Season 5 Who Am I? Blog 13: Swimmer's Ear

 Swimmer's Ear

Growing up, I was notorious for getting ear infections. I probably had one every couple of months and it got so bad that I needed to get tubes put in 3 times. In 2019, my immediate family and my cousins’ family, the Mitreys (Aunt Melissa, Uncle Andy, Alex/his girlfriend Emma, Maci, Nicholas, and Ellie) Went on a vacation to Hatteras, North Carolina. At one point Ryan, Nicholas, Josh, and I had a chicken fight. Nicholas and I were the tops and as we were roughhousing, Nicholas grabbed my head and slammed it into the water, right ear first. Ever since then I've been having complications with my right ear whenever I go into the water.

Last Summer, when I was in Colorado for the 4th of July, the Mitreys and my family went to Norris Lake in Tennessee. Since then the Mitreys bought a house on Norris Lake. I have to go back to work at New Story in mid-July, for the summer school program. On top of that Luke had a ton of grad parties to go and with my parent’s business, Kobolt, it was just logistically impossible for us to get down to Florida this year. Luckily the week of June 12th, the lake house was not being rented out and the Mitreys asked us if we wanted to go with them.

When we got to the lake house, we said hi to the Mitreys (minus Alex cuz he is in Chicago for the summer with Emma), their dog, Daisy, our Aunt Cyndi, and her fiance Jeremy. When we unpacked the car, we got our bathing suits, put on sunscreen, I put my ear plug in, and we went to the dock.

There was a Pontoon and a speed boat parked at the dock and because of how many people we had we took both boats. We got to a little cove and started swimming and after 30 minutes Dad, my brothers, Nicholas and Uncle Andy got on the speedboat and started tubing. When they returned I called out, “Hey, can I tube?”

Uncle Andy and Dad told me to get on the tube and Aunt Cindy decided to also come along. When she was in the boat I gave the thumbs-up and Uncle Andy sped off. I had forgotten how much I love tubing, the wind whipping through my hair and the speed when I hit waves, made me feel like I was flying! Unfortunately for me, at one point all the breaking waves pulled my swim shorts down to my ankles too fast for me to stop it. As if on cue I noticed another boat passing us. To save my dignity, I let go of the tube, but a wave broke on the right side of my head. I immediately felt the water rush into and clog up my ear, despite the plug.

This put a damper (pun intended) on the trip. I got an ear infection and in fact, this last week (the week of June 26th) was the first time that I've been able to hear anything out of my right ear, since the incident. On top of that, over my trip, I, unfortunately, had to break up with my girlfriend Gabby. I'm not going to go into too many details because I still respect her, but basically, it just wasn't working out and it was taking a toll on my mental health.

Both of these situations obviously suck. I mean breaking up with someone over the phone isn't ideal, and I hate that I had to do it, and to quote Dad, “Ear infections are the most uncomfortable (non-life-threatening) illness a person can experience.” While I was definitely a lot less social than I would usually be as a result of these things, I still tried to make an effort to enjoy the trip, and just the act of trying made it a little bit better. Life doesn't wait for you even if you're uncomfortable, so enjoy the good where you can find it!

Have a Greattastic and be safe! 

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 5 Who Am I? Blog 12: Anna Returns

 Anna Returns

In my installment “Coffee Shop Surprise” I introduced you to my friend since kindergarten, Anna. At that point, she and I had just recently reconnected and we were having breakfast couple times a month. I introduced her in that installment because she and I had talked about us starting to hang out more than just the occasional breakfast.

At the time Marshall and I were planning to fly out to Colorado to surprise August and Arden for Arden’s birthday! Because I was aware of the Colorado plan, Anna and I planned to start hanging out more frequently when I got back. Unfortunately, Ohio shut down for Covid the day that Marshall and I got back.

While Covid delayed Anna and my plans, she wasn't completely out of my life. In “The Goodbye Anderson Special” I said that my “sister” Aspen was, “one of the main reasons that I survived the (at the time) last 19 months.” Anna was the other half of that equation. Throughout 2020, Anna and I would have weekly phone calls, to keep ourselves sane.

We kept in touch at the beginning of 2021 and we even went to S.M.’s grave and ate ice cream to celebrate her birthday last year. After that I got busy with finally publishing “The Greattastic Adventures: Miracle Child,” Anna had to do finals and we both remained pretty busy until the following fall.

By the time I got back in touch with Anna, she told me that she was moving to Idaho, from January-March for her occupational therapy clinicals. The last time I saw Anna was when Cousin Simple played Jingle Jam with AJR and Spencer Sutherland. At the end of the show when we were almost at the door I saw Mom and I told Anna and her best friend, Jordan, I had to go. I hugged both of them goodbye and told Anna, “I'll see you in March!” Anna smiled and walked out the door to begin her next adventure…

We talked a few times throughout Anna’s time in Idaho, though it was minimal because we were both busy. In early April, Noah and I went to a Blue Jackets hockey game. When we were heading to our seats we ran into Anna. “Hey,” I asked after we caught up for a few minutes, “when are we going to hang out?”

It took us a while, like two whole months to actually make our schedules work, but we finally decided to hang out on June 11th. We got coffee and met up at a local park and hung out just like old times. While it has taken a little over two years, I hope that Anna and I can now resume our pre-covid plans!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 5 Who Am I? Blog 11: Meet The Ulibarris

 Meet The Ulibarris

Before our first date, Gabby and I decided to talk to each other over zoom. On the day that we had scheduled the zoom for, I decided to tell my family that I was talking to someone. When I told Mom she said, “I think we should meet her sooner rather than later.” I understood that she wanted to meet her because she was nervous as a result of the restraining order I have on my ex, Ishana.

Gabby’s mom died when she was 14 and her dad died shortly after we started talking. Gabby graduated from Silver Oak College with a Bachelor of Music Education on May 7th. I was invited along with her Grandma. After meeting literally all the family she has in the world, I decided to ask Gabby if she wanted to meet my family. This became even more necessary when she officially became my girlfriend The following Monday (May 9th).

Even though it took a while for it to happen it finally did last Monday, June 6th. She got to my apartment at 3:00 p.m. It was raining super hard so we waited until the rain stopped to go to the Columbus Park of Roses. If you haven't been there and you are ever in Columbus it's a really cool place, though I might have oversold it to Gabby. 

We got to my parents' house at 6:30 and I pulled up behind Ryan's car. We walked around back and I introduced Gabby to Mom, Dad, Pop-pop (who was still here from Luke's graduation), Ryan, Luke, and Josh. When dinner was ready we said grace and began eating. We talked and told stories for a couple of hours and both my family and my girlfriend really liked each other. Though I will admit it was kind of weird for me because I'm used to Josh's girlfriend Sophia coming for dinner, so it was surreal to suddenly be the one whose girlfriend was over.

To celebrate my cousin Paige's wedding, Last October I did a two-part installment. The first one was a flashback to that previous summer when I first met her husband (Paige's Wedding Part 1: Naughstin) and the second one was the wedding itself (Paige's Wedding Part 2: Doesn't Get Any Cooler Than That). As I was writing part 1, I made an effort to specifically mention Ishana. From that installment on I sporadically released details about the breakup/restraining order.

The reason I did that is because I knew that eventually I would get a new girlfriend and no matter who she ended up being, I knew that the trauma inflicted on me by Ishana, would be very important to my next relationship. Specifically, my next girlfriend would need to be more stable than my previous. Gabby has proved herself to be that in many ways that frankly I just can't fit in a single installment.

But what is important for this installment is Ishana only met my brothers a few times and I was stressed during each encounter. When she did meet my parents, It was after the breakup, and she was stalking me when I was working at Kroger one night, and Mom just happened to be shopping. I know it's a small thing, but it just feels huge that Gabby actually met my family and it was a positive experience!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 5 Who Am I? Blog 10: Wicked

 Wicked

As the Box Seats played at Luke's graduation party someone shook me. I turned around to see Kid and to my surprise Aspen, who had come to Columbus that day for a photo shoot, as she is about to graduate from realty school. As the party was wrapping up, Kid and Aspen told me that they had a salsa dance to go to and they asked me if I wanted to come. I went and while I don't have time to write a full installment about it, I just wanted to mention it here because it was a fun night. At the end of the night, I said goodbye to Aspen and told Kid, “I'll see you tomorrow. 5:30 sharp!”

Marshall’s grandma (Granny) lives a few blocks away from Shane and I. She has season tickets to Broadway shows at the Ohio Theater. In fact, I almost went to a show with her and Marshall around Christmas, but I got the day wrong and accidentally created a conflict in my schedule (I feel really bad about that). When Wicked came to town, Marshall invited me to come with him, Granny, and his siblings, Isaac and Chloe. Isaac however had to unexpectedly go out of state so Marshall invited Kid.

I went to the Anderson’s house, met up with Kid, Marshall and Chloe, and we picked up Granny. I have mentioned Chloe before, though not by name. The installment in which she appeared was called “The Coronapocalypse” and as the name suggests that was when Covid hit Ohio. Since Covid was the main focus of that installment I did not have room to develop her character, which is a real shame.

Marshall and his siblings love Star Wars. So much so that he can quote entire scenes from the movies. I have a video from around the same time as “The Coronapocalypse,” with Marshall and Chloe quoting back and forth the climactic scene of “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” and me turning the camera to myself as I say “There's two of them… HELP ME!” The more I see them together the more I believe that Chloe is literally just the female version of Marshall.

I’m pretty sure Chloe's purpose in life is to embarrass Marshall. She literally has a folder on her phone that consists of embarrassing videos and photos of Marshall that she is going to release at his wedding. While I cannot tell you what is in this folder (Though once Chloe releases it all bets are off) some of these videos are hilarious! She spends the rest of her time when she is with us talking about how much of a “troubled child” Marshall was. Marshall is a very professional (if not somewhat ridiculous) person so hearing about the shenanigans he got into as a kid is the best.

I think what Chloe does for Marshall is the same reason I liked Wicked so much. I kind of knew what it was going to be about based on its relation to the Wizard of Oz, and my theater nerd girlfriend Gabby, but going into it I didn't have any expectation of what it was going to be. For those of you who have not seen Wicked, it is half an origin story for the Wicked Witch of the West and Half a Retelling of the 1939 Movie from her perspective.

While the Wicked Witch of the West is an iconic villain, in comparison to someone like Darth Vader she is not very developed as a character. The entire show adds a level of dimension to her character that makes her someone who is not just evil for evil’s sake. That is my favorite part of storytelling in general, figuring out the psychology of a character, fictional or otherwise!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe! 

J. Mitchie Ulibarri 

Season 5 Who Am I? Blog 9: Graduation, Box Seats, and Chicago

 Graduation, Box Seats, And Chicago

On May 27th, Mom, Dad, my grandpa Pop-pop, Josh, Ryan, and I were sitting in our seats early for  Luke's graduation Mass at St. Charles Preparatory High School. Knowing that I would be a mess if we actually had a conversation about it, a few minutes before the Mass started, Ryan leaned over to me and asked, “Did Mom and Dad tell you I'm moving to Chicago In July?”

I had enough time to ask him a few questions before the graduates processed in and Mass started. Towards the end of the Mass, all 134 people in Luke's class received their diplomas. After everyone got theirs, the Mass ended everyone cheered and the graduates threw their caps.

The next day was Luke and his and Josh's bandmate Freddy's joint graduation party at Dad’s art Studio, Kobolt. Their band “Box Seats” were playing it. After posting my last installment “The Spencer Rule,” I drove to my parent's house and was met by my cousin Austin. Eventually, Mom came home and picked us up. 

The studio looked awesome and as people started to arrive I began to mingle. I talked to all of my extended family, my parent's college best friends, Ron and Anita, and their daughter, Maya, my childhood friends Megan and Rachel, and Josh's girlfriend Sophia. Eventually, Box Seats started playing. They played a ton of cover songs and four original songs, “Old Friends,” “Almost There,” “Winter,” and “Offside.” It was surreal because this mirrored my graduation party 4 years ago when Luke and I played an original song together.

It was a good day and a really fun celebration not just of Luke and his graduation, but because of how recently I had found out, the pending changes coming to Ryan's life too. I am so proud of my family and the things that I know that they will accomplish!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe.

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Speaking of changes before I end this installment I have to talk about New Story a bit. My two bosses, Kathy (who got me the job), and Jason (who was my English teacher and is a major reason that I like writing so much), have left New Story. Both of them found jobs at other schools, and Kathy is moving to Seattle! I wish both of them the best of luck and I want to thank them for everything that they have done for me! I love you guys, and I will miss you.

Season 5 Who Am I? Blog 8: The Spencer Rule

 The Spencer Rule

A few weeks ago, I went to Cincinnati to visit Marshall and Aspen. We had a lot of fun, but that is not the point of this installment. When we first met Marshall, he was living with his two childhood best friends, Ricky and Kevin. These two are Marshall’s “brothers'' in the same way that the Andersons are my “sisters.” The difference is Ricky, Marshall, and Kevin have grown apart. Despite this, they still keep in contact. In fact, Ricky and Marshall hiked the Smoky Mountains, right before the 2020 quarantine, and they worked at the same place in Colorado, removing contaminants from N95 respirators (Marshall vs Covid-19).

While Marshall is relatively new to the group, he is very aware of the crazy things that my “sisters” and I did before he arrived. When I was in Cincinnati, Marshall and I got into a deep conversation as we often do. We were talking about past friendships and why you should maintain them. To prove his point, Marshall brought up one of my “sister’s” exes, whose name also happens to be Ricky.

“Think about it Mitchell,” he said, “while they broke up in high school and you have all moved on, ex-Ricky is still seen as the jerk that he was then cuz that’s how you knew him. You should let people from your past know who you are now.”

This led me to think about our former friend, Spencer. I met Spencer in the Spring of 2014 and he, my “sisters” and I hung out sporadically from then until the spring of 2018. At that point, we had a falling out and I hadn’t talked to him in four years. As a result of my conversation with Marshall, when I returned to Columbus, I reached out to Spencer.

We decided to get coffee and go to a park that we had been to a couple of times in our teen years. We hung out for about three hours and caught up on each other's lives. I even went into his house, which in the time that I've known him I have never done before.

My goal for this season is to get a better understanding of who I am, or at the very least, figure out who I want to be. The reason I reached out to Spencer after my conversation with Marshall was I realized I'm done with letting friendships go because of drama that happened in the past. After hanging out with Spencer I devised The Spencer Rule. It states: No matter how a friendship ends (with some exceptions) it can always be recovered.

Have a Greattastic day and be safe

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 5 Who Am I? Blog 7: Speaking At TGS

 Speaking At TGS

It’s time that I reveal a major life goal. One Sunday after church in 2019, shortly after I started this series, I ran into one of my brother Luke's best friend’s mom… let's call her Dr. Diana Brooks. Dr. Brooks had found Rules for a Greattastic Life and she asked me if I wanted to come to a class she teaches and talk about autism. Sidebar: This led to a mentor-mentee relationship between Dr. Brooks and I.

Around the same time, I was talking to my grandma (whom I call Nimba) about how to get more publicity for Rules for a Greattastic Life. Eventually, Dr. Brook’s class came up and this led to a discussion about me maybe doing public speaking. I ended up reaching out to my former teacher Kathy about talking at my former school. She said yes, I spoke there, and that led to me getting my current job at my old school.

Speaking in Dr. Brook’s class and at New Story gave me an idea. Use the blog/podcast and any books I write to jump-start a public speaking career. My reasoning for this is simple: I love teaching and writing, but I don't want to burn myself out. While writing gives my storytelling some (at times much-needed) structure, in real life I can talk and tell stories for hours on end. I'm not going to get tired of talking and public speakers (can) make a lot of money. If I start a successful public speaking career, teaching becomes something I do for no reason other than I love it, and writing becomes a hobby that people tend to enjoy with the bonus of some passive income.

Now as I’ve mentioned a lot recently I went to The Graham School (TGS) for high school. TGS has an internship program, and while it's been dialed back to just the seniors, when I was there it ran in all grades. The teachers were always looking for new internship sites and I told them about Dad’s art studio, Kobolt. Every year since I was a freshman TGS has sent a senior to work at Kobolt (Covid permitting). In fact, the 2019 senior, Maverick, designed the Rules for a Greattastic Life Logo.

One of the senior “advisors” Ruth, retired with my graduating class, but she returned to TGS at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year. Because of Covid, I was not aware that she had come back until she came to check out Kobolt with this year's senior. Because I want to do public speaking, I asked Mom for Ruth's email and reached out about speaking at TGS.

 On the day that I spoke, one of the other senior advisors, Ken, was waiting at the front desk for me. We walked back into the biggest room in the school, aptly named “The Big Room” where all the seniors were waiting. I said hello to Ruth, and my biology teacher Jennifer, and then I did my presentation. I had a lot of fun and it was good practice for when I start professionally speaking seriously. On top of that, Ruth asked me to come back next year and talk to some of the neurodivergent kids which I'm super excited about!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri