An Inauspicious Day

In Chinese philosophy/theology, there are days that are auspicious for certain endeavours, and other days that are less so. Today, March 19th, is a particularly inauspicious day for our family, as it's the day my father died, as well as the day that MuNKi choked last yr, requiring the Heimlich to save his life (thank you, Erica!)

Today we played hooky from TKD in the morning, because we were so behind in everything else due to extensive yard work this week. (A result of the gorgeous weather.) After I decided not to take the kids, I realised what day it was, and silently breathed a sigh of relief for the avoidance of whatever driving disaster we may have ended up in had we gone. We agreed that my dad would have highly approved of our schedule-breaking hooky behaviour.

MuNKi went off to take part in a BIG presentation at work, dressed (as we would later realise) in one of my dad's suits. He ate his lunch with full supervision in the office and did not choke even once.

I took the kids to the library for volunteering as usual for Thursdays, but when I saw Grumpy Newspaper Man in the Teen section, I got worried about the Littles, who were in the kid section. Usually Grumpy Newspaper Man stays in his wing chair by the fireplace, thus leaving my Littles free of his candy-giving, worriesome-question-asking behaviours. Today, noting that he was on the prowl, and also taking note of the date, I uprooted from the teen section (where you can plug your laptop in) and took my laptop over by the Littles in the Kid Section, passing GNMan on the way. He was already interacting with some tiny kids, but their dad was there, so I felt comfortable moving on to my own crew.

I got hold of MuNKi upon arriving home, and determined that he was still alive (he was supposed to call me after lunch, but is notoriously bad about remembering to call me back, ever, LOL!) and not too long thereafter, he arrived home safe and sound.

We played hooky from night class and sparring, too. I just wasn't in the mood, which isn't really like me, but what can I say? I felt guilty, but it passed (all too quickly, as Mr. Bennet would say.)

And that was March 19th. There's an hour and 5 minutes remaining. I think we'll make it. In the meantime, a weirdly coincidental song that found my sister today:

Overheard

"You can tell we're geeks because we're composing Dr. Who episodes in Latin."

"Are you still employed?"

"Mater in horto herbum ingneus."

"Run!"

"Gavin Rossdale!" (*gasp*)

"My calves are sore!"

"It's Wednesday!" (exultant sigh of happiness)

"It really does look like a body."

"I got a great Bigfoot picture through the smoke."

"My calves are sore!"

"I still have a job."

"Which one of these is Jimmy Hoffa?" (there was a weird correspondence between a newly resurrected newspaper/headline/photo and our family's running joke)

"The Master!" (*swoon*)

"Eheu! Dominus ad est!"

"My calves are sore!"

"Euge, more like!"

"Where are the binoculars?!?!"

"Why is the rice purple?"

"The world's biggest land animal!"

"Lara, put fwoaty cwoaffee beens in tha potatuh coolah!"

"I'm sharpening my wit."

"Want some of my nutritious slop?"

"I'm covered in chocolate."

Rollercoasterama

I should have known it was coming. Last time I got all antsy and decluttery, MuNKi got activated to full time Air Force, and we ended up moving across the country. This time, MuNKi got laid off.

Here's how the day went:

Morning: MuNKi goes to work. I remember that this is Layoff Day (30% ends up going) and try to decide whether I hope he makes it through or not, since "not" will push us onward to more exciting things. ^_^ (I know. I can be reckless.)

10:00 am: I take the kids to morning classes at TKD. I tell the Master that MuNKi might be getting laid off today.

12:00 pmish: We head home. I call MuNKi to see if he remembered to fax my sworn statment of Absolute Being (or whatever) to CA so I can get an official copy of my birth certificate. The phone picks up and there's silence. I try again and get a recording - not his. A few mins later Mollusc tries and then informs me "I think he said he was in the process of being laid off. It was hard to hear him."

12:45ish: I open my compter and see that MuNKi has messaged me that he's been cut. I'm strangely untroubled.

1:15ish: Friends come to hang out for a bit. (We took their son home from TKD with us so the kids could play) We talk about the job thing and toy with the idea of going to live in Hobbit Holes in Wales.

2:30: MuNKi (no, I'm NOT implying that he's a jerk, LOL!) arrives home with his box of stuff. Someone has given him the contact info of the competition's director. Heh.

3:00ish: I take the Bigs to the Library for their volunteering hour.

3:20: MuNKi arrives with the Littles, who apparently wanted to come after all. He informes me that he's gotten a call from a different company in Muskegon or somewhere across the state with a job offer. Upon hearing that it's across the state, the dude says he thinks he has stuff in Detroit, too and says he'll call back.

3:30ish: The Bigs want to know what "grades" they're in. We don't have "grades"; we just do whatever's challenging in different subjects. I give random numbers that are hopefully close. It turns out that the children's librarian is nominating them for the town's Teen Service award for their volunteering work.

4:00ish: we head home and the phone starts ringing off the wall. I can't begin to count how many calls came and from whom, though I know there were people from 2 companies calling: MuNKi's employer's company and the company with whom they are doing their best business.

4:45ish: The Director of Engineering calls MuNKi to say "Oops. It was a mistake. We need you after all."

I guess it's good to know you're needed. But do we trust the company to keep him on? Ha!

How's it Bean?

One of my friends pointed me at MAKE magazine's podcasts about making Bean Bots. Since then, I've managed to get my hands on this book. (And hey, is Hrynkiw a hockey name or what?) I forsee a trip to Radio Shack in our future. Also the dismemberment and parts-scavenging of those no-longer working CD and tape players we have lying around.

Tomorrow is Holy Wednesday again, and BG is coming over to see if we can make her laptop work. Most likely, we'll end up sitting around finding weird stuff online and trashing Dell. BG has her very own blog now, so if you want to laugh, go check it out. Because it's funny, I mean. Hopefully she won't abuse it to dish dirt on me. ^_^

Signs

There's a little boy I know who I suspect is being abused. I'm not certain, but I just have this feeling. Today when I saw him, he had a major shiner. His eye was swollen almost shut. He wouldn't talk to me about it. Not one word. He told the other little boy who was there that it had "happened while he was sleeping." His mom said his brother did it. His four year old brother.

A few weeks ago, it was bruises underneath both eyes.

Maybe there's an explanation. I know abusers like to stay away from visible areas. At least if they're not too drunk. Maybe his brother really did do something, and then it swelled when he was asleep. God knows I don't want to get CPS involved if there really isn't an issue. But I'm going to be watching him. Very carefully.

My Kingdom for a (Wooden) Horse

We recently finished The Children's Homer by Padraic Colum. I had originally thought that the kids would find it semi-dry, especially in light of the somewhat archaic prose, but each reading brought clamouring for more. They were truly bummed when it ended. Now I'm looking for supplementary materials, so if anyone knows of any great books or films, let me know. I've checked out Troy from the library, but have no deslusions as to its suitability for children. Still, I'll preview it and see. Prawnie made a lovely painting of the sea nymph who helped Odysseus, and Fishy made a fun diorama out of Sculpey that has Polyphemus the Cyclops and his cave, one of his big sheep, and Odysseus with his wine skin and sharp stick (for putting out Polyphemus's eye.) Maybe someday I'll be able to post a pic. In the meantime, I won't attempt to describe it with 1,000 words, lucky for you.

I'm about to embark on another math book spree - Alg II for Mollusc to accompany her Geometry, and the 4th grade book for Dags. I can't believe it. Realli. I was talking with friends about Geometry's application beyond the actual class, and we were all hard-pressed to come up with any times we've actually used it. Even playing pool is more Physics than Geometry. Perhaps it's a time filler so that kids can get ready to embrace the headier concepts of higher level Algebra and Trigonometry. Surely there are useful principles, but beyond those that can be taught in about 1 week, I'm not sure what they are. So I think that doing Alg II concurrently with Geometry will be good. Less chance to forget how to do "real math" and all that.

We got our passport photos done on Saturday, and now all we need for our apps is proof that I was born. Here's hoping that the lovely state of California isn't so broke that it takes my $ but can't afford the postage to send out my birth certificate.

Penultimately, while I'm wasting your time with the trivia of my life, I finally downloaded some songs from the net. MuNKi* was able to get a Linux-friendly downlad app installed. I am now the proud owner of Coldplay's Viva La Vida (song, not album), Gavin Rossdale's Love Remains the Same, O.A.R.'s Shattered, and Blue October's Calling You and Into the Ocean. I need to look for Peter Gabriel's cover of The Book of Love next.

And finally, I have about 7 books going, but the one I'm reading the most is The Hindi Bindi Club, by Monica Pradhan, which is fantastic. It also makes me terribly hungry for good Indian food. Fortunately, there are recipes at the end of each chapter.

If you made it this far, tell me what you're listening to and/or reading. Please! :)

*Is this a sonic screwdriver which I see before me? Hur hur hur!

Nothing much

When I started blogging again, I had visions of making this more of a photo blog. Unfortunately, the computer I use for storing (and then uploading) photos is toast on a stick right now, so that's going to have to wait.

So today you get:

* no pictures

* no wine recommendations (because, seriously, what are the odds you're going to be able to find the same ones in your area, regardless of how good they are? Hell, I can't even find the Sacred Stone that was so great at the same store where I originally bought it.)

* no description of my super amazing electrono-gizmophone, because I don't have a cell phone, nor do I want one

* no MuNKi link.

OK so, I lied about that last one.