First and foremost I must apologize to the one or two readers of this blog that it has been such a length of time since I've last posted. I tried to make a commitment when moving out so far away that I'd at least post a blog post frequently, and here I am almost 5 months later sitting down to write a post about lots of nothing. 

I'm not going to take this post to do a giant update of what we've been doing... I'll save that for a rainy day when I'm bored. Because right now I'm not bored. 

Right now I'm in a space of my head that I don't like. 

Sure, it's easy to always pretend that things are happy grand and terrific. You've got to put on a certain face for people so that you don't burden them with baggage. Everyone has their own baggage that they need to deal with and having to feign interest in dealing with other people's baggage is not something I like doing nor do I want other people to feel. 

Really, this post isn't for you, the reader, it's for me. It's a way for me to get thoughts out of my head in a way that doesn't waste the limited number of key strokes that I have left in my fingers (though, since this is a new keyboard I am hitting the backspace a lot). If someone just happens to read this and think "huh... me to" then my keystrokes won't be considered completely wasted.

It was the same age that Niamonster was. 

I have such a love/hate relationship with the age of 2. It's the age where a child finally starts coming to their own and finding their personality. They're interactive, loving, cuddly. They run around and say words instead of grunts, eat food with their own fingers, drink out of straws and glasses. They're even starting to be curious with using the toilet instead of dropping loads in their pants. 

But one thing is also very consistent with a child of this age. They are complete, unrelenting, persistent little shits. I have very little patience for people who choose to be bad. See, logically, I know that a child of that age does not know any better because they are still learning just what it means to be a little human. 

Logic has nothing to do with this.

When you have a child that is consistently being a holy terror for 4 hours straight, you aren't logically processing anything. You are biting your tongue, clutching that cup of coffee a wee harder than you should be, you are walking to the other room so that you don't "accidentally" smash their face into a wall. 

I have a breaking point, and my son took me to it today. He woke me up at 7 with his yelling, he was throwing toast around, hitting his sister, and screaming when he didn't get his way. He was actively ignoring any direction I gave him and would purposely wait until I wasn't looking to go get in other trouble. 

It got to the point where he screamed in anger one too many times at my wife and I snapped. I hopped up out of my chair, wrapped my arm around his chest under his arms, and carried him to his "timeout" chair. 

"Uh... Shank... that's pretty normal, it's called discipline."

Yeah... but here's the deal. I yelled. It wasn't loud yelling. It wasn't "daddy getting attention" yelling. It was anger. I was mad... nay... pissed. My son was being someone that I despise. He's freaking not even two years old yet... and the thing is... I don't anger yell. Ever! It's not something I do. I manipulate, I subvert, I redirect, I get sarcastic... but I don't yell when I'm angry. 

Since I don't yell, my kids never hear that voice. He heard it and it scared the be-jesus out of him. Which, on one hand, good... but on the other, he's probably now scared of me. That's no good.

At a certain age, I miss the "still a kid" thing.

Once my kids start interacting with me, I forget that they are still little drunk monkeys. I figure in my head that since they can carry on conversations with me that they should start acting like adults. Dumb. I know. But when it comes to emotionally heated moments you forget logic and reason, and you go with the first thing by muscle memory. 

It's not just him I scared

My wife is strong, beautiful, and charismatic. She's overcome things in life that you don't talk about because of how uncomfortable it makes people. You know... those things you sweep under the rug for generations, she was vocal about and triumphed. I've learned to not use my "angry voice", not just because I believe children should never experience, but because it takes my wife to a place in her head that she shouldn't be. 

It turns me, albeit temporarily, into one of the demons that she's spent her whole life surviving. 

And that, my dear readers, is why I'm in a bad head space right now. 

Regret is a terrible hangover. It clouds you and makes you think about things that you know are illogical... it takes your happiness and craps all over it. It's like an IV of depression slowly dripping into your veins. I've found that the best way to rip the needle out of your skin and start getting over regret is to admit and apologize to those affected by your decisions. 

To the wife of today and BMan of the future:

I'm sorry I allowed myself to grow horns and turn into a demon that will haunt you. That isn't me and certainly isn't someone that I want to be. I won't promise it won't happen again because I fail at perfection, but I do promise that if it does happen again, the horns will be a little smaller and the voice a little quieter.

I have a simple question which I've been pondering. What is the point of mothers day/fathers day? I've been mulling this over in my head for a while and have come to a few possible answers as it relates to my family. 

• A day to celebrate a thought out decision.
• A day to celebrate a position you're in by mistake.
• A day in which those related prove themselves to be the best.
• Hallmark holiday.

 

 

There was a time in my life when I thought I'd own the coolest car, the most tech'ed out house, and have the hottest non-commital girlfriend. It was a fantasy land where I was 25 years old, making a cool six figures on my way to seven, and living the so called "high life". A dream where I'd go to my 10 year high school reunion in my personal chopper, flying below it on a platform which is holding a grand piano and me - jamming Ben Folds Five's One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces with huge speakers blaring down on all of my old classmates, most of whom I hated at the time of this dream.

"If you really want to see me check the papers and the TV - look who's telling who what to do! Kiss my ass goodbye."

So, you may be asking yourself, how close did he get to fulfilling his dream?

Not. At. All.

Let's see how I stacked up to my dreams:

• The coolest car
• I used to have one of the coolest cars - a 2005 MINI Cooper S. Sexy little thing she was. However, she is no longer and now I'm killin' a dadmobile. A 2002 Mazda MPV. Don't let the "Multi-purpose Vehicle mislead you; it's a mini-van.

oh yeah - get's all the ladies

• A tech'ed out house
• Well at least I own a house, and we do have some decent tech lying around. But it certainly isn't the futuristic modern home with white carpets and black leather and a home control panel in every room. It's a 1960's era house and it has rooms and a roof. Ta-da!
• The hottest non-commital girlfriend
• I had one of those. She was hot as hell, put up with all of my shenanigans, loved to game, loved to cook, and would do anything for me. Her laugh is what I lived for, and those curves... mmmm. So I did what any self-respecting man would do. I married her. So that gets rid of "non-commital" and "girlfriend", but I'll tell ya, she's still the hottest.
• Six figures on the way to seven
• Funny.
• Helicopter at the reunion
• I didn't even go - it wasn't worth my time.