The Average Blogger

Notes on Disney

Reserve dining spots super early.

Don't do the holiday package things that guarantee you seats to events; the food's not good enough to warrant it and you don't really NEED the line-jumping access.

FastPasses: Sign up for them all super early so you get through them faster and can use more. Arrange them geographically, not by Can't Miss priority.

Bring in your own breakfast food for the room.

Contemporary Resort is nice, but try another one next time.

Set your days to match the Magic Hours so you can stay longer.

Express transport isn't worth the expense. Don't bother.

Park Hopper is useful. Do that.

Animal Kingdom: good for a half-day.
Epcot: good for a half-day, pretty much.
Hollywood is a day.
Magic Kingdom is a day.

Universal is at least 2 days, maybe 3.

 

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... 

 

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! 

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! 

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.    

Backtracking, Part 2.

So, picking up where we left off -- the last Wednesday in August, we dropped by school to meet the Young Prince's new teacher, who seems very nice, despite a weird affinity for all things French.  She did seem on top of paperwork and supply issues, so that was a promising sign. 

From school, the boy and I got on the road to Atlanta.  All was going well until we hit Roanoake -- when traffic came to a solid and impenetrable stop. 

My mother asked later why I didn't cut back across the state, from I-81 to I-95.  Well, I didn't really think a six-hour detour to a more crowded freeway really made a lot of sense.  As it was, we sat in pretty awful traffic for about three hours, skirted another horrific jam near Kings Mountain, went through a lot of construction, and reached Friend Katherine's house shortly after midnight -- a mere 13 hours after we left. 

The next morning we got up at an obscenely early hour -- OK, it was 6. The kid shrugged on his black jeans and leather jacket for his Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor costume, and we sallied forth to downtown Atlanta, courtesy of Katherine's driving and awesome parking spot. She waved us an amazingly cheery farewell considering she was heading in to work at 7 a.m., and we parted ways. 

We stood/sat in line for passes for about an hour, but once the doors opened, the line flew.  The next problem was figuring out the layout of the hotels in relation to each other -- i think it took me most of a day to get that map figured out. And figuring out the hotel interiors was another layer of befuddlement. But it all went fairly well.  

The kid sucked it all in like a sponge.  And once we hit the first Doctor Who panel, it was like he'd found His People.  We were sitting in the way-back of a ballroom, against the wall, on the floor, when he asked if he could scoot up and find a chair.  I said fine.  Next thing I knew, this familiar voice pipes up with, "So, in The Brain of Morbius, who are we supposed to believe all those other faces are?"  

Oh, he triggered an outpouring of positive reinforcement like you would not believe.  And he engaged and challenged and even knew when to shut up and hand over the microphone, much to my shock and amazement. It was gratifying. 

We then did pretty much the entire Doctor Who track for the next two days.  We got to listen to the guy who played Mickey, and then sat in on panels with Sylvester McCoy and with Peter Davison -- at which the kid asked equally intelligent and impressive quetions. It was quite nice. And Sylvester McCoy, who had a busted leg, took the kid for a ride on his scooter. 

That night we had dinner with Miss Katherine, then stayed for about 35 seconds of the Doctor Who ball, where there was a remote-controlled K-9 and more TARDIS ballgowns than you could shake a stick at. We didn't stay long, but headed home for bed. 

Next day we got up at a slightly more reasonable hour and staked out spots for  the parade. It was an OK thing, but if we go next year, I either want to reserve balcony seats at a restaurant or get there way early with my beach chairs.  The nice part was meeting up with high school pal Christopher and a friend of his -- it is always good to see him, and he's on the downhill slope of moving back to Florida, so it may be a while before we get that treat again.  

After the parade it was essentially more of the same, except we splurged on autographs and got to chat with Malcolm McDowell and David Warner. I think it made me happier than the kid, but he seemed pretty amenable to listening.  Then we went to the panel where the two of them talked about Time After Time, and it was easily the most charming hour of the weekend, listening to these two old codgers reminisce and pick on each other. 

We then headed out for a better dinner than the night before with Miss Katherine, and a viewing at her home of The Hobbit.  Very laid back and fun. 

Next morning we got on the road.  Time spent on the return trip? NINE HOURS.  Hmf. 

That was pretty much it for the summer.  The kid started school, and things seem to be going pretty well there.  We signed him up for violin, so we'll see how that goes, coupled with piano.  

This weekend, Not Your Average Blogger and I went out to dinner at Morton's to celebrate his book deal and remedy the Hereford House anniversary dinner disappointment. Boy, did it ever make up for that.  The food was great, the booze was amazing, and I was very happy.  Today we headed back to our Timeshare Resort Haven at Massanutten, where the kid made a bunch of friends and NYAB and I got some reading done. 

This week, I am off to California for work, where they intend to teach me more about presentations, and I intend to mix business with a wee bit of pleasure by way of dinner or drinks with friends. Looking forward to it!  

Backtracking, Part 1

So, a little while back, I went on vacation.  Two glorious weeks away from work that were packed with other events—so much so that I'm going to bust them up into two posts, and you'll hear about the Young Prince's 15 minutes of geek fame next week. 

The first week of vacation was great. It started leisurely, with me picking up my ribbons from the fair and being surprised to learn there were cash prizes attached! (I won a whopping $5 -- $3 for the jelly and $2 for the lemon bars.) I did laundry. I did yard work. The YP and I watched some movies.  On Wednesday, I got up sort of early to get the car serviced and was treated to the waiting room vision of a woman across from me kicking off her shoes and propping her bare feet up on the seat next to her, about 2 feet from another woman, who gave one sort of WTF? look and then ignored her.  I think I would have moved.  

Around 6 that night we headed out for Illinois, and drove all night. Somewhere around West Virginia we realized we'd forgotten our tickets. It didn't end up mattering; we were able to print them out again, but the OMIGOD moment was equal parts funny and irritating. We arrived about 7 a.m., and Not Your Average Blogger went to bed in our usual barn office digs while the YP and I futzed around until it was apparent my mom was up in the main house and then we went and visited with my parents.  

Around lunchtime, NYAB and I ran an errand to WalMart and while we were there, he got an email from his agent that she had a buyer for his book -- so he sold his book at WalMart.  (Well, I thought it was funny. It didn't turn out to be true -- another publisher offered a better deal.) And there was much rejoicing. It'll be out next fall and you'll hear more about it when it's closer to being relevant to people besides us.  

We had dinner with my parents and grandparents that night, and had many long and enjoyable chats with the old folks while the kid monopolized my dad's time. 

That Friday, NYAB and I took off for Kansas City. We had a lovely evening, although I wouldn't recommend Hereford House to people looking for a big fancy night out. On Saturday, we took a tour of Independence, Mo., and saw Truman's house, the Trails museum and the train depot museum.  We also popped in to the Mormon Visitor Center, where we were assiduously courted by two earnest young women. NYAB did a good job of ignoring, deflecting, and keeping on the history track, but the woman who attached herself to me was not so easily deterred. She asked about my relationship with God ("Well, I wouldn't call it a first-name basis thing. I figure I'm the cockroach to his human,") and telling me all about Joseph Smith and his pillars of light ("Like Albert Speer?!" -- I didn't give voice to that thought,) and living a good life (Well, that's hard to argue with.)  When we were walking back out to the car, NYAB had the good sense to look sheepish and agree that he owed me. I settled for a milkshake at the soda shoppe where Truman had his first job.

When we'd exhausted all that Independence had to offer, we went back to the hotel, where I was surprised with anniversary roses that were apparently supposed to have shown up at dinner the night before. They were lovely. Then we changed into Nats gear and sauntered across the overpass to the ballpark, where we had a great night in our front-row seats and the Nats won.  (And apparently we got on TV -- a friend said so on Facebook and added, "You looked great, but I certainly was surprised to see you there!")

Next day we drove back to Illinois, had another visit with my grandparents, then dinner with my parents, and then we hied our way to Indianapolis, where we stopped for the night, and drove the rest of the way home Monday. It was probably one of the more whirlwhind trips we've made to the Midwest, and it didn't feel long enough, but I reckon they'd had enough of us, so it was all for the best. 

The kid and I were home Tuesday and Wednesday -- just long enough to do laundry, mow the yard, go to the doctor, and buy a low-maintenance costume for him -- and then the two of us set out for Atlanta and DragonCon.  Look for details of horrific traffic and hilarious encounters in next week's post. 

Back from the Beach

So, yeah, it's hard to blog when your weekly allotted blogging time is spent in a car or under a cabana. And I hafta tell you, given the choice? I'll take the car or cabana. What a great time. 

And another thing? Coming back from such a restful situation and falling into the Facebook fray of Trayvon Martin and the Texas Legislature and I don't know what all? Makes me think Facebook is a horrible place and I either need to drop about half the people on my friends list, or else people in general need to post less, read more, and try using their brain instead of insisting they already know everything about everything. I realize I'm not a big position person, and that I tend to reserve judgment and go oveboard on benefit of the doubt. I suppose there are rabble rousers who find this distasteful. The nice thing is, I find them equally abhorrent. Like this person, who was quite upset about the Martin ruling and  recommended seeing The Lone Ranger as a palliative because it is subversive: "SCOFF at the lead white man who believes in courthouse justice, believes The US goverenment would honor treaties, and that the US army is honorable and see how he is butt of his own joke.This scathing rebuke of white America in the guise of Disney fun is not going to last on the big screen."  Yeaaaaahhh, I'm sure it's Disney's deeply anti-establishment stance that explains the movie's failure.  Not the blasting that critics gave it for boring effects, bloated writing, and not-funny jokes. Whatever, y'all. 

So, let's see. The Tennessee week was pretty much as I described in advance. The house was spotless, the lads had fun on their trip, we were all glad to see each other upon return. 

That Saturday we packed everything up, got in the car at a horrible early hour, and headed south. Not Your Average Blogger drove. The Young Prince played videogames in the back seat. Me? I read Fifty Shades of Grey.  Oh, my god, what a wonderful, horrible, hilarious book.  It's like the Howard the Duck of softcore smut. I got it because I am figuring that a book I'm working on will have to have at least a couple sex scenes, and since I was in 9th grade the last time I read anything about heaving bodices, I figured I should see how it's done. I think what I got instead was how NOT to do it.  But I also got a laugh a page, which made the whole thing well worth it. NYAB suggested the title be changed to "Fifty Shades of Dying Gray Matter," which fits nicely. 

I also read the entire Wicked series by Gregory Maguire.  Much better writing, much higher language and structure and much more literary.  Not nearly as many gut laughs.  Having never seen the musical, I'm still trying to figure out how they took such a dark, political, angry book and made it into fluffy operatic fare. 

We stayed in Rodanthe, but spent a lot of time out and about.  We drove up to Duck one day to see the shmancy houses and get doughnuts. (I"m sorry to report we all found the doughnuts a little Meh.)We drove to Kill Devil Hills a couple times to go to the movies and see the Wright Brothers exhibit. (Unfortunately, that was the one day it rained like mad, so we missed a lot of it, and the kid wouldn't flop on his belly for my photo.)

We saw Despicable Me 2 and Monsters U. We saw three lighthouses (Cape Hattaras, Bodie's, and Curratuck, in that order,) and climbed them all.  

We also climbed a giant sand dune and pretended we were on Tatooine. (And yet, I am not any fitter.)

We also ate a lot, and spent a lot of time at the pool, on the beach, and on the cabin deck looking at the beach and  at the stars.

All in all, such a great trip we have already booked a place to go next year.

Then we were back home, and I went back to work and played catch-up, and NYAB stayed home and wrote and held down the fort.  The kid went to camp, but on the third day suffered an unfortunate altercation with a counselor. But we are all holding his breath that he learned his lesson, and he goes back Monday for another chance. Hoping he can last for the duration.  

Especially because the ease of retrieval will be less easy. On Monday, NYAB also starts a new job!  It's not my tale to tell, so I haven't said much if anything about it, but he took a buyout a while back, and has been home reading and writing and hausfrauing while hunting around for a new gig.  He'll be here.

 So I am hoping the next few weeks are fairly routine and humdrum. At the end of August, we are off to Illinois, where the kid will stay while NYAB and I jaunt off to Kansas City for our anniversary, then the kid and I are going to DragonCon in Atlanta, where we will stay with the inimitable Katherine, and then school starts. Fits and starts, I tell you.  

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.   

Fluff and Fold, Buddy*

I was flitting around on Twitter yesterday, and paused on a comment from some intellectual snob I'm following: "Who cares about Paula Deen and Kanyedashian? #goreadabook." 

I think this person was a literary agent, and I think I need to put her at the bottom of my list to query, because I don't think I would do well with such a humorless bit of dried-up stuff. 

To paraphrase Tom Lehrer: We know what's really involved. Schadenfreude is fun. Also, it's much easier to make fun of someone's name than it is to wrap your head around the behavior and motivations of someone like Edward Snowden. Ask any second-grader.

I spent a good half hour making West name jokes with Not Your Average Blogger. I also spent a half-hour arguing with him over the benefits of owning vs. leasing. Which would you rather read about?  

I have yet another reason for it -- for a long time, I was contractually bound to avoid expressing opinions on anything that could be construed to have a political angle. It was a sound policy, and something that has grown into a good habit. I have no idea if my current employer would frown upon me espousing my views on the Arab Spring or the immigration overhaul, but it doesn't matter, because I'm not going to write about them anyway. There are plenty of pundits who are paid to spout their opinions, and they do a much better and more lucid job of it than I would.

So I stick with Fluff, and I Fold on the real issues. And I'm good with that. 

(*The title of this post is from a scene in one of my favorite guilty-pleasure movies.  The scene has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand, but I hated to miss an opportunity to use it.)

So what's going on in my world? Aside from my opinions on the Iranian election and the farm bill? I'm glad you asked. 

Last Sunday we celebrated Father's Day by going to the Red Sox-Orioles game at Camden Yard. Sox lost, and I got a bit sunburnt because I believed the weather forecast that was calling for rain. But it was a fun outing anyway, and it amuses me no end that the YP is coming around and getting invested in the outcome of the game. 

This week marked the end of fourth grade for the Young Prince. He escaped with all As and Bs, and all satisfactory conduct marks.  You guys, I don't know when or if the other shoe is going to drop in this and what kind of horrible long-term consequences may occur, but for now I'm a huge convert to better living through chemistry. The YP started out as a pretty amazing human being, and those drugs have really made a huge difference in him being able to let other people see it. It's very obvious in some ways on a daily basis, but looking at long-term markers like report cards really drives it home for me. 

(That said, I'm all too familiar with how very irritating the zeal of the newly converted can be. I've had plenty of friends who went into therapy and insisted EVERYONE NEEDS IT, or converted to veganism and insisted NOBODY SHOULD EVER EAT MEAT, or got on a fitness kick and JUDGED MY FAT ASS. Hey, to each his own.  I'm thrilled they found a thing to make them happy, and I'm willing to read their proselytizing on social media.  But the minute they start in on what I should do? I will drop them like a hammer on a nail. And so we move on.)

While I went to work, the YP and NYAB had a good week goofing off, hiking, playing golf. NYAB also got a fair bit of freelance work done and the YP finished two creative assignments for me (five non-golf uses for a driver, and writing a commercial for a product of his choosing. He chose "books for the blind and/or deaf"—you will probably not be surprised to learn that braille never entered the matter; he had his own solutions.) 

On Thursday, I stayed in town after work and went to a party celebrating the completion of a book that I freelanced on for my old job, and then went out for dinner with Angela. I have to tell you, Miss A. has pretty much become one of my best most kindred spirits in the world. I don't get to see her nearly enough and it's always so much fun when we do manage to coordinate in-person apperances that involve food and mockery and wide-ranging discussions of everything.  Miss A. is embarking on some new adventures, and I'm so so so happy for her that it made this particular outing even more enjoyable. Even NYAB commented on it when I got home. "You should really do that more often. You come home so happy and cheerful."  

Today is a day of rest, and then tomorrow we take the YP for his first-ever foray into sleepaway camp.  Comment if you want the address to send him a letter.   He will be gone for a week. It feels like a long time. I suspect he will not see it that way, however. And I further suspect that NYAB and I will find ways to fill our hours. 

Plus, it may be that I won't see the YP for even longer than that—if the fates align, NYAB might go pick him up from camp and they will embark on a Boys Only road trip for a few days. I am of two minds about this. On the one hand, I am a little jealous and want to go too, and more than a little ugghed out that it will be more time away from the YP. (I like him, y'all. What can I say?) But! On the other hand! Oh my god, yes, please, go, the idea of four days with the house all to myself to do whatever I want whenever I want without feeling like I have to work around bedtimes or TV viewing or whatever sounds like heaven. 

And after that, we are all spending a week together at the beach.  And boy, you have NO idea how much I'm looking forward to that. It's going to be beer and lemonade and naps and leisure the whole time. 

Only two weeks to get through first!