Day 57: Lizard Tails

I used to love to catch lizards growing up. I still do actually. Well except we don't really have any here in Georgia. I remember one of the first times I saw a lizard lose it's tail. I was chasing a particularly large green anole when I waited for the most opportune time and reached out to grab it. I caught part of his tail between two of my fingers and I watched in horror as the tail was torn from the lizard's body. There it was, between my fingers still wriggling back and forth. It did that for a while too, which really freaked me out.

I remember guiltily telling my mom about what happened ( my eyes may have been leaking a little too). She explained to me about how lizards can grow their tails back and that it's actually a survival strategy to ward off enemies. I felt better about it and realized that the strategy had worked really well on me. 

Just like a lizard's tail, sometimes we have to let go of things that are important to us in order to survive. It can hurt, just like the separating of skin and bone that occurs when a lizard lets go of his precious appendage. But eventually those things that we have to let go of will be replaced.

Day 56: The Oscars

Last year Katie and I had a little contest. After the oscar nominations were announced we printed a list of all the categories. We both picked the films that we thought were most likely to win in a given category and marked our initial next to it. Whoever predicted the most winners would be able to choose where to go out for dinner.

Last year was pretty close. I think I had one or two more than Katie but we both got about 70% right. I actually don’t remember where I decided for dinner with my winning choice, but it wasn't really about that. It was just about having a fun and friendly competition.

I think the oscars are fun, but also kind of silly. It seems like there's so much nepotism and power going on behind the scenes and a lot of times films that appealed to wider audiences go completely unnoticed. Most people have never even seen most of the nominations in a given year. But it is entertaining to watch and even though I usually haven’t seen most of the films that are nominated, I have watched many after the fact and enjoyed them.

So now that we're a day away from the oscars, it's time for us to once again choose our winners in the same manner and begin round 2.

The stakes have been raised this year. The winner chooses a restaurant for dinner as well as a movie to go see. 

May the odds be ever in our favor!

Day 55: Goodbye Treehouse

With the rhythmic clicking of each set of breakers I bid our place farewell. I was reminded that the very first thing I did when I got the key to the tree house was to flip those breakers in the opposite direction. They hadn't been touched since then, so it seemed fitting that the first thing I did in the house was also the last thing. 

I thought about all of the happy and terrible things that had happened in the time between flipping those switches in two different directions. The house was now so empty and impersonal, but the smell reminded me of when I first passed the threshold with my things from Florida. It was the smell of freshly cleaned carpets, chemicals and unlivable vacancy. Sometimes it's sad to leave things or places behind. But if we never left our Hobbit holes, moisture farms or tree houses, then we'd miss out on further adventures.

Here's to new beginnings!

Day 54: The Eagle

Ever since I was young, the bald eagle has been my favorite animal. In fact, my sisters and I started a company called "The Bald Eagle Center" when we were youngsters. Of course The Bald Eagle Center wasn't just about bald eagles, we sold seeds from the local trees and childish paintings of our favorite Disney characters or creatures we had seen on animal planet. It was quite the business venture, but unfortunately it never really paid off. But that's a whole other story...

I think my obsession with bald eagles started when I was 3. I loved watching nature documentaries and my mom or dad would often find one for me to watch on TV. I watched one at that time on The Discovery Channel about bald eagles and I was hooked. I remember watching the eagles pick salmon out of the water in slow motion and fly away with them in their talons. They were so majestic and powerful. After watching that documentary, whenever I was outside playing I was ever on the lookout for one flying overhead.

Family trips to Washington State solidified my need for bald eagles in my life. They were everywhere and I was constantly watching for them as we traveled around the pacific northwest. I only saw a few, but they were enough to hold me over.

Whenever we went to the zoo, I knew exactly where I wanted to go first. I had to see what the bald eagles were up to. Growing up, our local zoo had a great program for rehabilitating and caring for injured birds of prey and it was always the highlight of my zoo visits. Upon returning there a few years ago, I got some really great shots with my camera of the eagles. They're still some of my favorite photos.

Day 53: Cold

There's more cold on the way. I thought after the last major snowstorm that spring was on the way. However, a low of 25 tonight means that winter is not yet over. On top of it all, I already packed up my winter clothes, so when I was at our storage unit tonight I dug through them to pick out something for the morning.

Despite some of my complaints about the cold, I really have enjoyed winter here in Georgia. The cold weather and snow stirred something deep in my viking blood. Some kind of ancestral memory has kicked in. For some weird reason I don't get as cold anymore. In fact, sometimes the house is too warm for me and I need to go outside to chill out; especially after work. I honestly think I would enjoy living further north someday.

Day 52: Games I'm Looking Forward to This Year

These are just a few games coming out this year that I'm excited about playing. I know there are some that I'm missing, but here they are in no particular order.

Destiny


I am a huge fan of Halo so when I heard that Bungie, Halo's original developer, was working on a next gen game I was hooked. What is it? It's a next gen massively multiplayer first person shooter. I love Bungie's art style and gameplay, so I can't wait to see what they are able to accomplish on the next gen systems and also with a new intellectual property.

Titanfall 

Titanfall is already being heralded as the Xbox One's killer app. I for one am saving up for an Xbox One in the near future for this particular game. With a fairly disappointing lineup, Titanfall might just be the title to sell the Xbox One before more great next gen games come out. I didn't play the beta, but from videos I've watched and conversations I've had it looks awesome.

The Elder Scrolls: Online

I have longtime been a fan of The Elder Scrolls series. It's depth, attention to detail, and numerous hours of gameplay have sucked me in with every iteration. One thing that has been obviously vacant from every game though, has been a multiplayer facet. Well The Elder Scrolls: Online is going to remedy that disservice to the franchise with an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) that takes places across many previously discovered lands. I love MMO's (even though they can take up too much time) and I think this one has the potential to be great.

Alien Isolation

With the exception of Alien vs Predator 2, I have been left extremely dissapointed with games based in the Alien universe. Maybe this one will be the same, but it looks like Alien Isolation might just break the mold set by it's predecessors. Isolation pits you against a single alien on a ship that is more authentic to the source material than anything seen on console or PC. The concept sounds good, but I want to see if it will live up to the hype surrounding it.

Day 51: The Empty House

So many memories for just a few years. I can see them, dancing around the floors of the empty house. Cardboard boxes, random items, tape, and hangers are scattered around the carpet now. But I can still see them past all the physical things. I remember guests we had over for dinner, an intimate Thanksgiving for four, and the hustle and bustle before a wedding.

How many other people, who have lived in this very spot, have memories associated with this place? Do they think about it often in fondness? Or have they forgotten as their lives have continued on, past the little townhouse above a lake in Georgia? I don't think I'll ever forget our first place. Above the lake, where our dreams and physical items collided.

Day 50: Halfway Point

So as of this very post I have done exactly 50 consecutive days of blogging! It's been so much fun to write something every day. It has stretched me as a writer and forced me to reach for different subjects to write about which sometimes leads to some deep thoughts and introspection.

I definitely have to thank Corinne (Corinne's Blog) for coming up the idea and my wife Katie (Katie's Blog) for encouraging me to go for it. It's been fun when we both make some time after work to write for our respective blogs. It's calming in a way and I always look forward to reading what she's written.

Well today and yesterday sure have been eventful. All of the furniture is out of the house and we are sleeping in front of the fireplace in the living room. It's pretty cozy even though the house looks like a tornado tore through it. We still have quite a bit of packing to do and some storage building runs to make, but I think the hardest part is done. We both are pretty exhausted and sore, but we're feeling better about getting out of here before the time is up.


 

Day 49: Feeling Blue

Blue really is the best color. I often find my self drawn to blue things. In fact, the other day I was at the gas station and I was compelled to buy a drink solely on the fact that it was blue. As it turned out, it ended up being really good too. It was lemon flavored, which when you think about it is kind of strange for a blue colored drink.

As I'm writing this, I'm looking at my hands as they're tapping away on the keyboard and there are still little slivers of blue paint around my fingernails from painting our new room last night. Of course we painted it blue. Robin's Egg blue to be exact - which is really one of the best blues you can choose.

Did you know that blue is the most popular color among the world's population? The runner up is purple (for some reason that is beyond me). Why do people like blue so much? Perhaps it's because it's the color of the ocean and of the sky. Two things that we humans rely on for survival; air and water.

Well anyway, I'm looking forward to living in a blue room now.  

Day 48: Origin Stories

Whenever I'm watching a movie with a famous actor or actress as the lead character, I am inclined to watch it from the perspective of it either being an origin story or a sequel to another film (or films).

For instance, who would have thought that the singing and dancing young WW2 survivor trying to sell "papes" in NY would later become Batman? Or that Jack actually survived the sinking of the Titanic but was left with damage to his language processor which meant he could only speak in Shakespearean English. "Thou art a villian!" Fortunately for him, later he was able to regain use of modern English via dream therapy.

Speaking of which, Alfred has also come a long way. From the psychotic break he had where he was surrounded by felt puppets, he went on to become the butler for Bruce Wayne. After living a life full of secrets protecting The Dark Knight, he followed Jack's footsteps and escaped into the dream world.

But of course there is also the timeless tale of none other than The Wolverine himself. After a brief stint in a french prison for stealing a loaf of bread, Logan made some friends and then most of them ended up dying. Also, being in a French jail makes you sing uncontrollably.

After minding his own business in America for a while in the 1870's, he time traveled to the 2000's with a man who looked eerily similar to his brother. Then Wolverine goes back in time to become a magician and inadvertently became entangled in a rivalry with none other than Bruce Wayne himself.

Eventually Logan met up with the X-men and had some adventures. At one point though he smoked some south farthing pipe weed with Magneto and had the strangest visions. He was a doctor in the dream. The girl from the mummy was there and there was a floating tree with hair on it. Also, he was bald. Weird right?

And that's just how it happens....