OUCH

I had a really mixed day today. It started off great, playing with the three most beautiful children in the world. Afterwards I had a pile of chores that needed mu attention and that included doing a lot of work with my arthritic hand. From that point on the hand got worse and we all packed up for an evening at my aunt's house for dinner and a little bit socializing with my aunt and my mother. It went really well, but at some point I really pulled something in my back. And I mean I really hurt something.

At this point I'm not sure what and how much med I took (although I wrote it out somewhere) and I'm a bit tipsy. I'm still in pain and I'll probably take one or two more. I tried sleeping and it just wasn't working.

I have a new writing project coming up called The Veil It starts October 1st, so you definitely don't want to miss this. You can even head over now and see just a few things if you'd like!

And before I forget, you should check out my MySpace Profile. I just got it redone and I think it's freaking awesome!!

Time for my pain pills, wish me luck.

Seasons Change

Now that Autumn is here, I think I may be the only one on my block that's still running his air conditioner regularly. In my defense it's been pretty muggy and I hate it when I get to feeling sticky and the air is thick. I just may run that thing until November.

The arthritis in my hand has been continuing to bother me to the point that I face every day with the option of limiting how much I do versus getting doped up on pain meds to combat this. I really hate having to take meds, so this is a situation that I absolutely hate. So I finally broke down and I called my surgeon to set up my operation for the hand. I won't know for a few more days, but the surgery will be either Oct 15th or Oct 17th. I imagine the recovery is going to hurt like nothing else has in a while, but if it can get me back to a more quasi=normal life, then I'd rather get it over and done with now.

I've had a rough couple of days counseling someone about homosexuality. I won't name names, but someone I know has pretty much come out to this friend of mine and it's a very tough situation for that person. I was pretty shocked at some of the opinions and positions that the person has about this because I thought the person was more liberal about this, but when push came to shove and the issue became a part of this person's life, their true feelings and thoughts came out. The encouraging thing is that the person really wants to do the right thing and to understand. I think that's the most important thing to do and I'm really proud of that person for taking those steps. It's very brave and it would be so easy to go the other way and act close-minded. I'm sure I will get frustrated to no end at times over this, but I think in the end things will really work out.

On a lighter note, thank God the Bears have decided to bench Rex Grossman after 3 games and turn the offense over to Brian Greise. He's nothing spectacular, but he has got to be better than the crap we've seen from Rex. With the Defense seeming to fall apart more and more each week with injury, something needs to be done to stabilize the offense and find a way to score!

Well, the pain in my hand that woke me up has been defeated by the meds I took, so it's back to sleep for me.

Haunted

It's just after 3:30am and for some ridiculous reason I am still awake! I can hear the engine of my idiot hillbilly neighbor's car as he leaves for work, yet I can't get myself into a relaxed enough state to sleep. If I were 10 years younger I'd just stay up and trudge onward. LOL, too bad I'm not 10 years younger though.

Thursdays are becoming really tough for me mentally. I think I've said before that I'm now watching my friend's son during the day, and while it's a complete blast, having 4 babies around the age of 1 can be quite a ride! This cute little guy, Finnegan, is still getting used to be away from Mommy and watching 3 other giant babies crawl and walk all over the place (and over him if he's in the way) and I spend much time comforting him and protecting him from my three. It's such a drastic change for him to come from a house where it's just him with Mommy and Daddy to cater to him then to come to my house and he's the smallest and slowest of this new "pack" that he's slowly getting integrated into. He's a trooper and a good sport, so I think he'll get better and better each day he spends with us. But right now I give him lots of extra attention and love so that he's OK and as a result I have less to give to my three. Lucky thing for Finn he's damn cute and worth it all!

Let's see, my sister-in-law Missy is coming out for the weekend to visit a bit and attend a seminar for work. It's going to be nice to see her and spend some quality time with her. When we go to Ohio there is always so much going on and so many people around that I don't feel we get a chance to visit the way we'd like to. I'm looking forward to that and I think the kids are also.

I briefly met up with a guy I went to high school with the other day. I had some old computers and various parts to give away and he just happened to answer my ad that I posted on freecycle. I caught up with him a bit and unfortunately he just broke up with his girlfriend of a year and it has hit him pretty hard. I sure hope he gets through this alright. It makes me realize how lucky I am to have Meva!

Perrin is still doing well after his surgery. He has to get an antibacterial ointment put in his eyes twice a day at the moment and he is none too happy about it. Like all things I do, there is almost a Spartan efficiency in my method of tenderly restraining him and administering this that really pisses him off. All things considered he does well.

Big football game this weekend between my beloved Bears and the sanctimonious Dallas Criminals, I mean Cowboys. If our offense can at least be proficient on a college level, we should be able to handle Dallas. They're good, but our defense is really unbelievable and I think more than a match for them. Sorry carry, but your Cowboys are going down hard!

Well, it's time for me to put down whatever it is that's haunting my sleep so that I can get at least a few hours rest before I have to get the kids up. Wish me luck or it's going to be a murderously long day tomorrow/this morning.

Context and the Grid

I remember being a little boy and wondering why the adults all sounded angry when they talked about the world. I couldn't understand why anyone would be mad in a world that had cartoons on all morning on Saturdays, chocolate chip cookies, and a creek I could play in all the time. Of course now that I'm an adult I know that the cartoons are now just glorified commercials, the cookies are going to clog my brains and give me a heart attack, and the creek was filled with harmful chemicals!

The thing that makes me think about this is all the stupidity about that guy who was tasered at a John Kerry function at the University of Florida. Events like are what I usually consider nonsense, and I pay the briefest attention to them when I see them, but I was instantly skeptical about the entire incident. Then I started getting these ridiculous emails and bulletins about how we live in a police state and the infringements of our 1st Amendment rights.

That is the shit that makes me want to just pull out my hair!! So, slightly enraged I watched this video and all I saw was that someone resisted being removed from a room and was tasered for failure to calm himself. The video doesn't start from the beginning as it's obvious there was more that had happened prior to the start of the video. Faced with just this alone, you can't make an accurate judgment of whether what we see is uncalled for or extreme.

All it took was some simple, and I mean very simple, research to find out that more did indeed happen, that this knucklehead has a history of staging stunts, and that he acted aggressively and erratically while in the presence of an elected Federal Official and easily looked like a dangerous person who needed to be removed. When he refused, and make no mistake the video shows he refused to comply, he was taken into custody. I wish I was there, I would have tasered him myself given the chance!

Having the right to free speech doesn't mean we can say anything and jump around and cut off other people while we verbally harass a US Senator at a public institution. We are less than a year from an incident where a college student goes on a shooting spree on a major campus. I think every officer involved acted prudently and gave the guy ample opportunity to avoid his outcome.

The problem is the average citizen in this country. We have become a stupid, thoughtless, and arrogantly ignorant society that allows itself to be pulled around with our eyes open and our minds closed.

And then there is the entire over exposure by the media of the latest OJ Simpson soap opera!!

Thank God we can now look away from Lindsey for awhile!

Seriously, this isn't only not the world I want to live in, it's also not the world I want my children brought up in. I'd miss many things, but more and more the thought of living off the grid becomes more and more appealing.

That's why I haven't posted here in a bit--- it just hurts sometimes to talk about what's going on.

Week 2

The second week of the NFL season has hit and it looks like there were some fantastic games that took place. Scoring, defense, and incredible stories that kept you in your seat and glued to the screen. It's what makes the game such an incredible spectator sport, and when you add in fantasy sports to the mix, it creates a holiday atmosphere.

But I had to work! I missed the Bears unimpressive win over the sad Chiefs, the incredible 96 point game between the Browns and Bengals, and few surprising upsets. The worst part is that I sat at work kicking ass and ringing up big sales. I can't wait until I'm done with this job and I can have my weekends back.

My son will be having eye surgery tomorrow. He has strabismus, which is the crossing of his eyes. I had it myself when I was a boy and I had a similar surgery to correct it. With all the advances in medicine within the 35 years since I had my procedure, this should be cake for him. But still, he's been through a lot in his young life and I hate that he has to go through anything else, even one that is relatively safe.

I'm not int the mood to get too political or critical of society at the moment.......there's so much wrong and I can only write for a bit tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

20 years, where have you gone?

Tonight I blew off my 20 year high school reunion in a manner that truly has marked me as a crotchety old man. It wasn't because I felt too poor, too ugly, or too unsuccessful. The reason I didn't go was that I felt it didn't come close to meeting my standards. My chief complaint being that it was cost $81 per person, for a buffet dinner. I don't know why it was this much or how they came up with $81 as opposed to $80? It's just a ridiculous idea for me to pay $162 for my wife and I to eat fried chicken, pasta, and roast beef sandwiches. We could go to a five-star restaurant in Chicago for that price. Had they just offered me a choice of under-cooked chicken, rubbery London broil, or limp & tasteless vegetables---I would have went. But paying 5-star money for a cafeteria meal? It's just not happening.

The sad thing is that I really had a good time at the previous reunion and I know that even as I write this, I would have enjoyed meeting up with people and catching up. But no matter how bad I think I might miss it, I have to remember that I really wasn't that social in high school and as such I don't have too much in the way of memories to reminisce about. I'm not really upset about that, but when I remember that I would be put into a banquet hall with people that for the most part, my only connection is shared school assignments, the perspective is finally gained.

In other news our house is now officially off the market and we're staying until at least the spring. I'm too tired to be disappointed about this turn of events and I'd much rather put my energies towards what may be the first memorable holidays for my children. As it is, I'm really already getting excited about Christmas!

It's late and I have to work, so this one is going to be short. I'll write more later.

Theivery & Vicodine

Lately depression has been kicking my ass and I'd have to say it's got to be either something chemical or some deep-rooted issues from way back. I haven't been able to pin-point it, but overall things have been pretty good for me lately. And then I left to go to work this morning.

Sometime during the night someone entered our yard and tore apart the inside of my wife's car. I was on the verge of running late for work to begin with when I got to the car and saw that the thieves had went through the glove box and all the storage areas of the car searching for drugs as it turned out. They left all the change and our cell phone, but the emergency bottles of pain medicine that we keep in the car for when we travel was taken.

In no way am I naive about the area I live in or the times, but it sure does take the luster off of the neighborhood I live in since it was most likely one of my neighbors. Vigilance will be the new keyword around here.

Our house is still on the market, but for one more week only. We entered a real dead zone for awhile, but once we notified our agent that we weren't going to renew our deal to sell, all of a sudden we've had a spike in showings, with a high percentage of them being agents from the same office. Talk about a bunch of BS. If these are people that are honestly interested in our type of house, that's ok (but where have they all been?) but if they're just buyers that our office is trying to force our house upon now that they sense the end is near, that doesn't say a lot about them. It would make me wonder how well we were really being served. Anyways, I would be surprised if someone came through this week with an offer, so for all practical purposes this is over for now and it's time to focus on the family and the coming autumn/winter.

The NFL starts it's season this week, and my beloved Bears have to face a very tough San Diego Charger team tomorrow. I don't think the Bears are going to walk away with a win, the Chargers are that good and that explosive. I hope I'm wrong, but we'll have to see how things shake out tomorrow. Fantasy football wise, this looks like a real fun year. Counting all types of leagues, I am in about 8 different leagues and I'm loving it all. There are few times of the year that are as much fun as football season for sure.

Oh yeah. For those of you who know me, you'll know what this means and how big of a deal it is, but it's pumpkin spice coffee time!!!

Doing Well

Meva and Perrin came home about an hour ago. The results from his CT scan were positive and didn't show anything to make us believe that his shunt isn't working!


WHEW!

Crisis

I'm at a point right now where I am totally alone. I mean this literally, Sarah and Ryan are both down for bed and already asleep and Meva and Perrin are at the Emergency Room. Earlier today Perrin had an episode of vomiting that was unrelated to feeding, as it happened after a three hour nap and hadn't eaten in four hours or so. That's a serious sign that his shunt has malfunctioned and he needs brain surgery again.

Meva came home from work and took him in to have a CT scan and possibly more to check and see how things are going. It's been almost 4 hours and I haven't heard anything from her. The longer I go without some word, the harder this is to bare. For reasons that seem completely silly right now, we don't have a cell phone, so Meva probably doesn't have any way to get in touch with me and let me know how things are going. This has happened before, but it will not happen again I assure you.

So I'm sitting her alone, patiently waiting for some word and I'm not embarrassed to say I am a bit scared. As I know more, I will update things here.

Deportation Blues

Last year Chicago was put in the national spot light when an illegal immigrant by the name of Elvira Arellano sought shelter in a church to avoid deportation back to Mexico. Even though they legally could have gone into the church and taken her by force, authorities decided to wait it out.

Mrs Arellano's complaint was that she wanted to stay in this country until her son was an adult. Her son is a US citizen, and he's 18. She repeatedly called for the government and the nation to have compassion for her.

Well, her story came to an end when she was dumb enough to leave the church and travel to LA for an immigration rally. Guess what? She was captured and back in Mexico in less than 24 hours!

I am so absolutely glad that she was deported. She broke out laws by illegally entering the country, and then falsified documents (such as illegally using someone else's social security number) to stay in the country. So we're all supposed to just ignore her disrespect of our laws and traditions just for her, when the money that she has cost this country in her deceptions and then deportation could have been used to feed or house an impoverished family, or fund an educational program, pay for college for a deserving student without the means to go on their own, or even pay for medical care for the elderly? Were was her compassion when she stole these opportunities from US citizens?

I am sensitive and compassionate about her quality of life in her home country, but we have rules and procedures for entering this country, she just chose to ignore them and break the law. I wonder how long it's going to be before we put up a brick wall? In my opinion, it's not soon enough!

Cloistered

I've been feeling really squeezed for time lately and I feel myself pulled in too many directions. The sole focus of this situation is my part-time job that I work on the weekends. The job itself is really fine; its a job like many others out there that promises you more money than you actually get and is frustrating and beneath you, but the money is good enough to keep you there. Specifically what is bothering me is the opportunity cost I have to pay to continue that job.

If you're unfamiliar with the term "opportunity cost" it's an economic term that basically means you have to pay something for every action. It doesn't have to be money, it could be labor or time, but you sacrifice one of those three commodities for just about every action or decision you make. I'm not going to get into a huge, boring discussion about that, if you want to learn more about it, you can go here. What I find myself using as currency more and more is time.

This became more clear this weekend when I had to bow out of helping do some yard work around my step-parent's house. In the scheme of things it wasn't a big deal, it was just fixing and putting up a fence, even though I spent Friday evening helping out as best I could. My brothers took care of everything the next morning, but I was hurt that I couldn't be there with them.

For those of you that don't know, my step-parents are in their 60's and 70's and my step dad, Big Lou, is not in good health any more. Physical activities are really too much for him these days, so maintaining the upkeep and repairs of a house is really too much for him. This was evident when I got to their house on Friday and it was being overrun with weeds, many of which had become small trees. I immediately felt bad about not having come down there more often and taken care of these things.

Between them, my own mother, Meva's mother, and my wife and kids, I am paying an awful lot to keep that job on the weekends. It makes me feel cut off from everyone and quite useless if I can be honest.

Nerdvana

Recently it was one of the more, pardon the term, Holy , weeks for me. It marked this years Chicago Comic Con! I always try to get friends or family to go with me, but no one is ever interested enough to join me, so I end up going it alone. This year was different though because I met up with one of my friends from the Internet for the first time! I've been talking with Cary for almost two years now, connected initially over our love of comic books, and since that time we've really hit it off and often share ideas and collaborate on each other's projects.

Cary is from Texas, so it was a real vacation for him and his best friend Mike to come up here for a few days and just wallow with me in comic book bliss. Without boring those of you who aren't comic fans I'll say that we had a great time meeting a lot of people, finding some good deals, and we ate pretty well. We went to Gibsons, the Cheesecake Factory, and Superdawg as well as going out to see the Bourne Ultimatum, which was a blast I might add.

The sale of our house is quickly grinding to a halt I fear. The buying season is quickly closing with the beginning of the school year and the number of showings and interest in our house seems to have decreased significantly within the past two weeks. Our current plan calls for us to leave the house on the market until October and if we don't have an offer by then, we're going to take it off the market until next spring. It's not what we wanted, but it many ways this works out for us too---just not as well as if we sold the place.

One thing this does do is force me to look at the upkeep of the house as though it isn't going to sell and begin preparing the house for the winter and autumn. That means being more aggressive with the landscaping and polishing up the driveway and other areas so that come spring we'll be ready to roll as soon as the season opens again.

Through sheer luck we're actually managing to make some headway into our debt and I think we're possibly better off now than we were in the spring, hopefully Meva and I can keep that momentum going and build on this!

I Can't See

Earlier this week my wife and I started some pretty serious diets. Without going into great detail we get to eat one lean and green meal a day and 5 small packaged meals. The goal being to limit ourselves to around 1000 calories a day. It's pretty tough. And did I mention the food tastes like crap for the most part? Well it does. It's almost entirely powders mixed with what to make things like puddings, soups, oatmeals, and chili. I like the oatmeal and chili--the rest is brutal.

Well, the first day I was on this I got half way through the day and went into a hypoglycemic shock and had to stop. I ate regular foods in normal amounts the rest of the day and was better, then I started back up the next day and I've been going strong ever since. It's been just 5 days, but I can feel and see the difference already, so I'm psyched about that.

Here's the bad news. After 5 days, eating like a rabbit finally caught up to me and I had a horrible ocular migraine today while I was at work. The stupid thing gave me blinding prisms, nausea, and a headache that made me want to cry. I've taken more pain medication tonight than since I had my gallbladder removed. It's actually added to my stomach ache. So, I feel like absolute death, just thought I'd share that with everyone.

Now, the last and largest batch of pain meds are kicking in, so it's time to go. Wish me luck and I hope none of you out there ever experience this or something even remotely close.

Preparations And Mad Creation

I'm sure to everyone else around me it seems like business as usual, which to a normal person would require medication, caffeine, and counseling, but I've been incredible preoccupied. In less than two weeks I'll be attending the Wizard World Chicago Comic Convention. All fan boy stuff aside, this is a big convention for me because I'm going to do things that I am normally uncomfortable with; selling myself!

I'm talking about making pitches to editors and comic book publishers for some of the series I have ideas about and have actually gotten into working pieces, or pieces that can be worked. At this time it only amounts to two stories, but that's two more than most other people have.

Let me rephrase that, I hope to have two stories. I think I'm pretty set on Atonement. I've got that worked out and I have my small script, so I am doing very well there. All it needs is some polishing and if I have the time I'll be creating a more user friendly bible for it, something that someone besides myself could read and understand. The other story I have is Toy Chest, and I feel confident that I'll have that ready.

So, to have them both ready, at least to the point I will feel comfortable with, I'll need to have a "bible" for each, scripts (at least 1 each), and a written pitch. I'd love to have had some artwork to couple with it, but I just didn't get around to finding an artist, but that brings me to my next feat while I'm there: Finding artists!

If you've never been to a convention, there are artists showing their work and portfolios and selling sketches and previous work. It's a great place to meet cool people and network with someone who you think would work well with your story ideas. This also requires that I be very sociable and engaging, which as I get older seems to be harder for me for some reason.

So, lately all I've been thinking about is getting everything set so that I can look prepared, professional, and ready to create comics. I know I'll hear many polite refusals and rejections, which is fine because my stories aren't for everyone, but if I don't try I'll never get a yes. No one is just coming to my door and asking me to write for them, so this is how I'm going to do it.

So, if I'm less responsive than normal, understand this is why. Working and pursuing your dreams can take you away from other areas, and that's what's going to be happening as I enter this crunch time! Wish me luck!

Ashamed

In my previous post I was quick to use a photo to correspond with the story about MySpace purging sex offenders from their membership. I've since had a chance to research more information about the person who's photo I used and I think I was horribly out of line and insensitive for doing so. I have since taken the photo down and edited out my crude comments.
Hindsight has led me to see they were out of line and I am ashamed I did that.

To anyone that might have been offended or uncomfortable, I apologize.

I won't speak about this any more on here, but if you're really curious I will be very open about it if you ask.

I Feel Slimey

Any time my life has a connection to sex offenders that goes beyond my species or address, it makes me feel a bit sick. What am I talking about? The news that MySpace just canceled the accounts of 29000 registered sex offenders from their member list! Granted, there are over 180 million people on the site and 29k is a lower percentage, but it's still a connection that I don't care for. It's guys like the one in the picture to the left that really make this a sick and twisted society.

One of the saddest and funniest stories I've heard lately is what is calling the Furry Grim Reaper. There's a cat in a nursing home in Rhode Island that "predicts" a terminally old person will die in a few hours. The article talks about how this brings closure to the families that are notified that their loved one has been visited. Or maybe we should be saying "Marked." Maybe it's just me, but my first thought would be, "Is that animal contagious?" or "What is that thing getting into that might be causing frail old people to be pushed over the edge?" But no, this nursing home puts up a plaque on the wall to "commemorate" the cats' contribution!! Unbelievable! Doesn't anyone in Rhode Island have a bologna detection kit? Seriously though, these are OLD PEOPLE who are hooked up to life support machines, and when their extremities turn blue and their breathing becomes labored, there are just a few possible outcomes that we'll see.

My brother Cecil and his buddy Tom have put up another episode of their podcast, Everyone's A Critic. You can either use the link on the right or you can do a search for it on iTunes.

The NFL training camp season is upon us and I can't think of many more times throughout the year that I look more forward to. Of course it helps that the Bears are still strong favorites to return to the Superbowl (although the odds and history are against them) and for some reason my Cubbies have decided to make this an interesting season and are competing for the MLB playoffs. That doesn't happen that often ladies and gentlemen, and considering a subpar Cardinals team won last year, anything is possible.

And I'm just a few weeks away from the Chicago Comic-Con!!

Life's a Buffet

Lately it seems that I just can't get caught up on rest or sleep. It's cliche, but I spend most of my time feeling like a zombie. I just seem to walk around in a perpetual fog, tired and having a hard time focusing.

I made a minor change to the blog here; on the left hand side I created a list of what I am currently doing, so to speak, in so much as what I'm reading or watching on TV/DVD/Movies. Given our current lifestyle, don't expect me to tell you what movies I've gone out and seen......I don't get out much at the moment.

I've been getting frequent updates and information about my 20 yr high school reunion which will be taking place this September. Even though I didn't have many friends in high school or wasn't very popular, I enjoyed going to the last reunion if for nothing else than to see what's happened to the beautiful people. I ended up having a blast and drinking a little bit more than I should have, but I don't think I made an ass of myself, so it was a good experience.

I'm not sure I want to go to this one. Getting out of the house is a chore, so that alone has been causing me to waffle a bit as to whether or not I should attend. Today I get what I guess would be called a registration form and it says that the dinner will cost $81 a person! That's pretty steep, but it's not a price I haven't paid before for dinner. The kicker is that it's for a BUFFET DINNER????? They want $162 for my wife and I to have beef sandwiches, fried chicken, and mashed potatoes? Come on. I just can't justify that at all. We could go to some top shelf restaurants in Chicago for less than that and have a fabulous night, instead of getting dressed up for Boston Market. This doesn't look good at all.

We had a scare here at home with my son Perrin. He some how found his way into a bottle of infant ibuprofen and drank an unknown quantity of it. How he got the child safety cap off, I don't know, but it happened. We induced vomiting and I left work early and bought some syrup of ipecac and we monitored him the rest of the day and evening. Luckily nothing happened, but it sure worried me and scared the living shit out of Meva. So, there are new policies in place to ensure that doesn't happen again. Man, those kids are into everything!!

Insomnia

The last week or so has been horrible for my sleep. I guess I'm back in that same old grind of either staying awake into the wee hours with my mind wandering and worrying about things it really shouldn't be that concerned with at that time of the night, or I'm up late trying to bludgeon my mind into slumber with mind-numbing activities, or I take some pretty strong anti-anxiety meds and completely crash like a log. Since I absolutely hate taking meds, especially ones that knock me out, I've been spending the time awake instead of when I should be sleeping.

The worst part to me is that whenever I try to write, I just simply get flustered and what I put out isn't anything I'm happy with. So the quest for clarity is on once again.

We went looking at houses tonight with the kids. They were incredibly well behaved for what we put them through, which is their norm. We've been blessed that way. Instead of looking at real homes tonight, we thought we'd cover all our bases and check out some double-wide manufactured homes. No matter how nice they are, and don't get me wrong there were some nice ones, they're still trailers to me. Unfortunately the pricing is attractive, so there are a few we may end up considering.

We received our first official offer on our house tonight while we were out. My agent says it's a lowball offer though, so I'm not too happy about that. With selling this home I've noticed there are some people out there who think that since the market is sluggish, that they can just make ridiculous offers and get away with it. I sure hope that's not the case with this, because I might just dig in my heals and become a real beast.

There's not too much else happening at the moment. My wife went and saw the Harry Potter movie by herself while I watched the kids. I'm supposed to take a turn here soon, but for the life of me I don't know when that's going to happen. I might just wait for it to come to DVD and catch the Simpson's movie instead. The trailer they keep showing with Homer walking a pig on his ceiling and singing "Spiderpig" just kills me. I enjoy the Simpsons, but wasn't sure if I wanted to see the movie.........that one clip pushed me over the edge. We'll see.

Fun Weekend of Sorts

This was the first time I had worked in almost a month and I really didn't enjoy myself one bit. We can definitely use the money, but I would much rather just spend time with my family instead of putting up with idiots who think they know something about shopping for furniture. I think I am getting beyond burnt out at this point because I can't seem to sell shit. I know that inside, I am getting less and less patient with people. I am becoming such an old man!!

My brother Cecil had a birthday party on Saturday. Meva and the kids and I all showed up and spent about 3 hours hanging out and talking with friends, some of whom I haven't seen in years. We had a good time and I got to play some unique games like bola toss and zombie pinata smashing. My first shot at the zombie pinata, I hit it's body clean off of its head---of course everyone knows you have to take out the head, so I didn't do to well there in that regard. It was a blast though and I look forward to doing stuff like that again.

Our realtor called us and said she expects to get an offer on our house within the next few days. That's good too because we're really ready to get this move over and done with. We are planning on looking at some new houses here on Tuesday, and some of them look promising, so hopefully we'll find something we like. I don't think we're going to go with the house we put a bid on previously. It's a nice house, but there's something about the town that isn't sitting right with us, and we think it would just be better to choose elsewhere. I'll keep everyone posted here as developments warrant it.

That's about it folks, I've been pretty busy this weekend, so I haven't had a chance to really pay attention to the news, so I don't have anything to comment on. But NFL training camps will be opening up this week and next, so that's always a good sign.

Who Turned Out The Light

Well, I'm struggling with my dark thoughts again the past couple of nights. Sleep has been for shit and I'm just barely dragging myself through the rest of the day this week. I don't know how other people handle this, but fighting depression is extremely exhausting for me. I hope this spell passes quickly.

On a more positive note, I had a chance to spend a few hours with many of my close friends and family over the weekend for what was the final edition of the triplets first birthday party. It was a real treat getting to see everyone that stopped over. The only real sad part is that I feel as though I hardly had enough time to talk to everyone. I guess when someone leaves and you're still wishing you could spend more time with them, that it's a good sign.

After almost two months on the market, we have the strongest nibble on the house yet. I call it a nibble because there hasn't been an official offer yet, but I feel more optimistic about this one than I have about any other one to date. It's an older couple who are renting a house elsewhere and their landlord is selling the house, so they need to find a place of their own. That's definitely in our favor, as is the fact that their daughter lives two doors down from me. They told our agent they'd let us know if they were interested by the end of the week. I sure hope I get a call with an acceptable offer.

I've been having some digestive problems lately that have been quite painful at times and completely inconvenient. Lots of vomiting. I've had problems in the past with an ulcer and it's caused irritation and swelling right where my stomach and my esophagus meet, causing me to gag and choke on ridiculously small pieces of food at times. This Thursday I am having a procedure to dilate my stoma (I think that's what that area is called) to help things move along. It involves an endoscopy, which is a fancy way of saying they're going to shove a camera tube down my throat, gotta love that. I have an exceptionally strong bite and gag reflex, which came into play when I had may gallbladder removed and this procedure was given to me the first time because I bit the bite guard almost in half and came close to crushing the scope!

After years of curiosity I finally got around to seeing Citizen Kane. I keep trying to look at it from the perspective of someone from that generation who may have saw it when it premiered, but it's not working for me. It was mildly interesting, but in the end I just wasn't satisfied or that impressed with the story. Say what you will about it or me, but that's how I felt.

I don't have anything else to add today, but I have a feeling I will be on a bit of a rant tomorrow.