I mean, of course I have a life, and not just within the parameters of clinical definition. I am living, and I have a family. I've done lots of stuff for my family, including moving to a new city where i pretty much didn't know anybody. I've had a great time exploring said city with the family, but I didn't have what I would call a social life. Due to the hubby's job, we got invited to a lot of parties, but that's not the same thing.

Then last night, the kids and I got invited on an outing that would conflict with out regularly scheduled Homeschooling group activities today. I consulted with the family, and we made our choice. Then I had to call three other families -- one to confirm our plans and two others to let them know that the boys would be missing the activity scheduled for today. I needed to let them know because I suspected one boy would be sorely disappointed and wanted to schedule a make-up activity, and another call because I had told another mom I would be there, and since her son (who gets on so well with Wee Boy) has Asperger's, I KNEW advanced notice for a no-show would make her life a LOT easier.

So, for the first time since I've been here, a change in my plans required more than one phone call and a chat with the Family Unit.

I... I think I have... friends? At the very least, a social circle. How did THAT happen?

***

Writing continues. I feel it beset with suck, but I'm getting close to the good part now.



Overall:

Woke up this morning to a call from K, a mom from the unschooling group whose son gets on well with my boys, and whom I really enjoy as well. Her daughter takes ballet at NORD, and they often get offered reduced price tickets to dance performances. She was hoping teh boys and I could come to one at the theater near Louis Armstrong Park. Some confused and sleep-slurred conversation later, and it was a done deal. I think that another mother had bought extra tickets thinking someone else would be able to attend, and ended up stuck with three extra tickets.

In any case, the boys and I got to see a performance by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. It was nothing short of stunning. (I'd had no idea who was performing when I agreed to go, so this was a huge treat. Five dollars a person for $30.00 tickets. SCORE!

if you explore that link, you can see a glimpse or two of the amazing athleticism and gorgeous choreography we witnessed today. Just lovely. A mix of obviously very vigorous multi-discipline dance training that was physically impressive and still quite accessible. It was wonderful to see really gifted male dancers do things that made the audience gasp and applaud spontaneously. It was very strongly rooted in traditional ballet, but they let the men show their stuff instead of just the usual lifts and such.

It started with a tribute to Otis Redding, then an impressive three-man dance set, followed by a series of performances to spirituals called "Revelations. Especially moving for me and for most of the NOLA audience, was "Wade in the Water" with the memorable line "God's gonna trouble the waters." I had flashbacks to Katrina and I wasn't even here back then. It brought tears to my eyes.

So, I had no plans and ended up scoring tickets to the best touring professional dance troupe in the country. Well, okay. One of them. Still, it amazes me that I could start a day with no expectations and be so blessed.

We regrouped at City Park afterward, and i got the hubby to meet K and her husband and kids, so now he can put faces with the names. We're supposed to meet up with S and her boys tomorrow. Her husband comes in from England Tuesday, so I expect we won't see that much of her for the ten days he's visiting.

Then there was dinner at Corky's Barbecue, which was cheap and tasty, followed by a trip to the grocer store and laundry. Whee! I got my words in, too. So a good day all around!

Mardi Gras was fun for me, though I did not stay downtown for much of the parades and drinking. It was terribly cold downtown and very windy. I was surprised to find that Uptown is actually warmer than the French Quarter. I don not know what that is, but downtown I could not stop shivering and slowly could not feel my feet, but Uptown I found it a lovely day.

My Beloved and my boys and I bought some bread and went to our favorite duck-feeding spot in teh park, and it was utterly lovely. Not what most would consider a typical Mardi Gras experience, but for me it was utterly lovely. Besides, not being Catholic I have no need to give up anything for Lent. So, I have no drive to over-indulge in anything Fat Tuesday.

But watching part of the Zulu parade from a giant fifth floor window was nice, though it was still very cold.

***

Now to the lame part. I've essentially had nothing to put up for several days, and so I've been posting wee articles about random things that interest me, and probably only me, which is bad. Still , I'm happy to share "Fear of the Boom and Bust" a Hayek vs Keynes rap anthem, a video that is a lot more fun than it has any right to be.

***

My stats for this morning on the writing front:


It came pretty well. Still needs refinement, but first drafts usually do, I reckon. (Maybe the folksy thing doesn't work for me so well. heh.)

Total progress:

Didn't do my usual GC post this morning, on account of an early appointment with our tutor. It was a much chillier walk today than it had been yesterday, when the temp was in the 70s. Then, we had the afternoon park day, which was fabulous. We still managed to the school work, too.

The tutor really gets on with my boys - I think we'll keep visiting him even when the current crisis is over.

***

On GC today, we had a controversial article by Pearce, Behold: ECOGATE! It's her take on the quick sweeping-under-the-rug of leaked emails by climatologists. I found the content of emails to be scandalous and upsetting, because scientists are supposed to follow the data, not change or destroy it so that no one can question their conclusions. I'm not saying human-affected climate change isn't possible (or even happening, for all I know), but some of it's proponents bear closer resemblance to zealots than I am personally comfortable with in a scientists. Circling the wagons and talking of boycotting reputable, peer-reviewed journals that dare to publish anything not supporting the hard party line -- that's not science, that's CYA career protection. Scientists follow the data. Period. They don't tell the only guy who is out there in the field actually counting polar bears that his data is unreliable because his numbers suggest that polar bear populations are higher than estimated. Because the drowning polar bears may be drowning because of competition for resources, not dangerously melting ice.

That makes me just as mad as the Fox News Producers who work up the crowds at rallies before interviewing people in front of cheering masses. That's not journalism, and if-your-data-doesn't-agree-with-mine-then-you're-a-fraud is not science, either.

That's a bee in my bonnet, if you can't tell. ;)

We hit a NOLA Christmas Parade (well, actually there were two) on Saturday. The boys snagged a bunch of beads and I caught a little gold box with a New Orleans/ French Market commemorative ornament in it.

Which is awesome. The French market is the oldest town market still in existence in the U.S. Right around 300 years. Hey! No yawning you Europeans! That's a big deal for us in the colonies.

Last night we went out to see Christmas lights, which was fun. I'm still not 100% but I have hopes. :) I need to contact Big Boy's favorite teacher to see if she can send me some letters of recommendation for him - One for the arts magnet school, and one for his volunteer applications at the zoo and the aquarium (the latter were HIS idea).

***

In GeekaChicas news, I couldn't help myself. On Friday I posted the Neutra Face video I snagged from inyadreams, now also posted below because ROFLMAO:



Bearded, nerdly men dancing for my pleasure. Heh!

And today we have Pearce's wonderful I'm Gonna Sing the Doom Song Now, a humorous debunking of the OMG! We're all gonna die! The Mayans said so! thing. That was totally not what the Mayans meant, and she tells you all about it.

I love that girl!

Oh, and this is totally something my eldest would do:

http://www.foxtrot.com/2009/12/12062009/

Things being what they were Friday, I slipped up and forgot to pimp Darth Sweetum's 9/11 post Remembrance in this space. *shame* She said it much better than I could have, as I'd have probably grumped on insane conspiracy theories again, and no one needs that.

Also at GeekaChicas, today we have an article by A Nonny Mouse (aka jedi_diplomat called A Fascination with Prayer Beads. Now, I know she usually does technology and gadgetry articles, but I'm glad to have her branch out a bit, and the subject is fascinating to me. It makes me want to get some meditation beads. :)

In other GC related news, we got some huge hits on older articles this weekend, which was nice to see.

***

We spent a mostly quiet weekend. We got library cards! Haven't changed any of our IDs yet, but by golly we have library cards. PRIORITIES, people! ;) The local library is in this lovely old mansion maybe ten blocks or so away. It was very nice inside, with creaky old floors and stairs that pop and groan even when kids walk on them. The children's section has a bunch of big bean bags in picture book section.

They were having a book sale in the old carriage house behind the library, and I bought a book for myself and one Big Boy picked out. Also, I got to meet a lady named Elizabeth who had befriended Big Boy on one of his walks in the park. They had bonded over seeing a Roseate Spoonbill. She was very nice.

I really need to get the boys into something where they are around a consistent group of kids, so that they can start finding friends their own age. Boy Scouts, maybe. *shudder* (I really cannot account for my aversion to Boy Scouts. I was a Girl Scout, after all.)

Then we went out for lunch near a place that was servicing Wee Boy's bike. It rained quite a bit.

Sunday my Beloved took the boys to the Zoo again, and they got to see the alligators at feeding time. Made a big impression. Also, the raccoons were up and about. I stayed home and wrote, and I must say I don't regret it, though it did seem like they had fun.

***

We finished our read-aloud of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban last night. After we finish school today, we're going to watch the movie.

I'll say it again -- for all the minor stylistic faults in the Harry Potter books (which become so obvious when read aloud), they're still incredibly freaking brilliant.

Finally we have some Star Wars stuff up on GC! abrynne's post, Star Wars The Old Republic - It's a Big Universe Out There" touches on the annoying fact that much of the Star Wars extended universe is more narratively satisfying than some of Star Wars films. *sigh* But we love them anyway.

Also, I realized the Forum was set to show only the first ten posts of any topic. *headdesk, repeatedly* I fixed it easily enough, and only three posts (not counting my repeated attempts to make a single post show up) had been hidden, so hopefully no one was miffed.

Heh.

***

Now to get to the Five Words Meme:


Reply to this meme by yelling "Words!" in the comments and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you.

Here are my five words as provided by narniadear:

( Five Words )

I'm not sure exactly how this happened. Let me explain. I grew up in a very female-dominant family. Not that my dad was a wimp -- far from it. He was once a sergeant in the Army, who could bluster and give orders with the best of them, but he was also a bit Asperger-y, and relied a lot on my mother to manage things. He loved us, we loved him. He was brilliant. He was also largely irrelevant to the social fabric of the family. Mom did everything -- she ran the place -- and she was the perfect counterpoint to my father's social impairment.

Folks were simply drawn to her. My older brother had several girlfriends who called her "mom" and would still visit long after he had broken up with them. Made for some fun evenings, let me tell you.

In any case, I always assumed that one day I'd have daughters, and teach them to value their brains and to believe there were no limits on their dreams, just as my mother had for my sister and me. When I learned I was having a boy that first time, I freaked. What the hell was I going to do with a boy baby? I'd done a lot of babysitting in my teens, but almost exclusively to girls. I read them the Chronicles of Narnia, taught them to draw, showed them how to find nice straight sticks and make scrolls with their computer paper. Girls were great.

Well, years later I have two boys, and I realize now I needn't have worried. One of the little-publicized joys of passing on one's DNA is realizing how much your have in common with your little monsters, whether or not they have a Y chromosome.

Wee Boy's friend from down the street stayed over again last night (the second time in three days), and his older brother has started coming over with him. They get with my boys and play games, watch viral videos and do what Wee Boy calls "playing Imagination." The latter involves lots of their martial arts equipment, about 12 Nerf guns, and teams of zombies and survivors (or, recently, an interesting mashup of the Naruto universe and Shadow of the Colossus). It also means a lot of running in and out of the house, screaming things like, "He's infected!" and "You can't do that! My Zero Suit is impenetrable!"

It happens every summer. Boys materialize on my lawn at dawn, and the fun begins. I try to keep them hydrated with KoolAid or the occasional SnoCone. I buy a bag of icepops, and in two days the boys and their gang of friends have left only the orange and yellow ones to decorate the inside of the freezer. I refuse to buy more until those are gone, which draws out the process for weeks. I end up making Koolaid pops, like I did last night.

The point is, my house has become a magnet for little boys, and I've realized that boys are great. And what could be more challenging in this world than to raise young men to be smart and compassionate, to use their strength to stand up for the weak?

Plus, I get to read their manga when they're done. ;)

Well, well. I was going to keep it low key on my B-day, because... Well, it was the middle of the week and I'd already had a cook-out this past weekend and stuff. But it didn't really turn out that way.

I got up and made waffles from scratch. They were vastly superior to Bisquick waffles, and the boys ate them up in a most gratifying way. :)

I wanted to take them to the pool, but Big Boy wanted to wait until his friend called, so he could go with us. I spent some time filing and stuff, inching forward on the huge project of sorting and organizing our lives. Of course, the friend called while I was in the middle of it and could come over but needed a ride. I told him it would be a while before I could get him.

The pool was fun, but I realized after I had picked the boy up that I could not find my driver's license anywhere. (Still haven't found it.) That stressed me a tad because darlingviolenta was planning to take me to Provino's for dinner. They give you a free meal on your birthday, but you have to prove it's your birthday with a picture ID.

Turns out, a passport works just fine. ;) Anyway, the meal was lovely. I had so very many emails, birthday wishes and pretty pictures, plus, folks kept calling me, too. It all made me feel very loved.


Then I got online and saw a bunch more sweet wishes, and an incredible birthday fic by micehell called "Treasures of the Flesh Never Few" It's a lovely, pornful Torchwood fic - Jack/John/Ianto. Torchwood is probably the only sf/f fandom where the manwhore-ness of characters is actually part of the show. Let's hear it for the battle of the sexy boots!

It was really a great day.

Over the weekend we had Big Boy's birthday party. My sister and nieces drove in for the weekend and we had a good time. The yard looked passable, and I don't think anyone minded that we had a low-key party.

We had ice cream cake and the usual party food. Big Boy gave out "prizes" to his friends (chosen by himself). These included rubber chickens, plastic pig banks, over-sized scissors, giant fly swatters and (to one of his best pals) underarm deodorant. There were also water balloons and things. The main activity was to divide the kids up into teams, fill out Mad Lib style sheets, and then force the teams to make movies based on the mad-libbed scenario.

It was amusing.

***

In GeekaChicas news, over the weekend we had The Girl's Guide to Comic Con by Nightsky, an insightful rant on teh marginalization of the longstanding female contributions to fandom. I honestly couldn't agree more. Women have always been a key part of fandom -- since cons were just tiny Star Trek 'nostalgia gatherings.'

Today, we have a new review from Pearce, Story Writing 101 -- The Taking of Pelham 123, in which she compares the plot to Mad Libs. Funny coincidence, that.

***

Speaking of GeekaChicas, I showed it to my sister, and got to listen to her laughing in the other room while I made breakfast. I cannot tell you how cool that was, to make my big sister laugh like that. (I had pointed her to an article I wrote, to start.) It was like I was ten and she was 16 all over again, back when she was the coolest person alive and making her think I was cool was at the top of my To Do list. *g*

She's never really taken an interest in my writing, so when she finished reading that one article, she came in and asked me, "You wrote that?" Hee!

Yes, dear. I have progressed beyond the rhyming poems about my cat I wrote when I was seven, believe it or not. :D