The Best Halloween Costume

October 31, 2012 — 8 Comments

This was my Halloween costume last year:

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Yeah, I did that.

I went to Party City and walked around the crowded store holding that arm hoping people would see and react.  Most of them were too preoccupied to notice, though.  Eventually I made my way to the counter where I plopped the arm down and the cashier rang me out.  It was clear she had no idea how to react, so I said, “Yeah, it’s ok to laugh.”  She smiled and said, “That’s awesome.”  I took the arm to work and everybody thought it was funny (well, some people probably didn’t).  Then, for the next year, I left it under my desk.  I’ve always kind of wished I could setup a camera to catch the cleaning crew’s reaction when they see it laying there on the floor.

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Some day I’ll carve a really intricate design into a pumpkin.

For now, I’ll leave that to the experts.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve never been that into pumpkin carving.  I mean, I’ve done it, but mostly because it’s what you’re supposed to do at Halloween.  Some people get super into it and make pies and roast the seeds, the whole nine yards.  Not me.  I mostly just complain about how nasty the innards are that you have to remove.

Ok, have a ruined it yet?

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So excited.

The truth is, though, I do have a favorite part.  The fire part.  I love seeing what the final product looks like all lit up in the dark.  I stick that candle in there, light it, then stand back and ooh and ahh at that hacked-up fruit.  If you wanted to get real philosophical here, a person could say something about how light brings beauty to darkness…but, I’m not going to do that.

Without further ado, I present to you my somewhat instructional video on how to carve a pumpkin with one hand:

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almost made it out of the bowling alley without getting stared at.

Almost.

Last night Sam and I went bowling and it was great.  Total “Guy’s Night Out” material.  Sam was disappointed in his scores, as was I with mine, but we still had a lot of fun.  Plus, we made these videos:

You couldn’t write it any better. Then I was like, “Stand over here and try it so you can see the pins.” And then this happened:

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Despite my wife’s protestations, I think Twitter is awesome.

And today was a good Twitter day, though it could have been so much better.

See, I was listening to Jim Rome (sports talkshow host) at lunch like I usually do and was moved to tweet about an interview he did.  He interviewed Tyler Hamilton, a cyclist who won a gold medal and then subsequently lost it when he got busted for using performance enhancing drugs.  He wrote a book, so of course he’s doing media to promote it, but I thought he sounded like a guy who was at peace.  A guy who wasn’t hiding anything anymore.  A lot of listeners were upset that he is “making money off of being a cheater.”  I don’t view it that way.  I view it as a guy who for years did things the wrong way.  A guy who had to be forced into telling the truth (he was subpoenaed), but once he did, was freed.  He told about how, once he started telling the truth he couldn’t stop.  He testified for seven hours.  That’s a lot of truth-telling.  Asked if he thinks Lance Armstrong will confess someday, he said yes confidently.  “Nobody can handle keeping that many secrets for their whole life,” he said (something to that effect).

So, I tweeted the following tweet, which Jim re-tweeted:

I got the notification on my phone and was stoked.  I mean, it doesn’t really mean anything, but it’s pretty cool that he noticed mine out of the hundreds I’m sure he gets during a show.  Plus, he has nearly a million followers, so…that’s cool.

“But Ryan, you said it could have been so much better?  What gives?” you ask.

Well, I accidentally used my personal account rather than @LivingOneHanded!  That would have been so rad!  What a dum dum.

Ah well, there’s always next time, right?

“There are millions of people out there ignoring disabilities and accomplishing incredible feats. I learned you can learn to do things differently, but do them just as well. I’ve learned that it’s not the disability that defines you, it’s how you deal with the challenges the disability presents you with. And I’ve learned that we have an obligation to the abilities we DO have, not the disability.” – Jim Abbott

Sunday Quote – Jim Abbott

Everybody loves an underdog.

Right?

Well, not always.

A young lady emailed me recently and shared a story that broke my heart.  She was born like me, missing her left forearm and hand.  Even so, she never let it stop her from doing anything.  Until recently, that is, when she started college.  She chose to enroll in the respiratory therapy program because, as she said, “I want to save a life.”  Could a person have a more honorable reason for doing anything?  I think not.  Well, her instructor told her she either needs to get a prosthesis or quit the program.

Apparently this instructor is not a fan of underdog stories.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7aMgrA952Y

“I didn’t understand it then, but now I know that a child with loving parents never suffers alone. The parents feel all the pain their son or daughter does, perhaps even more.”  Josh Sundquist in Just Don’t Fall

Sunday Quote – Josh Sundquist

Let’s get this out of the way: I think Kyle Scheele is super funny.

To give you a sense of Kyle’s brand of humor, go to the Kickstarter page for his book (We Put A Man On The Moon), then watch the video and read the incentives descriptions.  Seriously, I sounded like an idiot when I did it.  Couldn’t stop laughing.  And then check this out.  It’s unbelievable.  $9,944 of unbelievable.

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(This is the last in a series of posts recounting my experience at Story Chicago. Read Part I here, Part II here and Part III here, Part IV here, Part V here.)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week-long Story recap as much as I have writing it!

Ok, I know that’s a lot to ask.  But, thank you for indulging me.

In this final post I thought I’d share a few of the odds and ends that didn’t make it into the other posts, but still made an impact on me.  Like, one of things that was so fun about Story was meeting/seeing online friends in-person.  My friend Sonny, who I first met in Nashville at Donald Miller’s Storyline conference, greeted me with a big hug when I saw him.  He loves hugs.  I love hugs.  We work well together.  I also got to meet Tony and Katie Alicea.  Two amazing people with hearts as big and as beautiful as their smiles.

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