No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on September 30, 2016

Since the last time I vanished, I got a lot of people inquiring after my health, I thought this time I would give a heads up.

I am going off line until after NYCC and might go a little further than that.

If I post it will probably be my drawlloween pictures.

I need to take some time to get my head back together and see if I can get my body to cooperate with my brain.

I figured I should practice what I preach.

Usual methods of contact are still open if you need to get a hold of me.

I am grateful for seeing the forest and the trees.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 29, 2016

This came out of a conversation I had at the bowling alley and some things I have been reading and responding to online.

It took me a while to sort out what they were talking about but it boiled down to my life experience, including travel all over the world, and that I am smart and observant.

I will never apologize for being smart. I was raised in a house of smart people with smart and clever people around. Being able to use your brain to solve something was considered a good thing and we were encouraged to do so.

I do the same with Caroline. I know she is smart and I want her to be proud that she can think rings around most of her classmates. I have taught her the fine line between smart and smart-ášš.

I have been trying to figure out when being smart became a bad thing. There is this weird attitude of well you are smart therefore I don’t have to listen to you because you are an elitist who doesn’t understand the problems of the common man.

And that’s the disconnect. Some were along the way smart became equated with not being able to understand the problems of regular folks. Which could not be further from the truth.

I have people in my town coming to me for information on something that they heard or read that they figure I probably have studied for years. I am one of the lucky ones that I read and retain really well so things I read back when I was in high school are still stuck in my head.

I am good at researching a topic and discovering all I can find on it. If there were a job that was just doing research for a company on various topics, I would excel. Caroline is showing the same kind of abilities. She also knows how to make her papers sound exceptional even if she is shaky on the topic at hand but she gets that from her dad.

I tend to try to look at an issue from more than one side if for no other reason than to be able to find cogent arguments that I can use if needed. It is an intellectual exercise to me. I also do various forms of mathematics in my head to go to sleep but that’s probably just me.

I enjoy brain-teasers and logic puzzles. I like things that make me use my brain and think both inside and outside the box. I am a problem solver to my core.

And I refuse to not be intelligent. I refuse to not question things that make no sense to me. I refuse to hide who I am because it can make people uncomfortable. I am me and I am an intellectual. Always have been and always will be.

I am grateful to my parents for teaching me that being smart was a wonderful thing to be.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 28, 2016

Yesterday I had the second part of the dental surgery I need to replace my cracked front tooth. They made an impression and now it is up to the lab to recreate my tooth. I apparently also have some sort of infection on the left side of my face, which is causing me to have a mask of pain from the infection and the dental surgery. Made last night rather uncomfortable to say the least.

And where was I? Have my last meet the teachers at my daughter’s middle school. She has a lot to do this year. I can tell that her teachers are challenging their students and not letting any of them rest on their laurels. The upside is that she will have three high school credits and two regents out of the way before High School. But it will not be easy. Caroline was also at the school showing adults where to go as part of her National Junior Honor Society obligations.

Next week is NYCC. Peter’s table is B-5 in Artist Alley like is normally is. I will be there on Saturday and Sunday. And, if I get it done, I will be wearing a costume of a character Peter created. Not the most complicated but it does have its fiddly bits. I also want to upgrade and finish a couple of puppets for the convention.

We may have some plans for the weekend if everyone is healthy.

I am not feeling at my best right now. Trying to figure out if it is related to the dental stuff or if I picked up Peter’s con crud that he had last week. I think I am going to take a day and see if I can sort myself out.

Caroline has a busy day with school, a conformation retreat, and a show choir meeting. Peter has bowling this evening. I have a few errands to keep hearth and home together.

Mets are still in it and hold the keys to their own destiny in the wild card.

Jets and Giants aren’t out of their races either. Three games doth not a season make. But it does show you what the team is like.

There is a new trailer/teaser for Dr. Strange up that makes me believe that this is going to be the film I have been wanting since I started reading Dr. Strange oh so many years ago.

I am grateful for friends who have my back.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 27, 2016

There is a weird notion that creative people are more creative when they are depressed. They point out that Van Gogh did his best work as he slid into madness. They bring up others artists that produced what is believed to be their best work during times of deep despair.

There is the panic factor of meeting a deadline. Not going to deny that but that is sheer adrenaline going and is not a healthy way to get things done.

I had an actor who felt that he did his best acting while high on heroin. He was a brilliant actor. Your eye went to him on the stage because he had such presence. After a series of events that were rather horrible, he went into rehab. Once he came back from rehab, he felt that he was not as good as he had been and it reflected in his performance. It was not as sharp as it was and I could see that his self-doubt was interfering with his abilities not that he wasn’t high.

I can’t function creatively when I am at my darkest. I have tried but it just doesn’t work. I get so wrapped up in my head about what I am not doing that I find myself practically paralyzed to get anything done. And I get more down on myself because I am not doing anything creative. So it becomes a vicious circle that just spirals down.

I do agree with Peter that when the chips are down one doesn’t have time for writer’s block.

Right now I am at a tipping point and I recognize that I am there. I know what I need to do to tip the right direction. Now I just have to do it.

I am grateful for lessons learned.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 26, 2016

I didn’t get any entries done because we were up at the crack of dawn to get to various places so we could park and not spend a lot of time in traffic.

Saturday we went to the Ren Faire. Caroline was able to bring a friend so she had a great time. It was Masquerade weekend that had us going through our mask collection looking for ones to wear. The weather was pretty much perfect. We followed the story around the Faire and saw a few sections we hadn’t seen before including the set up for the whole day which does get recapped but it was nice to see the whole thing.

Sunday we went in for the Broadway Flea Market and caught up with some of our theater buddies. We went to a matinee of Aladdin and Peter got a Birthday shout out from the Genie at the end of ‘Friend like me’. Spent some time afterwards talking to James and some of the other cast members. Again the weather was perfect for the activities we had planned.

The drives to and from both places weren’t bad. We did have to get clever to get around some seriously backed up traffic in some areas, but between the GPS, the iPad, and my ability to navigate, it was not as long as it could have been. There are times I wonder what we did before all these clever ways of getting around traffic had come along.

Peter says he had fun his birthday weekend. He loves his cards, artwork, presents, videos, and photos. It was a good birthday for him.

Next on the docket is New York Comic Con.

I am grateful to everyone who helped me make this a great Birthday for Peter.

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