Making your luck

Today I met a creator. I don't get to say that often. This guy is a one man production unit trying to do the job of five people. I sat with him for more than an hour, just trying to get a feel for him, what made this guy tick.
He told me about some of his projects and goals. Not-so-strangely I found myself agreeing with a lot of what he had to say.
Within the first ten minutes of our meeting, I decided he wasn't a con man or trying to rip people off.
The trouble with a lot of regular folks is that they're looking for a paycheck... A Monday through Friday 9 to 5 sort of job. This creator gets paid for the completion of a project. When things are filmed, edited and ready to go out.
It took me several minutes to realize that I'm heading in the same direction. Some of you might remember the props I built for the local gaming convention a few years back. Same thing going on here: I would work my day job, then go build props in the garage. The end result was a cool statue that everyone loved and took pictures with. Too bad I couldn't convert all that to cash. Around the 45 minute mark of the meeting, we exchanged business cards and I made a few inquiries with some of my network contacts. I might throw my hat in this ring and see if things develop. I'll keep working at Lowe's, for as long as they'll let me. And I'll see if I can't develop a project or two. 
A writer doesn't get paid by the hour. (I wish we did.) For the last two years, I've dissociated myself with working for money, It's a mental thing. Sure I need cash to keep the lights on, but I'm not living for work so I can work to live.  It's a hard existence that only ends when you die.
I'm not playing that game.
The hard scrabble existence in retail is wearing mighty thin to me and I need to think of an alternative. It takes quite a bit of rationalization that we don't know everything, or more to the point, we can't do it all ourselves. I think I just met another piece to my puzzle, a man who could help me in taking my storywriting to the next level. I'll keep you all posted. If my book becomes a screenplay, this may be the guy to help it become a film.

Gonna be alright

Note to self: don't have Starbucks coffee after 8 PM weekdays when you have to get up for work the next day. Awake when I have to be asleep. Now I'm going to be fighting to stay awake when I need to sleep.
A few days ago, I discovered a neat thing on Astronomy picture of the day. It's a flash animation featuring the various sizes of known objects. I like the way you can click on an image and get a little factoid about the scale and size of the object in question. Zooming in and out can give you the smallest quarks to the largest galaxies. Here it is.
Think of it as a daydream for intellectuals. I pleasantly wasted a few minutes pondering the size and scale of everything from a microbe on up to a nebula.
We're not the  biggest (or smallest) life form in the universe. Contrary to what people say, I do not think the universe revolves around me.
An idea occurred to me long ago, but I was never able to fully articulate it. What if our planets and nebulae were another race's quarks and molecules? Sort of brings things into retrospective... or blows it to smithereens, you decide.

The more things change...

"Lies and rumors go around the world before the truth gets out the door." Many people have said that, from Twain on past Shakespeare, I read an article stating that early Greek philosophers were saying something similar since the dawn of recorded history.
When something comes across my desk, I do not rush to comment on it. Letting it stew for a few days gives rumor control the chance to set the truth straight. Knee jerk reactions are invariably emotional responses with little to no thought involved.
A few weeks back, a teenager was fired from a Domino's pizza for being deaf. 
The owner, Brian Rozinski, fired the teen on Nov. 22 because he had trouble hearing a customer over the phone. What got my attention was the manager said; "It's my fault because I didn't notice the hearing aids on him." He went on to say he wouldn't of hired him if he knew the boy was deaf.
This is what deaf people like myself have been fighting against for years. From my personal experience, it took me 6 years to find a job and I had to trick the hiring manager of the place that did. After being hired, I worked harder, stayed longer, never called in sick or late... basically never gave them an opening to criticize my work record. For a brief while I even became a department manager. (It took almost twice as long as opposed to a hearing person, but it happened.) Of course keeping the job was another thing entirely. After 5 years, I got tired of fighting for my job. The manager that promoted me had moved on. Even though every department I ran made money and inventory was tightly controlled, they kept looking for excuses to get rid of me. Eventually I was asked to 'voluntarily' step down or they would begin the paperwork to fire me.
I've brought this up in posts before, and for those reading this rant again, I apologize.
There is this big loophole in the Americans with Disabilities Act that every company utilizes, Specifically, the reasonable accommodation clause. In order to be a manager, I needed to be on a phone to talk to my customers. There is a phone adapter that allows me to plug into a phone and give superior customer service. I bought the first two out of my own pocket.
my company, my doctors and my audiologists were all pointing fingers at each other, 'oh no, it's not my responsibility... it's the other guy.'  
There is something I'd like to say to everyone involved in this whole shebang.
You bastards! You selfish, ignorant assholes are miserable excuses for human beings.
You followed the letter of the law, but not the spirit to which it was intended.
Now I don't like pointing out a problem unless I can offer a solution along with it, so here it is: Man up and use your alleged intelligence. That kid could still make your pizzas and do everything in the business except answer the phone. Hello, internet orders? For my part in things, I can keep track of inventory and save the company money. One week, I found over two grand worth of merchandise that was miscounted and had been billed out.
Deaf people like myself could be the biggest asset to your company, but you keep cutting your profit margin and pissing us off in the process. What's it going to be, people?

The difference between price and value

"Hey," my sister mouthed in the mirror. "They're playing that song. Remember that girl you dated?"
At first I had no idea what she was talking about. Then she started singing the lyrics from Total Eclipse of the Heart, by Bonnie Tyler. I recognized the line. Okay, we're part way there.
"You used to call her Bright Eyes." she said.
Now things clicked.
It was one of those silly things that people do when they're in love. My paramour and I were necking like teenagers are apt to do, when the sun caught in her eyes and made them appear to sparkle. "Those are the brightest eyes I've ever seen." Or some thing to that effect, is what I said. It didn't occur to me until much later that those words were, in fact, in a song.
I haven't thought about her in a long time, and it took my sister giving me a haircut to bring up old memories.
Wherever my old flame is, I wish her the best of everything.

Some people are easier to lip read than others. One of my bosses talks faster than a used car salesman. I've asked him on several occasions to repeat stuff. He must think I'm an idiot. Then, there is my dear sister, whom I've known all my life. I'm familiar with her syntax and the facial movements. Of all my family, she is the easiest to lip read, but not the easiest to understand. She doesn't make sense all the time, but we love her.
There are moments when I'm thinking of song lyrics to describe my life. This morning it was an Elton John song, 'Our song'. I simply couldn't get that tune out of my head for most of the morning. 
Right now the line, 'You can't always get what you want, but if you try some times, you get what you need.' from the Rolling Stones, describes my life now.
I've no regrets. I love my life and the people in it. By a lot of people's standards, I'm barely scraping by. We all could use more money, who couldn't? Looking over at my daughters I realize I'm far richer than most. A few weeks back, I touched base on how fortunate I am. Spending time reading to my youngest or playing cards with my oldest... Those are memories and times I wouldn't trade for the world. Spending time with my kids? No regrets. Ever.
We may not have much, but my family has everything that counts.

A telescope came our way recently. There's a piece to repair here, a little cleaning to do there, (It's a very old telescope. The receipt indicates it was bought in '77, thirty eight years ago.) My plan is to take it out and see our backyard universe with my family. Perhaps make a camping weekend of it. Memories to cherish forever. You don't get stuff like that later, we have to do it now while we can. As a friend pointed out: In life, do-overs are very rare. You almost never get them.

When musketeer #3 comes up to me, I almost always stop what I'm doing and take the time to answer her question or at the very least listen to her. Asking about their day, or how school went is common enough, except I forbid one word answers to that question. Responding in such a manner will guarantee a follow up inquiry. I will get into my kid's lives, constantly and repeatedly. When the time came for the school dance, I dropped off my daughter and walked in with her.
"Point out that guy who's interested in you," I said. She did, which he noticed. When this young suitor came forth, I caught his attention. Pointing two fingers at my eyes, then at him, the message was relayed: 'I've got my eye on you, bub.'
He straightened up a bit, the whites of his eyes showing a bit more.
Did I just instill a little fear in this kid?
Mission accomplished.

Polar vortex?

Much of the nation is currently under the grip of a severe snow storm. Many family and friends up north are bundling up, battening down and lighting wood stoves/ fireplaces. Keep those sweaters and long johns on, guys.
Down here in Texas, a cold front is tricky. Not 'snow' tricky, but ice and sleet. I would go so far as to call it treacherous. Now understand, I've driven in snow. I'd rather drive in a snowstorm than ice. Even if it didn't rain the night before, the roads can and will screw you up.
The first piece of advice I got driving in town during the winter was, 'watch out for the bridges.' What was up with that? The reasoning is simple and complex at the same time.
The cold air under a bridge can reduce the temperature of the road a good fifteen to twenty degrees. if the highway you're on has even a touch of water, that bridge is now one big ice skating rink... and your vehicle doesn't have skates. The chances of you fishtailing and skidding out have now gone up exponentially. The rules of controlling a skid, the part where you turn into the skid, no longer apply. So far this year I've lost control twice. The first time I had my foot planted on the brake, the wheels turned in a hard right and my car still went left... and sideways.
The second time I ended up fishtailing 90 degrees. For a brief moment I thought I was going to roll like they do in the movies. Before you accuse me of speeding, understand I was going 30 miles an hour. The first skid I was going much less.
A few years ago, I attempted to go to work, but there was one problem: my truck had two inches of ice on it. Yeah, I measured. Somewhere I have the pictures to back this talerup, but I can't find them right this second. At first I can add them later if I find them. Long story short, I ended up chipping the blocks of ice off my truckcicle. Will we survive this mess? Of course we will. This can only mean one thing: there will be a lot of soups and stews being served at my house.

Learning from mistakes

My last day of vacation. Did I say that right? Vay-kay-shun.
What got done? A little leaf raking, more than a few chores, a New Years Eve party and two chapters for Crossing Paths. Those are just the highlights, of course. My limbs still fall asleep from time to time, but that became less frequent as I healed from my usual exertions. Tomorrow it'll be back to the abuse and strain of my job.
Most people make resolutions for the new year, not me. Instead, I looked back and asked myself; 'Did I learn anything?' I learned how to make beer. In fact, I'm drinking one of my mistakes now. The last batch I made was fantastic, but the house smelled from the fermentation process and the girls asked I make this batch in the garage. That was fair enough, I thought. A cold front came in the day after I made this current batch. This killed any yeast in the beer and prevented alcohol forming. Basically, I wound up with two cases of non-alcoholic beer. At the New Years Eve party I was able to get rid of most of it. Lesson learned.
I figured out some new ways to streamline the budget by getting rid of our cable provider and the land line into the house.
Last summer I put on my plumber hat and took apart my shower and reworked the copper pipes. Interesting, but not enough to make me want to change careers. This morning I did my carpenter impersonation and set up a basketball hoop over my garage for the girls. It's not regulation height, but that's what they wanted. I also set up a tree house earlier in the year. Right now it's more of a place for the squirrels to tease the dog, but it's a start.
But did I learn anything?
Certainly, I made mistakes. Hopefully, I've learned from them. If truth be told, there were several ways to make mistakes, I happened to find two or three different ways to go about it. Of course that's all in how you define mistakes,too.
In order to be old and wise, you have to start off young and stupid. By my reckoning, I'm halfway there. Sheer genius occasionally punctuated with moments of amazing idiocy. That pretty much sums up this year. Good thing I'm not taking this personally. 
For the record: I take life seriously, I don't take myself seriously. That's a whole lot easier on the blood pressure.

 

Happy New Year

First post of 2014 and boy does it feel good.
I finished a chapter to Crossing Paths, didn't like it. So I deleted it and started over. Most of the time I'll keep a chapter, even if I don't hate it. If it rings true and is part of the story, it stays. There is a little switch that goes off when I write something that tells me if it truly belongs. Even when I don't want the story to go certain places. The last few writing sessions I noticed there was a forcing of the story to go a certain way and the narrative sucked. The tale must unfold and be coaxed... even coerced into being.
Today a friend treated my wife and I to lunch. We went to the Magnolia Pancake Haus. (Yes, that's spelled correctly.)  
They do an astounding breakfast and lunch. Next time my folks come to town, I'm taking them there.
We had to wait almost an hour to get our seats, and I normally wouldn't mention this, but it was the way in which we waited for a table. They took our cell number and sent us a text when our table became available. This may be the new norm in the rest of the world, but it was the first time it happened to me. There are people far smarter than I, that have come up with what this is called: Technological convergence.
Our server, Wendi was courteous and prompt. The entire restaurant was noisy so I was off the air for the duration. My wife and I did our ASL and lip reading thing. No big screen televisions at this restaurant. It was all open air spacious and held a feeling of what a tea house would feel like. Price-wise I felt it was a lot of food for the money we spent. So yes, this would go in the deaf-friendly column. Good food, great service, fantastic atmosphere.
There are times when it's not about seeing which businesses cater to the deaf. It is equally important that I'm out there in public. Let them see my wife and I signing, and not hiding in the shadows.