Thx

Intro
Today's one of the days that people feel compelled to express their thanks and their affection for their friends, family, pets, great jobs, blu-ray players, etc.
I'll join in the chorus of that dialogue

"We get to carry each other"

I feel personally responsible for the well-being of those around me. Not because I have to be, but because I choose it. I welcome the responsibility.
I've failed in this far too many times, most significantly this year. There have been times that I was so busy celebrating my own success that I couldn't see people around me struggling.
This will haunt me until the end of my life. I find it completely unacceptable to have people in a bad state while others are doing well. It is the responsibility of all people to help. To give whatever they can. To offer a hand to those around them that might be having a difficult time.
My resolve has been to step up my awareness of people, to stop worrying so much about my own problems (which honestly are quite insignificant) and fine the people around me that have needs that I may be able to help with.
There have been times that I've needed the same thing and I hope that if I ever get there again that my support network holds my hand through it as they have before.



Outro

My personal shortcomings are based around my unwillingness to be manipulated by my family. I've chosen a path through life that they don't agree with- and from time to time I feel like they make me a project. I don't like to feel like people are coming at me trying to 'fix' things.
Well here's part of the issue- I don't think I'm broken. Different? Yes. Dysfunctional? Not at all.
I think that my life is turning out pretty well and don't need someone telling me that I'm wrong. I don't need anybody critiquing me on my choices- believe me, if it needs critiquing, I am the harshest critic- I do nothing impulsively, I consider all possible actions and reactions for a long time before I .
So I appeal to my family- please understand that we are doing pretty well here. Nothing needs to be fixed. Thanks for your concern, but your efforts are going to do nothing but cause friction. Please back off and let us do what we are doing.


Happy Holidays Everyone.
If you need anything, please let me know.
Please don't be alone.
If we must be miserable from time to time, at least let us be that way together.

Lying Liars and the Lies they Lie

There are two mistruths I regret telling my kids:
1) I taught them at a young age that sesame seeds grew in the ground, and could be planted just like any other crop. A couple of incidents arose from this: Jon, my youngest once took a handful of the sesame seeds off his hamburger bun out into the yard, dug a little hole and planted them. I think he watered their little dirt grave daily for 3 months before he gave up on them. (he was crushed) The other incident involved the kids eating themselves sick on food and attributing the bellyaches to the sesame plants growing in their stomachs.
Lie #2: Where we live, there are medical helicopters that fly over about 3 times a week to a common crash site in Spanish Fork Canyon. I once told the kids to not stand under the choppers since there was blood leaking out. Since then, they go out of their way to duck and run whenever one of the red and white whirlybirds comes by.

So....

...you remember that really sad thing that happened that one time?

I am still really sad about it.
I feel guilt about it.
I am angry about it.
I have a lot of unresolved issues with it.
I am consumed by my thoughts about it.
I doubt that I'm ever going to get over it.

...is such a funny guy...

I discovered early in life, when on the losing end of a couple of lady-hunting expeditions, that women seem to really like a 'funny guy.'
There's some code in the female secret language that says 'you're funny- may I offer up my soul and my carnal delights to you?'
So I set out to become the funny guy.
The problem is this- I'm naturally the most serious guy in a room. Brooding, contemplative, intense, aloof even.
A quest of many years and tons of practice have given me the skills to be funny when necessary. But I'm still trying to be so serious on the inside- a difficult balance for sure.
Let me set one thing straight- I'm not trying to get women to open up their loins for me, this is merely a defense mechanism against the dirtbags that would use their humor, charm and wit to get a lady to behave in an unladylike fashion.

It sure does get tiring though- being both the most serious guy in the room and the most funniest.....