Odell Sneeden Hathaway, III

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Let me introduce myself my name is Odell Sneeden Hathaway,  III and this Web site is my version of a vanity press and perhaps a way to meet someone special. Here you can learn about me, read some of my writings, see artwork by me, and visit some of my favorite links.  Before we go much further I should tell you that.   I have Dyslexia so my spelling and punctuation may not be what you would like them to be.  But I do not care. I believe that English is a spoken language (not a written) and that things like dictionary's (a Pernicious invention) only stifle the artistic sprit. Shakespeare did not need one, so why do I. (Is it any wonder that in the hundreds of years since Shakespeare no one has topped him or that writing skills have decreased since the dictionary was invented?)  My E-mail address if you would like to write to me is osh@teleport.com.  About Me Today I work as a computer programmer and I live in Vancouver, Washington. I was born in 1961, in Burbank, CA but I was raised in Sherman Oaks, CA.  In grammar school it was decided that I was “Brain Damaged,” had no future and should be placed in a home.  That was a strange decision because they also found that my IQ was more than 120, despite the fact that my reading problems would make the test in accurate. (so it is most likely much higher!)  Eventually, it was decided I had Dyslexia.  But by then the damage was done.  Everyone at my school knew I was brain damaged and had failed the 2^nd grade. My classmates made fun of me and my teachers ridiculed me in front of my class mates.  So my life was miserable.  Thank God for Star Trek. Mr. Spock taught me to set aside my emotions. I hate to think the depths of violence I might have stooped to if not for that lesson.  They call it emotional suicide. I had two choices strike out at the world or kill my emotions.  It worked, at least I did not end up, like many Dyslexic’s, in Prison (did you know that up to 90% of people in prison have Dyslexia?) The saddest part to me was that along with hate I had to kill love and all emotions.  Of course, I was not able to.  I walked in JR high school and it was waiting for me.  I fell in love but I knew I could not be in love.  I spent 3 years trying to deny what I felt. Then in high school when I finally admit to myself, that what I felt was OK I found that I could not approach her.  Yes her, I spent 16 years of my life in love with a person who did not know I cared for her.  (I did write to her once after our high school reunion but she never wrote back). Van Nuys High school was a major turning point in my life.  I made friends there that I have kept.  I learned how to get around my disability.  When I entered, I felt like a loser. When I left, I ruled the school. I was stage manager (the 1^st person ever to receive that award 3 years in a row), Photo editor of the school newspaper, Photographer for the yearbook, Vice President of the computer club, Boy of the month for May 1980.  I was the only student with a set of keys to the school. I graduated with Honors. (Says so right on my diploma).    My Friends and I even set up the 1^st official rival senior class.  The InSANitarians of 1980. After High School, I applied to Cal State Northridge and was refused do to my low test scores.  I contacted their office of disabled students and they were able to get me admitted.  The 1^st student ever accepted directly from High School with a previously diagnosed learning disability.  I then helped the school develop a program for the LD student.  But I did not graduate from there College was also another turning point in my life.  All my life I was ashamed of myself and my learning Disability.  I remember July 20^th, 1969.  The day that man 1^st set foot on the moon.  While the Eagle was landing at Tranquility Base.   I was with my parents on the 134 freeway talking about discrimination and being told that you should not judge people on the color of their skin, “it is what’s inside of them that matter’s.”  But I knew what was in side of me was brain damaged. So I was no good. In College, I found that I needed to stand up and tell the world that I was Dyslexic and it was OK.  When I did, I started getting the help I needed.  Books on Tape, Proctors for test, Tutors.  Learning about my disability and what I could do to help myself. All my life I sat at the back of the class, ashamed.  In College, I learned I have an Auditory Ground Dysfunction.  That means that I cannot filter sound the way every one else can.  In a noisy room, I cannot hear what people are saying.  My High School reunion was awful.  It was so noisy that I could only make out 1 word of every 3 that was being said to me. So I just stared at peoples mouths trying to read their lips. (That’s good a Dyslexic trying to read lips.) I must have looked like an idiot. In College, I learned to sit in the front row so that the loudest sound in the room would be the teacher. While I was in College, I also completed one of my biggest dreams.  I earned my Pilot’s license. But I have given up flying in favor of eating, it is just too expensive. Before I entered High School, my Parents bought their 1^st computer, an IBM 5100 portable computer.  This was 1977 the PC (personal computer) would not be released for years.  I found that I had a knack for programming and shortly started making $25.00 an hour programming as a consultant when I could get work. (In High School!)  I doubled my rate to $50.00 an hour, this while I was in College. Unfortunately, I did not complete College then.  I ran out of money when the computer I was consulting on was discontinued.  No one wanted to pay me $50.00 an hour to learn to program a new computer. I went to Valley College and earned an AS degree then found a Job as a computer programmer.  The company I worked for did not believe in canned software.  So I had a wonderful opportunity.  I was able during the 8 years I worked there to develop a complete accounting system from the ground up.  (Not many programmers ever do that).  My computer system was so successful that after 5 years with the company I was promoted to General Manager.  The reason for this was simple.  I was the only person in the company who knew how everything worked. (After all, I developed the systems.) While I was working for this company, I started to realize that my deeply held belief that I should spend the rest of my life waiting for the Little Girl from Jr. High to find me might not be the best plan. So I started trying to date.  A man in his 30’s dating for the 1^st time, is bound to have disasters and I will write about them sometime (I have planned a book called “My love life a comedy to you a tragedy to me!”) Something started calling to me then.  Another dream from High School.  I had once wanted to be a priest (Episcopal I was not looking for a life of celibacy).  At the time, I thought my dyslexia would prevent me from attaining that goal. But now the calling came back so I spoke to my mentor and friend who was also my priest.  We had known each other for years and he knew my theology.  He told me that he thought I should try.  That I had no hope of making it through but I would be a good experience for the seminary.  He also told me that while he was in seminary he was constantly on probation and that “I was further out then he was.”  The greatest compliment I ever received. I dedicated myself to becoming a priest.  But to be a priest you must first have a Master’s of Theology Degree.  To get that I had to have a Bachelor’s Degree.  So I went to the University of Phoenix at night and earned my Degree. Unfortunately, the fates sometimes are not kind.  My Friend was falsely accused of sexual miss conduct and I was given a choice between being his friend or continuing to the priesthood.  I told the Bishop that I thought he was the grand inquisitor and abandoned my aspirations. A few weeks later I was talking with my friend.  He told me that he had never liked the energy of the building that I lived in and that I should consider moving.  I may not have always taken his advice but I always listen.  I went home and thought about where I would like to move.  I realized that there was no place in Southern California I wanted to live.  When I had been planning to be a priest, my plan was to be ordained and then move to the Pacific Northwest where I would become a worker Priest (someone who has a normal job but helps when needed).  I did not limit myself.  It was time for things to change.  I pulled out a map of the world and asked where do I want to live?  Based mostly on climate I chose the Pacific Northwest, Southern Australia or Tasmania.  Thanksgiving that year I visited the Pacific Northwest for the 1^st time and fell in love.  By March, I had a new job and was living in Vancouver Washington. The company I worked for wanted me to develop a Web site for them.  This was 1995, who knew what a Web site was going to be.  So I developed this site to practice. Thanksgiving the next year also proved auspicious. That was when I found my House.  I had looked at more than 80 houses when I found the Phoenixes Layer.  That morning I meditated on what I wanted.  Wrote out a list and took it to the real-estate agent.  She almost laughed, there was “no way, I was going to find all of it.”  She thought I might get 2 or 3 of the items. We went looking and found the house that had everything on my list. Great Location, Feeling of Privacy, Flowing water, attached Garage, Land and many more. So I bought it. My developing this Web site also lead to something. Finally, Love!    She lived in Montréal Canada and was looking to move to Vancouver, BC.  While searching the net, she found my site.  OK wrong country.  We wrote each other daily if not more. We called sometimes.  It was June when she 1^st wrote to me, in September we met when she came to Vancouver, BC for a visit.  I drove 6 hours to meet her and we spent 2 days together walking around Vancouver, It was wonderful. Yes we stayed in separate rooms. In October she moved to Vancouver, I met her at the airport and helped her move in.  It was difficult dating someone who lived six hours and a whole country away.  Along came Thanksgiving again.  We spent the weekend in Victoria and I think the romance of the place got to me.  Because, I asked her to Marry me and she said YES!  She would immigrate to the US and we would live in my house (then it would be our house). Christmas she stayed with me for 2 weeks and found that she hated the US, She hated my house, and most importantly she hated freedom.  She was raised in Romania and wanted to live somewhere she felt that the government was watching her and keeping her safe.  Where there was a spy on every block so no one could get away with anything.  These are the things she told me.  So I agreed to sell my house and move to Vancouver BC. In January, while we were getting ready for me to move to Canada.  I was laid off at work.  A few days later she dumped me.  What do they say, “better to have loved and lost?”  I see by the Internet that she has moved back to Romania and I hope she is happy there.  Once I love someone I never stop caring about them, wishing them the best, and there is very little I would not do for them. I quickly found a new job and moved ahead with my life.  That was 1997. In 1999, I had a singles add on One and Only .com when I got a letter from a woman who only lived 2 hours away.  We quickly fell in love.  On August 4^th, 2001 Linda Joyce Belcher Married Odell Sneeden Hathaway, III.  The guests all said, “it was the most fun they had ever had at a wedding.” I loved my wife deeply and we had many good times.  But frankly our married life was like something by Stephen King.  The plot twists were be own belief.  Cancer, Heart problems, Infidelity, Murder, Rape, Drug abuse, Drug treatment, mental Illness, Suicide attempts.   I will not go into my wife’s problem but I will say that Stress is a killer.  With the Stress we were under, I quickly started having major health problems. 1^st I noticed that my weight was going up even though I was working out and dieting.  While I was undergoing test, I became ill and then I noticed that I could not open my mouth on one side.  Thinking I was having a stroke I went to the ER.  They told me that I had Bell’s Palsy and it would get better in a few weeks. They were wrong. Later that day my Doctor called me to let me know that I had Thyroid Cancer.  My Facial Paralysis spread from the left side to the whole face.  Today instead of Bell's Palsy they think I have something called Hashimoto’s Encephalopathy.  I had the Cancer removed and then had Radiation Treatment. (The only time in my life I was Smoking Hot. At least according to my, Radiologist). On a cloudy April 16^th, 2007 I came home from work to find the body of my beautiful wife lying dead in our laundry room.  The Victim of her own stupidity. I have always considered myself a phoenix and now more then ever I will be reborn from the ashes of my former life.  Thanks for Surfing by!  Odell

Thank you for Surfing by. If you would like to write to me press = osh@teleport.com

Even on the NET I can't spell Tree, updated 07/13/08.