Devon

Devon makes me smile.

He is four years younger than me but we once convinced our stylists at a barbershop that we were twins. Same last name similar first names, same height, similar eyes, they bought it.

I love him like nothing else in this world. One of our favorite things to do is set up hundreds (or if we are feeling ambitious thousands) of little tiny army men and make movies of them. He also shares with me in the joy of riding bikes and simply being outside. But, even if it was doing chores, if we were doing it together it was fun.

We didn't need words, Devon and I, a look and we could tell by each others eyes what we were about to do, how we would do it, and who we would do it to. The random clever remark and frequent Douglas Adams quotes were bonuses.

We are very different people, he and I. I call him my evil twin (this title was inspired by a TMBG song) because where I am outgoing and an aspiring leader he is fairly reserved, where I am always distracted by something new to do or learn, he patiently masters complex skills. But this is what makes him perfect, he balances me out and makes me smile.

This week is the half way point Devon has been gone one year, one more year until he comes home.

One more year until I am whole again.

Yearning for Neverland

I am a little boy, I swear that I am! But I find myself bound and gagged in the hold of a pirate ship called work.

I enjoy what I do at work. I meet new people from all over the world, I actually just checked out a guest from Israel who has been here for three weeks. Some of them I even think of as friends. But I get tired of being at work.

And when I am not at work I am at school. Only on rare occasions do I have a free day. I want to play! I miss Devon, he made it easier to play even when things got busy we could find a few minutes to play with army men on the floor or do something silly, like jump on the neighbors trampoline.

I plan on going back to neverland soon. In March. I will go play in the woods and build a sand castle.

For now I live on hope, knowing that in four weeks I will be out of the pirate ship and back in Neverland.

A Recap.

Things been kind of crazy for me the last few weeks, but here comes the recap...

This past week I got my Kayak, there is a baisc kayaking workshop being put on by a local shop in early March so I am signing up for that and will wait until after the workshop to take my boat out.

This monday was Valentines day, currently I don't have anyone special in my life but I still had a busy day. Work called on Sunday asking if I could work Monday and I managed to talk myself into saying no. (That can be hard for me to do because I like the money that comes from working extra hours.)

Nothing special happened during the day but I had commited to help my Grand Father put on a diner in the evening, this was his first Valentines Day since Nana died and he decided to put on a diner for alot of old family friends. He had me serving food and clearing plates, my parents were helping out in the kitchen, and my fourteen year old brother was helping out as well.
After that I went to ice cream with Crystal and Heidi. I had invited most of the unattached girls I know to join me at the local ice cream parlor figuring that they would enjoy heading out with a friend rather than doing nothing. Crystal and Heidi were the two who decided to take me up on the offer. After Ice Cream we went and watched The Phantom of the Opera. It was good but somethings that work on a stage just seem silly on a movie screen, one thing that stands out is Roul sing while being strangled by the phantom.

The rest of the week was pretty standard. Work, School, Etc.

however there are two items of note. The first is that I sat down and talk with my director of activities for ICC who I have felt was talking alot of responciblities on himself that should belong to other members of our council incruding me. The dialog was good it did not change the under lying fact that we have very differant leardership styles and have differant vissions for Inter Club Counsil, but it should keep him happy for a few days.

The other note is that I now have a new supervisor at work his name is Jason and he comes across as a stickler for rules and regulations. He seem to have the long term goal of being a Hotel GM for the company, this means things will become tighter at work and I may no longer be able to post blogs and check email from work...bummer.

...and just to keep the time line going here is a one sentance over view of the week before last. I worked sixty hours at the hotel and still managed to do fine on a test at school.

Jeremy

Well, I am on the night shift again today because half of my coworkers are sick and my only Monday class was canceled for tomorrow. So in a 48 hour block of time I will work three 8 hour shifts two of them at time and a half. That comes to almost a weeks worth of pay for me in only a single weekend, and gives me time to share the following entry that has been in my head for a month now...

Jeremy

Jeremy is my older brother and he and I share an apartment. He has some learning disabilities and does not grasp certain social concepts, such as personal space. However he was able to move out and lived on his own for about three years before I moved in with him back in 2003. My moving in with him was mutually beneficial since I was 23 and needed to be out from under my parents roof so that I could grow, and he was in money trouble due to being mailed a preapproved credit card application every month.

Living with Jeremy is very easy for the most part because he expect nothing from me except that I get my half of the rent to the manager on time each month. On the other hand living with Jeremy has been a great challenge at times because it is nearly impossible to get him to do something he is not interested in doing. Our most recent battle is his bedroom. Another one of those social concepts that eludes Jeremy is hygiene, so getting him to wash the clothes that are struin about his room is much harder that pulling teeth. At least in pulling teeth you can use brute force and most of the time you have leverage. Jeremy is about 300 pounds and not nearly as flacid as the first glance would have you believe. With brute force was out of the question I went in search of leverage. The only thing that Jeremy much about is TV, he is able to sit infront of the magic picture box for 14 hours a day if he is not scheduled to work and sometimes will even do it if he is.

So I did the most logical thing I could think of. I hid the TV set that he and I share. I hid it in the corner, where I usually have a basket of dirty laundry, with a few shirt draped over the top of It. That morning he woke up before I had slipped out and found the TV in about 10 seconds. However his reaction seemed to indicate that I was on the right track. The next ime I tried he had already left for the day, I hid the TV under our table in the corner by the wall. I know he spent allot longer looking for it this time but he still found it rather than clean his room, and in a demonstration of remarkable cunning he put it back under the table before I came home for three days.

His room still needs to be cleaned but I have other things to worry about at the moment, and even my room is quite the disaster zone from me only being home long enough to change clothes and sleep every few days (I really am spending way to much time at work). So I burn scented candles and ask him if he has cleaned his room every time I get the chance.

The two amazing things about Jeremy are that he is unable to lie (if he does not want to answer your question he will silently glare at you until you give up, but he will never give you an answer that is not the truth) and that he will not be pressured into doing anything other than what he feels will bring him the most happiness.

Though he has many weaknesses, in some ways he is more admirable than any of the "normal" people I have ever met.

some things about me

I don't have a short answer to the question “what is your favorite color.”

I strongly dislike mustard.

I have learned more than I have forgotten, but not by much.

I like to watch the sunrise.

I don't have an appendix, I broke mine on my tenth birthday.

I believe in self determination, people (individually or collectively) eventually realize when their choices are not making them happy and change.

My greatest regret is the pain that I caused my mother as a teenager, through making bad choices and lying to cover them.

I don't regret the dumb choices I made in high school.

I really would rather eat pie than do just about any thing else, this is doubly true if the pie is served with ice cream.

I love sitting on swing sets and wish they would build more of them that accommodated people of my size.

I won't kiss some one unless I can tell them I love them.

I have only kissed one girl.

One of my greatest frustrations is seeing talent squandered, this might be related to the fact that I feel that I have very few talents, even though I have been told otherwise.

Winning is not everything.

My favorite word is vinyl. I don't say it that often but when I do I like the way it feels as it runs down the tongue.

If I could have any animal as a pet I would have a kinkajou.

I want to own a sailboat someday.

I generaly assume the best about people.

It bugs me when people ask what I am thinking, hence the answer I give is seldom very accurate, sometimes I try hard to put the thought into words. Other time I just say something that seems appropriate.

I understand that for a family a car is a necessity, But I hate the fact that everyone thinks they need a car. I could go months without getting in a car. Bikes just feel so much more self reliant.

I think that most of the week the commercials are the most entertaining thing on TV.

I love eating fresh fruit, I don't think I have a favorite. For a long time I said peaches were my favorite fruit but I think I like a good crisp apple, or a juicy orange just as much. Even pears plums and bananas are hard to pass by.

I admire paraplegics. I think losing the ability to walk would be so devastating to me, yet so many of the paraplegics that I know have great attitudes and so much vitality.

Danger is not my middle name but if my wife isn't near by when it is time to sign the birth certificate than it might be one of my children's.

Looking at the consolation Orion is something I find reassuring. The north star on the other hand does nothing for me.

I find mopping floors relaxing, when I was an insomniac teenager, I would mop my mother kitchen floors in the middle of the night.

I like learning rules, but am not that good at following them. I know the policy manual at work nearly as well as the boss does but I am too lazy to follow the rules that everyone else ignores.

The two big papers I wrote in my college English class where on the historical and social significance of SPAM and the reasons why the Etch-A-sketch is the best toy on the market.