Special

Special feelings and feeling special.

/ Daniel/Codefreak / Leave a comment

Sometimes the journey is hard and life takes you in very unexpected places. The past 15 10 and even 5 years have had so many drastic changes, I can barely keep up. I look at my life and see all the people in it. I see the love and the hate. I see the joys and the sorrows. I see the ones who were born and the ones who have left us.

Life has changed so much.

The one thing that hasnt changed change is my love for you, all of you. If you are on my time life or if someone shares this and we barely know each other, I love you. I try my best to love all the people. It keeps me going, knowing I can do that and I want to do that. I do it with small acts of kindness and in the little things. Saying hello, asking a cashier how their day is, thanking people who respond in turn. What a difference it can make in someone’s day.

You have this power to change others attitudes and outlooks.

I believe in you all and you are all very special to me. And some of my favorite words from one of my favorite people, “you are special, just the way you are.” -Mr Rogers.

Take some time to be nice and kind to someone today. Do it again tomorrow. Then add a 2nd person. And another and another. You and I cannot change the world. We can only change ourselves. But by doing that, maybe, just maybe, we can make a difference.

Hug a pony my friends.

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Special Abilities of Special People

/ Daniel/Codefreak / Leave a comment

Having a chronic illness is almost like having a few cool super powers. I have mentioned this before with past writings that our illness has made us almost hyper aware and sensitive to many sights, sounds, and smells. These abilities come at a cost of our illness but they are something that I hold on to as something that makes me special.

1. Hyper hearing – I have noticed that those of us with a chronic or mental illnesses can hear so much better than our healthy counterparts. We can walk around in the dark and hear our foot falls and know where we are in the room. We can pick up a pill bottle, shake, and know our medications by the sounds it makes. We can hear the pain in peoples voices that they are trying to hid. We can hear the stress, anxiety, and even sometimes someone lying to us. This comes at a cost of being hurt by loud noises, yelling, and other panic inducing sounds.

2. Super sight/awareness – We pick up on the little details. The person fidgeting in pain in the corner of the room. When someone being uncomfortable around so many people. The look in someone’s eyes as they fail to meet anyone’s gaze. We can feel the room and know the mood immediately. We pick up on the smallest changes in someone’s routine and are extremely observant to those we care about. The weakness to this is we often focus so much on other people we do not focus on ourselves as much. We also can be sensitive to light and awkward situations can cause physical pain.

3. Intelligence/wisdom – This one is a bit different. I know that brain fog can be our weakness but when we have a good day, our brains fire off like a super computer. We know we have to take advantage in those precious few hours of being able to think so we tend to work through all of the different areas of our lives. On the other side, when we cannot think or even move from the bed, we tend to stay quiet. This gives us time to think and mull over what is going on. By taking, or some cases forcing, time to slow down, we are able to thoroughly think through each situation. Besides the brain fog as being a weakness, you are also sometimes observed as “Not being sick” because you are too smart or have your life together. What they don’t realize is that we know we will forget things and we have a million reminders, post it notes, and other various systems in place to help us not forget things.

If you noticed, I put a weakness with each super ability. Just like all super heroes, we have our unique weaknesses. Those kryptonite are areas we should be aware of and knowing is half the battle.

These are just three different areas where we are super! I know there are others and please feel free to share those with me, I would love to read about them. I believe more knowledge is power in this regard and we need all the encouragement in world some days to make it through.

Now go and be super and remember, you are special just the way you are.

#hugaplushie everyone

Special People

/ Daniel/Codefreak / Leave a comment

I was at the convention, Anime North Texas, when I got asked to do a special job. I was put in Guest Relations. This met I got to pick up voice actors and pro cosplayers from the airport, make sure they made it to panels on time and make sure they were fed.

It was awesome.

I have always been good at customer service and this was no different. I just had to provide the best possible care for them. It is always fun for me to make people happy.

And I think I did.

I got to help pick up Cherami Leigh and her husband from the airport. It was so awesome just being able to talk to her. See how much she loves her job and seeing her “geek out” over other (in her opinion) more famous people was a adorable. She was one of the most kind actresses I have met.

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Then there was Josh Martin and Chris Rager. They both had tables next to each other as they have been friends for awhile. They would play off each other for the people coming by their table. I got to sit near them at a special guest dinner and they were both amazingly funny. Again, just being able to talk to them about their work was so cool. They were very down to earth but they were awesome people.

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(Sorry Chris, I could not get a picture with you!)

I also got to see an old friend from conventions past. Greg Ayres was someone I knew when I started doing conventions. I would do security for his dances. He is still the best DJ I know at conventions. He brought down the house. Seeing him outside his DJ was cool as well as he would talk about his new projects. Seeing him get excited about his own characters and having him giggle over how they came out the way he intended was so spectacular. He is so much fun to be around.

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QuantumDestiny cosplay was super cool. I had to rush to the airport and pick her up. This was her first convention in Texas and she was so cute to watch. Her cosplays were amazing and she showed her skills off impeccably. Her skill at both cosplay and talking about it showed in each of her panels. She was truly one for the fans. (I do not have a picture of her unfortunately).

Then there was Chuck Huber. This guy had more energy than most toddlers. He was out and about. He had a table near my wife’s and we got to watch him in action with his fans. He would go out of his way to make sure that each one was made to feel special. Seeing him gave me so many ideas of how to be if someone looks up to you.

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And then there was one other person. Someone I was not expecting.

Me…

I got to do my first panel, solo. It was called Surviving Fantastic Fandoms. I was not expecting the crowds being a Sunday morning panel. Being that as it may, I had 20 people show up to see me. It was so amazing talking about what I do at conventions and how to “act” as both a attendee and as a staffer.

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I was not expecting to touch people as I did. I had people who were at the panel come up to me afterward and thank me for the panel. It felt so weird. I was not special, in my mind. Then I had someone buy me a Fluttershy hat. I had someone come up and give to me. I did not know how to respond other than thank you.

I was so confused. I am nobody special. I was not famous. I did not do anything. It wasn’t until I had a conversation with a friend later who informed me. He told me that I must have touch someone in a special way for them to do that. He said that act was a sign I was special.

I am still in shock over everything. But, I am coming to grips with the fact that I was not “Getting a big head” (as is my biggest fear of all). I want to let everyone who I interacted with know that you are ALL special to me and that I was beyond touched by how much fun we had. I wanted to say THANK YOU ALL!!

I will hug a pony with joy over the memories!