The family metamorphosis has begun...
We heard that our oldest son has been accepted into the Army, after the Navy and Air Force rejected him. His recruiter told him that the Army is no longer taking new recruits for the infantry, so that is good news. That means going to Iraq and Afghanistan may not be in his future, which is a very good thing. I think he feels relieved to know his future is set for the next couple of years.
We also found out that our next to oldest is accepted in the school he wanted to attend and that my mother has graceously offered to pay for his tuition. He may be her only grandchild to attend college full time! Since the school has monthly start dates, he moved his to September so he has time to work out the financing for his housing. Just the fact that he is going has him excited. He has been playing with a band at local places and last night played somewhere in north Raleigh. He plays base guitar even though he started playing drums, then switched to guitar and now plays bass. He thinks these skills will help set him apart for the others at his school as he knows how to play music instead of just wanting to learn the skill of sound production, he knows what it means.
Our youngest son turned 16 this week, so we took the annual pilgrimage to Wet'n Wild Emerald Point water park. I remember many years going for our first time and he was around 7 years old. He was fearless going down the 76 foot high nearly vertical slide. It was all I could do to look over the edge and go down as I am fearful of heights. This year my daughter went along, so she was my excuse to NOT go down it as she wanted me to help keep her brothers from forcing her to go down it. I willingly obliged.
After spending most of the day at the water park, the only bad thing was I got lost trying to find it, again. I actually turned around in the very same exit ramp where I got lost last year. I hate repeating mistakes a second time, so this really irritated me. What makes matters worse is that I almost hit a car on that ramp. For some odd reason a car just popped out of the other lane and I came within millimeters of hitting that car, just after the car behind me honked at me. I had to thank GOD for protecting me as that reminded me of a childhood disaster... As a family of four, we drove by car to Walt Disney World in Florida the year it first opened. As we were getting off on the ramp to the theme park, a car hit us from behind. It jolted us pretty good as I can still remember it. What was even more disappointing was that we had to use of vacation money to fix the car and we never made it to Disney World. I have actually never been to this day. We have been to Disneyland in Los Angeles twice, but never the one in Florida. So you can see why I was so thankful that I did not repeat history and ruin our son's birthday bash in the sun and water.
Speaking of Los Angeles, last weekend my wife and I went to Lake Junaluska in order to see a couple who are really good friends of my wife's parents, who live in Anaheim Hills, California. That is a wonderful place right in the mountains, just 30 miles from the Tennessee border. It is one of our favorite places in North Carolina. We first went there over 10 years ago for a South Korean missionaries reunion, for those who had lived and worked in that country. My wife's parents live in South Korea for 25 years and my wife was born there and lived her whole life there. Around the lake next to the hotel is hundreds of rose bushes lining the lake. Every different color and fragrance you can imagine. Sunday morning I woke up at my usual very early time and went for a run around the lake. I felt like I ran twice as fast as I do in the humid part of the state where we live. Maybe one day we will be able to live in the mountains. I am a mountain man and cannot understand how people want to live at the beach! That kind of change for us is quite a ways down the road.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
car keys
One last post for today as some strange things happen to me this week. I am car pooling almost every day I go to work. It is over 20 miles from our house to work. I typically have to drive in my car only one day a week, so it is so worth it for me. This week I had car trouble again. This time my car was over heating as I left it running too long in the hot weather. The black electrical tape I put on the key was so hot it melted off the key. When I got home I had a great idea to use some of the extra metallic tape I used on our shed to seal the attic vents. It is extra sticky, extra strong and just right for the job or so I thought. When I got ready for work on Monday, I could not start my car. I have a friend who is a mechanic so I called him. He towed the car to his shop and found the fuel pump had gone bad. It seems like I cannot have anything repaired on our cars these days for under $300. At least I am helping a friend feed his family! Late Monday I called him and he said that the electrical system had reset on my car and that only a dealer could fix it. I had my wife take my spare key to him on Tuesday morning after dropping me off at my car pool meeting location. Later I called him and he said the car started with my spare key! Turns out that with these new fancy electrical car keys, you cannot cover up the plastic part of the key, especially with metallic tape. Problem solved and now my car is running as it should.
hawk : up close and personal
As I started my run this morning, I saw a hawk fly in front of me and then landed in a tall pine tree next to the road. At the end of my run I went back the same way and the same hawk was resting on the top of the street sign and remained there as I ran by. When I got home I looked it up in our bird book since I got such a close view from 20 feet away and it was a Red-tailed Hawk. We have heard a hawk flying around the back of our house for weeks now, but last weekend we heard him no more. As my wife and I walked in the neighborhood across from our house, we heard that same distinct noise of the hawking yelling. I think it must be the same hawk, but that is hard to know for sure. It sure is a thing of beauty.
wish list
Some people called it a to-do list, others a wish list, still others a bucket list and then of course there is a honey-do list. So many different lists we can keep. I like to keep lists so I can sleep at night and not worry the next day on what I have forgotten to do at home or at work. I often write down on a post-it note at the office every thing I have left to do and did not finish, before leaving to go home. I am not talking about that kind of list. The honey-do list does not get used much around our home as I know when my honey wife tells me something needs to be done, then I need to do it instead of waiting until later or another day. I am talking about a list of things you wish you could do in your life time. It may be lack of money or time that prevents you from checking things off that list. Maybe you don't even have such a list. I was reminded of this as we watched the movie The Bucket List last night. It is right up there with Secondhand Lions as our favorites. I feel extremely fortunate as I used to keep a mental list of stuff I wanted to do in my life time. I have done them all. Now there are some I would like to repeat, like living in India and visiting the Himalayas. Some of the big things I wanted to do and have done are: visit the Grand Canyon, see beautiful mosques in Turkey, look around Europe, go to the Himalayas, see the Taj Mahal and work in the Middle East. There are related things I would still like to do, like raft down the Colorado river in the Grand Canyon, go on a long trek in the Himalayas and really go all out and see Mt. Everest from Base Camp. If I died today, then I would have no regrets as I have seen many things that I never thought were possible as I was growing up.
Life for me was very simple growing up in the foot hills of the Allegheny Mountains in Virginia. My world was the valley in which I lived and I never thought of life beyond Virginia. Our adopted grandparents next door were born, raised and never left the valley. It was just how life was lived. We had a small farm with cows, chickens, sometimes sheep, a horse, a pony and a couple of dogs. I heard one time that a neighbor's son lived in Saudi Arabia, but that seemed so dream like to me as I could not imagine what that meant. I spent hours in the garden, mowing yards for neighbors and playing basketball. That was my life. I would get lonely and hope that someone would stop by and play basketball with me in our drive way, but often it was just me shooting alone. I never ever thought of any other life. Not until I got to high school that is. Then I just wanted to get out of the valley and go somewhere else, anywhere else. My adopted grandfather who I called Bob-boo, had been to France in World War II and had only talked to me about it once and cried the whole time he spoke of it. That was really my only exposure to life outside of Virginia. Sure we took many trips to see Civil War battlefields throughout the south, but I never thought of living anywhere else. Bob-boo also graduated in one of the first classes at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1903, which is now called VaTech. That was where I wanted to go, but Bob-boo died before I attended the first year out of high school. His wife felt the need to pay for most of my schooling since it meant so much to him that I go there. That was the beginning of the adventure for me as once I left the valley I have been a pilgrim all over the world since then. Not bad for a rural small time farm kid from a town of 500 people. I could never have imagined it would turn out this way.
Life for me was very simple growing up in the foot hills of the Allegheny Mountains in Virginia. My world was the valley in which I lived and I never thought of life beyond Virginia. Our adopted grandparents next door were born, raised and never left the valley. It was just how life was lived. We had a small farm with cows, chickens, sometimes sheep, a horse, a pony and a couple of dogs. I heard one time that a neighbor's son lived in Saudi Arabia, but that seemed so dream like to me as I could not imagine what that meant. I spent hours in the garden, mowing yards for neighbors and playing basketball. That was my life. I would get lonely and hope that someone would stop by and play basketball with me in our drive way, but often it was just me shooting alone. I never ever thought of any other life. Not until I got to high school that is. Then I just wanted to get out of the valley and go somewhere else, anywhere else. My adopted grandfather who I called Bob-boo, had been to France in World War II and had only talked to me about it once and cried the whole time he spoke of it. That was really my only exposure to life outside of Virginia. Sure we took many trips to see Civil War battlefields throughout the south, but I never thought of living anywhere else. Bob-boo also graduated in one of the first classes at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1903, which is now called VaTech. That was where I wanted to go, but Bob-boo died before I attended the first year out of high school. His wife felt the need to pay for most of my schooling since it meant so much to him that I go there. That was the beginning of the adventure for me as once I left the valley I have been a pilgrim all over the world since then. Not bad for a rural small time farm kid from a town of 500 people. I could never have imagined it would turn out this way.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
no go
So we learned yesterday that our oldest son will not be joining the military after all. His three alcohol related traffic tickets were too overwhelming for the Navy and Air Force. This means a major change of plans are in order for him. He can no longer depend on the military to help pay for his future schooling nor give him something to do until he gets his license back as a Christmas present at the end of this year. Now he has to get a job locally somewhere and try to start all over with his life. Just when we thought a change was in order, it will be hard for him not to revert back to the same old life he led before. He was hoping the military would help point him on a new path, but now he has to take the hard way and do it himself.
Our next to oldest son is attempting to go to Expression College for Digital Arts in the beginning of August. He went for an orientation session in the beginning of July and really liked it. The amazing thing is that he arranged the whole thing, but of course I had to pay for the airplane ticket and the hotel stay! He is trying to get financial aid so he can actually attend, so he is motivated to do it quickly as August is almost here. He has been approved for housing, which is really subsidized furnished apartments near the school. He keeps mentioning that he wants to drive all of the way from North Carolina to San Francisco, California as a major road trip. We keep trying to suggest that is probably not a good idea; however, he keeps insisting. We will see how it all pans out shortly...
We are still playing tennis daily, which is a still a shock to me. It is fun as the oldest and youngest son are definitely improving slowly as they learn how to hit and server the ball. It has been such a long time since I played so much tennis. It is a fun sport to learn.
Our daughter has been away at grandma's house all week long. She is learning how to do cross stitch and crocheting. I taught her how to start cross stitch as my mother taught me when I was just a young thing. No one in the family believes I know how, as everyone thinks only women and girls know how to do such things, so I guess I am a victim of reverse prejudice. My wife's sister is an expert at crochet so the extended stay is a reason to learn yet another new thing. Hopefully when our daughter returns she will not suffer boredom and complain as she will have many projects to complete and to keep her busy. We are about half way through the summer school break, so we don't want boredom problems affecting the family this soon.
Our next to oldest son is attempting to go to Expression College for Digital Arts in the beginning of August. He went for an orientation session in the beginning of July and really liked it. The amazing thing is that he arranged the whole thing, but of course I had to pay for the airplane ticket and the hotel stay! He is trying to get financial aid so he can actually attend, so he is motivated to do it quickly as August is almost here. He has been approved for housing, which is really subsidized furnished apartments near the school. He keeps mentioning that he wants to drive all of the way from North Carolina to San Francisco, California as a major road trip. We keep trying to suggest that is probably not a good idea; however, he keeps insisting. We will see how it all pans out shortly...
We are still playing tennis daily, which is a still a shock to me. It is fun as the oldest and youngest son are definitely improving slowly as they learn how to hit and server the ball. It has been such a long time since I played so much tennis. It is a fun sport to learn.
Our daughter has been away at grandma's house all week long. She is learning how to do cross stitch and crocheting. I taught her how to start cross stitch as my mother taught me when I was just a young thing. No one in the family believes I know how, as everyone thinks only women and girls know how to do such things, so I guess I am a victim of reverse prejudice. My wife's sister is an expert at crochet so the extended stay is a reason to learn yet another new thing. Hopefully when our daughter returns she will not suffer boredom and complain as she will have many projects to complete and to keep her busy. We are about half way through the summer school break, so we don't want boredom problems affecting the family this soon.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Teens, Tennis and Texas Hold 'em
Today marks the one week anniversary of no bad news in the family, which is quite remarkable for us. I don't remember when a whole week went by without one of the kids failing to think before they did something stupid. Sad but true. This week was very different. Maybe it was the one month span since they got out of school for the summer. Maybe they are bored and need attention. It is just shocking that after so many years that they actually want to hang out with their parents. For example now in the evenings my middle son always wants to play cards with out fake poker chips. He has been watching TV where they show world class poker players. They typically play Texas Hold 'em, which is a new game for me, but very easy to learn. In just a week my son has learned how to maintain a poker face, whereas at the start you could obviously tell when he had a good hand as he got excited about it. The nice thing about playing cards is that you talk about life in general since it is not that mentally challenging. The other event I have already mentioned in previous postings, where my oldest and youngest son want to play tennis with me as soon as I get home.
I remember when I was a young teenager and found tennis the greatest thing ever. We would play every day after school for a couple of hours. We rotated which courts we played on just to keep life exciting but normally which ever one we could find that was free. I took tennis quite seriously until I was a sophomore in high school and ended up breaking my right wrist right at the start of tennis season. I wish I could say it was from diving for a tennis ball on match point or some other brave event. However, it actually happened in our high school gym when it was raining outside and we were practicing tennis indoors in the gym. I was only 5'7" and a couple people told me there was no way I could even touch the basketball rim, so of course I had to show them. I took a tennis ball in my hand and ran from half court and dunked the tennis ball to everyone's amazement. The only problem was on my way down I got my hand caught in the basketball net and lost my balance and fell back on my arm. That ended my tennis career. I kind of fell out of sports in general and started a bad life on the wild side. It was not until I got married that I took up the sport again as my wife and I played a couple of hours every day until our oldest son was born. In between high school and my marriage, I grew 6" my freshman year in college so took up basketball which was originally my favorite sport. I lost interest in basketball in high school since I was took short for the team. Even though clearly I was never professional quality at any sport, I certainly enjoyed playing team sports regularly until I turned 40 and decided to retire while I was completely healthy.
The one thing I have done consistently since the seventh grade is run. I ran on the high school cross county team and was the youngest person to ever get a varsity letter at our school as I was a ninth grader. I loved to run on county dirt roads typically 8-10 miles a day. Back then it was important how quickly I ran each mile. I ran to keep in great condition for basketball and tennis. Now I am still running 30 years later as I enjoy it, but don't even care how long it takes me to run each mile. My only goal now is to be running when I turn 50 years old.
I remember when I was a young teenager and found tennis the greatest thing ever. We would play every day after school for a couple of hours. We rotated which courts we played on just to keep life exciting but normally which ever one we could find that was free. I took tennis quite seriously until I was a sophomore in high school and ended up breaking my right wrist right at the start of tennis season. I wish I could say it was from diving for a tennis ball on match point or some other brave event. However, it actually happened in our high school gym when it was raining outside and we were practicing tennis indoors in the gym. I was only 5'7" and a couple people told me there was no way I could even touch the basketball rim, so of course I had to show them. I took a tennis ball in my hand and ran from half court and dunked the tennis ball to everyone's amazement. The only problem was on my way down I got my hand caught in the basketball net and lost my balance and fell back on my arm. That ended my tennis career. I kind of fell out of sports in general and started a bad life on the wild side. It was not until I got married that I took up the sport again as my wife and I played a couple of hours every day until our oldest son was born. In between high school and my marriage, I grew 6" my freshman year in college so took up basketball which was originally my favorite sport. I lost interest in basketball in high school since I was took short for the team. Even though clearly I was never professional quality at any sport, I certainly enjoyed playing team sports regularly until I turned 40 and decided to retire while I was completely healthy.
The one thing I have done consistently since the seventh grade is run. I ran on the high school cross county team and was the youngest person to ever get a varsity letter at our school as I was a ninth grader. I loved to run on county dirt roads typically 8-10 miles a day. Back then it was important how quickly I ran each mile. I ran to keep in great condition for basketball and tennis. Now I am still running 30 years later as I enjoy it, but don't even care how long it takes me to run each mile. My only goal now is to be running when I turn 50 years old.
Monday, July 7, 2008
silsila vs vivah
This weekend we watched two very different Indian movies.
The first, Silsila was made in 1981 but had pretty shocking subject matter for it's time. The main character's brother had premarital sex and his girl friend became pregnant, which was revealed at his premature death. His brother had a choice to marry his brother's wife or to follow his heart's desire to marry his girl friend. He choose his duty of taking his brother's pregnant wife to cover up her pregnancy. He regretted it and finally had a long term adulterous relationship with his girl friend. Quite shocking subject matter indeed for an Indian movie even today.
The second, Vivah was a complete contrast. It is about the prefect premarital engagement process. Long drawn out and shows how traditional marriages are arranged and work themselves out. I found the movie very entertaining as for me, this is the "real" India that I saw when I lived there.
On a complete different subject, this weekend was a long 4th of July holiday and it seems like we have changed as a family all of the sudden. And I don't mean that the kids started watching Indian movies with us. The kids all went outside and we played frisbee together on Friday, which was the first day of the long weekend. That set the tone for the weekend. As I have mentioned previously, we typically only get together during vacations, but we got together several times this weekend. Eating together, playing cards together, talking together was enough to send me into a state of shock. I even took two of the kids to play tennis with me. We repeated that again today, so at the moment life is very good in our household, which I cannot always says was the case. I am going to keep it all positive and now regress in time to contrast to our current situation.
The first, Silsila was made in 1981 but had pretty shocking subject matter for it's time. The main character's brother had premarital sex and his girl friend became pregnant, which was revealed at his premature death. His brother had a choice to marry his brother's wife or to follow his heart's desire to marry his girl friend. He choose his duty of taking his brother's pregnant wife to cover up her pregnancy. He regretted it and finally had a long term adulterous relationship with his girl friend. Quite shocking subject matter indeed for an Indian movie even today.
The second, Vivah was a complete contrast. It is about the prefect premarital engagement process. Long drawn out and shows how traditional marriages are arranged and work themselves out. I found the movie very entertaining as for me, this is the "real" India that I saw when I lived there.
On a complete different subject, this weekend was a long 4th of July holiday and it seems like we have changed as a family all of the sudden. And I don't mean that the kids started watching Indian movies with us. The kids all went outside and we played frisbee together on Friday, which was the first day of the long weekend. That set the tone for the weekend. As I have mentioned previously, we typically only get together during vacations, but we got together several times this weekend. Eating together, playing cards together, talking together was enough to send me into a state of shock. I even took two of the kids to play tennis with me. We repeated that again today, so at the moment life is very good in our household, which I cannot always says was the case. I am going to keep it all positive and now regress in time to contrast to our current situation.
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