San Diego Pictures

Note to self: Buy more toothpaste.

Here I am with my Aunt Susan modeling flowers from Dad's front yard.

I burned my poor wittle wegs at the beach so Dad went out to his yard and got me some aloe.

We went back to the beach later for dinner.  Here's Susan.

I love succulents.  I don't know if that pea looking thing is a succulent, but it looks like it and I want it.

Here is Susan playing with bubble wrap.  The damn things were nearly unpoppable.

Me and my cousin Niki finally seeing each other after 22 years.  Apparently I inherited only half of Mom's can't-smile-without-squinting condition.

Here I am with Niki and her friend Rox.  Niki and I are texting each other in order to have a private conversation at the table.

Here is Dad as a young'un.

Dad's friend must have made a hundred of these cookies.  Be thankful I'm not showing you the cake.

Dad played some songs at his party.

I also got him in red.

This is at the meditation garden.  I was fascinated by the koi.

He is a very hungry hippo.

Maybe the photography class will not be so bad.

Here's me, Dad, and some lady.

Yay!

Blogs

I am sitting in Dad's office in San Diego at 10:42 at night when I should be packing my crap and going to sleep.  I have been staying up late here and reading the book my aunt Kate bought for me.  When I return I will have lots of fun telling you about my trip but for now I will just tell you that I am tired and ready to sleep.  That said, I will probably go pack, then read my book, then listen to Chris's ipod and put on silent concerts in the bathroom mirror.

Tracy, I'm sorry that I am so obviously annoyed with you but I told you I would not be very happy if you didn't come.  I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures.

It is going to take a lot of writing to tell you about this trip and to come to terms with it.  It was emotionally draining, especially after finishing that class and immediately running off to San Diego.  I am really tired.  Dad burned a bunch of pictures for me so you can look forward to lots of pictures both from this trip and older stuff, though I'm not sure I'll be able to top the Arizona pics.

I have a little time to crank out the blogs before the fall semester starts but there's lots to do, like order books and apply for graduation!  Yay!  It will still be busy, but blogs will start arriving shortly.  Woo-hoo!

Summer classes suck.

I need one more paragraph for my last paper in Fear, Risk & Rhetorical Criticism.  Then I have to write that frigging cover letter AND create a handout defining the method I created and how to use it.  I am over it.  Tomorrow I have to go to school to turn this paper in and present my method to the class.  Then I have to go to the laundromat, pack, and get on a plane.  I am tired, this is ridiculous, and I am over it.

How about the castanets?

Ant just brought me a form to sign for 6th grade band.

"My first choice is trumpet, my second choice is trombone."

"How about the recorder?" I asked.  Good grief!  I have to buy a trumpet?  I looked at the form and asked him why he wanted trumpet.  It's not much of a mystery, really.  The options are flute, clarinet, trumpet, and trombone.  The last man I saw playing a flute was Ron Burgundy.  Even the clarinet is kind of girly.

"Well, that's what Daddy said..."

Am I insane or overreacting if I am seriously annoyed that this was decided without me?  I am not the only one who brings in money, but I am the one who handles the finances.  Great!  I asked Ant what was wrong with the choir.

"I don't like to sing."

"Yeah, but your voice is free."

Arg arg arg.  Honestly, I don't give a shit if he plays the tuba, but I am royally annoyed that I was left out of this conversation.

I am having a "Goddammit, Chris" kind of day.  I am also having a "What the hell am I doing with this paper" kind of day.  I don't even know what the hell I am talking about, but I am very convincing in my argument.

What's due tomorrow is a rough draft and I would feel better about what I'm writing if it made any sense to me.  My teacher says all my papers start off a mess (my words, not hers) and come together by page 3.  What I have here instead is a really cohesive effort spent on pages 1 and 2.  And I mean cohesive like organization, not cohesive like the argument fits together.  Not yet, anyway.  I don't even know if this will fly because there isn't much method involved.  YET!  Just not yet.

I just talked to Chris briefly about the instrument thing- he said it was a very brief conversation.  Ahhhhhhhhhhh.  This is more of Ant telling us what the deal is.  He confirms this information with himself.  It's just like when the boys came back from the river and I drove Bubba home.  Ant came with me and told me all about how Daddy said he's spending all next weekend at Bubba's while I'm gone.  Later on I overhear Chris talking to Elaine about her coming up here and I ask wait, why did you say Bubba's?

"I didn't tell him that," Chris says.

Either I automatically question everything that comes out of Ant's mouth and he gets mad at me or I believe him and find out that he's just dictating everything again.

"Why do you keep trying to tell everybody what's going on?" I asked Ant.

"It makes me feel older," he said.

Mucha!

I finally finished the puzzle.

The kitty tried to mess it up but I defeated her.

The kind of amusement that gets old quickly

I actually thought I would make progress on my paper tonight.

I am hosting Bubba for what I thought was one night but they have informed me that Bubba is actually staying all weekend.  I am waiting for confirmation on that, but it would be interesting to be the last one to find out.  I am already not amused.  If that's the case, I think Chris will be getting them out of my hair for several hours tomorrow so I can do homework.

I think it's a lost cause tonight, but maybe I can conk out, wake up early tomorrow, and get some work done before anyone else is up.

I just got interrupted again because Ant was digging through Chris's studio.  He's looking for the TV that was once in his room so they could watch a movie.  As I called to the boys, Bubba answered:

"Yes, Mother that I always wish I had but can't?"

Now I can only sit here in silence, contemplating that comment.  Okay, it's not in silence- who am I kidding, there are two boys who only stop moving when asleep.  But wow...

Of course, when he said that, my heart melted and I went to hug him and tell him I love him.

"I know," he said.  "Everyone loves me who knows me."

Then I walked into Ant's room and had a minor coronary.

"Fix this.  Fix this now."

They cleaned up the avalanche, I brought in the TV, made popcorn.  I have my water and

Goddammit, I keep getting interrupted.

I spent the evening listening to these boys talk about zombies.  This is a serious discussion that includes periodic slapping and violent sound effects.

"How many zombies can you kill, max?" asks Bubba.

"Probably forty," says Ant.


I really don't get people's fascination with zombies.  Tonight I realized it must be that everyday people stand a chance against a zombie, as opposed to a vampire or werewolf or whatever other nonexistent creatures... we may... end up fighting some day?  I am still confused on that part of the fascination, obviously.

I took them to get a movie and cheap pizza and had this conversation:

"Jenny, how late can we stay up?"

"What do you think I'm going to say?"

"Four?"

"What?  No, what do you think I'M going to say."

"Oh, wait.  You don't care how late we stay up as long as we're quiet."

"Bingo."


During dinner, Ant starting imitating the MadTV "Can I Have Your Number?" skit, which some people find hilarious.  He kept it up for a full half hour and Bubba kept telling him to stop.  When that didn't work, Bubba would start slapping him in the face.  Then they would wrestle and screech like monkeys.  Whenever they'd stop wrestling, they'd giggle and catch their breath.  Then Ant would turn to Bubba and say:

"Can I have your number?"

Let's pretend like I'm not procrastinating.

I am trying to find the motivation to write my rough draft.  I only finished the book this afternoon and now I need to write a paper about it.  Each week it gets harder to keep up.  I volunteered to bring the food this week, since TWO finished papers are due next week.  I'm baking zucchini bread and I'm already exhausted.  I haven't missed class at all this term and now is sounding like a really good time.  :D  No, I'll finish this and I'll go.  I already know I'll have an A in this class because I'm there every day, I've gotten A's on everything so far, and I participate a lot in class.  Sometimes I wonder if I have room to slack and still get an A.  I could use a nap day.

I will be starting dinner soon.  It's a good thing because I am hungry.  Why, yes I am putting off going back to my paper!  Ughhhhhh.  Before I forget, I do want to tell you that I told my boss my last day would be next Wednesday and he said they'd been discussing it and decided I should put in a new contract anyway.  He said they wouldn't count on me and I would not need to provide a schedule- I can work when and if I have time.  They just thought I should leave that option open in case I end up with more time than I expect.  Besides, they sometimes need help for events on weekends and evenings and maybe I could help with that.  I am really grateful that they are welcoming me to stay- even though it won't benefit them much.  I have the warm fuzzies.