here she comes...

...here comes Speed Racer!

She's a demon on wheels!  

(if you don't get the reference, here....let me help)


And, YES...our speed racer is a SHE!!  My good buddy Sandy is not only a race car driver but a racing instructor.  That there be her fancy "regular street car" parked behind my humble cross-over SUV.

Today she came over and took MyFavoriteKid out for a little driving lesson.  He's nearing the end of his permit time and getting ready for his actual behind the wheel test to get his license.

She was not teaching him how to drive like he owned the track, but she was teaching him some tricks about how to handle a vehicle more safely and especially how to really pay attention to what other drivers are doing on the road and how they telegraph their idiocy just before they do something ass-y.  In other words, she gave him a good sound "defensive driving" lesson.  I suspect that defensive lectures get absorbed by the teenage brain more deeply when it comes from someone other than their mom....and especially when the person "lecturing" is someone as cool as Sandy :-)  (And I doubt she lectured, actually....she's much cooler than that, and lecturing isn't quite her style anyhow)

What a treat for MyFK!
And for me!!

I hope she wasn't pulling my leg when she said he was a good driver....because her approval helped me relax just a wee bit more from my now frequent passenger seat perch.

I keep hoping that soon will come the day when he chauffeurs me around while I knit!
Heh.

da band

Because I am exhausted, I'm skipping the writing and posting another pic of MyFavoriteKid.

that's him dead center

Okay, okay.

I'm not just posting this pic because I'm tired.

I'm also posting it because I am proud :-)

 

while you were out....

While we wait for proper bathroom pics, I probably have enough blog fodder saved up from "the long dry summer" to keep us all busy here for awhile.

One big deal that happened while I was gone was that MyFavoriteKid finally got his learner's permit. Somewhere there is a pic of me in the backseat of the Driver's Training Vehicle crapping my pants (the instructor insists parents ride along for the first one so you can see how he teaches, and then hopefully become a better teacher yourself).

I cant find that pic, but in its place, here's a pic of MyFK on registration day and then on the first day of school.

I can hardly believe he's 16 and a high school junior this year.
YIKES!!! 
Where. Does. The time go?!!

He's a really good kid. A couple of weeks ago when the bathroom remodel was spinning out of control, he came in the house and said, "Do you need anything? Just a hug, maybe? "  I said, "I don't even know what I need anymore."  He said, "Well, I think you need a hug and you don't even know it. Here. I'll give you one. I'm worried about you."

Dang! Compassionate, smart, funny...and ten times less impulsive then his mother, often opting to sleep on something and reassess things in the morning.  I don't know where he gets that from, but it sure 'aint from me...and his dad says it 'aint from him either.   I think it might come from being in drumline?? (a very disciplined practice)

Anyhow, I love him bunches.
And 16 feels a lot closer to 18 than 15 was.

one thing i will never get sick of

Thanks to volunteering for 5 weeks in a row, I'm a little bit sick of looking at the interior of the high school band department/theater.

That being said, I will never get sick of seeing MyFavoritKid on that same stage.

(a Super-Booster-Mom has already put up a video)

The school hosts two more weekends of the Music In The Parks events (in which I volunteer....MyFK, volunteers, too!... as other schools visit ours to be adjudicated). Once Music In The Parks is done, I think MyFK only has one more performance this year:
Performing Pomp & Circumstance at the graduation ceremony for seniors.

Being that this school is only 3 years old and the first year open, the school started only with Freshman & Sophomore's, this year is the school's first graduating class!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tonight on the way home, MyFK and I were talking about how over the last few months I've started to notice that I'm in the very beginning stages of "missing him" as he grows up and is noticeably "growing away".  He hasn't really gone anywhere, not nearly as far as he will go once he is of age, that's for darn sure....and he's been headed towards independence and autonomy since the day he was born, right??  I've noticed it all through his growing up, or course.  But in the last few months, there has been another wave of detachment, and it's noticeable.  It's right on track, it's how this deal goes, but it's real interesting that I am starting to really feel the difference within myself. 
MyFK told me he's already missing me a bit, too...and that he loves me. 
And then he asked me to tuck him in ;-) 

Somehow I think no matter how old your kid gets, your kid will always be your kid.

because.

Because it's late. And because I'm tired. And because I'm proud of MyFavoriteKid. And because his drumline troupe took 1st Runner-Up in the regionals. And because I want to be able to find this video easily next time I need it....

...here is their winning performance from Saturday's competition (the set-up ends and the performance begins at 3 mins in exactly....the set-up was video taped because they are timed and cannot run over their allotment, so they film the set-up as a diagnostic).



MyFK is a freshman, but his high school is only 2 years old. Last year the school had only freshmen and sophomores, this year it's freshmen, sophomores, juniors (so the drumline squad is younger and less experienced some of the other schools that have seniors). Last year MyFK's school drumline was placed in the novice division and even though they did well throughout the performance season, they weren't set up to perform at the regionals.

This year the drumline placed so high in their first competition of the season that they were moved up to advanced for the balance of this year's season....and now here they are, taking 1st Runner Up at champs (with 9 groups competing in their category), and it's their very first time out at regionals! And this is MyFK's first year with the drumline! In fact, he just started drumming in late October, early November!!

Like I said:
Because I am a proud mommy!! ;-)

snaps on saturday

This is the only way I see MyFavoriteKid these days....



...as a blur!!

That's him whizzing by in a line with his fellow Winter Drumline team, as they file into the gymnasium for their first performance of the year (photo taken by me, who is parked at the raffle table, volunteering). MyFK tallied it up, and the drumline put in 30 hours this week of rehearsals and meetings. THIRTY HOURS! On top of school and everything else.

He was sort of in tears tonight after the show. His dad had come up to see the performance also, and he was supposed to go off with his dad for the rest of the long weekend...and he just couldn't take it. He's stiff and sore and wants to be home in his own bed with all his comforts about him. I couldn't refuse. But so much for my kid-free weekend. And he has performances almost every Saturday for the month of March, so there will be more rehearsals and performances for him...and more volunteering and less kid-free weekends for me.

Oh, well.

In a few years high school will be over, and it will probably feel like I blinked and the time disappeared...and then I will long for the extra time together. At least that's how I'm framing it ;-)

Honestly, I am SO proud of MyFk. He worked real hard to audition and get the slot in this year's team. It's not his first year in band, but his first year of drumming...and he has just totally rocked it.

snaps on saturday

smells like...



....teen spirit??


When your boyfriend is the audio engineer for an all ages, teen-band rock concert, you actually get the rare opportunity to see your kid in a mosh pit.

hooooboy!

And you thought that snare drum was somethin' eh???

Whaddya have to say about this?!?!



THAT would be TheEx's (early) X-mas gift to MyFavoriteKid. Which he purchase but will be kept at my house (I thought that sort of noisy gift-giving was something grandparents do, not parents!! Sheesh!).

Nah, in all seriousness, I was totally on board.

It was TheEx's idea to get a drum kit for MyFK, and it was he that shelled out for it...but it really was a team effort on some level. It was TheMostImportantGuy (being a drummer himself) who offered to help look for a really good used kit on Craigslist, and it was also TheMIG who set the drums up while TheEx had MyFK out of the house for a couple of hours. That way it was a full on wonderful surprise. My role in this? It was me who cleared out the den to make space, and I also gave up my living room carpet to go underneath it (I'd be wanting to change the color of the living room Flor tiles anyhow, so it was the perfect excuse.

But my real contribution?? I agreed to tolerate drumming in my house.

Sometimes I want to run around the house pretending to be MrsBennet from Pride and Prejudice...."No one knows what I suffer!!" Or maybe, "You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion on my poor nerves."


All I can say is, at least I was smart enough to only allow an electronic drum kit and not an acoustic one!

simple holiday meal.

Possibly a little too simple.



First night of Chanukah, and it was a very simple dinner at my house with both my parents and MyFavoriteKid. The dinner was so simple that I served a store bought whole roasted chicken that came already cut into pieces. What a slacker (and to believe I went to culinary school). Hold yer horses, though. I even bought the latkes. They were fresh and handmade, but certainly not by me.

My only honest contribution to the meal was roasted vegetables served warm on a bed of greens and tossed with a citrus vinaigrette (at least I made that myself).

The truth of the matter is that when I think about the meal that accompany the Jewish holidays, what usually comes to mind as being the most enjoyable part of them is that my mom makes all the family recipes with the traditional foods. I don't know "family recipe" it is though, when I am her daughter, and I can't even make them. And I used to be a chef. It's not that I don't have an interest in learning, I'm a foodie, for crying out loud. Actually, when I was in culinary school, and had to do a project that included and essay for an ethnic foods class. I did a full report on my mom's Matzoh Ball Soup, and I got the best grade in the class. But I still have never made a matzoh ball myself. It's almost like somewhere in me knows that if I learn how to make the family recipes, mom might stop making them! hahaha *sigh* I laugh, but the best part of holidays themselves sometimes is looking forward to these recipes we only get sometimes once a year.

As I was setting the table tonight, and getting ready to reheat latkes and roasted chicken, I felt like such a poser. I get that feeling every once in awhile. Where I realize I am 44 years old, but feel like I am faking, or playing house or something. Drives me nuts, that feeling.

At dinner, MyFK stood up and made the toast before the meal. He toasted me, saying I was such a great mom and took such good care of him and how appreciative he was of me. It bowled me over. And I had a hard time absorbing it on some level, because there I was being a half-assed Jewish mom who bought the latkes. Hahaha. Laugh, but it's kinds sad, really.

It really is my turn to start hostessing these holiday meals. Which means it's finally time to grow up and learn how to make da' foods.



(pardon typos on nonsense...I don't have time to edit. Sleep calls!)

joy.

This week is finals week for MyFavoriteKid, and as of 1:58pm tomorrow (I know--what an odd time) he is officially on vacation for 3 weeks.

The band teacher let the Winter Drumline kids take their instruments home for winter break.



You just let that sink in for a minute.

And then I'll just let you write the rest of this post for me in your own head.
K?

;-)

just so you know who i'm dealing with....

MyFavoriteKid says that I blow "everything" out of proportion, and he insists that I make an annoyingly big deal out of things that he believes to be trivial. (Like say, a missed homework assignment. Lo, the gap between parent and child.)

For weeks he has been trying to build a case for how out of whack I am, stopping me mid-sentence anytime I say anything that sounds even remotely exaggerated.

This is an actual conversation that took place between me and my 14-year old son in the car at 6:45am on the way to school:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Me: "....so can you please close the lid on the box of band-aids so it doesn't explode all over the place?"

MyFavoriteKid: "See what I mean??!!!! MOM, you exaggerate about EVERYTHING!!! A box of band-aids does not explode!"

"Well, I disagree. I mean sure, it wouldn't be like a bomb went off or something. But have you ever seen what happens when a box of band-aids gets turned upside down and 48 band-aids go "*spwloosh*" all over the place??! It happens to be about as exploded as a box of band-aids can get."

"It's still an exaggeration."

"Well, you call it an exaggeration, I call it using colorful language. "

"WELL, MOM....you should really call it a hyperbole. And the definition of a hyperbole is EXTREME EXAGGERATION. So therefore....

You.

Exaggerate."



And that is the teenager I am dealing with ;-)

an entirely different post than what i had planned for today.

Well, I was about to sit and type for a bit, but drama and teen-angst are ever pervasive.

At the beginning of the school year, MyFavoriteKid fell behind right out of the gate. He met and worked with each of his teachers individually, submitted the late work, and pulled his grades back up. Quite up. Straight A's.

After that, I spent a few weeks of monitoring him, but then he asked me to give him the benefit of the doubt and let him try to stay on track with less supervision. He wanted to prove he could do it himself and said that he wanted to move into feeling more independent. I've limited my checking in to just the general, "So how much homework do you have today," and, "Are you on track in all of your classes?"

I should get the DingBatMomOfTheYear award for not quietly supplementing that line of questioning by continuing to check the school's homework reporting website on a daily basis. Nooooo, I just figured MyFK's word was good as gold, considering the lesson he'd learned only just several weeks ago.

WELL. I just logged on to the school's website. He's not doing baaaad ....but it is painfully clear that he is headed down the wrong path again. MyNotSoFavoriteAtTheMomentKid has been lying about the amount of homework he has and skipping a few assignments here and there, and it's starting to bite him in the ass. Which means, not being responsible, and not telling me the truth (which pisses me off just as much, if not more so...although I'm trying not to take it personal. Ha.). He even told me that if I logged on and saw some assignments missing, that he had already spoken to his teacher, and she said it was a glitch in the system with her entering grades and she said she had reported it and it was being fixed.

I mean, that is not even a little white lie. That's a big fat convoluted let's make up dog-ate-my-homework type shit, and I am pissssssed off.

So. I have to go hover for awhile, in between searching for some articles to read about parenting teenagers and teaching them to be more responsible.

Any suggested reading materials, peeps??

the highlight of my day...

Let me set the scene:

It's 6:55am and I've only had a haylf a cup o' joe. I am driving MyFavoriteKid to school for his 7am pre-school marching band practice. We are rolling up to the curb when MyFk announces:

"I've been talking to MyBestBud, and we've decided that instead of going to a "regular" college, we are just going to go to a community college. It will save you money! So you're okay, with that mom...right??! Okay! Bye!!"

The car door is now open and he has one foot out the door.

*ahem*

To which I of course shout after him, "Let's talk about this later, when we have more time, ok?!"


Now, I'm not against community college guys. In fact I myself went to a community college. But it was because I didn't have the grades or the financial means to go elsewhere. In my 30's I even made use of a trade school (culinary), but that was a career choice-- a career change, actually.

My concern, with a child that is only just beginning high school this year, is that he set his going target a little low. I know that some of this is due to the fact that MyBestBud's dad is presently out of work and that his friend is setting his own target low because of that, because he is recognizing financial despair....but I actually come from the camp that MyBestBud should therefore be setting his target even higher and striving for a scholarship.

I come from the camp that if MyFK wants to go a community college that it should be his choice, not his only option, and that his next four years of high school should be spent aiming to set himself towards the place of being able to make the choice. To have options. I'm not the type of parent to push my kid in a direction he doesn't want to go.....but I'm not about to let him spend the next four years aiming for the low target, either.


I'm thrilled to report that TheMostImportantGuy is willing to sit down and be part of this conversation with MyFK tonight, because MyFK doesn't really view TheMIG as a parental figure. He views him as just a really cool older guy who has his shit together and has a good job and also still does fun stuff on the side. But one of the things TheMIG does is a whoooole lot of hiring and firing, and he regularly screens piles and piles of resumes, so I feel he can give a completely different perspective, and hopefully one that MyFK can hear.

So now over chinese food tonight, I get to have the talk.
The first of a kajillion, I am sure LOL.

say buh-bye

MyFavoriteKid headed out this afternoon for his 8th grade trip to Washington D.C.



We've been apart before, lots. He's even been on a week-long trip with school before. But it was at a camp one hour from home. This trip includes a trip by airplane, a lot more running around from place to place, the need for him to manage his own funds, and I shouldn't forget to mention that the kids are in their hotel rooms without chaperones (even though there is a supervising guard in the hallway).

I dunno. This trip just feels...."bigger".

This is also the first time that I've felt like the teachers in attendance were a couple of disorganized boobs, and it is making me nervous. But I have faith. Once they land in D.C., all is orchestrated by a touring company.

playing with the camera today

mirrored egg shapes behind chain link
on 5th Street, South of Market, San Francisco

I particularly like the first shot, because if you look closely at one of the shards of mirror, you can see part of my face in it ;-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today was MyFavoriteKid's first day back at school since the winter break. The morning was a bit of shock, both because of the early wake-up call, but also because it was 29-degrees when he headed out for the bus stop. Sunny California??!! Yah. Right.

Tonight I've been working on some writing for the blog (preliminary convalescent hospital stuff), but I keep being interrupted by parenting issues. I have a defiant child making waves around here, and it's making me crabby.

My teenager has become quite the teenager-ish teenager as of late. It's no surprise to me that he would at some point grow into the years where he would find fault with everything I do, I just have not quite figured out how to respond to it yet.

I am no longer cool, I can't do anything right...and I know that this part of his growing up, and I know I'm not supposed to take any of it personally. But I also refuse to take any of his bullshit. And it's also easier said than done.

Once again, he is having a growth spurt and my parenting skills sadly lag behind a beat.
It's been like that since he was a baby, really.
Just when I got used to parenting a baby that could sit up, he started crawling, and whole new set of parenting skills were required for that. And just when I figured out the parenting skills that went with the crawling behavior, he started walking, thereby requiring new skills. On and on it went like that, and he would always leap first, and then my parenting would have to catch up to him. Over the years the leaps got further and further apart, but in this last year or two, as he's grown into becoming a teenager, it's felt like the changes are happening almost as fast as when he was a toddler! (and it times it kinda feels like I am dealing with a toddler sometimes!---a creature who you cannot reason with, who is trying to become his own separate entity, who is prone to unwarranted outbursts, who wants to do everything himself and thinks he knows it all... but also still want his mommy--whee!)

I'm sure, like always, I will figure this teenage thing out just in time for him to be done with this phase and be onto his next great thing.

a sad story

On Monday, MyFavoriteKid came in the front door after school with little tears welled up in his little eyes (sorry, he will always be my little guy on some level), and the first words out of his mouth were, "Today was a very bad day. Want to hear about it?"

Oh my god, I am so happy that he is 13 and even wants to speak to me at all, let alone about something that is upsetting him. Are you kidding me?? "YAH I want to hear about it."

"There are two sisters that go to my school, one in 6th grade, the other in 8th, and they were driving down to Los Angeles over the weekend with their grandmother, and there was a car accident, and the 8th grader is in the hospital, but the 6th grader and the grandmother died."

I expressed the shock and sadness that came automatically. We talked about what the day was like at school (a stupor for everyone, including staff, it sounds like). We talked about how well he knew the girls (he knows the 8th grader, although not that closely; it's more like he has close friends that were friends with her, so it's once removed, basically...but he knows the 6th grader from the monthly peer mentoring group he is part of, where the older kids help the younger kids with their transition into middle school). He talked with me about the how the other kids at school were handling it, and he no problem at all identifying for himself that he was feeling very upset and he thinks it's because it reminded him of when I had my car accident (his eyes welled up even more with that comment, and so we talked about that for awhile, too). I asked if there were counselors on site, and he said there was, but he didn't go talk to one because there were lost of other kids that were very upset and crying and he felt like they needed it more than he did.

I have since learned that this tragedy ripples out beyond the boundaries of the middle school, because the mother of these two girls is the custodian of one of the two local elementary schools, and that there are also two younger brothers in this family, and they attend the other elementary school.

*sigh* It's big.

So I got an email from MyFK's homeroom teacher yesterday. This middle school has a really cool homeroom situation, if I haven't mentioned it before. A homeroom class is made up of 30 kids: ten 6th-graders, ten 7th-graders, ten 8th graders, and you have the same homeroom teacher your entire three years in middle school. The older kids get to know the younger ones. Your homeroom teacher really sees you grow and evolve, and the homeroom teacher also serves as a front-line counselor in a way. I am very lucky that MyFK has a great teacher for his homeroom period (she is also his 8th grade accelerated language arts teacher this year).

Anyhow. So as I was saying. I got an email from MyFK's homeroom teacher. She was thanking me for my donation of a case of tissues (she had requested some in anticipation of cold season), and she said that she was really glad she had them because they went through a whole bunch on Monday after the announcement about the girls and the accident. I replied that she was welcome, and that I had heard about the accident, that MyFK was upset by it, and that he expressed a big interest in a poetry project some of the kids want to put together to give to the family. She replied back to me that she had sat with each student indiviually that day for a few moments (man, I love her), and that MyFK said that he was fine....but that she did notice he did not seem himself at all on Tuesday or Wednesday, and when she asked him if something was up, he said he was tired. I have since checked in with MyFK, and he IS really just tired (growth spurt!), but he did say the air is really thick with sadness at school, and it's not like you can ignore it.

I guess you really dont need the details of these exchanges, but the general gist is that I am soooo glad that MyFK feels like he can bring this stuff home and open up to me about it. I feel so honored to the recipient of that openness. I am so glad that he has grown into an empathetic young man, and he is feeling inspired to do something to help (or to help himself move through it). I don't often pat myself on the back for doing a good job, and I can't take credit for how he has turned out (he is definitey his own person, that's for sure), but I do believe that I had a hand in teaching him this skillset, and I am feeling really really good about it.

It just started to rain here.

MyFK is working on a poem. I am making a card for the family.

-----
Sent from my iPad

last minute post

Just got home from dance class and sitting in an arseload of traffic due to nighttime construction. Had me a little midnight snack. Was all ready to go to bed, and then..whammo! Realized I had forgotten about posting. Ugh. Blogging365 is mostly a really good thing for me, but on nights like tonight, I just don't know.

Today was quite full, and one of the things on my To-Do list was to hit the office supply store. I went in to buy a ream of paper for MyFavoriteKid's school (they have humbly requested paper as a donation...but it would not surprise me one bit, given the state of things these days, if this request is just the first of many). I also picked up some basic school supplies for MyFK, because there aint nothin' like the smell of a fresh pack of college-ruled paper to ring in the new school year.

I cannot believe summer (well, summer break) is almost over. He goes back next Wednesday, but there are already school functions this week.

* I just had a wicked case of de ja vu. Did I write this exact same post the same time last year??*

Last night we spent a couple of hours at registration night. Today, tomorrow, and Monday MyFK is participating in an 8th grade training program called WEB. That stands for "Where Everyone Belongs". It's a program where a group of 8th graders step into a mentor role, and they assist small groups of incoming 6th graders to feel welcome. They give them tours of the school and whatnot. The WEB Leaders become a resource for younger kids for the first few weeks, and actually throughout the year. It really helps smooth out the normal kinks that occur when there are new kids on the block. It keeps the big kids from picking on the little kids. When MyFK was in 6th grade, he felt so welcomed by his WEB Leaders that he vowed to apply for the Leadership team once he was old enough, and sure enough, he did.

Today they had some basic training, and tomorrow they will match up the WEB Leaders into pairs, one boy and one girl. Each pair of Leaders will get a small group of 6th grade kids to work with on Monday, which is when the 6th graders have their orientation. The WEB Leaders also show up early on Wednesday, the first day of school, to be of help to kids who get lost getting to their classes.


Me: So how did it go today?

MyFK: Good. Tomorrow they match us up in Leadership pairs. I hope I get someone hot.

Me: Hmm. Ok. Well, do you really think that's the most important thing? I mean, if it were me, I'd rather be paired up with someone who will do their share of the workload. Seems like a much better than being paired with someone who is hot but makes me do all the work. No??

MyFK: Oh. Yah. Good point. I guess I should wish for that, too. But I don't want to just wish for helpful. I think I'll wish for hot and helpful.



He has a point, I suppose.
But still.
Lordy, please get me through the next few years of parenting.
Please.

kvetchfest

It seems I am just full of complaints today. I mean, why don't we just start with this one:

It's friggin' JULY, and the weather-lady shows up on-air this morning wearing a TURTLENECK SWEATER.


WTF?!! Gah.
I swear, I can hear my tomato plants outside crying.


Today did not go at all how I how I had it planned, and I should have been prepared for that, because the problems began last night.

MyFavoriteKid was with TheEx this past weekend, and around 6pm or so yesterday, TheEx called to say the drop-off would be later than usual because they wanted to go see the movie Inception. I don't know much about the movie other than it's an action-packed psychological drama involving dream-states. I did see enough previews of it to know that it had the potential to make MyFK's head spin a little bit. But they went and saw it anyway, despite my better (than TheEx's) judgment.

MyFK was up the entire night. He couldn't sleep. His tummy hurt. Could he please sleep in my bed? Could he sleep with the television on in the background?

In other words, TheEx basically did to me the thing that grandparents are supposed to be famous for doing (and he does this OFTEN). And I could have scratched out his eyeballs come this morning. Years of this, I have dealt with. He's the party guy, I'm the parent. He makes the mess, he leaves it on my doorstep. The only good news is that he has reinforced (once again) that I made a really sound choice when I made him AnEx.

(ooo that was mean! see?!! I'm not that nice of a person!)


Another highlight of my day was dealing with my aching back, which has suddenly decided to act up again for some unknown reason (perhaps it's because I shouted out that I "cannot STAND" TheEX, so the Universe has served me up a big fat dish of not being able to stand now. sheesh.).

And thennnnnnn, MyFK and I spent most of the day taking Flash, his leopard gecko, to a vet that specializes in reptiles, because guess who else woke up on the wrong side of the tank today? The gecko. One hundred and seventy dollars and five hours of time invested, and he still doesn't look quite right. He has an eye infection, seems to be having some trouble with his skin due to his last round of shedding, and he might drop his tail (they grow back, though...wish I had his mad skillz).


The plan now is to go to bed and hope that when I wake up in the morning it is all just GONE. I am going to wish it to be warm and sun-shiny, and that my back feels like it did when I was 17 (man that was a good year), and that the gecko is going to wink at me that all is okay in his little world.

All of these things could actually happen.

Wishing TheEx would no longer be an ass?? Well....that would just be a fruitless waste of wishing.

Ooo today was crazy busy. Errand upon errand, phone call after phone call, email after email, and loads of paperwork still to be done.

The errand part of the evening ended with my taking MyFavoriteKid out for dinner and two new pairs of shoes. He had beaten his Converse into shreds. He wanted to get a pair of Vans for lookin' cool, but he's also finally agreed with me that I am I right (?!?!) and that he needs more supportive shoes than he can wear to school on the days he has PE (they have wee tiny gym lockers that hold their uniforms, but are not big enough for shoes. lame.). His feet have been hurting him. And I looooove Converse and Vans, but they are canvas, and they are totally flat and have no arch support.

Anyhow...so we get out to the store, and we have his feet measured, and get this one:

The kid is two sizes bigger. TWO SIZES.

No wonder his feet hurt!! Sheesh.


We had purchased those now shredded Chucks just back around November or December I think, and I didn't just wing it with the shoe size, I had him measured that time, too! He was a size 7....and now, just a few months later....a size 9!

He's also eating like a horse.


Here's comes teenage-hood.

happy string & the list o' kvetch

Down at the bottom of this post you will find, as promised, my Craptacular List o' Kvetch.
Personally, I'd skip it and just read the nice stuff I'm gonna put here up top. This is my attempt to bury doody. My goal for tomorrow it to bury the doody even deeper with a photo heavy post about the SF Ravelry Meet-Up.
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Happy String

Last night, after that lame-assed post I wrote for y'all, things actually improved a bit. MyFavoriteKid came out of his room with a very long rubber-band, and said, "Look what I can do with this, mom!" What he did was make a tangled up stretchy mess, but what I realized he was trying to do was some sort of Cat's Cradle string game. Well, I was all over that.

We ditched the rubber band and replaced it with a loop of string (no shortage of that around here), and then jumped on YouTube to watch a couple of How-To videos. I used to be a pro a this as a kid, but I was seriously due for a refresher. It's totally like riding a bike, though. It was like I was in a time warp. Within a few minutes MyFK and I were side by side with our loops of string doing this:



I never thought I'd get a chance to do something like this with him. I never thought he'd be interested. When I was kid, this was something us girls did on the playground and the boys steered clear. Like, a wide berth, if I do reacall. Turns out times have changed, because several of MyFK's guy buddies have been running around with string trying to figure this stuff out.

I went to bed thinking, "Ya' know, when I was little girl and I learned how to do this, it may very well have been my first love of string! Watching it twist and turn and seeing how it wove into itself and what part your hands played in it, and then *poof!*. You wove it into some sort of magic. This may have been the beginnings of what inspired me to knit, I fell asleep wondering.

Except when I woke up this morning, I realized that the Cat's Cradle thing was our playground activity in 6th grade...but I learned how to knit when I was only 7 years old, and I knit a cardigan for my doll in a 4th grade after school program. So the Cats Cradle games came after.

I wonder what, if anything, came before the first time I picked up yarn and needles at age 7. I'm starting to have images of granny square blankets, and holiday gifts made by my aunt, and sitting and watching my great-grandma fiddling with something, but I'm just not sure.
I wish I could remember.

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Seriously, I'd just move along.

The KVETCH---as in, a rant that goes something like, "Can't you people just stay outta may way? My life is difficult enough with ME getting in my OWN way!"


* The State of California has sent me a letter. It was dated Monday 5/10, is postmarked Tuesday 5/11, and I got it late Thursday evening 5/13. It says I am required to appear in their offices at 10am on Tuesday 5/18 (to determine the fate of my insurance coverage) with a whole stack of papers and details that I cannot put together that quickly. The letter says I can call if there is a problem and make other arrangements. I phoned first thing the next morning to say I have a problem (short notice, plus I have a hugely important physical therapy at that exact same time). I got a voicemail telling me to leave a message and they will call me back in two business days. That was Friday. I got no call today, Monday.
Thanks, people.


* MyFK's drama teacher has decided there will be an post-productions cast party this Thursday, which she just announced this afternoon. I know it's still a few days away so I have a chance to wrap my brain around it, but here's the rub: this party of hers is to be held after school from 330pm to 5pm. ALSO HAPPENING THAT NIGHT? Every student from ALL classes are required to show up between 6pm and 730pm WITH parents in tow, to meet in the kids' homeroom so the kids may give an oral presentation about what they have learned this year. If they kids and parents do not show, the kids will fail a simple pass/fail homeroom. So I guess between 5pm and 6pm I am supposed to pick MyFK up after the drama party, drive him home, feed him dinner, make sure he's got his homework done, and get him back for his presentation (which includes dressing up and bringing props).
I should maybe tell you that all of this comes on the heels of her forcing required play rehearsals DAILY the same week that the state tests were taking place. I notified that principal that his letters home about, "Make sure your child is well fed and well rested," were ignored by his own staff. Next year's productions will take place earlier in the year.
Anyhow: Thanks, lady.


* The math teacher, the math department, the school administrators, the school district, and/or the state of California (not sure who to be pissed of at yet, so why not just be annoyed with all of them). This year MyFK is taking 7th grade advanced placement math (Algebra I), and there are two classrooms of 36 kids taking this one. Next year, for the 8th grade advanced placement math (Algebra II), there will only be one classroom of 36. Last Friday there was a surprise test issued (the day after annual State testing was completed--meaning, the day that the kids finally let their guards down after two weeks of stress), and this one test will determine which 36 kids will move forward. What this means is that if even if the student got an "A" in the class all year long, and even got, let's say, a 91% score on this surprise test, if he ranks as student number 37 with his grade on this one pop quiz? He/she will be repeating Algebra I again next year. So I might get to rally and fight this one (energy out), or I will have to spend all of the 2010/2011 school year listening to my kid complain about repeating the work (also energy out). There are a few other ideas I have to make this better, but I need to get some info from the school before I turn into a tornado.
So School folk?? Thanks, to all of you, too.
(*update to this: MyFK thinks he ranked 21 out of 36 and that he is in. I have no written proof yet, though.)


* My immediate dance community. I also feel very restricted by the scheduling issues that keep arising between my co-teachers and fellow performers when it comes to teaching and/or performing. This has been going on for over a year now, over and over again in various forms, and it once again points to the fact that I am overdue in assessing whether or not this is working for me anymore. I'm not as pissed off at my dance-folk as I am at the state or the school folk, but it's still in the same category---but if there was more flexibility and consideration in regards to scheduling coming from my counterparts, I wouldn't be in this place of figuring out if I need to basically redesign my entire creative life. So, Thanks.



There's more, but I'm sick of thinking about it and I'm sick of rambling. Some of these are big deals, some of them are not--I know that. I know that I am just making them big deals. I know I do that. I am the Queen of Doing That.


Now. Tomorrow. Pictures. And we'll just make this all go back to being no big deal.