Thank you for sharing! I think we find your environment just as fascinating as you do ours. It's difficult to imagine, but you paint a very detailed picture.
To answer your question...The first thing that made me smile today was watching my boys (11 & 8) making sandcastles on the beach, occasionally letting the waves of the ocean roll over their legs after they rolled their pants up to their knees. We live in the tropics in North Eastern Australia & it's Spring here at the moment so it became quite hot quite early... & I went looking for some shade while they were busy creating magnificant castles.
The second thing was reading a heart-felt reply to something I posted on another bloggers comment on BtB. It's nice to know you've made someone elses day :)
The Third thing was realising it was my Nana's 90th birthday today. My Uncle posted a photo on Facebook & she looks beautifully happy (she lives in New Zealand)
The fourth thing was reading a message someone left on my phone. My phone converts voice mail to text so the message I received said "You missed a call from a Private Number, who said"___ treatment complex. ____ this call is ____ important ____. To accept this free call press 1. To repeat this free call - This message was provided by Telstra at no charge to you." (I'm thankful for that, because I have NO idea who it was from, or what it was about). That made me smile and shake my head.
And the fifth thing that made me smile today is a childhood friend in New Zealand uploaded a photo to facebook of my brothers and I from 1985 - It's the funniest photo I've seen for a long time! Ok... that didn't just make me smile... I was laughing hysterically.
If I was able to I would have sent you photos of the things I've been talking about. That is something BtB is working on for us.
Thank you for reminding me of all that made me smile today :)
First let me start by saying that I apologize that I have not been my brother’s keeper as well as I should have been. I have been very busy with the family and work and as of late we are looking at relocating to Jacksonville, North Carolina late next year. It is not a move for the job, but one my wife and I wanted and is looking to retire in that area.
I hope my letter does some good with the courts, I know it can be difficult to get them to move from the norm and look at the situation outside of the box and realize what you are going through and have been through. While I think it should be clear that all veterans should be given special weight when going to court, many do not distinguish or gather the difference.
I am extremely happy to see that your case is finally getting the attention it needs I hope that the outcome will be the one that you are looking for. I know this is difficult on your family and with the economy not producing the jobs that are needed it makes it difficult for others to come up with money for situations like this. I will try to do more to help out as much as possible but I am limited with what can be done.
I am still hopeful that I can get a visit in this year on one of my weekends off or a return trip from Tennessee. It would be nice to see a friend and brother. There was a reunion this year in Washington D.C. I was told that there were a good number of marines that showed up for the trip. I was not able to make the trip however they are planning another later and they are looking at Jacksonville N.C. for the location. I visited Eric Quintero and family last month while looking at property in Jacksonville N.C.
Take care and hopefully it does not take as long for me to write next time. Semper Fi!!!
PART TWO OF LONG REPLY AND MISC RAMBLING THAT HOPEFULLY WONT BE ANNOYING AS HELL (SMILE):
Anyway, just thought I would share that little intelligence memory with you.... I wanted to ask if you have found out any additional info about becoming a part of MENSA? I had this blog entry saved in my list of favorites on the computer so I could come back to it, and have finally gotten to reply to you after reading for quite awhile now. (smile) Also, you mentioned A.I. a few times in your blog....are you familiar with a group of supposed human beings who claim to be "Pledians" and from another planet yet they have leaders who educate others on "Astral Vampires" (basically random idiots in public or in your life that suck the positivity out of you in each way they can from what I gathered....only they are ASTRAL random idiots, too) among other subjects that they discuss. I am not joking around, and can actually try and get the info to you because a guy in Norway does all of this....says he is a Pledian and puts up online videos to educate others every few days. I had never came across anyone who, and backed up in at least over half of his valid "internet" arguments, claims to be only in human form while here on Earth yet basically an alien. What are your honest thoughts on this person from Norway? Because according to his web page, hes sure putting alot into this and has been writing/educating about it since 2003. Says his name is Maggador. I believe he mentions references to how a distant relative was a Knights Templar? Your opinion on the whole Pledian thing? Along with why someone who devote their everyday life (its obvious that he does for this) to teach others about something if its not real? He is very well spoken and seems above average in intelligence, but then again, I could claim to be anything out in society and I am sure Id get some nomads to follow me and discuss my false claim so many times Id probably get delusional and believe it myself. JK. -CC
Hey Nate, I hope that all is well for you. I understand all too well when you say that not all who are highly intelligent will win at the game of life. That is the truth, at least for me anyway because I was told for years that even though I was very intelligent that I was almost too smart for my own good. In a way I guess that was correct, I recently was going through stuff from back in the day & found ACT results, & ASVAB results from 2001. I was 17 then, I am now 29 and I couldnt believe how much I had overlooked that now made sense to me about these test results. I am not sure if by my last 2 yrs of school were spent just not caring since grades werent a problem for me, or if by then after so many years of feeling I was wasting my time with being made to sit and "learn" things I already knew (along with insulting "schedule filler" classes like "Go Bowling" or "Using A Camera Properly!" -ahhh come on, at least call it photography for dumbasses, for Judas sake! LOL - among other types of school day filler that I had long outgrown mentally as I was a researching bookworm aka nerd in disguise way more at home than at school). I recall way back (had to be very early in school) when around 1st/2nd grade (!!) we had this dumb blue book called The Handbook For Reading. Hmmm. Okay. Had a stupid apple and a ruler on the front, it haunts me until this very day! (laugh) Well it was nothing but pages full of different 4-5 letter words to "sound out" and then hopefully read.....I went into school knowing how to read so I felt stupid when the teacher asked me to please at least pretend to "sound out the words in the book" so that the other students didnt feel bad. So therefore, what can I say about that year? I learned two (much needed in life) talents- how to pretend to stutter-n-spit when jabbering incoherently with Handbook For Reading PLUS how to totally fake NOT knowing how to read. Not easy! But Im so proud after all of these yrs, whew! I got lucky, dammit! (LOL)
RSS
To answer your question...The first thing that made me smile today was watching my boys (11 & 8) making sandcastles on the beach, occasionally letting the waves of the ocean roll over their legs after they rolled their pants up to their knees. We live in the tropics in North Eastern Australia & it's Spring here at the moment so it became quite hot quite early... & I went looking for some shade while they were busy creating magnificant castles.
The second thing was reading a heart-felt reply to something I posted on another bloggers comment on BtB. It's nice to know you've made someone elses day :)
The Third thing was realising it was my Nana's 90th birthday today. My Uncle posted a photo on Facebook & she looks beautifully happy (she lives in New Zealand)
The fourth thing was reading a message someone left on my phone. My phone converts voice mail to text so the message I received said "You missed a call from a Private Number, who said"___ treatment complex. ____ this call is ____ important ____. To accept this free call press 1. To repeat this free call - This message was provided by Telstra at no charge to you." (I'm thankful for that, because I have NO idea who it was from, or what it was about). That made me smile and shake my head.
And the fifth thing that made me smile today is a childhood friend in New Zealand uploaded a photo to facebook of my brothers and I from 1985 - It's the funniest photo I've seen for a long time! Ok... that didn't just make me smile... I was laughing hysterically.
If I was able to I would have sent you photos of the things I've been talking about. That is something BtB is working on for us.
Thank you for reminding me of all that made me smile today :)
Take care!
Nicki
First let me start by saying that I apologize that I have not been my brother’s keeper as well as I should have been. I have been very busy with the family and work and as of late we are looking at relocating to Jacksonville, North Carolina late next year. It is not a move for the job, but one my wife and I wanted and is looking to retire in that area.
I hope my letter does some good with the courts, I know it can be difficult to get them to move from the norm and look at the situation outside of the box and realize what you are going through and have been through. While I think it should be clear that all veterans should be given special weight when going to court, many do not distinguish or gather the difference.
I am extremely happy to see that your case is finally getting the attention it needs I hope that the outcome will be the one that you are looking for. I know this is difficult on your family and with the economy not producing the jobs that are needed it makes it difficult for others to come up with money for situations like this. I will try to do more to help out as much as possible but I am limited with what can be done.
I am still hopeful that I can get a visit in this year on one of my weekends off or a return trip from Tennessee. It would be nice to see a friend and brother. There was a reunion this year in Washington D.C. I was told that there were a good number of marines that showed up for the trip. I was not able to make the trip however they are planning another later and they are looking at Jacksonville N.C. for the location. I visited Eric Quintero and family last month while looking at property in Jacksonville N.C.
Take care and hopefully it does not take as long for me to write next time. Semper Fi!!!
Anyway, just thought I would share that little intelligence memory with you.... I wanted to ask if you have found out any additional info about becoming a part of MENSA? I had this blog entry saved in my list of favorites on the computer so I could come back to it, and have finally gotten to reply to you after reading for quite awhile now. (smile) Also, you mentioned A.I. a few times in your blog....are you familiar with a group of supposed human beings who claim to be "Pledians" and from another planet yet they have leaders who educate others on "Astral Vampires" (basically random idiots in public or in your life that suck the positivity out of you in each way they can from what I gathered....only they are ASTRAL random idiots, too) among other subjects that they discuss. I am not joking around, and can actually try and get the info to you because a guy in Norway does all of this....says he is a Pledian and puts up online videos to educate others every few days. I had never came across anyone who, and backed up in at least over half of his valid "internet" arguments, claims to be only in human form while here on Earth yet basically an alien. What are your honest thoughts on this person from Norway? Because according to his web page, hes sure putting alot into this and has been writing/educating about it since 2003. Says his name is Maggador. I believe he mentions references to how a distant relative was a Knights Templar? Your opinion on the whole Pledian thing? Along with why someone who devote their everyday life (its obvious that he does for this) to teach others about something if its not real? He is very well spoken and seems above average in intelligence, but then again, I could claim to be anything out in society and I am sure Id get some nomads to follow me and discuss my false claim so many times Id probably get delusional and believe it myself. JK. -CC