tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549311611543023429.post7089650474457222296..comments2018-12-08T23:52:22.078-05:00Comments on The Books that Wrote Me: Read It, May 2015Paul R. Pottshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04401509483200614806noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549311611543023429.post-72285973980857912902015-06-08T08:59:44.164-04:002015-06-08T08:59:44.164-04:00I am doing my best to be a better dad than that. I...I am doing my best to be a better dad than that. It's sometimes a struggle. I feel myself getting overcome with anger at something the kids have messed up or broken. I don't always manage to keep my cool but I try. Yesterday we had three cousins visiting our five young children at home and so Grace and I were managing eight. We took them out for a long hike around Saginaw, down to the river and under the Court Street bridge, and all that exercise paid off -- they gave us a little peace and quiet and fell asleep early. But I was exhausted!<br /><br />I am glad to hear that you survived the flooding. I was just down in Freeport, Texas on the gulf coast, traveling for work. Inland was pretty unpleasant and humid but the shoreline was beautiful.Paul R. Pottshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04401509483200614806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549311611543023429.post-59719203846483826362015-06-08T04:54:58.699-04:002015-06-08T04:54:58.699-04:00I broke all ties with my sick family last year whe...I broke all ties with my sick family last year when I moved to Texas. None of my family knows where I am. I kind of like it this way. I have no plans of telling any of them where I am or what I'm doing. It would only lead to more abuse and certain paternal members telling me I can't do what I'm doing. Like the comment my father had about my college endeavors after graduating with my associates degree. "You shocked the shit out of me, because I didn't think you could do it." He's never once been supportive of any decision I've ever made for 53 years of my existence on Earth. Its always been break me down, tell me I'm worthless, tell me I can't do what I dream to do.<br /><br />I play guitar very well.<br />I was once one of the best die makers in the country.<br />I have seen 37 of the 50 states.<br />I am a lifetime member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.<br />I was the first student at Eastern Michigan University to graduate with departmental honors in the Technology Management bachelors degree program.<br />I was the first student at the same college to graduate as a McNair Scholar.<br />I am now working as a very gifted field engineer for AT&T.<br />And I’m not homeless anymore…<br /><br />I am.<br /><br />I just wonder how embellished my life would be if I could read.The Homeless Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10824074038578159831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549311611543023429.post-35158914550114514732015-06-08T04:53:59.878-04:002015-06-08T04:53:59.878-04:00I am very impressed at the amount of books you can...I am very impressed at the amount of books you can read. I don't know what the secret is, but that is a skill I don't have. The first paragraph of "The Hobbit" had me glued all the way through the entire Lord of the Rings saga.<br /><br />“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”<br /><br />I knew this book was for me.<br /><br />I think I've read "The War of the Worlds" 4 or 5 times cover to cover.<br /><br />I forced myself to read textbooks all through college, but never read any of them cover-to-cover, and I was deemed a scholar.<br /><br />In my 20s I feverishly read "Penthouse Forum"... but that probably doesn't count...<br /><br />I've made it through about 5-10 pages of probably 50 books in PDF format, until I finally figured out a book needs to be made out of paper, not bits and bytes.<br /><br />All of the books - and all my earthly belongings - I currently own are packed in boxes and are snuggled cozily in my friend Tommy's attic awaiting my return to Michigan as I ponder FedEx shipment plans.<br /><br />One of my favorite hobbies is to browse books at Barnes and Noble and certain thrift stores. I've bought hundreds of books, and never read even one of them. I love books, but I hate reading. I love to write, but I hate to read. Or at least I think that is the reason I never read my books.<br /><br />I lost my laptop due to an electrical storm last year. I didn't have money to buy another one, so I started reading books on Shaolin Kung Fu by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit. I was very inspired by his teachings and made it through three very large volumes that included Shaolin views on enlightenment, Eastern medicine, Chi, ancient Chinese history. They were some of the best books I've ever read in my life.<br /><br />Then I got a different laptop, and haven't read a page since... LOL.<br /><br />Facebook took too much of my time. I'm actually NOT a social person. My Facebook game name is "Lonewolf." As I think of how I have lived my entire life, Lonewolf fits. When I was 12 years old my last sibling fly the nest and I was alone during all of my formative years. A year later I got a guitar for Christmas. The guitar became a way of therapeutically treating myself in the home of an abusive father. He would be on the warpath and I would pull my dresser in front of the bedroom door and jam out to REO Speedwagon, Santana and Ted Nugent (and others). I spent a lot of alone time with my guitar. My high school girlfriend told me she hated my guitar because I spent more time loving it than loving her. Today she's long gone, and I still love my guitar. <br /><br />I imagine my inability to read has some connection to growing up in a highly abusive family.It seems as I delve into therapy, religion, and any other comfort food of social ambiguities, everything points to my destructive dad. Thanks dad.<br /><br />But I can thank him for my guitar playing. Because he was such an ass my entire life, I have turned to my guitar to heal my pain for 40 years. One of the reasons I choose to play the blues. Because deep inside of me is the blues. Maybe I should write a book about my life. It might become a best seller and I'd get rich off the royalties. They might even sell a Kindle or PDF copy on Amazon.com.The Homeless Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10824074038578159831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549311611543023429.post-42854529696965245862015-06-08T04:53:00.071-04:002015-06-08T04:53:00.071-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.The Homeless Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10824074038578159831noreply@blogger.com