Tulsa, OK

I’ve been doing internet research on ADD/ADHD for Maegan’s appointment with the doctor. There is quite a bit of information available, too. Which is why I’m amazed at how ignorant some people apparently still are about the subject.

On one site, in the comments section, some jerk had the nerve to say that ADD/ADHD are “made-up” diagnoses used to excuse “lazy, shitty parenting”. How shallow and insensitive (not to mention stupid and wrong) is that? Like it isn’t hard enough to realize that your child has this frequently disabling condition, but then to be told it’s really all your fault, it’s enough to make you scream.

It reminds me of that bumper sticker saying, ” The more I learn about people, the more I love my dog.”

How could I forget Mayfest? This was the first local festival I ever attended after moving to Tulsa in 1986. If you like art and music, you’ll enjoy Mayfest.
Of course I found a youtube video:

A fairly new fest, 2007 was it’s third year, is the Blue Dome Arts Festival. Many local artists had trouble coming up with the vending fees for Mayfest and Blue Dome was conceived as a way to give more local artists a chance to get their work out into the public. The fest usually runs concurrently with Mayfest, and is actually within walking distance of Mayfest. Of course, I know a few of the local artists, so I’m a little prejudiced towards the BDA festival. Being poor myself, I’m rooting for the poor man’s Mayfest, long may she last.

Yesterdays Reggae Fest post got me to thinking about a couple of other festivals that Tulsa hosts yearly, Mayfest and Oktoberfest. I haven’t been to either of these in the last few years,but I have gone to them when they were a little smaller than they’ve grown to be recently.

Oktoberfest is coming up pretty soon after the Tulsa State Fair and is generally less expensive. I’m hoping our family has the money to make it to the fest since we definitely can’t afford the fair. Last year’s O-fest looked great here:

I haven’t been in years,but reggae fest has always been my favorite annual Tulsa event. I wish I could afford to go again, but I’ll just have to live vicariously through youtube:

One of the funniest things about living in Tulsa is seeing how hard some Christians try to be “cool” to appeal to the younger crowds.

Like this dance school in south Tulsa, Momentum Dance - Dance Classes in a Christian Based Dance Studio
I found a video of them on youtube:

Then theres GUTS and their NIGHTMARE, which is their way of “saving by fear”. How crazy is that. Of course, they make tons of money by scaring kids straight. I found an old review from 2005 of GUTS’ NIGHTMARE here, and it is much kinder than anything I could write. A short excerpt:

“The line takes so long because the first experience inside The Nightmare involves joining a group of other attendees on a school bus being driven by a drunk driver. Everyone goes through the nightmare as part of a group limited by the number of seats in the school bus. You proceed through a number of stage set spaces that each involve a horribly depicted experience of the suffering involved in drunk driving, gambling, sexual exploitation, and violence. We were relieved that the latest version of The Nightmare does not have a room depicting the “sin” of homosexuality. Each room includes live actors and lots of fake blood and gore. Wayne was not happy about getting fake blood sprayed all over his Dockers during a brutally depicted “scourging” scene involving whips wet with blood.

The big climax is a final room with a particularly gory Jesus on the cross that tops the worst medieval church depictions of Jesus’ suffering that we encountered in Italy . Then you are finally released into a room with video screens where the senior pastor of the church invites you to accept Jesus into your heart. Then the door opens to a room full of happy compassionate young adults who want to pray with you and urge you to say the right words that will convinced them that you have been saved.”

I personally think you should be 18 to see this stuff, but they think twelve is mature enough. My twelve year old is not going to be experiencing that haunted house anytime soon. Unless I’m dead.

I don’t have a problem with Christianity per se, but some of the behaviors and tactics of its practitioners are less than Christ-like. I still think if Christ came back today few of His “followers” would recognize him, and he’d probably be killed by his own people all over again.

I ran across this on youtube. I love Boston Legal, and this was one of my favorite episodes. I like how they manage to fit social/political commentary into the show, while still managing to be entertaining. Not to mention hysterically funny. I’ve never been a big Shatner fan, but I love him on Boston Legal.

That is such a terrible thing to say as a parent. Unfortunately, it seems to be too true to ignore. Maybe it’s just that she’s only six, but I really thought she should be showing some signs of empathy by now. She doesn’t. Not at all. Maybe it’s ADD or ADHD, which seem to have reached epidemic proportions in our country. Whatever the problem is, it really worries me.

A certain amount of selfishness is to be expected from young children. But at what point does that natural self-focus turn into an unhealthy self-absorbtion? I am concerned with the increasing numbers of sociopaths running rampant in our society. I don‘t want to be raising one. And if I am, is there anything that I,as a parent, can do to change it?

There seems to be as much evidence for the nature argument as there is for the nurture side. I’m sure we’ve all read the stories about serial killers that just seemed bad from birth. But, there are also people whose lives turned them into psychotic killers. How do you know though? Is every kid that likes to torment the family pets doomed to be a Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer or Charles Manson? Or was there something their families could have/should have done to stop the terrifying course their lives would take? Was there a defining moment in their lives where things could have gone differently? How do you recognize those moments in your own life and the lives of those you love?

I certainly don’t have the answers, and I’m not sure that anyone does. But burying our heads in the sand and ignoring the increasing numbers of antisocial people is unlikely to solve the problem. I guess all you can do is pay attention to them, show them through your own behaviour what is and is not acceptable, love them and hope for the best.

ADD, ADHD, sociopaths, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, pets, evil, selfish, anti-social, nature vs. nurture, empathy

This sounded like an interesting feature. I find stuff on ebay that I want to show others all the time. Like these:

Well, I’ve driven a few more times this week, and it isn’t getting any easier. If anything the pain is getting worse. Mom may be right, and I may have to find some way to come up with the money to see a doctor. I have no idea where we can come up with even the 25 dollars necessary for the welfare clinics. I am so screwed here. I can’t stand to sit at the computer for more than a few minutes at a time, so, this is it for today.

I want to take Maegan bowling this summer. I used to love to go bowling with Grandpa. I haven’t been in years, but I really think Maegan would enjoy it. I pulled out the phone book and found 7 different locations, some of which I had no idea we had here.

Phone Book Listings:

Riverlanes 8711 South Lewis 299-9494

Broken Arrow Lanes 4701 South Elm 455-4616
These two affiliated lanes are open 7 days a week, are non-smoking and offer bumper bowling and glow-in-the-dark lanes.

AMF Sheridan Lanes 3121 South Sheridan 627-2728
Also open 7 days a week.

Mickey’s (in Eastland Mall) 14002 East 21st Street 234-2695

In Owasso, there is The Lanes at Coffee Creek 10301 North Owasso Expressway 274-0400

Claremore has Country Club Lanes at 1400 West Country Club Road 342-1055

Mickey’s is the closest to us, so, we’ll probably try there first.

I started driving again Sunday. I haven’t driven any since we had the car wreck in April. I was very anxious, but managed to avoid any serious panic. I’ve gotten much better at handling the anxiety and panic attacks over the last seven years. I still wish I didn’t have this problem, but at least I’ve learned to deal with it fairly successfully.

I was so worried about my anxiety being a problem, that I never considered my leg might not be up to the driving yet. I’ve gotten so used to the (apparently) permanent contusion on my right thigh, that I didn’t think anything about how that damaged muscle might object to the strain of driving. Boy, did it object.

We only took a short drive across town to play disc golf at Chandler Park. We played 13 holes, then had to quit because of rain. By the time I had driven back home, my leg felt like it was on fire. I was in so much pain, I just wanted to lay down and cry.

I feel a little better today, and hopefully tomorrow will be even better.

driving, panic attacks, anxiety, contusion, Chandler

My sister in law, Suzi, read my blog entry from July 12th and thought I was bitching about her and my brother Chris. I was bitching about Chris, but, Chris and Mom not Chris and Suzi. Mom and Chris are always making/changing plans and then they don’t tell me until the last minute. Chris and Mom know that drives me crazy (I know short drive, haha). I totally stress-out and get super anxious when things get sprung on me. No surprise parties for me, thank you.

Anyway, back to the point. Suzi, I am very sorry for hurting your feelings. I was SO not aiming any of that at you, just venting a little anxious Mom/Chris steam. I do appreciate everything you’ve done to help us and how hard you work taking care of your own family. Thank you for all that, too.

I know we seemed all right after we talked on the phone, but, it was a public statement on my part that upset you, so, I though a public apology was in order. Again, I am so sorry for hurting your feelings, Suzi.

Ugh. I am soo sick of all this rain. I had to go grocery shopping yesterday morning. I don’t know why I even bothered to take a shower, since I got a second (cold) one every time I had to go from car to store and back.

It was raining so hard while I was in Aldi’s that you couldn’t even see the street from the store. Just getting the groceries into the car left Mom and I both just dripping. We had to change clothes when we got home.

The rain was cold too! How can the rain be so cold in the middle of July? It didn’t feel like a summer rain at all. Crazy, crazy weather, even for Oklahoma, known for it’s insane weather.

I sure hope the weather is nicer this weekend. Hope everyone has a good one, whatever the weather where you are.

Mom just informed me that Chris and Suzi want her to fly up to Ohio so that she can drive back with Morgan. Well, there goes the whole “We’re sure we can bring him home in a month” guarantee.

I guess I should be grateful. They are giving Mom a car to drive Morgan home with, and we get to keep it. That is very nice of them, even if it’s their old car. Chris and Morgan have spent quite awhile repairing it and getting it ready for the long drive from Ohio.

It would have been nice to know beforehand though, that one of us might have to go up and get Morgan. It would have made planning things a little easier. Not to mention being less stressful to my anxiety disorder.

I refuse to have a panic attack. Breath, breathe, breathe, ah, much better. Anxiety sucks. Well, ok, “High Anxiety” was a pretty good movie, but real-life anxiety totally blows.

I am so sick of rain. Don’t get me wrong, I know rain is necessary. Usually, I love a good summer soak. The air seems cleaner and everything is so nice and green. Of course, those summer soaks rarely lasted for a month. And I don’t think that when they decided to call this “green country” that they meant “rainforest or jungle” green.

And it is turning into a jungle out here. The insects are taking over. I know we are all aware of the mosquito problem. We’re all getting eaten alive everytime we step outside, day or night. With standing water everywhere, and the sporadic rainfall making spraying next to impossible, it’s a mosquito’s paradise.

I’ve also seen more and bigger waterbugs, roly poly bugs, cockroaches, and even some bugs I’ve never seen before in my life. They’re everywhere, and I’m just glad we had our house “weatherized” last year. Even with that, the little beasties still manage to sneak in every so often. Forget about any trip outdoors if you have issues with bugs, there is no escape. If I wanted to live like this, I’d move to an equatorial country.

So much for global warming being a myth.