One way I know I’m on the road to recovery is that I’m getting creative again. You can see my latest project in the above photo. I’m sure the ex would say it’s tacky and looks like something out of a dorm room, but I’m decorating for the kids and no one else. It may only be a rent house in a neighborhood I’d rather not live in, but for now, it’s home.
I made some small updates to my About page. It was long overdue and still needs a lot of work. Speaking of which, the Half-Asian Hall of Fame really needs some attention.
I accidentally left the comments feature on yesterday, but no one had anything to say.
It’s Mental Health Awareness Month. The ex and her family used my struggle with depression against me to keep me from my children. Naomi Judd recently died due to mental health. Now, because of a suicide by one of their players, the James Madison softball team has cancelled their season. DaughterGeeding suffers from depression and plays softball, I hope my ex’s family is more compassionate to her than me.
There’s a parent on BoyGeeding’s soccer team named Manda Nelson. Of course, I immediately think of Nelson Mandela. She’s white, for what that’s worth.
Seven hours of slumber was also found to be linked with better mental health, with people experiencing more symptoms of anxiety and depression and worse overall well-being if they reported sleeping for longer or shorter stints.
Our school’s headmaster included this in his weekly email to parents. The ex has the option of moving the kids to another school next year, and I can’t do anything about it.
By comparing the most energy-efficient running speeds of recreational runners in a lab to the preferred, real-world speeds measured by wearable trackers, Stanford scientists found that runners prefer a low-effort pace – even for short distances.
It’s beginning to look like Roe vs. Wade is going to be overturned. Conservatives will feel it was worth it even with a Trump presidency..
Pupils from Marlborough college, Roedean and Chippenham schools predict what life will be like for them in the year 2000. With concerns ranging from nuclear armageddon, overpopulation, automation, battery farming and mass unemployment, it’s fair to say that most of them aren’t especially optimistic about the prospect.
Today’s dose of ‘MURICA!.
Posted inPersonal|Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, May 3, 2022
Saturday night was the happiest I’ve been in a long, long time. I was so happy, I actually felt full of joy. It was weird. I’m not even sure if I was this happy during any of my years of marriage. I think the last time I was that happy was before high school. It was a feeling of freedom and liberation. I know there will be tough times again, but I tried to savor it as much as possible and focused on just being grateful for feeling free and secure for a change. I suppose a series of events led to this.
First, the simple passage of time, allowing emotions to settle and being able to better process things.
Counseling and therapy.
Medication.
Support from friends, BoN readers, and church family.
I was having a great Wednesday, but when I picked up my son from school, I had a slight anxiety attack, something I’ve written about before when I get possession of my children. I meet with my counselor every Thursday and we talked it out, and when I picked my kids up on Thursday, everything was fine. Basically, there have been some traumatic events in my life which happened unexpectedly. For instance, my dad had a heart-attack three days before my high school graduation, my best-friend drowned exactly a week before I got married, my mother fell down the stairs the week before Thanksgiving and died from her injuries. Right when all seemed right in the world, my world is collapsing, and I’m scared it’s going to happen again. My wife abandoned me and alienated the kids from me unexpectedly. It was a very traumatic event, and a lot of things had to occur before I could start rebuilding. In short, I suffer from PTSD, and we are working on ways to cope with it.
As I’ve mentioned, the ex has never met with me post-separation to have a discussion about why she left, why the first step was divorce and not go to a single counseling session, and why did she choose this aggressive path to break apart our family and a covenant after 17 years of marriage. I understand and accept I won’t get those answers. She still refuses to meet with me and a third party to discuss unresolved issues and concerns I have about our children. She told the judge I was a manipulator, an emotional abuser, controlling, and a danger to our kids. That was all news to me, and I wanted to know what did she mean by that, why was that the first I’ve heard she felt that way, and what specific examples does she have? I understand and accept I won’t get all if any of those answers. And she still has a pending lawsuit against me to change the divorce decree. But, in an effort to make things easier to co-parent over the next nine years, I’d like to know what I can do not make her feel like she’s being manipulated, controlled, or emotionally abused. Sometimes it’s more efficient and effective to simply talk than go back and forth using her preferred method of short cryptic emails. I don’t want reconciliation any more, I just wanting healing for both sides and for our kids not to experience any undue stress.
She agreed to meet with me and a third party (of her choice) three different times, but cancelled each time the following day by a short, cryptic email. I’m assuming she talked to her mom, sister, or best friend, and they talked her out of it to protect her and keep from me from “conning” her.
Our daughter not only has trouble sleeping, has a terrible relationship with her ,mother, but talked about harming herself. Her pediatrician wanted to meet with us both after meeting separately with us. To my surprise, the ex agreed. I was totally expecting her mother or sister to show up as a sign of support, but that didn’t happen. In short, the pediatrician said we first need to talk to each other with a third party to hash unresolved issue and other things out, with the ultimate goal of mother, father, and daughter meeting with a counselor together. If we don’t, nothing will ever get better because of the lack of trust we have with each other. The ex seemed very reluctant to agree, but she did. I stated that since there’s a pending lawsuit against me, and I’ve been accused of being manipulative and controlling, the ex would have to take the lead setting things up because I don’t want to be accused of being either of those things and losing what little access I already have with our children. Based on her previous actions, I have already prepared and expect for her to not follow through. I’m managing my expectations.
They pleasantly surprised me I never got emotional or triggered. I was even keeled the whole time. The only thing that somewhat bothered me is when I told the pediatrician we’ve never spoken about any of as a family unit and the kids have many unanswered questions (the pediatrician also met with our daughter separately and stated she has a lot of unanswered questions) and that it was even my ex’s mother who told the kids we were getting a divorce. The ex said that was not true and I’m sure she’s accusing me of lying. However, I’m just going off what the kids have told me, and this is yet another reason why we need to hash things out so we can get on the same page. The kids said their mother started to talk, broke down, then grandmother stepped in and controlled the conversation. That, to me, means my ex-MIL told the kids we were getting a divorce.
At the end of the appointment, I asked the pediatrician if I could stay a bit longer alone with her to ask a few questions. I didn’t have any questions, I was just trying to protect myself. I feared the ex may try to accuse me of harassing her in the waiting room or parking lot.
Saturday morning, DaughterGeeding and I attended BoyGeeding’s soccer game. The ex was in Colorado for some unknown reason and missed his game, which actually bothered him. But with her not there, I had a great experience. I love to attend our children’s sporting events, but feel stressed when the ex is there. Even though we aren’t sitting next to each other (something the pediatrician has now encouraged us to do) I feel I can’t act like myself and withdrawn from others, otherwise I’d be accused of harassment, while she can continue interacting with her friends and other parents and act normal. With the ex gone, I felt relieved and had a blast interacting with other parents and cheering our son on. For the first time, I felt I wasn’t being scrutinized and didn’t have to go around being guarded. BoyGeeding had his best game of the year, even starting for the first time. I also worked on my old hobby of taking up-close action shots. I later shared my photos from the game (and two previous games) with the other parents and got a lot of compliments. I took a lot of photos of BoyGeeding’s teammates in action. The photos were an unexpected surprise for the parents, and it just felt good to do something nice. I felt I was fulfilling my old motto or life mission: to identify needs and fill them. Most parents know my ex fairly well. She’s loved and well-known because she’s a kindergarten teacher. But I’ve heard stories she’s told teachers and parents that I harmed her, so I feel like the parents have prejudged me. In a way, I feel like I’m working to earn their respect since none of them really knows me.
DaughterGeeding’s birthday is the last day of this new month and she wants a pair of Nike Air Force Ones. This made me giddy because I was a big shoe fan when I was her age and throughout college. Heck, I still remember my first pair of Nikes. They went mid-high and had a great blend of white, blue, and gray. My favorite were probably the Bo Jackson shoes that were orange and gray. Anyway, she and I bonded over why she wanted those particular shoes in all-white. I told her if I waited to give her the shoes on her birthday at the end of the month, she wouldn’t have much of a chance to show them off at school, so we’ll go ahead and get them today. She was stoked. If you aren’t aware, these shoes are very popular but hard to find, especially the all-white. We went to Stonebriar Centre (place of me and my ex’s first date), a mall. I parked at Dick’s Sporting Goods and we were planning on just finding a pair that fit, and we could order the all-white in her size online. Man, we were lucky. They didn’t have any all-white on display. The employee said he had only one pair in the back. Luckily, it was in her size. Luckily, they were the all-whites and fit great. She was ecstatic, couldn’t believe our luck and the easiness of our trip, and gave me a big hug.
While looking around a pair of Nike Air Force Ones for her, I saw a pair of Jordans that I was interested in. For the last decade or so, I’ve only bought light gray shoes, and I doubt I’ve spent more than $70 on a pair of sneakers. I’ve grown up and out of fashion. But my son and daughter asked me about them, and I told them when I was a kid, I always wanted a pair of Jordans, but Dad wouldn’t buy them because they were too expensive. And, I didn’t buy them myself since they were too expensive. Back then, the shoes cost around $150-$200 I think, and this pair I was looking at was $150. They both encouraged me to get a pair to try on since they were in my signature light gray. I kept saying no, but after DaughterGeeding found her pair, I went back to look at them. I remember my counselor and therapist telling me that it’s okay to treat myself, that I should do something for myself. But I’d comeback say there was nothing I wanted or liked doing. I liked doing home repair DIY stuff, but that’s been taken away from me. I’m not into video games, manicures, or massages. But now, here’s a chance to fulfill a childhood dream. I tried them on. I forgot what a well-built shoe felt like. These were much more comfortable than any sneaker I’ve worn in over a decade. Suddenly, I felt taller, faster, quicker, and younger. I was scared I couldn’t pull them off, that I look like some mid-life crisis guy trying to look cool and hip to fit in with the young crowd. My daughter said they looked great on me, that I totally could pull them off, that I was rocking them. Well, I can’t believe it, but I did it. So what if this is a midlife crises and I needed to tweet about it. I was so giddy I texted two of my childhood friends about it. At the food court, I couldn’t wait and put them on to walk around the mall. It felt like I was walking on clouds. The kids were so happy to see me happy. Both were grinning ear to ear saying they never seen me so happy. While we were at the mall, now looking for shoes for BoyGeeding, I caught myself dancing and singing. This time, I did so without reservation or caring what anyone thought. I didn’t have to worry that I was going to embarrass my wife. For a change, I was just being me. I can’t recall the last time I felt that way. I don’t think I ever felt that happy when I was married. There were several times I felt the need to text the ex because I’m used to sharing happy news with her, being at the place of our first date, but I knew that was no longer an option if I wanted to grow, so I abstained, and was better for it. When we got home, my son told me I needed to try them out. He tossed me a small ball and pointed to the Nerf basketball hoop on the pantry door. I did a “Jumpman” logo dunk to break them in and make it official. Then, I pulled up the Be Like Mike Gatorade commercial song on our big tv. The kids have never been exposed to it but they loved it.
After we found DaughterGeeding a pair of shoes, it was time to get BoyGeeding a new pair. I told DaughterGeeding that with her new socks, she can’t rock them without new socks, so I told her to go find some. She came back with Adidas socks. I told her to call up my best friend Jimi and ask him if it’s okay to wear Nike shoes with Adidas socks. He gave her a good talking to about this fashion faux pas and let her know there are certain standards we live by.
The ride home from the mall was great. I was telling the kids all sorts of stories and they were interested asking all sorts of questions. The rest of the night, I wish I could describe it, but I was full of joy. For the first time, I felt I could be happy without my ex. I don’t need her to make me feel happy. Sure, I told her I felt my purpose in life was to make her happy, but now I’m free of that obligation. I felt liberated. I now know it’s okay to be happy and not feel any guilt. I don’t need her to feel complete or whole. I am not a failure. I actually started to cry tears of joy. Oh, the relief. It’s so hard to explain, and the joy carried over to the next morning. BoyGeeding looked at me and told me he was happy because I was happy. DaughterGeeding was crying when I tried to describe my happiness.
At the mall, DaughterGeeding told me something the ex’s sister told her before their flight to Orlando last week. They both walked out of the restroom and the ex’s sister gave DaughterGeeding a big side hug. She then told her she wanted her to know that her dad (me) never hurt her mom, and that I was a nice guy. I teared up. You had no idea what that meant to me. You may recall, DaughterGeeding told me that the ex’s sister told her and her brother I physically hurt their mother. I asked the ex to clear up what I called a “miscommunication” but the ex’s only reply was, “I’m not required to.” That crushed me. I told her it’s important to me for the kids to know that their father isn’t a wife beater, but she never responded. Sure, I think that talk should have happened a long time ago, and BoyGeeding was never talked to it, but it made a huge difference to me and I was grateful. I don’t abuse women. I don’t hit women. My kids should never think I’m that kind of monster. I know some folks say they don’t care what others think of them. Well, I didn’t want anyone, especially my own children, to think I’m a wife beater. It was important for the record to be set straight. It’s a matter of integrity. Hearing about this was a relief and allowed me to feel joy.
Before bedtime, BoyGeeding and I were watching television. I was still crying tears of joy. BoyGeeding asked about it, and I asked him if he ever cried tears of joy. He said yes, only one time. It was several years ago when he was playing Minecraft and built something, and he came and got me to look at it, and I showed interest and complimented him on it. I had no idea that meant so much to him.
I don’t know how long this joy will last. I haven’t experienced joy in such a long time. But I’m taking it in and I’m grateful that I was able to experience it with my children. Thank you, God. Thank you friends. Thank you to my small family. Thank you to the strangers who were nice enough to make me feel valued.
Man, mental health sure is in the news lately. While my ex and her family may disagree, I feel they used my depression against me to keep our children away from me. They used it to say I’m a danger to myself and others. When I was at my greatest hour of need, calling the crises hotline, my wife left me. I thought about that when I heard Ashley Judd died. From this statement, I assume it was suicide, “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness.”
As someone who has battled end-of-life thoughts, here’s one suggestion. I hope no one takes offense to this and won’t feel guilty. But the last thing I wanted to hear was, “Do it for your son and daughter.” See, that’s the problem. Those of us with this problem want to find something we can live for. We already feel burdened by trying to live for others. We are seeking a reason to live for ourselves. If our only joy comes from living for someone else, doing things for another person, and that person leaves or dies, we still need a reason to keep on living and live for ourselves. So, instead, say we have purpose and say you will help them find their purpose and things that bring them joy because you love and care about them because of just who they are. Think more Mr. Rogers than Tony Robbins.
I’m very appreciative of loyal reader David, who was able to find my lost post I wrote about yesterday. He cut and pasted it from his news aggregator and emailed it to me. It’s at the bottom of this post after the jump.
I believe there are two types of texters in this world. One is the type that will send you many short texts, one right after the other. The other will type one long text. I belong in the latter category.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear Trevor Reed, the former Marine recently freed from Russia, is back at home. When his parents were trying to get a meeting with President Biden during his visit to DFW, I thought the local news was setting things up to make Biden look cold hearted by not meeting with them. However, he did make time to call and talk to them and later met with them at the White House. I thought all of that was a bit of grandstanding and never thought it would amount to anything. But the world needs more optimists like Reed’s parents and fewer pessimists like me.
As I was walking BoyGeeding home from school, the bell for DaughterGeeding’s class rang. She darted out the door, and I heard her say something not very pleasant to one of her peers. She had no idea I was there, but her friends did, and they went, “Ohhhhh.” I didn’t do anything to embarrass her, but it was one of those moments I would have looked forward to sharing and discussing with her mother.
Thankfully, I’m not in debt. But with as little money as I have and the amount house prices and property tax have gone up, I truly wonder if I’ll be fortunate to own a home again. There is so much DIY stuff I miss doing. And, I miss the tiny upgrades I made around GeedingManor, like making a smart house and programming routines for certain items to do certain things throughout the day. But Bono once sang, “A house doesn’t make a home.” So, I should just focus on the latter.
Today, the ex and I will meet with DaughterGeeding’s pediatrician. It’s the first time we’ll meet with a third-party post divorce. It would not surprise me one bit if her mother or sister showed up.
I do what I can not to ask about my ex, but the kids like to tell me what’s going on in her life. This weekend she’ll be traveling to Colorado. Last weekend, she was in Orlando at Universal Studios and the Magic Kingdom. I guess you can do those things after selling your house and not having to pay any legal fees because your mother footed the bill.
One of my new mentors told me something that I’ve been chewing on for days. We have a lot in common other than age, personality wise and with our divorces. He said he learned that most, if not all, of his divorce problems could have been solved by surrendering to acceptance.
You do not know how good it feels to be blogging again. It’s a brief return to normalcy, stress relieving, and makes me feel I have a purpose and can make a little difference in someone’s life.
I feel very fortunate to be living in this era. My parents still owned a black-and-white television when I was born, and I got to see the birth of the personal computer, HDTV, and the internet. I remember in college one of my friends being in awe someone in the dorm had just bought a computer with a one-gig hard drive. I thought about that when I read this story.
Researchers in Japan have developed a new method for making 5-cm (2-in) wafers of diamond that could be used for quantum memory. The ultra-high purity of the diamond allows it to store a stagger
ing amount of data – the equivalent of one billion Blu-Ray discs. Diamond is one of the most promising materials for practical quantum computing systems, including memory.
That story also made me think of something my best friend Jimi told me. Most teens and young adults have no idea the origin or the story of the save icon.
I have no idea what happened to yesterday’s post. Last night I wanted to review something I wrote, and it wasn’t there. It was in response to something LiberallyLean wrote, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t come across as condescending. And if I did, I wanted to reach out and be respectful. Today, I wanted to add to that flow of thought, but I can’t find a trace of that post anywhere. It’s as if it never existed. Nothing is even in the Drafts folder. Weird. It would be too much work to replicate it, and I wouldn’t do justice even if I tried. Heck, I even linked to a bunch of sources. I used the above image of LBJ and Ike on the golf course for that post, and it was already uploaded, so I know I at least worked on the post and it wasn’t a dream.
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before. I miss my kids like crazy when they aren’t with me. Yet, when we first get together, I get this weird anxiety around them. It’s hard to describe, but it feels like they are about to get snatched from me and I just start to miss them like crazy, even though they are right in front of me and we just got together. I hope my counselor can help me out with this, I should feel calm and peace when I first see my children, not any form of anxiety.
Our stupid divorce decree states when one of us moves, we have to send the other party a letter by certified mail informing them of the new address. It’s a bit of overkill, but I get it. My ex moved and sent me such a thing, and despite me always being home when the postal worker drops by and requesting for it to be redelivered, the certified mail was never delivered. So, the ex did the reasonable thing and sent me a message through our court ordered messaging app stating she tried to send me a certified letter of an address change, that it got returned, and she provided me with the updated address. I replied stating how I requested for it to be redelivered and it never was, and that there was no need for her to follow through delivering the letter since she provided me updated address through the court ordered messaging app. The following week, when I saw her at our daughter’s softball game, she brought up the certified mail being returned and asked what I wanted her to do with the letter. I told her I stand by my earlier statement, that there’s no need to follow through delivering the certified letter since I have her updated address. I thought this would be the end of it. But yesterday afternoon, after our daughter’s softball game, she chased me down with the letter in her hand and said she knows even though I said I didn’t want the letter; she wanted to give it to me. That made me feel very uncomfortable, like she was up to something, and felt the need to protect myself. So, I just put my hands in my pockets and politely but directly told her I didn’t want it and walked away. And she thought I didn’t let things go. Sheesh.
I am glad to hear longtime and loyal reader John is recovering well from his little trip to the ER.
I went to the bagel store yesterday. Instead of getting it to go, this time I ate it there. It didn’t bother me I didn’t get to speak to BagelGirl much, but I struck up a great conversation with a retired teacher who was altering a dress. She decided to do it at the bagel store because it was brighter in the store than her house, and she just wanted to be social. Because of her, I learned a lot about the history of Lewisville, and all of it was rather interesting. She asked, “So, what is it that you do?” I told her I’m just rebuilding my life after a very tough divorce, discovering new things about myself. I wish I could adequately describe the look of compassion on her face. She asked a few questions, and I provided some brief answers, and it was nice to see how a stranger can suddenly become interested in your life.
Speaking of rebuilding, other than Thanksgiving dinner for the kids, yesterday was the first time since my ex abandoned me and took thekids, I actually cooked dinner. I’ve done nothing but eat out (or not eat, due to stress) and warm stuff up. My definition of cooking means taking raw ingredients and applying heat, as opposed to popping a frozen lasagna into the oven. Granted, it was just spaghetti, but I’m working on focusing on small wins.
I ran across this macabre statement yesterday but it made me laugh. As far as I know, it’s not true, “Bob Barker died yesterday. He was crossing the street and was hit…BY A BRAND NEW CAR!”
Here’s an interesting lawsuit. It’s between two mermaid performers. One of them is a spell-casting witch married to a cop who allegedly abuses his authority. Of course, this is in Florida.
Santo Linarte López, a migrant from Nicaragua, told the New York Times that although he doesn’t understand why Abbott paid for him to travel north, he was grateful since it got him closer to his final destination: North Carolina. “Imagine, how much would it cost to get from here to all the way over there,” López said, adding he only had $45 left of the $1,500 he had raised for his trip to the U.S.
I knew Carol Burnett look at Lucille Ball as a mentor, so I was sad when I read the following.
In a sad coincidence, Ball died, at age 77, on April 26, 1989 — Burnett’s birthday. “She would always send me flowers on my birthday,” Burnett said. “That afternoon, I got flowers from her that said, ‘Happy Birthday, kid.’”
For what it’s worth, my dad’s sister died on his birthday. He took it pretty hard. The day after my mom died, a package from her family in Vietnam arrived. That hit me pretty hard.
I wasn’t aware of this assassination attempt on Prince Charles. Granted, blanks were used. But I find it more surprising that the shooter became a lawyer (barrister) after serving his time. Chuck wasn’t phased at all.
I can not emphasize enough how much wide receiver gloves have advanced in technology that it makes catching a ball much easier than years past. Check them out the next time you are in a sporting goods store. Here’s an example. This guy wouldn’t be making those catches in the Eighties. https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1518995716810547200?t=hg0leeKWAqcoAj5s0Ykmwg&s=09
Posted inPersonal|Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Thursday, April 28, 2022
