Approved!

After months of waiting, Dian and I are finally approved! Step one is finally complete. Now, on to phase two. We have some more waiting to do, but it should only be two more weeks before our case is forwarded to the U.S. embassy in Jakarta. Until then, Dian is starting her new job, which should keep her busy and distracted from this waiting, while I shift my concentration to planning our Vegas trip and marriage details.

Everything is going according to plan so far; ahead of the expected schedule even. Dian is my life, and I can't wait to finally have her here with me.

Kicking Ass, Taking Names

I've never been unhappy with my name. It seems simple to me; straightforward. It may only be four short letters long, but there's two syllables crammed in there. Plus, I got that really cool 'Y' in there too. Is it a vowel? I don't know! Sometimes I suppose... Very mysterious.

But the primary reason I've never disliked my name is the fact that there are really no longer versions of it. Ryan. That's it. Done. That's me.

Let's say, for example, I was born a 'Jim'. As a young boy, I would no doubt be known to everyone as Jimmy. "Hey Jimmy!" they'd say, "Let's go ride our bikes until dark, you doodiehead." I would remain as Jimmy until my mid-to-late teens, when I would begin taking on more adult-oriented responsibilities. "Dad, it's Jim now. Call me Jim. I'm not a little kid anymore." Jim it is. "Hey Jim!" they'd say, "Let's go drive around and get fucked up, you shithead!"

One day, perhaps in my late twenties or early thirties I will marry. My wife and beautiful but unplanned daughter would expect me to be the dependable one. Fully responsible and defined. Intellectual, mature and elegant. Times have changed. Please, call me James. I am not that crazy little bike-riding troublemaker anymore. Nor, am I the carefree naive young man I once was. I am a grown-up man with a grown-up life in a grown-up world. And my name is James. "James!" they'd say, "Come on over for some tea and cookies! And bring the family, you old dog."

Not me.

I was born a Ryan. I grew up as Ryan. I suffered through my teens as Ryan. I am still Ryan. I will always be Ryan. There will be no longer versions of my name in order to make myself sound more important and mature. There will be no having to correct people at every family reunion of name changes. My name will always be the same, and I find a sense of comfort in that.

Power Failure

I recently heard the following sentence on CNN: "Because of high winds, about 250,000 people in New England are without power." I thought, "Gee, when you think about it, about 275 million people in the United States are without power. They just aren't aware of it."

--- George Carlin
(taken from his third book, When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?)

*Sigh*

Today I saw something really sad.

I saw a young boy, maybe ten or twelve years old, riding his bicycle while trying to steer with one hand. His other hand was holding a cell phone to his ear. As I passed him on the highway, watching him swerving and paying no attention to anything around him, I could only shake my head in disgust.

Thoughts To Think About # 11

Each one of us has the potential to do something extraordinary for this world. What is it that you can do?

Silent Screams

One of my favorite questions to ponder:

If trees could scream, would we still cut them down?

...It's a very interesting question, and I'll even take it a step further. How exactly do we know they can't scream? We don't know that. Perhaps they scream on a frequency we humans do not have the capacity to hear. Perhaps they have alternate ways of expressing their pain. Are we that arrogant to assume if the human ear cannot hear something, the sound must not exist?

Humans.

Macadamia Nuts

In under ten minutes, I just created the following as a joke for a friend. I'm sorta proud of myself:

(Click on the image to view it full-size.)