Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Hither And Yon... On Fire!

First, a news break... to all of my out-of-state family and friends, I'm okay! The fire is creating a ton of smoke and ash down here, and breathing is kind of rough at the moment, but I'm okay. Lots of folks have lost their homes, but there's been NO loss of life! That's the important thing.

I can't believe it's Wednesday. Where the hell did he week go already!? Oh yeah... long weekend.

Let's see, where to begin!?

Friday night The Kid and I hung out at home, had some dinner and just relaxed awhile. It was really nice, and in retrospect a good thing since the rest of the weekend was busy busy busy!!

Saturday morning was spent doing lots of homework. I know I bitch about it a lot, but truthfully it's not so bad - there's just a TON of it! I'm also learning, though, not only about fractions (which are useful even though they're making me nutty) but also about how I am now as a student.

I have to have a plan.

When I was a youngin', I could go by the seat of my pants. Now, I need a checklist! I've also learned that I remember more effectively now, so that's a real bonus! The math book is helping with that - lots of repetitive questions which is awesome...practice makes perfect! The teacher is also fabulous.

I'm continuing to enjoy my writing class, though it sometimes seems a bit redundant. There's a lot of prep work, and some of it seems unnecessary, but I think it's because I'm a more experienced writer than the intended audience. That sounds snotty, I know! What I mean is that whereas the book is intended for a fresh-from-High-School first or second year student, I've been in the working world and writing for personal enjoyment for years, growing as a writer and learning by doing.

I think what I've enjoyed most so far is the excuse to sit and WRITE. I just write, the whole time! Some of it isn't stuff I'd choose to write about, but it's all fodder, yes?

Right now we're starting on our Personal Essay. It's basically a 4-page blog entry. I think I can, I think I can!

So that was my Saturday. Also most of my Sunday, and a good chunk of Monday. But I did other stuff too! I swear!

Saturday afternoon I put together dinner to take down to Chris & Robyn's house. Chris set up his computer so it showed on his TV, and we were able to watch Burning Man as it happened! I made my oh-so-famous baked pasta and a salad, which everyone enjoyed. I had to leave before the actual lighting, so I'm hoping to run across some photos...

Why did I have to leave, you ask?

Because I had to pick The Kid up from a party. A HIGH SCHOOL party. With boys.

Ug.

Sunday was Derby practice, and you'll be glad to know that things are really looking up! After emailing with her coach, I found out that a) she can skate at the local outdoor hockey rink - which I can see from my front step - with her regular wheels (meaning no shelling out for specialty wheels or something), b) she, the coach, and several other highly skilled skaters took ages to pass their skills tests and c) there was a special one-on-one training going on Monday morning.

I'm really glad I emailed her!

So Sunday early in the day, we headed to the hockey rink. The Kid worked hard, and I was able to work some good techniques out with her, like using her ab muscles and not her back to hold her form - it hadn't occurred to her, and it made a huge difference in her confidence level. I came up with a great thing for her to remember, too, when trying to think about how her body should be positioned. One of her favorite Halloween movies is Hocus Pocus (I love it too!). At one point in the movie, the witches in question hunker down and stalk forward after their intended prey. I realized that's exactly what she should be doing! Forward, aggressive...it made for a great touchstone and she's been using it!

After our mini practice, we headed to TR's to check on the kitties. I spied em', but they were pouting. I scooped the boxes, refilled the food and water, and talked to them for a few minutes. I knew they were there and figured a little human voice couldn't hurt, especially one they know!

Afterward, we went and joined George & Elise, TR's brother and his wife, for lunch and hanging out in their very cute house. We ate at DJ's Berkley Cafe, which was lovely! The Kid had the most delicious-looking club sandwich... we were bummed when we realized we left half of it in George's fridge, but it's just as well. We still had to get to practice, and it was HOT! It wouldn't have survived.

At practice, it became evident that the rink-practice and the mirror-work from the night before (another tip from the coaches) had us on the right track. Her instructors made a point to tell us that she was much improved! Score. I feel better (because it's all about ME right?!) because I was able to give her assistance in some way. I was feeling really helpless about it all - I'm supposed to be able to help my kid... and I did!

After practice, it was up to Greeley for us. I spent a little time on homework again - it's my new hobby for right now - but we also had a delicious dinner of home-made pork green chili, which was beyond spectacular! (Thanks guys!)

I watched the Temple burn out on the playa, and wished TR well, then hit the sack. I was beat from all the heat and driving!

Monday morning, despite the holiday, we were up early and, after a delicious breakfast of crepes courtesy of Nova, we were out the door and back to Rollerpunks for the special session practice. It was totally worth it. The Kid is now feeling super confident, has a concrete list of things to work on - it's short, but noteworthy, and we're going to work on it tonight.

After the practice, we did yet more driving, and headed down to Parker to spend some time with Melissa and her family. It was lovely! She bought a metric ton on ribs, made her own sauce (tangy, spicy and AWESOME) and we chowed down contentedly. Though Parker isn't too far from the practice space, it's a good 50 miles from home, so we took off not long after eating, though I would rather have lingered!

We were able to see the plume from the fires as we drove home - scary stuff.

The Kid and I were pretty wiped after our long weekend, so it was straight to bed and a dreamless sleep for both of us.

Tuesday morning, I got up, got ready for the day, got The Kid off to school and was just heading to work when suddenly my phone beeped... "Reminder: Doc @ 9:40".

Good thing I put it on my calendar! I would have been in Boulder, at my desk before I realized.

Since I had a couple of hours to kill, and was tired of homework, I got some sewing in. I've already seen that I can get really obsessive about the school stuff; I know that if I don't fit some Kraft Krazy in there somewhere I will go Konventionally Krazy. Nobody wants that!

I plugged in the sewing machine, fixed one of TR's favorite sheets (the edging was almost entirely ripped off), altered a tank top... it was like taking a deep breath. I MUST make sure I fit more of that in.

Remind me, ok?

Okay this is going to be really corny. You've been warned.

(corn)

The best part of Tuesday?

TR called.

He's out, and safe, and mostly in one piece. His duds worked out wonderfully, he had a (mostly) awesome time, and is on his way home.

Welcome back, TR... I missed you!

(/corn)

What?! I warned you! Quit rolling your eyes.

And yay for HTML nerditude!

Last but not least, I am happy to report that although it's going to cost me $1200, I now need no longer feel guilty about going to Disney World without The Kid. This March, she's going with her Orchestra to play a festival there, and they get to spend 3 solid days running around the parks! I worked out the bucks, it'll be tight but do-able.

I told her, though... whatever fund-raising activity they've got planned (and they do), she should plan on participating to the fullest extent possible. I'm willing to pay, but she can help that way!

Countdown to Florida:

9 days, 1 hour and 13 minutes until takeoff.

Woohoo!

No comments: