May 2004

One of these days.

A short list of hopes and dreams.

One of these days, I'm going to beat Kelli's high score on Bejeweled.

One of these days, I will play an online game without being killed instantly when respawning.

One of these days, I will get my hands on a decent digital camera.

One of these days, Sara's Kappachino site will get the recognition it deserves.

One of these days I'll start making some money by selling artworks, whether they're shirts, prints, or something else.

One of these days, I will find my "dream school" - a school that I will want to teach at until the day I die. Or retire.

...

One of these days, when I walk out of the hospital at the end of the day, my wife will be walking out with me.

These days are not here yet, but I wish they were.

Kappachino

If laughing at cartoony foxes & monsters from ancient Japan is wrong, then I don't want to be right.

Sara is one of the best artists that I have ever met. She can do in 30 seconds what would take me 30 minutes to do, and that's on a bad day for her and a good day for me. You MUST see her site and you MUST laugh at it, or Satan's Angles (That's not a typo) will hunt you down and bleep at you.

Kappachino : http://www.aoinamida.com/kappacino/ (It's all flash animation, so it might take a little time to load on a 56k connection)

Insomnia

A brief update before bed.

Kelli's doing better - she can talk again, but she's still in the ICU.

As with most bad things, the G4/TechTV merger might not be too bad. They're still keeping Screen Savers, after all... We'll just have to wait and see.

Final Exams for seniors start today. Lots of grades to do....

Ok, me go sleep now. Sleep good.

Look Who's Talking, & Other Bad Movie References.

This week: Of tantrums, gratitude, and "Pomp & Circumstance."

Kelli's talking! She can force air past the tracheotomy cuff in her throat to speak. Her voice is a little raspy, but at least we can have two way communication again.

I was tested, and I failed.
A petulant child threw a tantrum on Friday. I don't have a full assessment of the damage wrought, but x-rays show that there are no broken bones. I'm having difficulty forgiving him for what he did. My heart wants to, but my mind knows that if I forgive him than there will no longer be order in that room. More details as things develop.

Beka's entering the workforce - look out, world!
That's right, my youngest sister graduates from Penn State in about a week. The steady supply of Creamery ice cream will be missed, I'm sure, but graduation means the need for a job. Beka's had two interviews in the DC/Baltimore area, so naturally she crashed at my place. I was happy to have her, especially since she brought ice cream the first time. ^_^ Seeing family seems to always brighten my spirits of late.

God provides ... through surrogates.
The bills have been coming in for a while now, and my income hasn't always been meeting my outgo. Also on Friday, when I got home, I opened my mail to find a couple more bills (Including the $75 fine for that red light incident, darn hydroplaning) and a card from the older of my two younger sisters: Gretchen.

The card had a check in it.

For $500.

The car insurance, which is a quarterly bill for two vehicles (read that as "friggin HUGE!"), is now paid for with enough left over for gas & parking to see Kelli. Before Gretchen decided to send that check my way I had no idea if I could pay my bills and afford to eat at the same time. Now, I can have RAMEN! ^_-

Gretchen apparently wrote a song about what Kelli & I are going through right now. She said the title was "My Brother is Superman." I'm flattered that she wrote the song, but I'm only doing what I promised to do almost three years ago now: I said "in sickness and in health" and I meant it. Gretchen made no such promise. She has her own needs and responsibilities, and yet she still scrounged together money to help me financially.

To get this windfall at the end of an otherwise horrible day really helped me keep my sanity.

Gretchen, I might be "Superman," but you're "Supergirl."

No, wait ... Superman and Supergirl are cousins. That would make my sister my cousin ... eeeeew.

In any case, THANK YOU!