The Day That I Was No Longer Perfect
By Price Hamilton
I remember the day that I was no longer perfect. But, like any story that is truly woth telling, it is a story that cannot be told in one setting, nor is it a story that can simply be jumped into mid stride.
In our lives there are a million different choices, large and small, that we make daily. Any one of these choices could lead us to lasting happiness or indescribable misery. You could find a dollar on the roadside and us it to purchase the jackpot winning lotto ticket from the nearest mini-mart/gas station, or you could use that same dollar to purchase a cup of drip coffee for a homeless guy begging for change on a cold winter day. One choice leads to a large extrinsic reward based on a game of chance, the other to a purely intrinsic reward centered in knowing that you did something kind for another soul.
Similarly, you could exit a building, turn one direction and live a relatively worry free life where if you had gone in the opposite direction you would find nothing but strife and misfortune regular bed mates. James Christensen, a brilliant fantasy artist, once painted an images called the Voyage of the Bassett in which he poses a similar philosophic question by telling the story of a mythology professor in Victorian England who, along with his two daughters, boards a ship called the H.M.S. Bassett, crewed by a host of goblins, dwarves, and other mythical creatures, and sets sail for adventures unknown. Christensen once said of the image that he always wondered what would have happened if Darwin had turned his ship, the H.M.S. Beagle, left instead of right. Would he still have come back with the theory of evolution? Or would he perhaps have returned with some other variation on the theme. Instead of studying pond scum and algae formations would he have discovered dragons, chimera, harpies, and all manner of fantastic creatures? Perhaps we would have a theory of transformation where species change almost instantly instead of progressively over centuries. Truth told, he still would have found pond scum and algae, but the idea of other places and magical creatures is very alluring. A crypto-zoological explanation of the evolution of species would be much more exciting than the run of the mill evolved from apes shtick.
I digress. The fact is, and the point I am trying to make is, everything in life boils down to choice. Our attitude towards any given situation in life is based purely in choice; we can choose to be angry, cheerful, vengeful, apathetic, or any of an infinite other emotional options.
More often than not, we find ourselves ruled by emotion or situation, a common problem in my own downward spiral, but we never notice this until it is too late. I’ve always hated the cliché “hind sight is 20/20” because it’s only true when you screw up. You never make a decision that ends well and say “Whew, I wish I’d never invested in Google back when it was an unknown web engine! All this damn money is just too much of a bother. I think I’ll go out and buy my own island tomorrow to make myself feel better!” Instead it’s always things like “Gee, perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to try and hold up that all-night Korean grocer with the Muay Thai Boxing dojo in the back room because I just got my ass kicked by a three-foot-tall Bruce Lee look-a-like who talks with a lisp.” or “Perhaps I should have checked the gas gage to make sure the getaway wasn’t on empty before robbing the bank this morning. If I had, this plan would have gone much more effectively.” It’s always the times when things are not going their smoothes that we wish we could go back in time and change them. Is it really any wonder that these are the moments when we find ourselves driven more by emotion than by logic—I think not.
When we are ruled by emotion we give up our ability to choose and we let impulse be our guide. We end up jumping from one moment to the next without regard for the possible ramifications our actions may have. Children function in this way. They have not developed the cognitive thinking skills to choose between one course of action or the next. They take their cure form the care giver whom they are seeking approval from. They recognize that if their actions are followed by a smile, laugh, hug, or some other cross breed of extrinsic and intrinsic gratification then their choice was a good one. On the other hand, if they are punished for their actions, talked to with a stern/disapproving voice, put in time out, grounded, etc … their actions were ill thought and not the best. In this way it is the adult, not the child, who is responsible for the final outcome. Is it any wonder that they are confused half the time? My two-year-old ran over to his mother the other day, sat on her lap, and cut loose a fart that would have made any eighty-year-old rest home resident weep with pride. At the time we laughed because it was completely unexpected, obviously a practice that we did not want to encourage (or so his mother says; I think having a kid who will randomly fart on people constitutes a novelty worthy of Letterman any night!). When, a few nights later, my son declared “I poop on Mommy”, and he ran over to her a second time ready to let fly with him own personal perfume, we didn’t laugh—well Sarah didn’t. Instead, we punished him by placing him in time out and trying to explain why it is wrong to “toot” (Sarah’s opposed to the vulgarity of the word fart) on people.
Was he confused? Sure was. His one argument was that “it’s funny, you laughed!” And he was right, I was laughing until I cried the first time … and the second time too. Sarah, on the other hand laughed the first time, but immediately noticed the pattern emerging and knew to stop it. So how do kids know what to do? Adults are so inconsistent! We reserve the right to act like kids all the time but refuse to be treated like one. Why do we, adults, people who should arguably know better, act like little children? Why do we give up our ability to choose how we will react to a given situation and instead allow emotion to govern the track that we will tread?
If you ask me, and since you are reading my book I assume you are, the answer is really quite simple. We are idiots. Oh, don’t get all huffy and upset on me, you will only prove my point to be accurate. Look, I’m no different, as my story will prove. Truth is, I’, probably one of the worst offenders. You will see, in the pages that follow, my own idiocy is not limited to simple poor decision and emotional outbreaks. It is the product of deceit, questionable morals and judgment, sloth, and the innocent desire to please everyone but myself. Despite all this, looking back at the progress of events that have brought me here, I realize how choice has played into it all.
When I was a kid I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books. The simple idea that I was in charge of the story, that the protagonist’s life or death was entirely dependent on which page I read next, was a very liberating prospect. No longer were storied dictated to me by an author who has plotted every thing out to their liking. I got to choose. I got to create. I got to deal with the decisions on my own. In some ways I think that these books are the one of the first real exposures to the consequences of choice that I had to reconcile on my own. When I made a poor decision at home, mom or dad, sometimes both, would teach me the consequences of my actions through some nefariously devised punishment—grounding, loss of TV and video game privileges, extra chores, no new-comic-book-Wednesdays for a month. I never got a do-over.
Sure I was apologetic, conciliatory, supplicant—especially on Wednesdays. I tried my best to make up for my actions by demonstrating my remorse. I apologized for my actions on numerous occasions; I apologized to the person that I wronged over and over, but I was never able to turn the page back and start again, to wind the clock back to an earlier hour, to pull a Superman and fly backwards around the earth fast enough to cause it and everyone on it the run around in reverse like a film stopped just after a crucial point and run in reverse to see it again.. Even when I did get a “do-over” the second go around was always tainted by the first.
In a Choose Your Own Adventure book if you die because you chose to try and swindle your way out of a bad deal while on a space station in the farthest reaches of the Alpha-Centari quadrant—never try to skip the bill on a one-eyed, tight fisted, Karplaok bookie—you can simply jump back to page 15 and instead choose to wash dishes for three lifetimes in order to pay off the debt you racked up playing to ponies. Sure, this is a much less exciting choice, and it doesn’t end in some grand space battle where you and your robot sidekick Chet face off against an entire armada of Karplokian battle cruisers, but you do learn a valuable lesson in gamboling and a profitable trade as well—it’s a well known fact that space stations are always in need to dish washers. You don’t die, maybe a slow self deprecating death, but not in a literal blaze of gory scrap metal charred flesh.
So what is the point to all this? Good question. See, you are farther into the game then I was when our story begins. Choice, huh. Remember, this is no Choose Your Own Adventure novel. 20/20 vision in place, I hope that I can convey this accurately. Memories live in that same ethereal place as choices. We make a decision, later rejoice or remorse in it, and eventually share it. Over time it becomes glossed over and we choose to leave in or out certain details that may end up being more supplemental. History is told from memory and memory is corruptible. I choose to tell the story that I want, and that is what this is … a story. Not a history, or biography, a story. More specifically, it’s a story about choice and the consequences, both immediate and far reaching, of the choices we make.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
New Writing Project
I have been playing with the following phrase for about 6 years now, trying to figure out a good story to accompany the power that I felt it held, "I remember the day that I was no longer perfect." When I was working on my undergraduate degree I took a composition theory class and the teacher made this statement off handed during a class discussion on Aristotle.
I loved the quote when she mad it, and I immediately filed it away as something that I wanted to use later on. Well, the time has come for the story to be told. This summer my wife and I hit a rough patch in our marriage, neither of us have been extremely happy as of late-mostly due to a series of choices that I have made-and we started counseling and various other programs to try and reignite "the flame." For anyone who has gone through this process before it is a long uphill process that in many ways is more painful than the event that puts you on this track in the first place.
Anyway, I was sitting at work watching people wander aimlessly through the mall looking for the best after-Christmas deal they could find, and I began to think about the choices that I had made over the past year, decisions that had eventually led to the position I was in now. Almost instantly this quote that I had been carrying around in my head resolved into an entire story about choices and inter-connectivity of decisions over time. I decided that in order for this story to work, it had to be somewhat biographical but still a work of fiction. It also would need to track the events not just from the summer of 2008, but from childhood through adolescents, and into adulthood. My goal is to demonstrate how one choice can have effects reaching far beyond the here and now, somewhat of a butterfly-effect-esque tale. Since i am still living the story, I'm not sure how it will resolve, or if it will simply end unresolved like so many of the problems that we face. But I have high hopes for the story.
I also decided that I need to set up a writing schedule so that I can finish some of the projects that I have started. I would like to have at least one story completed and submitted for publication by the end of the year. The closest would probably be either the children's version of the monster box, or the Holland story. Haven and How to Become a Superhero are not progressing very quickly. I don't think I have worked on either of them for about 6 months at least. Sometimes I wish I could take a year off of work and just write. It is hard to find the time when you have to pack it in between grading papers, taking care of kids, teaching, and spending time with your wife. I know there are a lot of authors that are able to do this, and I wish I were one of them. I guess I just need to be more disciplined. Problem is, I like my sleep. Right now, where I have a two, almost three,-year-old, and a three-month-old, "sleep comes creeping slow." Any extra that I can pick up is a valued treasure. I was in bed and asleep by 8:00 last night. Good thing too, Aiden was up puking about every two hours. It is odd when you wake up to clean your kid up and it is only 10:00, or barely midnight. I could have sworn that it was closer to 2 or 3 in the morning. I love sleep, but it will mess with your head if you are not careful.
Well, I should get back to work. Papers to grade, classes to teach.
Cheers,
I loved the quote when she mad it, and I immediately filed it away as something that I wanted to use later on. Well, the time has come for the story to be told. This summer my wife and I hit a rough patch in our marriage, neither of us have been extremely happy as of late-mostly due to a series of choices that I have made-and we started counseling and various other programs to try and reignite "the flame." For anyone who has gone through this process before it is a long uphill process that in many ways is more painful than the event that puts you on this track in the first place.
Anyway, I was sitting at work watching people wander aimlessly through the mall looking for the best after-Christmas deal they could find, and I began to think about the choices that I had made over the past year, decisions that had eventually led to the position I was in now. Almost instantly this quote that I had been carrying around in my head resolved into an entire story about choices and inter-connectivity of decisions over time. I decided that in order for this story to work, it had to be somewhat biographical but still a work of fiction. It also would need to track the events not just from the summer of 2008, but from childhood through adolescents, and into adulthood. My goal is to demonstrate how one choice can have effects reaching far beyond the here and now, somewhat of a butterfly-effect-esque tale. Since i am still living the story, I'm not sure how it will resolve, or if it will simply end unresolved like so many of the problems that we face. But I have high hopes for the story.
I also decided that I need to set up a writing schedule so that I can finish some of the projects that I have started. I would like to have at least one story completed and submitted for publication by the end of the year. The closest would probably be either the children's version of the monster box, or the Holland story. Haven and How to Become a Superhero are not progressing very quickly. I don't think I have worked on either of them for about 6 months at least. Sometimes I wish I could take a year off of work and just write. It is hard to find the time when you have to pack it in between grading papers, taking care of kids, teaching, and spending time with your wife. I know there are a lot of authors that are able to do this, and I wish I were one of them. I guess I just need to be more disciplined. Problem is, I like my sleep. Right now, where I have a two, almost three,-year-old, and a three-month-old, "sleep comes creeping slow." Any extra that I can pick up is a valued treasure. I was in bed and asleep by 8:00 last night. Good thing too, Aiden was up puking about every two hours. It is odd when you wake up to clean your kid up and it is only 10:00, or barely midnight. I could have sworn that it was closer to 2 or 3 in the morning. I love sleep, but it will mess with your head if you are not careful.
Well, I should get back to work. Papers to grade, classes to teach.
Cheers,
Munny Projecy #2
So I thought that I would post an update on the Munny doll that I am working on. The project is nearing its completion and I am really pleased with the final results so far. There are also several pictures of Aiden making a b-day present for my mom. We let him cover his hand in paint and then press it on to a canvas. It was a cute idea and a pretty fun project. Needless to say Aiden had paint everywhere by the time he was done. Anyway, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Aiden and his paintbrush have been inseperable lately.
Some test run hand prints.
Aiden thougth that the black paint was pretty fun and he wanted to touch everything afterwards.
These are the hands on my Munny doll.
starting to paint the body.
Just the body, and some detail sketching on the pants.
The work station.
I added some highlites to the hair.
high angle so you cansee both the central and side hair highlights.
I'm really pleased with the way they have turned out so far.
Pants and the belt buckle, it is a Flash buckle hehehe!
Here are all the pieces together. I just had to finish the tie.
Parts and pieces.
Tentatively pieced together. I am really pleased wiht the way this looks.
Aiden and the Munny. He was laughing about how much it looked like daddy. he said all it was missing was a cape. Fortunately I actually have one. Ha ha ha!
This is the Zombie, or as I like to refer to it, the Mumbie.
The two together. Yes, the Mumbie is supposed to have one are that has fallen off.
I wanted the Mumbie to have a black and white Horror film feel to it. I think that it turned out pretty well so far. Just some shading work to do and I should be ready to clear coat! Yeah!
Aiden really likes them both.
Cheers,
Price
Aiden and his paintbrush have been inseperable lately.
Some test run hand prints.
Aiden thougth that the black paint was pretty fun and he wanted to touch everything afterwards.
These are the hands on my Munny doll.
starting to paint the body.
Just the body, and some detail sketching on the pants.
The work station.
I added some highlites to the hair.
high angle so you cansee both the central and side hair highlights.
I'm really pleased with the way they have turned out so far.
Pants and the belt buckle, it is a Flash buckle hehehe!
Here are all the pieces together. I just had to finish the tie.
Parts and pieces.
Tentatively pieced together. I am really pleased wiht the way this looks.
Aiden and the Munny. He was laughing about how much it looked like daddy. he said all it was missing was a cape. Fortunately I actually have one. Ha ha ha!
This is the Zombie, or as I like to refer to it, the Mumbie.
The two together. Yes, the Mumbie is supposed to have one are that has fallen off.
I wanted the Mumbie to have a black and white Horror film feel to it. I think that it turned out pretty well so far. Just some shading work to do and I should be ready to clear coat! Yeah!
Aiden really likes them both.
Cheers,
Price
Munny Project #1
I recently decided to begin the paint process on my Munny Doll. For those of you who are not familiar with this project I have taken on, I will try to elaborate some through the use of both pictures and my amazing descriptive skills. First off, you may want to know what a Munny doll is exactly, well allow me to direct you to the company's web site. MUNNY I first saw these dolls when I was at ComiCon this summer. I walked past their booth a dozen different times and was constantly looking at and contemplating purchasing on of their dolls. Designer vinyl toys are a fairly big movement in the popart world right now and I am finding myself inextricably drawn to it more and more. Once I came home from Con, I searched out their site and spent a fair amount of time going back and forth over whether I wanted to pick up one of the dolls to play with. I have been collecting Mighty Muggs for a while now, and I thought it would be a fun activity to try and make a few heroes of my own. Anyway, the more I thought about it the more I thought it would be a fun project for school.
I got together with the art teacher at the school and I decided to see if she wanted to collaborate with me on an art/writing project centered around how we define our personalities. The students would use the dolls as a template for visually showing who they are, how they want to be seen, or how they define themselves, and then they would write about the experience. The project would culminate with an art show hosted at a gallery in Pocatello during Art Walk (an event held on the first friday of every month down town).
So, I contacted Kidrobot (the company that makes the Munny) and found out about an educators program that they run where they will provide the dolls to school at wholesale price. I ordered in a few dolls to practice on, and we are starting the larger project in a week.
It took me a little while to figure out what I wanted to do with the two Munny dolls that I had picked up, I knew that one of them needed to be a caricature of me, and the other could be more free. I have been going through a bid of a Zombie stage lately, so I knew one of them would have to be the living dead. But I didn't know what to do with the other doll! Should I make it a superhero, should it just be a cartoon of me, there were too many options. I started out by sketching some possible designs and Finally settled on the idea that it needed to look like me. So I started putting the design down on the doll.
I was surprised by how well the vinyl responded to the pencil, it went on smooth and was easily it erased leaving very little memory of the previous mark. The sketching part was perhaps the easiest for me. I finished that long before I started the paint process, for obvious reason. For anyone who knows me well, you know that I am colorblind, and I have a difficult time matching things up. Sarah, god bless her, will usually pick out my clothes the night before so that I avoid going to work wearing colors that would frighten the most Nosferatuan of Gothic students. So, i was, needless to say, very apprehensive about the whole coloring aspect of this project. I could simply do a black and white rendering, thus showing everyone else who I see the world, but that isn't me. I like to think of myself as a very bright and vivid person. Someone who is a veritable rainbow of personality and color (most of the time). Well, needless to say, I went to the art teacher to get some assistance on this part, and here is the result so far. I had to mark some of the lids on the paint so that I would know what was what, but I think that it is turning out pretty good so far, and I am excited by the possibilities of what the finished product will look like.
Here is the first stage, i forgot to take a pic of just the blank doll. Oh well!
Skin tones always look funny to me, but Sarah says that this is a good color and it seems to work well. I'm using acrylic based paint and will use a clear coat protectant when I am completely done.
I started to paint the hair and goatee, also put in the black where the mouth is. Soon this is what I too will look like I'm afraid. Hair around the edges but none on top. Not that I am loosing my hair, I just lost a bet and my kids get to shave my head at some point.
Here is the profile of the finished hear (almost, I still need to paint the eyes and the teeth).
Does it look like me?
Here is a closer shot of just the face. I need to finish some of the detail work like a nose and the lips; I also need to do some shading but so far I am pretty pleased.
I actually used two different colors for the hair, my kids refer to this brown spot as my "duck butt". I prefer the Ed Grimmley, but that is much too old and obscure a reference for any of them, and sadly enough most of my co-workers as well.
This is the Zombie Munny. I am really pleased with how it looks, But i started to color it the other day and I am running into some problems. The markers that I was planning on using (prismacolor) are causing the sharpie to bleed because they are alcohol based and much stronger and nicer than the sharpie. I may have to switch gears and try something else, I don't know. I'll keep you posted. But for now, I am having a blast with this project! Yeah me!
Cheers,
Price
I got together with the art teacher at the school and I decided to see if she wanted to collaborate with me on an art/writing project centered around how we define our personalities. The students would use the dolls as a template for visually showing who they are, how they want to be seen, or how they define themselves, and then they would write about the experience. The project would culminate with an art show hosted at a gallery in Pocatello during Art Walk (an event held on the first friday of every month down town).
So, I contacted Kidrobot (the company that makes the Munny) and found out about an educators program that they run where they will provide the dolls to school at wholesale price. I ordered in a few dolls to practice on, and we are starting the larger project in a week.
It took me a little while to figure out what I wanted to do with the two Munny dolls that I had picked up, I knew that one of them needed to be a caricature of me, and the other could be more free. I have been going through a bid of a Zombie stage lately, so I knew one of them would have to be the living dead. But I didn't know what to do with the other doll! Should I make it a superhero, should it just be a cartoon of me, there were too many options. I started out by sketching some possible designs and Finally settled on the idea that it needed to look like me. So I started putting the design down on the doll.
I was surprised by how well the vinyl responded to the pencil, it went on smooth and was easily it erased leaving very little memory of the previous mark. The sketching part was perhaps the easiest for me. I finished that long before I started the paint process, for obvious reason. For anyone who knows me well, you know that I am colorblind, and I have a difficult time matching things up. Sarah, god bless her, will usually pick out my clothes the night before so that I avoid going to work wearing colors that would frighten the most Nosferatuan of Gothic students. So, i was, needless to say, very apprehensive about the whole coloring aspect of this project. I could simply do a black and white rendering, thus showing everyone else who I see the world, but that isn't me. I like to think of myself as a very bright and vivid person. Someone who is a veritable rainbow of personality and color (most of the time). Well, needless to say, I went to the art teacher to get some assistance on this part, and here is the result so far. I had to mark some of the lids on the paint so that I would know what was what, but I think that it is turning out pretty good so far, and I am excited by the possibilities of what the finished product will look like.
Here is the first stage, i forgot to take a pic of just the blank doll. Oh well!
Skin tones always look funny to me, but Sarah says that this is a good color and it seems to work well. I'm using acrylic based paint and will use a clear coat protectant when I am completely done.
I started to paint the hair and goatee, also put in the black where the mouth is. Soon this is what I too will look like I'm afraid. Hair around the edges but none on top. Not that I am loosing my hair, I just lost a bet and my kids get to shave my head at some point.
Here is the profile of the finished hear (almost, I still need to paint the eyes and the teeth).
Does it look like me?
Here is a closer shot of just the face. I need to finish some of the detail work like a nose and the lips; I also need to do some shading but so far I am pretty pleased.
I actually used two different colors for the hair, my kids refer to this brown spot as my "duck butt". I prefer the Ed Grimmley, but that is much too old and obscure a reference for any of them, and sadly enough most of my co-workers as well.
This is the Zombie Munny. I am really pleased with how it looks, But i started to color it the other day and I am running into some problems. The markers that I was planning on using (prismacolor) are causing the sharpie to bleed because they are alcohol based and much stronger and nicer than the sharpie. I may have to switch gears and try something else, I don't know. I'll keep you posted. But for now, I am having a blast with this project! Yeah me!
Cheers,
Price
Monday, January 05, 2009
A brand new year!
Well, its 2009 and I am back to the blog. I hardly ever write on this or any of the other blogs that I manage, but I feel comforted by the fact that I have a place where I can go and type my thoughts and ideas (instead of bottling them up inside). I also like the fact that every year I add another four messages to the blog. I think that last year I had as many posts as there were months in the year (although I don't think every month had at least one post). So I've been typing up my notes for the children's book that I am starting, The Monster Box, and i am surprised by the amount of stuff that I already have. I wanted it to be a simple picture book, but at the rate I'm going it will more likely end up being a small novel (not quite a novella). Perhaps I can simplify it and turn it into a series of chapter books like Magic Tree House or Encyclopedia Brown (I loved those books when I was a kid).
Christmas was an interesting holiday! I spent most of it sick, yeah! I get a flu shot to avoid getting sick--last year it felt like i had one illness after another all winter long; it was no bueno!--and what happens the minute that school lets out for an extended break ... I get sick! I worked off and on the few days before Christmas, and was sick from Christmas day until ... well ... I'm still not quite over it yet. I blame the dentist personally. I went in to have a few cavities filled (my goal in life it to have more an entirely metal mouth like the James Bond villain Jaws) and came out with a cold-stupid Novocaine numbing half my face! Anyway, I spent Christmas up in Rexburg with Sarah's family. Aiden had a blast, though he was a typical two-year-old, he had very nice superhero themed holiday (lots and lots of Spider-Man themed gifts). Laila had no clue what was going on. I spent a few days in Utah with the other half of Sarah's family (it was a fun party and I got to play with Sugar Gliders) and I was still sick the whole time. After that I had a day at home and then went to Twin for the New Years and all that.
New Years was pretty much a bust (I was in bed by 10:00). I was watching the OC (yes, I like the show) and found myself relating to Seth Cohen, the character played by Adam Brody. In one episode he talked about how he feels like he was always meant to be a 70-year-old retiree. I too feel this way. New Years is fun and all, but I enjoy going to bed early and doing old man things. I always talk about how excited I am to get older, and though I may be experiencing my own pre-midlife-crisis of some kind right now, I don't think it is related to the fact that I am getting older. I think I'm just a little crazy (but aren't we all). Anyway, while everyone was ringing in the New Year, I was tucked in sleeping comfortably. No champagne or Martinellies Sparkling Cider, just me and my pillow. It truly was a perfect way to "ring in the new year! The next day my brother and I drove to Elko, Nevada where we moved my father's photography studio back to Twin Falls. It was an interesting experience that merits little discussion other than to say my brother and I won $7.50 playing the quarter slots at a grocery store. That is a story that merits telling, but because I'm tired of typing that rambling I will not share it right now. Needless to say it was a legendary experience that will be followed up by a trip to Fort Hall to play the penny slots!
Cheers
Christmas was an interesting holiday! I spent most of it sick, yeah! I get a flu shot to avoid getting sick--last year it felt like i had one illness after another all winter long; it was no bueno!--and what happens the minute that school lets out for an extended break ... I get sick! I worked off and on the few days before Christmas, and was sick from Christmas day until ... well ... I'm still not quite over it yet. I blame the dentist personally. I went in to have a few cavities filled (my goal in life it to have more an entirely metal mouth like the James Bond villain Jaws) and came out with a cold-stupid Novocaine numbing half my face! Anyway, I spent Christmas up in Rexburg with Sarah's family. Aiden had a blast, though he was a typical two-year-old, he had very nice superhero themed holiday (lots and lots of Spider-Man themed gifts). Laila had no clue what was going on. I spent a few days in Utah with the other half of Sarah's family (it was a fun party and I got to play with Sugar Gliders) and I was still sick the whole time. After that I had a day at home and then went to Twin for the New Years and all that.
New Years was pretty much a bust (I was in bed by 10:00). I was watching the OC (yes, I like the show) and found myself relating to Seth Cohen, the character played by Adam Brody. In one episode he talked about how he feels like he was always meant to be a 70-year-old retiree. I too feel this way. New Years is fun and all, but I enjoy going to bed early and doing old man things. I always talk about how excited I am to get older, and though I may be experiencing my own pre-midlife-crisis of some kind right now, I don't think it is related to the fact that I am getting older. I think I'm just a little crazy (but aren't we all). Anyway, while everyone was ringing in the New Year, I was tucked in sleeping comfortably. No champagne or Martinellies Sparkling Cider, just me and my pillow. It truly was a perfect way to "ring in the new year! The next day my brother and I drove to Elko, Nevada where we moved my father's photography studio back to Twin Falls. It was an interesting experience that merits little discussion other than to say my brother and I won $7.50 playing the quarter slots at a grocery store. That is a story that merits telling, but because I'm tired of typing that rambling I will not share it right now. Needless to say it was a legendary experience that will be followed up by a trip to Fort Hall to play the penny slots!
Cheers
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