Beautifully Composed…

I am hooked on four songs right now.  The Engine Driver and Leslie Anne Levine by The Decemberists, Push by Avril Lavigne, and Hymn to the Fallen from the Saving Private Ryan Soundtrack.  I found them by accident just browsing around in iTunes.  Sometimes, that is the best kind of music to find – sonic masterpieces the are surprises.  I’ve had the best time lately finding new music to listen to. The Internet has revolutionized the way we listen to music and find entertainment.

Back in my Element…

“What are you doing up at 5am?” you may ask.  I am lamenting the fact that I went to bed at 8pm the previous night, but I have always traditionally been an early riser. I am wide awake now after driving over to get my sodas which were luckily on my parent’s porch this morning.  I still have hours to go before volunteering, but I am excited about being there this week.  I have some big plans today to make using computers at The Center to be a more enjoyable experience for all.  We are going to simplify the computing experience and uninstall all extraneous programs and clean up the hard drives.  I want to move all the computers to Ubuntu Linux and Open Office – all open source software and free. This will take all week for me to do.   I’ve already gotten permission to do this by my administrator as it will save us lots of money in the technology and computer budget. 

We Are All Crazy in Our Own Way…

Charlie always says that in my defense and I love to hear him say it. That we are all crazy in our own way and we all have certain idiosyncrasies.  He always cites his obsessive hoarding as an example.  The house Charlie bought next to me is just full of Charlie’s hoarding junk now.  You can barely move inside of it. 

My father and I drove down through the Valley and got us a burger late yesterday afternoon.  Dad was talking of my mother and her siblings and how they’ve all exhibited signs of mental illness over the years.

“Would you want to be married to your aunt?” dad asked me.

“Oh, no, no, no,” I replied as if I was repulsed and I was.

The biggest casualties of mentally ill parents and love on the battle field and marriage were the children dad and I both agreed upon.  There has been a lot of wrecked households on my mother’s side of the family – innocent children thrown to the fray of crazy, petulant and selfish parents.   Several of my cousins are already in and out of the legal system and addicted to substances. 

Will You See the Grand Canyon?

In two weeks my father embarks on another cross country drive to move my brother and his family from Washington DC to San Diego.  I don’t envy dad of  this task as I am scared of driving these days, but he is excited about it personally. 

“I am getting Helen to cook you and your mother a hearty meal everyday,” he told me. “Don’t miss it.”