As I said last week, during my first semester of college, I was taking Creative Writing and decided to write about my High School experiences.  The following is the essay in it’s entirety.  This was painful for me to read even though it has been nearly 2 decades since I left High School.  The events in this essay are entirely true (except for some name changes… my name’s not Alan) and really happened to me.  (Including the recurring dream.)  I may have mashed events together a bit for the sake of the story, but I think it gives a really good look into my mind at the time. Read more of this article »

Before NHL was two, we went for a trip to see some friends in Pennsylvania.  While there, NHL slept in a bed by himself for the first time.  (He was still sleeping in his crib.)  When we got back home, NHL was restless at night.  We quickly figured out that his problem was that he had gotten a taste of a big boy bed and wanted more.  We got a twin bed, put it in his room and retired his crib to the basement for storage.

After JSL was born, the crib was brought back out and JSL slept there.  As he began approaching three, he seemed to have more and more restless nights.  We would often find him pushing his body against both sides of the crib at once or with arms and legs in the crib slots (at which point we would need to help him get free before he woke up).  We would get him a bed like NHL’s but their room isn’t big enough to support two beds.  There would be literally no space to walk past the beds.

We’ve considered our options and right now our best bet seems to be bunk beds.  JSL would get the bottom bunk and NHL the top.  Of course, we’re worried about potential dangers of bunk beds, but we also don’t see any other option considering their room size.

My Aloha Friday question for this week is: Have you ever had bunk beds?  If so, what do you recommend we look for/look out for?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #40

I’m a big fan of CommentLuv. It lets me reward my commenters with links back to their blogs. It also introduces me to blogs that I might not have otherwise stopped by (either due to a comment on my blog or a CommentLuv-enabled comment on someone else’s blog).

Not too long ago, B brought an issue to my attention. Apparently, a spammer tried to post to her blog. Akismet caught the spammer, but what worried her was the CommentLuv link. Despite filling out his URL, CommentLuv was showing a different, legitimate blogger’s CommentLuv link. We wondered how exactly he was able to pull this off and worried that it might mean the beginning of spammers abusing CommentLuv. A short while later, this same spammer tried to spam my blog with the same tactic. Again, Akismet caught it. Instead of deleting the spam like I usually do, however, I decided to hold onto it to examine it.

Read more of this article »

If I thought Junior High School was bad, I was really unprepared for the level of bullying that came when I went to High School.  It started pretty "tame" (that being a relative term).  One guy would make insinuating comments to me in the locker room before and after gym.  As an overweight teenager, I was frankly more than a little embarrassed about the changes my body was going through.  I had just "discovered" girls in the first few days of High School whereas many of my fellow students made that discovery in Junior High.  With many people dating, walking around holding hands, etc, I was very unsure and frightened when it came to my sexuality.  So this person’s remarks questioning my sexuality struck particularly hard.

Over time, though, it got worse.  There was a group of kids that teased me.  (This initial guy was part of this group.)  They didn’t sit behind me in class spitting spitballs, though.  They followed me from class to class taunting me.  If I altered my route, sped up or otherwise tried to lose them, they kept up with me and taunted me more for trying to lose them.  If I passed one of them in the hall, nothing was said and I was ignored, but should that one be joined by a friend or two of his, they suddenly got very courageous.  I tried to ignore them as much as possible because I quickly learned that anything I said would just lead to more teasing.  (I certainly didn’t fight back physically as I was afraid of getting in trouble.) Read more of this article »

Weight: 188 lbs (up 1 pound)

Average Hours of Sleep: 6.2 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

This past week brought an unexpected challenge: The Jewish Holiday of Shavuot. I forgot that during the holiday I wouldn’t be able to write down my points. Usually on Saturdays (when I also can’t write), I just keep track in my head. That works fine for 1 day, but 2 days is too much. I’m quite sure that I would up eating too many points on those days which hindered my ability to shed pounds gained from JSL’s birthday party. Still, I only gained a single pound which isn’t too bad.

With this weigh-in, I bring my 20 Pounds in 20 Weeks challenge to a close. While I didn’t end at or under my goal, I’m not going to count that as losing the challenge. First of all, it’s just one pound. I lost 19 pounds over the past 20 weeks. I can’t see calling those 19 lost pounds a “loss” because one additional pound didn’t drop off. Secondly, I actually hit my goal weight twice. And lastly, well, it is my challenge against myself so why *can’t* I declare myself a victor?

Next week, I’ll look back over my weigh in and sleep figures and that will be my last Project New Me post.

Last week, NHL, JSL and I made pita pizzas for dinner. As young kids, they can tend to limit the foods they want to eat. JSL, for example, would eat Macaroni and Cheese for breakfast, lunch and dinner if we let him. Yet, they also like doing things with me and my hope is that cooking with them will help expand their culinary horizons.

My Aloha Friday question for this week is: Do you cook with your kids? If so, what have you made with them?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #39

NHL and JSL love the Disney Channel. One of the "mini-shows" they have on (filling time between regular shows) is "Tasty Time with ZeFronk." In this show, a dachshund (ZeFronk) makes tasty snacks which a cat named Dom always steals. After one episode showing Pita Pizzas, NHL remarked that he wanted to try making this. We made a trip to the grocery store and later that week, we were ready to cook.

First, we gathered our ingredients. Pitas, mushrooms, cheese, sauce and meatless pepperoni. (You can use real pepperoni if you’d like, but it’s not Kosher so we use the soy-based variety.)

Next, we did what ZeFronk always does before cooking: We washed our hands!

Now, it was time to cook. I laid four pitas down on two cookie sheets.

The boys took their positions by the stove, standing to step stools to help them reach. I put some sauce on each of the pitas and the boys used a spoon to spread it out. (There are no action photos of JSL because I was too busy helping him to take photos.)

Next, NHL spread out some mushrooms. JSL protested at this saying he didn’t want mushrooms so I let him know that we could customize it. He could have no mushrooms, no pepperoni. B and NHL could have mushrooms, no pepperoni. I could have the works.

With the ‘shrooms in place, we applied the cheese.

And then the pepperoni.

Into the oven they went for 8 minutes. (Obviously, this step was done by me.)

And then we had Pita Pizzas to enjoy! Healthy and tasty too! YUM!

When I got into Junior High School, I didn’t have many friends. So I was happy when I befriended RH. He seemed pretty nice at first, but soon he began to do things to torment me. He would sit behind me in class and throw spit balls at me or poke me in the back with the sharp end of his pencil. Eventually, I would confront him and he would say that someone told him I said something about him. I would deny it (as it wasn’t true) and he would be my friend again. This process repeated over and over and, I’m ashamed to say, I didn’t catch on that the “someone told him something” was a complete lie. I was too naive and desparate to have a friend.

One time, RH ignited a rivalry I had had in elementary school. MH lived up the block from me. Calling him a “bad seed” would be an understatement. He ODed on drugs at a young age as did every member of his family. He would push me down at the bus stops and try to beat me up any opportunity he got. I wouldn’t fight back, but would just take it.

One time, he tried beating me up in the halls of our elementary school and I had had enough. I tossed my books down and started to fight him. I don’t remember if I held my own or if we were stopped before we even started. I do know we were eventually stopped. I don’t think he was able to beat me up when I fought back. After this confrontation, if memory serves, he stopped picking on me. Until RH got involved, that is.

RH, MH and I were in gym class together and the sport we were playing was wrestling. Not the WWE-type but the old fashioned Greco-Roman variety. Two people go into a circle. One person goes on all fours. The second person holds his arm from over his back. Then you begin and each person tries to get the other one pinned. Strength is only one factor that contributes towards victory. Stragedy is also a factor.

RH egged MH on and somehow got MH and I in the wrestling circle together. As usual, I played by the rules, but MH didn’t feel like the rules applied to him. He drove me outside of the circle. Normally, at this point, the rules would dictate stopping attacks until the person got back in the ring. Instead, MH launched himself at me, hit me hard and wound up splitting my lip open. Still, for some reason, I was still naive and believed RH when he later told me that MH had told him I had said something negative about him (RH).

Eventually, I did wise up and cut all ties with RH, except for one. I happened to befriend another friend of his, G. My friendship with G lasted through High School, college and still goes on to this day. He’s the guy who’s wedding I attended in 2008. He’ll also wind up being very important in the next story (next week).

Weight: 187 lbs (down 1.5 pounds)

Average Hours of Sleep: 5.4 hours

Total Workout Time: 0

Total Calories Burned: 0

Yesterday’s weigh in brought a pleasent surprise. I was at my goal weight. This was a surprise because my parents were in town for JSL’s party and I had eaten some less-than-perfect-for-me foods while we went out to eat. I don’t think I overdid it, but those foods could have easily packed on an extra pound. Instead, my metabolism seems to be able to withstand a day or so of overeating. (I overdid it at JSL’s party yesterday also and did an unofficial weigh in this morning to find myself at 187.5 pounds.) Of course, eating like that continually will lead to trouble, in the form of packed on pounds, but it is nice to know that my body is at the point where I don’t need to worry about the occassional stray into fattening foods.