A Mock-Up of Parenting: Part the Last, where we wrap things up.

(Continued from Part the Third)

I came up with all this based on my limited experience, but even more based on my conversations with and observations of other parents. There are some parenting heroes who are juggling 4 muddy tennis balls while listening to Spanish radio, and I don’t even feel worthy to be in the same room with them. After watching them and listening to their wisdom, the advice I’ve gleaned breaks down into a few areas.

First, get people to support you. Other parents, your extended family, close friends—people upon which you can rely and with whom can be disturbingly honest.

Second, remember that you can always catch up on those episodes (what’s going on in the world) later when you have a minute to breath.

Third, let go of the idea that your life is your own. Really, this is good advice even if you don’t have kids. The things you have to get done or you wanted to do with your day—or life—can be subtly onerous whether you have kids or not. The sooner you let that go, the happier you’ll be overall.

Remember, keeping the kids alive is job #1, and sometimes you can only get one job done.

A Mock-Up of Parenting: Part the Third which attempts an explanation

(Continued from Part the Second)

Some of you are thinking that I’m crazy. This can’t possibly be what it’s like. However, there are some parents out there who are reading this and thinking “That’s how I feel every day!” Let me break it down in hopes of making the example more accessible. Watching the show is keeping track of general life—what’s going on in the world, how your extended family or friends or church is doing—that sort of thing. The music represents the various mental challenges that your kids throw at you during the day. It isn't constant, there are breaks, and sometimes they do things for which you already feel equipped. Sometimes they do things that are so foreign it messes up your whole day. The tennis balls represent the attention and physical effort you have to expend while watching kids. Finally, the reason you are doing this on a day when you have other things planned is two-fold: children slow down the progress of almost every other endeavor even—and sometimes especially—if it isn't directly about them; and parents, as much as we love and claim we are willing to sacrifice for our kids, often hold on to the idea that our life is still (selfishly) our own. This overtly causes frustration and subvertly may cause us to feel that our kids are getting in the way of us leading our own lives.

Now, the immediate area where I know this example breaks down is with the concept of the treats. The treats are meant to show how the love and adorableness of children can make the challenge of raising them worthwhile. A simple treat does not completely represent how profound that can be. It is really one of the main things I think keeps many parents sane. When you are in the trenches, you cling to it because you know it’s true, even when it doesn't feel true.

A Mock up of Parenting - Part the Second: where we add complications.

Then you decide to have a second kid. Add a tennis ball.

Things get harder. When you have help, it’s still not that bad. You divide the work and after some adjustment, things go pretty well. When you don’t have help, you end up initially having to go through the episode twice, temporarily memorizing the songs you hear the second time through. That’s not too bad, because you get a treat both times, but it’s frustrating to have to wait on those tasks you want to get done. However, eventually you may still be able to adapt so that much of the time you can get through the process in 1 sitting.t harder. When your spouse is helping, thisnever, you will improve.

hange suddenly, perhaps because it is a new season.

Then you have a third kid—add a tennis ball.

Now, even with your spouse’s help, one of you is minding two of the tennis balls. Without help, you’re trying to keep 3 balls going by yourself and still catch the entire plot and all the songs. The number of times it takes to successfully make it will go up dramatically. You’ll be regularly frustrated that you aren’t getting anything else done.

And remember, this is if you just have averagely difficult kids.

If you want to see what it is like to have an above-average difficult kid, or a kid with some legitimate special needs, there are a few things you can do to simulate that in this experiment.

Choose a radio station with a style of music you don’t follow. For me, it would be country music. If you start to get used to that style, switch to another station.  If I ever got so used to country that it started to get easy, I’d switch to jazz, for example. For very challenging kids, choose a Spanish channel (assuming you don’t speak Spanish.)

You could also get 1 (or more) of the tennis balls wet. Not only does that make them heavier and make them bounce less effectively, it also makes them messy. Again, for an added challenge, instead of clear water, use something like Kool-aid, or the liquefied cheese from a macaroni box, or mud.

In all fairness, there is the chance you’ll have very easy kids, which would be like listening to a playlist of all your favorite songs instead of a random radio station, while watching re-runs of your favorite TV show.

(To be continued)

A Mock-up of Parenting - Part the First where we detail the tasks involved

Before I had kids, I had taken care of kids. I’d watched older friend’s kids, babysat, done church childcare, and various other kid-care activities. Based on those experiences, I thought I’d be a pretty decent parent.

What I have now discovered is that none of those experiences really prepared me for being a parent.

Due to this realization, I’ve been trying to think of a way to explain to someone who doesn’t currently have kids of their own what it is like being a parent. While all my illustrations fail in some capacity, I have an idea I think is getting there.

First, pick a day where you want to accomplish something that isn’t related to childcare. This task or tasks should take several hours to finish and be something that you want to finish on that day, preferably. It could even be a series of projects, rather than one big project, as long as you have it in mind to try to finish a large number of those projects within this single day.

In the morning of said day, turn on your television and queue up an episode of a show you like that has some plot. Sitcoms aren’t ideal, since they are mostly episodic and can be watched fairly mindlessly. News is a little better, but still not ideal, as knowing what happened on the previous episode doesn’t impact being able to watch future episodes. This should be a show that has a multi-episode plot, and where it is at least somewhat important or beneficial that you be familiar with previous episodes. Turn the TV up to a level where you don’t have to strain to hear it in any way.
Then get a radio with speakers—no headphones. Turn it to a music station. It doesn’t matter what kind of music station—feel free to choose a station you listen to regularly or that plays music that you already enjoy and with which you are somewhat familiar. Turn that radio up to a few decibels less than the TV.

Now get a tennis ball.
Start your show and turn on the radio. Then choose a point on the wall and start bouncing the tennis ball against the wall. The ball should not bounce more than once on its return trip, and it should not rest in your hand for more than a second.

You have several goals. First, at the end of your show you should understand what happened in the episode well enough to be able to immediately go on to the next episode. Second, you need to be able to recite all the names of the songs that came on the radio while the show was on. You may write them down as they play, if you like. This may sound hard, but remember a lot of radio is commercials and talking. You don’t have to remember any of that.

If you have a spouse who is at home with you, your spouse may help. One of you can write down songs, while the other bounces the ball. At the end of the show, you may commiserate on the plot to make sure you have it all down.
If at the end of the show’s length, you have accomplished all these things, then you get to reward yourself, first with some sort of treat – ice cream, chocolate, whatever – then by starting to work on the tasks you wanted to accomplish that day. If you fail at any 1 of these things, you get the treat, but you don’t get to go onto your tasks unless you try again with the same episode. If you fail at any 1 thing a second time, give yourself another, smaller treat, then try again. A third single failure—a tiny treat, try again. Fourth time, no treat, try again, etc.
If you fail at any 2 tasks, you get no treat that round. Try again.
This is what it is like to be the parent of 1 average child for 1 day.

At first, you may make mistakes. You won’t be able to remember all the songs. You’ll drop the tennis ball or hold it too long or it will bounce too many times. Maybe you won’t remember some key part of the show. However, on your second time through the same episode, you’ll do much better. Probably because you will know the plot and can almost ignore the TV, focusing on the radio. If you have a spouse helping, you almost definitely will succeed the first time, and then you both get treats.
As you do it more and more, with different episodes, it will get easier. Your multi-focus ability will adapt, your muscles will get used to the motion, and your memory will improve. You’ll feel like a success.

Now, occasionally, the plot of the show will get extra detailed, or it will change suddenly, perhaps because it is a new season. That may throw you a bit, but you’ll recover fairly quickly. New music will come out on the radio, so occasionally you won’t catch the name. Once in a while you’ll have an unlucky fumble with the ball. Overall, however, you will improve.

Then you decide to have a second kid. Add a tennis ball.

Sensitive Geek MAN: Geek Parenting WIN

Geek Parenting: Doing it Right

Sensitive Geek MAN: We never trained for this!

I always see a few mommy-friend at the Library. 

For those of you who aren't familiar with that term, a Library is where they keep books that you can rent and read for free. They also have movies and music.

All the @home parents frequent the same places, and the Library is a big one. They have books, so you feel like you are educating your child just by being in the building, and often they have special activities that are actually educational-and all you have to do is force your kid to sit through it.

I struck up a conversation with a few of the moms while our kids slobbered on all the community toys. After a while, went to get her son and then retired to a chair somewhat out of the way. She pulled out a coverlet, had her son assume “the position”, covered herself, and began to discretely nurse him.

Just like that, my head refused to turn in that direction. It’s like that whole side of the library was a total solar eclipse and I would go eternally blind just by glancing over there.

This mom had done nothing wrong. She wasn't drawing attention to herself, she was completely covered, she was out of the way. Also, I have nothing against public breastfeeding, especially done with the respect and circumspection that she exhibited.

The issue is that, for my entire pubescent and post-pubescent life, I have been trained not to pay attention to that area of the female anatomy. There is no heterosexual human male that I know of who always succeeds at this, but the decent men at least make every effort. The somewhat less decent males at least know how not to get caught.

While I had developed an acceptable amount of self-control, discretion, and (to be honest) sneakiness regarding the female decolletage and such, my training did not cover breastfeeding. Before I became an @home, I didn't encounter it much, so I hadn't added the behavior pattern to me repertoire.  Now, however, I was entering a circle where such encounters could be become regular, a plan of appropriate action will need to be devised.

I imagine that it may be just as strange for a lot of these women; they are probably mostly used to having nothing but little kids and other adult women around them. The increasing addition of Dad@homes must fill them with questions about proper behavior as well. In that regard, I think the mom at the Library did an exemplary job - specifically that her behavior made it such that she was above reproof by current societal standards on the matter. All onus was on me not to be a letch.

Well played.

Sensitive Geek MAN: Piano forte

There is a residual part of me that hangs on to the belief that it is important that I learn to play the piano. I think this mostly comes from my undergraduate work in music. Piano was a rather import aspect of that time, and I never really thought that I learned it well enough. I know that since then I have let my mediocre talents slide into the abysmal.

We have a piano in our house. It is the instrument that I grew up on, that I originally learned to play on.  My parents gave it to us when we bought a house. My wife plays beautifully, which I love. However, she has never really taken to the traditional piano technique. She plays by ear and is self-taught. She is one of those people who can just sit down and play. I have even tested her, letting her listen to songs I know she has never heard before and seeing if she can replay them; she always succeeds.

Meanwhile, when i sit down to play the piano, I have to take the slow way around. I can read music, which she cannot, but I do not understand the keyboard the way that she does. So I slowly cobble notes and chords together, building a song in a plodding, frustrating manner. A song that she, after hearing it once, could put together with little difficulty.

There is really no reason for me to play the piano. I like the instument, but there is no practical use. I don't need it for my job, or any of my extracurriculars. It is literally a hold over from childhood and college. Yet it sits in our living room and I want to be able to sit and play something beautiful on it. I want to redeem all those hours I spent practicing, all the money that was spent on lessons and on the piano itself. I hold out little hope that I ever will.

My daughter shows some burgeoning interest in the piano.  She is too young to really start with it, but I see that it fascinates her. I hold hope in check, as I do not want to pressure her into playing, but I secretly hope that she takes to it and loves it and accomplishes the things I never could. It will, in a sense, redeem my trifling efforts, since it will have been my haggard relationship with the keys that first introduces her to it.

The Renewing Mind/Sensitive Geek MAN: Marriage Works

I haven't been married that long in the grand scheme of things, so I am not sure my advice on the matter is fully vested. However, having been married as long as I have (and also having dated a decent but not overwhelming number of women before I got married) I have come to a few conclusions.

I am going to share one now.

When you are young, you think of all of these things you want in a spouse: the movies they like, the sorts of things you will do together, the books they read, whether they like the outdoors, what music they listen to, whether they like to dance, if you have things in common, blah blah blah.

There is really only 2 things you need to make a marriage work.

1. A spouse that doesn't believe in divorce no matter what.
2. A spouse that will work things through with you no matter how long it takes.

Now, those of you who read this blog or know me are probably surprised I didn't say that one of the things you need is Jesus Christ. Well, I am sure there are people in the world who have functional marriages and don't know The Lord. However, I do believe that knowing and following Jesus is the most important thing you can have in common and for me it was a non-negotiable. Also, if you both know Jesus you should automatically get those other 2 things as well as a good slew of other things that will help.

Anyway, if you have the above 2 things, it is very possible to make a marriage work, and marriage is hard work--don't believe anyone who says otherwise. If you go into your marriage thinking it is going to be always fun and romantic and light and wonderful, you are in for a rude awakening and possibly divorce (unless you also have those above 2 things and/or Jesus.) Marriage is work even for the best couples. There will be times you don't want to work, that you wonder why you got married, that you wonder what the other person could possibly see in you, but you can get through it. When you make it through those sorts of trials, you get something wonderful: a relationship where you can trust the other person unreservedly, because they have proven they will always be there, supporting you even when they don't feel like it and loving you even when they don't like you.

So, this is a message to my wife: When I said I would go where you go and stay where you stay, I meant it. I love you even when we are making each other crazy. We have good times and bad, but the important thing is that we have Jesus and each other.

The Renewing Mind/Sensitive Geek MAN: The American Nightmare

There are days when i think that the "American Dream" is killing us.

I know the most iconic symbol of the American Dream is owning a house, which I think most people would say is a difficult prospect at the moment. However, even though owning a house is problematic at this point, I think the attitude behind it is alive and well. The pursuit of comfort, of things, of increasing wealth and prosperity is ingrained in the minds of a lot of americans.  I know it is ingrained in my brain and my failure to attain those things the way I 'think' i was supposed to causes me a rather pathetic amount of angst.

I don't think it needs to be that way, for me or anyone else. Is it worth having both parents work and miss out on the lives of their children just so the family can have a few more bucks in the bank? Is it worth having a house if the payments on it trap you in it? Is it worth worrying yourself into a stupor over tragedies that might befall you and whether you have the monetary resources to weather them? Our media, our culture, everything around us says YES. But we chase those things and don't feel more fulfilled. We don't feel safer.

Because we are putting our trust in the wrong things. Money is only as good as the government that backs it, and I think most of us agree that our government is having serious issues. Security is only as good as the people who protect you, and everyday we hear stories of injustices perpetrated by the very organizations that are supposed to see to our well-being. Saving is only as good as the institutions into which you put your money for safe-keeping, and none of our investment opportunities have proven to be even mildly trustworthy.

So I say we stop chasing the American Dream. Start being honest with ourselves. I will probably never be able to retire, but really there is no reason to if I am doing a worthwhile work. I may not have every possession that my heart fancies, but less things that I own mean more of my affections are free to be used on better things. I can spend those affections on my friends, my family, my God.

Sensitive Geek MAN: The Winter of our Discontent

Once, Winter was my favorite season.

When I lived in SoCal, Winters were dry, maybe a little rainy, but overall comfortable. Average low temperatures were in the 60s. Within a few hours, I could be up in the mountains pursuing my favorite sport: Skiing. It was one of a very small number of sport in which I had some actual talent, and it's just fun. I even sort of enjoyed falling. Even when I wasn't in the mountains, Winter in southern California was enjoyable. You could even still go to the beach, have bonfires, and brave the water if you didn't mind being a little cold.

Now I live in Illinois, and it has ruined Winters for me. Really I blame the whole MidWest. It gets wickedly cold, and after over 15 years here I have still never gotten used to it. I used to love snow, now I see it as an enemy who invades my yard and much be destroyed. Having a white Christmas is somewhat enjoyable, but Christmas is really the only day that snow doesn't feel me with a quiet frustration. The one thing that could have redeemed the whole thing for me would be if there was some sort of skiing around, but the closest real ski mountain is a good 10 or more hours away.

In general, I try not to complain about it. I don't have an issue with Illinois most of the time, there are only a few places I would move to if given the chance, and southern California isn't one of them. I just miss the Winters I loved.


For a long time, I saw little upside.  Then, I was sent on a business trip to SoCal in January, when it was frigidly cold in Chicagoland. In California, it was in the high 60s. The Californians were walking around, bundled up against the 'cold' while I rented a convertible and drove around in short sleeves with the top down..

Sensitive Geek MAN: Why Writers Write

Its getting harder to write in this blog everyday. Not that it is actually hard to write, I'm pretty happy with how well I've been sitting down to write everyday. What's getting hard is thinking of things to write about.

I'll admit that some days are easier than others. There are times when ideas just pop into my head or situations occur that make it easy for me to have something to write about. Overall, though, it is slowly but surely getting harder to consistently have something in mind that I think is worth spending time writing about. Part of the issue is originality. I have this idea that everything I write needs to be original in some way; either I can't have written anything about it before or it can't be an idea that I think has been done to death. Really though, if I am honest, there isn't anything that is truly original anymore. Nothing new under the sun, as it were. The best I think most people can do is have an interesting outlook on some theme, not really come up with a new theme.

I think lack of true originality isn't so much of an issue, seeing as cultures and societies often need new writers to pick up the common themes. As much as I enjoy Shakespeare, he is not as widely read as I would hope him to be. So a newer writer comes along and adapts Shakespeare's work for the modern audience. Also, ideas need to be revisited. Even though equality, racial and gender issues, and questions about poverty are centuries old, we need to be reminded of them fairly regularly in order to make sure that we don't fall back into old, bad practices.

This is why the same general story can be told over and over with just some updates for modern audiences. People need to be reminded of old truths in new ways that are more accessible to them. That is one of the jobs of the writer: not just to come up with new stories and themes, but to revisit the old stories and themes for his modern readers.

Sensitive Geek MAN: Poetry Day ~ The Fall of Troy

The fall of Troy

Everyone has lost their eyes,
sockets smooth as ancient Greek sculpture,
and, like that art,
they’ve lost their arms as well.

Over the grind of years
their color is worn off of them:
beautiful bleached bellies and

pulverized pudenda.
Forgotten that they were once

meant to be gods,
they feel their brokenness
and lose all of Homer
but his disability.

Sensitive Geek MAN: Re-Purposing

I do this sort of 'Recycling' where I keep things I think I can use again. For Example, we recently pulled down a shed in our back yard that was shoddily made by (we assume) the previous owner. I threw a much of it away, as it was not really re-usable; but I kept any wood, screws, nails, siding, etc. that was still in fairly working order. I put them in jars or up in the garage so that I can use them for projects later.

I am pretty sure this practice drives my wife insane, at least with the big things, like wood. Mostly because I can't always explain well why I want to keep it and it takes up room. The reason i can't explain it is because I only have an idea of how to use this stuff again, not a specific plan. With screws, that's not a big deal, but when you are keeping 12x5 sheets of particle board and plywood, it is nice to have a real plan for it. I have ideas for a garden I want to create and the new shed next spring, and I look at those pieces of wood and can just see that they can be useful. Sometimes I'm right. Sometimes I end up throwing them out a month later once I've had a real chance to think about it.

I don't argue that I need to be a little more discerning about what I choose to keep, but I think overall it isn't a bad mindset. I feel like our culture has gone way too far into the one-use/disposable mindset. We talk about how recycling is great and we should all do it, but we only do it for things that are easily recyclable, things we can just throw into a special trash can and someone takes care of for us. I also am not endorsing hoarding. There are things that should be thrown away when they have served their purpose, as well as things that should never really be purchased at all. I just think that most of us could be a bit more conscious on how things can be practically re-purposed.

The Renewing Mind/Sensitive Geek MAN: Practical Skills for the Apocalypse

I believe I have mentioned previously that I don't believe in the Rapture, at least not the concept of a Pre-Trib Rapture. Unfortunately, the argument that was made by a college professor of mine that convinced me to change my mind to Post-Trib has made its way out of my head, I just remember that it was very convincing. We aren't discussing the merits of either belief. I'm just sharing what my belief has done to the way I think about things.

To make sure everyone is on the same page, I will briefly describe the idea of The Rapture. When the end of the world gets much closer, there will be a period of time that Christians call The Tribulation. This is the time right before the Lord returns that will be full of turmoil, rampant sin, and the AntiChrist, along with other things. The Rapture is the idea that Jesus will call any believers to Him to be transformed before the very end.  Pre-Tribulation Rapture--which is by far the prevailing belief in Evangelical circles--states that Jesus will return before the Tribulation, so that Christians will be spared from it. I believe that Christians will be present for the Tribulation.

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that this influences my way of thinking. There are a handful of things I have become interested in that I know a great deal of my interest lies in how they will help me and the people I care about survive the Tribulation. Blacksmithing is a good example. Martial Arts is another. I suppose I assume that many Christians will have to flee civilization and eek out a living in the wild. I just want to make sure I have at least some rudimentary skills that can contribute to that cause.

Since high school, I have always enjoyed the outdoors and 'roughing it' sort of activities, even before I changed to a Post-Trib mindset. When I was young, I had this idea that I would work in a National Park as a guide or on the Search & Rescue Team during the summer, and on the Ski Patrol or teaching Ski School during the winter. I still sort of miss that I didn't go for that, and I am a bit envious when I hear of people who live that sort of life.

So, I do actively pursue skills I think will help me while the world is ending, but I also enjoy them for themselves. It's just that claiming I'm preparing for some great cataclysm gives those pursuits a bit more practicality than they would otherwise have.

Which is the argument I use on my wife whenever I go off to learn some new crazy thing.

Sensitive Geek MAN/The Renewing Mind: heh...Fire

I enjoy fire. It is one of the things I really look forward to about fall: getting out the fire pit and sitting around some crackling blaze. I enjoy the warmth, I enjoy the colors, and the way the flames jump unpredictably about.

There is something strangely attractive about fire. It's beautiful to be sure, but also destructive. There is no point at which fire is not destroying something, consuming something. That is intrinsic to its purpose. Of course it gives off light, and it gives off heat, but mainly it devours. It can be good and useful and wonderful, but it demands respect. The moment it doesn't get it, it rages.

If God is a consuming fire as we are told in Scripture, then we should be far more respectful of Him than we are.

Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to have a fire yet this season. Hopefully sometime in the next week or so. I'll make some s'mores, lose some marshmallows in the flames. I'll smell like smoke and wood for a few days and it will be wonderful.

I wonder why they haven't made a cologne that smells like that.

Sensitive Geek MAN: Breaking the Rules

today I was waiting for train. Most of the people group up, waiting for the doors to open. It creates a bit of a back up, and does make it a bit hard for people on the platform to get by if they need to.

But then someone passes me on the right by walking on a different set of tracks.

This bothers me on several levels. First, there are signs all over that say not to step off the platform onto the tracks for any reason. It is potentially dangerous, although I admit that it would be hard to miss a train coming in to the station and get hit while doing this. Second, apparently this guy thinks that, because he is being inconvenienced, he gets to do whatever he wants to get himself in a better position. It doesn't matter that the rest of us are waiting and are actually abiding by the rules of the train station. This arouses in me the almost the same ire as if someone cut in line in front of me.

Now, I am not against rule breaking in general. Many of our technological marvels wouldn't exist if someone hadn't been willing to break some rules. However, that is not the same as someone who cuts in line. There are a few universal rules that we all have to suffer under and waiting in line is a fundamental one. We all have to do it, and it is rude to assume that you have some sort of right to get around it that doesn't apply to the rest of us.

Now, you might be thinking 'well, maybe we could ALL not stand in line.' I think that is obviously the way to chaos.

Creative people don't break the old rules, they come up with new rules that make the old ones obsolete.  Maybe think about it like this: Innovators don't cut in front of others in the current line, they create a new, better line.

Like the line for the new iPhone.

Sensitive Geek MAN: Turn, Turn, Turn

Sometimes, when i see people walking down the street, or I pass someone at work, or see someone at church I stop and think "these people were young once, they were children, babies."

If I am really in the right mindset, I can see mind-pictures of them very young, with faceless, Charlie-Brown Voiced parents helping them walk or feeding them peas which they get all over them. I see them a little older, running around the house or out into the yard, playing with a dog or in the sprinklers, maybe slowly reading a book or watching snowfall through a window.

This way of looking at people has gotten bigger as I have gotten older. I used to only do it with people already younger than me, usually High School or early College age. But in the last few years it has grown exponentially, encompassing older and older people. Recently, I have started to see it in people who must be grandparents or even great-grandparents. I see them as I imagine they were decades ago, straight-backed, full of life. It is sort of a bitter-sweet ability. Seeing then as they may have been when they were young helps me feel connected to them, but I also wonder how their life has gone. Did they accomplish the things they wanted, do they have loved ones to support them, do they know the Lord?

It also makes me think about when my children will be old. What will they be like? Looking at my daughter now, small and rambunctious and adorable, it is hard to think of her older, grayer, maybe with a stooped back, liver spots. Her hands now have trouble holding on to things because she is still learning to use them, her wrinkled hands then may struggle to hold on to things because they will start to betray her. Now she has trembles to go up the stairs, she will then as well. It makes me wish I could spare her from it somehow, or at least be there to pick her up like I do now.

Sensitive Geek MAN: The Disney Generations

I believe that there are 2 'generations' of animated Disney movies.

The first generation starts with Snow White in 1937 and goes through The Brave Little Toaster in 1987.
In 1988, Oliver and Company came out. This was Disney's first movie of it's new generation. While it wasn't a bad film, it was Disney's first foray into it's new direction on movies. Disney wouldn't really hit it hard until it's next animated movie in 1989. The Little Mermaid.


In my mind, something really changed with the Little Mermaid. I'll be honest and say that I am not exactly sure what it was. Perhaps it was just that I hit an age when I started seeing the movies differently, but I really think that something started changing with animated Disney movies at that point. Don't get me wrong, I like many of the new Disney movies. They just feel different.


So, my favorite of the 1st Gen Disney flicks is a tie, between the Fox and the Hound and Robin Hood.
My favorite of the 2nd Gen of Disney movies is, hands down, Beauty and the Beast.


There now seems to be a 3rd generation that has emerged, starting with Toy Story. Even if you don't think that there is a big enough difference between the first two generations to make a split, the differences started with Toy Story are hard to argue with. The characters themselves don't sing, it looks much less hand drawn, and it has a very intentional appeal to adults.


Mostly, I think all this has happened as the children who grew up with cartoons in general and Disney cartoons in specific became adults. There is now a market for more mature cartoons. I think The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Cartoon Network have proven that. The issue that I have now is actually an issue I have viewing a lot of older movies: I judge them by today's standards. The older cartoons were traditionally drawn and relied mainly on story. They are excellent films and well done, but I'm used to computer-assisted drawing and vast musical numbers. So I go back and watch Pinocchio and it doesn't have quite the same enjoyment as it did when I was a kid.


So, I am determined to show my kids the Disney movies, starting with the older ones and moving forward. Hopefully this will help them appreciate them for what they are rather than being jaded by the technological marvels we have now.


I plan to show the Star Wars sextet in the order they were released as well, but that's a different story.

Sensitive Geek MAN: a million miles per hour

There are some that would call me careless.

I am not saying that there isn't some amount of carelessness in my life. I am sure that most people suffer from that occasionally. I try to limit the actual carelessness as much as I can, but the problem with carelessness is that you don't notice when you are doing it most of the time.

I feel like I may have an expanded issue with carelessness. I have ADHD. To clarify, I don't mean that I am like those poor over-medicated children who could control their issues with a diet changes, or some allergy meds, or that don't actually have an issues and are just kids. I have a chemical issue in my brain that actually produces hyperactivity and a certain amount of attention deficit. I say a certain amount because their are things that I could do to limit its effects, like watch my diet, exercise, deal with my allergies, that sort of thing. However, the big difference between someone like me and what I believe is the majority of people who are diagnosed with ADD is that even if I did those things, it won't complete erase the issue. Also, a lot of the ADD kids will grow out of it. I didn't and won't.

I should quickly say that I do not see this as an excuse for bad or irresponsible behavior. It isn't 'just the way I am.' I believe that I have an issue that has a physical component that I can't do anything about, but I can do something about how I deal with it. Everyone has something they have to deal with. Responsible people don't complain about it or use it as an excuse for bad behavior. They suck it up and do their best to deal with it, and they apologize for their failures.

Anyway, one of the big things that it seems to enhance is carelessness. I spill things on myself a lot, often even when I think I am being careful. I put things down convinced I will remember where they are, and of course I don't. Trying to find my glasses is a regular ritual at my house. I have regular habits that I have taught myself for the regular things, and that usually helps there, but anything new or that doesn't occur on a regular basis could get caught up in the whirlwind.

Again, I really try not to make excuses for forgetting these things, and I usually feel pretty bad when my forgetfulness affects other people negatively. I am not asking anyone to just sweep it under the rug. I promise, it isn't personal, it isn't that I don't care about YOU, i would forget this thing even if you weren't there. Again, not an excuse, I want to get better at it. I want to be able to explain it, but it is hard because I don't know how it is for others.

I suppose one way of explaining it is that my brain moves faster than my mind a lot of the time. Unless I have built in the habit of stopping to make myself think, the brain just kind of runs. All the time. If I am conscious, there really is never a break.

it's sort of like this:

Brain: Open door, set down keys, take off coat, set down bag, get something to eat.
Mind: WAIT! you didn't put your keys on the hook, go back.
Brain: ARG, I hate you, Fine, back to the hook, keys, EATING NOW.
Mind: OK, calm down. Hey, we just used the last paper towel, we should go change those.
Brain: can't talk, eating.
Mind: Seriously? you eat and talk all the time, why is now different? just go downstairs and get a roll of paper towels.
Brain: I want to change first. *starts moving toward the bedroom.
Mind: No, don't. We will forget! You'll get all caught up in something and I'll be too busy trying to keep up with you and it won't get done. DO IT NOW!
Brain: can't talk, changing.
Mind: Put on the dingy pants, we need to go mow the yard.
Brain: Right, bad pants. Lawn, get music.
Mind: Dude, put on a shirt.
Brain: Right, dingy shirt.
Mind: Hey, you figured that out on your own. Sweet. Is our MP3 player charged, Yes? good. Ok, put on shoes.
Brain: Shoes.
Mind: I feel like we are forgetting something.
Brain: Can't talk, shoes.

That's sort of what it's like.

Sensitive Geek Man: Poetry Day ~ Joel's TV

About 10 years ago now, I went with some friends of mind to the house of a young man by the name of Joel. We went to watch some Epic movie.  I want to say it was the first LOTR, but I'm not sure.
Anyway, we walk into his house and do the normal hello thing, shook hands, met his wife. It was a normal, recent college grad, house in the Chicago suburbs: not too big but nice. It was well put together, but nothing really stood out. It was simple, but tidy.
Then we went into the basement to watch the movie.

And there it was. The single largest TV I had ever seen. This is at the beginning of the larger, flatter TV craze, and this TV was NOT a flat screen TV.  It took up one entire wall of his basement. It was seriously immense.

So immense, that the next day I quickly jotted down a silly little poem about it's largess. It isn't a complicated or deep poem, it is just meant to be fun.  I hope you like it.
===========

Joels TV

Joels TV

Joels TV

I could hide in joels TV

with several others there with me

while I stretch out in joels TV

Joels TV

Joels TV

Clouds my soul in deep envy

From orbit I still could see

The pixel count of Joels TV

Joels TV

Joels TV

Larger than a redwood tree

Come and scale its screen with me

And see the sights from Joels TV

Joels TV

Joels TV

Wonder what sights we shall see

And what far off Kingdoms that there be

From the top of Joels TV

Joels TV

Glorious be

The vast expanse laid before me

Wider than the deepest sea

Is the scope of Joels TV

Joels TV

corrupted me

and Sent me on a shopping spree

to try and match the travesty

of the price of Joels tv

  

Joels Tv

Joels TV

Larger than mine eye can see

The picture it conjures up for me

And displays for all to see

Joels tv

joels tv

with furlongs measered it should be

and not by inches stupidly

as is done with mortal TV

Joels TV

Ruined me

For any lesser teleV

Could never offer the shockingly

Deep delight of Joels TV