Glutony

The assignment: Here are the seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride. Pick one and write about an episode from your life using one of these sins as your theme.

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"Are you hungry?"
"No, I just want to eat."

School Memories from Baku

The world has become digital. Though we might be shocked to realize the explosion in blogging, chatting, and social networking sites, we will have to accept it. I firmly believe that it is not all bad. My wife and I taught in Baku, Azerbaijan from 1997 until 2001. One Saturday this spring in Almaty, I received four invitations to join people on Facebook. All four were students I had taught in Baku when they were 7 or 8 years old. The kids featured in the pictures below are 15 or 16 years old now.

Podcasts

Do you use iTunes? My wife bought me an iPod some time ago and I was a bit afraid to use it for a while. I didn't want to jump in with all the thousands of people who were using the latest gadget. I also didn't want to spend money for something (like subscriptions) that I might not use. Before I came back to Iowa this Christmas, I downloaded my first free podcast. When I got back in January, I wanted to increase my knowledge about foreign affairs, US politics, because I was set to take the Foreign Service exam in February.

Tractor Accident 1985 2

The assignment was to write dialogue in which the participants understand some issue in a different way and they are talking around the subject.

May 30 (Mom writing) Said lots of words – repeats – but also asked “Are those my shoes?”

I had had a nightmare and had been magically transported to this place. I noticed my clothes.
“Are those my shoes?" I talked with the sluggishness of someone who has recently been unconscious.

“Well, yes" she chuckled. Of course they are your shoes. What, do you have brain damage?
“I don’t want them here.”
“Well you need to wear something, and you don’t always want to wear hospital gowns.”
"Take my shoes away." I didn't want all that stuff. I knew I wasn't going to be in there much longer. Once I had my dream and was transported back to Peggy's, the clothes would just complicate things. I'd need my shoes once I got home. This was all temporary.

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Jeff Dicks, Rod Bodholdt and his brother Mike, a pre-teenager, came to visit one day in the middle of the week. They were tentative, like they didn't know how to treat me.
"Hi, James," Rod said.

I looked at them blankly. "Oh. Rod." I continued to stare at Mike.
Jeff Dicks came in.

"Hey, Nitram, how's it going?" That was the nickname they gave me when I wrote my name as it would be seen in a mirror and stuck it on my helmet on the first day of football practice.
What are these guys doing here? They need to leave. I need to sleep.

"What do you do all day?" asked Rod.
"I go to therapy once in awhile." Can I tell them I'm going to be gone soon? I better not.
There was a Cubs game on TV. Rod would watch any program that had the word ball in it. Rod, Jeff and Mike kept themselves busy with the game while my mind was racing. Why are they here? Did they have nightmares, too? How did they get here? I need to sleep.

"The Twins are in first place."
"Are you sure? They never start very good."
"You remember last summer when we went up there to Minneapolis, James?"
"What are you guys doing?"

"Just coming to see you, ya dork."

I could think of nothing but the fact that I was not going to be here much longer.
"I really appreciate that you guys came." I need to sleep.

Yashamax on Youtube

Follow this link if you want to see some videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/yashamax

Newell Panthers Football

We strode onto the field for the last time. We wore $300 worth of football padding and uniforms. For four years, I had heard the coaches tell the seniors that they should play their last game—even their entire final season—like it was their last. Made sense because for 99% of us, it was our last football game. My team of the Newell-Providence Panthers would take on the Wall Lake Comets.

Kissing Instructions

The assignment:
In just a paragraph or so, describe a memorable moment from your childhood. For example: A birthday party / An awkward moment at school / A romantic moment during puberty

Write about this moment in the voice of yourself at that time. In other words, make it sound like something you would have written then, at the time. / Next, write about the same thing, this time using your adult voice.

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Last night, Louise taught me how to French kiss. We were in the Fun House at the park. Louise told me that I need to open my mouth a little more. When I saw people in the movies kissing, I could never understand what they were doing when they kissed. They kept their lips together, and I didn’t know what else.

During the FFA (Future Farmers of America) Sweetheart dance, last winter, after one song, the DJ said, “OK, you can kiss her now.” I kissed Randi Jones and her lips touched my cheek and I kissed thin air. I didn’t know what she was doing. We didn’t try again and we didn’t say anything about it. Now I realize that she was giving me a French kiss. I’d only given regular kisses before.
So that was a French kiss…cool. Now that I know how to French kiss, I will be able to move my hands around, too.

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“Open your mouth a little more,” she said.
We were in the aptly named “Fun House.” It was a wooden barrel, tall enough for a person of five feet to stand without ducking. The idea was that person would step into the barrel and start to walk. The barrel turns and the person does an impersonation of a hamster. We were doing our best to ‘hide’ in there on a Saturday night. It wasn’t hard in a town of 800 people. Louise was teaching me how to French kiss.

One great mystery of sexual interaction had been solved that night. I had heard of French kissing during which the two participants put their tongues in each other’s mouths, but I never imagined it was any more than some kind of 3rd grade gross-out rumor. When people in movies would kiss, I could never understand what they were doing. Were they simply touching their lips and moving them around?

Randi Jones was the first girl to personally experience my innocence. At the FFA (Future Farmers of America) Sweetheart dance, we had been dancing as if there were a phone book between us, with my hands on her shoulders and hers on my hips. After "Love in the First Degree" by Alabama, the DJ said, “OK, you can kiss her now.” I moved forward to give her a peck and then see what happens. Randi's lips touched my cheek and chin; I kissed thin air. She was trying to swallow my head. We left it there—unsatisfied and confused. Neither of us said anything about it.

French Kissing-- A whole new world of action had suddenly been laid out in front of me for my enjoyment.

newspaper article from Cairns

Australian Crayfish

Nineteen years ago. I was backpacking up the eastern coast of Australia. The flight from Auckland dropped me in Sydney. I grabbed a pamphlet from a well-placed shelf of lodging advertisements and took off. I soon found I was living next door to prostitutes, strippers, and drug addicts.

This is great.