The Average Blogger

And Another Six Months....

I have deep respect for those writers who can work all day, write all night, raise a family, AND blog on a regular basis.  I have two blogs, and while I'm better at the other one than this one, both took a serious hit this year. This may be a sign I should shut this one down, but I just ... can't seem to bring myself to do it. Every few months I get the urge to assess and check in, and because the laptop is more of a habit than a journal at this point (and because blogging software is so much nicer about organizing and keeping things chronological and legible) I just do it here. 

So, OK. Checking in. 

Getting the book published was a struggle, but did finally happen. I think I am a bad client because I am in publishing myself and know how to do this stuff and really would have been quite happy to format everything and do it all myself. The things I wanted help on -- editing and citations -- I was told were fine. I don't think they are. The book has been out three months and I can't bring myself to look. I will probably never look.

Once the book came out, it was off to the races. I did two festival events, one bookstore event, and shopped the thing around a bunch of places that were low-hanging fruit. I went to a really cool Living History event in St. Louis centered around the 1872 election. This weekend I'm going to spend the night in the jail where the events of the book took place, and people are going to listen to me talk about it. (Which makes me equal parts queasy and excited. The talking part, not the sleeping in jail part. Not that I am accustomed to sleeping in jails.) 

Meanwhile, the kid flew through the second half of school, got some new meds and a counselor, had a reasonably OK summer with two great weeks of camp, one good week with my parents (as far as anyone would tell me), and a few weeks of slave labor at home that he took with varying degrees of acceptance. He's now back in school and seems to be doing fine, although his even keel of mood seems to come at a cost of losing the straight academic As (though nothing lower than a B, so that's not horribly horrible). I'm not sure why this is, and while I'm OK with the trade-off for now, I want a better understanding of why. The current plan, as far as I know, is to get him back into 'regular' school for high school, so he can sort of shuffle into the mainstream at the same time everyone else is trying to figure out the whole new weird thing and he won't stand out too much. I guess we'll see how that shakes out. 

Work continues to be work for Not Your Average Blogger and myself.  The work retreat was fun, I got to visit with friends and hang out with colleagues and generally not do as much work as I usually do, so that was good. 

In June, we took a whirlwind family trip to Austin when NYAB decided to drive there on business. We had some horrible spats on the way there which I think happened mostly because NYAB knew he was saddled with his family because his wife was spitefully annoyed that he took two extra days to drive when he could have flown there in four hours and not left her home alone with the kid for the extra time. The joke's on him, though: While we were there, one of my dearest and oldest friends took us around the UT film school, and I'm pretty sure the kid was so blown away by it that he may end up there. Which means his politics will skew wildly from ours, we will have horrible fights, the kid will decide we are stupid and choose to spend time with his in-laws instead of us, and it will all be because NYAB just HAD to drive to Texas that one time. Or perhaps I am just wildly speculating to the most absurd outcome possible. 

Fourth of July, we took a boat tour around the Inner Harbor and watched fireworks. It was fun, but I'm not sure I'd go again. 

 In August, we went to my cousin's wedding in Massachusetts. It was a lot of fun and great to see family that I don't see very often. I speculated that the next time I'd see them all again would be a funeral.  As it turned out, I was right, though it was sooner than I'd anticipated.  My grandfather died in October, and there most of us were, together again, but in Illinois. 

In between, I won four blue ribbons for jelly at the county fair, saw Lyle Lovett in concert (again), went to the timeshare and read books almost the entire time, went to what I think will be the last DragonCon for us, maybe, and Thomas got to meet some Stargate heroes and bond with other nerds, and school started again. 

And now the Cubs are in the World Series, which is nice for a lot of my friends and not-so-nice for assorted other friends who are Dodger fans.  So that catches us up, for now. We'll meet again, as Vera Lynn sang... 

 

Catching Up

Another three and a half months have gone by. Must be time to update the blog. 

I don't now what it is that gets me in and out of the habit of posting. I think it is a combination of having too much to do at work, not feeling that I have much to say that is worth reading, and being mildly disgusted by people who seem to think they do have things worth reading (that often aren't).  I don't want to be That Person; someone who thinks she is imparting life wisdom but really is just generating eye rolls and raucous laughter. (I don't think I'm in much danger of this, actually. I don't have any life wisdom, and I'm either paranoid or snarky enough to be the first among eye-rollers and guffaw-ers. But still.)

So, here's what's what, in the interest of the Young Prince's Future Biography:

He began a new school in January. It's a "separate day school" that appears to focus more on teaching kids to be civilized human beings and less on academics.  This is turning out to be a good thing, in many ways. He's allowed to make mistakes without being kicked out for weeks on end. There seems to be a better understanding about intent; he's no longer being sent home because he inadvertently traumatized some crybaby who happened to be walking by when he cracked an ill-advised joke about Doctor Strangelove. I am sad that he's not in band, but that's really about it.  I'm worried he's losing academic cred because this place doesn't have honors classes, but the more I read about college campuses and safe spaces these days and the delicate flowers that they are turning out, the less excited I am about him ending up at any of them, either. He'll probably end up expelled for writing a paper saying free speech is extinct in classrooms. But when push comes to shove with Putin, I'll throw in with my kid over the one who can't hear the word "missile" without having a heart attack -- any day, twice on Sunday.

In February, we stayed indoors and worked a lot. Not Your Average Blogger finished his second book and I edited it. 

In March, we went to the Festival of the Book and had a lovely time. I had a great birthday and got lots of very cool books for a new project I'm thinking about, plus a crazy generous gift from my parents that will literally get buried on our property as we invest in a new septic tank.  

When we got back from that, I got a publisher for my book, and it will be out this summer. So now I'm gearing up for all manner of promotional opportunities, and the stuff I'll need to do it.  Rah!  I don't know if that will involve more updates here, but it will definitely involve more posts at the other blog, so be on the lookout for that! 

This past week, we went to New York to see an exceptional young lady perform at Carnegie Hall with her high school symphony (in a stunningly good performance). I am acquainted with said young lady because I went to high school with her mom, and she and I got to hang out the day before at the 9/11 memorial, plus adjoining pub, along with her sister. The YP was happy because he got to see a couple spots used in scenes of movies he likes, NYAB was happy because the food was fantastic. It was a nice trip, and an amazing performance, and the Essex House provided sumptuous digs (and delivered a valuable lesson to the YP in the practice of Not Touching the Minibar).  On Thursday, NYAB and I went to Opening Day and had a great time (even though the YP opted to stay home—or maybe because of that; I think we all actually had more fun doing what we wanted to do). 

Nothing much of note coming up, though. More work. Hoping for some book events. Maybe some local history tours. And a work retreat in California at the end of June.  So, see you around sometime, maybe.  

 

 

Autumn

So, I did manage to get the Young Prince to decorate the yard in time for Halloween, and he had a nice day of the Actual 'Een—starting with his friend's bar mitzvah in the morning, progressing through his music lessons, spending the early evening trick-or-treating with some neighborhood kids, and wrapping up the night with some horror movie viewing par excellence.  

(His assessment: "I enjoyed going and wasn't bored or anything—but I think I'd learn more at services where most of the talking is done in English,"  "I am now learning my third Christmas song on piano, and I don't know why because it's not like anybody will come over to hear me play them," and, "Look, I got Reese's cups!") 

I spent most of that weekend working, wrapping up with a 32-hour stint from Sunday morning until Monday evening. I then took two days later in the week to clean house, do laundry, and take the YP to the allergist. Turns out he is allergic to virtually everything all year round, and in two weeks he begins a weekly regimen of shots that will last three to five years, but theoretically render him invulnerable in the long run.  Or so they say. 

We are also taking him for another assessment this week for sensory issues to see if something else is at play in his brain and whether someone can figure out how to make him less twitchy and grumpy. I have no idea what will come of that. Can't hurt, might help, probably won't do much of anything. And then next week, we find out what the school system has in mind as far as accommodating his assorted issues. I'm sure you can imagine how excited we all are about that bit of business. 

Meanwhile, Not Your Average Blogger is proceeding apace on his book and job and things seem to be going well on that score.

I had a possible nibble on my own writing effort, but it fell through, so I'm on round 2 of researching publishers.  I know I only need to find one match, but jeezopete.  You know, I hated dating, and this is an even worse variety of the "you're really nice, but..." song and dance. I suppose being told that my book is well written and interesting is preferable to being called illiterate and tasteless, but it's sort of like hearing "you look nice and smell good" as the lead-in to "but I'm just not that into you." It's complimentary, but ultimately not terribly helpful or much salve to the ego.  

So all of this agita has conspired to make me fairly preoccupied, alternating with ridiculously sleepy. As a result, not much else is happening. Barring some sort of massive upheaval, I expect the holding pattern will continue through Thanksgiving, if not the end of the year. 

Anyone want to come visit for the holidays and give me a reason to decorate and cook (and the kid an external reason to keep practicing his piano lessons)? 

Another Month Gone

Summer was not good for my resolution to blog more. 

Although I love writing and do count it as a sanity saver, summer was very good for my overall quality of life.

I did fall into the trap of working too much and overcommitting on that front. But I also did things on the weekends, went on vacations, read things, watched things, listened to people, and learned a fair bit. (I also judged a fair bit--mostly in my head, but occasionally to sympathetic friends who validated my eye-rolls.)

Since I last posted:

-- We went as a family to see Elvis Costello and Steely Dan in concert. It was fantastic. The Young Prince enjoyed it, Not Your Average Blogger and I knew the words to the songs, and because we are all a million years old, it was over by 10, which was great for a work night.  

-- We saw the Indiana Jones exhibit mentioned in the previous post. It was interesting. The YP enjoyed it because there were lots of "behind the filming" stories, which he focused on almost exclusively. But NYAB and I were also drawn in because there was also plenty of "history stuff" (as it has come to be called in my family, thanks to the dear friend who introduced me to NYAB).  

-- In the same week, the YP got his first lesson at the wheel of a car and his first kiss from a girl. As far as I know, there has been no follow-up on either front.  We also went to see Grease in the movie theater, and the YP was disgruntled--nay, vexed--to learn it was a sing-along, with the lyrics and cartoons on the screen and the audience in tuneful uproar. Everyone else enjoyed it, though. 

-- The last week of August, we went to the time-share in the mountains. It was a rousing success, in my opinion. NYAB got a fair bit of book-work done, the YP and I went on water slides and a zip line, we went on two "real" hikes and one very short one. (Well, it was a long one for NYAB -- the YP and I rode the chairlift up the mountain and scrabbled around at the top. NYAB eschewed the ride for terra firma.)

-- We went to DragonCon.  Because the YP was under contract to write about his experiences, he got them posted faster, and written at least as well as I'd have done. You can read that here and here. 

And then we returned to school and work and blah blah.  Doctor Who resumed, and I am happy to say that the first episode of this season made up for almost all of the horrible, preachy, off-putting sanctimony that came before. Tomorrow night, we are going to see Psycho on the big screen (no sing-along this time). I am unreasonably excited about this.  

And since I am (theoretically) back to blogging on a regular basis, I may have a review for you next week! Time will tell! 

Whoops.

Where did July go?  How did I miss an entire month of posting? Oh, right, I was off doing stuff. And I did a fair bit of offline journaling, allowing me to vent my political opinions without adding to the shouting match that social media has become, and which I'm finding increasingly distasteful. 

So, let's see.  Work is still crazy busy, although I had time to spend 3 days in project management training that didn't do much except show me that I learned a lot more about organizational efficacy (and buzzwords) at my previous job than I realized. Not Your Average Blogger has also been busy—freelancing, book research, plus a day job.  

As for play time... The Nats game and subsequent fireworks on July 3 were fun, minus a downpour and the fact we were sitting on the wrong side of the park and had to move to see them.  

The next day, we went to the Fourth celebration at Great Meadow, which was really cool. They had a polo exhibition, shot off a bunch of model rockets, did helicopter demonstrations, and had some fun kid activities, along with a really great show.  I also got  lot of reading done while waiting, which was nice. We also ran into NeighborGirl, which was a lovely surprise, especially when I got stung by a bee and she got to see if she had to dig the stinger out. 

The following week, the Young Prince went to his second week of video game camp, right in his wheel house. He liked it enough that he wants to go again next year—and I'm willing to look into sending him for the whole summer, since it means he might actually be able to develop some useful working knowledge related to something he's genuinely interested in and doesn't have to be prodded into spending hours on.

 

However, he didn't get to finish that week, because we bailed and went to Illinois to visit my family for a quick visit while Not Your Average Blogger drove on to Nebraska for Fremont Days and gave a book talk. It was a nice visit, though my dad was flat out for a couple days and the kid was grumpy at having to pitch in and do some work. The only real disappointment was that it had been raining so much for so long that there was no way to go exploring on various back parts of the property without drowning or getting stuck. I did bring home my great-grandfather's rocking horse, which needs a little bit of TLC, so I need to find someone who can administer that kind of attention. 

The following weekend, we went to another baseball game. It was Star Wars day, which kept the YP more interested and engaged than usual. We also had a run-in with an obnoxious fan that NYAB handled most brilliantly and ended with the obnoxious fan calling up a security guard to "deal with" NYAB—and then irritating the security guard so much that he got hauled off his own self, amid applause. It was a lovely story and an excellent teachable moment for the YP, along the lines of "when we tell you not to be an obnoxious jerk, it's so you don't end up like that guy, who obviously didn't realize he was being an obnoxious jerk." And the kid actually did seem to absorb the lesson, which was also satisfying. 

The weekend after THAT, the kid was invited to a friend's house, so NYAB and I took advantage of our freedom and high-tailed it to Charles Town, where we spent a giddy evening gambling and eating a fantastic steak dinner, highlighted on my side with a surprisingly great booze drink that was vaguely reminiscent of the fizzy pink drinks my dad used to make for my mom (and me) when I was in high school. The evening was a rousing success, NYAB made an inadvertently large and risky play on an electronic roulette machine and it paid off magnificently. Even counting dinner, we left ahead of the game. So we went out the next day and blew the winnings on a new tablet/laptop that he can use for working on his next book. 

Last Friday, NYAB and I went to a seminar on PTSD and one of the main guys in my book. The staff historian said the event was posted on Facebook and got all kinds of traffic, but as it turned out we were two of three people in attendance. Still, it was fun to just sit and gab with the guy; we are getting to know him rather well at this point. 

The rest of the weekend was spent at the Quicken Loans National. It was a rough start; the YP was sick when we arrived, then made a miraculous recovery, but resented being hot and prodded to walk the course. He'd finally adjusted his attitude, and been excited to stand about three feet away from Tiger Woods when NYAB felt a twinge in his back and I called a halt to the proceedings while we could all still walk home—and upon arriving there, we all collapsed into TV comas and outright napping. Next day, NYAB and I went back and left the YP at home—and he did the laundry! and folded everything! and brought the baskets up to the bedrooms! 

This weekend, we are going to an exhibit at the National Geographic Museum that's built around the Indiana Jones movies. Apparently it combines real artifacts with props and stuff from the movies. I'm curious to see how they make that work. Maybe I'll actually get back on track and go back to posting regularly, and you will get to read all about it next week.  I suppose it all depends on how things shake out at work. 

Flying Solo

So, on Tuesday, Not Your Average Blogger bailed on the Young Prince and myself for a trip to the Tucson Festival of Books (on the University of Arizona campus, where he spent a happy freshman year), so he could talk on a panel and promote his book.  It sounds like he had a lovely time; he stayed with his brother and had a nice family visit; apparently the festival was terribly crowded and he saw people walking around with his book who weren't at his panel, and he met plenty of smart and fun people at the event. So, yay. 

I am happy to report that the news was very nearly as good on the home front.  The YP and I both tacitly subscribed to the "go along to get along" plan; I tried not to shriek and he tried to hurry up.  Mornings were fairly pleasant. I gave him freedom to dork around during my absence in the afternoons, but once I got home it was time to saddle up and work hard. I proved I'm not a total Tiger Mom, since we had a late night on Thursday and when I woke up Friday I decided we would take a mental health day: sleep in, stay home, do a little old-time homeschooling in terms of math and writing.  It was, in fact, rather pleasant.  We made each other laugh a lot more than we made each other crazy. I think that's the definition of success. 

Saturday saw a little more friction. We had to get up and go to the last session of his bowling league, and he didn't do as well as he could have. We had a couple spats about heedlessness on his part and overreaction on mine. But they didn't last long and smoothed over quickly.  And Sunday was another good day; we got up and did  all kinds of work outside, picking up bazillions of sticks and cleaning up the back yard, then taking a nice drive to Fredericksburg where we ate at Steak and Shake (twice!), I did about 30 minutes of library research, and then we went and visited a couple sites related to the life of the dad of one of my book characters.  When we got home, we both worked more on writing, watched the Walking Dead, and called it a night. 

There was some flurry of emotion over the fact that next weekend is the end-of-bowling-league party and the YP is going to miss it because of another book event (one that we are all going to.)  I am not so fond of single-parenting that I want to do it in perpetuity, especially since the weekends after that will be spent with just me and him driving to and from Illinois for spring break.  (Man, that kid is going to miss a lot of piano lessons.) Plus, I've already signed up a dog sitter. So, yeah. He'll just have to bowl again next year. When his dad is home to take him, and I can sleep late! 

Soaking It In

I've been lapping up a lot of pop culture this week. TV, music, theater, books. 

SiriusXM was doing a free preview through Presidents Day.  I am intrigued. I liked it a lot. I'm not sure I liked it $120-a-year-a-lot, but I'm definitely thinking about it.  The problem is I can see where I'd spend the entire rest of my life listening to the same music I listened to my senior year of high school, rather than actually broadening my horizons. On the other hand, I heard a lot of songs that I hadn't listened to SINCE high school, so that was kind of nice. 

Saturday was Valentine's Day.  Not Your Average Blogger got The Third Man and chocolate. The Young Prince got some Doctor Who toys and some jellybeans.  I got 4-for-1 movies with Heart and Souls, The Matchmaker, Kissing a Fool and Playing for Keeps, plus a box of M&Ms. Then we all three of us went to see Chicago at the National Theater. It was really good. This was the first time I've seen a performance where Roxie blew Velma out of the water—and it's odd, upon thinking about it, given that the whole play follows Roxie's story arc more so than Velma's.  Billy Flynn was played by John O'Hurley (Peterman from Seinfeld,) and he was great.  All in all it was a fantastic show, and except for the terrific snowstorm we walked around in getting to the theater, it was a great Valentine's Day.

Sunday night we watched the whole SNL special. The musical acts were awful.  The Californians was too long. There were a couple other lags.  But coordinating 40 years and that many people into 3 and a half hours was really impressive. I think maybe my favorite bit was the video commemorating the better instances where actors broke character, esp. the bunch in a row of Fallon and Sanz.  

Since Sunday was eaten up with the special, that meant Monday (Presidents Day, a holiday for NYAB and the YP, but not for me) was Downton/Dead/Saul fixes. 2 out of 3 weren't bad.  I spent more time making fun of Walking Dead than enjoying it. Maybe it'll pick up next week.

On the book front: I finished Karen Abbot, and enjoyed it immensely. I also did a little research for my own book and found a memoir by a guy who was in the same company as my murderer, and was happy to see it was on file in our library reference section. I went in Sunday and scanned the book; there were some good bits I can appropriate. 

Today was a snow day.  I had some banked hours, so I spent the day cleaning the house and then we took the snowblower out for its maiden voyage. MONEY WELL SPENT.  Omigod, we blew the whole driveway clean in 15 minutes and I didn't come in and drop dead at the end.  I don't know why we waited this long to get one, I really don't.  So that means two good things came out of this bathroom remodel.  Huzzah! 

The YP's school has already declared tomorrow a snow day as well, but I am pretty sure all our offices will be open. I'm not sure what the plan of attack is.  I know the kid has some writing to do, though. And some reading! 

What a Week

It's been interesting.  A lot of people in my life dealing with issues that aren't my place to discuss. A lot of work things going on that I can't share in public because it's bad form. A lot of stuff in the news that makes me angry and exasperated but there's no point in blathering about because it's not like my opinion would change anyone's mind. A lot of frustration and aggravation and agita. But you know what? Who wants to read about that? Boo hoo, blah blah.  

Let's look on the bright side. I have a lot of people in my life. I have a job. I live in a country where I'm allowed to have opinions. I obviously care about them all or they wouldn't be frustrating and aggravating. I am blessed. 

The happy news is that the Young Prince turned 12. He had a pretty laid-back but I think enjoyable birthday, with gifts he liked and a trip to Steak and Shake for dinner.  And the weather today was amazing—60 degrees!—so we went to the dog park, where the dog was an absolute unsocialized monster, but the YP had an absolute ball playing with the other dogs. That was nice to watch. 

It's weird to watch him. Some days he's amazing and grown up and a joy to behold. I am sure he will grow up to be King of Everything. Some days he's infuriating and foolish and his bad choices leave me gobsmacked. I am sure he will grow up lucky to keep a job as fry cook. I suppose that is the definition of being 12. I am fascinated to see what he turns into. Keeping my fingers crossed, but fascinated. 

In other news, we did a lot of TV this week. Finally wrapped up 30 Rock. Started House of Cards. And I'm really enjoying Sunday night TV.  Tonight, especially, I will be up way too late watching Downton Abbey Better Call the Walking Dead. And loving every minute of it. 

I'm also reading Karen Abbot, which is really enjoyable. I didn't get to read as much as I'd hoped this week, but that just means there's something to look forward to next week, right? 

 

I Got Plenty of Nuthin'

It's weeks like this one that just concluded that are tough for me to blog about -- not because bad things happened, but because so little happened.  I had more work than hours to do it; ditto for Not Your Average Blogger. The bathroom remodel continues apace (tile is in but not grouted) and might be done by next weekend.  The kid plodded through another week of school. The one good thing is that our snowblower purchase seems to be working its mojo so far -- no snow since we put it together.  That's supposed to change Monday, though. 

There were two amusing things that happened.  First, I made it a point this week to drink a different kind of soda each morning instead of my usual defaults.  Having done so, I remember why I had defaults.  Grape soda is overpowering. Orange soda isn't bad, but I like it better watered down with lots of ice.  Strawberry soda is like fizzy liquid Jello. Cream soda is even less thirst-quenching than other sugar drinks. And Cheerwine? I can't even figure out what's up with that.  It's like Dr. Pepper for people who say they don't like Dr. Pepper. I didn't see the point.  So, yeah.  Next week I'll try the flavored waters and see where that gets me. 

The more amusing thing is that today the Young Prince and I went to Rebounderz.  For the uninitiated, this is basically a setup where you bounce around in a room that is entirely trampoline. We spent an hour jumping around and I liked it quite a bit (more than the kid did, I suspect.)  But it was fun enough for both of us that we are talking about going back tomorrow and we have managed to find another exercise option for the next few months when we cannot stand the idea of running around outside. They have a lot of rules, which is understandable.  My problem was that the squares were kind of small, and I have gotten rather fat and don't tuck up as compactly as I used to, so I lacked confidence to try a full flip landing on my feet, but did several landing on my ass, which greatly amused the mom of the other kid we were there with. I am pleased to report that after the first two, I didn't get quite as dizzy, and I rather think I could make this my three-a-week exercise regimen, so maybe by the time summer rolls around I'll be in decent bouncy form. 

Don't hold me to it, however. I'm sure I'll find a bazillion other things I Really Need to Do with that time. Hopefully one of that bazillion will make for more interesting blog fodder than this!  

Best Intentions

So, that resolution to work a 40-hour week kind of went out the window this week. But I did make some progress. I didn't pull any all-nighters, and I Was Not Available for weekend work requested of me. So that's something.  It's like the overtime equivalent of "the earliest I've ever been late." 

The funny thing is, I worked from home two days—once to make sure all went well with the contractor and once for a snow day (on which, once again, we saw nary so much as a single flake of snow. Making up for last week, I guess.)  Plus, the contractor came in again today to make up for the lost time from our iced-over driveway, and all three of us were watching a movie.  Since I work on my laptop in bed when I telecommute and the best TV in the house is in our bedroom, I pretty much haven't left the bedroom the entire time the contractor has been here, except for the days I went to the office. I can't imagine what he must think of my lifestyle, like I'm the character Swoosie Kurtz's played in True Stories. Except not as rich.

 As for the bathroom, it is torn down to studs. Even the plywood below the flooring is going to come out, beause it is too thin, creaking and bending in an alarming manner when you stand on it. So next week will be plumbing and tiling. Maybe when all is finished, I'll post photos. 

In other news, the Young Prince had his first band concert. It is so odd, comparing my life to his. I played flute for two years before I was in a concert, and then we played actual, recognizable songs in a dimly lit cafeteria, which I assume was to make it feel more concert-like.  The YP, on the other hand, is in with kids who first laid hands on their instruments in September and are not even playing full eight-note scales yet, (as near as I can tell; the YP plays drums so it's hard to say,)  but working through the fundamentals book, and their concert was held in a brightly lit gym. It was nice to have a concert to see what the kids are up to, and it's nice they get to perform in front of a crowd to get a feel for it. But I think my parents might have gotten the better end of that deal.

Other than that, it has been a cold, work-centric week.  I am still reading more than watching TV; the YP is finally working on a script as the first phase of making a short film this year, and Not Your Average Blogger is working, stepping up and filling in for my neglectful parenting, and counting the days til he escapes us for warmer climes in his next book tour. Anyone planning to be in Tucson in March should arrange to be at the book festival! 

Meanwhile, I'll make an effort to do something exciting this week to report in my next post.