Dana Law Archive

What a weekend. I did the show at the Naval Center and it was better that ever. The celebrated the survival and commemorated the loss of the children who were born there. I taped my show with my Garmin PDA. I used the word "taped" but it was digitized and sounds good. One of the awards after my show went to the smallest baby ever born (that survived) Hannah at 550 grams.
I spent a lot of time working on little things by myself in the office. I could get a lot done around here without a family but would be very lonely. I walked Shadow and foolishly took him through a brushy area and he became a spur and bristle magnet. I will take him in for a wash and comb.
Sunday we went to the Goldhammers. Both Amy and Elizabeth had a graduation party. Amy from college and Elizabeth from High School. Big turnout. Jim and Cathy flew up to Cable Airport and I hitched a ride. It was exciting. We came within about 500 feet or so it seemed to a helicopter just north of Santee. He was warned but it was the closest I have flown next to a moving body. I spent the rest of the flight looking for enemy aircraft. I have become familiar with southern California topography from driving and hiking that I was able to recognize almost everything.

Donna went to be with Janessa for the weekend. Janessa is alone. Her roommate's are out of town so she invited mom to fill in the void. They should have fun spending and planning. The just go wild you know. I am up too early writing, walking and misc. I have one show today. It is for the Naval Hospital. They celebrate the children who survived and prospered because of the efforts of the medical staff. A good reason to celebrate and I am on the bill. I have done it over the years and I have found it difficult to get the attention of the audience. This is a rare occurrence and I haven't figured out why. Maybe the venue. It is a big enclosed patio. I have been thinking about the word Lanai. We have enclosed patios in California in some homes and buildings. I think it was a fifties thing. I find them very nice. Like an indoor outdoor secret place. The dictionary defines it as a A veranda or roofed patio. There is a great one at the old National City Library which is a great place to hide in the library with a book. Rebeccas parents have one, a tiny one, at their new old home here in a El Cajon. I want one too. I will try to tape my show today, audio tape it. I want to translate it to Spanish for obvious reasons but I don't have a verbatim copy of my script in English either. I need to put down what I have developed verbally on paper. It has become quite dense and is worth a historical memory.

We woke up early this morning to scratching, growling and squealing. Two raccoons were fighting over fish in the Koi pond down the hill at a neighbors in the mobile home park. I shined a flashlight on their shiny red eyes and they were not spooked or worried and kept right on working. I wish I had his name and number I would have called him. He loves his pond and I suspect he will have to restock it soon or just give up. Brendan has a nasty cough. He came home last night and his posture alone sent the message that he needed to go to bed. He has had a bug for a week and refuses to slow down even when we whine and nag. I got the check for the close of escrow on Mom's mobile home. $48,454.14 to divide up between Richard, Jim and I. It has been a long process to sell the place. It feels weird getting money after her death. Cold cash and paperwork is the result of a loved ones death. Donna and Janessa are going to the fair today and will see a concert with a group called Maroon 5. Janessa had a dramatic volunteer day at Kaiser yesterday in emergency room. The location she helps at is not a critical care facility. That means it doesn't see the worst cases but yesterday she saw a gang guy come in with a slice in his abdomen and she could see his intestines. The worst part was a guy with a crushed flattened toe. She got a little queasy when the doctor numbed it with a giant needle. She said the worst part was watching the patient nearly swoon from the pain of the injection. You go through pain to avoid it later. When the doctors see her there they generally draw her in and start teaching. I read Donna the "Jumping frog of calaveras county" a few nights ago and I barely could read it out loud without laughing. He was so hilarious and original.

The escrow on Mom's mobile home closes today. It was a long path to this point concluding with a last minute move for Richard from the place yesterday. He was higher than kite when Brendan and I got there. He claimed he was working all night and I believe it. Brendan found a bottle of Oxycontin. Brendan said it is a form of Heroin which I didn't know. I always knew he used it for pain but he was on some form of speed. He was talking a mile a minute and running around involving himself in everything. Jimmy and his girlfriend Ahn (sic) were there too. She is an absolute beauty. We worked hard and got out of there about 5 hours later. Richard finally crashed (slept) in his car with Jimmy driving. Brendan came through again with hard work and good thinking. He is a good person to have around. Janessa spent the weekend here. Her new schedule is four early morning classes a week. I got some neat Fathers day gift from everybody. I just quoted a 2000 dollar show. I should get it. This guy usually comes through. I started teaching magic again this morning and it is fun. The kids are nice and I have an adult helper. Always better.

Spent much time around the house getting things done. It is easy to do things that make home life nicer but don't advance my career. I have been working on my career every day. It makes me feel like I am going forward a bit. I get a little angry from time to time when I think how much money I would like to be making as a mindreader instead of doing a bunch of kid magic shows. I haven't been able to figure it out yet and now I am fifty. It is better to not think about it and keep at it even though I sometimes wonder why. The reason is I don't have a choice. Nothing to fall back on.

I have had a cold for the last few days and yesterday I was useless. Donna was tired from a short night and still had to work hard. I thought I'd take the day to do something less taxing and put a new OS on my Palm Device the Garmin IQue. It worked great but it scared me. I turned it on in the morning and all my data and customization was gone. I installed the software and it reappeared like magic! Brendan is ready to make money. He spent a lot of time yesterday trying to convince me that we needed to give him a thousand dollars so he could start a mini motorcycle business. He could sell them anywhere. I said we didn't have the money. Later he called me and said he found out from a fellow Kung Fu teacher that he could make $1300 take home every two weeks at Barona Casino as a card dealer. All he needed was $500.00 for lessons that would be returned in 3 months by the casino. "Forget about the thousand dollars." Donna said "we don't have the money!" He scares us every day.

Today we go to Ruth Chris Steakhouse for Brendan's Graduation celebration dinner. It will be expensive but he likes steak. It had better be the best steak we have ever had. Did a show for a company picnic in the park yesterday. Nice people. Everywhere I go people offer me food. Most of it is crap. But they are all nice. People rarely feed themselves well at parties. Janessa and Donna made a great low carb dinner last night that was low fat. Very tasty. I eat like a King at home. Donna and I always feel we need desert after dinner. I try no to have something in the house to tempt me. I recommended my multi grain toast with jelly. Donna put butter on her's with sugar and cinnamon. It would have tasted better on white bread but it wouldn't have been better.

Today we go to Ruth Chris Steakhouse for Brendan's Graduation celebration dinner. It will be expensive but he likes steak. It had better be the best steak we have ever had. Did a show for a company picnic in the park yesterday. Nice people. Everywhere I go people offer me food. Most of it is crap. But they are all nice. People rarely feed themselves well at parties. Janessa and Donna made a great low carb dinner last night that was low fat. Very tasty. I eat like a King at home. Donna and I always feel we need desert after dinner. I try no to have something in the house to tempt me. I recommended my multi grain toast with jelly. Donna put butter on her's with sugar and cinnamon. It would have tasted better on white bread but it wouldn't have been better.

Today we go to Ruth Chris Steakhouse for Brendan's Graduation celebration dinner. It will be expensive but he likes steak. It had better be the best steak we have ever had. Did a show for a company picnic in the park yesterday. Nice people. Everywhere I go people offer me food. Most of it is crap. But they are all nice. People rarely feed themselves well at parties. Janessa and Donna made a great low carb dinner last night that was low fat. Very tasty. I eat like a King at home. Donna and I always feel we need desert after dinner. I try no to have something in the house to tempt me. I recommended my multi grain toast with jelly. Donna put butter on her's with sugar and cinnamon. It would have tasted better on white bread but it wouldn't have been better.

Brendan graduated yesterday. It was a good ceremony. Several good speeches. Some humorous, inciteful and uplifting. Brendan contributed to the Saluditorian's speech a funny opener. It was over quickly. Brendan was about 42 out of 500 or so. We are proud of him. I had said to Donna that being the parent of a teenager is like being on suicide watch. You deserve the diploma as much as they do for keeping an eye on them and encouraging them. We had a nice meal at the Olive Garden. I had a cool show for a 50th birthday party last night. The venue was difficult to set up in but once that was figured out it went very well. I got a $60.00 tip!

Brendan came home from Kung Fu with welts on his face from an allergic reaction. We launched into action like parental EMT's. Looking closely at his face, pulling out the benedryl, recommending a shower. He said, "parents love it when are sick." He is right. We like to be needed. He is fine of course. Last night the designer came by to show us the drawings and materials for his room decoration. It will cost about two grand to do. I have told Donna we need to stop spending money but this we must do. She was so happy. She had a grin like a Cheshire cat when she looked over the plans. Brendan is like me. He likes it but is worried about the money.

Good weekend with terrific kids shows on Friday and time with Donna and Brendan yesterday. We made some spicy ribs yesterday which were very tasty. The best part was Brendan loved them. Since it is hard to get any comment out of him it was a pleasure to hear it. We spent some time shopping too. A women always needs a new outfit. At the women I live with do. Donna saw a cute top in an ad and got it. We both spent a half an hour in Ritz Camera looking at digital models. I think I have found the best one for us but don't want to spend the $500 right now. I did the "Munchkins in the street" festival or something like that in San Marcos Saturday and it was fun. Not a big turnout but it is the first year. Next year they will have a real Munchkin from the movie. She is a sweet 80ish lady who had a flower pot on her head in the movie. I have thought that being a skeptic keeps me from being more successful. I you don't believe in a lot of myths and shibboleths it makes it harder to move forward through the muck of life. I will take the former though. I want to know truth if that is possible. It is it's own reward. I spend a lot of time going up and down highway 15. I don't spend enough time on highway 5. I need more business up there. I need to find out who books local shows in western north county.