Some progress is better than no progress. What's your milestone? (part 7)

=============== Sunday, May 9, 2010 ===============

(Continuation from this thread)

This week I have to get ready for a houseguest by making my son’s currently unoccupied room fit for a visitor. I also have a midterm tomorrow. On the first quiz I had the highest grade in the class.

I am still dragging my foot around in a soft cast. Now and then I give myself a day off. The doctor said it may not be healed this year.

Otherwise things are fine.

I have been out of touch lately—sorry! I will be back after I read everyone’s updates in part 6.

Didn’t see the new thread until I’d already posted on the old one. Have a great week folks!

Thanks, @Jeruba. I screwed it up somehow.

Thanks @Jeruba for starting a new thread!

This week I mad all the travel arrangements for my surgery at the end of the month. I’ve been trying to get this surgery scheduled since October 2009, so I’m really happy that it’s finally scheduled.

I continue to try and help anyone who is feeling troubled and wants someone to listen and be supportive. It is a commitment I try my best to fulfil every day. The “classroom” described in my profile and my responses in threads and to PMs all provide people access to what help I can offer.

With my wife away for the last month and for the next two months, I have plenty of time to help others.

Still I feel like too much of my days are not used well enough.

I completed the rough draft for the newsletter, and it’s now in Bendrew’s hands for review. Hope to have it completed and sent out by Monday evening or Tuesday. My 10th grader will be taking the AP World History exam on Thursday and is staying after school every day til then for study sessions, so I’ll be traveling back and forth between my children’s town and my town (about a 50 minute drive each way) more often than usual this week to provide rides. Between that and serving Fluther for I am your humble servant ~ I don’t know what else I might get to this week. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to pay some bills!

@Jeruba Good luck on your exam! I’m sure you’ll do well, smart girl. Now if only your foot would work as well as your brain!

@stranger_in_a_strange_land I saw your post. I’m glad you’ve decided to stick around for a while, and happy to hear that the outlook at home and school is a positive one!

@Seaofclouds Nosy question alert: What surgery are you having? Well, whatever it is, I wish you a speedy recovery!

@Dr_Lawrence It’s nice that you’re so interested in helping folks, and I’d say that’s well-used time, indeed!

Auggie, you are the best. Just sayin’.

I just found this thread last week much to my surprise and dismay (that I hadn’t earlier). I am so happy to finally be able to participate!

My goals for this week are to work on getting health insurance for myself as I lost mine after deciding to be a SAHM. With a pre-existing condition it isn’t going to be easy. I also want to start getting a routine set up for household chores (my agreement as part of the SAHM gig) and taking care of baby.

@Jeruba Congrats! Why am I not surprised you got the highest grade?
@stranger_in_a_strange_land Also glad you decided to stick around.
@dpworkin Glad to see you back. There was a quick moment in fluther where we (sadly)
thought you had left.
@holden Hi!
@Seaofclouds Surgery can be so emotionally draining. As well as physically. How are you holding up to the stress? Sending good vibes your way.
@Dr_Lawrence How kind of you to help folks out. I’ve noticed that on a few threads and thought so then too. I think you are being more of a service than you realize.
@augustlan Make some time to eat some chocolate ;) How do you like all that driving? I love driving myself but no for many it is stressful. Oh and I hope you don’t mind I copied your idea of commenting to everyone. I liked it :)

Wow, this is new to me. Glad I found it. :)
I guess this week, as trivial as it may sound, I’m on a quest to watch every episode of Lost I can before the series ends. I’m going to start my Powerpoint for my customer service class that’s due at the end of the term and I’ll be repainting cement ducks for a woman whose house I used to clean. Lots of short term stuff.

@py_sue I’m still on Season 5or6 of Lost. I love the show but am SO FAR behind, lol.

Man, this week went by fast. No Italian lessons or flute practice, but the combination of a cold and constant pain made anything more than getting through the day impossible. I was kind of a zombie this week, so I am giving myself a pass. I did, however, finally book my tickets for this summer.. I put it off about as long as I could because I really am not looking forward to it. The fact that it’s done, though, is a load off.

@augustlan I’m having a tubal reversal. Long story short, my ex-husband left when my son was 10 months old. After 5 years of being a single mom and being on birth control pills, I wanted something a bit more long term. I tried to get an IUD, but my GYN would not give me one because I was not in a relationship (because getting a STD with an IUD in place can cause a woman to be sterile). Instead, he was willing to do a tubal ligation on me. Three weeks after the surgery, I met my husband (go figure). So, now we are having the reversal and hoping for more children.

@RedPowerLady I’m doing well with the stress now. We’ve been trying for so long to get this date (we’re going through the military, so it’s been a slow process). When I first got the date for the surgery, the excitement of all of it did cause me to be physically ill. I’ve been focusing on staying calm and healthy in these next few weeks to ensure that nothing causes this not to happen.

@MissAnthrope I hope you are feeling better this week?

@Seaofclouds I am sending you positive fertility vibes :) I’m so happy that this is more about excitement than nervousness. You sound like you are doing a great job of managing your stress. I’m excited for you.

@RedPowerLady – The cold is going away, thankfully, so my head feels more normal. I just have this weird nerve and muscle thing going on in my hip (the last in a series of different painful back issues over the past few weeks) and it’s really painful at times and very difficult to get comfortable at all, even to sleep. :( I have an appointment to see this doctor that’s been very helpful in a couple of days, just trying to hang in there until then. My foot and calf are almost entirely asleep, heh.

In other news, I had a very random turkey encounter today. I was outside and it leapt over our 5-foot wall just feet from me and went running through the yard before my brain could even form the words, What the?

I’m boldly standing on the precipice of Finals (aka, Hell) Week of school and as part of this I’ve just punched out a 7 page paper on Joseph Hamilton’s Dueling Handbook and the role of honor in 19th century western culture in conjunction with opposition to the institution of dueling. My entire grade in my historiography class rests on my success on this essay and I have a feeling I’m gonna kick its ass.

After that, I have a 900 word essay to write as my final in my Sociology class. That class was stupid as hell, but I have an A in it and I’m positive I’ll keep my A with this essay. Additionally, I have to write a 7 page essay for Western Civ by Wednesday and take a test and I have no clue what the hell I’m going to write about because we haven’t been assigned a topic. Just the vague instructions to “write a 7 page essay.” I’ll do good on that essay, because I’m God when it comes to writing essays, but I suck at tests and that test is going to screw me. I’ll still come out with a high B though, even if I fail, so I’m not too worried. Finally, and also on Wednesday, I have to write an in-class 1200 word essay for my early Western Literature class that compares notions of greatness from The Odyssey, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Paradise Lost. I am feeling pretty good about it. I started that class out with a 0 because I failed the first couple of reading quizzes (not because I didn’t read, but because, once again, I suck hard at tests and quizzes) and I brought my grade up to an 89 by making an A on both of the out of class essays. This is a huge deal, because this particular professor (who graduated the top of his class at both Cornell and Yale and has the most finely tuned bullshit detector of any man on earth) does not give As. I broke that habit in him, so I think I’ll be ok.

My art portfolio secured me an A in my drawing class as well, and I got an email from financial aid today telling me that I get to keep my scholarships they were so dickishly threatening to take away at the beginning of the semester. I’m feeling good about school once again, and I’m prepared to continue kicking ass. Lol, liberal arts.

Now that I’ve finished my self-deifying rant about my accomplishments (that is what this thread is for, right?) I’ll list my goals.

By the end of June, I plan on taking a weekend long fishing and camping trip with 5 of my male friends where the only gear we will bring is a knife, a hatchet, flint, rope, and a first aid kit.

By the end of summer break, I plan on toning up physically and falling into a regular exercise regimen.

By September, I plan on finishing my reading list of Sufi literature and biographies and at least having a bare bones basic understanding of simple Pashto words.

By December, I plan on qualifying for the Civilian Marksmanship Program.

By January of 2011, I plan on buying a Luger.

That about sums it up for me. @everyone else, congratulations on continued progress and good luck on any new goals you set.

Ok, @Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard has made me tired just reading his list! Go get ‘em, FPCB!

@augustlan, thanks dear. Good luck on your bills, and I hope your kid does well on the AP test. I remember when I took it and I was scared to death, but I knocked it out. I’m sure your tenth grader will too!

@Jeruba Thanks for posting a new thread.
@augustlan Thanks for being you.

Welcome newcomers! I posted my summary on the last thread; suffice it to say I continue to work on janbb version 55.2.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Thanks for listening! Sounds like you’ve got your hands full! Have fun building (I’m jealous, outright!)

I had a real bad week last week, but we all have bad weeks. This week is proving better. I have an interview on Thursday and we may be moving.

@Seaofclouds Good luck with the surgery. We’re glad you’ve joined us.
@stranger_in_a_strange_land Soooo glad you decided not to leave us. I know that this transition has been frustrating for some of the fluther, but we’ll get through it. Also good news on starting Genevieve’s construction. I’m glad things are moving along for you.
@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard Stop being such an overachiever ~! But really, way to go on your essays. Good luck with your exams. I know you’ll get through this.
@augustlan Congratulations on finishing the newsletter. I know you’ve been putting in a huge amount of time recently, and we appreciate you.
@dpworkin I’m so glad you’re back. We’ve missed you much.
@Sophief I’m happy this week’s shaping up to be better than the last.
@py_sue Little goals are still goals. Enjoy “Lost”.
@RedPowerLady I hope the health insurance search is productive. It can be a huge pain.
@Jeruba Sorry that the foot is still giving you so much trouble. Enjoy your houseguests.

We have two weeks left in school, and my goals for this week are to get a little bit further with the kids, and to get my room cleaned up so I can leave it for the summer not feeling like a slug. I also need to book hotel rooms for our trip right after school gets out.

@Sophief, good luck!

@zephyr826, thank you kindly and have fun on your trip!

Still in the process in getting A’s in my classes.

I’ve started working on a documentary, but for Assistant Producer credit only. I’ll be shaping the narrative of the piece. Apparently, per the executive producer, if we don’t get great future jobs and contacts out of this, we weren’t trying hard enough.

Still trying to figure out what I can do for $$ once my unemployment runs out in June. :O
NYC is pretty hard up for jobs at the moment (any ideas welcome). :D

Just had another phone call, got an interview Wednesday as well!

@Sophief Good for you! You’ll get a job soon.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard Wow, you sound super busy with finals week. Good luck on all your essays and exams. What is your major? (Sorry if this was already mentioned in the old threads, I just found this one yesterday.)

@Sophief I hope this week is a good week for you and your interviews go well!!

@nyc_air Congrats on the A’s. Keep up the good work.

@aprilsimnel I hope the documentary goes well. Have you thought about looking for jobs in other areas and relocating or do you want to stay in NYC?

So in continuing to come up with a list of 10 elementary schools I want Alexey to go to and trying to cross-reference each school against 5 review websites, I stumbled upon this school and am now changing life plans around (for both Alex and myself) to see if we can ever swing paying for both of our kids to go to this private school. It is literally my dream come true and a school that I didn’t think existed.

@Seaofclouds, yeah my school prides itself on being hard as all hell and this is most reflected in our finals weeks. I’m a history major by the way. I go to a liberal arts school though, so I have to take a whole bunch of various classes, thus my eclectic schedule. Thanks for the well wishes, too!

@Seaofclouds, I want to stay in NYC. I’m sure there’s something I’m doing wrong in my job search, but I’m not sure what it is. Other people are managing to work in this city in jobs that pay well. I’m sure it has something to do with networking skills that I haven’t developed yet.

Hi guys. After a hiatus from progress-reporting, I am back.

This quarter has been horribly busy but so far I have been juggling pretty effectively. Recently discovered google tasks, which is a a huge help.

1. Running: I have a 12k run coming up on Sunday (Bay to Breakers!) in San Francisco. I definitely feel like I am running better than I ever have before and feel adequately prepared, so my goal for this week is to rest up and recover from my tendinitis and shin splints while still maintaining the same level of fitness.

2. Teaching: Since I’ll be out of town this weekend, I’m doing everything I can to get ahead. I’ve written my section of the final and put together tomorrow’s lecture and quiz. My goals now are to write next week’s lecture and quiz today so that I can start grading as soon as I receive their assignments tomorrow. Hopefully I can have them all graded before I leave on Friday.

Still dealing with the fallout of failing one of my students. He is not taking it well.

3. Coursework: Should get a new homework assignment tomorrow and possibly will get our exams back. Also hope to finish homework assignment before leaving town.

4. Research: Tested the homogeneity of variance between my groups which statistically confirmed what I have been saying all along: I don’t need to run any more goddamn participants. Although the statistical argument is somewhat weak and it doesn’t cost me anything, so I’ll keep running through the end of the quarter. Also my RA should come in today to get started on a mini-project that I’d like to have done soon.

4. Not being an asshole: I have stopped sleeping with both my ex-boyfriend and my running partner. But only because one moved to New York and the other now has a girlfriend. So I don’t know if I can take credit for this.

5. Being a responsible grownup: no progress lately. I did pay my rent today. Finally.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir That is the one I asked you guys about! When you didn’t say anything I figured you thought it was lame. Very exciting! As I type my kids are visiting the one starting in Chicago! I can see your family completely thriving there. Very fun!

My children started visiting an alternative school today. It is nerve wracking but it feels like a good move. If it works out they will be going full-time starting in the fall and so will I. It involves a train ride, one we might let them make themselves as long as they get “certified”. Which basically means proving to us they can handle such a journey by themselves. We are having fun coming up with the guidelines. There is lots of other negotiating to take place too. Exciting times!

Their testing out the school means I have the wonderful problem of what to fill six hours of alone time with. I like this problem.

@liminal – how did I miss that?!!!! I would never think anything you say is dumb, that’s crazy. I guess it was sereditpitious for me to see it in the last couple of days and not before, because then I didn’t know I’d be moving.

No more progress as of yet. Trying to get and keep my math grade up. Telling myself I should really eat healthier and exercise more, but knowing I won’t.

Since I was busy yesterday…

I’m learning CSS. I’ve already pretty much learned HTML so we’ll see how this goes.
I also want to keep learning Python then add a little bit of Ruby.
(Things I actually want to get good at and make things with ^^)

I also need to start doing some more stuff for the Visa paperwork we need to fill out and ask some people for help with that. /sigh
I also need to make some plans for things that will be happening when all of that paperwork goes through.
I’m going to be blogging for this site that will be launched June 1st and I’m hoping I get good enough/enough posts to have my own section on the site.

Small goals.. But hey. Small is better than nothing at all :)

Oh, what a wonderful idea! I haven’t seen the other ones but I will most certainly continue to post on this one.

My big goal for this week is to get packed up and move out. I get my new keys on Friday I’m staying in the same apartment complex, just moving to a one bedroom and I move in on Saturday.

Summer goals:

Get a job at the same place I worked at last summer. This is almost assured since I was a good worker and they like to hire back people who previously worked for them.

Write and begin preparations for a super secret video project so that I may begin shooting when school starts up again.

Write many chapters for a book I have begun writing. So far, I have the prologue a piece of writing of which I am quite proud and a few sentences of chapter one.

I dislike the idea of paying a person or organization to teach me something so that I can have a piece of paper which implies I know about a certain subject so that I can get a job to pay off student loans I acquired in order to have a piece of paper which makes employers more likely to hire me, but I’ve decided to continue on to a Bachelor’s degree after I finish my Associate’s.

I texted my dad today.

My boyfriend and I are out of our sex rut lol! Shhh

I took my last AP exam ever today! Woo hoo!

Now that exams are out of the way, I can focus on more worthwhile things, like learning for the sake of learning rather than for the sake of passing the exam.

I also need to figure out what to write a commencement speech on within the next few weeks. Eek.

@Facade I feel the same way about my Bachelor’s…and to make matters even better, in my career, the BSN really only gives me about $1 an hour raise unless I go into management. and yay! for being out of that rut!

@Mariah Congrats on finishing your exams! Good luck with the commencement speech.

@chels good luck with the VISA paperwork. :)

Oops, wrong question, I thought this was the tell me something great that happened thread. Please ignore this response…

@KatawaGrey It is always awesome to hear happy news! :)

Hi folks. I’ve been lurking around for awhile now… I finally feel ready to set some goals and comment on my progress!

- We’re closing on a house in the next few weeks. I need to continue packing. This week we should get through the attic and the china cabinet.
– Our probable renters will be in town and checking out the old house (that we’re currently in) next week. Gotta clean up and keep it that way from here on out. Hopefully, we’ll get an agreement signed and collect the deposit.
– I’m weaning off Effexor and feel like crap most of the time. I need to call my doctor to get a few weeks worth of sleeping medicine and advice on what to do after cutting down to 37.5mg every three days.
– I need to eat better and take vitamins daily.
– I need to do something nice for myself daily (that doesn’t involve hundreds of calories). I have a lot of difficult personal things going on and need to be good to myself. I don’t want to fall apart.
– My summer class starts next week. I should do something fun this week since moving and school will take up most of the rest of the summer.
– I need to make some friends. Sounds simple, feels scary.

@Cupcake That’‘s a whole lot of change – very exciting and stressful, I bet! Breathe!

@Cupcake Lots of goals and lots going on. As you say, take good care of yourself.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Exciting stuff going on with your school search and move! Hope you’re over your stomach bug.

I worked my last day of the semester; will be working a few odd shifts over the summer and doing course prep for the Fall but essentially the summer of janbb starts – now! I know I will be exercising a ton – hiking, swimming, water aerobics and zumba and hopefully will lose a few pounds. I also hope to do some non-fiction reading and catch up on a few more of the classics that I have missed such as In Search of Lost Times. In addition.I want to get back in to watercolor painting; although I’m no great shakes, I enjoy the doing of it. I am hoping to control my Fluther habit enough to accomplish more of these things.

And – the really neat thing happening this summer is that my son and his family are moving back from Paris to live in Westchester County in York. Since my grandson will be a year old in a few weeks, it should be great to spend time with him and really start getting to know him. (Maybe that’s how I’ll lose some weight!)

@janbb Eh, it doesn’t feel like I’m over my stomach bug.

poor baby

Just got home from my penultimate final exam. Tomorrow at 10:30am is the ultimate final, for which I am learning that if it has a supraorbital torus, an angulated occiptital, an occipital torus and a somewhat diminished mastoid process, it’s probably… Homo erectus!

“homo erectus.” hehe.

OH! I also have decided to learn Greek this summer.

Goal:
– Work on my theatre production based on a collection of Ted Hughes poems.

Progress and setbacks:
– I fixed a date for the production. I was waffling around for a bit, and then two things happened in the past week. The first was that my grandfather passed away, making me think how short life is. The second is that I have been discussing with a dance school to work in Poland, and if that works out; it would be in February 2011. Which means I should do my production before I leave HK in Jan 2011.

- I’m working on a translating the poems in Chinese with a friend. We said we would do five each by today, we’ve only done two. But I am meeting with him again today; and another friend; and I’m beginning conversations with people about it.

Things I need to do next:
– figure out a location
– figure out the team
– translation / learn sign language
– hit the studio
– figure out the script

To be honest, I’m rather freaked out by the commitment. It’s like I flipped a switch in myself and said, YES! And now my feelings are all tied up with this project.

@chels That sounds like an interesting goal! Is there any particular reason you want to learn it?

@mangeons I’m Greek :) and I’ve always wanted to learn.. incase.. you know.. I move to Greece one day ;) ::wishful thinking::

@chels That’s cool! Well, I wish you all the best learning it! Learning a foreign language can be difficult, I’m on my third year of French and I’m still not very fluent… :P

@mangeons Thank you :) I took 4 years of Spanish in High School. Keep practicing and you’ll get better! For sure.

@chels Yeah, I can speak some, but I don’t have a very good teacher. She’s cool and all, but she spends more time telling funny stories than she does actually teaching, so. Plus, she has to split days between French III and French IV, so she’s only with us every other day.

@mangeons @chels I feel your pain. I’m re-learning standard German after a 40 year hiatus (I spoke Alsace dialect as a child). Later this year I’m spending three months in German archives, so I’m staring down the barrel of a deadline.

is 4 song plays short of 600!!! =D

@chels Good luck with the visa app, and learning Greek! Another language is always a good choice!
@lifeflame Wow! That project sounds wonderful, if really intense. I know you can do it, though.
@dpworkin Last final! Hooray!
@janbb I’m so glad that you’re family’s moving back to the states. Though visiting in Paris was certainly lovely, it’ll be nice to get to see them more often.

I don’t think we’re offcially allowed to party for birthdays or graduations so this thread seems an appropriate place to wish @dpworkin congratulations on finishing his undergraduate degree.

Mazel Tov™, Smartypants!

What do you mean, “under”?

Pretty damned good for a dog, I’d say – even a smart one!

Yeeeeaaah! Congrats on finishing. That’s the best. :)

@zephyr826 Thank you! I also want to learn French, but I’ll take classes for that :).

Failing today ..to ignore idiots on Fluther

@Simone_De_Beauvoir That’s usually the point in which I get away from Fluther for a few hours.

@chels you’re completely right – I am going to do that

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Enjoy it! Hopefully you’ll feel better when you come back :)

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Some days are like that – even in Australia.

@dpworkin Welcome to the world of grad school!!

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Thake a deep breather and repeat after me “illegitimi non carborundum”...

@chels I had yoga! Everything feels better!

@Simone_De_Beauvoir YAY! That makes me happy! Which reminds me, I want to start doing Yoga. Is it awesome?

@chels Ha, don’t get me started! I do Bikram Yoga and it has changed my life, literally.

The almost final draft of the newsletter is back in the bosses’ hands. (I didn’t get the rough draft back until Thursday night.) Fingers crossed that it gets sent out this week!

I am currently sitting in a living room filled with boxes. I signed the new lease this morning and have procured my keys. I may have a lead actor for my super secret video project as well. :)

@KatawaGrey Do you get to move house when you become a mod? Is there a “mods’ mansion” they’re not telling us about?

Sunday, May 16, 2010

It’s actually Monday, the 17th. We’re reviewing for the final exams, and I’m trying to clean up my classroom before the school year ends. I hope everyone is doing well.
@KatawaGrey Congrats on the new lease.

I noticed nobody posted – figured the gang was in a collective funk as was I (singularly, that is.)

So no goals met to report but I do have an inspiring quote I read this morning and posted on another thread;

“Work, while you have the light.” Quoted by Roland Barthe, attributed to St John.

1. Running: Ran B2B yesterday. Didn’t run it nearly as quickly as I would have liked, but nothing hurts, so today I registered for my first half-marathon (September 5). Scary.

2. Teaching: Everything is written and graded. Just need to brush up on tomorrow’s lecture. Really relieved I did all that before leaving town. Need to send out some guidelines to the kiddos for their final lab report and edit some final exam questions.

3. Coursework: Finished a draft of homework assignment over the weekend. Just need to clean it up and turn it in Thursday.

4. Labwork: Realized my first conference is coming up way too soon. Really need to make poster this week.

5. Making good life decisions (5 and 6 from last week merged): Still epically failing on this front. Yikes.

@nikipedia Way to go on the B2B. I wish I could run that far.
@janbb lurve that quote

My grades were posted today, and I am very disappointed. My next task is to try to forget it and move on instead of continuing to beat myself up, since I have already been accepted to grad school, and no one but me gives a shit about my grades.

@dpworkin: As someone who gives grades to undergraduates, let me tell you with full confidence that they are total bullshit.

Yeah, well, then why didn’t I get a better class of bullshit?

(Silence, tumble weed) so quiet here compared with last week!

I know it’s late in the week, but:

@zephyr826 Hope you got your classroom cleaned up!
@janbb I gather you’re feeling a little better? My mum always says, “keep a green bough in your heart, and the bird will come to sing”. I think it’s a Chinese proverb.
@dpworkin I was disappointed with my grades at uni, it didn’t take me long to get over it! Congrats on getting through it all.
@nikipedia I tried to look up B2B, but found lots of definitions. What kind of run is it? I hope to run a half marathon one day in Prague; such a beautiful city and dear to my heart. Anyway, good luck preparing for that, and with all your other goals.

This week I made major progress. I was supposed to start work on the 1st of April, but had a few hiccups turning my spousal visa into a work visa. The place where I was supposed to start working failed to tell me I was missing vital documents, and it took an age to get said documents sent from the UK. You can’t get a work visa without a signed contract with an employee, and this week I finally signed the contract! Yipee! So now I just have to wait, which is what I have been doing already, but now at least I have a start date set (July 1st). That makes the waiting much less excruciating! All this waiting has also killed any nerves I might have had about going back to work after over two years at home. I’m just looking forward to getting started now!

@jeanmay What kind of work do you do?

And, yes, I’m feeling over my funk. A week in Florida of walking, reading and swimming has done good things for me.

@janbb Sounds like bliss!

I am an English teacher, and I have a job teaching in a kindergarten. The kids are 4+: they start ‘em young out here! I like teaching young kids; lots of story reading and song singing.

I am a professional buzzkill. Not as selfless as teaching.

I don’t even know what a buzzkill is?

You know, man, like a bringdown.

@dpworkin Who do you bring down, and why? It’s not that selfless, since I’m capitalising on the ridiculously high salaries and other benefits that South Korean schools are willing to bestow on anyone who has a degree, and was born in an English-speaking country. It’s a bit sick and wrong, really.

Hey, it’s about time a teacher earned some dough.

@dpworkin amen to that!

@zephyr826 Maybe you need to move to Korea?

Alas, we just bought a house. Somehow I think my husband, the cat, and the dog would be less excited about a move like that. But I’ll keep it in mind. :)

@zephyr826 Tell them all it’s a question of priorities!

@dpworkin Too true! And some respect to boot.

Actually, we just celebrated Teacher’s Day here. It is custom for students to buy gifts and make cards. I got some shower gel and sun cream from my one private student! We should have a day like that in the West.

Some of the schools in my area have Teacher Appreciation breakfasts put on by the PTA. Also, it is not uncommon for students to bring in a small gift for the teacher at the end of the school year.

@janbb Teacher Appreciation breakfast sounds even better than shower gel! Mmmm, breakfast.

Now that I’ve made a total ass of myself here, I’ll go back to farming and thesis writing.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land: I don’t think anyone thinks you’re an ass. We like having you here.

@jeanmay: Thanks for your kindness and support. B2B is an epic holiday in San Francisco, a twelve kilometer run involving the entire city, many fantastic costumes, lots of alcohol, and lots of nudity. There is nothing else quite like it in the world, I think.

This week: Throwing a party for my 30th birthday; ergo, the once-a-year deep-houseclean, and to raise the stakes there’s a documentary team (who is doing a feature on our family), so coordinating things so that they get what they need (the happy-birthday-cake shot), and we have the fun we want.

As for the Crow theatre project: I’ve run into a sort of wall.
It’s been on the backburner for a few years now and it’s always something that I’ve wanted to do; and now suddenly, I realise I don’t quite relate to it very well any more. The feeling is sort of like, you fall in love with someone and you wait and wait and then one day you see them and you realise—I’ve evolved away from you…
I’m going to sit with this feeling to see if this is something temporary (as in, a type of resistance to work), but I suspect that—I have grown away from it. That what I am interested in now demands a new kind of language; it’s something smaller, more intimate, more personal than the epic sweep of Crow. Or maybe that will be the backdoor back in to the piece. I don’t know.

Meanwhile: other achievements and goals—I got an offer to teach in Poland next spring. Some mental readjustments there; and then some grant writing…

@nikipedia Thanks. I take it that the spectators are naked and drinking, I’m not up to a drunken 12K streak. Is this competing for time or a “fun run”? Sounds like a hoot.

Still waiting for the ground to dry out enough to plant the field corn and beans.Doing stone masonry right now. The new wind turbine was delivered yesterday, this will be the third. Now I’m waiting on the tower (the support slab and anchor points are already in). I’‘l be a powder monkey this weekend, have to blast for footings of the new greenhouse and an electrical/plumbing trench. New Hampshire isn’t called “Granite State” for nothing.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land The variety of skills at your disposal is astounding.

My new goal is to open an art gallery. It’s a long term goal, but I’m excited.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Agree with @gggritso.
@chels How exciting! What kind of art? Or not got that far in planning yet?!
@nikipedia Wow B2B sounds fun, and what an achievement. 12 km in old money would be…71/2 miles-ish. Respect!
@lifeflame !!!!! Last week you seemed set to commit to the Crow project, and excited at the prospect! Things move fast for you. I know you must have solid instincts and will choose what is right for you. Poland sounds very interesting indeed; how lucky for you to be heading back to that part of the world. Hope all goes well with the documentary (I’d like to watch it!), and wishing you a very happy birthday.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land: Lots of the runners are naked and/or drinking, too. There were some people handing out whiskey shots somewhere around mile 5.5. I’m not above running after a couple beers, but the thought of that made even my stomach turn.

Also, there are indeed some competitive and seeded runners who get corralled to the front—the best men’s time was around 34 minutes, and women’s around 38. (My running partner ran it in under 50 minutes. Oof.)

@jeanmay: Thanks for the encouragement—I had been feeling kind of down about my time, so it’s nice to be reminded that just finishing is an accomplishment, which was really my only goal all along.

@jeanmay Not that far into planning yet, but I’ll let you know when I have an idea! :)

I have moved into the apartment. There are boxes everywhere and i have no cable or internet, but aim living by myself for the first time ever. Ya know what? I love it! I had some issues with my last roommate which I will not get into grrr and now I have no one to bug me!

@chels: I am very excited for your art gallery. :)

@KatawaGrey That’s really exciting!

@KatawaGrey, congratulations!

@KatawaGrey That’s great! A big life milestone.

@KatawaGrey Congratulations, that’s awesome!

@KatawaGrey Congrats lovely. I’m excited for you. No one to bug you and plus, you can walk around and dance around in your undies.. Or your birthday suit. Mwahaha. But promise you’ll come visit the art gallery? I’m excited for it too!!! kasjdlasjdla!!!

Sunday, May 23

It’s been a quiet week in Lake Woebegon. Actually, it has been a quiet week for me but a good one. I’ve been down in Florida for some R&R and actually got it. Been doing a lot of swimming – the pool has been great – and a fair bit of walking. We also went out sailing a ffew times. Eating too, but quite healthily – if that’s a word. Today is back up North and the start of summer there – looking to do some gardening, start my course prep, and perhaps start sketching or painting again.

Haven’t hear from liminal, lynne, grisaille or holden in a while – hope you are all well.

Edit: heard

Thanks guys! You make me all warm and fuzzy inside. :D And yes, there has been much naked movie watching. It’s CHAIDICFUAWESOME!

Hi everyone,

I haven’t posted here in a while, so I thought I’d do an update.

My work term wrapped up a few weeks back, and I’m back to school. I really enjoyed working, so I’m sad that I had to leave. I got a top-notch performance review though, which will definitely help me find work for the next term. (I already have two interviews lined up for the coming weeks, I’m very excited. I love interview season).

So, I’m living away from my parents for a while! Much fun. Right now I’m focusing on sorting myself out. Lately, my discipline has gone down the drain, and it’s completely unacceptable. I’m focusing on driving up my motivation and dedication. In the past few weeks I’ve been tackling sleeping and eating. I’ve been managing to get 8+ hours of sleep every day, and it’s done wonders for my attitude and productivity.

The cooking front is a bit more difficult. I’m completely useless in the kitchen, so I find myself Googling instruction on very basic things. That said, I’m doing a reasonable job so far. I found shrimp on sale so I’ll be making those tonight, hopefully I don’t screw it up :)

I want to congratulate everyone here who’s achieving your goals, keep it up! For those of us who are in a bit of a slump, well, tomorrow is brand new day!

All of my travel arrangements have been made and my house is clean. I just have to do some laundry and pack and tomorrow morning I’ll be on my way to Washington for my surgery! My summer classes start in 2 weeks (the last classes for my BSN). I’m all geared up for those as well and I’m looking forward to finishing my BSN in August!

@gggritso Good to hear from you.

@Seaofclouds Good luck with the surgery!

@Seaofclouds Hope it all goes well with the surgery.
@gggritso Hope it all goes well with the shrimp!

@janbb and @jeanmay Thanks. My actual surgery isn’t until Thursday. I have a full day of traveling tomorrow and pre-op appointments on Tuesday.

Alex and I registered for the Philadelphia Transgender Health Conference being held June 3–5 and figured out how we will go (I’ll leave a day before him), who we’ll leave the kids with (mom’s taking time off work) and when we’re coming back (Sunday night! so we’ll have some time to ourselves too!) and where we’re staying (my best friend’s place). I am incredibly excited to go because many of my friends and Brooklyn Community Pride Center colleagues will be there and it’s just going to be awesome to see them and to learn with them. There are a million workshops I want to attend and a lot of them are a perfect fit for what I want to learn about for my PhD project in the future. Check out the schedule.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Wow! How will you choose what to go to?!

@jeanmay I don’t know! – what I think I’m going to do is get Alex and my best friend on collecting paper materials duty from all the workshops that I can’t attend at the same time. I really appreciate the organizers keeping this conference free and accessible to all.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir It seems like it will be worthwhile and enjoyable no matter what. As you say, wonderful that it is accessible to all.

@jeanmay Definitely! And it’ll be a great way to network and connect to people who I think will be integral to my future. They’ll also be offering free yoga during the conference and I’m totally up for that!

I am a major procrastinator and put everything off because I really didn’t want to go on this trip, but even so, I somehow managed to get nearly everything done in like 2 or 3 days. It helped that my mom insisted on packing my bags and that I wasn’t allowed to bring much clothing (most of the crap I lugged over here was hers). 2 huge, heavy bags, a dog, a heavy carry-on, and a dog crate. Fun times! Now that I’m here, my goal is to make it to August 12 without cracking up or killing my mom or step-father. I can’t wait until August, seriously.

I applied to school and am admitted, have to wait until June 1 to register. I have to figure out some way to send away and pay for having my transcripts sent to the school, from here. I didn’t manage to get all that done in time.

The other things I’m hoping for while I’m here are actually practicing my Italian so I can improve. I have a block about speaking because I’m so bad, I find it embarrassing and frustrating that I have the vocabulary (I understand most of what people say to me), yet cannot manage to pull it out when trying to converse. Hopefully the Rosetta Stone gave me a push in this direction. The other thing is that I’d like to get out of Monterosso at least once while I’m here. I get stuck here and it’s such a shame to me that I haven’t seen most of the country. I’d love to take a day trip somewhere, maybe Lake Como to see Isola Bella, or Venice, or really any place like that that I haven’t been before.

Newsletter is finally done! I’m hoping they’ll send it out today. :D

I have a busy week ahead… the end of the school year always means lots of activity. I don’t expect I’ll get much done that isn’t kid related.

@augustlan Good for you on the newsletter and good luck with the school stuff.

I got almost everything done, and I got my grades in early for the first time in the five years I’ve been teaching. Today, I need to get my classroom into some sort of order, and then tomorrow we leave for France! Almost everything is packed, and we’re good to go. I’m so excited!

Boo. They say it won’t go out until Wednesday at the earliest. :(

@MissAnthrope Well done on the packing! Don’t let your inhibitions hold you back with your Italian – everyone has to start somewhere! Although I’m one to talk; I hold back from speaking Korean on a daily basis.
@zephyr826 Good work getting all your stuff done early! And have a wonderful time in France, I am so jealous of all you travellers in Europe.
@augustlan Congrats on finishing the newsletter. Wednesday is not far away!

I made it to Ft. Lewis! I’m so happy to be here and done with flying (at least for a few days).

@janbb thanks for noticing me. The end of the school year is this week and we have appreciated the children having a month to kick around and explore. Simply visiting and thinking about having them attend in the fall is a very big deal for our family. It looks like we are going to try it for a year and then reevaluate. This means I get to go to school full-time myself! Which means I really need to get some paper work done by mid-week, including figuring out student loans.

@MissAnthrope I hope you do not kill anybody :) ...I am looking forward to hearing how things unfold.

Update on the Crow theatre project

Backtracking; consolidating; really thinking about what kind of form best suits me.
It is, I suppose, an equivalent of a writer learning whether she really wants to write a poem, a short story or a novel.
And I’ve come to the conclusion that whenever I try thinking of it as a full-length, it starts to feel abstract and ungrounded. So the latest idea is to do an evening of short stories, which may or may not end up being interlinked. It will be, therefore, closer to a compilation of songs than an opera.

So: starting small. Beginning with the ideas that I do have, and the one or two images or scenarios that are strong. I’ve just sent out an e-mail to a couple of actors, inviting them to jam something with me, and we’ll see where it goes from there.

Meanwhile, the best way to deal with the distance I have with the Crow poems is to embody them. The poems seem to ask for a chorus; I’ve given myself the challenge of seeing what would happen if I tried to conceive of the whole thing as a solo. It’s time to hit the studio.

So my event is finally happening next saturday – thanks Fluther for helping me name it and helping me to flesh it out. You can spread it widely and look for it on Facebook (type in More Than Mermaids)
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=121791741189089

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Cool beans!

@Simone_De_Beauvoir That’s so greatl. You’ll have to report back to us.

My accomplishment is a small one but “mine own.” I spent the morning exercising and gardening instead of Fluthering. I am going to plant a strawberry patch.

And it looks like I am going to be able to be a Bubby in spades this summer. My son from Paris and his family may be staying with us for a month while they look for a place to rent in NY state. I’d better get on the stick with my other projects before they come!

@Simone_De_Beauvoir – The seahorse is beautiful!!

My surgery is less than 12 hours away! I’ve been trying to get this to happen for 7 months and I’m so happy it’s finally here!

1. Running: Did my longest run yet (8 miles) Sunday and it was fast and easy, nearly a minute/mile faster than I ran the race the weekend before. And then later in the week it got hard again. So it goes. Debating whether this weekend is going to involve ramping up steadily (9 miles) or going for the full 10.5 mile loop on the trail I use.

2. Teaching: I can’t wait to be done torturing undergrads (like @dpworkin). The constant whining and excuses and not doing things they’re explicitly told are all wearing me out. I think I have finally drilled into their heads what a hypothesis is, so hopefully they will at least walk away from this class with the tiniest modicum of understanding. I am a day or two behind on grading but this is now a self-imposed deadline; I don’t need their final grades done until June 17. But it would be ideal to have this stuff done before I have to go out of town again (one week from today).

3. Coursework: We finally got our first exam back today, over four weeks after taking it. I did well enough (93%, with a mean of 86%), but my professor has clearly made some errors grading it (doesn’t know what a descriptive statistic is) and seems to have made a mistake calculating the standard deviation. Either that or I scored 140 SDs above the mean. Which is fine with me, but is infinitesimally likely. We have another assignment due Tuesday which I have not yet started.

4. Labwork: I think my poster is done for the conference we leave for in one week. I’m happy with the way it turned out. Two of my labmates are defending within the next week. I wish we had organized something more exciting—we are getting them the standard gift that everyone in the lab gets when they graduate. We’ll have to organize celebrations, too, between now and Friday morning. Yikes.

5. Making good life decisions: Completely stalled. No progress. On the other hand, I have not made any bad life decisions in the past week+. So that’s something.

Finally getting a move on all of the paperwork that we need to do to get married.

I’ve been putting it all together and reading more about what else we need. I put the actual paperwork and some other stuff in a binder yesterday which is definitely much better than having a huge pile of papers (thanks for the idea @jeanmay <3). We still need to print out some emails, phone bills, take some more pictures and whatnot. That should be fun.

Today is all about writing an email to my aunt about getting her to possibly sign an Affidavit of Support for us. That’s the only thing I’m a little weary about.. But we’ll see.

@chels I’d be weary by now too, but it’s gonna be worth it. Are yo guys gonna live in England or the U.S.? We went back and forth for a while but ended up in the U.S.
@nikipedia Sounds like you’re chugging along.
@Seaofclouds Best of luck with the surgery.

I’ve got my strawberry bed in and this morning I planted my pot flowers. Now, it’s just watering and weeding for the rest of the summer.

@janbb We’re going to live in the U.S. (San Francisco) because that’s where Fluther is. It’s definitely worth it and we’re keeping our fingers crossed. More than anything it’s just a lot of time, paperwork, and wishful thinking. I’ve spent the last hour and however long reading/writing an extensive email about each and every detail of the Affidavit of Support so by the time I’m done I’ll literally be an expert on it.
Also, strawberries sound sooo good right now! I want to plant some.

@chels Stop by in Jersey for some berries on your way to SF! Meanwhile, the berries are just a gleam in their Momma’s eye.

@janbb I might just do that :)!

I’ve been avoiding posting here for a while. Going through a bad patch. I’m sure it’s temporary.

@dpworkin We’ve missed you on this thread lately. Hope you’re doing better soon.

@lifeflame I know! I’m getting it tattooed on my calf.

Heard back from my aunt already. She said that she doesn’t see any problems signing the Affidavit. Yaaaayy.

@chels – I saw the picture of you two in the Photobucket group, and you’re both adorable enough for that Overload site! Congratulations!

@aprilsimnel ::blushes:: Thank you so much!

I have my French final tomorrow, and I’m really hoping I’ll pass! I don’t have too much trouble with it, but I still need to review body parts and the future tense.

As for progress, my grade in math is just barely below a B, so I’m hoping that I can pull it up before the end of the year!

Oh, and I finally found a good picture of PB & J Otter to use as my avatar, just for @chels. Haha :P

@mangeons Bon chance!

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Merci, monsieur!

Everyone, I’d love to share that @gemiwing is an amazing person who crochetes (sp.?) with the best of ‘em and has generously given my family multiple presents that we recently received. Here’s when I just opened her package – notice how she put some of the stuff into zip loc bags and drew little pictures explaining what they are. I’ve been trying to get the other pictures up here but FB hates me so I’ll try uploading them to Flickr….Okay, so Here’s when I opened some of the bags – there was this awesome hat and a piggy puppet. And then I played. And then Alexey played and here – we’re so thankful!

@Simone_De_Beauvoir @Gemiwing Beautiful work, and a beautiful model.

crochets? is that how it’s spelled…how is it spelled?

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I think you have it correct. :^)

Newsletter finally went out. Yes! Many kid related activities completed. Part of my kitchen ceiling (old textured plaster) fell down, so I had to pull some more of it down lest it later fall on our heads. Plaster dust was everywhere! What a mess, but it’s all cleaned up now. So, I still need to figure out a graduation present for my best friend’s daughter… her party is Saturday evening.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir So cute! And I think it’s spelled ‘crochets’. :)

@augustlan Great work on the newsletter – it looks fabulous!

@Simone_De_Beauvoir That piggy puppet is adorable. Lovely work, @gemiwing!

I haven’t been around much, since I’ve been working on my business nonstop. But I’m accomplishing lots of stuff! I’ve got about half of the card designs printed, and I’m working on getting my website up and running. Goals for this week (well, next week, I guess): Finish printing the rest of the cards, figure out the website design, and put together a catalog to send to shops with my samples. I think I might be able to send samples out within the next two weeks – this is so exciting!

I feel like I’ve been hit by a mac truck, but on the bright side, my surgery is done and over with and I’m out of the hospital. Tomorrow I leave Seattle and head back to the east coast.

Wowee, whoee @Seaofclouds that’s a lot of travelling pre- and post-surgery! Heal well!

@janbb Thanks. It is a lot, but it’s all worth it in the end.

Took my French Final today. Think I did okay, except I think I messed up on the Future/Conditional tense somewhat.

Algebra Two final is the last day of school, hopefully I won’t fail. Health final is on the two last days of school, I’m fairly confident about that one. And government is somewhere near the end of the year as well, which I am also confident about.

Only eight more days of school, not counting weekends or this Monday… woo! (:

I have internet finally! Yay!!! I am also secured my old job this summer! I walked into the store and handed my old manager a filled-out application. She laughed and said that of course I was coming back.

@chels: Whenever I read something about your getting married, I can’t help but grin. :)

@KatawaGrey HOORAY internet. And aw, that makes me grin.. Gosh I love you <3.

@KatawaGrey Congrats on securing your old summer job and getting your internet up!

I am looking forward to spending the day with my daughter. Her brother must slave over a hot Art Project.

I was on TV – my clip got kinda “Fox News“ed and lost my better content, but still pretty cool. I’m in the last half of the clip. The bald guy =)
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/manhattan/gulf-oil-spill-protest-in-new-york-city-20100528

So, as you see, Alex and I attended the BP protest in NYC – there were many people doing various things but there was an hour there where it was just Alex, me and this random guy Chris making sure that the gas station remains closed off. here is Alex before the protest. here is me before the protest and here is us – other people took better photos and interviewed – apparently my interview was too smart for Fox News, heh and too long winded to get on tv. So it goes. Oh and in the last pic in this blog entry, you can see Alex’s bald head, lol – here.

You are very telegenic Alex! Great work @Simone_De_Beauvoir and @JeanPaulSartre!

@dpworkin Enjoy your day with your daughter.

I bought the books I need for my course prep for the Fall. Now to start the work…..

So much good stuff! Way to go you, guys!

@janbb It’s the beard.

Sunday, May 30

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everyone!

This is not an accomplishment of mine (unless getting older is), but my grandson Jake is one year old today.

I am reading a book on the male brain which, although written in an annoyingly popular style, has interesting things to say about male hormones and how their release affects brain functioning at different times of life. Being a stage two feminist always makes me eager to decry physiological differences, but obviously they do exist.

@janbb HB, Jake!
No one came to my More Than Mermaids event and even the photographer was about 40 minutes late. I was angry but not surprised. We made the best of it by taking the kids to all the Coney Island rides and by asking random people on the boardwalk to pose for pics if they identified as feminists and explaining the website.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Phooey! Too bad about the no-shows.

So, you guys, I feel like I’m failing on half the point of this thread. The truth is, I struggle quite a bit translating my thoughts/feelings into words, particularly when it comes to expressing feelings. It’s a real problem, one that causes a lot of grief in relationships. So, I find myself sitting here wanting to comment on your accomplishments and being at a loss for words. I don’t want to say, Oh, yay you! over and over. Anyway, I just kind of wanted to apologize for my lack of compliments. I am trying, hopefully something will come to me eventually. Thus far, the best I can do is be glad for you guys and give you all lurve. :)

@MissAnthrope You’re wonderful and we love you for who you are. Saying what you just said means a lot already. Keep working at it and you’ll get there. <3 <3.

@MissAnthrope – Yep, agreeing with @chels!

Thanks.. I think I’m PMSing, cause this is the second thing today that touched me to the point of bringing tears to my eyes. ;) I just didn’t want anyone to think I didn’t care or that all I wanted to do here is talk about myself, cause that’s not it at all. I really miss my therapist.. she helped me so much and aided me in putting words to feelings. Now I guess I just have to learn how to do it myself. I don’t know why it’s so hard.

@MissAnthrope I know exactly how you feel. If it helps get a notebook and try to just write without thinking, just let your fingers and the pen/pencil do it’s thing. That’s what has helped me the most.

Just wanted to share a pic from yesterday that I think captured the spirit towards the end of the day and a pic from today before we took the kids to our friend’s b-day party in Times Square…later on we took the kids to ToysRUs for the first time and bought Alexey b-day presents!

@Simone_De_Beauvoir – OMG, frickin’ cute!! The first one is an especially great shot.

Hello Everyone again! I’ve been off Fluther for a bit trying to get some work done and have had a busy birthday month but I’m allocating myself some time each day to do some Fluthering as I have missed you all. I’ve got another essay to do this week and have some ambitions for my art but haven’t quite thought things through yet. Hope you’re all doing well!! I have so much to catch up on and still in recovery from birthday celebrations!! But I’m back to support as best as I can!! xx

@Simone_De_Beauvoir You have such a beautiful family!

@lynneblundell Happy Birthday! ((hugs))

@MissAnthrope @stranger_in_a_strange_land thanks! I like sharing pics of them with you guys.

I’m super excited about some upcoming music related news!!! I’ll let you all know when it actually happens. bubble bubble

ahem..which we just properly celebrated…‘nuff said

@JeanPaulSartre Great! I hope you are properly rewarded for your hard work.

June, a month of transition… a change of pace as I take a break from these intense theatre workshops that I have been taking, and suddenly have time to myself again to think about the piece. I’ve called in my favorite actors to come in and try to jam something.

I was in the studio with a dear friend of mine, yesterday, and it was interesting to feel myself slip back into thinking like a director. It’s really been a while since I last directed, and there was something wonderfully affirming to hear myself say things like, “You know, I’m interested in not so much the range in the voice as to hearing the process of how the character thinks.” .. to be in a role again where I take the authority (and therefore responsibility) of saying: This is what I want to explore. Not this. Nor that. This. And I was surprised to discover how much clearer I am about what I want out of a performance.

This is exciting because I’m sensing how much I’ve grown since my last piece. I think in the past I kind of got away being not as precise with the acting process because I basically cast amazing actors and let them take care of the acting thing; but now, as I’m maturing as a performer, I can better understand the process and how to support them in performance.

It as also been incredibly helpful to think on my feet in the studio.
I’ve come to a clearer picture of the piece I want to do; and it’s probably not Crow yet, but a matter of finishing another piece that’s been on the backburner for a while called Craig & Miriam. And I think that I just might have the right actors for this, and it just might work. We’ll have to see next week, when we all hit the studio as an ensemble again with new friends.

On another note, I’m returning to studying with my tai chi sifu after 3 months break (while he moved flat), so I’m rather excited about this.

Oh man, this has been a productive week for me. I signed up for my first two terms of college classes and I wrote a rough (rough rough rough) draft of my commencement speech. Yay!
Oh, and, uh, I’m looking for input on the speech too. It needs editing, and I’d like outside opinions. So, PM me if you’d like to read it and give me some pointers. It’d be very much appreciated. :)

I have decided that, in addition to the above goals, I need to get my spiritual life back on track.

I am a Wiccan please no mockery and I have gotten pretty far away from the spiritual side of my life. I think that by exploring my spirituality and opening myself up to more of the energy I need in my life, I will become a calmer, happier person. The old angry Kate has been creeping back up on me and that’s been hurting me and the people around me. With this old anger have also come a number of doubts I used to have about myself. It has been a long time since I’ve spoken freely to my gods and now I find the connection is blocked. I’m going to clear that blockage and do everything I can to invite the energy and influences I need back into my life.

Well, I had a math test today, which I’m almost positive I failed, seeing as I only knew how to do less than half of the problems. :/

I have three finals on the last day of school (Math, Government, and the second half of the Health final), which is June tenth. I’m only worried about the math one, the other ones I’m fairly certain I’ll pass with ease.

My math grade as of now is a very high C, so my goal at the moment is to get it up to a B, which is doubtful, but I’m going to try my best to do better.

Also, though I may not be commenting much, I’m super proud of your guys’ progress, and I congratulate you all! (:

Edit: I did not do as well on my French Final as I thought I did. I managed to pull a C+, but I still would have liked to do better ):

@mangeons I know you can do it! It’s only nerves and as soon as you get that test in front of you, you’ll do fine. :)
@KatawaGrey I think that it’s great that you’ve become aware of your current self and you’re making the changes you need to.
@Mariah Awesome for you! I’m pretty good with grammer, so I’d like to offer my assistance if you want it. :)

I bit after the fact, but I finished Lost all the way up to season 5 the day before the finale. Now that I’ve thought about it, I really liked the ending. Still a bit of a cop out, but hey, I’ll let’em have it. I’m starting to catch up on True Blood.

My real milestone for this week is that I’m starting a major lifestyle change. I’ve started on the Eat Clean diet. It’s not so much a diet as it is a detox of your insides that results in a healthier body and weight loss. I’ve got my mother and sister to do it with me, so I hope that it works. I’m on a quest to lose around 85 pounds. That’ll put me in the healthy zone. I’m not looking to go any less than 130 or 125. So, if anyone has been or is on the Eat Clean diet, PM me with any tips or anything. I’m having to learn to eat a lot of things I’m not used to. whole grain bread & flaxseed :)

I haven’t posted in a while, haven’t had much to say. The goals I’ve previously stated are all on track, all construction activities: Gen and Karens house, the third greenhouse, the third wind turbine are all in progress and will be completed by the end of the summer.I’ve completed the design for my neighbors sugar house, she now has to buy the equipment. I’m signed up for a graduated seminar course (historiography) for the summer term, the first college course I’ve taken in 24 years. I hope that my bronze age computer skills are up to this.

I’ve bought one of those e-cigarette kits. In a week, I’ve gotten my daily cigarette consumption down from 2 packs a day to 10 cigarettes a day. Even if I can’t break the nicotine addiction, the patch and the e-cigs are probably healthier.

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ll likely have to take the antidepressant (Paxil) for the rest of my life. Every time the dosage has been reduced, the black hopelessness comes back within a week; and that’s just going from 50 mg to 40 mg per day. At least I don’t need the Valium anymore; the combination made me feel like a zombie.

There is one area where I’m not sure if I want to set any goal. I now live day-to-day isolated from people other than my farm manager and some building workers. In the last few weeks I attended the last Bruins game of the season and my nieces high school graduation in Quebec. In each event, I felt more uncomfortable than ever before in a crowd. I’ve never liked crowds, but this approaching actual fear. I really don’t want to be around other people, but I don’t want this to turn into a phobia either. By distancing myself from our mutual friends, I’ve got what I thought I wanted, peace and quiet. Now I live with the consequences of that decision. I’d rather be a recluse by choice, not because of social phobia.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land I understand a bit about social phobia. I want to go out with my friends, but I’m almost never able to say yes. I get claustraphobic in crowds but not in small spaces. It’s okay not to set any goals. You could take it on a case by case basis. That’s what I’m doing now. Good luck with it. :) I do think that it’s great how self aware you are. I’m always impressed by people like that. Also, good luck with your class! You’ll do great.

Another weekly weigh in. Lost another 1.5 pounds. :) I feel pretty unstoppable, to be honest lol

Tomorrow the twins celebrate their Bar and Bat Mitzvot.

@meagan I need some of your motivation!! What’s your secret??
@stranger_in_a_strange_land well done on the cigarettes!! I have given up twice…or maybe three times actually and I know how tough it is.. whatever works best for you gorgeous xx
@py_sue Wow that’s some goal, I wish you all the best!! What’s the eat clean diet… sounds intriguing…I shall google!!
@mangeons you can do it!! you’re fabulous…awesome even!! keep going!
@KatawaGrey spirituality is one of the things that I am lacking in and when I feel good about myself I know it’s because I am conected in a spiritual way.. I admire you for putting this up there!! xx

I am getting there with my essay…very slowly indeed, but need to finish it this weekend and I’m studying all afternoon to try and gret a first draft finished… so!! Off we pop!! xxx Love love love you all xxx

@lynneblundell Always nice to see you post!

@meagan Isn’t it great when the dieting is going well?

@dpworkin Mazel Tov! I know you’ll be kvelling tomorrow, kiddo. “Shehechiyanu v’kimanu v’hegianu la z’man hazeh.”

@stranger_in_a_strange_land If the meds are working, why mess with them for now?

@lynneblundell Don’t drink soda, not even diet. Make exercise apart of your life, rather than something you dread doing ;)
And always count your calories / write them down!

@janbb And it really is. I’ve realized that I don’t need to rush things, its going a lot better now that I’m not trying to “fad” diet.

Thanks, Jan.

I got the best news in the world today. After applying a year ago, I will finally be in the Pharm Tech program starting in the fall. This is litterally the best thing that has ever happened to me. I still can’t breathe right yet.

@py_sue – Awesome! Congrats!

@py_sue well done!! that’s brilliant!!! xxxx

@py_sue Wonderful, congratulations!!

@py_sue Terrific!

We have all completed the Trans Health conference and will now have one more day in Philly before going back to NYC – it has been quite the educational and inspiring experience for all involved, I’d say. I have cried at many of the workshops because, for once, I wasn’t the one that had to speak as to what my identities are and how I have no community because there were people there (just like me) speaking (just as passionately and eloquently) about their gender variance and non-conformity and so forth and so on…It was a great emotional release that allowed me to understand myself more, to gain more hope in the world and to start thinking about what my future means to me as a gender non conforming person…I am more ready than before to let go of certain things representing my past like my name and last name (that have been butchered anyway when were translated into English from Russian) and look forward to a legal name change that better reflects who I am…some of these changes came to me because of my involvement on wis.dm and fluther and Simone (as a name) has meant more to me than my ‘normal’ given name and I believe that when I finally do change my name legally (which will probably have my old last name but truncated) I will use Simone as my middle name (if not first). Anyway, there have been more epiphanies than just the name thing and we’ve met other couples and parents like us, who navigate their lives with their ‘weird identities’ and their babies were there! and it was good to see so many children of trans people as well…anyway, lots of emotions, very tired…going to go watch some movies…just wanted to shout out…to a community of people that have given me the opportunity to speak my truth and have (mostly) been accepting of me…thank you, fluther.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I’m so happy to see you working through your issues. You’ve been so helpful to me these past months. You have my unconditional acceptance and support. Need a <<hug>>?

I’m drunk… can I count that as progress!:—))

You deserve a good buzz, @lynneblundell !

@Simone_De_Beauvoir That sounds like a peak experience. So happy for you!

@lynneblundell Glad you’re drunk; totally didn’t understand your post on the “something great” thread. Look at it tomorrow when sober and tell me what you meant. :-)

@Simone_De_Beauvoir – I’m really happy for you that you got to experience that, very affirming, I’m sure. :) I just wanted to say that I’m very happy to have you around here on Fluther for much the same reason. I appreciate your outspokenness because I’m often too timid to say the things you do, but I find myself usually agreeing. It’s also really nice to have someone around who understands not fitting easily into a gender dichotomy.

I lurve you people. That is all. ♥

@Simone_De_Beauvoir That sounds so great! I’m thrilled that you’ve gotten to have such a fantastic experience. I very much value your input here on fluther and it seems you got lots of lurve this week. :) Good on ya!

I am at the airport in Detroit heading back from my first conference. It was a great experience. The talks were good and my poster presentation was a lot of fun. We met some great new people, including a lovely new gentleman friend.

Didn’t run very much this week. Hopefully will be good for recovering. Or something.

Looking forward to going home but not to the coming week (finals). Oof.

Thank you, everyone! Whenever my best friend, Alex and I get together, it is always productive and moves me forward in my life (all life turns happen on a balcony with a cigarette, :)) – I’m debating the order of first and middle name but I just wanted to say that, undoubtedly, the name Simone will be the name I am changing my name to. What I’m doing with my butchered last name is that I’m cutting off the last portion of ‘ina’ (which reflects femaleness in Russian) and restoring the correct spelling to the root of the word. My middle name will probably be Alexandra (representing my brother and father and changing it from Alexandrovna as it is now because I don’t agree with the patronym system anyway)

@Simone_De_Beauvoir: Congratulations darling! It sounds to me like you’ve found your true name. :)

Well, I have another issue I have to work on, though this one is not such a great one. My relationship is not doing so well and I worry that it will end soon. If my boyfriend and I don’t break up when he gets back from Vegas, then I will try to work on improving the relationship. If we do break up, I will work on coping better than I did last time.

@KatawaGrey Whoa…well, it will be as it’s meant to be…stay strong.

Big props to @Simone_De_Beauvoir for all the cool thing you’ve done, and to everyone else in the thread still soldiering on!

A few things to note on my end this week. For the most part, everything is going according to plan. I’m still sleeping well and my cooking/general food intake is fine; this is something I’m very happy with. Interview season is going well. I’ve had three interviews so far and two more are next week. I’m very excited, as the jobs I’ve interviewed for seem fun.

My goals for the coming weeks are to be less grouchy. I’m starting to see a pattern in the things that are making me unhappy, and I’ve realized that they’re mostly dead simple to eliminate, so that’s my plan!

@gggritso So glad you’ve had multiple interviews – that way you can negotiate for a bigger salary and have options.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Love the name(s) you’re leaning towards!

@KatawaGrey It’ll be ok, girlie. Whichever way it goes, we’re here for you!

@gggritso Long time, no see! Good luck w/ the interviews!

@Everyone I follow this thread religiously. Even though I don’t post often, I just wanted to say again how happy it makes me to read about all of your accomplishments, and how much I sympathize with you during the down periods. Keep up the good work!

I had nothing to do with it, but I should be a grandma again by the end of today! My step-son and his girlfriend have been at the hospital since yesterday morning… can’t wait to see my first granddaughter! As for myself, I’ve been working on a household budget, trying to do a better job of staying on top of the housework, and am actively applying for jobs I don’t want (but do need).

@augustlan This is so exciting – babies!

I told my mom about the name change – she didn’t mind, which is suprising (maybe she’s tired). She said they always wanted to shorten the last name anyway and that it’s probably better to use the patronym as a middle name without the ‘ovna’ on the end and that Simone sounds nice but she’ll still call me by my birth name – I don’t mind this and was expecting it because she can actually pronounce it.

@augustlan imminent congratulations xxx

got to 10K and finished my essay
can’t ask for much more tonight
my cup is full

The baby arrived! Beautiful, healthy baby girl. :D

@augustlan Congratulations!!

@augustlan yay!!!!!

I said Mazel Tov on the other therad and I’ll say it here too!

Thanks, guys. The Dad is a golden boy… blond hair, blue-eyed, all American guy. Mom is half Chinese, half American, a beautiful combination… black hair, dark brown almond eyes, with full lips and freckles. The baby girl looks just like Mom… so cute!

Awwww! I bet she’s beautiful. Congrats!

I got a great new apartment cottage with two floors on a hill near the beach….New stainless steel appliances in the kitchen with a gas range and just picked up a great Mission furniture couch and chairs…. Nice open space upstairs with furniture around a flat screen on the wall and an office space on the other side to Fluther. Who has it better than me? Life is good.

@SeventhSense Congrats! Sounds like you’ve got a great place to unwind.

@py_sue
Yes thanks… it’s taken me 43 years to find. My next decision is how much of my family should I welcome into my sanctuary.

I haven’t posted in a while because I’ve been feeling somewhat rudderless since summer vacation started, but the last few days have been more of an up. Fluther was really fun yesterday for the first time in a long time with a bunch of us running around between questions and kibbitzing. I missed that! Found a new trail in the northern part of the county this morning (conveniently near a great bakery) and we walked about 4 miles along Sandy Hook Bay. I’ve also finally been able to start some course prep for the Fall.

They’re clearing the empty lot next door to build a house on, which is a bummer, but I was able to persuade the builder to leave up one important tree that gives me some privacy in my bedroom and kitchen and on which hangs my birdfeeder. One small triumph for Penguinkind!

And the USA tied England! Good day!

@janbb I love Sandy Hook. Still great lobster eating there?

This rainy week allowed me to put 42 pages of my thesis into final (I hope) form. Only about 350 more to go.

I did get Genevive’s pickup truck out of the mud. It took a 5 ton winch, 100 feet of ½” cable and me wallowing like a hog rigging it to the truck chassis.

Sunday, June 13th

I’ve almost got the household budget sorted out, but have fallen behind on the housework once again. The getting a job thing just became more urgent as it looks like my husband will be taking a new job that comes with a pay-cut. We’re barely getting by as is, but he’ll be so much happier. I’ve encouraged him to take it and assured him that we’ll figure it out.

I got a new post up on my personal writing blog (which I’ve been neglecting), and I’ve agreed to guest-write on poofandmook’s movie blog. Starting tomorrow, I’ll have my girls with me for a week. I don’t expect I’ll get very much done that’s not kid-related, but that’s ok. My goals for the week are to get my office area organized and their bedroom good and cleaned. The kids and I will work together on both areas. I also want to make sure we do some fun stuff out of the house. We plan to go for a drive or two to explore the area I live in, and I’d like to take them to the pool at least once.

Have a great week, everyone!

Good luck @augustlan ! I’m getting a bedroom cleaned out also. My niece is coming to live with me in two weeks.

@zenele You had me fooled; I was looking for AstroChuck. Lobster is pretty much from Maine, but there is some local crabbing and clamming. The shrimp are going to be coming in pre-oiled soon, we hear. Bit of “black” humor there.

1. After a plateau in my weight loss, I started to lose weight again so that’s a win!
2. Alex and I are taking a look at an apartment we fell in love with today but it’s prob not going to work out, I have a feeling.
3. I am in the process of getting a rainbow pride tattoo on my left inner wrist.
4. Attending the Queer Theory workgroup through NYU School of Social work went well this week and later attending the Graduate School WorkShop at the New School was very helpful in giving me concrete things I need to start thinking about in terms of my applications for grad school.
5. Brooklyn Pride went well yesterday, the family was in attendance at the festival and Alexey handed out flyers for our organization’s (Brooklyn Community Pride Center) “Coming Out” party!

I seem to have collapsed into a depression after I graduated; I think I was depending on the structure of school more than I realized. I’m having a hard time getting things done, and the sort of low-grade mood of anger that I generally carry seems worse. I apologize to my undeserving victims. (@Syz comes to mind.)

- There is now internet at the new house! :) We’re mostly unpacked.
– I’m working in the old house Monday and Tuesday to get it ready for the renters.
– Weight loss efforts have stopped since moving… but now that we have internet again, I can get back on weight watchers online.
– My ulcer/stomach inflammation is improving. I hope that I’m being calmer and more accepting… but it could just be the medication.
– I have 1 week left of disability. I’m nervous about going back to work.
– We have adoption court on Wednesday. If we don’t reach an agreement with my son’s bio dad, we’ll likely have to have a hearing (which will be emotionally difficult and expensive).

Goals:
– back on track with weight loss
– keep unpacking
– get old house ready to rent
– create rental agreement
– be calm and peaceful
– mentally prepare to return to work

I’ve lost 35 pounds and I’m down to my target weight of 215 (I’m 6’2”) and am trying to really look at what I put in my body. I’m really shocked at how much weight I’ve lost in the last 3 months. Now that I’m settled into my new digs maybe I’ll get into a serious relationship again one of these days….or maybe just get a dog.

@SeventhSense potato, po tah to, lol

@SeventhSense Maybe get in a serious (or Sirius) relationship with a dog? Great work on the weight loss!
@dpworkin Is insomnia contagious?
@Cupcake Keep paddling!

@SeventhSense – Wow!! Congrats on the weight loss! I know first-hand how difficult it can be, and 35 pounds is very impressive. Not only that, it’s so substantial that I bet you look pretty damn good now.

I’m starting work today. I have gotten no further on my book and my script, but I am starting work today!

@SeventhSense: Congratulations! My boyfriend and I are trying to lose some weight and it is hard!

@SeventhSense Weight issues have loomed very large in my life. Kudos to you.

I made it through the first week of my last class and the first assignment. So far, so good. I got all the points possible for the first assignment, so I’m off to a good start. Only about 6 more weeks to go for the class. Then just a capstone presentation and I’m finished my BSN!

@Seaofclouds That’s great news!

Ok, it’s definitely Crow. It’s funky being a director—on one hand you’re battling with God and the muses; and on the other hand you’re trying to mediate this vision with the right time, the right place and the right people (天時地利人和), This week, I was jamming in the studio with the actors, and they fell in love with Crow; and not the other piece (Craig & Miriam) that I was thinking I might do with them. It was very very clear.

And the other thing that fell into place was the location. I was chatting with the lighting designer, trying to persuade him to join the production; and in the end he persuaded me to join him on this hair-brained scheme to do this project with a travelling cargo container. We’ll cut open the container so it can unfold/open to be a stage; and close up again at night to keep all our stuff inside. And then this container can move to community to community, doing workshops and performing—a bit like a travelling circus, really. Since Crow really is a piece that asks more for a wasteland than a pristine stage, I think it will work very well.

It’s wonderful to feel the excitement of the actors.

On another note, we ran our first session of workshop with the elderly/some housewives around issues of life and death. The aim is to create a performance by November, and last Friday was a ‘get to know you’ sessions where we just listened to stories from the participants. It went quite smoothly, and we managed to establish a safe atmosphere where people could share (it got quite emotional). We’ll meet the other half of the group this Friday; we’ll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, I’m working hard on my tai chi, but am finding it hard to write.

I got the story out about another one of my patients – look! and p.s. he’s also the coolest guy ever.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Awesome!

Everyone sounds like they are doing really well! Well done everyone xxx
I’ve just managed to catch up on my studies after handing in my last assignment a little late. (DId I mention I got 88% for my previous one?) Feeling a little lethargic at the moment as I’ve been put on new medication – Ametriptylene and it seems to be messing with me physically as well as emotionally and mentally, and I don’t want to be on them but but but! I’m sticking in the game.

My goals are
*To create an art studio in my small front bedroom (which entails about 22,000 other jobs, (lol)
*Lose another 6 pounds in 3 weeks before my Holiday a la France (I’ve lost 31 in total now, back on track)
*Finally decide on the colours I want to paint my house and email them to my landlord (I have made some progress with this already… how can choosing colours be such hardwork???)
and…
*Keep up with my Fluthering daily cause I feel so bad when I don’t have the time to spur you guys on and keep up with threads!
xxx Love y’all xxx

@lynneblundell: Congrats on the weight loss! I hope you can lose those last few pounds before your vacation. Keep us apprised of your house colors and art studio!

Well, I have found an activity that my boyfriend and I have a great time doing together: Cooking! This is a pretty big step on the road to repairing our relationship because one of the big reasons we get into little fights so much is because we don’t do a lot this is mostly due to money and time constraints. With cooking, however, we take up a lot of time choosing what to make, buying the ingredients and actually making everything. We’ve only done a few times now but I think this will be one of those activities that we can do when we lack funds and are stuck in the apartment.

@lynneblundell Great work on the weight loss and goals.

@KatawaGrey Cooking together is definitely fun.

Thanks everyone for the props on the weight loss. I actually lost a couple more. Perhaps I met a gypsy It’s great to hear some positive reinforcement. I always gain about 20 pounds over the winter but this past year pushing 250 it was like “ease off the pancakes there boy”.

It’s been surprisingly easy to lose by just cutting out all processed food, white flour and sugar. Whole grains, good proteins, tons of broccoli, oatmeal, eggs, good cheese, and skim milk are the bulk of my diet. I definitely don’t feel deprived. I eat 6 times a day but just normal portions. But I must eat and that’s hardly a chore It just seems to be stoking my metabolism. It’s like if the body sees good fuel coming consistently it just naturally burns it. The basis of it is never more than a 500 calorie deficiency or surplus.

My simplest insight has been steering towards products with very few ingredients. For example, organic peanut butter:peanuts but no sugar or cottonseed oil added. All fruit preserves with just fruit but no corn syrup or added sugars. Also whole grain everything, tortillas, bread and pasta and not just whole wheat. And once a week a heavy calorie day including steak. Also normal portions not huge. It also helps when I feel the need to have some crazy sundae or something(An average half-cup serving of Häagen-Dazs ice cream squeezes half-a-day’s saturated fat and a third-of-a-day’s cholesterol into your artery walls) to opt for a mixed fruit smoothie with yogurt and protein instead. I actually like it better. It’s all about the choices. And cooking everything in olive oil. I was surprised that you could make a serious onion and mushroom omelet in olive oil and not even miss the butter.
steps down from box :)

@Simone_De_Beauvoir
The health care crisis is a very serious issue and it’s not going away. Also I feel lucky to have a competitive and decent dentist but even still, I wait until I’m in agony to even go. We support the auto industry more than the health care for our citizens in this country.

@MissAnthrope
Weeeell, I always looked pretty damn good. Now I’m just too sexy for the room ;)

@janbb
I love Sirius. I wondered what I listened to before satellite radio.
Actually, this is the dog I want.

@SeventhSense Aww – cute!

I have a video of Ark walking wanted to share.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir So cute! Walking without momma’s help, but everything is so large.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Yeah, he’s unstoppable!

Sunday, June 20 – Father’s Day

After an indolent beginning to the week, I got myself moving the last few days and hav made progress on a few fronts. We are getting ready for the arrival of my son’s family from France and have been receiving baby equipment in the post at an alarming rate. Yesterday, I made a few savoury cheese and tomato pies for a party we are having for them on the 4th. I also made some progress on my first Fall class – Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth. Continuing to walk a fair bit daily and do water aerobics; with that and the gardening, I feel pretty fit although still not slender.:P

Still battling demons. If my ex-wife deigns to allow me to visit with my kids this Father’s Day I have a lot to look forward to.

@dp Hope you do get to see them.

@janbb Sounds like you’ve had a productive week. Have fun with the family!

@dpworkin Happy Father’s Day. I sure hope you get to see your kids!

The girls and I got their room done, and what a chore it was! Two large garbage bags, 2 boxes of magazines, 1 large laundry basket full of clothes, and a box of yard sale stuff later… we can finally see the whole floor! We made it downtown and visited a fabulous hardware store that’s like an old fashioned general store. They had a great selection of old-time candies, several of which we purchased… yum! We also did some light shopping for Father’s Day and some other necessities. We didn’t manage to clean up the dining room or make it to the pool, but we did have a great week together.

I wrote my very first movie review for Poofandmook’s blog, on Moon. All in all, a productive and enjoyable week.

In the week ahead, I’ll be going to my girls’ town for appointments and to see Fly for her birthday, so I don’t plan on accomplishing much but relaxing and recovering on the off-days. Have a great week everyone!

I’ve met my goal of getting my term paper done before going up to Quebec, beat it by a week and only three weeks into the term. I want to be able to spend some quality time with my niece. Now I’m freed up for the summer except for attending two lectures a week.

I got Jacqueline enrolled in community college starting in the fall. Two years there and maybe she’ll have a better idea where her interests lie.

My advisor informs me that I don’t have to retake the comprehensive exams (I passed them 34 years ago). So it’s four courses and a thesis defense between me and a PhD. The worst of the courses is on computer research methods; I’ll be taking that this fall.

The school has a tradition, but not a formal requirement, that PhD candidates teach at least one undergraduate course. I’m not too happy about this. I’ve taught several military courses, so I might wind up teaching an ROTC course sometime in the next few years.

@dpworkin Happy Father’s Day!
@stranger_in_a_strange_land Good luck with those courses!
@augustlan Totally worth it. There’s no feeling like a clean room, honestly.
@everyone else Great work!

Lots to report on for me, since I skipped last week. First and foremost, I am no longer a teenager, which feels kind of odd. I’m trying to take that as extra motivation to get myself in order.

I wrote all of my midterms. One of them was ridiculously difficult, so we’re all hoping it’ll get bell curved. It was completely unreasonable.

I accepted a job offer! I will be working in downtown Toronto (this has been my dream for years now) for eight months starting in September. I’m not too excited about living with my parents again, but it would be stupid to pass up the opportunity to save a few thousand dollars of rent. I’m very happy with this.

Aside from that, nothing major. Baby steps here and there. Overall, I’ve been in a much better mood, which is good for everyone :)

Hi, everyone! So, I didn’t lose any weight this week but I was careless with food so I’m just glad I didn’t gain any weight. We found a perfect apartment, it is expensive. We need 8K to move in which we can do on credit card but thereafter (until Alex gets a job, which can be now or in 2 months or whenever) we need 1K/months to help along with the rent. We asked his parents for the money because this is the perfect place for us and an apartment like that won’t come up again in a long time. Today, we’ll be taking pics of our apartment and putting it up on craigslist because we need to get tenants in here once we move in.

@dpworkin Happy Father’s Day xxx

So, almost a month done and I have, as of yet, not murdered anyone. My mom comes back the first of July and all bets may be off at that point.

Liz drove the kids all the way up here and back today so that they could see me on Father’s Day. Quite generous of her.

And, I got my diploma in the mail, and was a little surprised to see “Cum Laude” on it. I had no idea.

Oh darlin’ – great news!

Here’s my craigslist ad for the apartment, if anyone’s in NYC and needs an apt, let them know
http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/abo/1801916509.html

Wow, that sounds nice! Fonely!

@dpworkin Congrats, both on seeing the kids and the “Cum Laude”!

Congrats, @dpworkin! What an accomplishment!

Aww, shucks.

I’m thinking of going to L.A. for a a week or so to visit family. I might go to Palm Springs but I may be stretching the finances a bit. It’s just that I have an aunt with cancer and she’s not well. The crummiest part is having to budget in another trip for her funeral in the next 6 months to a year. My mother’s going out there too so I thought maybe see her, her sister, my cousin and her husband in one shot. That way I wouldn’t have to drive or fly to Carolina to see my mother later this summer….I try to be very efficient with my traveling. :) Actually I don’t want to go anywhere. I have 4 wheel drive access to some great remote beaches on the Atlantic Ocean and Saturday it was just divine. I’d like to head up to the Finger Lakes later this summer also….I’m torn….Maybe I’ll head west. I deserve a vacation. I haven’t made any major trips in years…

@Simone_De_Beauvoir
That’s a great price for Brooklyn. Of course only us New Yorkers can appreciate those rates. Especially with Manhattan 2500— 25000..

@dpworkin – Super congrats.. what a nice surprise, smarty-pants. :)

@SeventhSense I agree it’s a great price and it’ll be more than we’re giving to my mother right now and the key is that we need it to go ASAP – our new apartment will cost along the Manhattan prices as it’s in Park Slope (smack in the middle of it).

@dpworkin Yay! Sounds like a you had a good week. :)

@Simone_De_Beauvoir – Hey! Cool! Congrats. Park Slope is a lovely area. At that price, I think your current place will go quickly.

@aprilsimnel Thanks! Hope so
To everyone: my gynecologist’s office called and said that my Pap smear came back with abnormal results (atypical cells of unknown origin) and sadly he’s on vacation this week so I have to wait till next week for him to do the microscope up my hoo-ha procedure and I’m worried. I’ve had this before, I had dysplasia and they scraped off the pre-cancerous cells – I was about 19 and since then, after 3 pregnancies and 2 births, I figured it sorted itself out down there but I guess not. So now the painful waiting begins.

So sorry to hear it. The waiting must be difficult, too.

@dpworkin It is – I wish he wouldn’t be on vacation and I can go see him this week. But, so it goes.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir That’s a pain in the – err, ass. It’s rough having to wait for anxiety producing health tests; hope it goes well for you next week.

I just did two hours of exercise – a walk to the ocean with a friend, ½ hour of zumba and ½ hour of yoga! I have calves of steel; but unfortunately abs of flab. I’m about to stop Fluthering – riiiiiggght nooowwww – and go make some chili to have in the freezer for when the kids come home later in the week. And I’m making progress with my course prep finally. (Nothing like the prospect of a 1 year old in the house for a week to get one motivated.)

@janbb Thanks…so much is happening. Two families already have replied to my craigslist ad (most unexpected) and we’re showing them the place today. Alex’s parents have agreed to give us a couple of months’ rent help (I’ll still be paying some of it) through October so we’re probably going to say yes to our dream apartment tomorrow night..this means we gotta get packing!...we have less than a month to move out, ack! I never dreamed this would happen and would happen so fast.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir – I kind of know the feeling, at least in terms of the abnormal paps, but I can only imagine how nerve-wracking it is to wait for your doc to get back into town to find out. I do hope everything works out well.

@MissAnthrope I hope so, as well – because I work with cancer patients, I always imagine the worst.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Sending you good thoughts and <<hugs>>.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir my friend is also waiting for some important result, my thoughts are with you xx

I’m waiting on my third essay result at the moment…keep checking my emails frantically. I have managed to sort Theo’s room out today which is a job I’ve been putting off for literally months…I’m a step nearer to getting the spare room turned into an art studio…

@lyneneblundell Working hard as usual.

“Ma famille” is arriving from France tomorrow!

All right, so we didn’t get the dream apartment – the swindling real estate agents forgot to mention that my mother, as a guarantoor, has to make 80Xrent which she doesn’t – they took fees from us anyway, made us put down a deposit (even though I know they knew we’d be rejected by the owner of the building) and took us through 3 days of anxious waiting and heartache…in the meantime, people responded to our ad about our apartment and now I’ve pulled the ad so that I don’t have to tell any more families it’s not available for some time just yet…I had to take a day off work at some point, have been eating badly and did zero yoga this week…I spent entirely too much time at the real estate firm that I now hate and can’t deal with it…I saw my dream apartment get back up on craiglist today for some other people to rent…I’m drained, emotionally…My gynecologist’s office called and said that the blood tests came back okay, no problems there and that I have bacterial vaginosis and would I like to take some antibiotics? I said ‘no thanks’ since they mentioned sometimes these things get cleared up on their own…

I am continuing to go to my Queer Theory course at NYU and it’s been incredible…yesterday we discussed Fanon’s work on race and its context…tomorrow is the Annual TransJustice Day by City Hall and I’m going as part of the Brooklyn Community Pride Center to march…and this Sunday is the NYC Pride March which the whole family will attend…

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Well, good news on the gyn front at least. So sorry about the apartment shit.

Real Estate is gangsterized in NYC. I don’t even know where you would go to complain or to recover your funds. I’ll try to find out.

Consumer affairs person – used to be Betsy Gottbaum or something like that?

Useless, but Andrew Cuomo’s office might actually give a shit.

@dpworkin @janbb Don’t you worry about this any further! Fuck them – it was all legit, I agreed to these fees – they just didn’t provide enough information, nothing illegal in that – lesson learned by me, that is all!

Well it sucks, and I’m sorry.

And me.

@dpworkin @janbb I know, we all are. Hopefully, we’ll find something we like later on once Alex gets a job.

(Well your current place looks really appealing.)

@dpworkin Yeah, a lot of people seem to think so! And we like it but we can’t stand it there much longer.

@janbb I still have to do the microscope up the hoo-ha procedure next Tuesday but I was glad about the blood tests.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Ah – I thought this was the whole thing. Well, good luck with that.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir
Sorry about the place. That blows. You’ll find a better one at a better price.

@SeventhSense Well..I appreciate that…though I don’t think that’s true but I’m still quite wounded from this, emotionally.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir: The same thing happened to me when I was looking for a place last year. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I am so sorry this happened and when you find a place, I hope it’s comfortable for you and your family.

I sent out the main part of the fiancé visa this week. So exciting. In 6 or so months, there will be a wedding (if all goes well)!!!

Yeah, but Brits call Soccer “Football”

We are picking up my kids and Jake at the airport this afternoon. I am a little worried about how I will handle being a more active “Bubby” – it’s been fairly abstract thus far.

Well, I’ve been extremely sick all week so I haven’t really done anything at all. Plus, it’s summer vacation! :P I’m going to the doctor today and hoping to feel better by tomorrow, when we leave for the beach for a week.

We got our school schedules for next year in the mail this week (tentative ones), I did decide to take AP World History, and I got all the other classes I wanted as well, including Creative Writing, which I’m really looking forward to so I can start writing again.

@mangeons: Good luck with the AP class. I was never brave enough to take any of the AP history classes myself. Remember, even if you do terribly in your AP exams, colleges still love to see that you’ve taken AP classes.

Update: I went to the doctor, they tested for strep and mono and both came back negative. They gave me antibiotics for sinusitis (sinus infection) and hopefully I’ll feel better soon! (:

And thanks @KatawaGrey, I’m a little worried about the workload though.

I sent my resume to all 100 senators (individually) in protest of them ending unemployment benefits.

@JeanPaulSartre nice one!!! I likin’ your style!! xx

I spent the last week on lots of social activity, which is a change for me. Had a great time meeting up with mcbealer and forestGeek and their friends, posted pics of the event to the photobucket group. Also, my daugher’s (Fly) 16th birthday is today, so last night was the family and friends celebration. It was all lovely. For one of her presents, I painted a picture of her avatar for her. I was pretty happy with the result and she loved it. :)

I’ve lined up the next subject of a member interview for the blog, so I’ll be working on that over the next two weeks.

@augustlan You do beautiful work!

@augustlan: You’re such a good mom. :)

@augustlan wow! That’s so beautiful. You did a great job. I’m glad she had a wonderful 16th birthday.

Aw, thanks guys!

@augustlan that’s gorgeous, very talented lady xxx

Sunday, June 27

Well, as most of you probably know already, the big news on this homefront is that the Jakester (<<) has landed! My son, daughter-in-law and grandson on Friday returned to the States from a two year stint in Paris and will be here for about 10 days during which we’ll help them with the move to their new home about 2 hours from here. So far, all is going well and I feel I am making progress as both a mother-in-law and a Bubby.

On another front, I am nearly done with prepping Wharton’s House of Mirth and thus my first class forr the Fall. I had hoped to have this part done by the end of June and it didn’t seem likely when I was stuck in the doldrums earlier in the month so I am pleased.

We’re in the middle of another busy weekend – the rest of the week didn’t let up in terms of bad news…Alex’s unemployment benefits were stopped randomly and now we don’t have money for food, much…I talked to my boss about getting a raise…she said she’ll talk to our higher boss about it…On Friday, we went to the 6th Annual TransJustice event by City Hall…here we are with one of my oldest friends from college holding the BCPC banner and here‘s one of the chairs of BCPC talking during the rally…later on some of my friends and I and some of the people from the protest went to a TransAction sex party – it was good times though I was mildly bored…and didn’t find anyone that I even wanted to make out with…anywho, yesterday we wanted to go to the beaches against oil event but didn’t make it on time…and I slept a bit and had a good night of tango…

This morning when I stepped on the scale expecting to see a weight gain (because I ate so much crap last week, due to stress), I didn’t…I am continuing to lose weight and am about 6 lbs away from being the pre-all babies weight…right now we’re getting ready to go to the NYC Pride Parade…the kids are coming with and we might meet up with my tattoo artist and his son, as well…

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Have a great time!

@janbb Yay!

I graduated high school yesterday, and nothing went horribly wrong in my speech. In fact, other than one overheard comment calling it “hippie shit,” most everyone seemed to like it a lot!

@janbb: They’re moving closer to you? That’s wonderful news!

@Simone_De_Beauvoir: I’m sorry to hear about Alex’s benefits. That’s just awful. You’d think the fact that you have two tiny children would make a difference. I hope you can get the raise though. It sounds to me like you do a whole helluva lot of work. Also, take your tattoo artist up on tattooing you for free if you watch his kid. ;)

@Mariah: Hippie shit is the best shit. ;)

@Mariah If it were me, I would take “hippie shit” as a great compliment!

@Mariah Good for you!
@KatawaGrey Yea, the raise ain’t gonna do much but still it’s something. That is, if I get it.

Since the quarter ended, I lost a lot of my direction, so maybe this thread will help me get it back! I don’t have to do any coursework until September, and no more teaching until January, so I should be getting real work done right now. My current goals are:

1. Write up and submit paper
2. Replace all the dying computers in the lab and outfit them with all necessary software
3. Pick my next project and get it completely set up—buy supplies, write code, get IRB approval.

I’ve been making some progress running. Brought my mileage down pretty drastically the past two weeks to avoid getting injured or burned out, and subsequently have been running much faster. My running partner got back into town yesterday and we’re going for another ten-miler tonight which I’m kind of dreading. Real surly blister keeps causing problems, and ten miles hurts no matter what.

Also in terms of general life goals I have to find some kind of equilibrium wrt dating. Much as I like being single, it is also causing me a lot of anxiety and I’m not entirely sure why. So I find myself obsessing over the behavior of dudes I’m not even that interested in. My goal here is to just be more zen about it and find a way to not care so much.

@nikipedia It gives you anxiety because you’re wondering whether wanting love means you can’t live without it and be happy – the truth is you can live with or without love and be happy but there is nothing wrong with wanting to share your life with someone and it doesn’t mean you’re ‘moving backwards’.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir: thanks. You’re probably right. It bothers me to think of my happiness as contingent on another person’s existence and behavior… and relationships have seemed so hopelessly, fundamentally flawed to me for a while now. I am amazed/fascinated that people manage to have happy ones and often feel like no matter how many permutations I try it’s just not in the cards for me.

@nikipedia No, your happiness is not contingent on another person – more like…how can I put this? It wants to be multiplied when it comes in contact with another person’s happiness…now that person doesn’t have to be a romantic partner…a best friend can give the same feeling but with a romantic partner, you might have something more solid, close to home…as far as what’s in your cards…you don’t know anything for sure

We went to Pride and good times was had by all. In this pic, I’m explaining to Alexey why the parade began – and he said it doesn’t make sense to him why two boys can’t be in love – leave it to the 4 year old…Later, baby bird wanted the larger flag so Alexey changed flags with him – here we are going home.

@janbb, Simone_De_Beauvoir, & @Mariah – Congrats!! :)

So.. my goal was almost blown and I came this close to killing my step-father this week. If you know me, you know it takes a lot to make me angry. I am not a drama queen, I don’t have a short temper, and I’m generally very even-tempered and like to deal with things rationally. I was shaking with rage. As I’ve said in threads over the past few months, I am SO done with being shit on. After my last relationship, I vowed that I wouldn’t let people treat me like shit anymore. I think I may truly be done with allowing people to abuse me. Anyway, my family is very guilty of this, both my mother and step-father, who is generally a mannerless dick who treats me like I’m not even a part of the family. Any time I try to have an adult conversation about issues I’m having, I just get yelled over and it’s pointless. I was so fed up that I yelled right back and was called an idiot twice and then he said to my face that the only significance I have in this family is that I’m my mother’s daughter. Hurtful, but at least someone finally admitted it.

Anyway, I wrote my mother a scathing email laying out exactly all my frustrations and I refuse to back down. I can’t have an actual conversation with her about anything, because she’s the champion of making everything my fault, of turning everything around on me. But at least I spoke my mind, told her exactly how I feel—no words minced—and I feel pretty good about it.

This is huge for me. I have taken SO much shit my whole life, and that’s what I’ve been conditioned to do by both my parents. Just keep quiet and swallow the shit. It’s hard and part of me wants to buckle and concede like I always do, but Carrie (who I have been working with) has been keeping me strong. She sees how fucked it is and I’m grateful.. I don’t know what I’ll do when she leaves.

In any case, I feel pretty proud of myself because it doesn’t come easily to me.

@MissAnthrope Good for you! I had a big confrontation about 15 years ago with an abuser and I know how difficult and empowering it can be. You should feel proud of yourself.

I have been where you are now, as well, and it does feel good to stand up for yourself and not give a fig about what your abusers think of you. Congrats to you, @MissAnthrope! We’re here for you!

@janbb – Thanks, I do.. but it’s really emotional and difficult. I keep having to prevent myself from seeing their side and all of that, which is what just perpetuates the cycle. I just really feel over it, I have taken so much more than any one person can swallow, and I’m done. My mom returns on the 1st, Carrie leaves not long after (she is so totally done with this shit, as well), and I hope I can hold fast.

@aprilsimnel – Thank you. :) It’s very difficult for me, and, as I said, highly emotional, because all I want is peace and calm and things to go well. It’s messed up that I’m attached to a family that just wants to treat me like shit, you know? And they back each other up like it’s okay.

But, as I said, I did not mince words and I told my mom everything, like her defending the actions of her husband was completely ironic and messed up, considering how much she’d trash past girlfriends of mine and how they treated me (considering she and he treat me the same), that defending her husband and making it all about me is what abusers say to their victims, etc. I hope I can hold fast. If not, I have enough money at the moment to change my plane tickets. It’s going to get REALLY hairy around the 1st.. please pray for me, and I mean that sincerely. I need all the good vibes I can get.

New short-term goals. I must learn to do most things left handed for the next 2–3 months. I now understand the value of the “Caps Lock” key. Fortunately I got the wiring of the new wind turbine done last weekend, wouldn’t be able to do it in my present condition. The cast will be on my right arm until at least late August. I didn’t think to ask for a waterproof cast, so bathing involves the use of a plastic garbage bag and duct tape!

Jacqueline is settling in happily. We’ve decided to make the household language English for a while, so J can learn more quickly. We’re going to spend a lot of time reviewing math and English before she starts college in September.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir As always, you folks are an inspiration to me. :^)

@MissAnthrope Good for you! It’s so hard to stand up to an abuser, but feels so worthwhile afterward. It seems that my role is to stand up to other peoples abusers; had an unexpected (and violent) confrontation with one last Friday. Keep your head up; sending you good vibes and ((hugs)).

@Mariah Congratulations! Don’t worry about critics, remember that you earned the right to give the speech, they didn’t.

@MissAnthrope I know exactly how you feel. Awesome job standing up for yourself. No one deserves to be treated like that. <3

@MissAnthrope: Nice. I’m glad you managed to stand up for yourself!

@stranger_in_a_strange_land: What happened?

@nikipedia My niece was attacked, I broke my right wrist defending her.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land: You’re amazing.

@nikipedia I only did what (I hope) anyone would have done.

Well, I have accomplished a few things this week.

Book: I spent about two hours in a bookstore yesterday writing. I wrote a page-and-a-half doesn’t sound like much, but when you consider a large part of writing is staring at the blank page trying to come up with something anything then a page-and-a-half in two hours is quite a feat and came up with a very moving interaction between two characters that I haven’t written down yet but will hopefully come before the end of chapter two.

Relationship: My boyfriend and I had a huge fight last week. The subject was how he often forget plans he’s made with me, changes plans he’s made with me and he rarely does that with anyone else that I’ve seen. Well, we didn’t speak for the rest of the night and the next day, while he was still around spending time with me, he was, to say the least, frosty as all hell. I took it as a good sign that he stuck around I thought maybe he was going to break up with me but there were still some issues to work out. One of the things he said during the fight was how I should just tell him when he’s forgotten plans right then and there. I decided that I should take it a step further. One of the reasons I get angry when he’s forgotten plans we’ve made or changes plans we’ve made is that I get a lot of invitations to do a lot of things and I will sometimes pass over these invitations because I have made plans with him. When he forgets, not only do I have nothing to do, but then I’ve missed something a friend has invited me to do. Today, my mother suggested that I ask him if he remembered that we had made plans for the fourth of July and that if he hadn’t, I should go to my aunt’s house on Cape Cod. So, I did. I asked him if he remembered, he did not, so I told him I was going away for the holiday. He seemed a little taken aback but then I swept past it in conversation and now we are having a perfectly lovely conversation and he has arranged to come over later today and Thursday night. I’d call that quite an advancement. :)

@KatawaGrey Good for you! I am exactly the same way – I always have at least 3 plans in the works and HATE when people forget plans with me or are not punctual – I have one life to live, people and I ain’t gonna live it waiting around for you to show up!

We’re helping our kids move into their new rented house today. It’s on 4 acres and will seem like a palace after their last two years in cramped quarters in Paris. We’ll be staying overnight and it’s exciting to be part of their lives again after two years of rarely seeing them. (And exciting to see our house empyting out of their belongings!)

@Simone_De_Beauvoir: Thank goodness I’m not alone. I feel as if it’s not just my boy, it’s everybody!

@KatawaGrey Yeah, I’ve given up on people – they don’t have the same sense of responsibility like I do.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir
I can relate. The difference in levels of simple commitment keeping among people sometimes puzzles me and then it infuriates me. If I take it personally it makes me sad. If I can see it as someone’s shortcoming it kind of scares me how clueless and/or thoughtless people can be. It’s hard not to give up on people when you feel you’re the only one who’s playing by the rules.

OK so I didn’t go to Cali. It’s a good thing because I need to watch the finances and I’m still adjusting to my new place and crazy landlord and wife anyway.
So…. they’ll be a road trip in my future to go see Mom “down in Dixie”.

@SeventhSense @Simone_De_Beauvoir: My mother and I often lament the lack of people’s manners in this area. Is it really so hard to write down that you’ve got plans with someone? Or call and say, “hey, there’s bad traffic, I’m going to be pretty late,”? Apparently, the answer is yes…

@KatawaGrey
I can never fathom it either. I will always call or confirm any plans.

I have been busy trying to help other Jellies on my Private Consultation site. I’ve tried to listen carefully and ask questions that evoke thoughtful answers that increase their level of understanding of their situations, how they response to them and how their feelings are affected as a result.

It is a treat to be able to help highly motivated, sensitive people work things through. The work is its own reward and it gives me a wonderful feeling of doing something worthwhile. I constantly recognize the limitations on what I can do but ultimately the client is the one who must do the work anyways.

Many of the people who seek my help can’t afford to pay for one on one therapy with a professional and seem to appreciate what help I can offer by exchanging messages.

I like that I can take all the time I need to compose a thoughtful and appropriate response to what they asked or said. In this way I am not handicapped by my slower processing ability than I had before becoming disabled.

I have tried to catch up on what you all have been doing and I will reread the preceding posts when I can.

I have a sparkling clean house today,and I am enjoying a rare visit from my daughter Natalie, who brought be 561 pictures from her Bat Mitzvah! I will try to cull out a few and post them!

@Dr_Lawrence That’s a wonderful thing you are doing. My Meghan was doing something similar to that.

I’m making the final preparations for a nice fireworks display on Sunday. I’ll have everything prestaged and wired in order so that I can enjoy it myself. [Note: don’t try this at home folks. I have a license and 25+ years experience with explosives and pyrotechnics]. We give the neighbors a good show every year.

Took a great scramble up the steep hill behind his new house with my son this morning after helping them move in yesterday. Felt good to still be able to climb since I am pushing 60. And it is so good to have him and his family closer to home again! We had a great week reconnecting with them in New Jersey and they will be back down for a party on the 4th.

Just got back from a week long vacation at the beach. It was nice to be able to hang out with my family and just relax and have fun for a whole week.

I’m impressed and proud of all your progress, congratulations to you all!

@Dr_Lawrence sounds fascinating…will pm you xx
@stranger_in_a_strange_land how did it go? you are a very talented chappy! x
@janbb family are so important aren’t they…good to hear you are keeping well xxx

I’ve just got through all my coursework material that I needed to read (and soak up) for my next essay which is due in in three weeks… but I’m going on holiday next Saturday for a week so I wanted to try and get ahead…which I have done…and then some… I can actually try and get my essay started before I go away which will be a huge relief!! This next one is on Hume and Kant’s theories of the imagination and I’m actually really looking forward to writing it…. I love philosophy

@lynneblundell Sounds like you’re doing great!

@janbb yes I seem to have my head and heart in the right place at the moment…thanks JB xxx

Here as promised, are way more photos than you have ever wanted to see of some old Jew’s party for his kids. (Believe me, it’s enough to bore your socks off.)

Great pics, @dpworkin . The kids are adorable!

@dpworkin those photos are awesome xx

Thanx! (I told you Max was handsome.)

@dpworkin: Damn, that’s a good looking family! Nice photographs, too.

@dpworkin Great pics of a great family! I especially like this one.

At Jeruba’s request, I’m going to start a new “some progress” question. I’ll post a link here shortly.

@augustlan Good – it is time for a new thread.

NEW INSTALLMENT HERE. See you there! :)

@dpworkin Wonderful pictures :)

Thanks!

@janbb
Speaking of Jersey. I saw the amazing Macy’s day fireworks display from Hoboken (birthplace of Frank Sinatra) since it was on the Hudson River this year. Best view ever in my opinion. With Manhattan as the backdrop it’s truly a sight to behold. Check out the pics and feel free to comment.
View from Hoboken 1
View from Hoboken 2
View from Hoboken 3
View from Hoboken 4
View from Hoboken 5
View from Hoboken 6
View from Hoboken 7
View from Hoboken 8

@SeventhSense Great pics!

P.S. New thread was started for this; check out Auggie’s link above.