High School

Daily writing prompt
Describe something you learned in high school.
View all responses

I learned a lot in high school… I think. I learned the basics of programming, which was really helpful given my profession as a programmer. That is probably the one thing I should take away from September 1985 through June 1989. It is not what I’m going with though.

I could write a book about what I didn’t learn in high school. Most notably, my math skills were garbage. How did I get good grades in Algebra II and Trigonometry if I didn’t learn anything at all? Who knows. I didn’t learn squat in two years of Spanish. By the end of Spanish II my grades were reflecting that, but I’ve never needed to use what I didn’t get. The math skills… I really could have used some of that in college.

During my high school years, music was the most important thing in the universe to me. When I graduated I went to college as a music major. That’s why when I think of the most important thing I learned in high school, it is music that I think of first. One thing in particular. Mr O’Toole, the band teacher my Sophomore and Junior years, during one jazz band rehearsal, taught us the basic idea behind improvisation. He gave us the guts, the thought process, the bare minimum of a plan toward a technique. For me, that was beyond profound. A door unlocked in my tiny little brain. A door swung open and it has never closed. I still use the things I learned that day literally every time I pick up my guitar. Every single time.

How does that work for you? Is that a good answer?

Baseball Blues

The Red Sox had a great road trip to start the season, but was it just an illusion? Would the team we expected to suck come back to us when they came home?

Looks that way.

The looked pretty bad in their opener yesterday. Tonight they had a 5-0 lead when I stopped watching. I just checked the score… they are down 7-5 in the eighth.

Yup, it’s gonna be a long season.

Dumb Bird

Want to hear a story about a bird with a low IQ?

Here we go.

I got up early today and did my morning exercise in the basement. When I was done I went upstairs and started packing up my lunch bag as today is a work in the office day. I was standing in the little space between the living room and the dining room, digging through the pantry closet where my protein bar stash lives and I heard a weird nose. It was a low, metallic rumbling sound. It only lasted for a second and then it stopped. A minute or so later I heard it again.

What the hell was it? My first thought was maybe there was a problem with our central air system? No, it’s not that. It happened again and it sounded like it was coming from the living room. I don’t get it. I asked Jen if she knew what it was but she hadn’t heard it. When it happened again I found it was coming from the fireplace. That eased my mind a little. It was probably something outside and we were just hearing it through the chimney. It happened again and it seemed really loud, but it was definitely in the chimney.

I went outside, where it was a crisp 36 degrees out, and took a look. From the front of the house I couldn’t see anything. I walked around to the back, with a sneaking suspicion of what I was going to find, and sure enough my suspicion was accurate.

There is a metal cap on the top of our chimney. It sits on top of a metal, mesh thing so that the smoke can escape, but it’s literally a cap on top of the opening. Standing next to this cap was a freakin’ woodpecker. Every minute or so this moron was bashing away at the chimney cap (or whatever you call it) trying to… eat something? I don’t know. This bird was an idiot. I laughed at its stupidity and it heard me, got spooked, and flew away.

Dumb bird.

Positive Changes

Daily writing prompt
Describe one positive change you have made in your life.
View all responses

This is easy. The single most positive change I have made in my life was agreeing to meet Jen in person, back in April 2007. That meeting lead to us dating, which lead to us moving in together (the anniversary of which is next week), which lead to me popping the question and her (thankfully) saying yes, which lead to us getting married, which lead to every good thing that’s happened in my life since then. If that isn’t a positive change then I don’t know what is!

In second place behind Jen and all of the family positivity that came with falling madly in love and sharing my life with her… it’s a distant second, but still second, is my weight loss surgery. Here’s an example. Last night I had to carry a bunch of things from the dining room and the living room downstairs into the cellar storage space. I think I made two or three trips in total. Had I done that two years ago I would have been ruined for hours. One trip to the cellar and back would have left me short of breath with huge back and leg pain. Just carrying all of my massive weight around was painful and difficult and awful and I was constantly in a state of wondering whether or not the next step was going to kill me. It was a pretty bad way to live. I was useless. I couldn’t do anything without having to stop after a minute or so and rest to get my wind and my strength back.

Now, two years removed from the gastric bypass? If Jen needs me to do something, I can do it. Back pain and leg pain are still a thing, but I can do 100 times more before they start creeping up on me, and they are never as bad as they were before. As for shortness of breath? I have to really kick my own ass for that to ever happen now. Physically speaking, I am living in a new world. I can’t believe how different I feel. Sure it’s been a difficult process. Hell, I had all sorts of stomach issues over the last week alone. I have to be extra careful about what I eat and how I eat it and when I eat it and all of that. I have to keep track of everything that goes into my stomach (though I am starting to wonder if I still need to track it as closely as I do, though I do find that keeping tabs on everything is good from a mental well being stand point. Also, I am a lifelong stats geek so it works on that level too) and that stresses me out sometimes. It’s a difficult road, but the results can’t be denied. I feel so much better now. Healthcare wise, that’s the biggest positive change. It’s still a distant second behind meeting Jen though. A far distant second.