Two weeks ago it was Cathy’s birthday. This past Thursday, Noah turned 11 years old. Today Evan turns two! Two very fast years. When Amy was born, I bought a book and started writing her a letter a day which became a letter a week, then none at all. When Evan was born, I bought a book and never put word one in it. Ah! Good intentions replaced by actual doings. The upcoming birthdays are Amy turning five on June 10 and Sarah turning 14 on June 24 then Tommy turns 17 on August 15.
Month: May 2007
Can you cope?
Cathy posted regarding her cycle of stress by which she feeds her headaches. Dr Michael Benjamin (or a robot representing Dr Benjamin or possibly a consulting group in India) commented on Cathy’s post (which is slightly ironic because one of Cathy’s degrees are in Psychology). Kris and Cathy both visited the good doctor’s myRay site and liked it. Naturally, I had to take a moment to see how crazy I am. The results? I short I’m a disappointed, angry, critical control freak that feels excessive guilt, burdens myself with responsibility that isn’t mine, craves more intimacy, and desperately needs a steak. A brief clipping:
- You have a tendency to think and analyze. This is very important to you.
- You do not seem to be able to “think your way out” of stress.
This causes you to think more with increasingly fewer results for your thoughts.
- You can easily get into a vicious circle and feel perplexed.
[Source]
And the best sentence in the evaluation (which regular readers of Reality Me will appreciate): It is easier to be more open when writing, than in face-to-face relationships..
The detailed results:
Children, left to their own…
So this morning had a plan. At 5:15am I would be on a video conference with London that would end at 6am. At 6am I would rouse Noah, make sure he was fed, clothed, etc and send him off at 6:54am to his last half day of the 5th grade. At 7am, I rouse Sarah, make sure she is fed, clothed, etc and instead of sending her to the bus at 7:34am I would drive her to make sure she was at school early (8am) so that she could participate in BNN’s filming the 8th grader’s last day.
Plans! Technical issues got the video conference off to a late start. I got Noah started then checked on him to find him staring blankly at our barren kitchen. He didn’t want cereal so I ran down options: oat meal, cream of wheat, eggs, … We hit on eggs! So I roll into EduDad and prompt Noah to get a frying pan while I get a bowl and crack two eggs into it. Noah looks in the closet where we keep glassware, then he looks in the drawer under the stove, and finally in the cabinet by the stove where pans are kept. He adds some milk to the eggs and we beat them well. The pan is oiled and cooking commences. I instruct him on when and how to stir the eggs and I return to my video conference. 20 minutes later I check on him and he is still stirring the most well-done eggs you’ve ever seen. I failed to tell him when to remove the eggs! "I was waiting for you to come upstairs so I could ask what to do." Why didn’t he come downstairs and ask for help?! Of course, I feel rotten. With one minute to spare, he slams down his burnt eggs and goes to his bus.
I rouse Sarah and return to my conference call. We wrapped at 7:46am which was still enough time to get Sarah to the school but she’s AWOL! And Noah left the stove on! I call Sarah’s phone, the one she left at her friend’s house, and leave a voice mail but I know what she’s done. In her desire to be an independent teen and trying to not interrupt my work, she has acted on her own. However, as a parent, I want her to always say goodbye! I want her to say good morning. I want her to sneak into her mother’s room and get her mom a peck on the cheek! AND we had a plan. I was supposed to drive her to school.
I find the choices they made this morning amusing and good for their growth and learning; however, I feel that I bungled being a dad this morning. I feel I let Sarah down.
A method to my madness
These need to be posted:
LOST Review
Oh that was good! They got me! You know. One question I find myself asking: Setting aside Ben’s mind games and apparent evil nature, have The Other’s (I don’t count Patchy) done anything terrible that wasn’t directly a result of an action of an Ocean Flight 815 survivor?
Dangerous Book for Boys
I have multiple reasons for posting this link. The main one though is that it has been talked about so much and seems like such a cool book! It’s time to take the bubble wrap off our children!
A LOST Realization
LOST is all about Walt Disney’s Ophelia complex! See, ABC is owned by Disney. Disney loves to kill parents especially mothers. On the island, all mother’s must die. Michael’s boy Walt could make things happen with his mind which is an obvious tribute to Walt Disney. The smoke monster is one of Walt Disney’s manifestations. There you have it. LOST is Disney World!
LOST Season 3 Recap
Incase you need a reminder of what has happened in this season of LOST, read this recap. (read it anyway because it is funny!)
Cingular Skipped Daylight Savings
Has anyone other than me that uses Cingular’s text messaging on a G3 phone noticed that the time stamp is off by one hour? I asked at the store and the employees had not noticed. I think a technician is working on it now.
Marriage has challenges
I think one of the biggest challenges in marriage is finding new ways to piss off your spouse so that they don’t get bored with the old ways of pissing them off. Watch for my upcoming book release, "365 Ways to Tick Off Your Wife" and its sister publication, "365 Ways to Apologize (Without saying the word sex)."
LOST Spoiler
Ben is on a radio show right now. He just said, "Tonight’s casuality count will be unprecidented" "I shot him a little bit lower than the chest" "and where the wound is, is important" Ben also mentioned his character was only supposed to be on a couple of shows. Thanks for the relay by SingleDads!
Tonight on LOST
I know what is going to happen!
Hiro shows up on the island which is really a big submarine and blows up just as we learn that Jack Bueur is really a pregnant lady and has to die then House claims he can save Jack but Wil Shatner intervenes with a legal loop hole explaining they have to blow up and everyone dies.
Someone’s got to die!
Last week I gave Cathy wishy-washy answers about who I thought would die on Lost this season. My guesses are: Bernard, Rose, Juliet, Tom and Charlie. I could also see the French lady taking a bullet and a piece of me thinks Desmond could go but I still believe the story is all about Desmond and Penelope. Who is on your death watch?
Charlie, yer gonna die!
Of Grasshoppers
Student: Why doesn’t my wife listen to me?
Master: Hahah BwahH! haHAAhhhaa ba Hheee gasp hahhaa HOoo Woohoo HAHAHAHA hheheheehe Bwahahhaha HEHEEEE hheeee HHEEEE hhhee eeeeeeeeeee hahahaha eeeww oh oh OH hahaha HAHAHHAHAHA! AH! oh hehehHEHEHHEHE bwaahhaha!
Calls a parent never likes
Tommy, "Our bus just got hit. I told the officer I didn’t do it."
The school bus experience has been horrid this year. There is no lack of irony in the year ending with a bus accident. Tommy’s description was that a trailer clipped the back corn of the bus and the bus didn’t even move much. His friend’s mother called and said, "the bus got side swiped!" The accident happened within walking distance of the school but they are making the children wait until another bus can come to move them from the accident scene to the school. Since it is a short bus of special needs students, that does make sense.
I had hoped we could arrange for Tommy to ride the regular bus home at least once this year. I think he is fully capable of handling the regular bus. Getting off the short bus would alleviate so much turmoil! And possibly introduce some.
Update: Tommy called, laughing, to declare, "we’re on tv!" Looks like WATE got the footage. Guess we will have to record the news tonight. The kids on the bus sounded way out of control.
Update 2: Some more details.
