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Cirocco Jones
It's noon in mid-July, and we've got the lights on inside because we can't see anything otherwise. Whoa. Cool.
Current mood:
impressed.
Justin: ::reading in the dining room:: Daddy, what does "voluptuous" mean?
Chris: Goes into an explanation of different societal standards of feminine beauty, and how in our society, women who are thin are considered more attractive but in some societies heavier women are preferred, especially if they're curvy and have a lot of their body mass concentrated around their hips, breasts, bums. Partway through this description I have to go rooting through our kitchen cupboards for arrowroot, so I miss some of it and emerge from the cupboard to hear Chris saying, "Would you agree with that, love?"
Me: With what?
Chris: I told Justin that if Mama put on about twenty more pounds in the right places, she could be considered "voluptuous."
Me: Oh my god you just scored some major husband points! ::kiss::
Current mood:
amused.
First day of Spanish camp, and Justin has a headache so bad I needed to come get him at noon. Probably migrainey. ::sigh::
Current mood:
sad.
- I'm not terribly well-versed in Biblical stuff, but I thought there was some sort of covenant or something in there about not getting rained out again.
No, it's not that bad. Especially now that Chris has risked life and limb and dredged a whole lot of ashphalt from our eaves. And the garden is looking lovely. Unfortunately everything else is a little dreary-looking. - Ever so glad we went strawberry picking yesterday, even though part of that was in the rain too. At least it wasn't torrential. And now we have about seven million gallons of strawberries in our fridge, oh joy! Today the boys had an extra-special lunch of peanut butter and jam sandwiches, which doesn't sound impressive but hey, both bread and jam were freshly made, by our breadmaker. Didn't go so far as to crush our own peanut butter.
- Unfortunately dinner's experiment, Strawberry Chicken Salad, didn't go over as well. The chicken was great, but only Chris actually liked the strawberry part of it. I was indifferent and the boys were a bit grossed out. We'll be trying a bunch of strawberry salads in the next week or so, as well as Strawberry Bread, Strawberry Tiramisu and Panna Cotta with Strawberry Coulis. May even try a strawberry facial if I'm getting desperate.
- Boys are back in Spanish for the month of July, and enjoying it so far, especially as Justin has run into his best friend from last year, Lottie. He missed her over the year. A lot.
"You know, I can see why regular school kids like to go to school," he says thoughtfully on the way home. "They can spend all day with their friends. It's nice." - Rented My Fair Lady. Went over fairly well, though they haven't asked to watch it again. And somehow I knew the phrase, "Move yer bloomin' a***!!" would get a lot of play around here. ::sigh::
- I have many plans for July. Unfortunately sending out more blessed applications make up the bulk of them, but there's also clearing out our basement and getting more familiar with German. And all the general puttering and tidying and stuff that never seems to get done while life is happening full-tilt.
Current mood:
busy.Current music: Afro-Celt Sound System - Release It.
It is so weird not being downtown today!
Especially after seeing the Parliament Hill Webcam.
Still. Good day anyway :)
Current mood:
happy.
It's weird. I have faced spoiled brats and belligerent students and dangerous inmates and unfair bosses and all sorts of people being crappy in my general direction and not felt particularly intimidated or flustered. I can hold my own in a fight. What I can't handle are nice people.
Today it took me ages to get what I needed from a bubbly, cheerful, chatty, and utterly useless bureaucratic airhead. Could not make myself break through her bubbly-ness. She must have repeated, "Well I'm not tech support so I don't think I can help you with this, but have you tried X?" about five times and somehow I was totally unable to get across the point that I had more than two brain cells to rub together, and therefore knew enough to try X (and Y and Z and Q too while I was at it) and I appreciated her trying to help, but seriously, all I wanted was to talk to tech support for the love of God! Just give me an e-mail address or phone number! "Maybe you should try right-clicking?" is not helpful!
I can't do it. Give me attitude and I'll take you down without breaking a sweat. Smile and be charming, or passive-aggressive... and I'm helpless, even when I can tell you're up to no good. Criticism or hostility from a stranger or 'opponent' of some kind? Pfft, whatever. Criticism or hostility from friends/family? Completely devastating.
Today's incident was just irritating and amusing, but this is a major character flaw. I seriously must try to work on this, especially with passive-aggressive/manipulative charmers. I get taken advantage of or hurt badly by 'nice' people for ages before I finally decide enough is enough and re-classify them as not-so-nice, and therefore eligible for some form of whoop-ass.
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linaelyn's phrase is apt: it's part of my Personal Learning Curve for This Lifetime.
Current mood:
contemplative.Current music: Chris playing Civ 4.
Today's class includes a small lecture to the kids about being "at attention" and showing respect and concentrating. After class, Justin lets me know, "The whole time Mr. P was talking about concentrating? I had an itch in my ear. And if I was a blue belt I would have scratched it, but I was listening to Mr. P and I thought, I'm a red stripe now, so I didn't scratch."
Current mood:
amused.
Just came back from church service/choir concert. Sang as close to solo as I will ever get, as I was 1/2 of the first soprano section and we had about eight bars on our own. Was feeling rather dumb at my own nerves; I just don't get nervous for choir concerts. Not even ones where we're the main event, never mind ones where we're just somebody's guests.
Happily, my fellow first soprano greeted me with, "I feel really nervous, and it's so dumb, it's only eight bars!"
"OMG me too!" said I.
Anyway. We did it, felt like it went well, although alas I did not record it for the boys because I only remembered about the little tape recorder after we'd stood up and our director was standing right in front of me. Oh well. Still: Go! Us! We didn't mess it up!
Current mood:
accomplished.Current music: Arrogant Worms - We Are the Beaver.
No visuals here, just audio. Pretty sure it's supposed to be a radio play anyway. Still makes me smile, twenty years since I first heard it :D :D :D
Master: The only use of Ti Kwon Leep is self-defense. Do you know who said that? Ki Lo Ni, the great teacher.
Ed Gruberman: Yeah? Well the best defense is a good offense, you know who said that? Mel, the cook on 'Alice'.
Current mood:
amused.Current music: The Frantics - Boot to the Head.
Well, you really can't tell from the icon (and Facebook doesn't even have an icon, so whatever) but we're now red stripes. There's symbolism attached to each belt colour, and a red belt (which is the last level before black) means Danger. As in, you have enough knowledge of TKD to be dangerous. And you must warn others of this danger. Or understand your own dangerousness. Or... something that I should probably learn before becoming a red belt.
We're not red belts. But we're halfway there: blue belts with red stripes. Therefore, we are only partly dangerous. Risky, if you will.
Also: will not be going to TKD tomorrow morning :)
Current mood:
accomplished.