Equality

     The dictionary defines equality as "the state or quality of being equal." Most people refer to the mathematical definition of this word, but few look at it for what it really is. Equality is just that, being equal. The human race has fought for equality numerous times. From the equality of a minority group, equal rights for women, equal rights for slaves, and things of that nature. The world is now fighting for equality of the LGBT community. As of right now, there are 14 states that have legalized gay marriage. I happen to live in one of them. I believe that this shouldn't even be a fight. This should be something that is looked at like a normal thing. Dudes kissing dudes, chicks kissing chicks. It is what comes natural to some people. You shouldn't look at people with disgust or hatred because you aren't gay. Since every one likes to throw the religion thing around and shove the bible in people's faces when it comes to this, I think I shall incorporate these little passages in this post.

     Chapters 18 and 20 of Leviticus, which form part of the Holiness code, contain the following verses:

• 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. (Leviticus 18:22 KJV)^[1]

• 20:13 "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." (Leviticus 20:13 KJV)^[2]

- sited by Wikipedia.

     Why do people feel that this is wrong? Why do so many people look at this and believe that this is something that you need to enforce? Can I enforce a rule to slap you silly if I believe that you are stupid? No, I can't but I would definitely like to sometimes. There are definitely people that need it. Open your minds and your hearts. I love almost everybody. I despise a few people, but generally I can find the good in people and love them for the things that I like about them. So what if a man loves another man. Does that really bother you? If so, why does it bother you? Have you ever stopped and asked yourself that question? Does their love or the way the love each other bother you? Does their love in any way affect you? I see it all over the social media about the religious folk making a big deal about homosexuality. That it is a sin. That it is an abomination. If I have read my bible right and I do like to believe that I have, GOD wants everybody to love each other regardless of race or sexual orientation. I believe that the bible was just man's interpretation of what happened back in those days. I'm not a big religious nut nor will I ever be, but I do know a thing or two when it involves something like this. I will be one to admit right here that I once loved a man as more than a friend or a brother. I will never say that I'm disgusted with what I did. It was an experience that I will look back on and have no regrets. I'm not gay, but I can appreciate a damn good looking man. There are certain ones that my wife and I would fight over who got to "appreciate" them first. 

     As I look through the multitude of Wikipedia pages that I have up, I am inclined to look into Hinduism. Why you ask? Because they do not view homosexuality as a religious sin. I do not view homosexuality as a "religious" sin. Who cares about religion? Who cares what the bible says? Why should it matter what the interpretations of some old dudes have any effect on what YOU as an INDIVIDUAL believe? The answer here is that it shouldn't because every person is different. Every person has their own way of accepting things. Look deep into your own mind and try and find a reason as to why gay marriage is "so wrong". How does same-sex marriage affect the sanctity of marriage in any way? If people in Hollywood can get married for 72 minutes and then get a divorce, dudes should be able to marry dudes and chicks should be able to marry chicks. What ruins the sanctity of marriage is the inability for a spouse to be faithful and true. At least that is what my opinion is. Why would you go and get married to someone if you know you are going to be unfaithful. Some people do that so stay off the pedestal of "they never plan to cheat". No, but she tripped and his cock landed in her vagina. It is quite funny to try and figure out how that happens. Should I be concerned that two dudes get married? No, why would I? Does it affect me? No it doesn't and I wish them the best for the rest of their lives. Let's take a look at Neil Patrick Harris and his fiance David Burtka. Neil played Doogie Howser and a womanizing Barney Stinson in "How I Met Your Mother". He has played roles to be a straight man. He is in a very happy relationship with David and they have children. 

     To all of those that have children, what are you going to do if your child is gay? Are you going to be a horrible parent and shun them from your life? Are you going to hate them and try to "beat them straight"? Let someone get mad at me for being a parent and loving my children unconditionally. UNCONDITIONALLY!!!! That means no matter what you will always love them. If one of my boys comes to me and tells me "Dad, I'm gay," guess what will happen next. A hug, a kiss on the forehead, and dinner. Telling him that I love him. I would like to meet his boyfriend. The only way to kill this stigmata of homosexuality being an "abomination" is to just accept it and embrace it. If you aren't gay, cool. If you are gay, cool. Guess what, you will find love in all of the strangest places. I want my kids to find love just like I did. No one should be alone. Everyone needs and should have someone to love and to have someone love them in return. Don't be that close minded asshole that shuns and hates the thought of a dude kissing a dude. I would totally go stand in front of those stupid religious nuts and kiss another dude just to prove my point. 

     Be kind to one another and love unconditionally. The power of love is a strong one. Treat everyone equally and for god sakes vote YES to marriage equality for the LGBT community. I have before and I will do it again from now until the end of my life. I have a gay uncle and a lesbian sister in-law. I love them for who they are as you should. Smiles and laughter make your life last longer. Don't kill yourself with hatred and frowns. I have made my stand, have you? 

From the Arena,

Wickid

P.S. - Just something I have been thinking about for a while. If you are religious, feel free to leave CONSTRUCTIVE comments and open your mind to the opinions of others. Message me on G+ if you have a serious issue with this post. I have and will always support the LGBT community.

Parenthood......

     There are many things that I miss about being a kid. There are also a lot of things that I don't miss about being a child. There are some days that I still act like a child and I get very giddy when I get a new video game to play. I giggle like a little school girl when I play the game for the first time. Simple things still amuse me and stupid funny movies are the best kind of movie.

     Now that I have transitioned into full blown parenthood, I look back on my childhood days. Things like "nap time" are the things that I miss the most. If I would have known that I wouldn't be getting naps everyday as an adult I definitely would have slept when my parents told me to go take a nap. As an adult now, I get my sleep when I can. Most of the time is it usually at the expense of just falling asleep on the couch for twenty or thirty minutes while the boys are downstairs with me playing. I know that I am supposed to watch them, but they behave well enough to not get into too much trouble. It doesn't stop them from doing things to get into trouble though. There are other days where I wish that it was just the wife and I so that I could nap when I got home from work. Getting up early to go to work is something that I loathe and enjoy all at the same time. I hate getting up early, but once I do get up I am awake for the rest of the day. I like my job, but the early mornings are just killer.

     When it comes to the new video games, I look back to the days of the NES. You know, the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Mario/Duck Hunt game was the first game that I ever got to play. Who knew that the stupid dog on Duck Hunt could make you so mad? I also look at the supreme difference in the graphics and how well they have advanced. From block 8-bit games like Mario to the High Definition graphics for Skyrim and Assassin's Creed III. Who could have foreseen the joys of technology? I tried playing Oblivion for PC during my recovery time from my last surgery and had to stop. After playing such games like Skyrim and Final Fantasy XIII, I couldn't handle the horrid graphics. I am a victim of things looking too good to go back to things like that. I don't even care what people say about me for that, but I know that I love my graphics.

     I also look back on how I treated my parents when I was growing up. My four boys are trying to do things like I did when I was a wee lad. Things like getting mommy to say yes even after daddy says no. I can tell you right now how mad my dad used to get every time I tried that little stunt. He would get so red in the face and yell for what felt like hours. I find myself doing the same thing with my boys. I had always heard the rumor that your children will be at least ten times as bad as you were to your parents. I don't think that it is true because my kids are fairly well behaved. They have their bad days where listening is just something that they don't want to do. I may not have always respected my dad growing up, but I did fear what he would do to me if he ever caught me doing something bad. It was always the fear of that paddle that usually kept me on the straight and narrow. He didn't do a bad job raising me. I didn't end up in jail, I'm not doing drugs, and I have my own family with a damn good job. He may not always say it, but I know that he is proud of me. Since we are on the subject of children pulling stunts, I have come to learn the signs of them doing things they aren't supposed to be doing. It is actually very nice knowing that I can catch them and stop the bad act before it gets too out of hand. I can't say that I won't ever yell at my children, but I will make my presence known when I need to. Sometimes I wish my dad wouldn't have been so vocal with me. I wish that he would have just talked to me like I have so recently learned to do with my kids.

     How many of you parents wish that they had a "Parenting for Dummies" book? I know that I did when I got married to my beautiful wife. Instantly had two children to care for and sacrifice my needs to make sure that they were alright. Now, four years later, I have a total of four boys that try my patience everyday. Sometimes are better than others and I don't have to raise my voice. Other days are just full of yelling and high blood pressure. I always look forward to the good days. For the new moms and dads out there, THERE IS NO PERFECT PARENT. You will make mistakes and things will become very trying for you. Keep your chin up, smile often, and look forward to the days when you and your child will part ways. I don't say that so that you can look forward to getting rid of your kids. I say that with the knowledge and the confidence that my four boys will be productive members of society and will know right from wrong. Every thing that you can teach your child will stay with them for the rest of their life.

     Some days parenthood sounds like such a horrible idea. I wouldn't trade the choices that I have made in my life for anything. If I could go back and do it all over again, my wife and I would be celebrating about 8 years of marriage instead of 4. I love being a dad. I love watching my boys run up to greet me every day when I get home from work. It makes me smile every time. I am going to enjoy parenthood for as long as I can. Enjoy yours while you can. Soon, you will be kid less, but you will always be a parent.

From the Arena

Wickid

Exam Season

     It is that time again my dear friends, Navy Advancement Exam results are out and open to the public. Congratulations to those that were advanced and good luck for next time to those that didn't. I happen to be one of the ones that didn't make it. I'm actually in good spirits about it too. This is only my second time taking the E-6 exam.

     To those that know how these things work, then you know that up to E-6 is a bi-yearly exam cycle. Once you start making the attempt for E-7, you only get one exam a year and that is coming in two months. I am excited to know that at my almost 8 1/2 year point I have taken the E-6 exam twice. Not many people can say that they have accomplished such a feat. I know that with the knowledge that I have of my job, I will eventually make rate and advance at least one more time before I retire. I have a goal of doing at least 20 years and retiring. If I do happen to go further in my career than E-6, then so be it and I will be in as long as I can be. Yes, the wife and I are the same page for that. By the time I end my current enlistment I will have right at 11 years in. Why stop? It is one of those mind things. I have already gone halfway to the ultimate goal of a pension. Why quit? It just doesn't make sense. Some people do quit at the halfway point and I don't hold that against them. It is their choice and I thank them for their service that they have done. I would expect the same thing in return if I was to ever decide that I didn't want to do this job anymore. I happen to enjoy the hell out of my job and it gives me great pleasure to grow gills and breathe water for as long as I do. There is something about being hidden from the world that gives you a thrill that a roller coaster can't give you. I have spent 6 years, 4 months, and 4 days onboard a sea-going vessel. At least half of that has been spent beneath the waves doing what I do. I enjoyed every minute of it and as of right now, I can't see myself doing anything else. Shore duty has been a hard transition for me because I am so used to the boat life.

     Anywho, I have rambled off topic enough. I really need to get into college so I can learn how to stay on topic when I do these things. I only had a 13.5% chance to advance to E-6 for this cycle. Now for those of you with questions, a "cycle" is every time we actually take the exam. For example, this cycle was the 220 cycle. These cycles are sequential so my next exam cycle will be 221. So in March, you will probably see another post similar to this one stating whether or not I will get to my goal or not. I can say that the exams are rather easy to understand and if you know your information, really easy to pass. I have never failed a Navy Advancement Exam. I have always passed but not advanced. Unless, of course, I actually advanced. There is so much that goes in to the final multiple that most people have a hard time seeing how much they missed it by. I'm looking forward to seeing how close I was. The last exam I missed it by 13.99 points. To many people, that seems like a whole lot, but to me it is actually a small margin. That just means that I have to study just a little harder to make those points up.

     Well, there goes another Advancement Season into the books of my naval career. Time to get to work on studying and cleaning the house. I may even be a good dad and cook something substantial for my kids instead of making chicken nuggets or hot dogs. I can't help it if that is all they want to eat.

Until next time, from the Arena

Wickid

My soul

     I think at some point my soul has left my body and has become a part of the video game world. I can not tell you how many hours over the past couple weeks that I have spent glued to the couch with my XBox controller in my hand and my mind wrapped and lost in the realm that is Skyrim. I have lost hours of sleep over this game and it has started to take its toll on me. I haven't become irritable or anything but I have managed to do so much that it seems like all I think about is what I am going to do next as the Dragonborn.

     For those that have played any of the Elder Scrolls games, you know what I am talking about. For those that don't know, once you get into any of these games and start getting things done and discovering new places, you tend to lose yourself. I have spent about 150 in-game hours dungeon crawling, dragon slaying, and exploring. I have planned out everything that I want to do in one session of gameplay and typically complete my goals within about 3 hours or so. I have found that it has been very easy to just tune everything out and forget about the household once I hit that magical start button and the game loads up. I have made my Sneak skill legendary and made a multitude of armor and weapons to suit my current needs. If it wasn't for the fact that I had to go to work or get up the next day, I would be playing this game nonstop. The sad part about all of this is that I have only completed about 18% of the game. There is such a long list of things to do that I would take about an hour to just list them all. I have pretty much become a master at killing people with a bow from a fair distance away. The kill sequence and the slow motion shot is just something to be admired. I like watching the arrow leave my bow and pierce into the neck or head of my unsuspecting victim. I have killed over 10 dozen animals so that I could use their hides to make leather, which in turn is used to make armor so that I can sell it to make money. I have smelted way too many ores to count and I currently have Exquisite or Flawless weapons and armor. Most things take about 5 swings of a sword to kill and sneaking up behind someone to slit their throat or jam a dagger into their back has become something of a routine for me. I have cleared about 75 dungeons and murdered about 50 individuals just because it was fun for me to do. Nothing is sweeter than taking a victims life without them knowing you are there. It reminds me of playing Assassin's Creed and jumping from the roof of a building and knifing a man in the throat. It is just a sweet sensation. It gives me chill bumps just thinking about it right now. Normally, I would be setting up the XBox and getting the game going so that it is ready for me once I put the children to bed. Since the wife is recovering from surgery, I have "gifted" her the console so that she can watch movies while she is resting. She has currently made it in to Season 4 of the Gilmore Girls. I haven't played since Friday and it has made me a little antsy.

     Since I can't play Skyrim, I have turned to other sources of video game entertainment. I have recently started playing League of Legends again. It has been far too long since I have even thought about playing that game. The last two nights have been spent learning how to play again without getting too badly slaughtered and getting yelled at by people who are probably younger than me. In fact, most of the people that play this game are in their teens. What I wouldn't give to go back to those times of having nothing but homework to do and then hopping on the computer to play this game for hours on end. I still feel that way sometimes when the wife is at work and I just sit down and lose myself into the deep immersion of a good story line in a console game. I'm not much of a PC game player, but I do happen to like League a lot. In fact, once the children go to bed I will be logging on to play for a few hours tonight. As long as I stay near my phone and respond to her requests, she doesn't really know what I am doing downstairs. Hell, I have even thought about doing exercises while waiting for my respawn timer to reach zero. At least I will be doing two things at once and getting a nice workout while playing. Then again, I haven't really been dying so that may or may not pan out like I want it. I blame my buddy for coming over on Monday to play. It's his fault for getting me into a game that requires literally no interruptions.

     Speaking of interruptions, have you ever been so involved in a game that everything else is just obsolete? I seem to go into this little invisible box that has one window that may or may not be open depending on what game I am playing. League is easy to have a window because if you die, you have to wait to respawn. If I am playing on the console, don't bother me. There is no window and you will have to leave a message after the tone. That is how immersed I get when I have a console controller in my hand. As much as I want a PS3, I think that I will end up spending too much time playing Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX and very little time doing actual housework. Yes, I said PS3. I enjoy being a Console Generation behind. I know it works and that mostly all of the bugs have been worked out of the system. Plus, I won't have to feel the disappointment from not being able to get the newest generation of console because they are all sold out. I don't even want to spend the money to get either of the new consoles because I know that there will be problems with them.

     Oh boy, enough about my soul and how it is forever lost to the video games that I play. "I am a gamer. Not because I have no life, but because I choose to have many." I know, I'm a nerd.

Until next time,

From the Arena,

Wickid

I Am Ashamed.....

     Of myself for leaving all of you Wickidites for the last two months. Well, almost two months. I think that I am two days shy of being away for two months. I deeply regret that I have been away. It has been an arduous and long two months. Things have gone up and down. We have done a fantastic roller coaster ride of emotions. Things have been said and done that probably shouldn't have been said and done. Tempers have flared and apologies have been uttered. To say that life is too simple would be the biggest lie of the century. Anywho, time to get to the updating of what has been going on in the Arena. I will be multitasking so this may take longer than normal. Cooking dinner while trying to wrangle children and typing this is almost beyond my normal capabilities.

     First things first, we have recently relocated to a different house to accommodate my special needs child. We now have a fenced in backyard so that he can have a therapy dog. It took four days and numerous trips in our van to get from one house to the next, but we did it and we are much happier now that the tantrums are fewer than what they have been. It was after receiving numerous complaints from previous neighbors because of his screaming and his tantrums, we felt that it would be best to try and get a different house away from people. Needless to say, we got what we asked for. We legitimately live in solitude here at the new place. No, not the hold from Skyrim, but we are the only family in our little strip of houses. The last family that was here moved out a few weeks ago under orders and now we are the only ones left. It is very nice to not have to worry about people who don't understand complain about something that is sometimes beyond our control. However, this little slice of privacy is very nice to have.
   
     The children, the older ones, have discovered that I am now the meanest man alive. No, I haven't yelled at my children in quite sometime. I actually enjoy not having to raise my voice because my blood pressure isn't as high. The older boys have come to know what boredom is and why it is such a horrible punishment. I have recently come to the conclusion that yelling is no longer effective with my children. I have somehow managed to remain calm even in the face of disgustingly horrible and furious anger. Instead, I have embraced the knowledge that my wife has tried to instill in me for the last four years. I won't yell at them anymore, but I will make punishment about ten times harder. If you talk to my oldest stepson he will tell you that I am the meanest man on the planet. this is partly due to the fact that the last time he was here, he spent about a week and a half doing nothing but chores. I make them work for their playtime. Sometimes they get their playtime and sometimes they don't. It all depends on the severity of the trouble that they are in. I am one for education, so anytime they get in trouble at school, they are only limited to chores and reading because playing is a "reward" for hard work. My house was practically spotless because of all of the work that we did during that week and a half. The house is still clean now because I have kept up on it and I think that they are finally learning that being obnoxious little hellions gets them nowhere. It was a proud father moment once I realized that "child labor" in the form of chores is totally acceptable. I even helped them so that they didn't feel like I was just being a tyrant. He even told his dad that he wanted to spend more time with him because of me being "so mean". The wife was nice enough to explain some things to him before he tried to make a rash decision. He still thinks I'm "mean" but at least now he understands why. All of this came about because of both of the older boys getting in trouble multiple days in a row at school. I just sat in deep thought for about two hours while the boys were restricted to their chairs until I finally came up with something. We had a talk about my expectations and what I wanted them to do while they were in school and at home. Then I proceeded to give them a multitude of chores to do to finish out the day. This has been one of the best parenting lessons that I have picked up.

     Work has also been one of those places that was once fun, but is now the cause of some serious stress. It isn't the fact that my job as a Safety Division person is so difficult, it is more along the lines of the civilian wench that works in the same office with us. I do have to specify the wench because the normal civilian lady, Barb, who works in there with us is phreaking awesome. We have tons of laughs with her and she is always there to lend a hand. This woman, let's just name her Denise, is a complete biotch! I believe that I wrote in an earlier post about her and how the division first met her. She came in all pissy because we were enjoying our lunch and having some laughs like all sailors do. Turns out, she doesn't like that and after "25 years of dealing with snobby sailors", she knew how to handle us. She called our chief, who in turn, turned into the biggest pansy I have ever met. No real backbone to speak of and he bends over backwards to please Denise, who isn't even in the office on a normal basis. She comes in maybe once a week and thinks that she owns the place. It has gotten to the point that we can't even fart in our office without having to clear it through her. Scenario: My buddy Rob and I had just finished lunch and we were in the middle of a heated Cribbage battle. Each of us fighting to get the final points to claim our respective victories. Rob brought in chicken cordon bleu, homemade cordon bleu. He also had a Dr. Thunder for his delicious beverage of choice. He let out one burp, ONE BURP, and this woman had a friggin cow. She went off on him like he had just killed her puppy and she caught him red handed. She demanded that he be seen by a doctor and come in with a medical condition that requires him to burp so that she would have to keep her mouth shut. It was the first time that Rob had burped all damn day. It wasn't like he was trying to disturb her work or anything. One simple bodily function that happens on a normal basis after finishing a soda and food. We all kept our mouths shut in fear of saying something completely mean and nasty to her. Trust me, I had insults on standby. My insults had insults on standby. Rob goes and sees the doctor the next day and comes back into the office. The news was what we all expected to hear. The doctor told him to tell this woman to go F(*& herself because there was no way that he was going to "diagnose" him with Bodily Functions. He said this loud enough for "Denise" to hear. There was a palpable tension in the room because I know that she wanted to say something but she couldn't because of what Rob had said. I have since talked to my chain of command from my parent shop to see if I can get out of there and into an environment that is more suitable for me.

     I will leave the talk about Skyrim for the next post because that would just make this post way too long for you guys.

     The wife just recently went through surgery this week. She is fine so don't worry. She is still sore and is having a little trouble breathing, but you would too if you had your chest region worked on. I feel bad though because today is our 4th Anniversary and we have spent a grand total of about 3 hours together because she is still feeling so bad. I don't mind because I know what that feeling is like. After having more than a dozen surgeries on the left side of my face, I know how she feels. It is very nice to be on Shore duty right now because I have until the beginning of next month to just sit at home and take care of children and make sure that she is doing okay. Theoretically, I will be on here more and more as the weeks go on. I have just been so terribly busy and off in my own little world. I apologize again to you Wickidites!

Stay tuned for the next issue from The Arena!


Wickid

Weekend Warriors and Things You Missed

     I know that a lot of you who have been following everything that I do with supreme dedication have been very disappointed for the last two weeks. I know that I have neglected you because of things that have been going on and how busy that we all have been. Even now, I am thoroughly distracted with cooking supper, watching TV, and getting things done on here. I have been working countless hours fixing up a division that needs fixing and remodeling an office that was in serious need of attention.
     Now, that I have done most of the things that I have done in the office, things have slowed down just a bit. I still have more stuff to do in the office, but the administration side of it is mostly complete with a few minors changes here and there. I have been a busy little beaver. Now, I won't take all of the credit because the LPO has been a big factor in what we have been doing. He has had some ideas that I have made into fruition and we have been working together to get everything done. I'm actually supposed to be walking around and doing surveillances and discrepancies on the boats and buildings, but since I have been working hard on the office, I have upgraded my station from Grunt to Safety Division Yeoman. It is an okay job because now I just do paperwork and I let everyone go out and do that work.
     Friday was a fun day for me because I had to go and talk to my Parent Code Division Chief. Normally, I work for my shop 67G, which is the Sonar Repair shop. We deal with the actual system maintenance and upkeep for the boats whenever they call for us. It was time for my Mid-Term Evaluation on Friday and I have been thinking about staying with Safety Division for the rest of my time here at IMF. Apparently my Sonar Chief has a real beef with the Safety division. I am only allowed to stay until March, when the actual evals come out, unless of course my current LPO for Safety and the Safety Chief can convince him to let me stay until June. It sucks when you are the one doing the hard work and no one appreciates you.
     This would have been up sooner but I got distracted by watching the Power Rangers Season 1. I'm talking original Power Rangers before they went all modded and shit like they are nowadays. Nobody likes the new Power Rangers show. Of course once the kids went to bed my beautiful one made me give her the XBox remote so that she could put on Doctor Who. Not a bad show, but I was watching the Power Rangers and reliving my childhood of watching horrible special effects and laughing. Too bad she doesn't have the same sense of stupid humor that I do.
     My wife is now looking up Halloween costumes for the children and trying to make sure that she gets the right thing even though the children will probably change their minds between now and when we actually get them. Apparently I get to be the Doctor and she will be the Tardis. I'm not opposed to this because it is one of those themed things that I guess she is wanting to do. I'm just excited to take the children trick or treating. Free candy that I get to sort through? Done Son!! Who doesn't like free candy. What does boggle my mind is that the stores already have Christmas crap out. Honestly? Let's through one holiday at a time before we start bringing stuff out for the next holiday. That will be another one of those rants that will be rambled off when I get the chance to do it.
     I'm actually thinking about syncing up my calendar to my wife's so that I am aware of everything that is going on with her so that I don't have to ask her anymore and maybe it will make things easier for me since I will finally know what is going on. So much to do with so little time. There is always something going on at our house even when we don't have to leave our humble abode. Cleaning up after four children and a painstaking and tedious task. Yes, I know, my fault for that one. Well at least half of them. I know what causes children and we are not looking to have any more. No more little Wickids running around in this neighborhood.
     Well, I was going to have this done right around the time that I finished eating dinner, but the TV distracted me and the reliving of the youth was rather enjoyable. I'm so happy that we have XBox Live Gold again so that we can watch TV shows and movies for pretty much free. It all depends on what you are looking for and what it is you can find and enjoy. I wasn't a huge fan of Doctor Who when my beautiful one first started watching it, but now I can sit and enjoy it even if I'm not always paying attention. My multitasking skills have improved. I can watch a football game, or any show for that matter, play on my phone and still tell you what is going on. It makes me happy to be able to do that.

     Until next time Wickid Readers,


Wickid

End of the Weekend??

Already?!?

     I remember that as a kid I used to adore Sundays. There was football and whatever else my dad decided to put on the TV when there wasn't a NASCAR race on. It meant Sunday dinner that was always so filling and so delicious. It meant the smell of clean laundry and time spent folding clothes. My dad and I would get up in the morning and read the paper, mow the yard, and wash vehicles. Then we would end the day on the couch and the recliner, kicked back watching sports. Oh so many years later, I still do most of those things, but I don't do them with my dad anymore. Instead, I do those things with my children. Granted there are a few changes to my Sunday routine, but all in all it is relatively the same. We get up, have breakfast, get a couple Sunday papers and enjoy the little time we have to do chores before all of the morning football games start. I am very happy to report that all of my boys love watching football and they are very competitive when it comes to their teams. I unfortunately drew the short end of the stick with the team support because the kids tend to root for mommy's teams. At some point or another I hope that the power shifts to me and the kids root for my teams. I can only hope.

     Another significant reminder that it is the end of the weekend revolves around the children going back to school the next day. Here in Washington, school starts the first week of September and as of right now I couldn't be happier. I have to older boys that are school age. They both attend the same school but they are two years apart. There is nothing wrong with them being two years apart. I'm glad to have half of my children in all day school so that my wife can have some peace and quiet at home with the little boys. Although, with the current state of The House of Wickid, it seems that my three year old is starting school next week (week of Sept. 15th) for two days out of the week. It makes me happy knowing that he will be in school for six hours out of the week and making things a lot easier on her. She will only have to deal with one child during that time. Think of all of the things that she can get done while the kids are out of the house and learning. I can think of a lot of things that she can do. She will do what she can and I don't expect her to be all Superwoman and do everything in a three hour time span. That would just be plain impossible. I can barely do three things in about three hours. She is so much better at multitasking so I'm not too worried about her.

     It is a shame that Monday follows Sunday. If there was a different name for the start of the work week, people would hate that day instead.There are plenty of Sundays where I just get the urge to sit around and do nothing. Those days are typically during football season because I tend to get sucked into all of the football games and then all of a sudden it is dinner time. Why is it that the week drags on and on until Friday? It seems that once you get to Friday time speeds up so that you have what feels like 12 hours to get 48 hours worth of stuff done. There must be some space time continuum thing that happens as a result of everybody having a weekend off. We seriously need a day between Saturday and Sunday. Let's call it Funday! That would be awesome. Mondays come and go, but we hate them just the same. If only there was a way to either skip this day or find a way to make it shorter. I think that a lot of the problem and hatred that Monday gets stems from the fact that people stay up way to late on Sunday even though they know they have to be up early the next day. I myself am a victim of this notorious crime because it haunts me even to this day. My mind refuses to shut off on Sunday night when I lay down. I always start making my weekly plan while I lay there fighting to get to sleep. The Sandman deems it necessary to skip my house when he is delivering his sleeping dust. Why he would do that is beyond me, but he is very rude! 

     End of the weekend or are we at the week's end? You tell me. We here at the House of Wickid enjoy the fact that the week is coming to a start and that school is tomorrow for our children. We shall see you next time here on The Arena. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Wickid

Birthdays and Saturday Night Radio!

     Today is a fabulous day in history. Yes, today I entered the world and graced everyone with my presence! Not to be conceited or anything, but I am just awesome! I had a pretty decent birthday today. I got to spend the day going from store to store trying to find pants for my oldest child who needed new pants for school. Not such a fun time if you think about it from a general perspective, but I did get to spend lots of time with my family and I had fun. Afterwards the wife and I ended up at Olive Garden so that we could have a quiet dinner together. Picked up a friend and took her shopping so that she could have some food for her and her boyfriend. Nice people that we are, I had no problem doing this. I was on my way taking her home so that my beautiful one could start on the laundry since I won't see her until tomorrow evening. I was on Highway 3 heading towards Silverdale and I had this state trooper come flying past me. I said, "He needs to pull someone over in front of me. That would be awesome!" No sooner did I get this phrase out of my mouth, he switched his lights on and pulled someone over. I was super excited! It practically made my day. Even though I totally forgot to go to the store to get chocolate milk for the children. I was too excited to come home and do what I am doing now. Reliving my daily events with you, the dedicated reader, and chairdancing while listening to my Uncle +Chuck Bisbee's radio show. I even got a birthday song from him and I have been enjoying a pretty awesome playlist tonight. I even got to listen to Macklemore's Thrift Shop song. Now I normally don't listen to the radio. I have been told that this song has been on the radio for the past few months and I have seen people post the video on the various social network sites that I peruse. I use G+ on a daily basis and I wake up and check it like the morning newspaper. I am addicted to it and I don't care. Other than spending my time on here giving you the details and views of things I enjoy, I play on the G+ talking video games and other topics that I enjoy. I belong to communities like Skyrim and Borderlands 2 and a few other gaming communities.

     So I have spent the last hour and a half or so listening to some great music from the Uncle and enjoying the last hours of my birthday before I head to bed. I did enjoy the phone call that I got from +Chuck Bisbee  concerning my other Uncle +tim kimbrough at 0730 this morning. Well, 0730 my time. It was good news to hear that Tim is doing okay and he is now home and resting. Well I do hope he is resting because he needs it. I have video game needs that I need him to fulfill when he is rested and better. Borderlands 2 is calling my name and we need to go through and demolish some bandits and shit so that the death toll will continue to rise. Something about watching a head explode makes me happy.

     I thank you all in advance for the birthday wishes and I had a great time today. I am going to enjoy some time with my beautiful wife and maybe if she is really lucky, I will rub her feet because I am just so awesome like that. By the way, Bruno Mars has a fantastic voice. The song currently playing is Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars. Never heard one of his songs either. I guess I need to get back to listening to the radio and listen to more than just the classic rock and rock stations. Definitely need to expand my music horizons.

     So from all of us here at the House of Wickid, we will see you next time here on the Arena!!

Wickid

TV Shows and Movies

     Who remembers any of the TV shows that they used to watch when they were children? I know that I remember a lot of the stuff that I used to watch, but I don't remember all of it. I wish that I could see a lot of those old shows that used to appear on the TV. It seems like the TV just isn't what it used to be. I was born in the 80's and grew up through the 90's. I remember things like Rugrats, Rocko's Modern Life, Ren & Stimpy, All That, Kenan and Kel. My list could go longer, but boring you with trying to remember all of the old shows that you used to watch wouldn't be fun. I remember when the Power Rangers were just that, Power Rangers. Not this new stuff that involves expanded names. I remember Tommy was originally the Green Ranger and he had that kick ass dagger that was also a flute to call his Zord to him. It always reminded me of Godzilla when it would pop out of the water. I didn't like watching VR Troopers, but I remember that it used to come on. I know that a lot of you folks are being quite reminiscent right now and going through your TV toolbox that you have tucked into your brain. It is nice to see those shows as the flashbacks that they have become.

     Now, TV is all about "reality shows" that aren't really a reality. Who wants to watch people being stupid in front of a camera? Who really wants to watch some famous rich person attempt to find love only to end the relationship that their significant other worked so hard for? I remember seeing the ones called "The Bachelorette" and she was looking for the perfect guy to spend the rest of her life with. You can't figure that stuff out in an eight week program based on a few dates. It's practically impossible! I know that "love at first sight" can happen, but in all honesty, how often does that really happen? You have to live and learn and figure out how to work things out in a relationship. TV shows like that ruin the whole idea of TV to begin with. I know that we all went through the phase of "reality TV" when it was a new thing. Some of the shows were getting stagnant and we needed a new direction to keep the general populace entertained. It has come to the point that people are watching shows like "Honey Boo Boo". Why would I watch a show about a bratty little kid who does talent shows or whatever it is that she does. Who cares?!? To me it seems like this is just a ploy for a family to get some money by letting a film crew into their lives and letting the film crews just air everything. I don't mean that the film crews air everything. They do the editing and whatnot to fit the show into it's allotted time frame. Now this isn't to say that I'm just going to sit here and complain about TV shows and "reality TV". I watch TV shows that are interesting. Well, at least to me they are interesting. I tend to watch the cooking channels and Food Network. I watch things like Restaurant Impossible, Chopped, and other things where I can watch people do some amazing things with food. I also have tuned into and followed shows like Revolution, Under the Dome, Twisted, and a few other things like that. I guess you could call them dramas. I'm not a real connoisseur of the categorizing of the TV shows into their appropriate genre. Another show that tickles my fancy is a show called The Big Bang Theory. I don't always know what they are talking about because they use big science-y words that I don't understand, but I can understand some of the things they are talking about and I do know funny. I happen to like my comedies and this is one of those ones that I purposely try to watch as often as possible. I also like to watch Ridiculousness and Wipeout! Those two shows always leave me in stitches and its those types of shows that I love the most.

     On to the movies! I know that there are a lot of movies out there and listing anything remotely related to a movie would be futile. There are so many movies that I love and watch on a frequent basis. I have spent so many hours awake watching movies just for the sake of watching them. I can't tell you how many times that I have just sat on the couch or on the boat doing a movie binge knowing that I needed to go to sleep so that I could be awake for work. Now, I will say this: Not all movies are good movies, but they all deserve a watch to determine your opinion. There are some movies that I will wait until it comes out on DVD before I even go see it because they trailers and the commercials for the movie don't quite sell me on watching it in theaters. I haven't spent a lot of time in the theaters watching movies because I prefer the comforts of home and the boat when I had to be there. I can't even begin to tell you the amount of hours I have spent watching movies on the boat. I would spend four hours in a twelve hour off watch period watching at least two movies before I would go to sleep. Depending on the day and when I had watch, I could watch up to five movies with my buddies before I decided to go to sleep. Unfortunately, I would also spend another two hours laying in bed on the boat watching another movie before finally being able to fall asleep. Hell, it is to the point that I only watch what I record on the DVR at home and mostly watch movies. I have been through my movie library at home more than twice. There are some movies that I can quote by heart while just sitting here typing this out to you. There are just not enough hours in the day for me to watch all of the movies that I enjoy. Enjoy some movies, pop some popcorn and just relax on my couch.

     I hope that you have enjoyed this edition of the Arena and my rant about TV shows and how it has become worse than what it was when I was growing up. Think about your movies and enjoy them as often as possible. Watch them until the disc will no longer play in your DVD or Blu-Ray player.

Wickid

Back to School Fever!!

     It is that time of the year again dear people of the Arena! It is time for the little children and big children alike to head back to school. I am so excited to know that I will have half of my children in all day school by the end of the week. The house is quieter and tasks around the house are made much simpler when you only have two children to worry about. In fact, I am so excited for them to be returning to school that I have taken up the idea to head back to school myself. I have a few forms to fill out so that I can see about getting some extra help from good old Uncle Sam. There are many reasons why I love my job. This happens to be one of those reasons. The benefits alone make up for the horrible hours spent on a boat and the moving every three years to a new place and starting over again in a new house and new location.

     As of right now I plan on doing a degree in General Studies to start me off. If I can, I plan on moving in the direction of creative writing so that I can get better at writing these editions of the Arena for you, the reader. I am also hoping that it will help in the writing of my books so that I can get my ideas and imagination out to the general populace. I haven't been working on the book as of late because we are still getting used to the routine here at the House of Wickid. It is getting a lot easier to do things around here and if you can believe this I am sitting here watching The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and not even paying attention to the keyboard. I used to be one of those hunt and peck type people that had to look at the keyboard to see what I was doing. After spending loads of time playing PC games, I have stopped looking at the keyboard most of the time that I type. It is a little easier to do this on a desktop computer that it is on a laptop because there is so much space between keys. I am looking at doing both online and in class courses so that I can get some time away from the house and focused on school. I figured that if I just do online courses, I will just get distracted and not do the schooling. I have a plan for now, I just have to do the happy thing that they call research into what it is I want to do. It seems like all jobs now require college degrees of some sort to get into the high paying realm. I won't be into the high paying realm of employment until after I retire, but the college degree will help a lot with the advancement. Speaking of advancement, I was SUPPOSED to take my E-6 exam today. I say SUPPOSED because I didn't take it. The people running the exam didn't have an exam for me so I have to talk to the ESO (Educational Services Officer) to get him to order me a substitute exam so that I can take it at a later date. Hopefully, I can make it off this exam and be one step closer to my career goal.

     I know this really isn't directed towards anything in particular, I just felt that I needed to express my joy at the children going to school and getting myself back into school. That is all from the Arena. Catch you next time! Same bat-time, same bat-channel!

Wickid

Street Fees and Housing Issues

     I have had a car since I was roughly seventeen years old. I have had to renew my tags for nearly a decade. Today was a day where I had to renew my tags for my car yet again. What should have only cost me about 46 dollars ended up costing me almost 70 dollars. When I asked the lady who was helping me why it was so much, she responded as such: "Sir, you live in Bremerton and we are required to charge you 20 dollars as a street fee since you have to park on the street." I looked at her and I responded like this: "Ma'am, I live in Jackson Park, which is owned by the military until October. I park in a parking lot. I understand that I live in Bremerton, but living in a housing community that provides parking lots, I should be exempt from "street fees" that don't apply to me." Needless to say I ended up paying the twenty dollars because even though I park in a parking lot, the fact that my address is in Bremerton is reason enough for them to charge me. I guess I just paid for someone else's street fees since I will not be parking on a street at anytime while I live here. Who knew that something so stupid could be used as an extortion principal to get some money. Why don't they just ask and then waive a fee when it doesn't apply to people. Everybody that lives in Jackson Park has to pay "street fees" for not parking on a street. We should be exempt, not because we are military, but because PARKING ON A STREET IS SOMETHING WE DON'T DO!! I guess it doesn't matter because they will charge you out the wazoo for it anyways.

     Now, this rest of this is all about Housing Issues. Not just from the people that own the Housing Community, but also about the people currently living in my house. We shall tackle the people living in my house first before we worry about what it is that the Jackson Park people do.

     As most of you may know, I have an extraordinary amount of people living in my house. Most of you will say that I am stupid for having my house feel like it is a hotel rather than the house that it was meant to be. Most will even say that I brought this on myself. For those that know me know that I will do everything in my power to help people out because it is the right thing to do. Faith in my humanity should be restored because I am a nice person that doesn't like to see the less fortunate go without if I can help it. Those that are aware of the situation know that I have my in-laws staying with me because they have run into a few problems that they needed help with. Back in March of this year, my mother in-law came to live with us while we were still in Georgia. She has some issues that I won't make public, but just know that she wasn't happy with her living situation and it led to her having to move in with me. She has been living with us for the last 6 months now. Well, close to six months now. IN that time we have provided food and shelter to her free of charge or as close to free of charge as we could. Once we returned to Washington and she returned to work, we have started asking her to help with the groceries and since she was already taking care of the children, that continued to happen. She knew that once she moved in with us she would become a sort of live in nanny. She did her job without too much complaining and she even went to work on a daily basis. After we got back here, her plan was to move out on her own and get her own place again so that she could get her life back in order. After a few arguments and a couple well placed Craig's list ads onto her Facebook timeline, she finally got the hint that we wanted her to move on with her life and get her own place again. Now, I have been talking to her on a daily basis since we got back here and have been asking quite frequently what her plans were for finding her own place and moving out and yada, yada, yada. The words that she used were that "she was too broke to look for something so she stopped looking until she had saved up money." Anybody that knows me knows that I will only help you out as long as you are also helping yourself. Once you stop helping yourself I also stop helping you. Needless to say, she got into a huge temper tantrum because we were taking advantage of her and we were being mean and we never talked to her about anything and we should have discussed this with her in private and she felt like we didn't love her and that we were just being mean horrible people. This conversation lasted all of about five minutes after I tried to tell her that we did everything we could to be as subtle as possible and not make the subject as pronounced as she was making it. Yeah, we probably shouldn't have gone public with the Craig's List ads on her Facebook, but after months of discussing her plan with her, I was getting tired of doing this the nice way. My beautiful one has been living with a massive amount of stress and bottling it and taking it out on me because she is really to nice to say anything to anybody. I am the mean one so I get to handle all of the confrontations. Simple enough for me. I would rather everyone hate me because I'm the "bad guy" in all of the situations. It wouldn't be such a big deal except that my mother in-law has this huge amount of pride that she carries around with her. After my sister in-law Meagan calmed her down, because she refused to talk to us, she made it home and spent her final night with us on I believe Thursday. She is now currently living with friends that have taken her in and she has apparently found a place that she can afford. Funny thing about all of this is that we have been helping her and supporting her through all of her issues and it took her a bit of lost pride to realize that we were right all along. She will probably never admit this, but the "tough love" that we showed her has helped her grow just a slight bit. We still have two out of three of my wife's sisters living with us however, they are helping around the house and actively looking to better themselves, so the issues that we have with them living here are a little smaller since they have chosen to help themselves and us.

     I'm not sure how many people have lived in a housing community. I know that most military personnel that choose to live in base housing instead of out on town live in a housing community. We happen to live in Jackson Park. They are getting taken over and bought out by Forest City Residential, which is also the same company that owns the houses on the Bangor base. There is no real issue with using the facilities that are provided to me because I do enjoy the fact that right now, I don't have to worry about the maintenance, nor do I have to worry about an extra bill to remember to pay. At some point in my career I do plan on buying my own house and enjoying the rest of my life not having to pay rent, but instead a mortgage. Until that time I will happily rent knowing that everything is taken care of via the military. Now that that has been said we move on to the issues that I am currently having. Since everyone is required to have fire alarms in their house so that you can be alerted to a fire, I give you this piece of advice. DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT get the photo sensor fire alarms for your home. We USED to have them here in our home, but after multiple false fire alarms and screaming children because of it, we finally had maintenance replace all of our fire alarms with generic simple non photo sensor fire alarms. For those who are wondering why I see this as an issue, just listen. These photo sensor fire alarms are very touchy and even the slightest little piece of dust will set them off. When a little fragment of dust gets caught on the fire alarm and starts moving around and behaving like a "fire", it will set the alarms off and they will continue to go off until the dust unlatches itself from the alarm. We had finally had enough of it and after 10 false alarms, I finally got maintenance to change out my fire alarms. We were sitting on the couch watching TV with nothing on the stove and the oven was off. There would be no reason for the fire alarm to go off. Other than that issue with the fire alarms and our house just being too small to hold even just the wife, me and the kids, I have no real issues with my house. We even called the Forest City people to see if we could get into a bigger house since we qualified for one and we were told that we were supposed to be getting one when we got here. Hopefully, with the fact that we have a special needs child and we are concerned for the safety of his temper tantrums and his ability to have his own quiet room, we are hoping that they will work with us and we will get a bigger house.

     I hope that you all enjoy the latest read from The Arena. We will see you again next time.


Wickid

Full House

     Friday night at The House of Wickid usually involves dinner, wife going to work, kids going to bed, and me sitting on my arse playing video games late into the night. Today however, I have had a change in plans. The Washington Fair is going right now at the Fairgrounds in East Bremerton. For my West Coast homies, tickets are a dollar so go out and have some fun. I would normally not be going because my beautiful one will be at work tonight and I really don't feel like going. I'm still 100% after my surgery, but I got home from work today to find out that I was volun-told that I was taking the kids to the fair tonight. Now, I'm normally not one to put a bad vibe on fun, but I really didn't want to go tonight. I am for all intents and purposes just a driver tonight because its the other people in the house that want to go. Between my mother in-law, my second oldest sister in-law, and her friends coming over, my house has become too crowded for its own good. Hence the title of this latest edition of The Arena.
     This post will provide back story and details to the reasons behind my "Full House." I wish that I could say that I was talking about poker, but unfortunately I am not. It started in February of this year while I was out to sea. I got an email from my wife stating that we would be having a visitor coming in March. She went on later to detail that the visitor wouldn't be a visitor, but instead be my mother in-law who was getting evicted from her house. I love my mother in-law I really do, but sometimes she does things that make you question her intelligence. Things like going out to the local shows and spending money on things that should be left at the store. Not to call the kettle black, but we do the same thing however, we only get excess stuff that we NEED and USE. My pantries used to look like a mini grocery store because we had a stock of things that we used quite frequently. I'm talking about those things. I'm talking about things like cover charges to get into shows, going out to do things after she tells me she has no money. It's things like that that drive me up the wall. I told my wife that I didn't have a problem with her coming to stay with us until we got back to Washington. The plan WAS to have her stay with us until we got back to Washington and got settled in. We used her to help out with the boys and to help us around the house. She even assisted on the drive across the country in the van with my wife by helping out with the kids. For the final two months I was in Georgia, things were great. I didn't expect her to immediately move into a new place once we got back, but I did expect her to be actively looking for a place to live that wasn't with me. Again, I love my mother in-law, but there is only so much I can take. We have been back since mid-May and it is now into the end of August.
     Not only do I have my mother in-law living with me currently, we also have my second oldest sister in-law, Meagan, staying with us too. This happened by pure accident. She would come and visit and stay for the weekend, then head back to Olympia and go back to work. It was nice because I only had to deal with her on the weekends. She isn't a complete pain in the ass, but she is a pain in the ass none the less. She would come to our house around supper time on a Friday afternoon, eat, hang out for a minute or two, and then head out to go hang out with her friends. Nice and easy visit that was low maintenance. It was nice to only have to ask her if she was going to be home for supper and get declined instead of having to make sure that I have made enough food to feed her. I guess that she ended up getting suspended from work because she didn't have enough money to take some sort of test or something that she needed to do to continue doing her job. She pays rent for an apartment in Olympia and she has other bills, so I understand the lack of funds for doing something like that. Now, I am no whiz when it comes to budgeting my own money, I let the wife handle that. I was usually hardly at home so I had no idea what money went where or when it needed to be paid. I don't even care that I don't know all of this. As long as the bills are paid and there is food in the refrigerator, I'm golden. Again, the pot and kettle comment comes to your mind. I know it does because I've analyzed this whole situation myself as an "outsider" so to speak. So, now I have my mother in-law and Meagan living with us. The good news about Meagan is that she is soon to be leaving to head back to Olympia because she has another job that her friend is helping her get and she will be able to live on her own again. She has a college degree, you would think that she can handle herself.
     Last weekend I wrote a post about early morning flights. Don't remember the title, but I know that it is there. I wrote it for Christ's sake. I had to take my mother in-law to the airport so that she could head down to Arizona and pick up my oldest sister in-law, Jamie. Now at this point, my mother in-law was supposed to be in her own place and ready to bring Jamie back to Washington. This obviously didn't happen because I am staring at Jamie sitting on my couch and her movie collection is sitting in front of me in 9 different milk crates. I have a "man cave", but it doesn't have any of the normal things that you look for in a Man Cave. So now I have three extra people in my house that don't need to be here. It has made things hard for Damen because he has been overstimulated with everybody in the house. It was easy for the time that my mother in-law was gone because things weren't being used all up and no one taking the blame for them.
     In one week we can go through about three gallons of Almond Milk. Since you can't buy those in the gallon size, I have six half gallon milk cartons sitting in my fridge pretty much at all times. When it is only me, my wife, and my kids, the milk lasts forever and a day. The kids are the only ones that drink the milk and they only drink milk at meals. Well, Lucas drinks milk most of the time, but we are working on weaning him down to three bottles/cups of milk a day. Mom doesn't really pitch in for much in terms of groceries unless we ask her for something while she is on her way home from work, or if she asks us. I don't really task her with too much at home except to give me a hand in putting children to bed. Now I have to come up with a move out date for everybody so that I can focus on calming my wife down, who is losing her mind with everybody being here, and get the kids onto a school routine since school starts in about two weeks. Needless to say, things have been very difficult at The House of Wickid for the past couple months and it is starting to take its toll on me and the family. I guess tonight while I am out at the fair, I will get a chance to talk to my mother in-law and find out her plans of getting out of my house and getting the rest of the "baggage" to go with her. It should be fairly easy since I see her complaining on Facebook about not being able to do things like she's used to doing. I can't say for certain if it was her fault or not that she got herself into this mess, but I do believe that she is somehow involved in the reason why I am harboring her at my house.
     At some point I will get my home back and it will be quiet and calm again. I am ready to have a clean house instead of cleaning my house and feeling like it isn't clean. I'm ready to have a wife that isn't so angry all of the time and ready to have my time with her when the kids are asleep. Things have been hell, but we manage through it. Time to go put laundry away, change clothes and see if I can find a way out of going to the fair tonight. I was planning on video game time with my uncle, but I may have to put that on hold until tomorrow.
     Until next time, from The Arena.......


Wickid

Working My Fingers to the Bone!!

     Today has been all about work. Not work like I would normally do when I put my uniform on and leave the house. More like work being done around the house that has been semi-neglected. It is a shame that the last two weeks have been spent doing as little as possible while trying to heal up. Well guess what friends and readers! Wickid is done healing (kinda) and on the move again. I know that I have been functioning since last Tuesday, but this is different. I am ready to get back to my daily grind and get back to being around my coworkers. Those assholes might not have missed me, but I do miss all of the fun that we have while we are sitting in the office doing practically nothing. We do a little bit of work, but that's all we actually do. Walking around the pier and touring a boat or two a shift is what we consider work. If that isn't a cake job, then I don't know what is.
     There are people in the civilian sector that would love to do what I do, but I don't think that they want all of the hours that I put in unless they are getting paid hourly. Trust me, my work isn't all that it is cracked up to be. Shore Duty is meant to be my resting time from being out at sea away from my family. Trust when I say that I get plenty of rest and I don't have worry in the world about going back out to sea. At least not yet I don't. As my Shore Duty comes to a close, it will start to get very stressful around my house again because of the impending schedule change and the fact that I won't be home as often as I am now. I don't mind going out to sea. In fact, sometimes I would rather be there then at home. I know that sounds bad, but it really is easier than being home some days. Right now, everything is as easy as it can be. I am enjoying the loads of time being at home with my wife and kids and being able to see them every night. I haven't qualified anything for my duty section as of right now, but that will be remedied here shortly when I qualify Duty Driver. Sounds simple enough. I don't have much to do because I have awesome people in my section and my qualification card got signed off almost immediately. Just have to bone up on the information that I am going to need for when I do my interview and do two Under Instruction watches. Easy enough and I will get it done within the next week or so. Once that is completed, I will move on to Junior Officer of the Day. That card is also signed off with the exception of final interviews and under instruction watches.
     There have been a few changes around the House of Wickid. There are two more bodies in the house thanks to my mother in-law going to pick up my oldest sister in-law. Hopefully, they will find a place soon and get out of my house. Not that I don't like having them here, but I really can't support everybody that is sleeping under my roof right now. I still struggle (slightly) with taking care of my own, much less anyone else. My wife's paychecks are decent at helping in the middle of my pay period, but her money was supposed to be used for savings and extra fun stuff that we may want to do. Instead they are going to groceries and anything that we need. I want to get to the point where we won't need her paychecks and we are able to have extra money left over from my paycheck. Time is of the essence in this desire and at some point I will get what I want. It's not that I don't love my wife's family, I just don't need them all staying with me. Soap box talk complete on that subject.
     It is HUMP DAY!! I only have two days of work this week and that just happened to fall just the way I wanted it. Next week will be a "rigorous" schedule for me. I get to work afternoons all week next week. I'm actually looking forward to that because I will be home shortly after dinner is normally served and I can get things ready rather quickly, put the kids to bed after supper and still get enough time to relax and enjoy the rest of the night. I really can't stress enough to the rest of my Navy Family (very extended mind you) that a shore duty is the best way to end your career (if you plan on getting out). Not only will get paid to do practically nothing, but you don't have the nasty hours that you would being attached to a sea going command. I should have taken a shore duty after my first boat, but babysitting baby nuclear trained nubs was not something that I wanted to do. A security guard job didn't sound enticing at that point in time. I enjoyed my time on my last boat and I am actually glad that I went there because now that I am qualified Senior In Rate, I have nothing to worry about once I get to my third boat.
     Keep reading you dedicated reader. I end this edition from the comfort of my chair in hopes that you find it in the comfort of yours. Until next time, from the Arena.........

Wickid

Play Dates and Trouble

     I haven't had a play date since I was a child, but the title is very fitting for what I did yesterday. Monday night I planned to have a game night with my Uncle +tim kimbrough via the Xbox for a little Borderlands 2. I had it all planned out and my Tuesday was going to end perfectly, until I had to take my beautiful one to the Emergency Room. Come to find out, my lady has multiple ovarian cysts, which by the way isn't a very good thing for her. They cause her an immeasurable amount of pain and the fact that she has more than one means that bad things will happen soon. Needless to say, she didn't go to work last night like she was scheduled to. It is okay though because I ended up playing video games with my uncle regardless. I ended up helping my lovely lady get her month of Xbox live gold for free and we joined Tim for about twenty or so minutes for some adventuring fun.
     Unfortunately, I do not have all of the downloadable content (DLC) for the game, so we could do very little with my uncle since he was all level 61 and just dominating everything that walked in front of him. I however, had to start a new character and I advanced three levels before we decided that it would be better if we waited until I got all of the DLC for the game before we tried playing again. Now, my free gold membership lasts until September 20th so I am hoping beyond all hope that I can get what I need before then. If not, our play time will just have to wait until I can afford to keep a healthy supply of Gold membership for the Xbox. That shit isn't cheap you know?
     Trouble brews whenever video games are involved at my house. Since we had an impromptu trip to the emergency room, I of course tried to stick to my plans. Unfortunately, telling the wife that I had a date with my uncle was not on her list of priorities. I knew that no matter what I did, I would be in trouble because I'm just good like that. I did however, lessen the severity of my punishment by including my beautiful one in the adventuring. It made it a little easier to take the verbal lashing that she gave me later. It isn't easy taking a lashing from her, at least not a verbal one. Like I said, we only got about thirty minutes of play time with Tim before he said that it was best that we wait until I can get the extras that were needed for all of the fun stuff that he wanted to do and all the loot that he wanted to give me. After the whole video game fiasco, my wife and I decided that we were going to watch TV. Well, she decided that we were going to watch TV.
     My punishment for my planned video game time ended up being rather simple. I have spent the day doing lots of dishes and taking care of children. She has been put on light duty since I decided to tell the doctor that was attending her that she was a workaholic. She is, mind you, so I don't feel too bad in telling him that. It is best that I only got the "punishment" that I did because I added her to our fun. Everything has gone pretty smoothly today. I had music in my ears most of the day, so it made the chores go a lot faster. I have this thing where if I listen to music while I do stuff around the house, it makes things easier for me. I have spent way too long on a boat doing Field Day every Saturday that music is the only thing to make it fly by. I had fun and I know that my wife is happy that the dishes are all done (minus the supper dishes) and that I cleaned the living room and vacuumed it. Now all I need to do is finish putting the laundry away. That chore has to be my Kryptonite because every time she tells me to put the laundry away, all I want to do is stare at it in hopes that it will put itself away. It still won't do that so I have to suck it up and put it away before the children go to bed so that she can finish the laundry. I can't work our new super heavy duty, super cool washer and dryer. I wouldn't trust me to do laundry anyways. I have the tendency to not separate clothes nor do I worry about load size. Again, a product of being on a submarine too long.
     Trouble has passed and I feel that I have served my time. As I tell my kids, do the crime, do the time because everyone has been there at least once before. After dishes, cooking all three meals and vacuuming, I think that I deserve to sit on my tush for a little bit before I do some more stuff around the house. I have to clean my car out before I go to work tomorrow. Alas, I also have duty tomorrow. It's so difficult to show up and then go home at the end of the day. That last statement is so dripping with sarcasm that I think you can flavor a sandwich with it. Time to leave this edition to you the reader so that I can listen to more music while having Doctor Who play on the TV (wife figured out how to get Amazon video via Xbox) and screaming children from upstairs. Their Nani is "drowning" them tonight. Spaghetti night leads to baths. Easy supper, easy evening! Good night dear reader and I look forward to seeing you again. Until next time, from The Arena........

Wickid

Binges and Champions!

     I had one of those days yesterday where all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and do a bunch of nothing. I can say that I succeeded in that venture. I ended the night by watching movies instead of playing video games. I had originally planned on playing some Skyrim last night since my beautiful one was at work and I really had nothing better to do. Once I got the dishes done and had the kids all laid down in bed, I popped in a movie instead. I went on a hardcore movie binge and it felt weird doing it at home because normally I watch regular TV and I do all of my movie watching while I am underway. Since I won't be doing the latter for at least three years, I guess I better practice and keep my movie etiquette strong while I am home. It was nice to lounge on the couch, drink crystal light infused water, and just relax. I know that I haven't had the most stressful schedule for the last 11 days, but sometimes it is really nice to just sit and do nothing. I'm not sure if I want to divulge which movies I was watching because I'm not sure if I want to lose cool points or not, but just know that I was being lame about my movie choices last night. I started the movies around 1930 (730 pm for you civilians) and didn't stop watching movies until around 130 this morning. Luke decided that 330 was an appropriate time to get up this morning. Was not a happy camper when I had to get up at 6 to watch him because he wouldn't go back to sleep. Ah, the life and times of being a father. I will get over it. In three days I get to head off back to work and resume my normal daily routine. I am so ready to put my uniform back on and look like a million bucks again. There is something about taking leave that drives me insane. It's not that I don't like being home, I think that it is the fact that I am not going to work and it ruins my routine. That whole routine burned into your head and this is how you operate, yada, yada, yada that the Navy does to you. I can't help being me sometimes. 

     I also decided this afternoon that I would show my face on League of Legends again. It is an online PvP game that is phreaking awesome!! I played four or five games today and I only lost two. Not bad for someone who tends to suck at PC games. This one is just phenomenal. So many champions to choose from, so little game time. Well, I can't even say that. The champions are just the tip of the iceberg for this game. The game play itself is fantastic and rather easy to learn. One game I let Luke sit on my lap and he played a little for me. I let Damen play too and he didn't do so bad. The goal of the game you ask? Destroy the enemy nexus! Simple as that. Getting to the nexus on the other hand is the real challenge. So many minions die a senseless death and the champions slay the other champions. It was the one game that my buddy recommended to me that took forever to download and it hasn't disappointed. Go to www.leagueoflegends.com to download and play. It is free for you and you and you and you. Yes, I pointed at random places in my house just to emphasis my point. 

     Have to cut this edition of The Arena short, the children need attention and I'm the only adult home. Again the joys of being a father. So until next time, live from The Arena........

Wickid

No Rest for the Wickid.....er......Wicked

     I did the name play on the title because even though it says my name on my profile, my pseudonym for all intents and purposes is Wickid. We submit this latest edition to the readers because it serves two purposes. Purpose one deals with all of the time I spend at work and the second purpose is all of the time my wife now spends at work.
     For those that don't know or are new the The Arena, I am an Active Duty Navy Submariner. I have been in just over eight years and two months. I have spent the majority of my career on board a United States submarine. I enlisted in August of 2004 while I was a junior in high school. I come from a long line of Sailors. Well not so long if you think about it. My grandfather on my mother's side was a signalman aboard a destroyer, my grandfather on my father's side was an Auxiliaryman aboard the USS Midway, my mother was a Shopkeeper stationed in Japan, and my father was an Engineman aboard the USS Midway before she was decommissioned in 1992. I think that after hearing all of the stories that my old man used to tell me, I was intrigued about doing something completely different. I volunteered for Submarine Duty when I was with the recruiter filling out the paperwork. I can't say that things have been easy because they definitely haven't, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my job almost as much as I love my family. They come first because that is just how I am. Now, with that being said, there isn't a moment that goes by that I don't daydream about being underway and doing my job to the best of my ability. I'm a Sonarman by trade, but a Shower Technician by every other rate on board the boat. I spend lots of time in the shower and anytime that I'm not in the shower, I'm either on watch or sleeping. There is a random bit of time sandwiched into my schedule for a movie or two every off-watch. As a qualified Sonar Supervisor, I am in charge of a three to four man watch team that is the safety and security of the vessel while the ocean is trying to break its way into the people tank. Now, I won't say anything bad about any other branch of the service however, I will say that being on a submarine is a lot harder than most people think. The surface fleet and every other branch get the joys of having internet, facebook, cell phones with reception, and sunlight. Yes, I chose this line of work, but that doesn't mean I can't complain about the little things that I don't have. I have spent more hours a week a work than most people do in a month. Nowadays, most places of business try to limit their employees to 120 hours in a month. In a typical week on the boat, I can put in about 104 - 120 hours of work. This includes 3 overnight stays on the boat where I can't go home and 4 normal eight to twelve hours days depending on the workload. In seven days, I can put in as many hours as a normal civilian can in a month. My hours decrease significantly once the boat is underway and I am not on it. I go to the normal 40 hour work week like everyone else tends to enjoy. Underway, while on the boat, I shift from the normal 24 hour day to an 18 hour day. I lose six hours that every once else gets. I have a watch and then some time off. I can't tell you how many birthdays, anniversaries, or Christmases I have missed because I have plain lost count. It is nothing compared to the sacrifice that I make with my family. I missed first steps, first words, first roll over, first crawl, you name it, I have probably missed it. I love my job, but sometimes it gets in the way of things.
     My wife, on the other hand, spends way too much at work for her own good. I know that her paychecks are extra money and that the more she works, the bigger they are. My paychecks are pretty standard, but hers will vary depending on hours. I'm glad that I am on shore duty and that she has a chance to go out and work and get away from the children, but sometimes I really wish that she would either learn to say "no" or train someone to do their job. I'm of the mind that if you are hired to do a job then you better know how to do it. If you don't know how to do it then you better get someone to train you or you better learn how to do it on your own. A lot of the things that I know about my job are things I gleaned from books and brains that I have picked of senior sailors. There are days that I sit at home with my boys and wonder if my wife works all these hours because she resents me for the job that I do. I know that is kind of a mean thing to say, but that is how I feel. She never says no when they call her and ask her to work. She never says no when they call her on her day off and she feels like collapsing in bed. I just don't understand why she pushes herself so hard and doesn't rest. It's not like we are hurting that bad for money so I don't know why she tries to run herself ragged. Maybe she just likes being at work. Who knows? She does have an excellent work ethic, but sometimes I just wish she would listen to reason. I love her, but she needs to spend some time at home with me and the kids. This is my three years of rest and relaxation away from a sea going command. It is also her three years of rest and relaxation and of having me home to help her when she needs it.

Rant complete. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

From the Gamer Chair of Wickid

Dealing with Deviant Delinquents

     For those who don't know, I have four amazing little boys. Some days are harder than others, but most of the time I don't have an issue with my children. My oldest stepson is 7 and herein lies my problem. He stands roughly about 4'5" tall and weighs around 80 pounds. It is a little on the heavy size for a child his age. In fact, the doctors have said that he is obese. I agree with them wholeheartedly because I know that he doesn't eat the way he is supposed to when he is with his dad. Now, I know that I can't "confirm" anything that goes on at his dad's house, but I do have my suspicions. It isn't hard to figure out what he eats because whenever we feed him any meal at our house, he has a huge problem with it. It has gotten better since we have gotten back to Washington, but it isn't where it needs to be. At the House of Wickid, we eat pretty healthy. Lots of vegetables and nutritious stuff gets put on the table. It isn't always healthy, but more often than not it is healthy, delicious food. The younger boys tend to eat a lot of chicken nuggets and meat sandwiches. We get the good chicken nuggets that aren't just a bunch of fat. Carter doesn't always like to eat chicken nuggets though. He has expressed that quite often. Unfortunately for him, neither me or my wife will make three separate meals for the house. It takes too much time and causes too many dishes. His dad had the nerve to ask him on the phone for all of us to hear, "Are they still feeding you like you are in prison?" I just about lost it and hung up the phone for him. In now way, shape, or form do I feed my children like they are in prison. I feed them the appropriate amount of food. It's called portion control. It's what we do at our house.
     We have recently come to terms that he is also a bully. That is another thing that we do not tolerate here at the house. Unfortunately, my 5 year old has too pure of a heart and doesn't like to see anyone get into trouble. It sucks for him because Carter likes to bully my 5 year old. He likes to take control of everything, including how the toys are played with and who is playing with them. I can't discipline Carter like I would Eli and Damen. I can't really discipline Luke because he is just too young to have to do that to. I won't spank a defenseless infant. Well, soon to be toddler. Hell, I can't even spank Carter for fear of the fight that my wife and his father will get into because I "laid a hand on HIS kid." Well, for six months out of the year, he is my "kid". I don't like the fact that I have to change the way I discipline my children when we have Carter at our house. It makes everything a lot more stressful and it causes me a lot of grief. I know that it isn't easy for my beautiful one either, but at least she can spank him and discipline him and won't get into "too much trouble" with his dad. I'm at a loss for what to do because of the way I grew up and the way I discipline the other boys. Eli and Damen, when they commit an egregious penalty, can and will get a spanking. I know there are many of you out there that do not condone the spanking of children, but I will tell you something. As a living example of getting my butt spanked on a regular basis for the penalties that I committed, I didn't turn out too bad now did I? I have a great job, an awesome family, and I'm not addicted to drugs or in jail. Pretty successful childhood if I do say so myself. I just becomes difficult to handle because I have to worry about being "too mean" and "scaring" the poor child because I yell at him. He decided that it was alright to pinch his little brother yesterday at lunch. Of course, paternal hearing grants me the ability to hear even the quietest things when it comes to my children, he got caught. So we (the wife and I) called the boys out to the living room to find out what was going on. I keep it relatively strict in the house because that's how I grew up. Again, I didn't turn out so bad. Come to find out, Carter pinched Eli but didn't know why he pinched him. My wife, being the wonderful person that she is, pinched him back so he could see how it feels. He cried and cried for the entire time we were trying to yell at him. It wasn't until after Carter got in trouble that he decided to change his story and he then stated that Eli pinched him first. Now, I know the tendencies of my 5 year old. Not my child by blood, but my child nonetheless. He takes after me and is really never in trouble until Carter comes around. I pinched Eli because, well he pinched his brother, and he didn't cry at all. Tough little cookie he is. I apologized afterwards because my beautiful one pointed out that he already got pinched by Carter and I didn't need to pinch him. To teach the boys about bullying, I told them that I would do to them what they do to each other. Of course, that was too far and I was too mean. We asked Carter if he would go home and tell his dad that we were being mean to him. He vigorously shook his head yes and said that we were being "too mean" to him. I love my wife because she can keep her cool in the craziest of situations, picked up the phone and called his dad right there on the spot. Carter and his dad had a nice little conversation, which I think was just for show, and that kind of ended that conflict. I don't understand why he has to bully his brothers. He is three times their size and shouldn't be mean to them because he should know that he is going to get into trouble.
     Eli usually never gets into much trouble when it is just the 5 of us. Once Carter gets here, I have no choice but to yell at him because he is always fighting with Carter and arguing and whining about something. I know that the problem is Carter because Eli just doesn't do any of the above when he is playing with Damen. I hate knowing the Carter is bullying his brothers. I know that some of it is sibling rivalry. I don't yell unless I have to and I monitor the situation for a minute or two before I step in. I'm not the type of person to yell at everything. I used to think my dad did that all of time, but after becoming a father myself, I see why it felt like he was always yelling at me. This morning was kind of a relief for me because Carter's dad came to pick him up. Now I have two free weeks of minimal yelling at children. I know that it sounds bad that I am so happy to have him gone, but in all reality it lifts some of the stress of dealing with my children. Like I said at the beginning of this post, most days are awesome because my children are just awesome. Yes, every parent says that about their children, but not many comment on how well behaved other children are. I get compliments all of time about how well behaved my children are and how they are so polite. I spend time training that. I learned that for my parents and my children will learn it from me. Nothing wrong with having polite, well-mannered children.
     I think that part of the problems that we have with Carter also stem from him being at his dad's house for so long. He spent two years straight at his dad's house while we were in Georgia. During that time, I am pretty sure that his dad was saying some not so nice things about me, my wife, and our children. His dad told him that Eli, Damen, and Lucas were his half-brothers because they all have different dads. In retrospect, he is correct, but that is not something that you need to teach a seven year old. How hard is it for his dad to accept the fact that the mother of his child married someone who loves her and doesn't treat her like shit? My wife had to work THREE jobs while she was with him because he was "too good" to flip burgers. When realization finally smacked her in the head, she did the smart thing and left him. Eli's "dad" is nothing but a sperm donor. That dude isn't even good enough for me to call him a man. My wife is the only one that he did that too either. He has like three different kids with two other baby mamas. Mark (Eli's sperm donor) left my wife when she was four months pregnant with Eli. I've known all of my wife's children since their birth. I knew exactly what I was getting into when I got together with my wife. I made that choice with a sound mind and able body. I have two boys that are my own, Damen and Lucas. Those are my blood children, but that doesn't mean that I love Carter and Eli any less. I love all of them equally. I "own" the majority of the children. Carter's dad has the tendency to teach Carter some very bad habits. Things like telling Carter that he doesn't have to listen to what I tell him and that if we are being "too mean" to him, then he can just leave and walk back to his dad's house as long as he is careful. Who the phuck tells a seven year old that he can just leave his mom's house if she is being "too mean"?? Seriously?? If that was the case, that boy wouldn't even step foot into my house because I am "too mean" to him. I provide health insurance, dental insurance, house, food, clothes, school supplies, and anything else that his little heart desires. Paul (Carter's dad) is supposed to tell us whenever he took Carter to the doctor or the dentist because we needed to know about it and HE put it in the parenting plan that HE wrote up when we left for Georgia. Since I am the active duty member (Navy Submarine Service WOOT WOOT!!), I always and I mean ALWAYS, get the bills from the doctor visits. It is very hard to hide doctor's appointments from me because of this. Apparently, Paul had the mailing address changed to his address so that he would get the bills and paperwork. I guess we forgot to tell him that no matter what address is there, they will always send the bill to the active duty member. So when confronted about this, he tried to hide some information from us. We got all the information we wanted because Carter, like the rest of my children, is on my Page 2 and they will freely release his medical and dental records to me whenever they are requested. The joys of being Active Duty. Another reason why I love my job.
     Well that escalated quickly.... I think I will end the rant about deviant delinquents here. Just remember step-parents, you aren't the only one dealing with your issues. There are those of us here in the realm of Parenthood that are in the same boat you are. Until next time in The Arena, this is Wickid signing off.......