too tired...
... and never any time to write lately. My weblog sucks.
Today I spent two and a half hours at the community park with the kids. We had lots of fun... and ice cream. Good ice cream. This ice cream truck had Ben and Jerry's. It rocked. Our neighborhood ice cream truck sucks. Mister Fucking Softee. I like my ice cream FROZEN, y'know?? Plus... it just drove by... just now. IT'S 9:30 AT NIGHT FOR FUCK'S SAKE!! Who the hell is standing out buying ice cream from the ice cream truck this late at night - crack dealers?
Anyway. We're getting ready for the yard sale Saturday. The house is piled with boxes of crap. I hope people buy some of it, so they can pile it in THEIR house!
D.
Wednesday, July 30
Tuesday, July 29
McBlogging...
Well... it’s not exactly “alone time”... but with 2 kids you take what you can get. I’m typing this entry from an outdoor PlayPlace at McDonalds while the 4 y.o. climbs around. Not a bad deal... better than being home with the baby. The reason we’re at McDonalds is that we promised our daughter she could go to the PlayPlace at the mall yesterday, then it was closed when we got there. One large hissy fit later, and we have a promise to come to another McDonalds the NEXT day. So... here we are. Gorgeous day... tough to see the laptop screen, even in the shade, but nice to be outside. I’m typing in 16 point font!
Not much is happening worth going on and on about. I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I’ve been spending the past few days considering joining a “play by email” Dungeons and Dragons game. How the fuck old am I?? Anyway, that idea has been occupying a few brain cells... I don’t have that many to work with in the first place, what with the baby and his sleeping habits. We’re trying to “crib train” him somewhat... no being picked up until after 1 or 2 AM... just being patted and sung to in the crib. It’s not working terribly well... we’ll see. It would be nice to get him to sleep a regular five-hour-stretch.
The wife started he gym membership today... meaning one more stretch of time during the week when I have to watch the kids. She damned well better lose some weight... I don’t want to be stuck with them for nothin’. Forget the wasted three hundred bucks... wasted stuck-with-the-kids time is far more precious.
D.
Well... it’s not exactly “alone time”... but with 2 kids you take what you can get. I’m typing this entry from an outdoor PlayPlace at McDonalds while the 4 y.o. climbs around. Not a bad deal... better than being home with the baby. The reason we’re at McDonalds is that we promised our daughter she could go to the PlayPlace at the mall yesterday, then it was closed when we got there. One large hissy fit later, and we have a promise to come to another McDonalds the NEXT day. So... here we are. Gorgeous day... tough to see the laptop screen, even in the shade, but nice to be outside. I’m typing in 16 point font!
Not much is happening worth going on and on about. I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I’ve been spending the past few days considering joining a “play by email” Dungeons and Dragons game. How the fuck old am I?? Anyway, that idea has been occupying a few brain cells... I don’t have that many to work with in the first place, what with the baby and his sleeping habits. We’re trying to “crib train” him somewhat... no being picked up until after 1 or 2 AM... just being patted and sung to in the crib. It’s not working terribly well... we’ll see. It would be nice to get him to sleep a regular five-hour-stretch.
The wife started he gym membership today... meaning one more stretch of time during the week when I have to watch the kids. She damned well better lose some weight... I don’t want to be stuck with them for nothin’. Forget the wasted three hundred bucks... wasted stuck-with-the-kids time is far more precious.
D.
Saturday, July 26
perhaps the first time i've used the word "dick" in my weblog...
Tempers are running high around here. Too much crying – not enough sleep. Not even a session of nice, slow, better-than-average sex the other night was enough to raise spirits. More about that later.
The 4-year-old hasn’t been helping matters much either.... argue, argue, argue...no, no, no... she’s been sent to her room so much in the past few days.... Jesus, it’s just driving me nuts. They are both asleep right now. Hopefully the little one will stay OUT until at least 10:30 or so... let me drink some tea, write in my weblog, read a magazine, watch Lord of the Rings with the director’s commentary on... just enjoy some fucking QUIET. Actually if I had any sense, I’d go straight to bed NOW.
Back to the sex. Being that we don’t want any more evil little non-sleeping children, and the wife is still nursing and thus not on The Pill, we’re currently using condoms. Well, we’re mostly using abstinence, but during that rare occasion that we actually manage to HAVE sex, we’re using condoms. Lately we’ve been working our way slowly through a box of Trojan polyurethane - not latex - condoms. Seems the wife’s parents bought a crate of them right before her Mom hit menopause, so she asked my wife if she wanted them. (To which I responded – did you really have to tell me where they came from??) Now we usually don’t use Trojans... in the past I’ve found myself experiencing a pronounced burning sensation afterwards on some occasions... must be the lubricant or something... not good... so generally we use Lifestyles. But these poly Trojans have worked quite nicely...no burning... must be a different formulation of the lubricant, I figured. Well... the other day I found out for sure... they are definitely using something different in the lubricant... Homer Formsby brand furniture refinisher I would guess, cuz I left the wrapper on my brand new fucking nightstand the other night and the shit dissolved right the fuck through the finish to the bare fucking wood. Brand new piece of furniture, and now it looks like SHIT. I’m thinking about taking a picture and sending it to Trojan with a letter saying – “You might want to consider putting a little note on your box telling people that the empty fucking wrappers have the power to dissolve your fucking furniture.” Then I thought... Jesus... forget the furniture... I had my dick marinating in that shit for 15 minutes. Anything that is that bad for furniture can’t possibly be too good for your dick!!
Anyway... sorry for the long condom story. It’s not really my style. But it had to be said.
D.
Tempers are running high around here. Too much crying – not enough sleep. Not even a session of nice, slow, better-than-average sex the other night was enough to raise spirits. More about that later.
The 4-year-old hasn’t been helping matters much either.... argue, argue, argue...no, no, no... she’s been sent to her room so much in the past few days.... Jesus, it’s just driving me nuts. They are both asleep right now. Hopefully the little one will stay OUT until at least 10:30 or so... let me drink some tea, write in my weblog, read a magazine, watch Lord of the Rings with the director’s commentary on... just enjoy some fucking QUIET. Actually if I had any sense, I’d go straight to bed NOW.
Back to the sex. Being that we don’t want any more evil little non-sleeping children, and the wife is still nursing and thus not on The Pill, we’re currently using condoms. Well, we’re mostly using abstinence, but during that rare occasion that we actually manage to HAVE sex, we’re using condoms. Lately we’ve been working our way slowly through a box of Trojan polyurethane - not latex - condoms. Seems the wife’s parents bought a crate of them right before her Mom hit menopause, so she asked my wife if she wanted them. (To which I responded – did you really have to tell me where they came from??) Now we usually don’t use Trojans... in the past I’ve found myself experiencing a pronounced burning sensation afterwards on some occasions... must be the lubricant or something... not good... so generally we use Lifestyles. But these poly Trojans have worked quite nicely...no burning... must be a different formulation of the lubricant, I figured. Well... the other day I found out for sure... they are definitely using something different in the lubricant... Homer Formsby brand furniture refinisher I would guess, cuz I left the wrapper on my brand new fucking nightstand the other night and the shit dissolved right the fuck through the finish to the bare fucking wood. Brand new piece of furniture, and now it looks like SHIT. I’m thinking about taking a picture and sending it to Trojan with a letter saying – “You might want to consider putting a little note on your box telling people that the empty fucking wrappers have the power to dissolve your fucking furniture.” Then I thought... Jesus... forget the furniture... I had my dick marinating in that shit for 15 minutes. Anything that is that bad for furniture can’t possibly be too good for your dick!!
Anyway... sorry for the long condom story. It’s not really my style. But it had to be said.
D.
Friday, July 25
a solution...?
Just returned from a trip to Toys R Us with our newest acquisition - the Superyard XT. Translation...? "The Giant Hexagonal Baby Cage XT". It takes up the whole fucking living room, but it's pretty sweet. Sixty bucks.... but he seems to have fun crawling around in there. Semi-contained, and yet somewhat free to roam. At least I can type on my laptop without looking up every 5 secods to make sure he isn't about to kill himself. Right now the cats are looking at it going - "Yeah... it's about fucking time you put that thing in a cage!"
D.
Just returned from a trip to Toys R Us with our newest acquisition - the Superyard XT. Translation...? "The Giant Hexagonal Baby Cage XT". It takes up the whole fucking living room, but it's pretty sweet. Sixty bucks.... but he seems to have fun crawling around in there. Semi-contained, and yet somewhat free to roam. At least I can type on my laptop without looking up every 5 secods to make sure he isn't about to kill himself. Right now the cats are looking at it going - "Yeah... it's about fucking time you put that thing in a cage!"
D.
freakboy
My wife got an automated "Your Baby At Seven Months" email the other day from some internet thing she belongs to, and it said. "Your seven month old may be sitting unsupported for short periods of time, and if you place a toy just out of his reach, he may try to GRAB for it!" Oooooh! You don't say? Cut to OUR seven month old, crawling at breakneck speed down the hall chasing the cat and STANDING unaided for pretty much as long as he wants and occasionally climbing the stairs while we’re not looking.
What a little freak!
The thing is, he’s driving me absolutely crazy. I really don’t remember his sister being quite this destructive. He’s like the Terminator. It’s what he does! IT’S ALL HE DOES!! Because a normal 7-month old baby... the way they play is just to explore things. You hand them something and they turn it around and the chew on it and they bang it... then they get bored and wait for you to hand them something else or wave it around and do something interesting with it. They aren’t really smart enough to “play” yet... it’s all about “Oooh,. what’s THAT”. Well... you put that mentality into a creature and make it MOBILE... you have a dangerous little Carpet Entity. Because he just moves from one thing to another... yanking on cat tails, shredding magazines, chewing on power cables.... just one thing after another. Try to give him a toy?? AN ACTUAL BABY TOY?? Yeah. That’s good for about 10 seconds before he notices a particularly tasty looking shoe over by the door.
Add this to the fact that he almost never takes a nap longer than 20 minutes, and regularly wakes up 5 or 6 times a night, and I’m about ready to strangle the little animal. He’s making me really look forward to going back to work in September.
D.
My wife got an automated "Your Baby At Seven Months" email the other day from some internet thing she belongs to, and it said. "Your seven month old may be sitting unsupported for short periods of time, and if you place a toy just out of his reach, he may try to GRAB for it!" Oooooh! You don't say? Cut to OUR seven month old, crawling at breakneck speed down the hall chasing the cat and STANDING unaided for pretty much as long as he wants and occasionally climbing the stairs while we’re not looking.
What a little freak!
The thing is, he’s driving me absolutely crazy. I really don’t remember his sister being quite this destructive. He’s like the Terminator. It’s what he does! IT’S ALL HE DOES!! Because a normal 7-month old baby... the way they play is just to explore things. You hand them something and they turn it around and the chew on it and they bang it... then they get bored and wait for you to hand them something else or wave it around and do something interesting with it. They aren’t really smart enough to “play” yet... it’s all about “Oooh,. what’s THAT”. Well... you put that mentality into a creature and make it MOBILE... you have a dangerous little Carpet Entity. Because he just moves from one thing to another... yanking on cat tails, shredding magazines, chewing on power cables.... just one thing after another. Try to give him a toy?? AN ACTUAL BABY TOY?? Yeah. That’s good for about 10 seconds before he notices a particularly tasty looking shoe over by the door.
Add this to the fact that he almost never takes a nap longer than 20 minutes, and regularly wakes up 5 or 6 times a night, and I’m about ready to strangle the little animal. He’s making me really look forward to going back to work in September.
D.
Wednesday, July 23
"daaaave says..."
I caught a performance by Jane's Addiction on Letterman today (via TiVo, of course) and they were pretty good... but the thing that bugs me is this. If I went out on a stage somewhere and hollered and caterwauled as far off-key as Perry Farrel does, people would likely call the police... and yet somehow he makes it all work. How is that possible? Is it just the funny clothes??
D.
I caught a performance by Jane's Addiction on Letterman today (via TiVo, of course) and they were pretty good... but the thing that bugs me is this. If I went out on a stage somewhere and hollered and caterwauled as far off-key as Perry Farrel does, people would likely call the police... and yet somehow he makes it all work. How is that possible? Is it just the funny clothes??
D.
a peek thru my window...
One of these days I'll post an entry that's more than three sentences...
But not today.
For now, here is a screencapture of my iBook's desktop. It's more than just a computer... it's like my "home"...
http://www.geocities.com/silenceimages/MyDesktop.jpg
If you use a Mac and you like what's going on in the upper left - get your hands on "Konfabulator". What a cool program.
{end geeknonsense}
D.
One of these days I'll post an entry that's more than three sentences...
But not today.
For now, here is a screencapture of my iBook's desktop. It's more than just a computer... it's like my "home"...
http://www.geocities.com/silenceimages/MyDesktop.jpg
If you use a Mac and you like what's going on in the upper left - get your hands on "Konfabulator". What a cool program.
{end geeknonsense}
D.
Tuesday, July 22
got to buy chin-pokomon...
Why is it that whenever I hit the "random" button to my GeekLog webring thingy down there I wind up on a page full of Japanimation - Anime - Manga (whatever-the-fuck-you-want-to-call-it) pictures put up by some 14 year old?? Did I join a "Sailor Moon" webring by mistake or something??
D.
Why is it that whenever I hit the "random" button to my GeekLog webring thingy down there I wind up on a page full of Japanimation - Anime - Manga (whatever-the-fuck-you-want-to-call-it) pictures put up by some 14 year old?? Did I join a "Sailor Moon" webring by mistake or something??
D.
Monday, July 21
Sunday, July 20
a refreshing 87 degrees...
I've decided that we really don't need air conditioning in our house... we just all need to spend an hour working in the attic. After that, the house feels positively refreshing.
Cleaning out the attic in preparation for a possible yard sale next weekend. So far my wife is winning the contest of "Number Of Boxes Of Old Crap In The Attic That Should Have Been Thrown Out Long Ago" by a score of about 12 to 7. Of course... that doesn't count my studio or my 17 Macintoshes.... so maybe we're even!
In other news, we're having a bit of an ant invasion, so our carpet is drenched in Raid... great for when you've got a 7 month old crawling around. I imagine some day we'll come into the room to find him on his back with his legs wriggling in the air.
D.
I've decided that we really don't need air conditioning in our house... we just all need to spend an hour working in the attic. After that, the house feels positively refreshing.
Cleaning out the attic in preparation for a possible yard sale next weekend. So far my wife is winning the contest of "Number Of Boxes Of Old Crap In The Attic That Should Have Been Thrown Out Long Ago" by a score of about 12 to 7. Of course... that doesn't count my studio or my 17 Macintoshes.... so maybe we're even!
In other news, we're having a bit of an ant invasion, so our carpet is drenched in Raid... great for when you've got a 7 month old crawling around. I imagine some day we'll come into the room to find him on his back with his legs wriggling in the air.
D.
Friday, July 18
a different approach...
Yeah, I checked and GeoCities doesn't like you to try to pull images from them, so here is a link instead that will get you to a photolog page for yesterday's fun. Still not an ideal solution. Pardon the popups. Anybody know of any photohosting sites that are free and allow you to refer to the images externally??
D.
Yeah, I checked and GeoCities doesn't like you to try to pull images from them, so here is a link instead that will get you to a photolog page for yesterday's fun. Still not an ideal solution. Pardon the popups. Anybody know of any photohosting sites that are free and allow you to refer to the images externally??
D.
wanna buy a mac...?
So, I finally picked up my lot of Mac 5400's that I bought from eBay for $100. Impressive, no?
As if that wasn't geeky enough, my trip to Macworld Expo got me lots of free magazines and software demos, as well as a look at the new PowerMacintosh G5 computer. (Ooooh.... shiny!) As if that's not cool enough, the Expo gave me something to talk about when I got my copies of Microserfs and Hey, Nostradamus signed by Douglas Coupland
Plus I can link pictures to my weblog now. Have I died and gone to Nerd Heaven??
D.
PS - not so fast!!
Ok, so I CAN'T link pics to my weblog... apparently Geocities isn't too fond of external links like that. But if you paste the URLS it seems to work, so... I'll work on it... in the meantime, check 'em out...
http://www.geocities.com/silenceimages/MACLOT.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/silenceimages/MACWORLD.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/silenceimages/G5.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/silenceimages/COUPLAND1.JPG
D.
So, I finally picked up my lot of Mac 5400's that I bought from eBay for $100. Impressive, no?
As if that wasn't geeky enough, my trip to Macworld Expo got me lots of free magazines and software demos, as well as a look at the new PowerMacintosh G5 computer. (Ooooh.... shiny!) As if that's not cool enough, the Expo gave me something to talk about when I got my copies of Microserfs and Hey, Nostradamus signed by Douglas Coupland
Plus I can link pictures to my weblog now. Have I died and gone to Nerd Heaven??
D.
PS - not so fast!!
Ok, so I CAN'T link pics to my weblog... apparently Geocities isn't too fond of external links like that. But if you paste the URLS it seems to work, so... I'll work on it... in the meantime, check 'em out...
http://www.geocities.com/silenceimages/MACLOT.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/silenceimages/MACWORLD.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/silenceimages/G5.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/silenceimages/COUPLAND1.JPG
D.
Wednesday, July 16
new favorite show...
"Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" on Bravo.
Five catty, flaming, gay guys make over one hapless not-gay guy. Lots of bitchy fun. They did a guy who looked not unlike me... long ponytail, scruffy beard... and my wife was agog. She just kept saying... "Wow... WOW... WOW!" She's eyeballing me now.
Time for a haircut??
Dr. D.
"Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" on Bravo.
Five catty, flaming, gay guys make over one hapless not-gay guy. Lots of bitchy fun. They did a guy who looked not unlike me... long ponytail, scruffy beard... and my wife was agog. She just kept saying... "Wow... WOW... WOW!" She's eyeballing me now.
Time for a haircut??
Dr. D.
Tuesday, July 15
tell me something i don’t know...
Tonight my wife brought up the topic of weblogs. She has a bunch of online friends that keep them, and has some opinions on the phenomenon.. she started in with, “If I had a weblog, would you want to read it?”
“I dunno... I mean... not if you didn’t WANT me to read it”
“Oh no... I mean...I trust you not to read it if I didn’t want you to... although you probably shouldn't trust me not to read yours.”
To which I replied...
“Ummm... yeah... I don’t”
Isn’t it nice how married couples really get to know one another?
+++ +++ +++
I just watched Lisa Marie Presley perform on Letterman, and the thing is... she’s not AWFUL, but she really has no right to be making a record. Her singing is exceedingly mediocre, and her stage presence is nonexistent. If her father wasn’t who he was, someone like her would never make it past round three of American Idol.
but fuck... those eyes!
+++ +++ +++
Not much else is going on. Tomorrow I’m driving an hour to pick up 12 computers I bought on eBay for a hundred bucks. It’s insane... I know. I can’t help it. We also spent about $200 this week on stuff that is “free after rebate” (or really cheap after rebate) I discovered a website this week called “DealMac” that lists computer deals... mostly Macintosh stuff. It’s slogan is – “How to go broke saving money.” How true.
Anyway... all for now.
D.
Tonight my wife brought up the topic of weblogs. She has a bunch of online friends that keep them, and has some opinions on the phenomenon.. she started in with, “If I had a weblog, would you want to read it?”
“I dunno... I mean... not if you didn’t WANT me to read it”
“Oh no... I mean...I trust you not to read it if I didn’t want you to... although you probably shouldn't trust me not to read yours.”
To which I replied...
“Ummm... yeah... I don’t”
Isn’t it nice how married couples really get to know one another?
I just watched Lisa Marie Presley perform on Letterman, and the thing is... she’s not AWFUL, but she really has no right to be making a record. Her singing is exceedingly mediocre, and her stage presence is nonexistent. If her father wasn’t who he was, someone like her would never make it past round three of American Idol.
but fuck... those eyes!
Not much else is going on. Tomorrow I’m driving an hour to pick up 12 computers I bought on eBay for a hundred bucks. It’s insane... I know. I can’t help it. We also spent about $200 this week on stuff that is “free after rebate” (or really cheap after rebate) I discovered a website this week called “DealMac” that lists computer deals... mostly Macintosh stuff. It’s slogan is – “How to go broke saving money.” How true.
Anyway... all for now.
D.
Monday, July 14
tinkering...
I'm sitting here on the sofa wathcing my 4 year old playing with TinkerToys... concentrating extremely hard trying to match her construction with the pictures on the box. And it's weirdly satisfying to sit here and think... "Ha-ha! Those are MY genes at work right there!" As if it's some sort of competition to see who passes on the most traits to the kids.
But that's it, isn't it... that's life... that competition. Or so Darwin tells us. It should be satisfying. I did my part.... left my viable offspring... made my genetic contribution. Now I'm just evolutionary waste... I can go ahead and die and the world won't notice.
Who says science robs the universe of meaning?! :)
Dr. D.
I'm sitting here on the sofa wathcing my 4 year old playing with TinkerToys... concentrating extremely hard trying to match her construction with the pictures on the box. And it's weirdly satisfying to sit here and think... "Ha-ha! Those are MY genes at work right there!" As if it's some sort of competition to see who passes on the most traits to the kids.
But that's it, isn't it... that's life... that competition. Or so Darwin tells us. It should be satisfying. I did my part.... left my viable offspring... made my genetic contribution. Now I'm just evolutionary waste... I can go ahead and die and the world won't notice.
Who says science robs the universe of meaning?! :)
Dr. D.
the matrix is now...
Driving around the other night just after sunset I watched a thick veil of grey clouds pull slowly back to reveal the face of the low, yellow full moon... it was achingly beautiful, and yet my first thought was... "Wow, it's like something from a movie."
How sad is that? Does the distinction between real and artificial mean anything anymore??
D.
Driving around the other night just after sunset I watched a thick veil of grey clouds pull slowly back to reveal the face of the low, yellow full moon... it was achingly beautiful, and yet my first thought was... "Wow, it's like something from a movie."
How sad is that? Does the distinction between real and artificial mean anything anymore??
D.
Sunday, July 13
Saturday, July 12
new mail
Somehow, even though I only use my mail.com address for my weblog and journal readers, it has become a spam target. I don't know if an address-sniffing-bot picked it up, or if I just accidentally used it to register for something online, but... whatever happened, it's now contaminated.
So now, I have a new address - silence@doctor.com - that my readers can use. Unless of course you are one of the Chosen Few... the long-time trusted readers with my "real" address. You all can keep using that one too.
D.
Somehow, even though I only use my mail.com address for my weblog and journal readers, it has become a spam target. I don't know if an address-sniffing-bot picked it up, or if I just accidentally used it to register for something online, but... whatever happened, it's now contaminated.
So now, I have a new address - silence@doctor.com - that my readers can use. Unless of course you are one of the Chosen Few... the long-time trusted readers with my "real" address. You all can keep using that one too.
D.
Friday, July 11
Mumb-oo Jumb-oo
I was watching "The Amazing Race" the other night and discovered that somehow, unbeknownst to me, there is no longer a place in India called "Bombay"... rather it has been re-designated "Mumbai" or some such bullshit.
What the fuck? I didn't get a memo. Does this mean I have to start telling people we bought our new bedroom set from "The Mumbai Company"??
It's like the whole Burma/Myanmar fiasco all over again!!
D.
I was watching "The Amazing Race" the other night and discovered that somehow, unbeknownst to me, there is no longer a place in India called "Bombay"... rather it has been re-designated "Mumbai" or some such bullshit.
What the fuck? I didn't get a memo. Does this mean I have to start telling people we bought our new bedroom set from "The Mumbai Company"??
It's like the whole Burma/Myanmar fiasco all over again!!
D.
old scars...
Always the same story, I get irritated that nobody leaves me notes or reads my weblog, when the main reason is that I NEVER WRITE. Summer... Pheh...Who says vacations are so great?? I’d just as soon be sitting on the train.
I was going to say more about the family we visited... the wife’s aunt and uncle and her three cousins, aged 17, 19, and 21. The 21-year-old guy I mentioned already... Coast Guard guy... about what you’d expect from a 21-year-old guy who is in the Coast Guard and thinks this is somehow a cool thing. The 19-year-old girl was, again, about what you’d expect from a 19-year-old girl... in and out all weekend... class, work, boyfriend. But the youngest girl is NOT what you’d expect... not what I’d expect anyway... mature, smart, funny and seriously fucked up... with a medicine cabinet full of antidepressants and forearms full of scars. I mean, I’ve known girls who were into “cutting” before, but I’ve never seen anyone who had mutilated themselves like this before. She’s been in and out of the hospital for a couple of years... in therapy now... supposedly getting “better”, but wow... what a mess. The thing is, my wife and I liked her SO MUCH... she’s such a great kid, she was so great with our daughter and the horses, she’s just really fantastic and we all really hit it off. We’re seriously considering inviting her to stay with us for a month in a sort of “au-pair” capacity.
The thing that freaked my wife out the most was the matter of ... how do we make sure this doesn’t happen? I don’t think you do, any more than you make sure your kid doesn’t get hit by a truck. You tell them to wear a seatbelt and to look both ways, but some things are just nobody’s fault. It’s not this girl was seriously “abused” or anything... sure her family is a little fucked up, but whose isn’t? I think it’s just a bad spin of the neurotransmitter roulette wheel.
The thing that freaked me out was the fact that the whole “mature, smart, funny and seriously fucked up” characterization means that she reminds me of a few people I’d rather NOT be reminded of. Long-time-readers will know that I have something of a weakness for fucked up and depression-prone chicks. I can imagine a situation in which having a girl like that in such close proximity could cause no small amount of mental anguish.
Haven’t had much of THAT in a while, huh?
Dr. D.
Always the same story, I get irritated that nobody leaves me notes or reads my weblog, when the main reason is that I NEVER WRITE. Summer... Pheh...Who says vacations are so great?? I’d just as soon be sitting on the train.
I was going to say more about the family we visited... the wife’s aunt and uncle and her three cousins, aged 17, 19, and 21. The 21-year-old guy I mentioned already... Coast Guard guy... about what you’d expect from a 21-year-old guy who is in the Coast Guard and thinks this is somehow a cool thing. The 19-year-old girl was, again, about what you’d expect from a 19-year-old girl... in and out all weekend... class, work, boyfriend. But the youngest girl is NOT what you’d expect... not what I’d expect anyway... mature, smart, funny and seriously fucked up... with a medicine cabinet full of antidepressants and forearms full of scars. I mean, I’ve known girls who were into “cutting” before, but I’ve never seen anyone who had mutilated themselves like this before. She’s been in and out of the hospital for a couple of years... in therapy now... supposedly getting “better”, but wow... what a mess. The thing is, my wife and I liked her SO MUCH... she’s such a great kid, she was so great with our daughter and the horses, she’s just really fantastic and we all really hit it off. We’re seriously considering inviting her to stay with us for a month in a sort of “au-pair” capacity.
The thing that freaked my wife out the most was the matter of ... how do we make sure this doesn’t happen? I don’t think you do, any more than you make sure your kid doesn’t get hit by a truck. You tell them to wear a seatbelt and to look both ways, but some things are just nobody’s fault. It’s not this girl was seriously “abused” or anything... sure her family is a little fucked up, but whose isn’t? I think it’s just a bad spin of the neurotransmitter roulette wheel.
The thing that freaked me out was the fact that the whole “mature, smart, funny and seriously fucked up” characterization means that she reminds me of a few people I’d rather NOT be reminded of. Long-time-readers will know that I have something of a weakness for fucked up and depression-prone chicks. I can imagine a situation in which having a girl like that in such close proximity could cause no small amount of mental anguish.
Haven’t had much of THAT in a while, huh?
Dr. D.
Wednesday, July 9
goober says "hey"...!
Well, I made it home... just barely. yesterday’s flight itinerary looked like the cut-scenes from “Raiders of the Lost Ark”... Bangkok... Nepal... Morocco... Spokane... Portland... Phoenix... Baltimore... New York. Ok, the first three were made up, but we did hit 5 Southwest destinations yesterday. Who knew Southwest even HAD five destinations??
But the kids were remarkably well behaved, all things considered... only a few minor breakdowns. (Not counting the half-hour crying fit in the CAR on the way home!) Portable DVD players are amazing things. When the little one is old enough to watch movies, we’ll be able to go ANYWHERE and do ANYTHING!! But for now, the flights consisted of handing the baby back and forth over the heads of the movie-watching older sister, trying to get him to sleep as much as possible, and trying to keep him contained while awake. It worked for the most part, although it made the parents pretty much as cranky as the kids. But a night in our own beds, and tricking the kids into sleeping until 9:30... all is pretty much back to normal. Well... except that the house is a stifling, cat-vomit encrusted shithole...
As for the trip to Idaho... pretty relaxing, as much as possible. (Only so much relaxation is allowed when you have a 6-month old.) My daughter rode an awful lot of horse... had lots of fun... she really got to know my wife’s teenage cousins, as did we... more on this later. But yeah... it was Idaho, so you can probably imagine that not much else went on.
We did go to a fourth of July parade, cuz my wife’s cousin was prominently featured as some sort of “Local Hero”... riding in a convertible and waving. See he’s in the Coast Guard. Uh-huh. And never mind that he spent the entire Iraq War breaking ice in Antarctica or something... but apparently that’s as close as Coeur d’Alene can get to a genuine War Hero. Yeah. Oh, how I love Post 9/11 America!
Actually, seeing a 4th of July parade in Idaho was a bit of a sobering experience. Turns out that a major feature of the parade was a performance by a troupe that goes by the name of the “Red Hot Mamas.” Now, as best I can explain, this group consists of several dozen women wearing housecoats and hats made of groceries, pushing shopping carts and performing choreographed routines to the accompaniment of “Born to be Wild.” What. The. Fuck.
It makes me think.... Jesus, if this is what passes for entertainment in the strip of “red” states up the middle of this country... it’s no fucking wonder we’ve got fucking Goober from the Andy Griffith Show for president. God, I’m surprised it’s not even worse. It makes me want to pack up the bags, buy some warm socks, and learn the lyrics to “O, Canada” beyond the first two words.
And yet, there was something attractive about a neighborhood where nobody locks their doors, where people borrow your lawnmower when you aren’t home, then put it back in your garage, and where you’re look at as being a little odd if you DON’T own any livestock. It was an interesting place, to say the least.
Anyway.... more about the family to come. It’s nice to be back.
D.
Well, I made it home... just barely. yesterday’s flight itinerary looked like the cut-scenes from “Raiders of the Lost Ark”... Bangkok... Nepal... Morocco... Spokane... Portland... Phoenix... Baltimore... New York. Ok, the first three were made up, but we did hit 5 Southwest destinations yesterday. Who knew Southwest even HAD five destinations??
But the kids were remarkably well behaved, all things considered... only a few minor breakdowns. (Not counting the half-hour crying fit in the CAR on the way home!) Portable DVD players are amazing things. When the little one is old enough to watch movies, we’ll be able to go ANYWHERE and do ANYTHING!! But for now, the flights consisted of handing the baby back and forth over the heads of the movie-watching older sister, trying to get him to sleep as much as possible, and trying to keep him contained while awake. It worked for the most part, although it made the parents pretty much as cranky as the kids. But a night in our own beds, and tricking the kids into sleeping until 9:30... all is pretty much back to normal. Well... except that the house is a stifling, cat-vomit encrusted shithole...
As for the trip to Idaho... pretty relaxing, as much as possible. (Only so much relaxation is allowed when you have a 6-month old.) My daughter rode an awful lot of horse... had lots of fun... she really got to know my wife’s teenage cousins, as did we... more on this later. But yeah... it was Idaho, so you can probably imagine that not much else went on.
We did go to a fourth of July parade, cuz my wife’s cousin was prominently featured as some sort of “Local Hero”... riding in a convertible and waving. See he’s in the Coast Guard. Uh-huh. And never mind that he spent the entire Iraq War breaking ice in Antarctica or something... but apparently that’s as close as Coeur d’Alene can get to a genuine War Hero. Yeah. Oh, how I love Post 9/11 America!
Actually, seeing a 4th of July parade in Idaho was a bit of a sobering experience. Turns out that a major feature of the parade was a performance by a troupe that goes by the name of the “Red Hot Mamas.” Now, as best I can explain, this group consists of several dozen women wearing housecoats and hats made of groceries, pushing shopping carts and performing choreographed routines to the accompaniment of “Born to be Wild.” What. The. Fuck.
It makes me think.... Jesus, if this is what passes for entertainment in the strip of “red” states up the middle of this country... it’s no fucking wonder we’ve got fucking Goober from the Andy Griffith Show for president. God, I’m surprised it’s not even worse. It makes me want to pack up the bags, buy some warm socks, and learn the lyrics to “O, Canada” beyond the first two words.
And yet, there was something attractive about a neighborhood where nobody locks their doors, where people borrow your lawnmower when you aren’t home, then put it back in your garage, and where you’re look at as being a little odd if you DON’T own any livestock. It was an interesting place, to say the least.
Anyway.... more about the family to come. It’s nice to be back.
D.
Tuesday, July 1
b'deek - b'dook...
The baby woke up about 7 times last night between 11:00 and 7:00. As a result, I never really got into deep sleep.... I think I was in REM sleep pretty much all night... I had tons of weird dreams... most only half remembered... one of them was one of those “cinematic” dreams... more like a movie than anything else... where you aren’t really even IN the dream, although there may be a character that you “identify” with. Anyway, thus dream seemed to go on for hours, and featured the exploits of a bunch of Swingers-style incomprehensible hipsters, as well as a couple of PVC-clad polyamorous circus performers... trapeze/contortionists of some sort.
I don’t really remember enough of the details. It’s the kind of thing that makes you wish they made a TiVo for your head.
D.
The baby woke up about 7 times last night between 11:00 and 7:00. As a result, I never really got into deep sleep.... I think I was in REM sleep pretty much all night... I had tons of weird dreams... most only half remembered... one of them was one of those “cinematic” dreams... more like a movie than anything else... where you aren’t really even IN the dream, although there may be a character that you “identify” with. Anyway, thus dream seemed to go on for hours, and featured the exploits of a bunch of Swingers-style incomprehensible hipsters, as well as a couple of PVC-clad polyamorous circus performers... trapeze/contortionists of some sort.
I don’t really remember enough of the details. It’s the kind of thing that makes you wish they made a TiVo for your head.
D.
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