I spent Christmas 2023 at home alone. Susan, Leigh, and Anne are in California, visiting family. My anxiety spikes when I’m alone. I worry about all the things that might go wrong because, too often, things have gone wrong while Susan and I were apart. From flooding basements, kidney stones, and…
Tag: California
Susan and I have made three major moves to reset our lives, taking us from California to Minnesota to Pennsylvania… and, finally, to Texas. We moved to Texas expecting that I’d teach high school technology and business courses. The girls would have a fresh start at a new school. Best…
People like to control their spaces. We like to make our bedrooms “ours” as children. As college students, we decorate our dorm rooms or first apartments for our comfort and to signal our personalities and preferences to others. Cultures consider spaces important, too. Feng Shui or geomancy are cultural beliefs…
Welcome to 2020. The year 2019 wasn’t too bad and I have to assume 2020 will be better. Yes, there were disappointments and struggles in 2019, but overall it was a good year. My wife and I officially became the adoptive parents of our two daughters. We love them and…
Parenting stress is unlike other stress. Somehow, I manage to think more clearly — or not think — and get things done. I still need my wife to help sometimes, but I manage the basics when our children are involved. Earlier in the trip, I imagined the most panic I’d…
Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Monterey, Morro Bay, the Central Valley, and a fly over the Golden Gate Bridge at night. That was our ten-day (or eleven-day) vacation trip to California for the summer of 2018. Daddy and two excited little girls met up with friends and family for much of…
Podcast 0013; Season 01, Episode 13; July 20, 2018 This episode of The Autistic Me Podcast reflects on our summer so far, which has featured a lot of travel and enrichment activities for our daughters. In the podcast, I also explore my own prejudices and how we must overcome those through…
Winter is a topic I post on, well, every winter. It is a tough time of year for me, but at least it makes spring and summer all the better. Though I don’t like winter, the reality is I also miss our neighborhood from Minnesota and the trips into Wisconsin.…
Thirty years ago, I was preparing to move to Los Angeles to attend USC. If I could tell myself what I know now… 1) Do not drop the physical sciences degree four units short! The English and journalism degrees won’t get you far. 2) Do not drop the computer science…
My wife and I are from Central California. The region is hard to explain to outsiders, because people assume “California” means L.A. and San Francisco, yet geographically those are little dots within a sea of socially conservative counties. To this day, it feels more like the Deep South (circa 1976)…