Trying Something New

Over the years we have placed Aimee in different types of classes and training. Currently she is in Aikido but in the past she has taken drawing lessons through the Monart program and through ASU. For awhile now I have been asking that she take some sort of shooting discpline. Jill of course was abhorrent to this at first. She has always been dead set against guns. I don't want Aimee to shoot because I like guns, I want her to shoot because my father and myself have demonstrated a talent for hand eye coordination that has manifested itself through shooting sports. In the Army I was a top notch shooter, never shooting below a 36 out of the 40 required for the 4 years that I was in. And of course over the last few years I have continued to shoot skeet and when focused do a pretty good job at it. I tried to prep both of them about the Junior Olympic program here in Arizona, they would have none of it. Standing smallbore, air rifle, air pistol, biathalon, all denied. The wanted noting to do with weapons, and I understand. Violence and weaponry in society are all too prevalent and a dangerous thing. I've only wanted Aimee to take up some sort of shooting sport because I know that she has the focus and the talent to do well at anything that she does plus the talent of my father and myself at a hand-eye coordination sport. I wouldn't care if it was darts or tiddly-winks, as long as she got practice at something. Well, it turns out that the Chandler Community Center offered Archery this summer and Jill signed Aimee up. We've gone twice now, Aimee is having some problems with the recurve bow that is larger than her (literally), and after a few rounds she begins to tire from the pull of the bow. She manages to hit the target with regularity and a few times now has hit the center 10 ring. Not bad for a little scoot. I take her every weekend and we may take a second class in the summer. I've already primed the pump about the Junior Olympic Archery Division program for girls from ages 7 to 12 that meets at the same range about an hour earlier. We'll see, for now we’re just having fun.

A Minion of MINIs

We went to a MINI Cooper rally this weekend. I had reserved a space ahead of time not realizing that it was a car show. When I pulled up I was directed away from the parking lot and into the show. The security guards moved the cones and we were asked to park somewhere on the showgrounds next to the show cars. This was embrassing to say the least. We use the car for everyday use, so when we pulled up it was filled with our stuff like jackets, empty drink containers and various papers. "Quick, hide everything!" Jill blurted out. "Crap, I didn't even wash the car," I replied. I saw a space inbetween two other pepper white Coopers and backed in. After stashing everything in the trunk it didn't look so bad. It was a good time looking at all of the other MINIs and talking to other owners about their cars. Aimee was running around looking at all of the different cars and settled on a purple Cooper S as her favorite. Next time I go to one of these things I'll wash the car.

Migraines

For the past few years my migraines have been acting up, pretty badly. I've always had headaches, but in later years these headaches have been catagory 5 in size. It's hard to relate what it is like to have a migraine to somebody that has never had one. Most people empathize, but never truly understand because they think that migraines are just frequent headaches.
When providing an example of what I am going through I usually use a 1 to 10 scale with 10 being the worst. When it is really bad I use the Transmorgafier example. A Transmorgafier is an imaginary device that takes pain and and transfers the pain to another person or entity so that they can understand what the person is going through or they can assimilate the pain for awhile so that the original sufferer can have a break. The example that I use is if there were a small poodle attached to the device, the poodle would be dead. This example often works and the person that I am talking to usually understands.

I also like to use the wine critique to explain the sensation. It gives a bit more depth to the pain:

This headache is powerfull and full-bodied, with hints of cutting and burning toward the frontal lobes and the added sensation of swelling of the brain. It's kinda like a small dwarf with razor blades for skates doing figure-eights on your brain.

This also works for most, you can see the light go off in their head and they just walk away upon hearing this.

Aversion Therapy

A little sign I made to help me stay away from the snack machine. Not that it matters, the vending company has just changed to strawberry which I consider a substandard flavor.