Charly’s 2004 Christmas Letter!

OH! I am SOOOOO LATE getting this out! Thus, I’m going to make this as QUICK a read as possible.

To YOU & YOURS!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR and LUV TO ALL!!! BSK, CHAS!!!

OH, OK! This won’t be THAT QUICK! (SORRY! You can just STOP doing that Silly Snoopy Happy Dance!)

BUT! This will be WAY QUICKER than any
of my previous CHAS X-mas Letters!

“MUNDANE” KRAPPE (STUFF) OVERVIEW:

TEACHING STUFF:

I only did two State-EMS-Grant-Funded Continuing Education presentations
for local Volunteer Agencies in 2004 – Syracuse & Weeping Water.
It seems that the only teaching I do anymore is restraint asphyxia stuff.
But, as it happens, that’s really the only teaching I WANT to do anymore.
Throughout 2004 I continued teaching my “Restraint Asphyxia – Silent Killer” class
for TWO “community-based, private not-for-profit [agencies] serving people with
developmental disabilities, mental health needs, and youth who have experienced
a disruption in their home lives.”:
Developmental Services of Nebraska, and
Active Community Treatment.
They both use the TACT-2 restraint methods. But NOW, they use them in a SAFER manner!!!
I teach 2 or MORE classes PER MONTH for each of these companies!
AND, although I’ve taught my restraint asphyxia class in Canada before,
I actually became REALLY “INTERNATIONAL” this year!
The 2004 Restraint Asphyxia – Silent Killer UK TOUR
will be mentioned later!

Unfortunately, providing Restraint Asphyxia Expert evaluations, reports, and testimony
for WRONGFUL DEATH CASES remains the MAJORITY of the work I do.
The Patient Restraint and Restraint Asphyxia Newz Directory on my
“Professional” Website continues to provide TONS of info for folkz all over the world …
and my Restraint Asphyxia Library
is being accessed more and more often, by more and more people.
I still hope that … SOME DAY! …
Emergency Responders, law enforcement, security and “corrections” personnel,
and other forms of “CARE” providers will become educated enough to
STOP killing people with inappropriate restraint application!
I honestly don’t give a RAT’s PATOOT that I earn so much $ doing the “Expert” work.
I’d really like to get OUT of this particular business!!!

WRITING STUFF:

I submitted my manuscript for the NEXT EDITION of my “EMT-Basic National Standards Self-Test” on May 17th. But, BRADY sort of LOST IT … and didn’t contact me to ask why I “hadn’t sent it” until AUGUST or so! So, I’m still waiting for the “3rd Edition” of that book to be published. (This is actually the 5th edition of this text to be published. But, due to some early name changes, it got re-numbered.) In the mean time, the 4th Edition of my Paramedic National Standards Self-Test is doing QUITE WELL!

Instead of doing a MONTH-BY-MONTH “Year-In-Review” Kind of Gig, for MY 2004 X-MAS LETER I’m SKIPPING to Months with something to NOTE. (You’re doing that Damn Snoopy Happy Dance, again! STOP IT!!!)

MAY, 2004

My 2004 JAV FEST PIX!

The 2004 James Arthur Vineyard Ren Fest ‘twas spectacular! Bigger and better than in years past. I met some fantabulous NEW FRIENDS: Kat & Randy … and TODD (Oooh!!! Todd ended up becoming my “LUV INTEREST” for several months!!!)

JUNE, 2004
Because TODD is a guitar player and singer, and because he likes ME & my voice,
(go figure!) we ended up beginning to PERFORM together!
I cannot tell you how much INCREDIBLE FUN it was for me
to be SINGING again!!! AND … for some reason … I suddenly had more
CONFIDENCE in my voice than EVER before, in my LIFE!
It began with us playing together at a local hole-in-the-wall SANDWICH SHOP
in Lincoln, on June 12th.
Millie & Norm’s Sandwich Shop is incredibly SMALL, but is well-known
for offering a variety of LOCAL entertainment on most nights of the week.
It’s a very, VERY “casual” place, and the musicians play for TIPS only.
When Todd is booked to play there, he always invites several OTHER musicians
to come and perform with him. So, it’s sort of an “OPEN STAGE” kind of gig.

The very next week after we first “performed” in public together, Todd got a call from a guy who was co-owner of a brand new “COOPERATIVE” WINERY in NEBRASKA CITY (about an hour’s drive Southeast of Lincoln): The Arbor Trails Winery This guy had heard TODD perform at Millie & Norm’s months before, had liked his performance, and had kept Todd’s phone number. “Our Winery is having its GRAND OPENING Celebration this Saturday, but the performers we booked for the final act of the day had to cancel. CAN YOU COME AND PLAY?” Todd said, “YES.” And, immediately included ME in the gig. Then, he called a good friend (and incredibly talented lead-guitarist), Vic Medley (that’s his REAL NAME!), and brought Vic on board. Thus was born a musical group that grew to become known as, “THE UNKNOWN GYPSIES!!!”

The next REN FEST I attended in 2004 was on June 13th; My PIX of The Council Bluffs Renaissance FAIRE o’ THE MIDLANDS There I first met (in the flesh – we’d corresponded via the Internet for several weeks before), yet ANOTHER FANTABULOUS NEW FRIEND: LINDA!

JULY, 2004
Arbor Trails Winery called us back to perform again on July 3rd!
I got the impression that – AGAIN – that we were being called in at the last minute
to fill a space that was either vacated by some other group, or that couldn’t be filled by
another group. But, WHATHEHELL! The gig barely paid enough to cover the GAS
EXPENSE of driving to and from Nebraska City. But, it paid THAT.
So, it didn’t “cost” us anything but our TIME! And, we LUVED performing there!

Soon after the first Arbor Trails Winery gig, I notified my friend at the
James Arthur Vineyard (about 30 minutes Northwest of Lincoln), Jim Ballard,
about “The Unknown Gypsies.” Lo and behold, on June 30th JAV had a
“musical-need-emergency,” and called US at the last minute to come bail them out!
On June 30th, JAV had a “WINE & BROADWAY” event being held in their
indoor Event Room. But, coordinators of that event hadn’t required RESERVATIONS.
As there was NOTHING else going on that particular weekend in the LINCOLN area (!)
JAV had fielded so many calls about the event that week, that Jim KNEW they
would SELL OUT before people stopped arriving.
Since folkz arriving from ANYWHERE would have to drive 30 minutes to an HOUR
to get there, JAV didn’t want to entirely “turn them away!” (Entirely Piss them OFF!)
THUS, Jim remembered my Email about “The Unknown Gypsies!”, and called.
As it happens, we had an unpaid gig scheduled at Millie & Norm’s that night.
But, we got another musician friend (Gary Hatton) to fill in a M&N’s … so we could do the JAV gig!
Vic was unavailable that night. But, other musician friends – Charlie and Patty – filled in!
CLEARLY, “The Unknown Gypsies” are a HIT for
LAST-DITCH-BAIL-YOUR-ASS-OUT GIGS! LOL!
(In 2005 I’ll do my best to get some PIX of the various “Unknown Gypsies”!)

SEPTEMBER, 2004
On the 23rd of September I rallied another BRAND NEW REN FRIEND, Cathy Lohmeier,
to help me come to the assistance of the coordinator of the Nebraska Ren Fest!
Sir Gregory needed some extra MUSICAL CHARACTERS to come and perform at
The Trucking Association Banquet in Omaha!
CATHY & I DID SO. Providing a RIGHT-WENCHLY PRESENCE throughout the evening,
and coordinating Baqueteers in several WENCH SINGS!
(Some day, someone will send me PIX from that event, and I’ll POST the suckers!)

September 24th-26th: The 2004 NEBRASKA RENAISSANCE FAIRE Several gude Ren Friends & I enjoyed the LAST NRF at the LUST LAIR CABIN!!! (Next year, the Faire moves to a different location!)

OCTOBER, 2004
The UNKNOWN GYPSIES (& friends) played at M&N’s on the 8th.

I attended the KANSAS CITY RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL TWICE in October! UNFORTUNATELY, I’ve only JUST REALIZED that I’ve FAILED TO GET THOSE PIX PAGES UP & RUNNING!!! (Only the DIRECTORY of those Pix Pages is Currently Posted.) I’LL GET RIGHT ON THAT … SOON!!! (Don’t hold your BREATH, though!)

NOVEMBER, 2004
The UNKNOWN GYPSIES (& friends) played at M&N’s on the 12th of November.

DECEMBER, 2004

The 2004 RASK UK TOUR!

December 1st through the 19th I was in ENGLAND, providing the LONG VERSION of my Restraint Asphyxia – Silent Killer presentation (5 hours long) in SIX different locations. WHAT AN AMAZING TRIP!!! I spent 17 days in the UK and didn’t do A SINGLE “TOURISTA” KIND OF THING! Instead, every single day was FILLED with incredible ACTIVITIES that “TOURISTS” would rarely (if EVER) GET TO DO!!!

“Get hat off … Off … OFF!” “This can come OFF now?!”

That’s IT, Folkz!!!

“OFF, please.” “VENGEANCE will be SWEET!”

UNTIL 2005’s LETTER (be still your beating heart!) BSK, CHAS!!!

Return to The Miller Family’s HOME PAGE
(the one with OTHER Main-Directory Page Links!)

If you have suggestions for, or comments about, my X-MAS LETTER,
or YOU JUST WANT TO EMAIL ME!
– WebMistress Chas! –
Click On This LINK:c-d-miller@neb.rr.com
That’s: c-d-miller@neb.rr.com
[those are hyphens/dashes (-) between the “c” and “d” and “miller”]