Happy Birthday Rene! You so Cute!!!
Say cheese.
1 A Very Merry Birthday to you! I love that people you work with think you're way young! Well, you are! If I've told you once, I've told you a billion times: 35 is NOT old! I'm the luckiest guy alive, I swear.
2 Ghost Stories Day 1: The students did a great job. Earlier in the day they seemed a tad shy, but as the day progressed we had a diversity of stories, including stories from all over the world.
3 The students brought ghost stories from India, Vietnam, Korea, Japan,The Philippines, Mexico, Ireland, Australia, Great Britain, and other countries.
4 I know I'm leaving out a few of the places, but the bottom line is there were many stories from many different locales and regions.
5 Locally they brought The Winchester Mystery House, Toys Я Us in Sunnyvale, The Hellyer House, Marsh Road, San Felipe Road, Quimby Road (I told them that in their search, they should find out what a quimby is, and to begin their search with Vonnegut.), Chuck E. Cheese, Pacheco Pass, and Alum Rock Park, which evidently has albinos who come down from the hills and devour people!
6 I'll leave it up to you to search those places. Sources for ghost stories vary from absolute crackpots to case studies by schooled medical people, as well as to scholarly research by respected journalists and researchers.
7 Fun subject, and absolutely remarkable stories. Some students talked with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other family members about stories they may have heard or even gone through. Some had frightening experiences; some never knew that all houses weren't haunted!
8 While I had to add a lot of "filler" early in the day, by my last class, I didn't need to say a thing: the students couldn't wait to share, and trust me, there's nothing better.
9 We debrief a bit today, and then we return to the Theater tomorrow for the classic Heidi stories.
10 On Halloween.
11 Amazing stuff.
12 Did anything strange go on?
13 A little.
14 A student had a phone app that could measure the outside temperature. I always have the students notice the temperature at the beginning of the stories. The phone app seemed at least a bit scientific, if we had to pinpoint a system.
15 Not a perfect system, since the heat of the hand on the phone might distort the results.
16 I did a temperature check at the beginning of every session.
17 That student registered 72 degrees at the beginning of his class. It got noticeably colder, and at the end of the session it was at 69. Not a huge change, but a registered change. Duly noted.
18 Within minutes after their departure the Theater seemed to warm up and was once again comfortable.
19 It turned cold the second period in a row after that, and then it stayed colder than the outside temp for the remainder of the day.
20 I had to walk outside to get warm.
21 We can certainly point to the HVAC system at the school, which operates out of a hidden computer room above the gym. Go figure. I know. I've had to get a guy out of retirement to warm up a live production of The Nutcracker several years ago when I ran school activities.
22 The snow scene at the end of the first act worked wonderfully for the audience, because the Theater got so cold.
23 It was terrible for the dancers, of course, but we had to fool the machinery with the computer in order for the place to warm up in the second act.
24 I won't go into the technicalities, but it does have a built-in safety device that keeps the heat from getting too hot. If it hits a certain temp, the heater shuts down but the blower continues to blow.
25 So it the ghost-story temperature changes could have had something to do with that, but I doubt it, since it would get warmer for about five minutes, and then it would get colder again.
26 That would certainly be the most logical explanation for the temperature changes.
27 And yet it did go up and down remarkably fast.
28 Anyway, it is all speculation, but pretty interesting stuff.
29 Moving on, Part One: Those of you who have followed my little bout with circulation might be happy to know that my doctor took me off medication, the implication being that I am better after three months of constant worry.
30 I wrote back and requested that we schedule an ultra sound to be sure that there is nothing clotting, and that everything is safe.
31 I got an instant reply, so I will schedule that within the week.
32 Right now things look good. My legs feel better, and I certainly got more active the second I learned I was better.
33 I don't want to get too giddy, but right now I'm going to sleep better than I did any time after my July diagnosis, which knocked me out of two vacations this past summer.
34 I kept Tahoe, of course. I am Tahoe, and Tahoe is me.
35 This whole thing has been pretty trying, more than I could ever share, or even dare to bore people with.
36 If you have followed that aspect of this, then you know I've had the pleasure of visiting emergency twice since July.
37 So it all looks okay, at least for now.
38 I got a scare last night. I looked down at my right toe and saw what looked like a black mole. I read about it and decided once again to give up reading.
39 I knewthat should be checked, and that it could have been any number of things. I finally put down my reading, pulled my toe up to my eyeball and saw that it looked exactly the way they described a melanoma.
40 My heart sank. Elevator going down.
41 I then did a miracle cure.
42 I licked my finger and found it was a dirt smudge.
43 Ladies and gentlemen, if I could offer you any piece of advice, it would be this:
44 Don't get old.
45 Just kiddin'. I went through the roof with smiles. Goofy happy.
46
47 Just another day.
48 Anyway, I can't go away without giving a HUGE happy birthday to Helene, who turns 35 today.
49 That's my story and I'm sticking to it. She looks pretty enough to be 35!
50 I got her a WAY cool present too! Well, sorta cool. I can't wait to get home today and celebrate.
51 Lots to celebrate this fine day.
52 Meanwhile, I gottago. I just checked my toe again. Clean bill of health. Thank God for cleanliness.
53 You have a GREAT day.
54 See you again.
55 Peace.
~H~
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