August 18-28 2013

He was cremated and his ashes were shot into space on the Celestis Space flight, right along with James Doohan (Scotty from Star Trek). I wrote that bit about Happiest Memory for the memorial service.

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Blog Aug 18-28 2013     Want to read this in a different language ? Change the TO field to your own country and click the TRANSLATE button after going HERE DRIVING THE DISTANCE [ READ A DIFFERENT ENTRY ] * * * This entry is Rated: EVERYONE Before I begin, I've had a few people now ask me in private message (including this morning) how old I am and where I live. I will tell you now I am 46, I will turn 47 this November 30th, and I live in Fort Worth, Texas, inside the United States. With that out of the way, let's get to the first travel, which was Sunday, August 18th. Chris told me a that he wanted to go to a grave site where a friend of his was buried. So we drove to get there. But before we got very far, Chris stopped off at an abandoned gas station to take some photos. I asked him why but all he said is that he would tell me later. He took several and I suppose I did too, but am only showing this one. I never did ask him later what it meant. In any case, we were back on the road and a good half-hour later we finally arrived. Some place called Memorial Park. He drove inside. Now, I guess I've never been to any grave sites. Not in a long while (you remember my Dad was cremated and his ashes were shot into space, I talk about that later below). So the first thing I noticed was, there were no vertical headstones ! I thought that was a requirement ! Chris said, no. It's more convenient this way. I asked how so ? He said the lawnmower can drive over them easier. For a moment I couldn't say anything. Lawnmower ? Wow ... I had always thought all grave sites, even those in the old west had some marker or something for the gravestone, but apparently not here. There were vases of flowers I noticed, but all of the headstones were faced into the ground. After driving around for a-while, he finally got out and thought he found the right place. But no. We drove around and walked around for a few hours, but he never found the site he was looking for. Eventually we headed back to his place to watch a movie. I guess some people are even more camera shy than me. Chris and my family know that I am running a blog and occasionally I'll have someone take a picture of me, but they don't want to be on the Internet I guess. Anyways, Chris is holding up an Angry Bird here. If you touch the button it makes silly Angry Bird sounds. I suppose as a videogame it was alright, but it sure got hard for me in a hurry. If you're interested in the best of the best of this line. Try out Angry Birds Rio which is pretty cool. Chris's Mom is a professional artist and does abstract pieces that are presented before art galleries. This is one piece he had hanging up in the hallway his Mom did for him. I think it's pretty neat how you have the diagonal slope at the bottom of the lightning in the corner to give the illusion that it's a thick box you are looking into when in fact it's flat. Every Wednesday I go to see my doctor. He's a psychologist and we talk about things from my past and things that are happening now. He has helped me with quite a bit, but I guess I'll be seeing him the rest of my life - and that's fine. We get along well. I took this picture, August 21st, while I was waiting. Also in the waiting room, he has this big bundle of LEGOs. I asked him one time if he saw children patients and he said usually but not always. Sometimes he does custody cases. So I guess that explains why he has these out in the open for patients to play with. So - I guess I can say I'm seeing a child-psychologist ? After seeing the doctor, I treated Carlos to this new Chinese Restaurant I was curious about, and while the food was average, they did have this interesting 3-dimensional art piece hanging up. I wondered if it was carved wood. Knowing we wouldn't be returning, I decided to take some more photos of the cool stuff they had hanging on the walls. This one had an interesting shimmer effect with my camera and almost makes it look like there is blue energy in it ! Working my way towards the back I saw this really pretty sticker and took a photo of it. Then I paid the bill, we did some shopping, and finally returned back home. Today I see Rose ! (August 24th). We talked earlier on the phone. I said that I wanted to take a picture of her for my BLOG in Writer's Cafe and she said that would be fine but I would have to do the same, so - here is me, in my bathroom mirror, snapping a shot before I go see her. If you're curious those neat white glasses I got were $703. But that's mostly cause of the lenses. I was told by the doctor there that I am cross-eyed now (maybe from working on the computer too much ?) and they had to make adjustments in my lenses for this. Me and Rose have been together a long time. This is the side of the wall coming down my stairs and Rose sends me a new greeting card twice a month, usually with Batman or Tinkerbell stickers. As it is, I have quite a few from her and I think they look pretty neat. Just to let you know that chapter 26 of my Nancy Principle is not all fiction. As I mentioned earlier, it's difficult for me to write a story unless I can refer to elements from my own life. As you can see, I do tend to decorate pretty thoroughly. My doctor tells me that I am insulating myself. I asked from what ? He said life, in general. And - maybe he's right. I don't like outsides too much unless it's a picnic or something cool like that and I always do well inside a place like a museum or visiting someone. Yep, and here is a rare picture of Rose ! She'll be 65, this September 9th, 3-days after my sister's Birthday (I talk about below). And right now she is In her natural environment, shopping ! *Grin* She brings these huge carry cases and I buy all the groceries and stuff from all the stores that she wants =AND= I carry it all  additionally. So it's cash and carry on both my parts. :) Normally I bring my backpack, my little carry case, and my PSP to play on while I'm waiting for her to arrive. We meet at a restaurant and have lunch there. She brings these two bags that have wheels on the bottom and two duffle bags in each of those. I carry =ALL= of it home and bring it inside. And yes, I certainly get my exercise thissaways ! :D Back home, she cooks a ready-made pizza for us cause I can't go near a stove, I have a sorta phobia about fire, even electric heat. So she provides dinner when we get in. I usually have a stack of DVDs that she calls on the phone to let me know what she wants through the weeks I don't see her. And -sometimes- I'll even buy her a Fangoria magazine when me and Chris are at Barne's & Noble cause she likes all that blood and guts stuff, but I prefer Disney and Pixar and things like that myself. Oh yes, she brought some photos too she wanted me to post for her Online of Miss Bert, her pet squirrel, whom you remember passed away several months ago. so here is a picture of them. While I'm pretty good with computers, Rose isn't, nor does she want to take the time to learn. Hmm ... Anyways, she spends the night, makes a nice breakfast for me in the morning. We watch a few cartoons, maybe then a recent action film on DVD. Then she does a little straightening in the kitchen which is nice of her, she gets her stuff together and heads out around 6pm. Jimbo picks her up from my front door along with all the goodies I bought packed in her bags now. Once she has headed out, I then Email Chris and we get together, usually go out for Mexican, then do a little shopping. The difference is, Chris pays for his own stuff, like Carlos does usually, and I get in pretty late, sometimes after 10pm if we go to a club for drinks. I drink soda but Chris drinks liquor. Carlos comes again this Wednesday (August 28th) to see my doctor again, but TODAY I also go to visit my sister out in the country, and it's a long drive there ! Carlos usually talks about his time living in Berlin and Germany and it's pretty cool stuff. Finally arriving at my sister's farm, I am greeted by no less than STINKER. His real name is Tinker but he is so hyper and wound up he'll scratch your legs and stuff in his excitement if you don't stop him, =I= call him Stinker. This is a rare photo of him being calm as I'm petting him. Maybe he likes the camera ? My sister is like Rose. They are both excellent cooks ! My sister has homemade pizza waiting for us. Then she makes some homemade lemon ice-cream which is wonderful. We watch this DVD she has, the making of the New Doctor Who Season 1, finally we go out to investigate her farm. First on the stop is the back area of the farm where my sister has, entirely by herself, made chicken coops, barns, and other storage facilities. While I'm pretty good at computers, her skill is in construction, carpentry, and basically good hard work you can do outsides. My sister wants to show me her new chickens so she gets around one side to lead them to me and I take this photo. This is a 4-piece picture I put together, and it tells a story. Rose build this shed for one of her chickens and as you can see, she lays eggs. My sister has a license and sells them professionally Online. But it's not just chicken eggs she has but duck eggs. What does a duck egg taste like ? My sister usually sends me and Carlos home each with a dozen eggs. I tried a duck egg. It's rather gamey-tasting. Like a super-egg is the best way I can describe it. Another livestock my sister has is =6= goats ! While I think she's very fond of them, she also gets goat's milk and makes her homemade ice-cream with it. What does goat's milk taste like ? It's very mellow. It's a whole lot better than Half & Half and makes a super-rich ice-cream if you use that as the main ingredient. It's Bling Bling Goat ! Nope, that's a plastic chain harness my sister keeps on the Momma Goat so she can lead her around. My sister had these incredible foreign names for all her goats too but I can't remember them all. Wanna make a goat real happy ? Reach up to the tree and pull down a loose branch with leaves. They'll fight over to get to the leaves and munch them up. :) Be careful though, goats are HEAVY and if they think they can step on you as a pedestal to get more leaves, they will. Aww, this is sweet sweetie Lilly. I love cats, really love 'em, a lot more than dogs. I would take Lilly home in a heartbeat except I'm afraid she would see my pet hamster as popcorn shrimp so - notta good idea. Minju when Teddy passes on (they live 2-years), I have decided I am gonna get a cat. They are the neatest pets ! Not just chickens, ducks, goats, and cats, my sister also has roosters. While they don't lay any eggs, they ensure the eggs the chickens do lay are FERTILIZED. That is if you wanna have some baby chicks and stuff. And my sister does cause baby chicks often grow into more chickens and that means more eggs. While my sister lives out on the farm, she is familiar with a great many things that I am not. One of which is tree sap. But this is an unusual sap coming from this tree. It is hard, like glass Not far from this tree is the property line fence, and in this yard is I believe a MULE and it belongs to her neighbors. Well, I'm starting to get bitten up by bugs now so we are just about ready to head back inside. Before we do, I notice Lilly again and pet her on her ears and back. She's such a sweet cat. [ CLICK FOR FULL-SIZE PICTURE ] Back inside, I talked to my sister about her Birthday which is coming up, which is September 6th. She said don't buy a cake as she'll make one herself. And as you can see I was working and have now completed a custom DVD I was putting together for her that has 20-short videos from all over the world. It will be quite the surprise for her ! That and I'll get her a gift-certificate from Barnes & Noble or something so she can buy a bunch of stuff from there as our tastes and interests are entirely different. Now I've had a few people ask me, where is my Dad ? Well, in truth, he's in space, but sometimes that by itself is not a very good answer. One of my Dad's dreams was to have a chance to enter space. Well, he had a complication with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and passed away a few years ago. However, his wife, (my step-mother), saw to it that he would get his his wish. He was cremated and his ashes were shot into space on the Celestis Space flight, right along with James Doohan (Scotty from Star Trek). My middle name is Andrew, but only family calls me that cause I bristle when it's spoken (cause it means someone has known me all my life). And yah, I wrote that bit about Happiest Memory for the memorial service we had and the T.R.S. 80 is where I got started into computers. I also made this, "Happiest Memory" into a story a few years ago with some new pictures, I can post that later if you like. Anyways, the photo is of a patch that was given to me in memorial to the launch, but, I don't want it - not just yet. It's kind of like I don't want to acknowledge my Dad is gone and having something like this would be painful to have near me. And, this brought up another point. My own funeral. Oh, I don't plan to die anytime soon, at least I hope not. But anything can happen. I've had several people suggest that I put together a living will now that I'm older and, anything can happen. Well, while I haven't given it much thought, I guess I can say I would want Susan, my favorite Teddy Bear, to go with me. Then I would give all of my remaining Teddy Bear collection to the Bears In Blue foundation, cause I like the fact the police help people. The stocks Dad gave me and all the money I have would go to Carlos cause he's always been there for me since Dad died. My sister is doing rather well where she is. She said she just wants the chair I sit in to work on the computer. Rose, however, wants everything else I own, she's quite happy with that, and that's fine with me too. So - there ya go. I also - haven't really worked out what I want for my funeral, if, when, it finally happens. Something like a girl, age 20-30, wearing a blue sparkly wig and she's dressed nicely and cute like for cosplay. My ashes dumped on the floor, like outside of a full-sized dollhouse. Then she uses a pink toy plastic broom and whisk-whisks my burned ashes away 4-directions as fast as she can, North, South, East, West. No more than that is all I ask with my remains, done with this life ... But hopefully it will be some time yet before that happens. Return back HOME   You are Earth Visitor #

Reviews

[Mark]

:) Very nice. .........................

[dw817]

Hi Mark, long time, no rhyme ! :) So when am I gonna see some cool photos of you on your trucking trips ?

[Mark]

Okay when I get some free time

[Jack Buckner]

A very enjoyable read. Thanks for sending me a request!

[dw817]

Sure thing Dr ! Glad to have you aboard !

[dw817]

BTW, John, did you want me to pick out a nice Avatar for you ? I guess I have to ask is that an alias you chose because of Doctor Who or something else ?

[Jack Buckner]

What do you mean?

[Pryde Foltz]

You definitely fill your time and seem to have a great support system in place. You do have a lot of stuffed animals. I love cats too. Especially, black ones. Hope you are having a great one, David.

[dw817]

Well actually all my stuffed animals are Teddy Bears, and there is a reason for that. But - that's fine. It's funny you mention black cats. When I lived with Dad, all he had was black cats in the back.

While other people may think they are bad luck, I have certainly enjoyed the company of all of them and when I get a cat, if it's not Lilly, there's a good chance it will be a solid black one, the one no-one wants, cause I do. :)

[Miss Marlette]

Very interesting to read. Great to know great stuff in your life. The pictures were a wonderful part of the write and made it a superb read.

[dw817]

Well that's good you enjoyed it then. I need to make a few changes to it, (the date at the top is wrong), and I was going to link that DVD shot to a full-screen.

BTW, you mentioned you are from India ? I imagine if you wrote a little about your country, day-to-day living which may be common to you may well be an incredible adventure and read for us folks here in the states. I would really like to hear about it. :)

Please consider ...

[Miss Marlette]

Of course. It will be a pleasure. I will try to write on some interesting aspect of India soon. Working on it. Thanks for the great suggestion.

[dw817]

When you do, please let me know ! I'll personally Reader Request it for you, the first one I've done for others in fact. :7

[Miss Marlette]

Thank you! I will. Thanks a lot :)

[dw817]

PM me when you have it. You can either copy this link or use the one provided by Writer's Cafe,
read morePM me when you have it. You can either copy this link or use the one provided by Writer's Cafe,

http://gg.gg/gd2j

[dw817]

http://gg.gg/gd2j

[MandaBear]

This is very cool! You take some nice pictures! It is cool to Finally see this Rose you always talk about! Looks like you have some interesting adventures!

[dw817]

Glad you like it ! Yep, I met Rose when I was 18 and she was 36 at the time. I know it's not been a perfect friendship or relationship, but it's what I've been dealt in life and I will work with it as well as I can.

For the greatest fear I feel anyone can ever have is to truly TRULY be alone - without even your voices to keep you company.

There are a great many people out there who say they want to be alone in the world. Yes, well, they have inner chattering going on whether they recognize it or not. Absolute emptiness is a tremendous weight and burden no man or woman should ever be expected to carry their whole lives.