What Happened?

Hello. It's been some 369 days since my last post. Did I miss anything?

Wow. Three hundred and sixty-nine days. Since we last met I've started temping, put a kid into the first grade, (WTF? We'll get into that later...) given away a family pet, acquired new family pets, performed in two shows, hired on permanently, bought a new (used) car, and most recently - been offered parts in two shows for the new year.

*Whew!*

Is it any wonder I haven't been around to type to you?

On the political front, I've watched the hope that sprang up during the democratic revolution (now, there's a poor choice of words) die a lingering, painful death. I've been amused and outraged (often in the same moment) by the nonsense our government, the media, and even my own neighbors put out there as truth, justice, and the American way.

As a Unitarian, our church has been through the wringer this year. The growing pains and conflict between some of the elders (who helped found the church) and us newer, younger members looking for a church to be more than a place to talk about cloning over kolaches and coffee has been coming to a bit of a head this year. Several members, unhappy with the new direction the church is taking, will be taking leave of us this year. It'd be sad to see them go if they hadn't been such stumbling blocks in the path of progress. They're mostly good folks. Mostly.

And now for you. I don't know who you are. Well, ok, I know who some of you are (stop smiling, I see you!) but for the most part you're all strangers. Nevertheless, I'm talking (typing) to you now.

Life's a busy l'il bitch. I started writing this thing mostly for myself; and that will most likely go on being the case. This is for me. The point is (yes, yes, I'm getting there) that I don't know if I'll get back into the swing of posting on a regular basis. I will try because I do enjoy it. Problem is that sometimes the water takes you away from the things that you most enjoy.

There's no need to worry though. Water, like everything else, comes full circle eventually.

See you around...

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...Humbug!

Where to begin....seems like an eternity since I posted here last, and for that I apologize. My discipline as a writer is sorely lacking, but in my defense I have been keeping busy. My wife is directing our church production of A Christmas Carol and I'm playing the role of Ebenezer Scrooge. There are all of three professional actors in this production (myself included) and rehearsals are very limited (maybe three a week?) so it's been a challenge to say the least. I'm somewhere between 20-30 years too young to play Scrooge, but that's not the biggest challenge. It's the line load. I typically memorize my lines by simply rehearsing the scenes over and over; but that simply isn't happening in this production.

After a good two-and-a-half weeks of rehearsal, there are scenes I've never done. We're set to perform in less than two weeks, and by my reckoning we'll get another five rehearsals - two of which will be technical run-throughs. Forgive me, but this reckoning is happening at the same time I'm typing this out...just a moment....

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

OK, I feel better now.

Thankfully, my son will assist in pulling my ass out of the fire. He's taken a keen interest in doing the show even though he's only got one small bit. He revels in running scenes with me as the other characters and seems to get a big kick out of my voice and mannerisms as Scrooge. I'll hear him from time to time doing snatches of dialogue in the other room and giggling at his impersonation of me.

In fact, my wife and I both feel that the kid is doomed to a life in the theater. It's a pity, but since my better half and I are in the theater (and have all the riches to show for it) we were kind of hoping he'd be an attorney or an accountant so he could support us in our rapidly approaching old age. It seems that this will not be the case.

Ah well. I suppose it's possible that his love of the stage will wane as he ages, but if he's anything like me - well, let's just say I'm not going to hold my breath.

He's already talking about playing Tiny Tim for next year's production and he constantly checks in at rehearsals to see if he needs to read Tiny Tim in for a scene. Perhaps the kid playing it this year should start to watch his back...this business can be brutal! Meantime, I'll use his help to learn my lines so I can concentrate on not sucking. Twelve days to go people, so cross your fingers and fasten your seatbelts - it's going to be a bumpy night!

On Thanksgiving Goodness and Snow Play

So I stuffed myself with Thanksgiving Goodness and then fell off the face of the earth for a week. Happens all the time. Wait until my post-Christmas lull...

In reality I spend the better part of my week doing laundry, tearing out built-in corner shelves, sheet-rocking, cooking, cleaning & teaching. I simply was not inspired to write, rant, or vent in this space, so there you are. I'm lazy.

Today is different. Today is our one wintry day for the year. Temperatures dropped to below freezing and we're getting a healthy mix of freezing rain, sleet, and maybe (cross your fingers) SNOW! I don't want it for myself you understand. I want it for my son. I grew up in New Mexico, a mere 20 minutes away from mountain ranges where there are four completely different seasons. I've seen snow. I've shaped the snow, tubed the snow, hurled the snow and eaten the snow.

My child, on the other hand, is growing up in Texas where it is flat and there are only two seasons: HOT and NOT QUITE AS HOT. Our part of the state rarely sees below freezing temperatures, let alone snow. It snowed his first winter (2001) and it snowed the first winter we lived in our house (2003) but that's the only snow he's ever seen. I'm crossing my fingers for heavy flurries today, because I know that there won't be any accumulation to speak of. But with a little luck he'll be trying to catch flakes on his tongue in the next few hours.

If it happens, I'll post pictures here...

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in my family used to be a day where we'd stuff ourselves stupid with foods we don't eat the rest of the year, watch football on television, and pray that the dysfunctional atmosphere either doesn't rub off or at least is only temporary. If we could get through the meal without experiencing something between screaming political diatribes and assault charges, the holiday was considering a rousing success and we'd all make plans to do again next year.

Those days are thankfully behind us.

Last year our UU minister and his wife started hosting a Thanksgiving pot luck at the church. Now, I can hear your eyeballs rolling in your sockets, but you must understand that our little UU church is so different from CHURCH that we parishioners have trouble even using that word to describe it. In fact, I had trouble typing the word "parishioners" to describe our ilk.

Instead, just imagine spending the day with a roomful of people who, for the most part, share your political views, bring a plethora of diverse food, are more than willing to laugh at life, and are not related to you. Gone is the need to explain your belief system to your redneck cousin from Gun Barrel City, TX (look it up!) or to your snooty aunt from Cambridge, MA. Gone are the petty rivalries between you and your siblings and/or cousins. Gone are the bitter disappointments of a life not lived up to the expectations of others. Sound good? It is.

My wife and son are in the kitchen now baking a bounty of pies and I will mash potatoes for the dinner a little later on. This afternoon, we'll gather with people who are each bringing their own contribution and (this is important) are looking forward to the event. Since there is no familial obligation no one who dreads this holiday comes. This makes for a dysfunction free event.

If you don't live here, that's OK. This kind of thing works on any scale in any neighborhood. Stay home, call all your friends and pick a place to do it. You'll find you have a lot more to be thankful for. If you do live here, then you can consider this your invitation.

We've got pie!

I Don't Wanna Homeschool Blues

For a whole week now, my bright happy child has turned to me after breakfast and proclaimed "I don't want to do homeschool today!" and then gone off to play. I should tell you that he turned five years old in mid-September, and that Texas requires a child be five on September 1st or they're ineligible for kindergarten in the public school system. Since Texas schools also tend towards a low performance, we-only-teach-to-the-test status this didn't bother us very much and we decided to start him as a homeschooler. Neither my wife or myself have a background in education; but since we're both fairly bright people we figured that we could manage getting the basics across to him and instill a love of learning while we were at it. So much of what is available out there is geared towards Christian fundamentalism and we're not, so there has been a bit of a struggle to line up any formal curriculum for us to follow. Even so, I don't think that this has been the problem.

Early on we found an unschooling play group and joined it. I found the idea of child led learning to be an intriguing one - and I still do - but this group was not for us. The complete lack of any structure or accountability for socially irresponsible behavior turned us off of that group. What I took away from them was the idea of letting my son guide where lessons would take us. My wife formalized a degree of structure to our homeschooling day based on a reward system, and this put us on track. As I've listed in other entries, this quasi-structured homeschool day has led to success with reading, writing, math, and science.

This smooth sailing, however, has reached a spot where the wind doesn't seem to blow. The morning call of "Let's do homeschool!" has been replaced with "Homeschool's boring. Can I go play?" and, finding myself stymied, I have relented. I don't want to start imposing structure, which would only turn him off more; but on the flip side of that coin, I don't want him to lose his grasp on what he's done so far.

I tell myself now that 1) it's only been a week, and 2) he's five. This too shall pass, so let him play!

It's hard, though. Parenting is a tough enough job without taking on the added responsibility of making sure he knows what he needs to know to get out into the world alone. Then again, maybe that's the wrong way to look at it. Maybe making sure he has that knowledge IS the job of the parents, a job that our society has been trying to pawn off onto teachers and the public education system for years; and now it is time to reclaim that responsibility.

I think that idea needs to be my bottom line. Whether he continues this path with me or winds up in the public schools, I am responsible for making sure he knows all he needs to make it in this world.

For now, we'll just do it on his schedule.