• Tag Archives family

  • “The only cure for grief is action.” G. H. Lewes

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    I’m back from New York (state). Everyone, including me, always assumes New York City, but I was in the northwest part of the state.

    My reflections of the trip, in part, will remain memories and reminiscence with my brother and daughter – whom experienced the trip along with me.

    But, I will say that I feel a lot better having done it.  It wasn’t creepy having the ashes over my TV, it was more of a nagging insistence that there was something I still needed to do.

    With the conversations I had with my brother, and the strange (small) adventures we had, I came to realize that the trip epitomized everything that my father intended for us to do.  Some of it IS the journey – not the destination. Apologies for being so cliche, but there are times when it comes in handy.

    Today I spent most of the day cleaning up and getting organized.  It’s becoming apparent that I need to prep my house for “party mode” again. I stalled out somewhere last year, but it’s time to restart it.

    Also picked up my first Apple product (since our old 80’s Apple Macintoshes – which are only a distant relative to today’s machines).  Managed to mangle up my music organization, which could have been prevented by reading some directions first (D’OH!).

    But, the stereo is now prepped for “Party Mode”, which is a good start for working on the rest of the house.

    Also, got some new booze. Which I have affectionately dubbed, “Glory in a Glass”.

    Good shit.


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  • “I found my inner bitch and ran with her” Courtney Love

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    I’m stalling.

    I’ve packed the ashes in my carry-on luggage.  The bag that I expect to check is empty. I leave for the airport in seven hours.

    As I have maintained, my sleep schedule is beyond unreasonable at this point. I suspect that waking up tomorrow will require two alarm clocks and my cell phone.

    I’ve slowly weaned myself off the medications that have slowed me down as of late, which may be why I’m sitting here playing along to Foxboro Hot Tubs and having chord progressions and lyrics float around inside my thick skull.. (rather than pack, or even pretend to get ready).

    It feels like the journey is nearly over. Even though I can’t bring myself to believe it was a journey in the first place.

    Must be the denial.


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  • “We are in the same tent as the clowns and the freaks-that’s show business.” Edward R. Murrow

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Sneaky Freak

    My neighborhood does not have an HOA. I did that on purpose because getting bitch slapped by an HOA every other week didn’t sound too appealing. On one side, there’s always the risk that one of my neighbors can set up a bunch of cars on cinder blocks and make an absolute mess. But, so far I’ve been pretty lucky. I’m one of three homeowners on my street who….uh….isn’t as retentive about my lawn. So, both neighbors on either side of me are usually LAST when it comes to mowing their lawns. I’m somewhere in the middle – sometimes I mow before everybody else, but sometimes I mow near the end. With my ankle in wobbly condition, I knew I was going to have to put it off. The rain didn’t help.

    My ankle was in reasonable shape this morning – so I went ahead and mowed my front yard. I was on a roll, so I decided to go mow my ex-father-in-law’s front yard. He DOES live in a development with an HOA and I’m positive he’s received a “nasty-gram” in his mailbox for his overgrown yard. They left last Tuesday and he hadn’t mowed before then. I stopped by to check on his reef tank on Monday (one day too late) and his son told me that he had already put water in the tank. Oops. But with the rain we’re getting off and on, I knew he wouldn’t have time to mow – so I went ahead and did it for them. My EFIL isn’t getting back until Thursday night (with my daughter) so at least that should give him a little break. Good deed for the day.


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  • “Spain: A whale stranded upon the coast of Europe.” Edmund Burke

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    You know, it’s funny. I don’t remember being in Spain. Apparently there is photographic proof! Of course, I was one year old at the time…..

    In a break from self doubt and misery, I’ve resumed scanning in the hundreds and hundreds of slides that my father left behind.

    I’m not going to post them all here – only the interesting ones.

    Another work in progress…..

    Roll 12

    Roll 15

    Roll 0974

    Roll 1074

    Roll 0675


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  • “One out of four people in this country is mentally unbalanced. Think of your three closes friends; if they seem OK, then you’re the one.” Ann Landers

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    I hope everyone out in internetland had a good 4th!

    My day was primarily spent at my brother’s house with his family and my adorable nephews.  My ankle was really hurting today – in no small part due to a stupid decision to wear my thick soled creepers to Friday night’s burlesque show.  So while I didn’t get to run around with my most mobile nephew, he’s now at that really awesome age where he can express himself really well and we had a lot of great conversations. Since I’m “the uncle that throws him around” I did some kid-tossing and he seemed satisfied.

    Felt like crap most of the day – not sure exactly why.  It may be mostly mental – my brother had a slideshow set up on his TV that cycles through about 12,000 of his photos that he and his wife have taken over the years. Many of them included my father – which of course is a stark reminder that this weekend I’m travelling to spread his ashes. That, coupled with my daughter being out of town with her grandparents on my ex-wife’s side left me in an odd place.

    I’m about to the point where I’m not getting anything done, and frustration sets in if I do anything to force it – so I’m really attempting to just let it all slide.


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  • “masochism is a valuable job skill” ~ Chuck Palahniuk

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    One thing that I really like about changing workout routines is the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) that occurs the day after. After (over?) performing in the yoga class yesterday, I’m feeling some weird soreness around my lower quadriceps and my back muscles feel a lot like when I used to roll out pizzas with a rolling pin.

    Much like any soreness, it reminds me that it’s doing something to my muscles, which is nice. (Also that I skipped my normal workout to go to this yoga class, so I don’t feel bad about skipping.)

    I’ve tried to adequately describe how interesting pain (I think) is to people, and they always look at me like I’m nuts. Or a Sado-masochist.

    But really, how often in life do people embrace pain? Most people spend a lot of time avoiding pain. Which is understandable. I myself do it – pain isn’t something I enjoy, but when it happens, I take the time to appreciate the feelings that it produces.

    I’ve got a slight sunburn from going swimming at my brother’s house on Saturday with my nephews. The sunburn pain is a little irritating. Unfortunately I had a horrendous sunburn experience one summer in Houston as a result of being at Waterworld all day without any sunscreen. I fear sunburns for the type of skin cancer that I suspect it produces.

    However, around the pool flew yellowjackets and bees, that often stopped to drink some of the puddled water. I often wondered (even aloud) what it would be like to be stung – in comparison to being tattooed. I haven’t been stung by anything other than ants since I was a young lad. After sitting in the tattoo chair for two and a half hours, I cant imagine that a wasp sting would hurt that much.

    Is that weird?


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  • “I’m so ugly – My mother had morning sickness – After I was born” Rodney Dangerfield

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    I would say it’s been a pretty eventful week.

    Saw the Dex Romweber Duo on Thursday at the House of Blues. Exene Cervenka opened. I wanted to see Dex Romweber live so Terry and I booked it over there and saw a rather intimate show in the Cambridge room. It was a cool show – I enjoyed it. Approached the weekend having hit some golf balls and plenty of homework assigned. My piano teacher is now including me in his Piano II class – which is fine. Guitar has taught me enough eye/hand co-ordination that I can pretty much keep up. I’ll only get credit for Piano I, but at least I won’t be playing beginner stuff. Also applied for my associates degree – I graduate this semester.

    Friday saw the Young One get ill – (pharyngitis again AND an upper respiratory infection). Her trip to H-town was put on hold and she’s attempting to burn out the sickness in my bedroom. Been alternately writing papers and taking care of her (and slacking – of course).

    Somehow this week I believe I managed to fracture my big toe (doing jumping jacks barefoot – silly boy). I’ve got it taped up and it feels okay now. Thanks for asking.

    Set my PS3 to run Folding@home so that I’ve got another PC running it. Again, if you ever have had someone you love get cancer, this program uses your computer to compute protein molecules and how they react – researching cures for cancer. Power of collaborative computing. Go team 169588!


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  • “Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death” Dead Kennedys

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    I’ve got a new nephew.

    Yes, it is a surprise, but only because they waited until the birth to find out what sex the baby was (which apparently is pretty rare these days). The instant-gratification society we live in can’t wait nine months for anything. LOL. Apparently all the nurses were shocked. Spent some time with the family this morning (first in – which is pretty unusual) and got to get some alone time with my first nephew. He’s now the “older brother” and I guess he and I can relate.

    Not much else to report – I guess I still got a lot done. I think my daughter has bronchitis, so I’m taking her to the doctor tomorrow. Took some airborne and took a three hour nap to combat these feelings of fatigue I have. *crossing fingers*

    Time to work out, then maybe do some reading. I have a lot of unread books right now.

    *did forget to mention*

    I have a really cool trip booked for September, but right now linkage to the site where I’m going is worthless, so I’ll wait to update with more detail.


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