Dee Hathaway

Have you ever inhaled peanut butter? Well I think I just did, and I gotta tell ya.. it’s not a fun time. I’ve been coughing peanut dust for about 20 minutes. That’s not an easy confession for me to make.. I’ve been eating and breathing for… well let’s just say a lot of… years. You’d think I’d have it down by now, but no. I always forget that part about stop breathing, then swallow. I should be an old pro at that by now, but it still leaves me a little jiffy from time to time. (get it… peanut butter… jiffy… wow. tough room)

NEwhere…

I picked up a new station on my TV. I don’t have dish or cable or satellite or anything like that. I’m such a cheapskate (it’s all about the Jack value menu for me!) that I just have an antenna. The upside of that is that I have a lot of HD TV, cuz there really isn’t much old school TV left. Ya, my dad was one of those who thought that when he got so lazy that he couldn’t have one of the kids change the channel it was time to get rid of the TV.

(bring it back in, sidetrack-boy. That’s my superhero name. I think we all know why… ahem)

Yes. So. The new channel. I’ve picked up channel 62, which is ABC13 from I don’t know where, but it’s full coverage of the storm moving up the east coast. OK, the ‘hurricane’ moving up the east coast.

Don’t get me wrong (just get me), I’m sure it’s a big deal with the rain and wind and stuff. But I feel really bad for these newscasters. They are doing their best to make this look like it’s a really big deal. They’ve put a reporter out in the wind and rain, and they’ve had him standing in 3 inches of water and shouting (which really isn’t necessary) about how bad the storm is. I mean there are tree branches and pine needles all over the road! (gasp. shock. yawn.)

Right now the reporter is driving down the interstate saying that the most consistent thing they see is that there are not very many cars on the roadway. And they keep flashing back to what is evidently the only roof that has been damaged on the east coast.

I know they just had an earthquake (and the peeps in CA (my recent stop in San Fran made me quite trembly) equate that to what it feels like when a truck drives by), and that the power is out for a few peeps, but watching an interview where someone says “we was just sittin at home watchin’ jeppardy when the powr went out.. I turned to Darrel (pronounced DaRell) and I says we needs to git to the shelter!” just really doesn’t put the same sympathy in me that New Orleans did.

Oh look. Winds at 30 mph.

So as I’ve been sitting here watching the coverage (cuz I’m just.that.bored.), I’m reminded of some dreams that I had when I was young(er). I used to have some very real dreams about disaster. Nuclear bomb, airplane crash… stuff like that. And as I do watch the people in the shelter talk about why they went to said shelter, I think about what I would do in a disaster. Or really bad rainfall, as the case may be.

The big deal for me right now is that, should disaster strike, I might not be able to get to the people that mean the most to me. That I might not be able to get to my girls.

I’ve played the scenario out a few times, cuz I’m morbid like that. I know how to survive. I can hunt and gather and build a fort (especially if I have enough sheets!), but my big concern is taking care of those I love. And being with the people who make my life worth living. I think about Will Smith in “I Am Legend” and I marvel and how he was able to just keep going. Alone. I know you all can take care of yourselves… just look how strong you’ve become! But I don’t want to face disaster alone. (that’s SO weird for me!!!) I used to think that there would be nothing better than for me to be on the show “Lost”, but as the sole survivor. Not so much anymore. (must be the excessive heat… I should take a cold shower) Some things do change!

And so, rather than my usual “let’s make a deal” here, let me pose this question. What would you do if the worst should happen? I know that the east coast has turned into a monsoon-type storm… but what if something really happened?

Oh. btw. If you’re not from the nor’east… you shouldn’t use the term “nor’easter”. Just sayin.

I have my emergency evacuation plan. It involves a fast car, a pillow, a laptop and you. What would you do?

To help, here are 2 (yes, two!) songs.

and… I know this was posted at one time, cuz I remember the comments about it. Evidently it was from when I (foolishly) deleted posts after a few days. Who had the idea to read and delete anyway???

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I’ve got nothing on. The TV, I mean. Hey, this is a family friendly blog… what were you thinking?

I’m one of those cheapies who doesn’t have cable/Dish/DirecTV. I satisfy most of my tube-watching desires with a good dosage of Netflix, Hulu and borrowed movies. I also have a HD antenna and, depending on where I place the antenna and where I lay on the bed, I can get a decent number of HD channels.

Evidently this is a pretty popular way of getting your TV (at least here in the ghetto), cuz there have been some new channels pop up lately. Along with the network stations and a dozen PBS channels I now get RTV “random time vortex”, MeTV “moderately entertaining tired videos” and THiS “thank heavens its sfree” (shut up. it’s the best I could come up with). These channels all show old shows. Shows that I remember from when I was growing up. cuz I’m old. :-/

I was flipping through those channels this morning and landed on a show with Justin Bateman. At first I was a little troubled because I know the guy by site, but then I googled him (it’s what I do) and found out that he’s one of those actors that has been in pretty much everything. I like stars like that. Not big flashy money-magnets, but someone who performs consistently.

Anywhoo… at this point in this show, he had just realized that he needed to buckle down and study for his exams or he wasn’t going to graduate. So he ran to the library and had a heart-to-heart with his love interest and she was gonna help him. It was a touching little scene (well, considering how the rest of the movie was) and then I found out there was a really big problem. I was watching a Teen Wolf sequel. (gasp!)

I liked Teen Wolf. You know, with Michael J. Fox. I liked it so much that I watched Air Wolf just to see if it was a show about flying werewolves. (It’s not) People who say that Return of the Jedi was too much like Star Wars have not seen Teen Wolf and Teen Wolf Too. It’s the exact (yes, exact) same story, just with different actors. It was almost more than I could stand (almost). And this is from a guy who really likes twice.

So I watched the movie for a while (the remote was on the kitchen counter and I didn’t want to get off the couch… you know how it goes), until the boxing scene, actually. When the big school bully is beating the crap out of Wolverine Jr, but he made some promise that he won’t go all hairy (he’s says it’s like he has a beard all over his body) and continues to get pummeled. Until he gets a little red-eyed and finds some inner strength from his girlfriend Adrian (no wait.. that’s Rocky) and then, just when you think he’s done, he comes back and wins the day. And then the theme music from Dirty Dancing plays while the credits roll. (ya, bad enough they stole the plot from another show. they stole the soundtrack too!)

What is it with the big comebacks like that? I watched (sort of) The Fighter last night, and the same thing happened there. Kid gets beaten up in every fight, but then in the end decides to get serious and win the world championship. I guess it’s that little-known-hero-fighter-makes-a-comeback thing. Makes for good movies?

And as I sat and thought about those movies and my own life (it’s what I do) I found a couple of comparisons, which I would like to share with you now (also what I do. I just can’t stop.)

The first thought was that it’s not really a healthy thing to hold all that anger/energy/ambition/bad acting inside until it just explodes out of you in a massive pinching punching attack. That’ll leave bruises and stuff… I speak from experience. Too often we don’t speak up about things we don’t like, or even things we do, until that one final thing happens and all that not speaking up explodes like a mentos in Coke. And that was almost the whole purpose of this post.

But I started thinking (a dangerous past-time, I know) that it’s not really them exploding in anger. I like to think that after they had taken about all they could (you know.. the countdown to 9 and a half before they get up and win in 3 punches), they found that ‘something’ deep inside that gave them the desire to succeed. The will and the motivation to stop the bad things that were happening and change their lives. To take control of their lives.

I think that for everyone, and in pretty much any situation, there is a point where what you are willing to take becomes what you can’t take anymore. Sometimes we put up a fight cuz we know we’re right; sometimes we just sit back quietly and say ‘whatever’ because we know we can’t argue with a crazy person, or that the topic isn’t that important to us. Sometimes we remind that person who cut in line in front of us that we’re a society with rules, and sometimes we let it go because Karma will take care of them and it’s not worth getting shot over. And sometimes we have to make a stand. Sometimes we have to set things right. On those rare occasions we have to put everything else aside to do what we know is right, to get what we really want.

We are all champions. And when the right cause, the right reason, comes along we will rise to the fight. I believe that for the right purpose, we can be miracles. Sometimes we need an Adrian in our corner, sometimes we need a good coach. sometimes we just need a mentos. But mostly, we need to believe that we can. And that we are worth it (we are!!!).

I know by now you’re wondering what the heck all this rambling is leading up to. Well hopefully you haven’t had enough and decided to punch that little red X in the upper right corner. What it’s leading to is this….

I’ve seen the change that can happen when someone has had enough. I know how powerful it is to take back our lives… and I know how hard that is, especially if you think you have to go it alone. It’s easier if you have someone there with you. Teen Wolf Too had his girlfriend, his dad, and his professor. Rocky had Adrian. I have you.

We can rally that inner greatness that each of us has to bring about the changes in our lives, in our situations, that will make us world champions, even if it’s only in our own little world. I’ll be your cheerleader (I’m not wearing knee socks… I draw the line there), your coach, your biggest fan. I’ll even be your Adrian. And I’ll definitely be in your corner.

Together, we can make the change, we can win this fight. We can do anything.

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the sheer and utter panic that comes from pressing ‘Publish” in WordPress and having the login screen pop up.

It’s like writing a really long, awesome comment on someone’s blog and having it disappear because you didn’t put in the email address.

I’m SO thankful for auto-save!!

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Last night I had the strangest dream. No, I didn’t sail away to China (vague Ace of Base reference)… in fact it wasn’t really even last night. It was a few nights ago, I just needed that song hook to catch your attention. And I didn’t really want to admit that it has not only been a month since you’ve read a post here, but it now takes me several days to actually go from mused to posted. (I.am.such a slacker!)

I’ve discovered a new show (don’t worry, we’ll get back to the post in a minute.. I haven’t put anything here in a long time and I have a lot to say, mkay??). No, it’s not the bachelorette. Manly guys like me would certainly never watch something like that, no matter how pathetic Bentley seems. (ahem… moving on)

The new show that I like is Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. And it’s not just because I feel like I need to be on that show. I love the transformation. I love that they show people who are sticking with something. I’m a huge fan (huge!) of instant gratification, and it really annoys me that I don’t lose 10 pounds after a good workout. And I also am a huge fan of achievement and reaching goals and getting what you want. (oh yes, that will play out quite nicely later in the post.. you just wait. wait for it… wait for it…)

So back to the dream (remember that?)

I dreamed I had to give a talk in church. Oh shut up! I’ve been to church! And I’ve actually spoken in church and (gasp) taught before. That’s right. Somewhere out there are poor lost souls who long, long ago had to have me for a Sunday School teacher. Poor kids.

So in the dream (I swear I couldn’t stay on track if I had rails) I was sitting in a church with amphitheater seating.. you know… sort of a semi-circle around the podium/stage/pulpit thing. I think it might have something to do with that little bit of an ego that I might have (no, really! You probably didn’t notice). As I sat there all quietly waiting for my turn to be called to center stage it dawned on me (still in the dream, btw) that I had left my talk home. Oh crap!

And as I sat there in my dream pew in my dream panic, it occurred to me that I write posts all the time. I could just sit there and write something to you (it’s what I do) and use that as a ‘inspired’ talk for the masses gathered there. And it was really quite calming to realize I could just whip out a piece of paper and my lucky pen and jot some thoughts down and know that some people would actually believe that I knew what I was talking about. I’m the king of fake it til you make it, ya know.

I remember enough about what I was jotting down there to know it was based on the whole “Dance like no one is watching” theme, but not much more beyond that. So when I did wake up, I had some thoughts about that running though my head. And it was one of those dreams that actually made sense (but then, everything seems like a good idea after 2am). And some of the feeling that I had there stuck with me, and kinda turned into (wait for it…) this post.

So I thought I’d share a few of those edge-of-dream thoughts with you here (in true d-list style).

“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”
— William W. Purkey… also attributed to Mark Twain and about half a dozen other people.

Good lines there, Mr Purkey/Twain/Everybody else, but I have a few to add to that. You ready? I need you to be ready. Well, I’m going ahead anyway… you come along when you’re ready.

* Drive like there’s no speed limit. (it’s my fav)
* Sleep like you don’t have to get up in the morning.
* Live like you expect things to go your way.

And it’s the last one that really stuck with me when I woke up. It’s no secret that the D-Meister has it all goin’ his way pretty much all the time. (you can be jealous, it’s ok) And I think that a lot of the secret to my success is that I just expect it. Call it the law of attraction, call it good hair, call it dumb luck, call me a lucky guy (yes that again)… but I’m here to tell you that what you get is up to you. 

There have been a lot of things going my way lately, and I think there are a few reasons for that (oh yay! another list!)

1.  I’m naturally awesome
B.  I expect good things

Ya it’s about that simple.  (shut up, it is!) I’m not sure which of those reasons has more to do with things going my way, but I’d have to say the first comes naturally (that’s why it’s called naturally awesome) and that certainly helps a lot.  And I’ve got to say that I know you are quite awesome (why else would you be here?).  The second part is something that everyone can work on.  Even I need to remind myself to keep expecting good things.  There are a lot of ways to say it.. just plain lucky, the law of attraction, the power of intention, good things come to those who wait (I’m not much for waiting).  But the bottom line is you get what you expect to get. And the more you get of that, the more you get.

Ever had a day when thigs are just going your way?  Well, I’ve had a LOT of those.  And they happen because one good thing happens, like maybe your day starts with someone smiling at you, and that starts your skin humming with goodness (mmhmm!) and then more good things come your way. But when you are having a bad day (let’s not do that), it just seems like everything comes crashing down at once.

The secret to keeping the good things coming is to keep expecting good things.  So let’s find ways to remind ourselves that we deserve the things we want and will always get what we need.  Might I suggest reading some of your favorite uplifting blog sites (like this one, for example!), listening to your favorite music (like what’s posted on here, for example!) and just hanging out with people who love you and lift you up.  (like me, for example!).  Before you know it you’ll be good intentioning like an old pro. 

Your life will be as good as you allow it to be.  Allow it to be awesome.  Expect it to be awesome.  Cuz you.are.awesome.

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OK. Don’t really. Cuz I’m not.

This is gonna seem really weird (have you met me?).. but I fired up and logged into the ol’ lappytoppy this morning and there was a page on Tourette’s syndrome open (I usually put it to sleep instead of shutting down cuz I’m always in the middle of sumthin) . It was a discussion forum and I was all like “what the crap Hathaway? You’ve GOT to stop eating spicy food at night”. It was really freaking me out.

So I hit the back button to find out what I was looking for to land on such a page… and it turns out I was googling a quote from Hook.. “I’ve had an apostrophe” and landed on a support forum page where someone had that little exchange from Hook in their signature block. It was on page one for the search.. Google is a crazy beast. Here’s the quote, in case you’re about to google it yourself… (although I like it very much when you Google stuff)

Smee: I’ve just had an apostrophe.
Captain Hook: I think you mean an epiphany.
Smee: No… lightning has just struck my brain.
Captain Hook: Well, that must hurt.

OK… back to superstitious (yes, distracted before the post even began!).

I don’t consider myself to be a superstitious person. I think it’s bad luck to be superstitious. (Hahaha! oh I slay me! Well at least I find me amusing.)

Friday the 13th? Just another payday/day off. (love the 4 day workweek!)
Black cat crossing my path? Kitty!!!!
Broken Mirror? OK, that just sucks. Cuz those things shatter into the tiniest little pieces. But it’s 7 minutes of bad luck, while you clean it up, at the most.

So what inspires today’s rant, you ask? (go ahead.. ask). Well for one, it’s you my muse. my distraction. my friend. Ya, it’s pretty amazing how many things throughout the day make me think “that should be a post” and yet never make it.

The other inspiration is a bug. You read that right. A bug. Well, two bugs to be more precise.

I was playing doctor today (simmer down.. just tree doctor) and transplanting some plants who had outgrown their pots. I was washing the dirt out of the old pots using the hose over by the side of the house… you know; the one by the Christmas tree I still haven’t gotten rid of. :-/

N.E.who… I was washing out the older, smaller planter and felt a creepy crawly on my wrist. I looked down and found not one, but two little praying mantises (manti? maniti? mantoose?) gotta Google something again… brb.

“The plural of praying mantis (not preying mantis) is praying mantids, mantes or mantises.”

So there were two praying mantises on my hand. And I thought how it must be such good luck to have one praying mantis on your hand (they make MUCH better roommates than crickets, btw… always with the praying instead of the chirping) but to have two??? Double lucky. I’m such a lucky guy!

And I started thinking (surely you’re expecting that after all this time. Crap! I’ve become predictable! wait.. let’s call it something you can count on, mkay?) about how I view luck. Luck is nothing more than what you believe is going to happen. Yes, I’m one of those who think we make our own luck.

Remember Hee-Haw? If if werent’ for bad luck I’d have no luck at all… (you know you’re singing it!) Yah, I don’t buy that. If it weren’t for good luck, I’d have no luck at all.

I watched Caddyshack yesterday, and the quote from Chevy Chase (who once was funny. no really, he was!) comes to fingertips… “there’s a force in this universe that makes things happen, and all you need to do is get in touch with it. Close your eyes, find your center, and…be the ball”

And I say it’s so true… and it extends way beyond the golf ball. It goes for your life. We need to be our life. We make our own luck. Good or bad, we draw to us the things about which we think we are worthy. So take a look at yourself right now (yes, I said now!). It doesn’t matter if you’re in a huge house with a great view or living in your parents’ spare bedroom… the way your life is heading is the way that you believe your life is heading. When you follow a GPS (I love the GPS) you don’t just turn it on and go wherever is says (cuz it really sucks at finding a random location). You don’t go where the GPS tells you to; you tell the GPS where you want to go and it tells you how to get there. According to Your preferences.

So let’s make this deal now. And this time it’s more than a deal. It’s a guarantee. Let’s let all of our luck be good luck. Let’s let all of our intentions lead us down the path we want. the path we choose. according to the options we want. You and me… we’re gonna be okay. Let’s tell the universe/planets/superman where we want to go and let it/them help us get there… but never leave it up to anyone else where we end up. Ours is to decide where we want to be.. the route is optional according to our options… what we want to see… how much time we’re willing to spend on the journey. (I prefer back roads and frequent stops to dance) The path is the adventure. But the destination is our choice. I choose happiness. and Love. And Beauty. And You.

I’m lucky like that.


Evidently I’m in a heavy metal mood today…

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