I love to blog

I have to restrain myself sometimes to keep from blogging more than I think is wise. After all, we want to be read if possible, so I try to space my entries to that end. Today my son Dan is coming over to put my converter box and a new digital antenna to good use. I have waited until the last day. I made a trip to Walmart on Wednesday when I found out I needed a digital antenna. Hopefully everything is going to work. I needed to get this done before Dan left for Utah, as he is my go to man when it comes to electronics. I am going to miss him when he is gone! But he seems to be looking forward to a cool summer in Utah working with his brother Raymond.
My son Gary called again yesterday elated because 3 jobs they bid on in the city came in. He was just coming back from looking at a job in Prescott. Bidding on a job takes experience and good judgment to be able to get the bid and make some money on it. But he has been working in this kind of construction for 35 years now, and his experience is invaluable to a company. But he said both of his ex-wives were in trouble because of the close to a million dollar houses they both bought when they were feeling rich. His first wife, mother of his children, made money when real estate was booming. Now she is going to have to sell her big house. He said he would have to keep his last wife in food money until their house sold. They have a buyer if they can get the loan to buy. Gary will immediately buy a considerably smaller house with his first wife as the broker, which will be the best way to go when he gets his money out of the big house. His first wife retired but has had to go back to work again.
I know Raymond is very busy right now building on the set and preparing for his two performances of his show this month in Boulder. Dan is going to try to get to Utah in time to run the special effects for him. This will be the first time Dan has spent any time in Boulder for a long time. He is going to go and connect with his roots, since his ancestor was one of the first homesteaders in the valley. They are going to talk about who homesteaded Boulder in the festival this year and who have been recent property owners. I know a lot of Boulder property owners are going to be very interested in this topic. They are still researching and will bring out a book to sell at the festival in a couple of years. This will be the second book to come out of their subjects for the festival. The last one was on School Days in Boulder. They want Dan to work on the foundation web site, too, as he is good at that.
We got bad news in the complex for those of us who go in the big swimming pool on a regular basis. It is going to be closed for repairs for at least 5 weeks! It's very hard to walk in 110 degree heat which hits us almost immediately in the morning.
I uploaded another video of my play, Prince from Saturn, today. Doc can't wait for me to get done with this series so he can get back to work. I think being laid off has been good for him. Taught him a little bit of a lesson on just how unraveled he can be when he reads my play on video. I have another play I want him to read down the road aways playing my dad and a country outlaw boyfriend, a history play on how outlaw men act in that country. The public has always loved the outlaws of the wild west, but I want them to see how they act close up and personal, and maybe they won't glamorize them quite so much.
I think that is why women are so often taken advantage of by the bad guys, because of how they are perceived in the movies. I refer you to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Butch was born and raised 60 miles from where I was, and I imagined him as lot more scary character than Paul Newman played him. In the first place, he was undoubtedly a bisexual, holing up with a bunch of men for days on end, drinking with them. In fact I think in the early days the homosexual probably thought of himself as someone who could never be accepted, even should he have been born that way. I say whether he had the gene or grew up under the influence of older outlaws, he was not going to be able to help what he was. So you might say some of these men considered themselves 'born' outlaws. These are the men I have studied all my life and have written about many times.

Dante makes a video by himself--and other matters

Dante wanted to come for one last visit before he goes to California on his summer vacation and his dad, my son Dan, goes to Utah to help Raymond put on his show. He wanted to make a video, so I suggested that he really do it by himself this time and gave him a few suggestions. He was ready. He ran the camera and made this video, the content of which rather surprised me. But you got to remember Dante was the only kid for years in his mother's family, so he started life off talking like a teenager which his mother was. Dan came home from the navy after 3 years and being my youngest had not been around any little kids. It is funny how kids will talk raised that way. He has made me laugh a lot of times with what he would come up with. Anyway this video made me laugh and Doc wanted him to come down and see himself on his big screen TV. That was quite startling, but I think Dante is getting more comfortable with performing on camera and now he is getting ideas about what he wants to talk about! Enjoy. (I did not try to censor him for fear of dampening his creative fires, I just said no swearing, obscenity, etc.)

Read Cowboys and Bohemians, Raymond's blog, to get an account of how he and his truck met up with a deer on a mountain road and the truck was much the worse for it. I called his other brother Gary to tell him, and he had rather good news. They have received and accepted an offer on their big house which was keeping Gary broke to pay the mortgage on it, when his ex wife ran out of money and couldn't get a job. Gary had been on a tour of smaller Arizona cities checking out jobs he could bid on. The company he works for is going out of town now to keep in jobs. Dan's job is slowing almost to a standstill in July, so he decided to take a leave of absence and go to Utah. So that's the family job report.
I watched a good horse race at the Belmont Stakes. Mine that Bird was quite fractious when he was making his walk. I thought oh, oh, he is using up precious energy, and I think that he may have gotten overanxious about winning after two big races and much hoopla to the point it affected the win for him, but he has still run 3 very good races. I thought the jockey on Summer Bird handled that horse extremely well and deserved the win.
Sunday night I watched the Tonys on Doc's big TV screen which is the only way to see the big musical numbers in this show. The "Hair" revival won and they had a wild number. I enjoyed all the performances very much. I was surprised to see that Constantine who got kicked off early on American Idol got a nomination in a Rock Musical, so he proved he has talent right there. Doc drank too much, so this will not be a regular occurrence, watching on his TV. I will go back to strictly morning visits.
I have put a new blog on my blog list you might visit as this person has written a very lucid discussion of the recent murder of George Tiller. Her blog is called No Apology Round 2. I have also placed a link on my blog list to another video about this matter done by Illuminati Truth. He is black and I think he brings up many objections he has to legalized abortion that I share.

Dante's summer plans

Dante said Grandma I want to come over to your house and make a video. He said he wanted to do a monologue but had to think about it. After two hours he decided he could not be ready with a monologue this time so he told me to interview him. I always interrogate him when he comes to visit me to find out about his life, so he is used to that format! Doc said his grandma did not do that. I thought all grandmas interrogated their grandsons and tried to get us much infor out of them as possible in the interests of heading off trouble.
By the way Dante is the same age his dad was in the Prince of Saturn. Dan is Johnny, of course. Now he has a son the same age he was at that rather stressful time in our lives. I am happy that Dante has a dad while Dan's Dad he has only seen about twice. He never interacted with him. I would call him and Dante friends, so that is a plus for both of them!

Laying the groundwork with Dante...

All during Dante's visit with me during which he kept his video games going, I insisted on talking to him about a lot of subjects, telling him he needed to think about these issues in order to become a good video partner.
Actually I was very surprised that his mind was quite open and he expressed some emotions as we went along, as this was the first time I have actually discussed my issues with him, especially to do with legalized abortion and politics and such, but I think he is realizing that with his teen years he is old enough to get involved, so he is listening. His first video has already garnered 44 hits on my video blog. See my channel on the bloglist on Youtube. It is gerryking40. So I decided to upload one more that we did. I could not fully get his attention on a longer one, so I told him the next time he came we had to do some videos first with no distractions, before he could even go to the computer. He always acts as though he just does not get enough computer time, so he comes to my house to do some catching up, knowing if that is what he really wants to do, I won't curb him. As I tell him on the second video dealing with his obssession with video games I have my way of limiting the frequency of his visits. He never noticed as he expects to spend most of his time with his dad doing stuff with him. He takes him to do fun things like play paintball and to the movies and so on. His dad is always buying books for him as Dante has developed his taste for books his dad likes, science fiction and such. Before Dan started writing movie scripts he was always writing science and fanstasy fiction.
When I went down to Doc's this morning he had denigrating things to say about the two Dante videos as well as some shorter ones Dante filmed of himself playing his video game. Dante told me a kid he knows did this and got a bunch of hits on Youtube. But after I saw it, I told him I did not think it was a good enough video to put on Youtube. But I think Doc was stricken with feelings of jealousy, so could not bite a nasty tongue. I got very mad at him as I said that he, Doc, refused to take the first step in being able to interact with my family, which is stop being a drunk. So he subsided. I must say Dante was more alert than he is when it comes to issues and was doing more and better thinking than Doc does who cannot be convinced how much his constant boozing hurts his problem solving. He usually just settles for being the court jester. Doc knew very well I was right, but he raises doubts in my mind about his attitudes when he talks like that. He is probably too judgmental when he is sober, too, especially when it comes to young minds.
You can't be too critical of the young as it hurts their just emerging confidence in themselves, which is one reason I put the kabosh to Doc interacting with my family. I think Doc gets very bored with his isolation, but that is his choice. I also went home not long after we started watching the football game together, as he always has to make sure I know that sports events are not his thing. He has more intellectual pursuits. While I have always thought that going out for sports was just a healthy thing to do and can only give a thinker more stamina and vigor.
I even discussed the lost boys of Sudan with Dante as I had just read a novel called What is the What by Dave Eggers about the horrible treatment in southern Sudan of these boys who started walking in the thousands first to Ethiopa and then finally to a UN refuge camp in Kenya. The United States finally agreed to take some of these boys here, some of whom came to Phoenix. And guess what the Circle K in downtown Phoenix where Dante and I go all the time has employed several of these 'lost' boys of Sudan from time to time. There is one working there now. I have got so I can recognize them since I also have a grandson whose father was from Sudan, but he comes from the northern big city of Khartoum, and the Khartoum Sudanese with their Arabic blood looked down on the southern Sudanese who lived mostly in small villages and without the Arabic blood were darker. It was the same old thing even there of lighter being better than darker. So after the British left without separating the two areas into different countries because the northern faction promised peace, a bad ruler broke that promise and was encouraged his soldiers to go into southern Sudan to loot and steal and even to enslave some of the people. They burned villages and many of the walking lost boys died of starvation, exhaustion, wild animals, drowning, etc. Many countries protested. The boy in the novel finds out later that his mother and dad and some of his family survived the slaughter, but it had been so many years since he was seperated he did not go back. Besides he did not have the money, as people soon forgot them in the US where he came as they might a new toy and they began to think that no one really cared about the lost boys of Sudan. The life of a refugee is never easy.
So when Dante comes again in a month or so, we will be making more videos. And we will cover such subjects. Doc is talking about rehab again but I will believe that when I see it. I also asked Dante if he wanted to go to Los Angeles with his dad and me to see his Uncle Raymond's new play, Bohemian Cowboy. He was enthusiastic, so I will buy the tickets for the three of us. I think it will be March before Dan can find a date for us to go. Dante can see the play and visit an aunt Stephanie he has over there. He has stayed with her in the summers many times. She is a saint. She is his grandfather's sister who was murdered when his mother was 6 years old, so Stephanie has always tried to make up for his absence from the world.

I love this card! Thanks, Connie!

This card is a Connie's Creation. She ferreted out my great love of horses, and has noticed I have done my best to make a cowboy out of Doc. Connie, if you will send me your address I will send you the Christmas gift I promised Doc's fans, a cowboy country album with him singing country-western and me doing my best even if it is the worst singing you have ever heard. Nelishia has requested that he sing David Allen Coe's sad country song about trying to get some gal just to remember his name, not knowing that is one of Doc's favorites to perform. He and I went a spate doing nothing but singing country western songs. We did it for hours. He announced that he was going to teach me to sing no matter how long it took. He finally let me off the hook, mercifully, realizing that some people just don't have the gift. That was before we got the camera. All we had was our recorder but we recorded lots of cassettes.
Today we made a series all about encouraging other couples to make videos of themselves. It is a wonderful way to meet people as a couple. I hope you will all get a camera cheap for Xmas and start making videos of whoever you are living with and sending them around to all of us, Youtube, and all your family and friends, especially if they don't live close. I think this is so much fun, and it has been Doc's most effective tool in getting me to see my faults. Of course I could always see his but was not convinced I had any. Then he sneaked the camera in position and turned it on a few times when I was on a rant, and lo, he had the proof. He admits that he artfully questioned me so I would hang myself with my own unpleasant words. I have got better (I think) as I don't want to look that bad ever again. He has made a believer out of me that a smile is good and a laugh is even better. A joke is more effective than a criticism that draws blood.
I love photos but I love videos even more. Lisa who does Please Don't Take Life for Granted has got everyone beat when it comes to videos. She has been taking them for years, and I think hers of her little 3 year old grandson Kayden drumming are some of the most precious. The new grandson is mighty handsome, too! I love another Lisa's photos and videos of the animals on her Bison Farm. Slideshows are my next favorite, and Kelli gets my first prize this month fo her Thanksgiving dinner for the soldiers slideshow and her quilt slideshow. I hope that she is all fired up for a Xmas slideshow, in case she does not get a video camera.
I love Donna's photos and videos (Hockey Mom) and have been checking out Guido's who has transferred his collection to Youtube. He takes the absolute prize for number of photos taken. Slideshows, etc. I have his link in my favorites. I have also listened to his audios as I like voices, too. Mary Jo of The Edge of Dementia has a video camera and digital one, too that she sometimes puts to good use, and she posts a lot of historical videos. Oh and Nelishia just put on a wonderful one of her little granddaughter Katie demonstrating her reading powess. I would love to see a video of her and Dirk, too, and of them singing. Bea and Jeanne make videos. Pam has photographed and videoed. Ann of Beauty in Art posts notable videos she finds on her blog. I am just crazy about all these forms of communication that just flesh out people and make them more real. So here is to a real good video year. Oh, and graphics are good, too, Connie, Donna, Missie, and all you devoted graphic artists. Oh, and I also must award a medal to Helen (Madcobug) who struggled up with bad back and outdoors to photograph the moon, a real good one, too. Well, all you great photographers deserve kudos for bringing more joy into our lives.
Oh yes, I am sorry but my sidebar fell down to the bottom, too. I think it is because my videos are perpetually too wide. So I guess I will have to leave them there, since I want to post the videos as big as they will go. Surprise! When I saved this entry, my sidebar jumped back to the top again, so it has got to be the wideness of the videos. So look for that sidebar to get dropsy now and then. Christmas is coming! I can feel Christmas in my bones.

Doc's hats inspire Connie!

Doc and I have been making another video on his long pants and my unpopularity. You only get to see about a tenth of our videos, as we enjoy making a series every few days. I have to put the rehabilitation of Doc above your capacity for seeing him in videos. He doesn't care if anyone looks. He just needs to make funny videos just like he needs to breathe. I accept the fact that it might take a lot of videos to turn his life around, but I know laughter is the key, enjoyment, acting, and reaching an audience at last even it is only two or three.
If you blog there is always a chance of two or three more reading it than just your family. I am trying to get my three other sisters to blog because that would mean three more readers and commenters in exchange for me reading and commenting on their blogs. They are going to need somebody!
My son Raymond used to be a faithful reader of my blog, (still is, he says) but now he is blogging, I am repaying the favor by being his most faithful reader and commenter. Just as I used to sit on the front row of every play production he ever did. People wanted to pay me to come to their plays because I was such a good laugher. You could not miss me, and my laugh made them feel good, like their plays were really funny. A comic writer needs laughers in his life desperately.
Raymond told me yesterday when he called that his two plays are going to run together, each two performances a week for 4 weeks. So if I can get to Los Angeles I can see both of them! That is exciting. Now I have to save for the trip. I hope my son Dan will be able to take me at least one way. I don't want him to lose his job, so I might even come back on the bus if necessary. Jobs are too hard to come by now days. I have seen Blue Baby twice but I want to see the Los Angeles production, too. I think running them both at the same time is an inspired idea. He has invited everyone to come to Los Angeles. Raymond knows he has to go out and beat the bushes for audience members once he gets a play up.
I know that all the AOL journalists are reading as many blogs as they can possibly handle. Some with a hundred or so on their list have even fallen behind. I came lately to the journaling world, so I don't expect miracles. Plus some have stopped journaling and some are in such poor health they can't even write a blog, except with practically their last breath. I am not going to expect those guys to read my blog.
Some I have found don't have broadband that enables them to watch videos as easily as I do. Dial-up just does not do it. So they are excused from reading my blog unless I just write, as my blog has become a good part videos thanks to the rehab I run. However Doc is my constant companion (when I can stand him) so I have to put a top priority on what works for him. I also don't like to send out alerts except when I get really excited about something we have done or somebody else in the family is doing like Raymond. So people don't know whether I will send an alert or just skip it. Anyway, you can see more of my thoughts on this subject, as well as Doc's cutting responses on the new video I will soon be able to embed here. It is uploading now.