I'm updating my post about Tom Allison.
What Tom does (in case you didn't click on the link earlier), is sculpt. I mean not boring anonymous blobs that represent man's inhumanity to Corey Feldman or something, but really cool stuff like Spider-man and Batman. Anyway what he is doing auctioning off his artist proof of Cthulhu. Then he is donating the proceeds to our miserable selves. Once again I'm in awe of the selflessness and just plain humanity of Tom.
See, and people ask me why I want to move back to Minnesota. (I'm looking at you Jerry...)
You know just when I think people are worthless and no good something happens to make me re-think my position. Case in point; we've received all kinds of help and support while we searching for Mary's daughter. Once we found her, we needed to bring her out here to Vegas post haste. While the last few months have been a suck fest for us financially I still figured that we should bring Mary Belle out here. So in effort to raise some extra money fast I decided to hold a few auctions on Ebay. So far they've done pretty well. Not as well as I hoped, but what can you do? I suppose someday people will realize that they could have had me cheap and then I'll just have my assistants give them the brush off. Yeah, you think I'm kidding....
I've also received a ton of help from Petra, Khwan, and Jason. Thanks again guys.
The other morning I got email from this man. A guy I'd never met and he just donated money to our cause. It was easily one of the most profound, selfless things I'd ever seen. The interesting thing is that he moved to MN right after we left. His studio is about 10 blocks from my old studio. So you see, people aren't as bad as I thought. Well some of them, anywway.
You know I checked on the spelling of Al Qaeda before I put it in that video the other day. According to the website I found, that was how you spelled it. A-L Q-U-A-D-A (well somebody spelled it that way at any rate). Point is, I'm not going to change it to the correct spelling because I don't seem to be able muster up any respect for terrorists or their stupid clubs. They should adapt cool, easy to spell names like, I dunno, Spanky's International House 'O' Terror, you know, something easy to remember.
Anyway, did I really hear President Bush talking about ethanol the other night? I'm just thinking aloud here but can't we grow the hell out of some corn? I guess if we didn't need foreign oil any longer they would have to go back to banging the rocks together (or whatever they did before we needed their oil). Interesting times.....
Good news!
Mary has finally found and spoken to her daughter. Thanks everybody that helped us. Mary is very, very, happy....!
The whole thing about getting a new Mac was to be able to edit video (well for me anyway).
Well gosh darn if isn't easy on the Mac. Okay this is just iMovie but still it's a whole lot more fun than watching TV.
Basically when the country when on orange alert for the anniversary of the 9/11, we got a little freaked. The kids stayed home from school and we ended up getting a new computer as sort of an afterthought. Immediate gratification and all that ( it's a Van Briesen thing, get used to it...)
Anyway on that day it rained more than I've seen it rain the whole time we've been in Vegas and this was the result. Take a look. Raining in Vegas, and message to Al Quada video.
Today is Logan's 16th birthday, so I guess if he's 16 I'm really frikkin' old....oh well.
We are foregoing the traditional Vegas 16 birthday present by NOT taking him to Pahrump, instead we are going out for sushi (uh...no joke there, it's too easy).
He's really turned out to be a good kid despite having me for a father. I was such a loser at 16 and he's all about being a kid. I wrote him a letter on his 1st birthday and if I'm feeling particularly sentimental today I may read it to him.
Yeah well two hours later and the stupid archives won't publish right. I really need to spend more time learning about this XML crap. Of course I didn't smoke for that time....
Well damn! No more UFO's tonight. Go figure...
I did discover my first gray hair today. That's a nice little treat. It's all weird and wirey too like a pipe cleaner. It makes me feel old and a little out of touch.
My brother think's I'm all coked up because I called him and was telling him about my new Mac (it's coming Thurs!) and I had a horrible nicotine fit. I realized that talking on the phone is a really bad trigger for me with the old devil cancer sticks. That and trying out to figure why I have to post and publish this like 12 times for the stupid blog to load right....arrrgh! I've still got two cigarettes coming today and I mean to smoke 'em!
Okay here's the other thing that happened today. I swear to God that Mary and I saw a UFO tonight. It was a huge amber colored disk that zoomed over our heads while we were in the back yard tonight. I was watching a plane and making a joke about living so close to Area 51. Then I see this thing above us. At first I though it was a falling star or even a bat or bird. It was on a trajectory and was moving incredibly fast then switched directions completely and flew off in the other direction. We went and got the video camera but it was gone. Now we have the video camera by the back door so we'll see what happens tomorrow night.
I want to believe...
Oh and the quitting smoking is going pretty well. We went from two packs a day to 10 cigarettes today.
The really stupid part is that I quit for almost two years about three years ago. So now I'm quitting (again) too. Hopefully Mary and I won't kill each other in the process. I'm also wondering how much of this is psychological and how much is physical addiction. I've had two cigarettes today which isn't all that uncommon for me by noon. I go hours at a time not smoking and it doesn't bother me and yet when I've got it my head that I'm not going to smoke for another two hours it starts me jonesing like a crack whore. Well, I’m just assuming this; my contact with crack whores in the last few years has been limited.
When I was a kid my mother and I watched Dark Shadows religiously every day. I wonder sometimes if that is why I have such a dismal view of life and (what I like to think of as) a fairly healthy view of life after death. I also found out that Dan Curtis also created the show
Kolchak: The Night Stalker which also kept me up a lot of nights as a child. I suppose that my interest in this type of thing would go a long way in explaining why I'm so weird, but I prefer to think it was the water in Appleton.
Horror movies and TV always remind me of Halloween and autumn. I think I’m also really missing the idea of being in Minnesota in time for Halloween. It’s still my favorite holiday. I didn’t think I would miss the change of seasons so much. I mean it gets cold here but there isn’t really a big change like in Minnesota.
So far no more information on Mary Belle. It’s a distinct possibility that she doesn't want to be found. I can’t imagine not wanting to meet your mother again after all this time (but that’s just me maybe, I’m weird remember).
The mystery deepens. ..
It seems that some of the people that were willing to help Mary find her daughter are now back peddling. No clue as to why (?). There may be some decisive bit of information we don't have yet. Having spent a little time in Oklahoma myself my best guess would be that there is something backwoods and nasty going on. Or maybe these people have a good reason. I just don’t know.
I do wish they would at least have the courtesy to call (or email) her and lie to her about it.
Well I don't know what Jean Brantley has over people but I must say I'm disappointed in humanity. Way to work “the program” people.
I always thought I understood what dysfunctional family was until I started trying to help my wife find her missing daughter. So Mom and Dad if I was ever problematic in regards to my upbringing, all I can say is I didn’t know what I didn’t know. You guys rock. Thanks and I love you.
My wife has spoken to some real winners in the past few weeks. These are people that knew what Jean did and chose to hide it in the off chance that it could benefit them in some weird way. More than likely financially. Just a bunch of full on Oklahoma freaks that make the characters in Sling Blade look like the poster children for Modern Psychology.
The truly messed up part about all of this is that my wife is one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever encountered. The idea that these people would even think to question her intent in any of this is just beyond the pale. All she wants to is to see her daughter. Surely anyone that has any semblance of what it means to be a parent or just a decent human would understand this.
I’m of half a mind to just start publishing their addresses and telephone numbers and see if any body wants to take it up with these schmucks personally….
Have you ever noticed that people will say the damndest things in email, or chat rooms, or on posting boards? Things they wouldn’t say to your face. Personally I just write whatever pops into my head; likewise I generally just say what ever pops into my head aloud. My brother says that I don't seem to have any sort internal censoring device. He also says Mary doesn’t seem to have one either and that we are therefore perfect for each other.
This probably goes a long way to explaining why I’m not rich, popular, or have (many) friends.
Also some of the people that have been reading my blog (or as I like to think of it; sifting through my emotional vomit) have either called or sent us email regarding Mary Belle Nelson, my wife’s long lost daughter.
What can I say other than this is really a deplorable situation that has left my wife with a huge hole in her since I’ve known her and well before that I’m sure. I’d also like to say thanks to everybody that is trying to help.