99 Things meme

{Nicked from Mosher, but if he really misses it he can have it back.}

I hope some of you will follow along. If you do, please link back to this post. OK, let me lay out how it works.

Everyone uses the same list of 99 Things.
You will want to remove any brief comments I've added. {They will look like this.}
Feel free to add brief comments of your own.
Change the font of each item as follows:

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to: leave in plain font

99 Things

1. started your own blog {This one should be obvious}


2. slept under the stars


3. played in a band {an elementary school band, but still...}


4. visited Hawaii


5. watched a meteor shower


6. given more than you can afford to charity {It was not much at the time, but it still left me short on bus fare.}


7. been to Disneyland/world


8. climbed a mountain


9. held a praying mantis


10. sang a solo {Trust me, no one wants this.}


11. bungee jumped


12. visited Paris


13. watched a lightning storm at sea


14. taught yourself an art from scratch {Balloon sculpture if you are curious.}


15. adopted a child {Under the right circumstances this would change to a "want to"}


16. had food poisoning


17. walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty


18. grown your own vegetables


19. seen the Mona Lisa in France


20. slept on an overnight train {And it wasn't in a sleeping car.}


21. had a pillow fight


22. hitch hiked


23. taken a sick day when you’re not ill


24. built a snow fort


25. held a lamb


26. gone skinny dipping


27. run a marathon {Walk one maybe.}


28. ridden a gondola in Venice


29. seen a total eclipse {Solar and Lunar}


30. watched a sunrise or sunset


31. hit a home run


32. been on a cruise


33. seen Niagara Falls in person {And want to again.}


34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors


35. seen an Amish community


36. taught yourself a new language {Only if you count computer languages.}


37. had enough money to be truly satisfied {Didn't want or need as much as a kid.}{Never as an adult.}


38. seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person


39. gone rock climbing


40. seen Michelangelo’s David in person


41. sung karaoke


42. seen Old Faithful geyser erupt in person


43. bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant {OK, it was coffee and a muffin in a diner.}


44. visited Africa


45. walked on a beach by moonlight


46. been transported in an ambulance {After the worst of my car accidents.}


47. had your portrait painted


48. gone deep sea fishing


49. seen the Sistine Chapel in person


50. been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris


51. gone scuba diving or snorkeling


52. kissed in the rain


53. played in the mud


54. gone to a drive-in theatre


55. been in a movie {See an earlier post.}


56. visited the Great Wall of China


57. started a business {It didn't last.}


58. taken a martial arts class


59. visited Russia


60. served at a soup kitchen


61. sold girl scout cookies


62. gone whale watching


63. gotten flowers for no reason


64. donated blood


65. gone sky diving


66. visited a Nazi concentration camp


67. bounced a cheque


68. flown in a helicopter


69. saved a favourite childhood toy


70. visited the Lincoln memorial


71. eaten caviar


72. pieced a quilt {OK, an explanation here... My mother and Grandmother made a lot of quilts and occasionally would ask me to help them layout pieces, and always asked me to help them stretch them for the actual quilting.}


73. stood in Times Square


74. toured the Everglades


75. been fired from a job


76. seen the changing of the guard in London


77. broken a bone {It was even mine.}


78. been on a speeding motorcycle


79. seen the Grand Canyon in person


80. published a book


81. visited the Vatican


82. bought a brand new car


83. walked in Jerusalem


84. had your picture in the newspaper


85. read the entire bible


86. visited the White House


87. killed and prepared an animal for eating


88. had chickenpox


89. saved someone’s life {I hope I'm not in a situation where someone's life needs saving.}


90. sat on a jury {Called several times, never picked.}


91. met someone famous {Bill Cosby, Lee Aaron, and Willie Nelson for a start.}


92. joined a book club


93. lost a loved one


94. had a baby {As the father, not getting pregnant myself.}


95. seen the alamo in person


96. swum in the great salt lake


97. been involved in a law suit


98. owned a cell phone


99. been stung by a bee

So that gives us totals of:

44 Things I have done.
37 Things I would like to do.
18 Things I have not done and could do without.

What have you got?

4 Hours

That's how much sleep I managed to get last night, or should I say this morning. 4 Hours. And that started a LOT later than I had really wanted. Late enough that it might have been better to get none at all.

It was just past 5AM when I published my last post and tried to get to sleep. It didn't work and I tried different things that I thought might help, none of them did.

So around 7AM I gave up and got in the shower. That at least made me feel somewhat better and I started thinking about what I'd have for breakfast. Then I woke up about 4 hours later.

As I check the clock now, it is 1:38AM and feel a lot more awake than I would like.

Good thing I picked up some generic form of Tylenol PM. I'll be trying that out in a few minutes to see if it helps me get to sleep before 2AM tonight. Good thing I don't have to get up early tomorrow.

...

Oh, and as for the phone call(s) I was talking about last night...

None got made today. In fact, I didn't talk to anyone I know today. I barely spoke to anyone at all.

When I got out and around this afternoon I constantly found myself either in a lot of traffic or a crush of bodies. Neither of which I seemed to be equipped to deal with today. I was only able to keep a pleasant demeanour when I kept my mouth shut.

When I went to say anything I found myself ready to tell people what I really thought about being knocked around by the crowds trying to beat each other to the best sales. However, if I kept my mouth shut I was able to smile and be pleasant. {OK, it might not have been much of a smile but it was more than anyone else seemed to be wearing.}

And to quote Jimmy Stewart's character of Elwood P. Dowd in the movie "Harvey":

My mother used to say to me ... "In this world you need to be very, very smart, or very, very pleasant."

I've been smart. I recommend pleasant.

Not quite the same circumstances, but something to keep in mind. {And a movie well worth watching if you haven't already seen it.}

I think I've begun to ramble. So I'm off to take the PM and head to bed.

Wish me luck.

What Am I Doing?

It's 4:00AM and I am sitting here at the computer when I should be sleeping. But I wasn't able to sleep earlier. I'll be trying again shortly, hopefully with better results.

I've spent the last couple of hours trying to figure out if any one I know is located in a time zone that I could call without causing panic. No one expects anything but bad news when their phone rings after midnight.

I really wanted to talk to someone. But I didn't NEED to talk to someone. If I had I know there are a couple of people who would have forgiven the late call.

Well, I'll make a call or two over the weekend when I'm ready to talk.

...

I should mention here that I'm not looking for anyone to call me. In fact there is a good chance that my phone will be off this weekend if I'm not making calls myself.

Unfortunately there are things about this that I can't write about here due to promises I made.

Yes, this is some of the heavy stuff alluded to a couple of posts ago which has been on my mind.

...

And it is now past 5:00AM and I am going to go try to get a couple of hours sleep.

Seven Random Things

I don't know if any of you noticed, but this site was down for a couple of days at the start of this week. I am using the Custom Domains feature of Blogger and made a few changes. Apparently a couple of those changes worked together to confuse the system and things stopped working.

I got the issues straightened out and things seem to be working correctly again.

...

I was tagged by Ricardipus and so it is time to give you:

Seven Random Things About WyldWoods

1. I was driving by the time I was 11 years old. This was largely because I spent a lot of time in the country and working relatives farms when I was a kid and needed to take my turn driving the trucks and tractors while we were bailing hay, gathering the harvest, etc.


2. I have stuck my foot into both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. I swam in the Atlantic a lot growing up in Nova Scotia but have never been west of Niagara Falls in my home country of Canada. I have however been on both coasts in the United States.
   


3. I have been to more than one Tractor Pull as well as a Monster Truck show. And I enjoyed all of them.
   


4. I had to wear a back brace for almost two years. For the second half of the 5th grade through to the first month or two of the 7th grade. Narrowly avoided back surgery.
   


5. I have been hit by a car. I was riding my bike when a car hit the front of the bike, completely mangling it and throwing me across the hood. The driver didn't stick around.
   


6. My father died when I was 21. I am now 40 and I still miss him.
   


7. I worked at a mental hospital for 2 years. From what I saw there I can say that some of the patients were more sane than a lot of the staff.
   

So, that's seven and that's all I have for tonight. Mostly because it is almost midnight and I need to get some sleep.

Peace.

Oh, and I guess I'm supposed to tag others. Well, it's late and I can't think of anyone in particular, so I guess I'll say anyone who reads this who hasn't already done it. {If you link your post back to this one it will make it easier for me to find them.}

A Day of Remembrance

Today is Remembrance Day. At least it is at home, and several other places I could name, but it isn't here. Here it is Veteran's Day. The big difference between the days being that around here nobody really seemed to notice, other than the school children who spent the day running around or playing video games.

In the past I have posted "In Flander's Fields" and "The Fields of Flanders" and I once posted some thoughts about people who serve.

Today I have been thinking about my family and friends who have served / are serving.

Lest We Forget...

...

But what about those times we can't stop remembering?

For a few weeks now I have not been able to get certain people out of my mind. Some are people who have passed out of my life for one reason or another, while a few of them have passed out of this world entirely.

I think I miss the ones that are still here more. I know that I will not be able to talk to the others again while I am still here.

There is more to say, but I can't say it yet. I'm just not ready.

...

Oh, and I know I've been tagged by Ricardipus but it is getting late and I desperately need to get some sleep. I'll get it posted within the week.

Maurice Foxx ( 1948 - 2008 )

Maurice was a good man and a great friend. Who, over the years, told people that he didn't think there would be more than a handful of people at his funeral.

Well, his funeral was held on Wednesday and there were more than a handful of people there. In fact there were hundreds and it was standing room only in the foyer once all the seats (and several spaces on the floor) were taken long before the receiving line was complete.

Several people, both family and friends, spoke and by the end there was not a dry eye in the place. I know I was brought to tears several times during the service.

And then in was over.

And then we found out that his family and his tribe were leaving to spread his ashes and they had decided this ceremony would be open to his friends as well if they wished to attend. Which we very much did.

So we all headed out to a relatively quiet section of beach where the tribe performed a cleansing ceremony {They smudged everyone} and prepared for the final part of the ceremony in which Maurice's daughters took his ashes, got in a canoe with two rowers, one of whom was also Maurice's son, and started rowing out into the ocean. However Maurice got the last laugh.

The canoe was sitting very low in the water, much too low for the height of the waves, and as they rowed out the canoe kept taking on water as the waves broke over the gunnels.

By the time the canoe was out almost out to where his ashes would be spread it was completely swamped. And then another wave hit and the canoe went over. The people who had been in the canoe were now hanging onto the canoe while one of Maurice's daughters shook the skin, which had been used to wrap the ashes, over head and let the wind spread the ashes behind them.

Once everyone on the beach was sure that those in the water were safe there was much whooping. This was accompanied by a lot of cheering, laughter, and shouts of "Maurice never would have wanted to go in by himself."

It certainly lightened the mood, and reminded everyone of the sense of humour Maurice had, and his good nature.

He will be sorely missed.

Not The Fresh Start I Was Looking For

I know it has been six months since I last posted and a lot happened in those months. However, I am not going to get into all of it right now. I wanted a fresh start on this journal.

Unfortunately, this fresh start is going to be a sad note as I will be going to Cape Cod for a funeral tomorrow.

Thursday night a very good friend of mine passed away. About a week after surgery on his neck, while recovering at home, he died from complications from said surgery. The Cape Cod Times published an article about him.

...

That aside, I am back and I am posting.

Hopefully with happier news from here on out.

Adding Injury To Insult

My weekend was uneventful. At first because of the pain, then because of the Vicoden.

I had a tooth get very painful very fast requiring an emergency call to my dentist. Once I had described everything to him, he said it sounded like the tooth had developed an abscess and suggested a treatment of antibiotics for a day to make the it easier on everyone when he treated the abscess.

He also said he would give me a painkiller to help get me through.

So, I went to the pharmacy to pick up the prescriptions and picked up a one week supply of Amoxicillin and a two day supply of Vicoden.

The Vicoden wiped out the pain, but it pretty much wiped me out as well. The rest of the weekend was spent feeling half asleep.

...

It was drilled and drained this morning, but due to how inflamed the nerve was, it could not be completely numbed. In fact the dentist had to give me an extra injection directly into the pulp and nerve of the tooth after it had been drilled.

Try to avoid this is you can. It is even more painful than it sounds.

But the Pulpectomy was completed and once the rest of the infection is treated I get to go back to complete the root canal.

Wheeeeee...

Tell Me Something Good

I need to write something, but it's a document completely unconnected to this journal.

I also need to write a long rant here but I can't yet. Things are still happening and I can't say anything until it all shakes out.

Several days have been wrecked...

The faith I had been rebuilding in humanity took a big blow...

I was reminded of just how much crazy is out there and that you better be DAMN sure before you trust anyone.

...

I did get some of the rant out of my system talking to my brother. Enough that I think I'll be able to sleep tonight.

My insomnia has been acting up lately, and with all the adrenalin that was flowing through my system I didn't think I'd be able to sleep before March.

...

I don't like writing posts that are quite this cryptic. I'll try to have some real information in my next post. Probably not about this, not that soon, but about something.

In the meantime...

Let me know there is still good out there somewhere. Leave a comment with something to make a person smile.

I'll try to at least manage a smirk.

** Hack ** Wheeze ** Snort ** Gasp **

I've been coughing and wheezing for several days now. I caught a nasty cold which has completely filled my sinuses as well as kept me coughing. There were even a couple of mornings I woke up to a tightness in my chest due to trouble breathing. I have been very careful to make sure I use 12-hour decongestant before bed. No more of this 4-hour sh*t stuff.

Not being able to breathe properly, or at all at times, through my nose has done wonders for my throat. My voice has gotten raspy and threatened to leave.

So, I took it easy this weekend. In fact I didn't even leave my apartment yesterday. Just rested, read, and watched some DVDs.

And shivered.

Not a lot, but some. And only partly because I was cold. {Yes, I was cold. This will mean more to some of you.}

I still needed to rest today, but I also had to work on a couple of projects with approaching deadlines. Splitting the difference, I worked from home.

...

On another note, 3 out of the last 8 nights I have woken up between 3 and 4AM after tossing and turning trying to get to sleep.

I hate insomnia.

And it's that much worse when you need rest to get over a sinus cold.

What about Bill?