Spank no more!

A proposal is circulating around Massachusetts law-makers that would outlaw spanking as a form of disciplining a child. The law would ban spanking in all cases for children under 18 unless it is to save them from danger. Parents would even face charges of abuse or neglect if caught!

What are those bureaucrats thinking? Don't they realize that spanking is a necessary form of punishment in raising a child? Think about it, how else are you going to teach a toddler what is wrong? Will you sit them in a chair? Scold them? Children are by nature self-centered, and even a harsh scolding may not always send a stern enough message to the young.

I'm not saying that abuse should be illegal by any means, but sometimes a swift smack in the tail-end is needed. Spanking isn't just punishment – it's behavior modification. No one should punch their kid in the face, but sometimes a swift paddling is what a parent has to do to teach that unruly kid to stop trying to drink the Drano.

Kids with no fear will get out of hand! Don't believe me? Take a look at our school children! Look at what has happened to our society ever since they banned spanking in schools. Kids no longer fear their teachers or principals. Children used to look up to teachers with love, admiration, and a little bit of fear. But now that the fear is gone, children feel as if they can act out without fear of reprocussions. It's disgusting. Gee, I wonder why there weren't a rash of school shooting from 1920-1990?! Hmmm... Maybe it's because children were disciplined and fearful of what would happen to them. Food for thought.

And what about this whole “children under 18” deal? Are law-makers leaving a clause in the law so that they themselves can continue to have their sick S&M spanking sessions? I believe so, or why else would it be worded like that? Sure, spank your kid for trying to put the cat in the microwave and be fined, but soiling your adult diaper while being spanked with a riding crop from a lady wearing a latex cat-suit is just fine.

What is this world coming to?

The twitch.

I'm not sure why, but I've been having a strange twitch in my eye for the past week or so. I guess I noticed it on Thursday, when the vision seemed to bounce around, like I was watching a movie through a digital camera viewer. It really sucked, but I got used to it. Originally, I was worried that I was actually having spasms in my eyeball itself, but upon staring into a little mirror like some sort of freak on display at work, I could plainly see that it was really just muscle spasms in my upper eyelid. Even so, it's annoying as all hell.

The image below is a sort-of representation of how it would look if you were to meet my glance while the spasms were occurring.

Spousal Abuse.

Last night Wendy and I had just settled in for the night when I got a surprise. Somehow, she possesses the ability to fall asleep almost immediately upon laying down - a quasi-mystical power that I wished I possessed. My nights are usually filled with tossing, turning, more tossing, and then tossing some more. I've never been able to fall asleep quickly, excluding times when I'm relaxing in a recliner. Yes, recliners induce instant narcolepsy in me. I don't know why, but they just put me to sleep.

But I digress - once in bed, Wendy zonked out, leaving me to do my nightly ritual of shifting and tapping my feet,. My mind began to fall back into the pre-dream thoughts that I always have; I was flying on my own power above the cornfields north of our home. The wind was rushing across me as I looked down at the lights of the small farm houses that were far, far below.

I rolled over to my side, slowly drifting from the imaginary skyline into the all but real dreamland. But then it happened! WHACK!! I felt a sharp pain as Wendy hit me in the base of my skull. There was a bright flash of light in my head upon the impact as my head flopped forwards.

“What was that for?” I yelled, awaking her.

“You made me mad!” She mumbled.

“Jesus! What did I do.?! Do you mean in your dream?!” There was nothing but silence. She had already fallen sleep again.

Fast forward to today at lunch. Wendy called me on the phone while I was getting ready to go to physical therapy.

“Do you have the game 'Soul Reaver 2' do you?"

”No. I have the first one, but not the second one.”

“What about 'Legacy of Cain', or the 'Spawn' game?”

“Nope neither one of them. Hey, wait-a-minute.... are you buying me stuff just because you abused me last night?”

Still Drawring.

Now that my arm is half-way healed, I started drawing again. I really enjoy doing it since I'd stopped almost completely for nearly a decade. Slowly but surely I think I'm starting to get the control back that I once had. Still no pencil drawings though! I almost always used to draw in pencil, but right now I'm having a blast toying with the contrast that black ink provides.

I keep intending on branching out on my subject matter, seeing as I am drawing the same kind of things that I did in 4th Grade. But then again, I'm having so much damn fun with it, I don't know if I really want to draw boring stuff.

Click an Image to see a larger version of each drawing.

First snowfall of the season.

It's turkey day and by coincidence, it was also the very first snow of the season here in Illinois. It was late when we got home, but I managed to shoot a couple of pics KG3 reveling in the snow.

My Dad Ghandi.

Turkey day is upon us once again and it's time to give thanks for all that we have in our lives. I'm always grateful to have so many family members and friends who keep me in check throughout my life. Regardless whether its troubles resulting from my car wreck, medical issues from my broken elbow, or simply everyday things that seem to stress me out and send me to the edge of sanity, I can always count on someone to help put things in perspective for me.

When I was younger, I put my father through hell in a car wreck. We were being sued for a ton of money which we didn't have. The wreck added stress, and angst to my family, destroyed a friendship and cost an immense amount of money. But even in the face of losing everything because of his son's stupidity, my Dad looked me in the eye and told me something that I will never forget.

He simply said: "No matter what happens, they can't eat us."

It sounds silly, but the statement was as truly profound as any words ever stated by Ghandi, JFK, or Churchill. It was my Dads way of saying that no matter what happened, we would survive, and in time, prevail just as we had before.

It's been nearly 20 years since then, and look at us now. We've both remained happy and healthy after trudging through the trials and tribulations of life. So when life gets us down, we have to focus on what is important and continue to force our way along, because if you continue pushing forward through the black forest long enough, you'll eventually reach a clearing of warmth and sunshine.

Seen on a recent road trip.

Timmaaaa sent in these photos from a recent road trip!

Timmaaaa says “It's stupid...but it made me laugh.  The trailer had Missouri plates, so the home team cutting decals must be Canucks.”

My new knee.

I think my arm is getting a little better! Every day I can bend it a just little further than before. At least I can touch my shoulder with my hand again!

Straightening my arm is another story altogether though! I still can't get it as straight as I should but hopefully that is because my elbow is still swollen. My god! I hope its just swollen and isn't going to stay this size!!!

Wendy told me the other day that it looks more like a knee than an elbow. So until things heal, I guess I'm gonna have to deal with three knees.

Brilliant new reality TV show idea!

A hidden camera reality show where they follow the lives of paranoid schizophrenics. They could call it, “Watching You.”

Has Scholastic Gone Too Far?!

You can imagine my shock when I found this "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" cassette tape among a mass of Disney tapes that KG3 used to listen to when she was a child! The tape was made in 1992 and I know that things were pretty liberal back then, but geez......... could that really be a bunch of old porno music on cassette tape? Shameful!!!

Maybe I should listen to it before I start writing my Congressman.

Freeeeeeeeeeeeedooooooooom!

I went to the doctor's office today and they went ahead and removed my cast. My arm isn't healed yet, but they said that I needed to get started with physical therapy to avoid losing some range of motion in my arm. Right now I can't bend my arm fully, nor straighten it out. And let's no even consider how turning my hand feels like a knife is being stabbed into my arm.

But hopefully everything will work out in the long run. At least I can wash the foul stench of the devil off of my arm.

Sometimes I wonder...

I was curious what the suicide rate was for quadriplegics today so I did a little research and found out that they have a suicide rate of 65 per 100000. This isn't anywhere near the rate that I would have expected. I would imagine that the quadriplegic people would suffer from depression so severely that the suicide percentage would be in the double digits.

So do the quadriplegics just have a better outlook on life than I do? One would hope so, or is it the fact that it might be harder to commit suicide once you've lost use of your limbs? Short of poisoning, it may be difficult to off yourself in that condition. I thought of drowning, but how could they get in the tub? Obviously they cant tie a noose or slit their wrists. I suppose they could throw themselves down a flight of stairs, but how the heck would they get up there in the first place? Hmmm...unless its an assisted suicide, I imagine its difficult for them.

So do they typically have a cheery outlook, or merely feel defeated at the hardship of committing suicide? I hope I never find out the answer.

Sighted in the City.

KG3 had been visiting family in Indianapolis for the pat few days and she told me over the phone that "some lady with blonde hair" recognized her from the website and came up to speak with her. Almost immediately I thought of my friend Kim and her family! I thought it HAD to be someone I know to recognize my daughter out in public, and besides, Kim is the only blonde-haired lady I know with enough bravado to approach someone like that. So I emailed her to see if my assumption was correct. The following was the banter back and forth

Me: Just wondering out of curiosity..... Did you happen to see my daughter in Indianapolis over the weekend?

Kim: Heh heh heh, *wiggles her eyebrows at you* wouldn't YOU like to know. ;o).

Me: That’s what I figured! She told me over the phone and I figured it was you. Did it freak her out? Nrlolbcimh – that stands for “not really laughing out loud, but chuckling in my head.”

Kim: It was hilarious!

If I had only thought before hand what her reaction would be I could have REALLY played it up, but it only occurred to me after I spoke to her what she must be thinking!

I looked at her and thought "gee! that kid looks like KG3!"
then i looked at her again and thought...
"hey! i think that IS KG3!"

so i said "are you a greenwood?"
and she sorta jumped and looked at me like my head was on fire.
she said "yeah" kinda low like she didn't want me to hear her.
and i kinda shouta "KG3!" *giggle*

then she was REALLLL worried.
so i told her i knew you from OCC and saw her pictures on the blog etc.
i asked her if she thought i was a stalker and she admitted it had crossed her mind.
then they left really fast LOL

The Veteran's Memorial.

Clay County unveiled the new veteran Memorial in a celebration today. It's incredibly nice for such a small community and is way beyond what any of us expected to see.

The memorial honors citizens of Clay County who served their county regardless of branch or age. There are flags representing each of the branches of the armed forces, as well as a POW/MIA flag and of course, the flag of this great nation.

The ceremony was nice, with speakers ranging from local veterans, to state Representatives. It was cool to look out at the crowd and see veterans of all ages, from the heros of the Greatest Generation, to young men serving their country today. It isn't often that I feel comfortable listening to the National Anthem, but today I wasn't bothered at all. It isn't that I don't love hearing the anthem, mind you, its quite the contrary, in fact. Just hearing it makes me swell with pride and always seems to nearly bring tears to my eyes. And this afternoon, I knew that I wasn't alone in that feeling. I was surrounded by others who would have gladly given their life for this great nation.

I am extremely proud of my country, and regardless of past or present mistakes in foreign policies, I know that this is the greatest place in the world to call home.
I know there are some of you who will not agree with me, but the simple fact that you are ALLOWED to disagree without fear of punishment stands as a testimony of my statement. So even if you don't support the current administration, you should appreciate the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of us out there that gladly laid our lives on the line for you and your freedoms. So be sure to take a moment this week and reflect on the sacrifices that have been made to keep this country free.

Hundreds of people turned out for the ceremony!

A shot of the memorial before the flag raising and the brick commemorating my service in the USMC. I have to say thanks to my Step Mom Pat and my Dad for having my name, I really appreciate what they have done for me. It means a lot to me to be included in this memorial with the heroes who served in World War Two, Korea, and Vietnam. My Aunt Marilyn's brick is directly below mine.

Here is a shot after the flags were raised with our courthouse in the background and the bagpipe player who played the ceremony.

The Marine Corps pylon from both sides. I had never heard this quote from Ronald Reagan before, but I am proud to be included in such an organization.

You smell something funny?