November's Letter

November's Letter

Well, October went by fast. Not much to report on other than I finished painting…the walls at least. I still have some window trim and my bathroom trim to paint. Now to clean the garage and keep going through all our stuff that has accumulated over the years.

I donated all my late Dad's suits and trousers to the Men's Wearhouse National Suit Drive. I tried every single one of his suits and trousers seeing if any of them would fit. Only two out of the twelve items fit well on me.

My cousin, Reuben, came up to help around with the house. However, duties were cut short when Mom hurt her back by doing a little too much work. She is supposed to rest for two weeks (at the time of this writing, she is feeling much better now). We kept trying to stain the front door but the weather did not really cooperate.

I went to a rock concert the last Tuesday of October. I was supposed to take my friend, Helen, but she became ill and could not go. My aforementioned cousin, Reuben, was here so I asked if he wanted to go. It turns out, that every concert that he has attempted to attend, something occurred that prevented him from attending. So, this was his chance to go. We saw the band Paramore (And yes, I know what paramour means). They are a band from Franklin, TN. I did not realize that the tickets I purchased were General Admission. Which means that we were on the floor right in front of the stage. We were approximately 30ft from the stage. There were two opening bands and then Paramore played. People jumped during the concert and it felt like the floor was going to cave in. Paramore did great, but the sound man did not know what he was doing. The sound was not mixed very well. But it was fun and my cousin's first concert. Speaking of concerts, I've been to about ten (10). Including concertos, operas, and rock bands.

On a similar note, I remember listening to some soft rock/pop and Dad asked what the name of the band was. They were called Savage Garden. Dad commented that you cannot judge a band by their name. He also told me one day that the band Barenaked Ladies played on the NBC Morning Show. Mom commented that there was not even a girl in their band.

In one of my previous letters, I mentioned that I have been watching TV shows on the internet. There is one problem in common when watching TV shows on a normal TV or on the internet: The advertisements are still louder than the actual show. Yay.

So, I was ill for two days. Slight fever, aches, chills. I had gastroenteritis; otherwise known as "stomach flu". Although, that name is a misnomer for it does not affect the stomach nor is it influenza. But rather it attacks the cells of the small intestine. I will spare you the details on what happens when your small intestine is damaged but I had to stick to a liquid diet for two weeks and avoid dairy. At least I could eat toast. I believe I contracted this illness due to food poisoning at a local Huddle House.

I find it strange that in winter I wear more dark clothes and in summer I wear lighter clothes. 'Lighter' as in shade, not weight.


Until next time.

I Am Not A Superhero...

...just trying to do little things that might make the world a bit better.

During my life thus far, I will try to help people when it seems safe and within my ability to assist them. When I was in college, if I saw someone with their vehicle's hood open, I would drive by and ask if they needed help. This one particular time, I saw a group of kids trying to push start a manual car. I drove by and said I have some jumper cables if you need some help. They accepted my offer and we got this stranger's jeep up and running.

Another time, I was just getting off work at student orientation. I was walking to my car and this woman came up to me and asked if I had any jumper cables. She mentioned that this was her daughter's car and she did not know how it worked. But I tried starting the car and it was dead. I cannot recall what car she had but I had to pull out the manual to figure out how to open the hood. The lever was not in the usual place or it was unmarked. Nevertheless, she and I had a small conversation about college. Soon her daughter showed up and I recognized her from the orientation. We talked for a while as I worked on the car. To jump her car it was a little tough. Mostly because both our car batteries were on the drivers side and I could not park in front of her due to a sidewalk and drop off. I had to park as close as I could to her to jump the car but we got it up and running. They both thanked me and the mother wanted to give me some money. I stepped back with my hands up "Oh no ma'am, I don't ... " as she shoved the money in my front shirt pocket (I knew I did not like shirts with pockets. Although my Dad liked shirts with pockets) "... but I appreciate it."

My cousin and I were painting the living room this summer. It was a hot summer day and this young man came knocking at the door asking for some tools to work on his truck and some water. I asked if he knew what tools he needed and he was not sure about exact wrench sizes, but he said I could come with him if he was afraid that he was going to steal my tools. I was not sure what to do. The risk of going off with a stranger or the risk of letting him borrow tools that he may not return. So, I took a chance. I gave him a glass of water and grabbed my tools. We only went down the road near the next house where his friend was looking at the engine. I gave him my tool box and I stood by my truck away from them while they worked on their truck. It took them about ten minutes to get their truck running and they asked if they could stop by the house and get more water. They had bottles they gave me and I went inside to fill up their bottles. They thanked me and we had a small chat about what was up the road and how long we have lived here.

At the wonderful world of Wal-Mart, I was at the checkout line while the clerk was bagging my items. As she would rotate the carousel, I would remove my bag and pull open the new bag ready for use. She noticed this and commented that she appreciated me helping her out, how much trouble they have with those bags, and asked if I had worked at a Wal-Mart before. If you are wondering, no, I have never worked at a Wal-Mart.

People are lazy and leave their shopping carts where ever they feel like putting them. If I see a stray cart as I am going into a store, I will grab it and either drop it off at the area where you normally pick up a cart or I will use it myself. And as I leave, if I see a stray cart, I will grab one and take it to the cart return not to mention that I will straighten out the carts and push them together if required. Not only are there lazy people, but there are one-uppers. I saw this guy going around collecting ALL the carts and taking them up to the store. I assumed he was not an employee because he was not wearing an orange vest or any uniform of any kind. However, he did have to chase a cart across the parking lot. I found that humorous.

There was this girl I knew when I attended community college. She was in my sophomore level Chemistry lab. I never really talked to her much until my lab partner and her lab partner dropped out of the class. So, one day when we were in lab, I motioned to her to partner up with me since our original partners went AWOL. She attended a different lecture for Chemistry but we had the same teacher. It was the week of final exams and I had already taken my chemistry final. She mentioned that she had to make a certain grade on the final exam to receive a C in the class so that she can get into nursing school. I told her that I would help her study if she wanted some help.
"You'd help me study even though you've already taken your final exam?" She asked.
"Yes" I replied.
Throwing her arms around me she exclaimed "I love you!"
We exchanged numbers and set aside a time us to meet at the library for the next day.
I remember that she brought animal cookies even though food was not allowed in the library. I knew some tricks about chemistry that she did not know about. I cannot recall how long we studied but her test was the next day.
Two weeks later I received a call from Beka stating that she indeed made a C in chemistry and was accepted into nursing school. Who knows, maybe some day she will be treating me. It is a small world after all.


I live by the "Pay it Forward" mantra.

Just be sure to tell Lois that I'm always around.

Dreams of Parallel Worlds

Do parallel worlds exist. Are the dreams we have when we slumber a peek into a parallel world; or just fragmented memories blended together.

Well, I had a dream last night. About my Dad. But it was where we used to live in Arizona. In our 4000 square foot stucco house that I miss so much. I have had plenty of dreams about that house. But I remember being at that house in Arizona with Dad on his death bed. In this dream (or that world), we never left Arizona. I remember Mom came into my room because Dad wanted to talk to me. I cannot recall exactly what we talked about, but the world I was in was given away as a dream when Dad asked, "How did you react when I died the first time?" I cannot recall what occurred afterward.

Nevertheless, dreams can be a strange phenomena. Whether just fragments of memories, subconscious thoughts, or visions of a parallel world, they will never cease to amaze me.

October 2009 Letter

Well, last time I wrote a monthly e-mail, it was September 19, 2008.  So, it's been over a year.  Far too long, yet it seems like it flew by like a turtle passing a snail in a race.  And yes, I have seen it.

So, here I am trying to restart my monthly letters - October 2009

Anywho,  what has happened in the past year.

Well, in December of 08, we (Mom, my aunt, and I) went to Buenos Aires, Argentina to make a Spanish educational film.  We stayed with aunt's friend.  In short, production was less than productive, buy hey, we learned a lot and we somehow managed to get it filmed.  Although, I have to pull a bunch of rabbits out of my hat to get it to somewhat work.  I am not saying it is terrible, but like I said, we learned a lot from the experience.  I was amazed that it was summer down there.  I knew it was summer because the earth is round and tilts on an axis.  But like with most things, it is more amazing when you experience it first hand.  We did get to sightsee a little bit, but mostly for filming.  I keep meaning to write about my adventure there, but I still have not gotten around to it. 

January 09 I became ill.  I thought I might have caught something in Argetina but it turned out to be Shingles.  Luckily for me, my chicken pox was not that severe and my shingles was mild (on the medical scale of: mild, moderate, severe).  I believe it lasted about a week and a half.  The doctor gave me 3 types of pain pills.  I tried one of the pills, became delirious (one of the side effects) so I quit taking them.  I remember waving at everything and talking to Benny a lot when I took the medication.  I heard that shingles are supposed to be quite painful.  To me it was not that painful, just annoying.  It was difficult to sleep and I did not get a lot of sleep.  I ate soup most of the time and lost 5 pounds.  The shingles were on the left side of my head and neck.  I did research shingles and I know a lot about it.  Hopefully, I will not get them again.

Sometime in the past year, we finally got Grandpa out of our house and back into his house.  I cannot remember all the details of who was taking care of him at the time because no one tells me what is going on.  Sometime in there he broke his hip simply by lifting his leg to put his shoe on.  Surgery went well, but he did develop a staff infection.  He recovered from that and eventually Mom's brother Nathan is currently taking care of him.

Early July we started fixing up the house.  Painting it and cleaning it.  I tell you what, you never really know how dirty your house is until you really really clean it.  I cleaned the windows here and the rag I was using was just back as night!  I believe since cleaning the windows, the house is 45% brighter inside, haha.  We were going to paint all the rooms a white with a hint of blue.  However, my aunt had a better idea to coordinate colours and what not.  I have read opinions on what color you should paint your walls when you want to sell your house.  Some say plain white, some say coordinate colours.  Me, I am just the worker.  I will paint it striped if you want. Poka-dots even.  As long as it sells, I did my job.  The main floor is a type of pink (burnt rose or something), front bedroom is a type of off white with blue tint, master bedroom is a mint green, and upstairs is a yellow.  All colours a pastel mind you.  It looks pretty good.  I tell you what though, I first started painting with a drop cloth and lots of taping things.  I have excelled where I only need to tape the baseboards and I do not have to use a drop cloth.  But I still put one down where I am working "just in case".  The first room I painted took about 2 to 3 hours.  Now, take that same size room and I can paint it in about 1.5.  But most of everything, we have been doing ourselves with help from my aunt and her son.  We have had some paid help also, some friends from the fair to do outside work.  Mom told me I would not have to do any outside work, but the weather is too nice not to because fall is here.  The house is already on the market, but not being shown because my big room upstairs is not done.  Hopefully it will be done by next week.  Then we can tidy up the living areas a wee bit more and get it ready for show.

Last month, I attended the Travel Channel Academy.  It was a 4 day film 'bootcamp'.  I went in there expecting not to learn much about editing.  I did learn a few new tips about editing and filming, but what I found value in the most was how to make a story.  Everything was based on short-form production.  It was tough but I learned some things.  Another thing is that we have access to the Travel Channel where we can sell them our short videos.  I had some ideas in my head on what to film while I was there, but did not write them down so I have to re-idea them again.  BAH.  On that note, I had to get a new computer to go to the academy.  Which meant that Mom got a new computer.  If you do not know, I use Apple so Mom got my old Apple Computer.  We bought Parallels with it and another Windows XP disc.  Which means that I can use Windows XP on an Apple Computer.  Parallels integrates XP within OS X (OSX is Apple's operating system whereas Windows XP is Microsoft's operating system).  I am going to stop there in case I have already gone over your head.  lol  So, my new computer is a Macbook Pro.  It is a laptop that is quite powerful and is considered a desktop replacement.  Ever since I have had it, my old G5 desktop has not been used much [sad face], haha.

And that is about all I can think of.  Yup, I ended the previous sentence in a preposition.  How would I reword that not to end it in a preposition.  Not know, do I.  Anyway, as for me, this month, I need to get my things in order to apply to grad schools, take the GRE test, and contact my contacts to get recommendation letters.  SIGH.  I hope to pursue a Master's in Film so someday I can make a documentary about my great-great-great-great Grandfather Chief Menawa who fought Andrew Jackson in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. Whew!  that was a long sentence.  Let me catch my breath.

Anywho, I have a blog if you are interested in reading it.  It is at tangentdave.blogspot.com.  I will continue to write these monthly letters, but the blog will have stuff in between.  Oh, you can even view my projects that I did at the Travel Channel Academy at my blog.  They are in there somewhere. 

Until next time

TCA VLogs

So, since I didn't make a vlog (Video Web Log) everyday like I wanted to, I thought I would talk about my days in four different videos. Enjoy.

Summary



TCA in DC - Day One


TCA in DC - Day Two


TCA in DC- Day Three


TCA in DC - Day Four


TCA Project One


TCA Project Two



Rosenblum's Blog
A link about TCA. I am actually in this picture: http://www.rosenblumtv.com/?p=3618

A link to a video that has our group's trainer: http://www.rosenblumtv.com/?p=3625

It's been a fun few days, but I am ready to return home.