At the risk of sounding a like a Jerry Springer want-to-be, here is my thought for the day. When someone in the public eye does something that is “different” whatever it may be, people tend to focus on them not being “normal” in a negative way. The media doesn’t help this any by the way they report on things either, but I will try not to get off on that rabbit trail. This is just my opinion, so take it for what its worth. When someone that is such a public figure and so different than what we as society say the “norm” should be passes away, I think it should be a reminder of how great a thing it is that we are all so different. It doesn’t matter if you are born different or chose to have a plastic surgeon help you be different. The bottom line is this world would be terribly boring if we were all alike. I don’t want to be like everyone else, and I don’t really want everyone else to be like me. I celebrate the fact that we are all so different in our own unique ways. I cant imagine living in a world where everyone was exactly the same. Someone told me this week they wished they were normal, and the only thing I could think to respond to that was that normal is over-rated. If you want to be normal, more power to you, but I don’t really think I want to be normal. I just want to be me!

I have a couple of friends that I like to frequent Tokyo’s with, but it had been a while since we were all able to go together. Last night was the midnight premier of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and what better way to kill some time before the movie than enjoying some sushi? I learned a while back that I liked the Eel Rolls (on the right in the picture), who would have thought? And you can never go wrong with an Alaskan Roll (on the left). I also had a really good baked Salmon Roll, but sadly, it did not last long enough for the picture. Oh well, maybe next time.

I told you before about my mad chopstick skills, right? I think I have made some progress in my venture to try something new. I am still not an expert chopstick user by any ones definition, but I manage to get the job done. I would go so far as to say I have even become less awkward, which if you know me you know how much that is saying. One of the things, for me anyway, that comes with trying new things like eating with chopsticks is an overwhelming feeling that people are watching . I think I get that feeling because a lot of times people are watching me. Most of the time I don’t pay a lot of attention to people, unless I notice someone watching me. It happens, I think its human nature to want to watch someone who is different and see how they do things. The first time I decided to try using chopsticks, I had this really weird feeling that everyone in the room was watching me to see if I would be able to do it or not. In reality, I don’t think anyone really even noticed. Most of the people I was with were really more into their own food, that watching to see if I would be able to get mine into my mouth without looking like a monkey on a cupcake. This feeling is almost completely gone away. I still have moments when I feel like someone is watching, but it’s getting better. Last night there was a waitress that kept hanging around at the end of the sushi bar where we were sitting. At one point I started watching her to see if she was watching me. It was late, and the place was pretty empty, and I think she was more bored than anything else. I had to remind myself that not everything is about me all the time. Shocker! 

If you have about 3 hours to kill, and you like robot on robot violence, I would highly recommend going to see the new Transformers movie. Especially if you liked the first one and/or  liked the Transformers cartoon as a kid. I thought the movie was pretty awesome. It was very entertaining in an almost nostalgic kind of way. Plus, it was nice to see that Megan Fox’s club thumbs didnt affect her acting at all :)

Is it just me or is America getting, collectively, more serious? I mean every time you turn on the TV or open a news paper, right after the headlines about war and crooked politicians of course, there is a story about someone not being able to take a joke. If its not a kid getting denied his diploma over something silly like blowing his family a kiss, its people wanting to fire David Letterman over a joke on a late night talk show. I personally think people need to lighten up just a little bit, and realize that it’s alright to laugh at things sometimes. Life doesn’t have to be so serious all the time. Sometimes things are just funny, even though they may be less than appropriate. Of course that brings up a whole different discussion about who gets to say whats appropriate for me. I have never understood why a bunch of suits (the MPAA) gets to tell me what I should or should not be able to see. Just because a bunch of old guys in an office somewhere finds something unfunny doesn’tmean that I wont find it to be hilarious. Different Strokes for different folks I guess. I have always found it to be pertty funny when making jokes about a situation that might be less than ideal. Not everyone is like that I have found. I know a person that used to get upset with me when I would make a joke about my hands or my prosthetic leg. For the life of me I have never understood how a person could get upset with me for making a joke at my own expense. That just doesn’t make sense to me. Maybe I don’t take life seriously enough? Then again, maybe I think life is too short to takeit too seriously. I really think there comes a point where you just have to take some things at face value, forget the fact that they may not be politically correct, and accxept the humor that life deals you. One of my favorite quotes pretty much sums up how I feel about this whole topic.

If you’re robbing a bank and your pants fall down, I think it’s okay to laugh, and let your hostages laugh too, because come on – life is funny.

- Jack Handey

It’s always fun starting a new project like a website. I have had a couple of websites that I started years ago, and I forgot how frustrating the whole thing can be until I started this project a while back. One of the things that I have always had a little trouble managing to do successfully is driving a good amount of traffic to a site. That is mostly due to my lack of commitment so I can’t really complain. When I started this project I didn’t really give a lot of thought to how much traffic the site would get because it was going to be more of a place for me to organize my thoughts and share them with a small group of people. Over the last two months or so I have noticed a definite increase in traffic though, which has kind of been unexpected. It has been nice to see people visiting the site, but on the other hand, now I feel a little more pressure to post and try to hold the attention of the casual surfer that might stumbleupon my site.

If you are one of those people, I am glad you found this site, and I hope that you get something out of it. I cant say enough how much I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to comment on any post here or use the contact form if there is something you would like to share with me. If you have any ideas for the site, or questions please let me know. I know a couple of you probably have your favorite story about me, or have stories that you have heard me talk about that you may want to hear in more detail. Consider this your open invitation.

I have had this feeling of Deja Vu for the last week or so. Phone calls text messages and emails from family and friends all telling how sorry they were, it all reminded me of a week about four and a half years ago. In November of 2004 I caught a catfish, not just any catfish either, it turned out to be the Oklahoma state record Blue Catfish on rod and reel. If you have been reading this blog I am sure you have read about the fish and its subsequent stay at the Oklahoma Aquarium. That week was crazy, I had so many people calling and texting and emailing me, wanting to ask about this fish. Local reporters wanting a story, a writer for ESPN Outdoors, people I had never met. All of them wanting to talk to me because of this fish. It was a little surreal. Now four and a half years later I have this strange feeling of Deja Vu!

Last week I got a phone call for the people at the Aquarium telling me that my catfish had passed away. I knew as soon as the lady on the phone introduced herself what she was about to say. I wasnt really prepared, and to be honest I was a little sad hearing that news. I mean, I knew that eventually it would happen, but I don’t think I had ever really thought about how I would feel when it did. I was suddenly reminded of that week four years ago, when people started calling and texting and emailing me to tell me they were sorry to hear about my fish passing away. Once again it was all a little surreal. The attention that one little (figuratively of course) fish could bring is still a little weird to me.

If we are speaking in terms of a book, I feel like my catfish passing away has ended a chapter that I was just getting interested in. There is so much more I could say about that chapter, but for the sake of this post not rambling incoherently, I will save the rest for a little later. I do want to add one last thing though. It is always nice to know that people are thinking of you, so thank you to everyone that called, or texted, or emailed me over the last week. Blue was my boy, and it’s not going to be the same without him!

I just realized that I have been so busy the last week or so that I haven’t even had time to think about posting on here. I have so many things that I want to publish, but I really feel like they need to cook a little longer though.

It’s always interesting seeing things around the web about people with differences, and one of my favorite things are the obligatory “famous people with deformities” type articles. I personally am not a big fan of the word deformity, but it is always interesting to see famous people that you may not know have physical differences. Obviously it is a little harder to notice someones third nipple than it is to notice my hands, but still its interesting to see just how different we really all are. So if you have a few minutes you should definitely check out this article on 10 celebrities that have physical differences.