February 2010

Editor’s note: This is the third installment of this story. The other installments can be read at the links shown.

Jenny, 28, of West Seattle, is a hypochondriac and is exploring different treatment options. Many people who suffer from hypochondria or severe medical anxiety find themselves in an unhealthy and frustrating cycle that is difficult to resolve.

She realized, with the help of her friends, that it’s time to make changes in her life and get help. Recently, she was unsuccessful at organizing a support group. Treatment for hypochondria is a long and sometimes complicated process.

Now Jenny seems confused and overwhelmed when she thinks about the next step toward a better life. “I’m not sure whether I should look at this from a strictly medical view or from a self-actualization one,” she states.

She has thought about using mental health sessions that her job offers to employees. "I asked at work about counseling sessions and there are a lot of ‘hoops’ to jump through to get them, and since I don't work full time, I might not qualify for all of them.”

Jenny already feels fed up and frustrated.

No. 2 Class 4A state-ranked Federal Way is retooling its girls basketball arsenal just in time for postseason play.

On Friday the Eagles (13-3 league, 17-3 overall) displayed their current handiwork in a defensively dynamiting 63-39 home victory against Tahoma to force a second place SPSL North Division tie with Kentwood.

Federal Way will play Kentwood on Tuesday at Tahoma to decide the No. 2 North seed to the league tournament held at the Showare Center in Kent and at various home sites.

After losing several players (earlier in the season) for various reasons, the Eagles continued piecing together their once badly depleted squad.

"We were down to seven players (at one time)," Federal Way head coach Danny Graham recalled. "The way we play (with continuing defensive pressure), that's tough. We're still trying to figure it out. We're getting more players into the flow and we need good minutes from everyone, no matter how much they play."

Photographer Kurt Howard captured these images from the girls' basketball game between Mt. Rainier and Kennedy Catholic on February 4. CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO PLAY SLIDESHOW.

The Ballard High School wrestling team's Kaila Lafferty is heading to the women's regional tournament after her performance at the women's subregional tournament on Feb. 5 and Feb. 6.

Lafferty helped the Ballard girls wrestling team to a 17th-place finish out of 26 teams with 14 points.

Stanwood placed first in the tournament with a score of 131.5.

At the same time, the Ballard boys team finished 12th out of 12 in the KingCo tournament with nine points.

Woodinville won the KingCo tournament with 193 points.

Matt Kelly scored six points for the Beavers with two pins. Luke Fabian added three points with a single pin.

The Ballard High School wrestling team finished its season with two team victories, the first under second-year head coaches Domingo Gomez and Luke Hagler, over Franklin and Bellevue Christian.

The team was very young this season, with the majority of the varsity team being made up of freshmen and sophomores.

Dads and daughters spent some special time together last Saturday at the Father/Daughter Sweetheart Dance.

The gym at the new Matt Griffin YMCA in SeaTac was spruced up for the gala pre-Valentine's Day event. CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO PLAY SLIDESHOW.

Joyce Van Tuyl’s life work began in the 1950s with a newspaper story. Her job may be ending this week, but not her work.

Half a century ago, her local paper in Santa Clara County, Calif., wrote about the lack of Braille texts for blind students being integrated into classrooms with sighted children.

The story also mentioned an evening class in Braille transcription that caught Joyce’s interest. She took the class and practiced two hours a day while her younger child was in kindergarten.

Two years later Joyce became the teacher.

Joyce’s children are long grown, in fact she now has five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, but she is still a Braillist, and will be after her job at the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library ends on Feb. 12.

Even though Joyce will be 85 next fall, she is not retiring by choice, rather as a victim of severe state budget cuts.

It is an emerging theme I wrote last week in a piece about Simone Vilandre, who is starting a new career at age 60.

That was Joyce Van Tuyl’s age when she moved from California to take a job at the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library.

The King County Road Service Division is advising motorists that the South Park Bridge spanning the Duwamish River will be closed to both vehicle and marine traffic from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. daily Wednesday, Feb. 10 through Saturday, Feb. 13. The four-day closure will allow engineers to perform noise and water quality testing and simulate vibration that might occur during bridge construction.

During the closure, engineers will conduct pile driving to measure noise, vibration and take water quality samples. Data collected during the tests will assist the county in planning for construction of a new bridge when financing becomes available.

During the closure, motorists can detour via the First Avenue South Bridge. The bridge will remain open for bicycle and pedestrian use.

Clothing for women is much more exciting than clothing for men. I have always wondered why men continue to dress in the same business suits with ties completing the outfit when women have chosen to be freer in what they wear. There is no contest when women dress to go to a party. Dresses range from floor length gowns to mini-dresses allowing for cleavage to show dramatically.

Just the other day I was in a hot tub mingling with the twenty somethings in their two piece bathing suits. One kept adjusting her bra top as if her breast enhancement might somehow need putting back into place. I joked about men being attracted to women’s pulchritude but remarked that my husband loved me for my mind. Then I remembered that when I met my husband I had prepared for this evening well. I had taken out my shoulder pads that we WWII women used to wear and padded my bra with them. So he was deceived about my womanly appearance on our first meeting at the old Trianon Ballroom. Later he admitted that he was attracted to my shining, dark brown eyes. Yeah, right!

To the editor:
Somewhere along the way we as a nation have changed our ideals and our morals and our sense of pride in what we as a nation stand for. I don’t recall just where, I don’t remember why, I just see a different way that ‘we the people’ address issues and values.

I remember that when I was in high school and later in college, we sought the best people we could to run for public office. We had a hard time getting the best people, because if they were worthy of public office they also were good in their chosen professions. Because of this we had a hard time getting them to run for office because of the financial hit they would take. That has all changed now! In order to attract higher caliber people to represent our cities our communities, and our nation, we sweetened the pot for our elected officials. So much so that to our dismay we have also attracted a lot of exactly who we do not need in any government. We, like the sugar left on the counter top attracts ants, have attracted the liars, the cheats and the thieves.

If you are a member of the baby boom generation and are also a rock music fan, you may recognize the band name ‘Child’. Along with bands like Bighorn, Jr. Cadillac and the Bean Barry Delights, Child lived and played fruitively along with literally hundreds of other bands that have come out of the Northwest region during the years between 1970 and 1980.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS

This was the decade when Led Zeppelin ruled local rock radio airwaves and every bell-bottomed, blow-dried, limo-riding, platform-shoe-and leather-jacket-wearing rockstar wannabe was pitching their best songs to promoters, tavern and club owners and anyone else who might listen all over the Puget Sound area, hoping to get a shot at a record contract, or at the least a bit of cash and a good time.

During their run for the gold ring, Child played the big shows and the small clubs and while they did not break out to enjoy the success of brethren groups like the Steve Miller Band or Heart, falling into a gap between Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana, Child most certainly made some cash and had a good time to boot.