October 15, 2009
October 13, 2009
Ramblings
I don't have much to say, but I wanted to check in anyway. It looks like the New York people we were hoping to swap with aren't available now. I'm not giving up hope, though! I've already sent our some e-mails and am keeping my fingers crossed we can find someone who wants to do an exchange--even if it's just on the East coast within an hour or two of New York City (anyone? Bueller?). Jerry's birthday dinner was great. Yesterday was his actual birthday so he is officially 14 now. (Eh gads!) We were going to start working with the arduino today, but I think we may finish our other projects first. We have at least three that need finishing and I think it would be a good idea to get those out of the way before we start something new. Still, I'm excited about learning to use the arduino. I bought a book called Getting Started with Arduino yesterday which will be very helpful. I know we can probably get all the information in the book on the internet, but it's nice to be able to flip through a book for information sometimes. Jerry is going to start using Rosetta Stone for Japanese this week and I'm going to use the French version. He's had the program for a while but hasn't really used it. His teacher says it will really help so I'm going to be giving him gentle reminders three times a week that he wanted to started using it. He decided not to do the internship at the Natural History Museum because he doesn't know how to use a lot of the technology they'd need him to use. My friend at the museum said he'd teach him but Jerry said it would feel too much like school. So, I'm going to encourage him to learn those things on his own and hope that he decides to do an internship next year. I think if he started it he'd really love it, so I hope he'll take the job eventually. I'm going to put together an electronics project for Halloween that I'm hoping some of the other boys (or girls) in the homeschool group will be interested in. We're going to make a picture with eyes that will follow you across a room. I just need to figure out how much it will cost to put the kits together so I can let people know. If it goes well I plan on doing regular electronics "classes." They won't really be classes since I won't be teaching, but I'm not sure what else to call them. Speaking of teaching, last week I went to listen to Terrence Roberts, a man who was one of the "Little Rock Nine" (one of the first black students at a high school in Little Rock after desegregation) at a book signing and he was talking about education and he said he thought the word "teacher" was a misnomer. He said we should get rid of the word and use something like "master learner" instead, since we're all always learning--and it's the learning that's important. I like that idea. And I like to think of myself as a master learner rather than a teacher. Anyway, the weather has been really nice. Much cooler and kind of crisp, but sunny. Not today, though. It's going to rain today (yippee!) but we haven't put plastic over the leaky spots in the roof yet. Actually, I think we're out of plastic, so I need to buy plastic today, too. Jerry and I just finished listening to The Printer's Devil on audio book. We really enjoyed it. The woman that read it was terrific and there's a huge surprise in the middle of the book that neither of us saw coming. Now we're listening to The Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson but I think I'm going to have to give up on that one. The relationships between the main character and his parents are really annoying and shallow and the way the reader does all the characters makes them all seem very stereotypical. And as we all know, the stereotypical teen is not a person we want to listen to for several hours at a time. Poor teens. They get such a bad wrap. Anyway, time for me to get off the computer and get busy. If you've read this far, you're a true bloggy friend!
October 8, 2009
Books & Birthdays
I am very excited about this book! Scott Westerfeld is the author of the Uglies series, which I absolutely loved. (Even though they're categorized are young adult books, I highly recommend them to anyone of any age.) I'm very irritated about one thing, though. I've just discovered that I missed Westerfeld's book signing in L.A. by one day. Yes, I found out about the book yesterday, checked for book signings this morning and discovered they had just happened last night. He's already on his way to San Francisco. Oh well. I'm still hoping to get a signed copy, and in the meantime I've ordered the audio book so Jerry and I can listen to it while driving (or cleaning, or doing art projects, or whatever). Cory Doctorow, of boing boing, described the book like this:Leviathan is set in an alternate steampunk past, in which the powers of the world are divided into "Clankers" who favour huge, steam-powered walking war-machines; and "Darwinists," whose hybrid "beasties" can stand in for airships, steam-trains, war-ships, and subs (they even have a giant squid/octopus hybrid called the kraken that can seize whole warships and drag them to their watery graves).Awesome, eh!?
In other news, we're keeping up our busy schedule. My niece will be spending Wednesdays with us from now on. I'll be taking her to circus class each week. Yesterday after class (and after dog walking and completely forgetting about Jerry's Japanese class) I took her to see September Issue at the movie theater. We both liked it, but it felt a bit long. Still, it's an interesting look into the world of fashion and Summer thinks she'd like to have a career in fashion (or she did until she saw the movie!).
I've got a fabulous birthday dinner planned for Jerry on Sunday. I'm gathering up all of Jerry's favorite people in one place at one time. It will be pretty amazing for him, I think. The guest list includes: Mai and Willem, Jerry's Japanese teacher and her husband; Xiquan, our former boarder and Caltech student from China; Poliana, Jerry's beloved former babysitter; and the icing on the cake, coming all the way from San Francisco, Lyssa, the very first college student to live with us and someone very near and dear to Jerry's heart (this one will be a surprise for Jerry!). We're only missing a few favorite people, and one of them (who lives in Kansas, another former boarder of ours) did stop by for a visit earlier in the week, so that was lucky. She just happened to be in town for a wedding. Warren will be off work so he'll be there, too. And Jerry's best friend is coming as well. I'm looking forward to a very special celebration of Jerry's 14th birthday.
And now I need to get ready to go to my weekly gig helping out a 94-year-old friend and adopted grandfather, Sol.
October 5, 2009
Two Things
First of all, never say never. I know this rule. I spout it all the time because I swore I'd never raise a child in Los Angeles and here I am doing it and loving every second, so you'd think I'd have learned my lesson. Right? Still, there was one "never" I was so sure we could avoid forever that I shouted it from rooftops. I told people on the streets. I had it painted on the side of my house. OK, I didn't do any of those things. But they do illustrate the confidence with which I regularly said:
At this very moment Warren is driving to work. On Avatar. Directed by James Cameron.
But, it's only going to last for two months. And, at the time of Titanic Jerry was only a baby and I was overwhelmed by new motherhood and far from my family and none of my friends had kids and Warren was gone. All. The. Time. So this should be different. Plus, they say it's only six days a week (not seven). And the hours are only 12 to 14 a day (not 20). So that's a bonus. And the movie comes out December 17 or 18, so it can't go any longer that that. Phew. We should be OK.
The good thing about this job is the fact that Warren will be earning over time. Lots of it. Which means that if we save, save, save, and if we're sure we have enough in savings to pay our bills and put food on the table through March (because November through February are notoriously slow in the film business) and if we can find a suitable swap, we can go to New York!!
Which leads me to the second thing:
It's such a relief when you recognize a trait that you'd always thought you needed to change, as something that's just a part of you--for better or for worse. Take procrastination. I am a huge procrastinator. I've beaten myself up over it. I've tried to change. I've made check lists with completion dates so I could spread tasks out over time and yet, I consistently wait until the very last second before (and occasionally the second after) something needs to be done to start working on it. It's like a sickness, right? I mean that's what I told myself for years.
Until I realized I must like doing things at the last minute. Why else would I keep doing it? I like the adrenaline rush. I like the big push to accomplish something all at once, rather than bit by bit, over time. It's not as if I don't finish the tasks I've set out for myself. I do. All in one fell swoop. At the last possible second. In a blaze of glory! Perhaps I exaggerate. But still, what a relief to know that's how I operate and just accept it!
So, I'm no longer going to say, "I'm so glad we're home--now we're not going anywhere!" I'm just going to say, "I'm so glad we're home." And when the travel bug bites again, I'll invite him in.
Boy do I feel better. Not that I was feeling bad. I just feel like I don't have to roll my eyes at myself (yes, I sometimes roll my eyes at myself) when I start checking airfare or perusing the world map. I'm free to be me! Yippee!
So, like I started saying before, it looks like we might be going to New York!! We're still trying to figure out when, but it will probably be December or January. Warren would rather go in December, just in case a job comes up in January. But I'm afraid he'll still be working. Anyway, I'm looking for possible house swaps and hoping that we can use some points we've got saved on a credit card for airfare, so it really shouldn't cost much at all. I'm so excited!
We're also going to start an official savings account for a trip to Japan! It may take a few years to save up enough money, but at least the wheels are rolling. Jerry's aiming to be fluent in Japanese by the time we go. So that gives him something to work towards, too.
Jerry officially starts his dog walking job today, by the way. And we're meeting with my friend at the museum about that internship. Oh, and if you're anywhere near Boston and you have a 7th-12th grader you should check out MIT's Splash! I was thinking Jerry might go this year, but he decided to pass. It sounds awesome, though.
And now I'm going to make a nice hot cup of coffee because Fall has finally arrived in Los Angeles! At last the weather is cool and crisp and the sky is (mostly) clear and we can look forward to warm soup and fresh bread and all the things that make owning a stove (and actually being able to use it without causing heatstroke) so wonderful.
Warren will never work on another James Cameron movie. Ever.Yes, I said it many times in the last 13 years, after his six months on Titanic nearly broke our marriage. That's right, six months of working seven days a week, 16 to 20 hours a day just about did us in. (It turns out I'm one of those people that likes to see my husband on a regular basis. Go figure!) I'm sure you can see where this is going.
At this very moment Warren is driving to work. On Avatar. Directed by James Cameron.
But, it's only going to last for two months. And, at the time of Titanic Jerry was only a baby and I was overwhelmed by new motherhood and far from my family and none of my friends had kids and Warren was gone. All. The. Time. So this should be different. Plus, they say it's only six days a week (not seven). And the hours are only 12 to 14 a day (not 20). So that's a bonus. And the movie comes out December 17 or 18, so it can't go any longer that that. Phew. We should be OK.
The good thing about this job is the fact that Warren will be earning over time. Lots of it. Which means that if we save, save, save, and if we're sure we have enough in savings to pay our bills and put food on the table through March (because November through February are notoriously slow in the film business) and if we can find a suitable swap, we can go to New York!!
Which leads me to the second thing:
It's time for me to accept the fact that I'm always either traveling or planning to travel. And I like it that way.I keep saying "Now that we're home I'm not going anywhere." As soon as we return from a trip, I'm convinced that I don't want to leave our house for another year, at least. And then, after about two months, I suddenly find I must go visit my friend in Mexico. Or there's an opportunity to go to Boston for Jerry to take some classes at MIT and suddenly I'm checking airfare, looking up house swaps, setting dates, and figuring out which blogging friends I might actually get to meet in the flesh. Or I start looking through the Homelink database at houses in South Africa, Iceland, Japan, anywhere, really. It's like a sickness. Only it's not a sickness. It's just me. (No smart remarks from the peanut gallery, please!)
It's such a relief when you recognize a trait that you'd always thought you needed to change, as something that's just a part of you--for better or for worse. Take procrastination. I am a huge procrastinator. I've beaten myself up over it. I've tried to change. I've made check lists with completion dates so I could spread tasks out over time and yet, I consistently wait until the very last second before (and occasionally the second after) something needs to be done to start working on it. It's like a sickness, right? I mean that's what I told myself for years.
Until I realized I must like doing things at the last minute. Why else would I keep doing it? I like the adrenaline rush. I like the big push to accomplish something all at once, rather than bit by bit, over time. It's not as if I don't finish the tasks I've set out for myself. I do. All in one fell swoop. At the last possible second. In a blaze of glory! Perhaps I exaggerate. But still, what a relief to know that's how I operate and just accept it!
So, I'm no longer going to say, "I'm so glad we're home--now we're not going anywhere!" I'm just going to say, "I'm so glad we're home." And when the travel bug bites again, I'll invite him in.
Boy do I feel better. Not that I was feeling bad. I just feel like I don't have to roll my eyes at myself (yes, I sometimes roll my eyes at myself) when I start checking airfare or perusing the world map. I'm free to be me! Yippee!
So, like I started saying before, it looks like we might be going to New York!! We're still trying to figure out when, but it will probably be December or January. Warren would rather go in December, just in case a job comes up in January. But I'm afraid he'll still be working. Anyway, I'm looking for possible house swaps and hoping that we can use some points we've got saved on a credit card for airfare, so it really shouldn't cost much at all. I'm so excited!
We're also going to start an official savings account for a trip to Japan! It may take a few years to save up enough money, but at least the wheels are rolling. Jerry's aiming to be fluent in Japanese by the time we go. So that gives him something to work towards, too.
Jerry officially starts his dog walking job today, by the way. And we're meeting with my friend at the museum about that internship. Oh, and if you're anywhere near Boston and you have a 7th-12th grader you should check out MIT's Splash! I was thinking Jerry might go this year, but he decided to pass. It sounds awesome, though.
And now I'm going to make a nice hot cup of coffee because Fall has finally arrived in Los Angeles! At last the weather is cool and crisp and the sky is (mostly) clear and we can look forward to warm soup and fresh bread and all the things that make owning a stove (and actually being able to use it without causing heatstroke) so wonderful.
October 3, 2009
September 30, 2009
Parties, Guests & Internships
We've been orbiting at warp speed around here these days. Our visitors from New Zealand arrived yesterday. It turns out the woman's 4x (or maybe 5 or 6x) great grandfather operated the printing press at a museum we visited in Russell New Zealand and her grandmother was the nanny for the children there! Her family has lived in the Bay of Islands region of New Zealand for 800 years. That museum was one of the best ones I've been to anywhere in the world, so I was very excited to meet the descendant of people who actually lived and worked there.
Our anniversary party on Saturday was terrific. It was so nice to see our old friends and I made all the food in advance so I was able to relax and enjoy myself the entire time. I also had a great time at the cemetery tour earlier that day, where I portrayed Katharine Putnam Hooker (instead of Marion), a travel writer and great friend of John Muir and the astronomer George Ellery Hale. Thankfully my "scene" partner was comfortable with improvisation because we never did the skit the same way once. But we got lots of compliments anyway!
We had some friends over on Monday to build some Drawdio pencils and that was lots of fun. And last week Jerry had a small birthday party (where building the Drawdio was a big hit) and that went really well--except for the part where we had to drive Yulia (one of Jerry's best friends) home and the two of them had to say their final good-byes. Yulia moved to Texas two days after the party. Jerry cried the whole way home.
Jerry got some happy news at the party on Saturday, though. A friend of ours who works for the Natural History Museum asked if Jerry would be interested in doing an internship for the museum. His job would be to build a video game for them. How awesome is that!? Jerry is also starting his very first job next week. He'll be walking my friend John's dog five days a week. So it looks like things are going to get pretty busy in the next few weeks. Well, they've been busy as it is, but I suppose we'll have more of a regular busy schedule now. Another fun addition to our schedule will be Wednesdays spent with my niece. She homeschools as well and I'm going to start taking her to circus class (I haven't been going, myself) every Wednesday and then she'll hang out with us for the rest of the day. I'm looking forward to seeing more of her--she's the one who went to France with us.
So, all in all things are great. Just wanted to let you know!
Our anniversary party on Saturday was terrific. It was so nice to see our old friends and I made all the food in advance so I was able to relax and enjoy myself the entire time. I also had a great time at the cemetery tour earlier that day, where I portrayed Katharine Putnam Hooker (instead of Marion), a travel writer and great friend of John Muir and the astronomer George Ellery Hale. Thankfully my "scene" partner was comfortable with improvisation because we never did the skit the same way once. But we got lots of compliments anyway!
We had some friends over on Monday to build some Drawdio pencils and that was lots of fun. And last week Jerry had a small birthday party (where building the Drawdio was a big hit) and that went really well--except for the part where we had to drive Yulia (one of Jerry's best friends) home and the two of them had to say their final good-byes. Yulia moved to Texas two days after the party. Jerry cried the whole way home.
Jerry got some happy news at the party on Saturday, though. A friend of ours who works for the Natural History Museum asked if Jerry would be interested in doing an internship for the museum. His job would be to build a video game for them. How awesome is that!? Jerry is also starting his very first job next week. He'll be walking my friend John's dog five days a week. So it looks like things are going to get pretty busy in the next few weeks. Well, they've been busy as it is, but I suppose we'll have more of a regular busy schedule now. Another fun addition to our schedule will be Wednesdays spent with my niece. She homeschools as well and I'm going to start taking her to circus class (I haven't been going, myself) every Wednesday and then she'll hang out with us for the rest of the day. I'm looking forward to seeing more of her--she's the one who went to France with us.
So, all in all things are great. Just wanted to let you know!
September 25, 2009
Bill Maher
New Rule: If America Can't Get it Together, We Lose the Bald Eagle
I've been feeling the same way lately.
I've been feeling the same way lately.
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