Kickballhead Man

That's what I'll be for Halloween. There is a 2/3rd deflated red rubber kickball that's been grazing with the toy herd in our basement play room for quite awhile. I'd always wondered, as I deftly avoided stepping on it or any other injurious detritus, what sort of use I could have for it. It conforms nicely to the shape of the head. And with the temperatures/wind like they are, I might use it for insulation during Trick or Treating. Does your town try to have trick-or-treating on a night other than Halloween? As far as I know, Pine Grove Mills will be "having it" at the normal time. But Thursday night there were trick or treaters in both Altoona and Warriors Mark. Lots of them, as though that were Halloween. Speaking of the weather, there is a LOT of wind up in here. I can see on our lawn that a majority of the leaves are from other people's trees -- perhaps other people who live in Ohio. Strong wind.

It's Sunday and I've finally 'caught up' on Lux work so now I can focus on all of the local racers who completely forgot to tell me back when they should have that they needed their carpet racer bodies done by the first race. I've really got to move into a new niche. If you know anyone who uses a wheelchair, ask them if they'd like to have (whatever in the world they could imagine or desire) custom-painted on their wheels. If so, please have them contact me via http://www.luxgraphics.com/. I have no idea how to penetrate that market, it's nothing like motorcycles or RC racing. Wheelchair owners do not congregate around wheelchair owner events, they do not subscribe to wheelchair owner enthusiast magazines, and they generally do not seek out other wheelchair owners to hang out/race/discuss their passion for wheelchairs.

Max's league "Super Bowl" is today, in which his team beats the other Junior team from his,um, organization. The Lovely and Talented Mrs. Hults is taking him to the game, thankfully. It's so much easier for me to be a supporting football parent when I don't actually see him play. I am a coach by nature & I just can't keep my mouth shut, trying to correct, redirect & motivate him. Alas, after today he will have to travel to The Poconos, we think, to play for some state title or something. The experience may be good for him, since the boys are mostly older and I think a relatively good influence on him. But for the sake of our schedule, AK and I would not shed a tear if his team were finally beaten.

Max is, for the first time, genuinely showing an interest in building his own RC car. The winter TT-01 Challenge spec class at my local track is perfect for him, so efforts are being made to acquire one of these relatively inexpensive little tanks for him to build "himself" (I imagine Dad will be there building every step of the way, but the point is the time spent screwing in the screws right next to him -- NOT the actual task of screwing in the screws).

We've played Chess a couple of times with the set I got him for his birthday and that's been educational. He has a knack for the thinking & planning involved. Also, his natural tendency towards caution vs. agression is very evident. The boy, for the life of him, cannot seem to think in an aggressive, offensive way. This would explain how slowly he's taken to steamrolling other kids on the gridiron. It makes me reflect upon my own childhood (since so far he's shown to be my genetic Mini Me), and indeed I did lack a certain competitive killer instict. I still do. Unlike him, I DID play sports voluntarily, and I DID take an interest in the structure of the games and DID yearn to win. But perhaps it was more about (like MC and RC racing has been for me) the social aspects of doing it, less about the actual goal of winning. Some other minor influences affecting his and my interest in childhood sports are the fact that when I was as kid we actually had recess, lunch, P.E., before-and-afterschool play times. Also the fact that we didn't have video games. Well, we had them but we had to pilfer laundry quarters and go across town to the video arcade. And play was limited. Vegetating, living in a video game world, was not an option.

I also suspect he has a gift for music, if not arts in general. I can't explain why, though his Suzuki teachers have always recognized this or that advanced skill in him. It's something about the way he hears the music I'm always playing, the way he reacts to it, or something.

Netflix Nothing to report. Watched a John Cleese/Elizabeth Hurley-hosted documentary called The Human Face & that was interesting at best. WONderful Nova documentary about Napolean. I don't suppose it was a better documentary than most, I just found it really fascinating to learn about the little guy. I have had "Syriana" sitting here for days. Several people have commented on it, it seems to stir people be it positive or negative, and it looks like it will take some focus to really watch. With the painting? Not so much with the focus :). Hey does anyone out there know of a source for older/less popular/less mainstream DVDs? There are several old films I'd love to own, but you'd never find them in a Blockbuster or a Wal Mart. Specifically "Greased Lightning", a Richard Pryor drama about the first black man to win a NASCAR race. And what was the name of that gangster movie where all the roles were played by kids? It was awful, but tell me it wouldn't be fun to watch "The Untouchables", then watch that.