Browse: Page 36
By J. Timothy King on September 11, 2009
As of this afternoon, I will have been married for 16 years.
I’m not quite sure what happened to that time.
When we first got married, we crammed ourselves into a tiny, attic apartment on High Street. We used to go grocery shopping together, every week. And we brought our laundry, together, across town to the nice laundromat; and while it was tumbling, we’d walk across the parking lot to Burger King, and I’d eat a Whopper Jr. plus a chicken sandwich, plus a Coke and fries. I couldn’t even fit that amount of food in my stomach today. Continue reading “I’ve Been Married 16 Years: Do You Believe It?”
Posted in Books, Love and Relationships, Love through the Eyes of an Idiot | Tagged anniversary, marriage, wedding |
By J. Timothy King on September 9, 2009
I’m about to do something in extremely poor taste; and I’m going to explain to you the reason why; and I’m not going to apologize. And you’re going to understand. And more than that, you’re also going to support me.
You see, while 9/11 for most other people holds memories of dread and of grief, for me, it holds memories of hope and of joy. Because September 11 is my wedding anniversary.
Margaret and I married each other on the afternoon of September 11, 1993. That means, this Friday, we will had been married 16 years. Not a milestone, but significant enough to keep us on the dance floor long after all those young whippersnappers have been driven off, leaving us to dance with the 20-years-ers, 30-years-ers, 40-years-ers, and… Well, you get the point.
And we’re not the only couple who was married on September 11. As they say:
Married in September’s golden glow,
Smooth and serene your life will go.
I personally know at least one other couple who was married on September 11. And couples are still getting married on September 11. And they, like Margaret and I, we all have to look to that day—not as an example of what to fear—but as an example of love, of what our lives ought to be. Continue reading “Looking Forward to 9/11”
Posted in About Tim King, Books, Fear and Love, Love through the Eyes of an Idiot | Tagged 9/11, anniversary, fear, love, wedding
By J. Timothy King on September 8, 2009
Video post today, quick & dirty & edited, because I’ve got so many other things going on today. A video about being busy as a stay-at-home dad.
-TimK
Posted in About Tim King, Personal Improvement | Tagged busy, prioritizing, productivity, urgency, video |
By J. Timothy King on September 7, 2009
A few issues ago, the Human Givens Journal published an interview with Sheila Barratt-Smith, of GentleBirth birth courses (in the UK). In this interview, she tells us about normal, pain-free births.
Now, I’m not a woman, and I’ve never given birth, and both of my daughters experienced complications while being born (so not “normal” births). So I’ll let Sheila tell us why a normal birth shouldn’t have to be painful: Continue reading “True Stories of Painless Births”
Posted in Fear and Love, Inspiration, Stories, True Stories | Tagged birth, fear, labor, natural child birth, pain, pain-free birth, pain-free labor, painless birth, painless labor, placebo effect, psychology |
By J. Timothy King on September 4, 2009
I recorded this humorous video yesterday, about a something that happened to me yesterday, and posted it for my Facebook friends.
This is the first time I’ve tried creating a video in this style, and I was happy with how it turned out, so I might do it again sometime. Continue reading “Are women flirting with me?”
Posted in Humor, Love and Relationships | Tagged dating, flirting, video |
By J. Timothy King on September 1, 2009
Crying Child, by D. Sharon Pruitt, © 2009 CC BY 2.0
One of my daughters today was approaching tears, when I almost blew up at her. I didn’t actually yell at her, I hope, but I felt my temperature and voice rising in unison.
She was upset, because we didn’t have an extra pool pass, so that she could go to the community pool party today, which our apartment complex throws for its residents each year. She’s an innovator, like her old man, so she quickly found a solution to her dilemma. She discovered that you don’t actually need a pool pass to get into the party—you only need a pass if you actually want to swim; and you can probably get around that rule, too, because it’s the end of the season. And so she went to the party with her friend and her friend’s mother.
But before that happened, for a few seconds there, she was standing in front of me, with that desperate, pouty, life-is-falling-apart face that feels like a wood rasp rubbing through my heart. And that made me sad and upset, not because we thought she couldn’t go, but because she so desperately wanted to go. Continue reading “Why Are We So Unhappy Having All These Things?”
Posted in Health, Mental Health, Personal Improvement | Tagged depression, happiness, Ivan Tyrrell, Joe Griffin, materialism, psychology |
By J. Timothy King on August 28, 2009
I wasn’t going to put up another blog post today, but this little tidbit about friendships blew me away. And so I had to post it, and I had to post it now, and this is the right place to post it, so here it is. Even if you’re not religious, I hope you find this uplifting.
As I mentioned last week, I’m editing my dad’s new book, Jots & Tittles: Discovering Truth from the Language of Scripture. (And BTW, I fixed the “L” in the title so that you can’t accidentally misread it.) I’m busy busy busy editing it, because the first edition is on a fast-track to press and way more work than I thought it would be and way behind schedule. And if I didn’t have a sense of urgency about it before, I definitely have one now. So I’ll make this quick.
I just ran across this paragraph, speaking about the fruit of the Spirit, “peace,” in Galatians 5:22. Maybe it’s because of something that recently happened in my life, which I haven’t discussed here (because it involves someone else). But this little jot from Dad’s book really hit me.
If the turmoil of guilt has been calmed by forgiveness; if the nightmare of yesterday’s mistakes, the traumatic hurts of the past, have somehow been reconciled; if you can somehow learn to hug again, learn to recognize kindness for what it really is, with no attached strings or hidden agenda; somehow, if you can learn to accept others and be accepted by them, this is peace!
-TimK
Posted in Books, Christianity, Jots & Tittles, Love and Relationships, Religion | Tagged friendship, peace, relationships, unconditional love
By J. Timothy King on August 28, 2009
For today, here’s a short 3D animation I made back in the year 2000, which the Missus is always showing to people and says that people like. So with persistence, she persuaded me to get around to uploading it to YouTube.
So with thanks to my loving and doting wife, here it is:
-TimK
Posted in Entertainment | Tagged animation, video
By J. Timothy King on August 26, 2009
This is part 2 of my story of being subjected to the “texting while driving” video making the rounds, the kind of unintended effects videos like this can have, and why the alternative is so much more satisfying.
To sum up from yesterday, a friend of mine posted on Facebook the “texting while driving” video, which contains an extreme, violently graphic depiction of a severe (maybe fatal) auto accident. My friend posted this with only one comment, that it’s “a short video that speaks volumes.” Not a word of warning regarding its nature or content. And I frankly beg to differ regarding how well it “speaks” and what it says.
For the full experience, however, click here for part 1. Continue reading “Stories to Evoke Fear; Stories to Inspire Love”
Posted in About Tim King, Fear and Love | Tagged anger, danger, depression, emotion, fear, hate, hope, love, storytelling, violence |
By J. Timothy King on August 25, 2009
I was going to write about something else today, but now I’ve forgotten what it is.
Instead, I’m going to talk about a personally traumatic experience. Because I was one of the people today subjected to the “texting while driving” video that’s been making the rounds.
I say “subjected to,” because I had not heard of it before, and I received absolutely no warning of its extreme, violently graphic content. So I am giving you fair warning, if you haven’t seen it. But I also want to talk about the dangers of watching videos like this, and about the alternative. Because I’m so emotionally keyed-up, I might say something I’ll regret later. But I think I need to express a unique insight on this video, as a writer and storyteller. I’ll also connect it to a repeated trauma that I was forced to experience when I was in elementary school.
This essay is long enough that I’m splitting it up over 2 days. I’m scheduling the second part to be published about 24 hours after this one. (That’s Wednesday at 8 PM.)
And I promise not to name names. (At least not real names.) Continue reading “WARNING: Be Inspired Rather than Subjected to the “Texting while Driving” Video”
Posted in About Tim King, Fear and Love | Tagged anger, danger, depression, emotion, fear, hate, hope, love, storytelling, violence |
