Pride

A few days ago, my middle daughter got into an argument with one of her classmates. Not surprisingly, she won. After all, she's on the debate team, highly intelligent and female... A winning combination.
What surprised me was what they were arguing over. A question was posed, I'm not sure by whom, and it went like this: "Deaf teachers: Good idea or bad idea?"
One of the boys in her class immediately said it was a bad idea.
This raised the hackles of my kid quicker than anything.
"Deaf people can do anything, even teach."
Another classmate chimed in and asked daughter #2 why would she take such a stance.
"Because my Dad is deaf and he can do anything. You've met him!" she reminded the boy.
This struck home on many levels for me.

• Proud that my child holds me in such high esteem. It is my hope I can live up to the expectation.
• Disappointed that even though people have met me, they don't know me. Perhaps it's a cultural failing. When I tell people I'm deaf, they automatically knock off 50 IQ points. 

• Frustration in the fact that despite all I've done to get this far, there's a life-long battle in front of me.

For the longest time, my wife believed in me. She still does. Even when I didn't believe in myself, she held on, comforting, supporting and encouraging me to become better.
Having a front row seat to all the drama and turmoil that this house generates, my kids are as much an inspiration to me as I am to them.

Don't feed the bears

Seriously, has anyone seen a sign like that? I thought I'd lighten up the mood today with some stuff I found on the web.
I saw this years ago and I couldn't stop laughing.

Some times you're the bear, other times you're the penguin.

I'll credit the stuff with a link when possible. These aren't mine, they simply appealed to my off kilter sense of humor.

Amy Mebberson has a Facebook page entitled Pocket Princesses. Every Friday she updates it with a cartoon. She's a busy girl and all this stuff is free fan art. Disney owns the copyright, so she does this as a free service. Here's a sample of her work that made me roll my eyes and groan.

Oh, she's good.

Check out her page on Facebook or Tumblr
She's funny and talented. I don't know her personally, but I think she's great.

This one I got off of a place called Jawdrops. Brought to you by the same people who brought you People of Wal-Mart.

I'd first cut the power.

Now there are all those meme sites and lolcats having their cheeseburger. I'll admit they make me laugh from time to time. By and large they represent the least common denominator of humor. Digital graffiti lining the walls of the internet. Don't get me wrong, I think they have an entertainment value, I'd have to rank them alongside Saturday morning cartoons and stuff. Nice to see once in a while, but generally kid's stuff.
Re-reading the last paragraph, you can get the impression that I'm a little snobbish about all the stuff out there, when the opposite is true. But truly great humor is scarce to come by. The jokes that are long in telling. The video prank that clearly took great pains to set up. For example:
Flying Grim Reaper prank
Now that's funny.

Dream a little dream

As of this writing I don't know if I'll be going to work tomorrow. Saturday night I came down with something and spent a little quality time in the bathroom admiring the recently cleaned toilet bowl. (oh... hey look, I missed a spot.)

Today was spent dressing warmly and trying to sweat it out with moderate success. My tummy is still not happy with me. How does that saying go? Feed a fever and starve a cold? Symptoms include nauseous stomach, clammy skin, sensitivity to light and Barry Manilow music. Although that may explain the nausea...

I'll say this: my arms haven't fallen asleep all day. Usually in the morning, my fingers and hands will start to tingle. I switch off hands while driving in an effort not to have a full blown car accident. It all began last year when I started doing the serious loading and lifting at my work. More often than not, I awake to a hand painfully tingling or an arm that feels like it's going to fall off. For some strange reason that hasn't happened today. I can lay on my side or type this blog post and not have my fingertips go numb. Seems like a benefit, but I have to remind myself that's what it's supposed to feel like. In no way should I be grateful for something that is supposed to happen normally. Maybe the medicine I took is relaxing my muscles to the point where I can function with almost full abilities and range of motion. Which reminds me, I really ought to take some before crashing tonight.

In looking for a bright side to this, (yes, even sick I try to see the silver lining.) I'll get some really deep sleep and have some lucid dreams. It's a wonder I'm not insane. Ever since I was a kid, my dreams have been so realistic that I confused them with reality. I remember as a child having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I'd shuffle out of my bed with my footie pajamas scratching the floor as I made my way to the bathroom to do my business, only to find out I never left my bed. And people wonder why I pinch myself before walking into a restroom nowadays... geesh!

In all seriousness, a lot of my writing comes from my dreams. When I was in the hospital, my subconscious unleashed all the demons and monsters on my waking mind, and I didn't always win. This is what I refer to as the twilight time, that space between the dream realm and the waking world. There I solved mysteries, fought malevolent creatures and survived deadly races. There was a point where I didn't want to leave the world where I played poker with diamonds or solved a murder on a luxury ocean liner. Just as my childhood dreams, I couldn't tell which one was real. There are times where I wonder if I made the right choice and decided this reality was the real one.

Let me tell you a little secret: While recovering in the hospital, my choice of realities came down to this world where I was deaf and healing from traumatic injury, and the alternate reality where I was a detective and Lucy Lawless was my sidekick. I should have gone hunting for the missing diamonds with the beautiful partner. That would be a neat idea for a story: Dream a reality and have it become real. Then having to decide if you want to live in the world you created.

Hands off that one guys, That's my next project.

High gear

No sooner have I outlined a plan for Thanksgiving, then the holiday stress out begins. I'm charting out events and meetings. Where to go, what to bring. Who to drop off.
We're cleaning and preparing to have a garage sale. Too bad we have to have a permit for that. So we'll push that back a week. It'll happen... just not on the time frame we'd hoped for. Some bags for clothing donation are going out and I bought a portable bag for a trash collection. They wanted 137.00 dollars. Upon hearing the price, I told them it was a deal breaker. They'll get it a little at a time. I'm patient that way.
Basketball season is starting. In our budget trimming I had to make the hard decisions... like suspending cable for six months. Think of it as extra incentive for increasing my income. I really want to see some games! Last night we had a girl scout meeting at a fairly forgettable burger joint. The only upside for me was the Heat / Clippers game on.
I'll work on it, never fear.
 

Preparing

The baking season is upon us! Arise, food lovers and connoisseurs.
We've got this down to a science.
I will make a pecan pie. Not to be outdone, my wife will make a sweet potato pecan pie.
Then I will put together my loaded apple pie.
We will get a turkey in the 17 to 20 pound range. This year we may have more guests, so I might go with a larger bird.
We found this fabulous way to prepare the turkey.
The recipe says you can do this early in the day, but trust me, the night before is when you want to start the brine. Don't be scared by that  'b' word, it's easier than you think.
Good Eats Roast Turkey 
Alton Brown is my hero.
Now you can't have Turkey without stuffing. After you try this, you'll never go back to Stove Top again.
Raffy's Turkey Sausage and Chestnut Stuffing.
This one has a lot of ingredients, and a lot of steps, but it is so worth it.
When it comes time to actually cook the turkey, we don't use the oven. While the wife is making the stuffing, I'll be putting the bird on the grill. After having done it that way for three years, my wife has vowed never to cook a Thanksgiving turkey again.
That vow isn't set in stone, by the way. A long time ago my wife made home made baked mac and cheese. After taking one bite, I said to her; 'this is how you will make mac and cheese from now on.'
When I served up the grilled turkey with the smoke marbled in and the skin a golden brown perfection, my wife said; 'This is how the turkey will be done from now on.' Who am I to argue?
Let's see... There's a recipe for stuffed mushrooms around here.
There are potatoes and vegetables. We try different stuff each year. One year it'll be Smoked Chile Scalloped Sweet potatoes. The next year it will be sour cream mashed potatoes.  Incidentally, my kids call these Nana's mashed potatoes. After looking carefully at the recipe, I've decided they're one and the same.
Depending on the people coming over, or time constraints... or yes, the budget, our Thanksgiving is this loose collection of dishes.
But that's not the last word in the baking season. Large quantities of Snickerdoodle cookies will spring forth on any given weekend between Thanksgiving a Christmas. followed up by Triple Ginger Cookies
When the weather turns cold, I make soup.
Potato soup, broccoli cheese soup, and my favorite, Chicken and dumplings.
There is one more holiday treat/tradition around here and it's called chocolate covered peanut butter bon-bons. My wife insists it's a secret family recipe. What I can tell you is there is no baking involved however, melting chocolate in a double boiler is part of the process. Making these is a big production in our house. The whole family gets involved. We make these for Christmas parties and give boxes of them out for white elephant gifts. Oh, they do taste great and they're addictive as all get out, but let's call them what they really are: Monthy comfort food for the female contingent of the family.
So please feel free to try some of these for the holidays.

To do lists

Yesterday I tried a new thing. There is a five gallon jug in my kitchen pantry filled with what I hope will be beer by the end of the month. More people should try stuff they've never done before.
A lot of folks I've met haven't tried anything new. They've never left their home state... never left their home town. Day in and day out, the routine never varies. You may think I'm exaggerating, but here's the deal: I've met people who were born, lived and retired all in the same 50 square mile radius of town.
That staggers the mind... Literally, I can't comprehend staying in one place or town for your entire life. Oh sure, I can see choosing a place to settle down. The opposite of settling down is... moving around.
The other day it occurred to me I've lived in San Antonio for over 15 years. Thirteen of them have been in this same house. That is the most I've ever stayed in one place. I'm not getting the urge to wander, just the opposite: I've chosen this place to settle down.
One day I would like to visit Yellowstone Park. After seeing pictures and films, I wouldn't mind going there in person. I've also promised my kids I'd take them to the Grand Canyon. When I attend weddings in other states, I take a look around with my tourist eye. That way I can indulge with the tourist-y stuff without actually taking a full blown vacation. So down the line when the question gets asked; Where do you want to on vacation, I have a ready answer. Philadelphia? check. Portland? Wouldn't mind going back to either of those towns.
But what really intrigues me is going to places I've never been. If money and time were no object, I would take the back roads to far off places. Some of the neatest places are not near an interstate.
The highway system is all well and good. Having used it to travel cross country is really not that bad. However, I discover more of our land when I go by the road less traveled... and that has made all the difference.

who needs NaNoMo?

November is National Novel writing Month. Who came up with that? Deep down everyone has a story in them, that's what I believe. The story might be a little on the bland side, but more often than not, they're pretty neat.
One time I was swapping anecdotes with some friends. Just as I was finishing my tale, a guy I've never met before calls out, 'bullshit!'
That bothered me only for a moment because for one: it was 100% true, and second: another guy in the group backed up what I said.
This may sound like ego or bragging, but my life doesn't need any embellishing. There's never a dull moment around here.
I have a friend staying with us and he decided he wants to write a 50,000 word novel before the month is out. Part of me wants to encourage him, another part says, 'yeah buddy, good luck.' After reading the first chapter, I must confess: it needs work.
Who am I to judge? My first attempt at a story sucked so bad, I didn't finish it. My second story I saw all the way through to the end, but with so much grammar and punctuation errors, I'd have to re-write the whole damn thing to make it tolerable. I still might do that. The next story I wrote wasn't bad, but it also paralleled A certain Kevin Smith movie that I couldn't let it see the light of day with out having a lawyer on retainer. Perhaps I'm imagining it, but there were unintentional coincidences. All this time I'm writing short stories to hone my writing ability.
Then along comes Travelers Road and it's sequel. Now we're talking...
My mom asked me if I had more stories to tell. My answer was immediate. 'Hell, yes'
Some people write one story, because that's all they needed to tell. As anyone who sat in on one of my gaming sessions knows, the stories just keep on coming.
Most of all, it's work. There's creating, editing, pruning, and developing followed by re-writes and more edits. you polish the rough stone until there is a gem sitting in front of you on the screen.
My friend thinks he's going to hit a home run the first time out. Well, I hate to break it to you, but there's a lot of work to be done. And in his case, a lot of work. Still, I wish him luck.
It's getting late for sleepy ol' me. See? I nodded off mid-sentence right there. I'll talk to you guys later, I promise.