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... 

 

So Much to Say

My goodness, I fell right into my old habit of Doing Instead of Reporting. 

Since last we spoke I have been to a book festival in Bowling Green, Ky., that was quite a bit of fun, I spent a night in a  hotel all by myself and finished my first draft, and I saw the new Avengers movie. Betweentimes I made a new friend, spent a jillion dollars to be told nothing is wrong with our plumbing (but will be soon), and had about six work-related nervous breakdowns. 

All in all, I'm coming out ahead, even if I'm running behind. 

So, let's see.  We drove to Bowling Green and stopped at Henry Clay's house along the way. It's a lovely spot, especially in spring, but we didn't bother to tour the house because we didn't time it right and didn't want to hang around for an hour. In Bowling Green, we were in the Staybridge, for a pretty cheap rate -- and it had TWO bedrooms, TWO bathrooms, plus a full kitchen and living room. It was amazing, seriously. I could live there quite comfortably. Especially with the maid service and all... The festival was fun; The kid and I went to four panels, which is pretty good for us.  Diana Gabaldon gave what is apparently her standard recitation, but it's a hilarious one, so good on her.  Then we listened to a bunch of middle-grade writers talk about writing, which was sort of interesting. I think the Young Prince got a few pointers that might help him in the long run if he can keep them in mind. After that was Not Your Average Blogger's panel, where he knocked it out of the park, as usual, and then a panel of authors flogging books on Civil War/Reconstruction era, which was also interesting. I was half-hoping to find a kindred spirit there to hit up for a critique of one of my chapters, but the only person who came close was NYAB's friend from high school, Marty, who drove in just to see us and kindly sat through the panel with me and laughed and eye-rolled at the same things I did.  I was so glad he came; we had an absolutely wonderful time hanging out with him. 

So then it was back to work and crashing disasters hair on fire all week. 

The next weekend, I worked on my book. My plan was to go to the library and stay there til it closed, then go to a  hotel and write til I dropped. Not so much. The night before I planned to bail, water was backing up into the basement, which means septic troubles.  So I got four hours at the library, then had to come home and wait for a plumber while NYAB took the YP to his music lessons. (A thousand dollars later, our tanks are pumped empty, we were told nothing is wrong with the pump or the drain field, but that we need to replace the whole tank and pump and some kind of switch box and whatnot in the next 2 years. Sigh.) Then we went to dinner (and it was prom night, so that was fun people-watching), and I finally got to the hotel and down to writing at around 8.  Still, I finished the draft.  And I went through all my existing notes to make sure I'd included everything I wanted. Good progress. 

The next steps are to go through my critiques, fix what is mentioned, find the holes I have marked for filling, and then double-checking all my citations. I'm hoping to send my proposal ... soon. 

Except then it was another week of Work Disasters. On the upside, a good friend of JB's has become my new BFF and partner in weight loss adventures, and she is very kind about listening to me whine and rail and pitch the scale out the window. Having a new friend to gush with made it a little less irritating when work bled over into my weekend—and I did get to see the new Avengers movie, as I already said. I didn't like it as much as the first one, but it was pretty good for what it was. And we got a lot of yard work done, which is satisfying. 

We also have two new acquisitions for the house. First, the kid got a new box spring and mattress—I think his old one was probably 35 years old, if not more. It is funny, because the new one is so tall that his face is now parallel to the window. (And yet, he still won't wake up on first prodding....) The second was a lightweight elliptical machine. I love it. Now I just need to use it (see weight loss adventures, above). Which means I have to get home before 9 p.m., which means I really need to figure out a way to stop caring about work disasters. 

This weekend is Mother's Day. I guess I'd better do something about that for my mom, huh?  Beyond that, NYAB has an overnight the following week for a book talk, and we are wide open. Anyone want to come visit? 

 

Well, I Was Half-Right

I am, at least, back to blogging on Saturdays. 

So, since I last wrote, I have been to work, driven to Illinois and back, and returned to work. I love driving long distances.  I don't get to do it very often; usually Not Your Average Blogger drives and I am a passenger. I like that too, but I really do enjoy driving; it feels like an accomplishment and I generally see some weird sight to add to my list -- this time it was a water tower painted to look like a giant cat's head. I also like living in the modern era, where there are hotels every 30 feet and I can drive until I'm well and tired and then just fall into one without a reservation. (NYAB hates this. He loves the truly modern era, where you can decide six hours ahead of time where you want to drop and make an online reservation from your phone.) 

I always forget how bad the Internet is at my parents' house, and how busy I am talking instead of writing. No blogging is likely under those conditions, and obviously none happened this time.  My window for using the Internet is before I've left our guest room in the barn (nicer than it sounds! Really! It's got a bathroom and everything!) and that window is generally reserved for sleeping or picking on the Young Prince. On the days I was online, I was checking email or working on my book. (Nope. Not done yet. I did hand around copies of the manuscript; the reactions ranged from surprisingly positive to predictably cranky, so I was pleased and not surprised, respectively.) 

The visit was nice. We celebrated my grandfather's 90th birthday with a family dinner in town that one of my mom's cousins drove in for, and the next day, my parents and the kid and I celebrated my birthday with Steak and Shake and leftover cake at the farm. 

It was pretty restful. Mostly I sat, gabbed, and washed dishes, with the occasional errand thrown in. A lot of good talking, at least one family revelation on my part, and the kid was pretty good after one bad day and one firm, finger-shaking lecture. 

He's doing all right, I think. There was an altercation at school before we left that's having some lasting repercussions, but the ripples are getting smaller and we are in the home stretch before summer break, so I think we might make it through a school year with no major trouble. That would make it the first time in three years, so I'm focusing on keeping my fingers crossed and being happy for that. 

Not Your Average Blogger stayed home for this trip, and I think he rather enjoyed his week of bachelorhood, though he was also pretty happy to see us when we got back.

So, this weekend is catching up on ironing and cleaning and yard work and bleeblah. Next weekend is another book event for NYAB in Bowling Green, where we are also going to connect with a childhood friend of his.  Which, of course, means I probably won't be blogging on Saturday. Again. But I'll have good stories when I do get back to it! 

Back Burner

First, I blogged on Saturdays.  Then Sundays. Then Mondays. This week I skipped right over Tuesday and am blogging a half-week behind schedule. 

This is what happens when one is rarely home, and too caught up in Other Things. 

So, last week was generally uneventful, which is not a bad thing. Not Your Average Blogger made it home from Tucson without incident and we had 3 nice days of going to work and getting things done before leaving Friday night for Charlottesville, where he had a gig talking at the Virginia Festival of the Book. We got down there in plenty of time, watched a little TV and bedded down at the Omni.

The Omni has very nice soap.  And the room service food, while typically overpriced, is atypically excellent. 

We all got up Saturday for his 10 a.m. lecture, despite the Young Prince being tired and NYAB having a stabbing headache.  We drugged him up, noshed on granola bars and headed for the UVA bookstore, winding through a quaint downtown and a pretty college campus. 

NYAB was sharing the spotlight with Paul Escott, who was promoting his new book, Lincoln's Dilemma. (I haven't read it. NYAB has; he says it's good.) Escott is a history professor at Wake Forest University, and a very kind man. While they got themselves set up, the YP and I prowled the bookstore and found several things we didn't buy, including Doctor Who mugs, fake mustaches, Kate Spade traveling mugs, and hand sanitizer with slightly off-color labels. Then we headed back upstairs for the talk. 

It was interesting to watch the different speaking styles.  NYAB went first. He got up, spoke up, made a few jokes, and got a few nods. Very direct, very bullet-pointy, very informative, very dynamic. Then he sat down and Escott talked.

NYAB told me later he envied the ebb and flow and polish of Escott's style—and there was something to envy in that; it was a very smooth and professional presentation.  But I found him to be one of that class of speakers who seem to approach larger audiences as one might a strange dog, with slow, deliberate movements and soft-spoken reassurances.  Perhaps it is a thing among college professors, to be careful because they never know what's going to set off a lecture hall of loonies? Sitting in the audience, I  experienced a few twinges of delayed guilt remembering how, as an obnoxious co-ed, I declared certain professors "boring," although that wasn't quite what I meant and I knew it even at the time. The phrase I really wanted something closer to "soporific," although even that is too unkind. I knew my professors were very smart, and that we were studying fascinating things, but there was so little animation in the lectures that I'd often have to fight drowsiness. This wasn't quite to that degree, partly because I'm old now and more patient. Escott's talk was interesting, but a little hard to hear, and was so mildly delivered that it was a little harder to discern what stirred him to write a whole book (one among several) about what he was discussing.

And the funnier thing is, if he conforms to the type in my experience,he is probably quite animated and engaging in one-on-one conversation. But I had the YP in tow, so I can't verify that. 

Poor NYAB was not any better after his lecture, or after lunch, so we went back to the hotel, where he spent the rest of the day nursing his headache while the YP and I went swimming, sniped at each other, watched videos and played games.  NYAB and I did take a stroll through the hotel lobby to see what other authors were there, but only saw one thing remotely worth buying, and we didn't even get that. It was also a little lonely to be surrounded by piles and piles of books and scads of authors and be confronted with the fact that if we were on a giant balance scale measuring political leanings, the whole hotel would slam down resoundingly on the left-wing side. I wonder why that is the case.

Next day NYAB was better, so we took a tour of Monticello before heading home. The YP, who has come to  dread walking tours, history stuff, and being with his parents, was actually quite engaged for this one and had a good time. 

We got home from this lovely weekend to discover that the dog had somehow sprained her tail and the whole lower floor was muddied up, including rooms we had said were off-limits for the animals while we were gone. Our usual dog sitter, who used to be NeighborGirl but isn't our neighbor anymore, was unavailable so we had a new dog sitter, part of a service. I'd met the owner, written down all kinds of instructions, left some cleaning stuff in case one of the monsters peed, etc. And I'd gotten two very cheerful emails studded with exclamation points about how well things were going, so this was a bit of a shock, as were the two notes saying that the dog had escaped and roamed the neighborhood—twice. 

So, one $200 visit to the vet later, I sent a note to the service that basically said, "Hey, I know stuff happens, but, um, WTF?" It turns out that when the dog came home from one of her sprints around the block, she came to the front door, where the dog sitter let her in, and then ran amok before she could be corralled in the back part of the house. So I'm not entirely sure when the dog's tail got bent—it might have been while chasing deer through people's back yards, or it might have been that she charged through one of the sets of double doors that are usually latched and caught her tail in them. I am pleased to report that the dog sitter waived the fee and offered to pay the vet bill. (I accepted the former, declined the latter.)  But I am certainly going to be leery of anyone other than ExNeighborGirl watching the dog from now on.  Sigh. 

This Friday, the YP and I leave for our next great adventure: We are going to Illinois to see my family, while NYAB stays home and works. I am sort of tired just thinking about all the driving ahead of us, but at least the squabbling over the music will keep us awake! I don't know what it will mean for blogging, either. Probably another half-week behind. Maybe at that rate I'll get back to blogging on Saturdays, as originally intended!

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! 

Heh. Whoops.

OK, so a lot of time has passed and some stuff has happened, as stuff will. 

We went west (young man) on vacation.  Kerjillions of photos on flickr.  
Best meal: Big Vern's in Shamrock, Texas. 
Best childhood dream fulfilled: Mine was staying in a teepee motel. The Young Prince's was seeing the Stanley Hotel.  Not Your Average Blogger's was to hike through a slot canyon. 

We went to a science fair the weekend we got back. The YP loves simulators, but hates waiting in line to use them. 

We went golfing on Mother's Day.  NYAB's back still hurts, I'm sorry to report. 

We went to Pittsburgh for Memorial Day.  Had lunch with work-friends from the office up there, went to the Toonseum, caught two ballgames, ate heartily, and took the scenic route home. 
Best meal: Hyde Park Steakhouse. (Vern's had better steak, but the customer service was UH-MAYZ-ING.) 
Best history stuff: Fort Necessity with NYAB talking and the YP actually listening.

Last weekend we spent Saturday waiting on the YP to take his county-required "prove you're doing something" tests. (I'm delighted to say we have done a great deal. His scores were good enough that I went a-gushing and a-bragging to my boss and best friends, all of whom were politely enthusiastic on my behalf.) On Sunday we went to another ballgame.

This weekend? I am Staying Home, by god -- except for that part where I probably won't, because the kid's bowling league is starting again, plus he has a piano lesson, plus I think I hear Costco is calling my name.    

I'm Getting Too Old for This Nonsense

Last week marked my second-ever business trip. It was to the same place as my first business trip, for largely the same reason, but it played out rather differently. 

For the second September in a row, my boss sent me to Santa Monica to learn how to create more effective presentations.  I was excited about this, because I'm actually helping to build presentations, and I don't feel I'm particularly good at them. So every little tutorial helps. 

Last year, I arrived on the weekend, rented a car and stayed with family. I spent my days in the office and my evenings with a motley assortment of friends and relatives from various past lives. It was fun, but I felt rather as if I were shortchanging the office because I was off doing my own thing pretty much every day as soon as my 8 hours were clocked. 

So this year, I arrived on a Tuesday and took a cab from the airport to my hotel, which was three blocks from the office. I washed my face and hied myself to the office, where I made a colossal effort to wander around saying hello to people I ordinarily only commune with via email, and then I settled in to get some work done. 

I was pretty wiped out that night, so I wandered up to Pico and Main and opted for a gourmet meal from Jack in the Box wherein I sampled all my favorites and after which I was unhappily full. I miss Jack in the Box, y'all.

Next morning, I woke up at 5:30 and wished I could fall back asleep, but then the Young Prince's doctor called my cellphone to tell me his appointment was canceled.  Unfortunately, Not Your Average Blogger was already halfway to their office and I think he was probably 3/4 of the way there before he noticed my text. So at that point I gave up, got up, and went into work, where I breakfasted in the office cafeteria and did a little bit of "real work" before going to my training seminar. 

The seminar was interesting. It was half new material and half retread. It also netted me another copy of a book I already had. If anyone wants a copy of Slide:ology, I know a guy who knows a guy... 

After that, I went out with some colleagues and discovered the following: 

• Bar Pintxo in Santa Monica has excellent sangria. 
• I do not like tapas. 
• I especially do not like tapas involving mussels. 
• I do like beer. 

We wound up across the street at Kings Head pub, where we met up with my college friend Cynthia. We had a great time catching up, she got on great with my co-workers, and I learned the following: 

• The more Boddingtons you drink, the better it tastes.
• Trivia nights are fun.
• I suck at trivia nights and spend half the time going, "Frack! NYAB would know that!"
• I have not entirely forgotten the lesson that when "one more drink" sounds like a good idea, it's probably not.

After coming in second and getting a gift certificate we couldn't use that night, my compatriots decided it would be a good idea to traipse down to the beach. I was not enthused as I had my laptop and 500 lbs of work papers with me, but I went along anyway because I figured the walk would do me good. It certainly didn't hurt me any, although I maintain that the Pacific is too damn cold to go jumping around in, particularly in my work clothes. Eventually we all meandered back up the hill and parted ways for the night. 

After about five hours of sleep, I woke up next morning feeling strange — not sick, no headache, just sort of spaced out and slow. I spent a half-hour wondering if this is what hangovers feel like as an old person, and was halfway to the office before I realized that no, I was just really, really tired. I loaded up on caffeine and plowed through the day, going back to my room a wee bit early in hopes of a nap, but instead talking to NYAB and the YP before going out for the night with another college friend, Sharidan, who works in The Industry.  She regaled me with awesome swag and tales of drama from the editing rooms of Breaking Bad and Witches of East End, and after an hour and a half in the car, we had made it the 18 miles to Los Feliz, where we went to The Rockwell Theater and saw the Baz Luhrman show, which was very impressive, as was the food.

After another six hours of sleep, it was Friday and my last day on the Left Coast. I made another round of face-to-face meetings with people, including lunch with a project editor I work with on a fairly regular basis, and then I made my way to the airport with 15 minutes before my plane boarded — only to learn my flight was delayed an hour. This put me into Dulles at 1:40 a.m., at which time there were no cabs and 30 people looking for one, with one poor cab-stand guy shrieking into a walkie talkie that HE NEEDED RIDES NOW, and the dispatcher snotting at him that they'd be there when they got there.  All in all, this put me home at 3, where for some dumb reason all the menfolk were still awake. I think we all finally crashed around 4, and slept until noon, glorious noon. 

To wrap up this week of excitement, we had tickets to Saturday night's Nats game. As it turned out, the kid got sick, so we left him with NeighborGirl (who isn't really our neighbor anymore, but that's OK), and then the game was rained out anyway, so we came home and watched Almost Famous. 

It is now almost Tuesday and I feel mostly recovered, although I now need a week to catch up on all the things I skipped doing over the weekend in favor of sleep. Here's hoping for a week of humdrum. 

Summertime, and the Living is Crazy

So last Sunday we dropped the Young Prince off for a week of sleepaway camp.  He got to build a dam, go canoeing, tie-dye a shirt, paint a rock, eat food he didn't like, and write one letter home.  I think he had a pretty good time and might go back next year. 

In his absence, we got a fair amount of work done. Not Your Average Blogger did a lot of writing. I did some writing, some editing, and got caught up on all the work at my paying job.  We also got some trees cut down, the riding mower fixed, and a roof cap put on our furnace vent -- a timely repair, since Superstorm Sandy blew the last one off. We also moved some bookshelves around and the house and the YP has a little more room to grow his collection. 

We also ate at three restaurants (and thanks to departing pals Pam and Richard, discovered a wonderful Vietnamese place called Four Sisters), saw two movies (World War Z and Much Ado About Nothing), and went to one ballgame (Nats lost to D'backs).  It was fun, but it was also nice to pick up the kid and find out he didn't have a completely miserable week on his own in the mountains.  

So he's home for about five hours, which means that in about three hours he'll be hopping back into the car and driving to Tennessee with NYAB for a boys road trip.  They are going to see mountains and waterfalls and Gatlinburg and who knows what all.  I am going to see a clean house, a shaped-up yard, and at least one bottle of wine, as well as dinner with a friend Monday and probably the Toyota fellows for an oil change on Tuesday.  Wednesday we are going to another ballgame, Thursday is the Fourth, and Friday we are packing for a weeklong trip to the beach.

My god, you'd think we had lives or something.   

News From Home and Abroad

Oh, I have so much to report, and so little energy.  This new job is really doing a number on my free time. After decades of hurry-up-and-wait jobs, it's kind of nice to spend 8 hours a day Just Hurrying, but it does cut down on the freestyle writing exercises.

So, I went to California, and it was great.  The office out there is gorgeous, the people are all super nice, the training session I was sent there to attend was actually educational and interesting and I can see all sorts of ways to apply it both to what I do now and to what I assume they'll expect me to do at some point down the road.  Awesome.

The free time part of it was every bit as great.  I got there on Monday and spent the day gabbing with my aunt and uncle, which was really nice because usually I'm with them in a huge family setting and someone's always interrupting or picking a fight or a dog is escaping under the fence or some damn thing. So it was a fairly rare treat to focus on them exclusively.

Tuesday after work I had plans to be in Pasadena at 8, but I got out early and traffic was light so I made a surprise stop at USC to buy swag.Of course I wore my work shoes and blistered the bejeezus out of my feet stomping around campus, but it was worth it.  The best part was visiting my friend in the band office -- it was just after a practice, so all these kids were milling around, and there I was all decked out like a Real Professional Type Person, so I marched in and leaned over her desk and sniffed out, "I'd like to lodge a complaint about the profanity."  The kids looked stricken until she leaped up and shrieked in excited surprise while bouncing out from behind the desk to give me a hug. 

So after my trips to Tommy Trojan and the bookstore, I continued up the 110 to Pasadena, where I had dinner with a friend from high school who has relocated to Ontario, which is sort of like the trap door to hell and not much of a destination spot unless you're a race fan. We ate at a place called Gale's and had a lovely time catching up, although we're already pretty much caught up what with email and social media and all. 

Wednesday I went the other way from work, down to Manhattan Beach, where I met up with a friend from my second stint in Florida (the one who introduced me to Not Your Average Blogger, as a matter of fact),  who now lives in Long Beach with her husband. It was a lot of fun to see them and we really did spend time catching up because we aren't in nearly as constant contact. 

Thursday night, I went north, over the hills to North Hollywood, to visit a friend from college (at last, someone Not From Florida,) and we stayed up talking about God and everything until 1 a.m., even though I planned to get up at 5 to make my flight.  If she hadn't had a dentist appointment, we might very well have just stayed up straight through. 

Y'all, I can't tell you how amazing it is to me that I have people like this in my life.  I mean, we go for years without seeing each other and then pick up where we left off.  This is even more amazing to me when factoring in how incredibly lazy and antisocial I am -- I hate Making Effort and Being Friendly and Putting People at Ease, so the fact that I manage to hold on to anyone 3,000 miles away is a miracle, and the fact that they all seem willing to put up with me and my nonsense is even more astonishing. I'm blessed.

That Friday was an exercise in marathon traveling.  I got up at 5, flew from LAX to Dulles, where NeighborGirl picked me up and drove me to my house.  We got there about 10 minutes before NYAB, so I had about 25 minutes to unpack and repack before hopping into the car and driving to New Jersey -- where we met up with a friend of mine from college to watch USC play football, and then had dinner with my friend who works for the band that I'd surprised earlier in the week.

(Are you seeing a pattern yet?  Last time we saw NYAB's brother, we were all in Alaska even though he lives in Arizona and we live in Virginia.  Last time we saw NYAB's sister, we were all in Florida even though she's from Indiana. I see two Florida people in California. I see California people in New Jersey. It's cognitive dissonance!)

The game was great. We tailgated with my roommate and a bunch of her friends -- and who had a tent, so when the first bout of rain blew through, we all remained relatively dry. It was a lot of fun to yap with her and meet or re-meet her friends. But the best part was the Young Prince -- he got all fired up, to the point he  out-cheered the guy who had slammed six beers before entering the stadium. More shocking to me was that he actually followed the game and paid attention the entire time and KNEW WHEN TO CHEER. That's a first, by a long shot. When the start of the second half was delayed for "lightning" -- which everyone with a smartphone knew meant "tornadoes,"  the stadium officials shooed us all out of the seats and into the interior of the stadium, so I texted my friend, found the band and spent a good half-hour talking to her and making plans for dinner. 

And SC won, although they looked awful doing it.  (Not as awful as they would against Stanford, sadly. Where's the running game?)

After all that whirlwind of activity, Sunday was for laundry and sleep and another week of work.

Things sped up again this weekend; Saturday was the annual Haymarket Day, and we had all kinds of Stuff to Do.  We watched the parade, then headed over to our Fancy New WalMart and admired how clean and shiny it was, and bought a small storage unit for the YP's 600 action figures. My other goals for the weekend were to do our every-two-months sprint through Costco and to shop around for a desk for the kid so he can do homework without being distracted by the TV or having to sit with his knees in his chin because his table and chairs were designed for a kindergartener.

As it turned out, we found the desk without going very far -- my old desk has been in the basement since we moved in, and as it turns out, it fits the kid pretty well.  So that was one problem solved, except we decided to punt on actually moving the thing up two flights of stairs. Costco was a piece of cake, although we went so late in the afternoon that the free samples were a little weak.  Then the YP and I spent hours sorting and storing his mountains o' toys, until the SC game started. We might as well have just kept cleaning. 

Sunday was devoted to yard work -- except for when the dog collared her first kill, an unsuspecting squirrel in tall grass. I know I should feel bad for her doing that, but since that rodent's great-grandfather was probably the one who ruined the fuel line on my car and forced me to buy a new one because a replacement $200 part couldn't be found, I pretty much praised her to the skies while I made NYAB dump the body.  The YP also hit a milestone; I let him drive the riding mower on his own for the first time. He loved it and asked for his own.  I said he could have that one if he mows the yard from now on.  He seemed pretty happy with that idea.  Sucker!! 

Then the neighbor came over and volunteered to help us move the desk.  That sidetracked me into scrubbing mold off the desk and cat hair off the chair to go with it. It's a great desk for the kid though -- lots of slots and drawers and places to store things.  It does crack me up that 3 of the 4 pieces of furniture in his room come from my great-grandparents. Poor kid. I'm sure he'd love a Spiderman bunk bed. Too bad he's stuck with a cheapskate mom trussed to family tradition. And at the end of a pretty productive weekend, we scampered off for ice cream after dinner and a long drive on a dusty back road. My favorite.

And now I'm off on another work week -- which was leavened today by lunch with a former co-worker and eternal kindred spirit who always makes me laugh.

I really don't think it gets any better than this. I love my life.

Look Who It Is!

Hahahaha.  OK, that was a slightly longer hiatus than I intended.

Work kicked my butt, y'all. That learning curve was steep, and I had a hard time adjusting my own expectations that I'd be done, not half-done, at the end of any given day.

I thought about ditching the blog altogether, frankly. I didn't write here, and I didn't really miss it much. I had lots of other writing to do (rewrite on my novel is officially with the editor again), and not nearly enough time to do any of it. I had games to play with the kid, and a to-do list that threatened to bury me.

But the thing is, then I went back and read some stuff I've posted over the years, and I realized how much I like having it. I wrote about stuff that I'd forgotten even happened. I don't know how much of a dodderer I'm going to be in my old age, so having it all recorded might help preserve the warm memories for those cold winters.

Here, then, are some highlights of what I didn't write about in real time:

The Young Prince attended tennis camp, basketball camp, two drama camps, and a math camp. He won a talent contest by singing Loser Like Me, which was hella cool and made him a BMOC for that week. He was wroth about spending the last two weeks of summer doing multiplication, and yet I do believe it is the camp he's enjoyed the most. He asked to go to the next level next summer.  I'm so thrilled with what they've done, I can't begin to sing their praises loudly enough.  The kid learned all his times tables in eight days -- after fighting with his teachers, his parents, and his babysitter for more than eight months. Amazeballs.

The Young Prince also got himself into a heap of trouble during one of his drama camps, which precluded his participation in the B-52s concert at Wolf Trap last month. Instead, he and Not Your Average Blogger stayed home that night, and I went to the show with a friend of ours. We made it through Squeeze, the opening act, and then it absolutely dumped rain.  We toughed it out through two songs, but then the lightning started and I didn't really love the idea of standing in a big field with a bunch of electrical equipment nearby, so we left.  We were so drenched that my car seat was still damp the next day (this, despite sitting on a towel!) and the cash in my wallet never did dry out while in my possession.  Still, it was gobs of fun -- at least, I thought it was.

We went to a water park and commented, "We should do this more often."  Then we didn't go back, becuse things got crazy busy.

We went to Chincoteague and loved it as much as ever. Then we didn't go back, because things got crazy busy.

I spent a weekend making jelly, and was rewarded with another blue ribbon from the fair, this year for my blueberry offering. For the second time in a row, they misspelled my name on the ribbon.  This time, I was Arwen Brickwell. OK, then.

While we were in Chincoteague, we visited the Goddard Space Center.  The YP got a bunch of lunar landing model kits and action figure things.  Then he and his dad built a movie set for them and re-enacted the 1969 trip to the moon.  It was inspired.

Then we went on our official vacation, to Orlando.  Many anecdotes.

1: Being a parent has shortened my patience for standing in line with teenagers. On the last ride of our first day, NeighborGirl and I were waiting with a bunch of squealers behind us, and some guy ahead of us was yapping with them. The girl behind me tried to push ahead to him, and without even thinking about it, I barked at her, "Absolutely not!"  as if she were my 9-year-old.  Then she pushed again, and I said, "I'm pretty sure I said no..."  at which point her friend who spoke English interceded and said, "She just wants to go talk to him."  I said, "I don't care. If he wants to talk to her, he can give up his place in line and come back here. I haven't stood here for 40 minutes to let all six of you cut in front of me." NeighborGirl was cracking up by this time, and the guy in front of me just looked astonished that I stood my ground.  Ah, the joys of being a Cranky Old Lady.

2: Karma bit me for it, though. As we were getting off that ride, I tripped going over a bridge thing, and rather than splatter my face into the pavement, I caught myself -- and chucked my phone into the lake 30 feet blow us. So I spent the next several hours trotting around to the Apple Store, Verizon and Best Buy, and shelling out an embarrassing amount of money to replace it RFN in case the dogsitter called.

3: A good friend of mine from high school came to visit us at our kamping kondo, which was absolutely wonderful. She's not as sweet as I'd painted her in my memory, and I was delighted with her wickedness. We had all kinds of fun and wine and I'm very excited that she's coming up here next summer so we can do it again. 

4: Universal Orlando is a lot of fun.  Three-day passes were nice, because I didn't feel all stressed out with all the time spent standing in line. We still got to see everything, and hit the highlights twice.

5: Harry Potter's Field is impressive. Butterbeer is good, but not worth the souvenir mug. The YP felt his wand pick him, and then, weirdly, some woman who worked there (who hadn't been around when the kid was going through this flight of fancy) recommended the same one he said had chosen him. Spooky.

6: LegoLand is impressive too, in a different way.  The stuff they've made out of Legos is mind-boggling. I wonder how you get the job of creating a scale model of the Capitol out of Legos.

7: We also visited my old neighborhood. It's a suburb now.  So weird. And all the trees in my old front yard are gone, which makes the house look much shabbier and not as secluded as it used to seem. Or maybe I'm just old and jaded now. There are also a slew of McMansions that went up -- across the street from the Boys and Girls Club.  For the view, I suppose. 

Then, last weekend, NYAB and I ditched the kid with NeighborGirl and went away for our anniversary. I was basically along for the ride, NYAB did all the planning and he did a brilliant job.  We went to Valley Forge and saw everything and completely amused ourselves with jokes about all the signage and railroads. Then we went to the Nats-Phillies game and had a great time, even if the Nats lost.  Next morning, we visited the Liberty Bell before heading home. (It's still cracked. But now it lives in a lovely air-conditioned museum-y type building.)

The boy lost his two top teeth this summer, and he's grown about an inch since we marked his height on Opening Day.  I reckon he'll have a beard in his next school photo. Sheesh.  He met his teacher for fourth grade today. Word on the street is that she is smart and fit, and will keep the kid on his toes. Both the YP and NYAB had favorable reports on her, so that's promising.

Next week, I hie myself to California for business. Don't I sound all impressive? I'll be staying with my aunt and uncle, and I think I have dinner with a few friends lined up, unless I wuss out and decide I need bed more than food.  Not sure when I'll have time to post next, but I'm optimistic it won't be as long a break as the last one!