Sunday, November 28, 2010

Family Time



Family time, the moments that pass through the day and are all too often forgotten, or trapped within photographs that keep a brief moment in time the same way forever, yet is never remembered for what it is. I have a wife and 5 children, whom I try to spend as much time with as possible. The children grow and grow and change, they become people different than what we know or expect. My wife, who tries to understand me, often looks at me with disbelief or even mild contempt when I offer resolutions to situations contrary from her own, yet I love here more and more each day, to which she sometime flinches when I tell her so.

My wife has admitted to me that her life is not what she wanted, and that she sometimes regrets not being more true to her original plans. The boys grow older and do the things that drive us both nuts, all too often than not. Our daughters are still very young, and very innocent, and very much like their mother; they adore puppies and kittens and listen to everyone, except us, unless they want something, which is often. I dearly enjoy being a husband and father, and I regret nothing, but I feel that I am at times the target of regret, though I am not at fault. Do not think that I am moaning about not “being respected” or that “I don’t feel loved”, I do, I am much loved, and I know this, I dearly praise every moment I have with them.

My siblings, whom often put me at odds with each other, whom often try to let me know, that even at 45, they know “what’s best” and push and pry into my life, but even with that, I smile and let the winds blow, until it is calm again. I have friends, some I see everyday day, and some that are friends in name only, but never in action. So everyone has these aspect in their life, I am no different than anyone else who wakes up every day and goes to sleep every night, but why am I writing this, read on.

I am the last of the optimists, I wake up every morning thinking it is going to be a brand new day with brand new adventures; Peter Pan has nothing on me. I read the same books I did when I was young, and yes, I do think I still believe in Santa Clause, and the tooth fairy, which I have personal and factual knowledge, has a back door to my wallet every time my kids loose a tooth. I feel that every day, we have a new chance to be something or someone special, I believe everyone deserves a chance, 1st, 2nd or 3rd.

The other day, I went out with my wife and daughters, I took my camera, and the photos I was able to take at just the right moments show me that I have been blessed with everything I ever wanted. So whether my wife is happy, or my children content or all hell has come up from below, I know why I am happy, and always will be. Family Time is all the time, and always will be. Most people feel that if they die tomorrow, they would leave great works undone, me, my great works are already here.

Think about all you have, and be content, because some have less than you, and you have more than you know.

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Life has a way of being just a little more perfect everyday, if you take the time to notice.

Joseph Timmons

Artist, Author, Husband, Father, Grateful Human Being

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

A Holiday Wish For You



To all of you in the Blogosphere, to friends and family, to all of you young and old, may you have a Happy Thanksgiving, and a wonderful holiday season.

Take time to remember loved ones both lost and found, and do 1 random act of kindness per day, if possible. Be charitable and kind, wise and playful, but above all be happy.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

So what do you say when you have nothing to say?



 

It is Sunday night and I am bored beyond belief, I have had a great weekend, had fun with my kids and my wife was wonderful. I have nothing to specifically talk about and I feel I need to say it here. I want to know what is the reason for this, why blog about nothing. Well everyone does it, everyone has something to say and feel that it needs to be shared here, on the blog-o-sphere, where everyone has a voice and scream as loud as they can above everyone else. Rambling seems to be a favorite past-time of all bloggers, so I ask this question, why do you feel that what you have to say in no more or no less important that everyone else, and / or why do you feel what you say has to matter.

I don’t think that what bloggers have to say is “no important” but I have seen that all bloggers (even myself) feel that what they say is enlightening and everyone else is “less that mediocre”.

Educate Me

Monday, November 15, 2010

Alice Live in HD (1080p 1920 x 1080)

I find this Video to be not only interesting but also very bizarre. I looked into this and found that people that have gone to these concerts have sometimes forgotten that the performer is a 3D Projection, that is a computer simulation created for an A.I mainframe, and some have grown “attachments” and even desires towards the Avatar. This winks of Orwell and Huxley, and the fact that people find this “persona” attractive and engaging shows me people are losing connection with what reality is and vision what it could be, but not on a large, interpersonal level.

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Entertainment Review



An Evening with Dr. Drew Pinsky at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara

Sponsored by New Noise Santa Barbara

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The dimly lit theatre seemed to come alive when Dr. Drew Pinsky, noted doctor and host of “Love Lines” and “Celebrity Rehab” took the stage. The rousing applause of the audience made him blush and he stood patiently waiting for it to fade, which seemed to take forever. Dr. Drew is known for his medical work and his ability to sincerely and thoughtfully help people with their problems and confront their inner demons, and for this the audience was enamored with him and wanted to hear what he had to say. Author of “Cracked” and “The Mirror Effect”, his new book dealing with celebrity immorality and its effects on society, stood on the stage, smiling out at the fully packed house. With witty repose and humorous candor, he offered his philosophies on disease and addiction, telling all that there was a growing epidemic that needs to be addressed.

For more than 25 years, Dr. Drew has been working to help the individual, to support, give hope and nurture those that would be left by the side of the road. Through his career, the good doctor found that treatment of the disease that is addiction requires not just counseling, but consistent support and a self-discipline that must be taught, sometimes one day at a time. People often think that addiction can be cured, in actuality, it can only be coped with, and it is an illness that can stay with a person indefinitely. Addiction is also not confined to the substance abuser, but to everyone they connect with, and so on and so on, it can be vicious and rampant, but it can be stopped and managed with the best medicine there is, compassion.

Dr. Drew asked for the lights to be raised and addressed everyone, some with direct eye contact. He announced that there would be question and answer moments. We could “ask anything” and if some wanted, he could address some issues after the show. The doctor was in the house and in charge, giving some clarity to confusion. People took advantage of this by openly asking questions, exposing their secrets, often coming to tears. Dr. Drew, as if reaching from across the theatre spoke kindly, but firmly, to each and every person as if in private council, showing a mercy that lifted everyone in the house.

Dr. Drew covered the concepts of physical and psychological addiction as biological; it attacks the body and the mind. He stated that the need for a “fix” can be torment, and without a caring and supportive group, it can overcome the strongest of people. Whether it is drugs, alcohol, food or sex, addictions start with key factors that are often missed or even unknown, even to the addict, until counseling and therapy root out the cause and begin the treatment process. Dr. Drew approached the edge of the stage and looked out at the audience and stated “Only by following the patient through the treatment process, from start to maturity, can the healing process begin”. It was at that moment that there was a rouse of applause, and one would know there were people with some experience in the audience, from both sides of the fence.

The audience wanted more and more of his words of wisdom, information and knowledge that could prove as road markers to a path of enlightenment and healing. Everyone in the audience had questions, and he tried to address all of them, giving us a way to defend ourselves in the war against self-destructive behavior. Issues like abandonment, sexual abuse, trauma and a gambit of other “Key Causes” were covered, and issues that affected everyone, some that can be coped with, and some that could not. Looking around I saw people that were nodding, some seemed shocked at what they heard, some were teary eyed, and either in compassion or concern and questioned to themselves, “Do I have his in my life?” I am sure that some thought this. Dr. Drew is trying to make us all change our perception of addictive nature, disease and treatment, everyone walked away from this event with the knowledge that we can each overcome our problems and together we can heal.

DR DrewMasking trauma does not work, if somebody has an active addiction and is exposed to opiates or situations of abuse, their lives are in danger. The reason people do this to themselves is the sense of despair and hopelessness, they want out, it is up to all of us to bring them back IN”- Dr. Drew

 

 

Dr. Drew Pinsky is service Director of the Chemical dependency Program / residential Treatment Center at Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena, California. His latest book “The Mirror Effect – how Celebrity Narcissism is Seducing America” written with Dr. S. Mark Young, published by Harper Press, is available in your local bookstore.