptive in the van I had to pull over to the shoulder and pull her physically from the back and buckle her in the front... She was smiling... it was a two-year-old's tactic. Mike went to soccer practice, he was wonderful to watch, he is playing with kids 3 years older and except for one kid he is their equal or better. Every one on the team was impressed and the coach and I praised him, so he came home and pierced his lower lip and eyebrow... I wish his biological egg donor was here so that she could see the neurotic weirdo she created... damn this is frustrating. You put him in a situation where he can excel, and he does, and you praise him he has to do something to convince you he isn't worthy of your praise. He came up to me and said, if I stop doing drugs and quit piercing myself what will you do for me? How much money will you give me... ie: give me what I want and I'll stop destroying myself... someday when he looks like a pincushion and he can't get a job it will be my fault because I refused to pay him money to stop poking holes in himself. There is growing evidence that smoking has pharmacological effects that are of real value to smokers. - Joseph F. Cullman III Pres. of Phillip Morris Annual Report to Stockholders, 1962
Friday September 6 , 2002 Christy has to leave for school at 0700, Mike was up all night, says he threw up, he was complaining of a stomach ache yesterday. "B" got up early, he was up showered dressed when I got up at 0500. Nice start to the day... except "B" went back to bed, Mike put a ring in his lip and eyebrow... Cindy decided she wanted to wear a long black skirt... with white socks and tennis shoes. Mike blew up again, he missed his medication and just went berserk. I had let "B" go to a friends house and had told him I would pick him up on the way back from Palmdale. Christy came home fron school and said she had to go into town so she would pick up "B". "B" appears to be a bit like Cindy in that he doesnt cope with modifications to the plan very well... "B" and Christy had a misunderstanding and "B" got angry and refused to cooperate with her, Christy had picked up Mike at the gym and he decided he wanted to stay at his girlfriends, Christy said no, Mike got out of the car and refused to get back in. Christy took "B" home but he got into a bigger argument and ran out of the house cussing, I went from Soccer to Crystals house and picked up Mike, Christy called and told me that "B" had run away, we saw "B" up in the field across from the house and Mike decided we needed to go get him, I said "No" because "B" needed to cool off. Mike got angry and started calling me names and cussing, I tried to ignore him and went into the house to get his medicine, by this time he was two hours late, I took him back to Crystals house and picked him up again after Christian's practice. "B" was still 'missing' at this time and Mike (The ultimate pessimist) was convinced he was laying in a field dead. He wasn't we found him walking back to the house. Mike went down and told "B" I didn't care if he lived or died. I went in the house and told Christy to call the P.E.Team. Mike came back up the hill cussing me calling me all sorts of evil things and Christy made the call, Mike got wind of it and really went nuts, he went to get Christians bike so he could go to Crystals house I said "No he threw the bike away and came down the ridge in a rage, calling me names, crashing his body into mine trying to provoke me into hitting him... I was sorely tempted but I restrained myself, the kids were all watching and getting afraid... Christy was talking to the PET and put me on the phone with them and mike ripped all the pins and rings out of his face and started crying and left, walking down the hill to Crystals, I told Christian to keep and eye on Mike while I talked to the lady on the phone... Apparently the fact we have Kaiser complicates things, I left the resolution to that business to Christy and went down to get Mike... He had made it about 3/4 of a mile by the time I caught up to him. I talked him back into the car and talked to him a bit... He went into the house and refused to talk to me or Christy but he cried a lot... I don't know what was happening in his head, he eventually went to sleep. The whole melodrama of Mike overshadowed poor "B"'s problem, after Mike went to sleep Christy "B" and I talked out the problem and everything is calmed down. As near as I can tell the Psychiatric Evaluation Team is a placebo and of no earthly use in an emergency. Soccer tomorrow. Religion is the bureaucracy we put between ourselves and the "sense of wonder" at the astounding beauty of creation and the amazing spin of the Universe. I haven't been able to find the origin of this remark.
Saturday September 7 , 2002 Soccer opening ceremonies and pictures today... I have to go to the field at 1600 and help Mike Bunce and Landis Kent move the goals away from the fence... on both fields. I got the kids up early and by bribing them with McDonalds I was able to keep them motivated. The parade went well, Pictures will be (I am writing this at noon) starting at 1300 till 1400 for my bunch... hopefully Christy will be home soon... damn... she will be at "Potluck" I won't see her till 1600. Mike was feeling poorly, upset stomach, he says he couldn't sleep last night... I am not surprised.
Sunday September 8 , 2002
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
