Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, June 1, 2022

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Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, May 31, 2022

  • Today is DaughterGeeding’s 12th birthday. Per the stupid divorce decree, I get to have both her and her brother from 5:00 PM – 8:0o PM today. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this, but WifeGeeding will have to attend a teacher workday session today. So, she’s asked me if I would watch them while she’s at work. I consider this progress. As you may recall, last year for her teacher’s work days, she had her mother and sister drive from 110 miles from East Texas on alternating days to watch our children instead of granting me any additional time. That hurt, and I felt she was setting a precedent for how she wants to handle things in the future. However, she did ask if I’d be willing to forgo my possession time from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM since I’ll be watching the kids all day. I understand where she’s coming from. But remember, this is the same woman who would only allow me a monitored five-minute speakerphone call with our son on his ninth birthday after alienating both kids from me for four straight nights. What did I do? Well, I first talked to DaughterGeeding. It’s her birthday, after all, and asked what she wanted to do. She was indifferent.  I thought it over some more, and even though the kids will be with me during the workday, I still have to work, so it’s not like I’m playing with our daughter and son the entire time. I actually have to work. I’m just lucky I get to do it from home. So, I don’t think it’s fair for me to sacrifice my time that’s specifically stated in the divorce decree, especially when you consider her past actions. No matter what, not only do both of us adults have our professional obligations, our daughter will wake up and go to bed at her house, so daughter and mother will have some quality time together. She also gets the kids the majority of the time anyways. Perhaps if we shared the kids 50/50, I would have been willing to sacrifice the evening time to help balance things out, but I’m already working from a deficit.
  • Someone on The TICKET referenced Just For Feet, an old shoe store I which used to fascinate me. I think after your twelfth purchase of shoes you got a pair for free.
  • I’m sure this is important and our lives will end up changing because of it, but I’m not sure how – US Takes Supercomputer Top Spot With First True Exascale Machine
  • Dang it, it only comes in child sizes. I want one for myself.
  • Gov. Abbott attributes mass shootings to mental health issues a month after cutting $211 million from mental health commission
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Bag of Randomness for Monday, May 30, 2022

  • Top Gun: Maverick was everything I hoped it would be and more. It’s probably the greatest summer movie I’ve ever seen, and is the best sequel to a movie ever, except for the sequels to The Godfather and Star Wars. I’m actually thankful Cruise only allowed it to be released in theaters and made us wait two years, it was worth it.
  • A year ago, I would have really been bothered by this, but stuff like this is no longer surprising or upsetting to me. DaughterGeeding told me on the ride to church yesterday with her brother and mother, her mother stated she wasn’t doing anything to keep her or her brother away from their father. When they arrived at church, DaughterGeeding asked her mother if she could sit by her father. The ex told her no. In doing so, she kept our daughter away from her father. The girl specifically asked if she could be with me and the ex prevented that. She can’t see past her own hypocrisy.
  • On Friday night I decided to do something out of my comfort zone and attend a Celebrate Recovery session at one of the closest churches near me. I had nothing else to do on a Friday night, and it was rather convenient. I’ve always described Celebrate Recovery as Alcoholics Anonymous with a Jesus sticker slapped on it. During the orientation, they listed a bunch of things they are and are not. Under the “are not” list was “Alcoholics Anonymous with a Jesus sticker.” For what it’s worth, I don’t think there’s anything wrong if they are AA with a Jesus sticker nor consider it a insult. But, they are gonna have to convince me they aren’t. In a lot of ways, from the testimonials I’ve heard, AA is a fantastic group and I sometimes wish I had an alcohol problem just to hang out and make new friends.
    • In case you know nothing about Celebrate Recovery (CR), each session starts off with a big group meeting and then men and women go to separate smaller groups.
    • Like AA, introductions are similar. So, in an AA meeting, guy would start things off by introducing himself by saying something like, “Hi, I’m Bob, and I’m an alcoholic.” In CR, they state whatever they are recovering from. So you will hear things like “Hi, I’m Bob and I’m recovering from pornography and gambling” or “Hi, I’m Becky and I’m recovering from overeating.”
    • I really liked what the first person had to say, “If you already have a church home, we ask that you keep going to your church. We’re not trying to recruit you. But if you are looking for a church, feel free to visit.”
    • They held this group at a Church of Christ. Traditionally, they don’t use instruments, the praise God just as they are. The session started off with some praise and worship music, with instruments. So, it looks like CR is non or inter-denominational. I’m not sure of the difference.
    • One sentence which stuck with me, “Looking busy is the greatest camouflage.”
    • If you go to five straight sessions, you get a free CR Bible. If you bring a friend, you get a wooden nickel. Seriously. I think after accumulating so many wooden nickels, you can trade them in for something.
    • I doubt I will go five straight times, because of the kids, but I think I’ll go back. This is Keith 1.5 trying to upgrade to Keith 2.0.
  • More than 800 Houston ISD teachers say they won’t be returning to the classroom next year
  • Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Booed Upon Arriving at Uvalde School Shooting Site
  • U.S. Rep. Cleaver introduces bill to withhold Congressional pay after mass shootings – No Pay Until Peace Act would withhold paychecks from every congressional member for each month there is a mass shooting
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Bag of Randomness for Friday, May 27, 2022

  • As saddened as I am about the latest school shooting, I was fortunate to hear the news while my children were in my rent house home. The ex and I start a summer possession schedule next week, so they still stayed the traditional Thursday night with me (just ask a single-father in Texas how important Thursday nights are). Despite my ex alienating our kids from me last year, I still try to abide by the golden rule of “treat others as you would like to be treated.” I knew if I was separated from the children during an emotionally sensitive time like this, I would just want to be around them. I was tempted to contact the ex and see if she wanted to either have dinner or get ice cream with the kids. But, she has a pending lawsuit against me and continues to claim I’m a manipulator, so I erred on the side of caution.
  • DaughterGeeding informed me that before she visits a friend’s house for the first time, her mother will contact her parents and ask if their are any firearms in the house. I don’t have a problem with her doing that, but it does surprise me as she never did that sort of thing when we were married.
  • Since we’re on the topic of firearms and the ex. The time frame between the rifle photo and her leaving me was three months, with no objects being thrown during that time period. My attorney thought it was odd for her to suddenly become concerned about me and a firearm and darting off three months later, despite us discussing it in depth and what I thought was a resolved issue. However, at the custodial trial, despite lacking evidence, she made it a concern. After mediation, my attorney found it interesting how firearms wasn’t brought up a single time, yet her first demand was for me to be regularly drug tested. Clearly, she was never really concerned about me and the firearm.
  • There are three big releases this weekend. If one of these don’t at least pique your interest, then I doubt we’d get along socially, at least regarding pop-culture. Maybe we might find something in common with sports.
    • Top Gun: Maverick
    • Obi-Wan Kenobi
    • Stranger Things Season 4
      • DaughterGeeding is a huge fan of Stranger Things fan and started a countdown clock the day the release date was released. It starts airing 2:01 AM Central, and I’ll be up watching it with her. Yes, I’m a fan of the show, not a fanatic, but for me, it’s more about making memories. We’re going to to binge watch the entire new season in one setting.
  • I’m not embarrassed by my service as a volunteer on the rec team at the summer Baptist encampment Camp Copass. But I’m a little embarrassed that our theme was “Top Son” and we all went by call signs from the movie. And yes, I was Maverick. There are photos, and even a video that exists.
  • I only eat two varieties of Sweet Tarts, the pink and the purple. So, when I buy a package, I typically eat less than half of what’s in it. The ones I don’t eat either go to the kids or the trash.
  • While listening to NPR yesterday, a commercial really had me confused. I thought I heard “bathroom counterfeiters” and was really perplexed by the business. But, the person was actually saying “bathroom counter-fitters” and that made much more sense.
  • Yesterday morning the Musers on The TICKET brought up the topic of how the sound of gas-powered leaf blowers are irritating and makes one anxious, especially when the lawn crew uses them excessively for what seems like an hour. I suppose my version of hell would be living next door to someone using a gas-powered leaf blower on these wind chimes I found at Costco.
  • I do not know how to avoid using a split infinitive and to not use a double negative in this sentence. Me no right to good.
  • I watched David Letterman interview Kevin Durant on Netflix. Both men stated they weren’t interested in pursuing happiness, which caught my attention and surprised me. I’ve been chasing it since the separation and hope to eventually find joy. It got me to do some research, and this is what Durant had to say about it:
    • “I don’t even like to use the word happiness. That’s just such a fleeting feeling. It can just go so up and down, I don’t wanna chase that feeling. It’s just not an efficient way to live for me. I feel like just having peace and really just enjoying being alive every day is the best place for me to be. You know, I don’t wanna be happy or sad. Like, I don’t even wanna have to go through that. I just wanna kinda just float through life, I experienced so much. I just wanna take on every experience for what it is and enjoy it in the moment. You know, I don’t wanna chase happiness, I just try to stay even.”
    • I suppose what he’s really talking about is being present. But it got me thinking if I’ve been chasing the wrong thing this whole time. Perhaps I should chase peace instead of happiness; and by finding peace, I’ll find happiness, as it will be a byproduct which will hopefully lead me to joy. (Everybody now, “I’ve got joy, joy, joy, joy deep in my heart. Where? Deep in my heart.“)

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