asato_muraki: (Default)
2010-03-02 09:36 am

Oops! I have a life. ;)

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:

asato_muraki: (Default)
2010-02-28 07:42 pm

It seems that every day holds a secret prize

We had unexpected plans pop up yesterday, and today we had actual plans that went poof, but in a good way.

It opened up our time for a walk through the park, across St. Charles and up to The Maple Street Book Shop, which is actually two houses, side by side. One sells used and rare books and the other new books. We went in both, and it was lovely. I bought four books (including one for the kiddies) and ordered one. I know where I am going for books from now on. Sure, I might have to order genre titles specially, but Amazon continues to piss me off and this book shop is a dream.

On the way home we passed three nice places with For Rent signs, and hope for larger digs swelled within me. Then, my phone rang and it was my dear friend Andrea (whom some of you know as Jenny Gardener). I haven't seen her in years, though she's still someone I consider a close friend. We talk about once or twice a year, but I'm going to change that. It was so awesome to hear from her. She was the first one to expose me the whole "Follow Your Bliss" thing, which seems to be working out pretty well for both of us.

Seriously, a week doesn't pass that I don't think about her. The giant live oaks in the park remind me of her workshop story tentatively titled "Naked Man Falls from Tree." Which, yeah, maybe you had to be there. But she's awesome - take my word for it.

Then we made chicken for dinner, and Big Boy filmed me cutting up chicken breasts his next short film project, which seems like it should be pretty funny.

***

Got my words in, too:



For a total of:

asato_muraki: (Default)
2010-02-27 10:53 pm

Every day is a new adventure, but the weekends in NOLA are even more so

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!



asato_muraki: (Default)
2010-02-21 11:45 am
Entry tags:

Mumble, mumble

Great day yesterday. Went to the library and the zoo and out to eat. Nice long walks through the neighborhood for most of it. Temp was in the 60s and sunny. So nice.

Watched A Night at the Opera with the boys. Ah, the Marx Brothers. Quite fun.

***

Also, I realized that the thing I was complaining about missing out on for the boys would actually have prevented Big Boy from interviewing to be a Junior Zookeeper (a volunteer program at the zoo that he has been angling to get in since we got here). They would have required him to be there all day on the day of the interviews, and that is something I know he's really passionate about. He got the application and filled it out himself, and delivered it by hand.

So, it was a lucky break I didn't commit him to something else. He would have been so mad at me. :)

***


Writing stats for this morning:



And overall:



I could have done more, but the family is waiting on me. Maybe more tonight. :)
asato_muraki: (Default)
2010-02-17 08:56 am

Lame post of lameness

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:
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-12-16 05:03 pm
Entry tags:

I have good teeth, apparently.

So, what with all the moving and stuff, we were all way over due for check ups. Since our pre-tax medical savings account is use it or lose it, we all had dental appointments today. We all did very well with the exception of Wee Boy. Like myself and his big brother before him, he has very porous baby teeth, but his permanent teeth, like mine and his big brother's, are quite strong.



I have a tiny little chip on my front tooth, right where the orthodontist decided to file mine down years ago. See, my front teeth naturally had a bit of a serrated look along the edge of the incisors. He ground them off smooth, then for some reason, ground in a slight serration (I have no idea what the right word is for that type of thing, but 'serration' will do) on each near the mid line. He didn't ask, he just did it.

Anyhoo, the kids both have my giant, carnivorous front teeth. Big Boy was even teased about them once upon a time, because when they first came in they were huge compared to his little six-year-old's head.

But anyway, I am grateful for my huge, strong teeth, and pledge to take good care of them. Wee Boy will need fillings in a couple of his baby teeth, because they're due to hang around a couple more years, but keeping the teeth could save us on braces down the road. Also, maybe some hours in the dental chair will make him more careful about flossing (he thinks if the floss goes straight down, he's done - despite careful coaching from both parents). Oy!
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-12-10 06:24 pm

What a day

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. ;)
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-12-09 08:52 am

(no subject)

I'm getting comment notices on LJ either very, very late or not at all, but I will catch up. :)

Big Boy's orthodontist had good news - He won't be in braces for as long as we had feared, and it won't even be very expensive (we DID win $2,000.00 worth of orthodontia for $10.00 at a silent auction, so our final cost is ridiculously reasonable).

Also, we found him a good math tutor, whom we will meet with today. I am relieved.

I'm still not physically up to speed, and it's beginning to wear on me. I'm so tired of being sickly, even though it isn't very bad. We had temps in the 70s yesterday, and I wanted to be able to enjoy it! Plus, I've let things at the website slip, which I should not have done. *grump*

***

Today at GC, we have a chance to geek out with the lovely Amalia the Savage again, with A Geeky Norse Mythology Moment. I've always loved Norse Mythology, so I found it quite fun.

***

I let the boys watch The Hound of the Baskervilles last night (Jeremy Brett). It was enjoyable, though I don't think they got it quite as well as I had hoped. Wee Boy has been reading the novel for Reading, and decided after he started that it was 'boring'. *sniffle* The again, he's only ten. I might well be the only English Classics - loving aberration in my family, which makes me a little sad.

I paused it to explain the phrenology references at the beginning, so when they got to that bit they found it properly amusing - laughed out loud, in fact. If they hadn't, I'd have had to consider the prospect of having more children. They have generally good geeky taste, but if they couldn't appreciate Jeremy Brett's performance, I might've had to start fresh with a new litter. ;)g
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-12-07 08:15 am

Fun stuff!

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 [livejournal.com profile] 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/
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-09-15 03:51 pm

Today is a great day! (well, mostly)

Because, as Beatrice Blythe tells us, Resistance is Futile: I Belong to Muse.

I myself do not belong to Muse, probably because my life has a profound lack of music, these days. From what I've listened to online, though, I really like them.

***

My sister called to say that she's severely anemic and there is blood in her urine. That is really, really not good. She called me feeling rather horrible and I couldn't talk because the kids were bickering. I called her back, but she was about to go help her daughter pick out a class ring.

***

I'm still going around and around about the school stuff. I think there is a good chance that my eldest has not been doing the assignments set by the teachers in the group sessions. Fortunately, those have only been happening for two weeks, so maybe there won't be much to catch up on. I sent an email to his teacher to find out, but haven't heard back.

***

I've managed to get a surprising amount of writing done recently, so that's good. It's just taken me time to get the hang of keeping all the balls in the air.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-09-14 10:24 am
Entry tags:

Oops!

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 [livejournal.com profile] 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.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-08-10 10:36 am
Entry tags:

New Orleans

We've succeeded in making our tiny temporary digs quite livable, which is nice. We're very close to Audubon Park, which is glorious.

Saturday we went down to the Audubon Insectarium, which was great fun. (They let you pet the caterpillars!) It was just after the Red Dress Run, so there were plenty of people wandering about in red dresses, sipping beer. As we were leaving, an adorable, raven-haired college boy in a crimson sarong passed me on the sidewalk, caught my eye and smiled.

I think I'm really going to love this town.

Also, by an odd coincidence, the boys struck up a conversation with a couple of younger boys at snowball stand, and we ended up chatting with their father about schools and such. He ended up giving us a note about his group practice (he admitted to being a doctor and said that he didn't usually do commercials, but since we were new in town and didn't have anybody to go to if we were sick, etc.) even giving us a name of a pediatrician. When my Beloved said, "Yes, we need a pediatrician, and probably a nephrologist, too" the guy got a funny look and asked why.

Turns out, he's a nephrologist. O_o What are the chances? We were not looking forward to driving 700 miles one way for my check ups, and there you go.

We decided to take it as a sign that we are where we need to be. Now we just need to find ways to get the boys involved in things with their peer group, and we'll be set. (They are missing their friends terribly.)
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-07-07 09:55 am

Hopefully, today will be a day for the writing

Finally we have some Star Wars stuff up on GC! [livejournal.com profile] 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 [livejournal.com profile] narniadear:

Five Words )
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-07-05 12:57 pm
Entry tags:

This lies outside my core competence, but...

I've set up a GeekaChicas page on Facebook. If anyone has any advice on how to best use Facebook so that it is not merely a re-hash of the same GC stuff, please throw me a bone.

Much thanks.

***

Hope you all had a fabulous Fourth of July! My in-laws took us to lunch at franchise of the company my Beloved is courting as a national customer, and it was very tasty. We had probably the smartest, most engaged waitress ever. Then we went back to the in-laws lovely home, where I soon succumbed to sleep while sitting up. I avoid speaking politics around them, but they had just come from a "Tea Party" so I allowed myself some soft snoring as commentary on their Obama-bashing.

I've been hearing about how X political figure was going to ruin us all since I was three years old, and I'm frankly tired of the perceived need to vilify a person with whom you happen to disagree. It simply exhausts me, even when I'm not a supporter of the person in question. Hence the sleep.

Even when politics is not involved, I generally fall asleep at the in-laws' place. I don't know why. I don't mean to be rude. I suppose it is because I'm consistently left out of the conversation (except when there's an opportunity to nit-pick our parenting *sigh*).
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-06-30 09:29 am
Entry tags:

My house is full of little boys

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. ;)
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-06-28 03:59 pm
Entry tags:

My kitty came back!

I was so worried. I'm sure you all know Angry Cat by now, from my frequent use of him in Birthday greetings. He slipped out the garage door (I suppose the door between the house and garage had closed fully, because he's good at clawing it open if it doesn't catch) and out into the night when we got home Friday night/early Saturday. We tried to get him back in but he ran and we lost him in the shadows. It has happened before, but he's always been desperate to get back in after a short while.

I spent most of Saturday looking for him, checking the storm drains and side streets. Wee Boy went with a friend and his family to the pool, but ended up walking home crying. Poor woobie. After years of harassing the cat with too much affection, Wee Boy has finally got the hang of being good to the cat. They have actually grown quite close recently.

Then it rained really hard in the early evening, and I went to the front room where it's quiet to call the animal shelter and my sister (I knew she would understand my fear, and my need to put a brave face on for the kids). I'd just hung up when I thought I heard a meow. A moment passed and heard scratching, opened the door and in came my big, bedraggled fuzzy baby. Wee Boy's friend Jake immediately told us all "I TOLD you he'd come back when it started to rain!"

Such a relief not to need those fliers after all.

***

Had a nice weekend with the hubby otherwise. It was fun to cook good meals and feed him for a change. I went rather wild on the fruit at the grocery store Friday, so I threw a few raspberries in my banana/strawberry smoothie. It was yummy. Now I'm having raspberries with the chocolate drizzle that was left over from the bonbons I made for the party.

I even got in over 3000 words this morning while everyone was asleep.

Life is good.
asato_muraki: (pic#138731)
2009-06-25 08:50 am
Entry tags:

So Far, Forty Feels Great!

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 [livejournal.com profile] 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 [livejournal.com profile] 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.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-06-20 12:42 pm

I feel like a geologist

... sifting through the layers of the geological record. Going through mounds of crap left unexamined for years but once deemed worthy of keeping has been a revelation.

Pictures, picture frames, scrapbooking supplies and so forth have now been consolidated, years of paperwork sorted through. I still had all the legal docs from a minor fender-bender in 1994, and a lot of my pay stubs from the government. Sure, I need to keep my separation papers and so forth, just in case I ever get desperate enough to revisit the hell of civil service, but still.

I cleaned out my beloved oak roll-top desk, the first bit of new furniture I ever bought. It had been sitting in our entryway with photos displayed on top of it and a multitude of junk hidden beneath its rolling top. I found all sorts of neat stuff, and cleared out enough space to collect and file the writing I did before I had my own computer. Plus, the notes from my Ancient Greek classes (the only college course whose materials I've kept.

I found pictures of me and my Beloved from back then, and added one special memory of us to a picture frame displayed on top. *happy sigh* I'm going to hold onto this image of a clean, orderly home in which I can find things that are useful, beautiful or meaningful to me. I'm going to have faith that there will be a place like that in my future in New Orleans, though the road to finding it may be a long one. We can do this.

***

We got Wee Boy's class assignment and supplies list for next year in the mail. The one lingering worry about moving now is that he will not get that last year at this really great school around the corner. But, he's been accepted to a free public homeschooling program that is coordinated online, so I can make sure we get to do a lot of the same cool stuff.

It's going to be super-hard for him to leave behind his friend Jake from down the street. Jake practically lives here, most days. I'm going to miss him, too.

I guess I just have to have faith that we will find appropriate social outlets for both my boys in our new hometown.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-06-15 12:01 pm
Entry tags:

Fun stuff!

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
asato_muraki: (Default)
2009-06-09 02:10 pm
Entry tags:

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig

My truck is now clean and has functioning air conditioning. Woot! That made the trip home so very pleasant. It was great to see my stepdad (Papa)again. It has been way too long.

He always feeds us these huge breakfasts -- eggs and pancakes and biscuits and bacon. I made him a nice sugar-free banana pudding and we took him out to eat for his birthday.

The boys and I walked a lot, which was fun. The neighborhood dogs are friendly, and i think it eased the boy's sadness over Bitey a bit. Big Boy and collected some footage for his summer short series (inspired by portions of the Brit TV show Merlin) called Smokey the Unhelpful Dragon. I can't wait, it's going to be so much fun!

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In other news, [livejournal.com profile] narniadear's review of Up is live over at GeekaChicas, and she is soooo on the money with this one. If you haven't seen it, you totally should. Pixar has gobsmacked me yet again.

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I'm so glad to be back! *huggles*