30 March 2010
10 March 2010
Corey Haim
This has nothing to do with anything. Just a lesson I need to always remember.
Corey Haim and I were the same age and we grew up in the same neighbourhood. He went to Zion Heights Junior High across the road from "my" plaza - the one with my library, McDonald's, Mac's Milk, and Pickle Barrel.
I didn't know Corey Haim, but I certainly knew of him, especially when he made it big in 1986. The thing that I remember most is how JEALOUS I was of him. Here's another scrawny teenager from Willowdale getting the break that should have been mine. There was a picture of him hugging his dog that girls I knew had hanging in his locker. He had the best 80s hair ever (and I wanted it soooo bad). Within a few years, he was everywhere and engaged to Nicole Eggert!
Then the drug and rehab stories came out. By the time I saw him on a couple of episodes of The Two Coreys two years ago, he looked awful - about ten years older than his age.
Watching him took me into a new paradigm. All those years, you could say the name "Corey Haim" and the green monster would wake up in my brain. Suddenly, I only felt bad for him and wished I could help him. I was really cheering for him - not for a comeback, but for some sense of normalcy in his life. Maybe he'd leave the industry behind and move back home. Alas, Hollywood got another one this morning.
This ending is certainly not unexpected, but it's still sad. I hope there's some peace for his soul and some comfort for his family and friends.
What's the lesson here? 25 years ago, there were two kids raised in similar circumstances. One became popular, the other was insanely jealous. The popular kid hit a massive high, then awful lows, and now he's dead.
The point is that maybe I should have been just living my life to my best definition of success without comparing myself to others. Who knows the real story behind that person in the paper, or on that magazine cover, or on TV? Their life could be a living hell behind the scenes.
It's something I need to remind myself of almost every day.
RIP Corey.
Corey Haim and I were the same age and we grew up in the same neighbourhood. He went to Zion Heights Junior High across the road from "my" plaza - the one with my library, McDonald's, Mac's Milk, and Pickle Barrel.
I didn't know Corey Haim, but I certainly knew of him, especially when he made it big in 1986. The thing that I remember most is how JEALOUS I was of him. Here's another scrawny teenager from Willowdale getting the break that should have been mine. There was a picture of him hugging his dog that girls I knew had hanging in his locker. He had the best 80s hair ever (and I wanted it soooo bad). Within a few years, he was everywhere and engaged to Nicole Eggert!
Then the drug and rehab stories came out. By the time I saw him on a couple of episodes of The Two Coreys two years ago, he looked awful - about ten years older than his age.
Watching him took me into a new paradigm. All those years, you could say the name "Corey Haim" and the green monster would wake up in my brain. Suddenly, I only felt bad for him and wished I could help him. I was really cheering for him - not for a comeback, but for some sense of normalcy in his life. Maybe he'd leave the industry behind and move back home. Alas, Hollywood got another one this morning.
This ending is certainly not unexpected, but it's still sad. I hope there's some peace for his soul and some comfort for his family and friends.
What's the lesson here? 25 years ago, there were two kids raised in similar circumstances. One became popular, the other was insanely jealous. The popular kid hit a massive high, then awful lows, and now he's dead.
The point is that maybe I should have been just living my life to my best definition of success without comparing myself to others. Who knows the real story behind that person in the paper, or on that magazine cover, or on TV? Their life could be a living hell behind the scenes.
It's something I need to remind myself of almost every day.
RIP Corey.
08 March 2010
And here...we...go!
So my wife Tiffany is pregnant. As I write this, she's somewhere around 14.5 weeks with an ETA for Baby O of around 1 September. There is no shortage of thoughts and emotions that come with this time.
After several negative pregnancy tests, I asked Tiffany not to tell me when she's testing, as the anxiety was hard to overcome. Too many times I paced outside a bathroom door and saw a sad face come out. So it was a thrill on 27 December when she slapped a test with the word "pregnant" visible on the counter in front of me.
Of course, then you go through the worry of the first three months, hoping they go quickly and without incident. Tiffany had a surprising lack of symptoms, which led us to worry that things were not going well.
(I should point out here that just about everything will make me worry; as far as I understood, this whole pregnancy and childbirth thing is a combination of magic and sitcom plots. The book(s) I'm currently reading indicate there's something more complex involved.)
The 13-week ultrasound went as well as it could - we saw the fetus (not sure if I should use the medical term or just say baby) move around which is the best moving picture I've seen since Rocky Balboa. The doctor analyzing the ultrasound said things looked clear, our odds of anything bad were low, and...well, I stopped listening at that point because it felt like the weight of a car had been lifted off my back.
It's a hell of a thing. Up until that ultrasound, the baby was more of a concept, but in an instant, it became more real than almost anything else.
Adding to that has been the sincere pleasure and happiness from our friends and family as we've shared the good news with them. With that, of course, have come warnings, knowing laughs, and advice - oh, so much advice. I must remember pieces I've heard, if only for a later post.
So here we are, waiting for an event that can't come soon enough, except that we don't want it to come before we're ready. So much to do, so little time...that's good, isn't it?
Alright, my bokkie, let's rock.
07 March 2010
Preamble
I decided to restart this journal as an enema for my brain on the path to fatherhood. There are a lot of interesting things that are happening or will happen, and I will attempt to share my thoughts here. But first...
...you kids have it so easy today with your "Blogger" and your "Facebook." I bet none of you know one bit of HTML code. Back in my day (mid- to late-90s), I had my own website, put together without the help of websites that do all the work for you.
I registered the domain name with a company (not GoDaddy), found a host server, and had to FTP all the code and files to that host. Then check for code errors, fix, and re-post. All of my photos were digitized via a huge flatbed scanner, as digital cameras were still priced like cars.
Hell, I even had a company squat and steal my domain from me when my attention went elsewhere. Worst $70 that company ever spent!
To summarize, I was oversharing useless insights and photos of myself long before it was cool. Now everyone with access to a computer (or phone) can have their own little mini homepage. One day, quality will once again win over quantity. That just won't be today.
To summarize further - get off my lawn.
...you kids have it so easy today with your "Blogger" and your "Facebook." I bet none of you know one bit of HTML code. Back in my day (mid- to late-90s), I had my own website, put together without the help of websites that do all the work for you.
I registered the domain name with a company (not GoDaddy), found a host server, and had to FTP all the code and files to that host. Then check for code errors, fix, and re-post. All of my photos were digitized via a huge flatbed scanner, as digital cameras were still priced like cars.
Hell, I even had a company squat and steal my domain from me when my attention went elsewhere. Worst $70 that company ever spent!
To summarize, I was oversharing useless insights and photos of myself long before it was cool. Now everyone with access to a computer (or phone) can have their own little mini homepage. One day, quality will once again win over quantity. That just won't be today.
To summarize further - get off my lawn.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)