Phoenix Rising

Man oh man, that was harder than I remembered. Just got done with the first draft of Dixie 45, and, well, it was certainly a challenge. Of course, a lot of life issues got in the way, delaying the release somewhat. Particularly tonight, as I attempt to de-anger myself after the fuckheads in the Boy Scouts really set me off. Anyway, Draft 1 of Dixie 45 is out to the writer, previous director and my assistant director/co-director however you want to phrase it.

Some of you may be aware that my son is a member of the Boy Scouts of America. Recently they went on a trip to the Antietam National Battlefield. This has led to some … interesting developments that have thrown me for a little bit of a loop, and thus my posting.

On the way down, evidently there was some friction between Austin and his ‘friend’ Brendan. Some of you may remember Brendan as a boy Austin made friends with several years ago, until Austin threw a snowball at a sign and it splattered on Brendan, at which point they “broke up” for like 2 years. This year, they finally became friends again. Until this trip. They rode down in Brendan’s mom’s car, and the stories differ here, but in summary Austin and Brendan so annoyed the third boy in the car (who I consider to be an excellent boy) that this boy on his own decided to switch seats so he was in the middle so he didn’t have to put up with the two of them poking and prodding and annoying each other. On the way back, Austin got stuck in a completely different car, without any entertainment because everything was in Brendan’s Mom’s car, for 4 hours with kids who didn’t know him and who were reading/playing the DS or something like that. So, 4 hours of boredom on the way back.

The time at the campsite was evidently fun enough. They took a tour of the battlefield, and one of the troop’s adult leaders discussed the history of the battlefield and of the Civil War. Or as the speaker might have considered saying, The War of Northern Aggression. In other words, a very Confederate States of America viewpoint. I discussed the history lesson with Austin on the way home from the meeting tonight (more on that in a minute) and his understanding was that the North unilaterally declared war on the South because they didn’t like slavery.

Of course, it’s not that simple. In fact, according to CivilWar.com, April 12, 1861 was the first shot fired in the war. By General Pierre Beauregard, of the Confederate States of America Army. That’s right, the South fired first. 7 days later, Lincoln orders blockades of Southern ports, limiting their logistic support, thus severely damaging the CSA’s ability to fight the war, and in the end probably winning the war for the Union. Technically, the Union didn’t start aggressive action until Feb 22, 1862, when General Order #1 was enacted to have the Union Army begin offensive action against the CSA.

So, the history lesson is flat out lies. During the meeting tonight, they’re discussing the trip, and how it was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War (at least the bloodiest in the north, sayeth Wikipedia). The tactical victor of this battle is unclear, but the strategic victory was clearly that of the Union, as Lee retreated back to Virginia to lick his wounds and regroup. Lincoln used this ‘victory’ as political motivation to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. None of this is discussed in the meeting, but is given here for context. The Troop Leader, the adult in charge of the Troop, the big cheese, says as an aside, “The wrong side won.” In the context of the discussion, it’s my belief that that he was referring to the whole war, not this specific battle. In either case, it seems to indicate to me an agreement with the Confederates, not the Union.

In summary, the adults on the trip lied about who started the war and the troop leader is sympathetic to slave-owners.

I perhaps over-generously emailed the Adult Troop Leader, and asked him to clarify his remarks. I expect he will fail to justify them in a way that I find at all agreeable. In which case this last meeting was the last Boy Scout event Austin will attend.

1> Sleep is going well…not as well as I had hoped, but better than it was. I’m able to get up earlier, stay awake better (although not flawlessly). Random points out quite correctly that the CPAP is not a cure-all for the sleep problems I have, but it’s better than, say, NOT having it.

2> Pendant is interesting. Jeffrey is no doubt a little miffed that I’m already behind on my first episode, but there have been some ameliorating factors, to wit:

3> Austin just spent the weekend barfing his guts out. We took him to the hospital yesterday at 5PM, he got home at 11PM, after having fluids applied through an IV. This helped immensely, although he’s still not quite eating at full bore yet.

4> Work is busy as hell. I think my boss is trying to train me to his way of thinking. I’m not sure I want to live in that headspace, it’s very focused on a certain skillset I’m not sure I’m interested in having. But were I to move on to another larger company (say, one that starts with “Goo”) in a QA position, what I’m learning would be valuable.

5> My in-laws were in over Easter weekend, which of course is when both kids had this stomach thing (although Serena didn’t have it nearly as bad as Austin). So, while la femme took Austin to the hospital, I had to cook Easter dinner and pretend to be nice to the in-laws while we ate without those two. Blech.

6> In the middle of the year 2000, I acquired a TiVo in a contest where you had to write an essay and if you were one of ten people picked per day, you got a free TiVo. Of course, you had to pay for the service, but the $250 buy-in was taken care of. Well, that TiVo is STILL KICKING. I had to call tech support to address a channel line-up issue tonight, and the guy was all ‘Holy crap, series 1? Dude, have you seen the new shit?’ (he didn’t use those words, but I could tell). I say that and I could be lying, as it’s failing to do a necessary task right now as part of the tech support incident I just mentioned. (ah, while I was typing this, it finished).

7> I have a lot of creative ideas kicking around in my head, none of which will probably come to fruition. There’s a Seminar short for Pendant, there’s a Mini-Series for Pendant, there’s a web game idea which would require months to years of programming to get to the level of complexity I desire, there’s a vague idea for a book (which will absolutely never happen), there’s a vague idea for an online D&D game in the Ptolus universe. I could go on, but I won’t.

8> Austin’s doing Boy Scouts and actually being motivated to do it. I still object strongly to a lot of their philosophy (for instance, the boy Must Practice Religion, and No Gays Allowed). But if he sticks with it through to Eagle Scout, it will no doubt be good for him.

9> The pets are doing pet-ly things. The cat seems to be interested in jumping like 3 feet in the air to get at reflections from the plant light, and the dog is intent upon wreaking puppylike havoc wherever he can.

10> La femme is the same as always. She’s trying out her newest hobby, cooking, which has led to some…interesting meals. She doesn’t start small. Her biggest dish so far in terms of complexity is probably beef bulgoki, a Korean dish like a burrito made in a lettuce leaf instead of a tortilla.

Anyway, that’s where it’s at right now.

For those of you following the continuing saga of the sleepytiger, I got my report when I got to the 2nd sleep study where they attached a mask to my nose and pumped air into my face. Here are the highlights from the report:

italics are from the first sleep center visit
normal text is my thoughts on the subject.

Patient slept for 354 minutes out of 442 minutes in bed for a sleep efficiency of 80%.
Certainly felt worse than that.

This consisted of 21% stage I, 68% stage II, 0% stage III, 0% stage IV, and 12% stage REM sleep
No wonder I’m tired, III and IV are the parts that make you NOT TIRED.

The REM Latency was prolonged at 159 minutes
IT TOOK ME THREE HOURS to get REM sleep? HOLY CRAP! OK 2.5 hours, whatever.

The respiratory channels recorded a total of 489 apneas and hypopneas with an overall Apnea Hypopnea index of 82.9 per hour.
30 is considered severe. I have just under 83. Yeah, that pretty much explains it all.

…oxyhemoglobin saturation to a nadir of 86%
Not bad, says the guy at the second sleep study. Seems pretty good to me, too.

So, after the second appointment, where I was hooked up to a mask, I have this to say:

DUDE. Yeah, this mask thing will fucking help bigtime. I didn’t have a chance to get a whole night’s sleep with the mask set correctly, but based on his chart, I had about 2 hours of really effective mask usage. And I was so much more awake today than usual. I expect that once I get it set right at home, I’ll be able to get my plan moving.

Not that any of you freaks read my posts on my actual site, but I’m changing hosts from godaddy.com, which limits me too much to dreamhosts, which theoretically does not have these limits.  This may result in strange behaviors over the next two weeks.  Or maybe not.

I may not have mentioned the results of the sleep study I went on last week.  Here they are:

HOLY CRAP

ahem.

Evidently I have severe obstructive sleep apnea.  I go back for the follow-up March 18th, where they do the same thing as the first one (I presume) with the wires and the ick, and add a mask that will add pressure to my system to keep my airway unobstructed, so I actually get to sleep.

My plan:

Get good sleep for the first time in like 20 years.

Wake up at 7:30 instead of 9:30.

Exercise in the morning.  Stretch a lot, do as many sit ups, push ups, bends, etc as I can, then a little jogging in place to get the heart rate up a little.

Get to work by 9ish.

Leave work at 5:45-6, leaving an hour or so for lunch.  This will enable me to nearly double my time at the office, which, since I get paid on an hourly basis, will help the paycheck some.

During the summer, swim every day I have access to the pool (depends on weather and swimteam) for half an hour as hard as I can.

During the summer, 2 soccer events every week (Friday is either practice with the Kileys or actual games at a facility close to me, Sunday is games with the Kileys)

During the winter, 1 soccer event every week (the facility close to me has an adult league, y’see)

Hopefully, this will end up with me losing 50 pounds by the end of September.  Likely will be much less of a loss.  But my goal is to hit 180, where I’m currently hovering around 235-240.

Today, something exciting, in the sense of ‘whoa!’ happened.

Austin had a friend over, and the three kids (Serena, Austin and Katherine) were tromping around the house playing with the dog.  I’m sitting in the living room nursing a sore shoulder, and Laurette is upstairs cleaning Serena’s closet out of old clothes.

The three kids are in the room next to me, in my sight, when I hear a loud CRASH.  I immediately look over at the kids who all say “NOT US!” (well, effectively).  I can verify this, because they were in my sight when it happened.  So, I think la femme is hurt, so I start to get up, when she comes downstairs and says ‘uh, was that you?’

Well, no.  The Snow-pocalypse left a metric shitton of snow on the roof.  This of course melts slowly, which leaves these lovely icicles on the back gutter.  Which can’t quite handle the weight.  Which decides to detach itself from the roof and smash down on the supporting framework for our patio awning.

Hello, insurance claim!

Well, been a while, so here it is:

1>  I have kind of failed to do the photo thing I posted about a while back.  Still there, just on the back burner.  Fill in the excuse you like.

2>  Now that it’s been announced, I can talk about my new short-term Directing gig at Pendant.  The director AND assistant director for Umket Industries Presents: The Dixie Stenberg and Brassy Battalion Adventure Theatre both had to step down as of the end of episode 44, and I’m taking over as primary director, with assistance from Bruce B.  The show is ending as of Episode 50, so I’ll only have 6 episodes to direct (45-50).  Ought to be fun.

3>  Work is becoming challenging for me, because I’m doing more client-facing stuff.  Our current client…needs some direction, and we’re providing that, and I think my boss is attempting to get me in a state where I can manage the process myself so that the QA department (such as it is) is independent of his interference.  I think that’s a long way away, but an excellent goal.

4>  I think I need to do a sleep study, as I really have a shitty sleeping experience.  I’m always tired, and it’s long been at the point where I feel like I should have gotten enough sleep, but I am still tired every day.  Between deviated septum and fat, my snoring is probably getting worse and waking me up (or is a symptom that I have apnea).  I just hate doctors, so am putting that off far longer than I should.

Anyway.

project!

My current list of songs:

rosindust: Butthole Surfers - The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey’s Grave
shumashi: The Clash - Rudy Can’t Fail
lordjulius: Gregorian Chant - Victimae Paschali Laudes
ScottyV: John Williams - Superman Theme
TrinaS: Moondance (no specific artist mentioned)
Zarobi: INXS - Need You Tonight
traceracer: The Replacements: Achin’ to be
Basia: XTC - Senses Working Overtime
NathanF: Russ Childers - (Stop) Kickin’ My Dog Around
TinaT: 2Live Crew - Back at Your A$$ For The Nine-4 (I hope I’m interpreting the title correctly!)
Carneggy: The Magic Number (no specific artist mentioned)

Some interesting choices there. I haven’t heard most of ‘em, so I’ll have to go digging around the intartubes to get a hold of the songs.

But keep giving me songs! And, Z, fuck you.