Yea, well I have not posted for a while, so I guess I should put something out here. Other than today being Bastille Day and wanting to be in Eldorado Canyon (in Colorado) climbing the Bastille Crack (an assume 5.7 or 5.8 climb), I’m going to have to deal with a grumpy 16 year old tonight.

Dancer was invited to see “The Half-blood Prince” tonight, to which her mother and I said yes, as long as you get your room picked up. Seemingly she was too bothered to do so, even continually reminded by Deer and I. This went to the point that she went to a movie with her boyfriend and a friend (yep, she has one of those right now, but I may save that for another post) last night, then wanted to have a sleep over with the friend.

Deer reminded her of her choice in doing so, to which she gave a downcast “Oh, yea…” and did not do the sleep over.

And she STILL didn’t pick up her room by the deadline of 8:30am today (before leaving for ballet).

Pleas, verbal and text to Deer have been meet with the same response – Sorry, you made your choices, no”.

Needless to say, with many of her friends going tonight, I will have one VERY disgruntled teenager on my hands. Perhaps I’ll have the energy to do a run tonight, so to let her reflect and cool down a bit.

Or at least be in the basement getting Pennsic sewing done, while she sulks somewhere else…

Dancer has had a busy weekend. Friday she attended a UUCon with members of her UU Church that lasted from Friday to Sunday. Early Sunday morning (3am) I get a call asking how to do something technical, which never having seen nor done what they were trying to do, I could not help much. Given the fact that they sounded tired it sounded like they had not slept much.

Roll forward to 8:30 am Sunday morning when Dancer gets dropped off at home. She claimed she got five minutes of sleep (which to me means no sleep) and promptly goes to bed and is woken up at noon so she can pull herself together for ballet and a party/sleepover there. After Mongolherder dropped EM off at ballet saw her and if she didn’t know better she would say Dancer was suffering from a bad hangover (which no sleep and much caffeine can have the same affect).

Now, fast forward again to 1pm today. Dancer would like be to drop things at work so she can come home to study for her driver’s license exam (yes, she is going to be driving soon) and sleep. I had to have her repeat her self many times, as she was so tired her words were very slurred, making her sounded like she WAS drunk. With out trying to laugh too much I told her that I could not leave work right now and that she if she tried to study the driver’s manual that she would end up with her face in the book asleep.

I told her if she was that tired, to find a corner and sleep for a while, as she has her stuff there from last night. I think she is starting to see the effect of burning the candle at both ends…

Well, Dancer’s Touch ipod came back to her last weekend. It seems that the thief tried to break her codeword, but couldn’t, so it wiped its memory and locked up. It was found at the ballet studio in a window, under the curtains. Since that time it has almost been surgically attached to her, as I don’t think she wants to lose it again (or that she has really been missing it, one of the two).

Now with the Season of Having Too Much Fun is now over, the tree is down and out of the house. And with most of the Christmas stuff is packed up and (almost all) put away, it is now time to reclaim the house for the New Year. There are many ideas and plans of things to do, like finishing the garage and basement; doing makeovers on Taz and Flash’s rooms, so they are more usable to them; and a general weather-proofing of the house, so to reduce the energy bills. Right now it looks like Deer has already started this by ordering the (long over due) replacement of the front door, which is warped and does not close right. First on a long list of things to do.

Too much to do, not enough time to do it all in. However, I may look into applying for that job in Australia to fund the money for all the projects…

In your car you read an alert on your cell phone telling you it can’t charge because it is too cold…

Dancer has had a problem lately of holding onto things. Unfortunately they have been expensive things. The first was an ipod nano (current replacement cost $150). Next was her retainer (replacement cost $400). Last was her replacement ipod, which was a touch. (Replacement cost $230. This was part replacement for the lost nano and a carrot for good grades - which I did not think she was quite ready for, having lost the last ipod, but I did not put forth the cash for it). So, the current replacement cost for these lost items is $780. (One could argue that there are two ipods here, but she would have not received the second, if she had not lost the first).

Well, for the foreseeable future I think it's safe to say there will be no new expensive gadgets or gizmos for dancer, unless they are somehow riveted to her body.

It has started. Various portions of The Nutcracker have started to filtering their way into my brain, making me stop to think “Oh, this is happening now…”. I’m amazed that I have been (mostly) been able to keep this from happening till now. I guess that keeping busy at work has helped that.

It would be interesting to have TSO do the full version of this music at some point. I know they have done pieces of it. Ahh, to see the look on the director’s face as the girls do Russian to “A Mad Russian’s Christmas” when it gets slipped in there, just by accident of course. I need to see if I can get Dancer to see if the dance they do works with the music (it is one of her favorite dances).

But tonight is opening night and I’m not sure anyone is feeling ready, which is always the case. But somehow all this comes together and works. So, for the next few nights I get to get dressed up in formal ware, stand up on stage, and watch kids work their hardest to make this come out right.

Always a warm and happy thing.

Well, I didn’t head out West as I wanted to on Thanksgiving, but was able to do a hike on the Billy Goat C loop, which helped, except for the multitude of other people there. And I didn’t even do anything to an ankle. It will have to hold me till the beginning of the year as The Nutcracker is right around the corner, which will cause most of the rest of the year to become a black hole time wise. The production starts late this year, the 10^th and runs to the 14^th. There is a (mostly) week’s recovery before the final performances on the 20^th. But all this is preceded by rehearsals, which begin in earnest Saturday. Yep, it’s a busy time.

But we will slow it down a little…

A good thing about the performances starting late this year is Deer well get to celebrate her Birthday for the first time in many (10, I think) years. It has always coincided with this annual life overriding event, so she/we are planning on taking advantage of the opportunity and relaxing with friends.

Thursday is perhaps my last chance to hit practice this year, but that may go by the wayside, as right now I can’t really lift my arms very high. I had the annual poking and prodding yearly physical, which if feeling worse than in past years. After the injections and blood letting, the shoulders are a bit sore. I’m glad I like her, as it made the process much more bearable.

I think the time may be spent stalking the ever elusive and dangerous Tree with Dancer, as it may not be as easy to fit in later. And although we will hit a lot for the Tree, I’m not that disappointed. For the past years we have gone to farms looking for Trees, but it has been harder and harder to find a good one. Last year I think we stopped at four different places before we found one that looked good, and by that point we were not being that picky.

But for now I have a final project to write and exam to think about studying for, all of which needs to happen before all the other excitement starts. No problem, as long as I don’t have to move my arms too much…

For the first time in eight year we are NOT hosting a dinner. No worrying that the house is not clean. No staying up all hours of the night before to make sure food is ready to throw in the oven in the morning. No, it is looking like it may be dinner at a restaurant, well perhaps not for me.

I’m thinking of disappearing, being gone, vanish, invisible, Gone.

A time to be alone and away from everyone for a bit (I may perhaps take the Frisbee Dog with me…). I may grab the camera, some warm clothes, food, and then head West.

Seneca, Otter Creak Wilderness, Black Water Falls, Spruce Knob? It’s been a while since I have seen any of these places. Far too long.

I don’t have to be back till Friday morning to watch Flash and Taz, so we will see…

Last week was in a way a strange week. I have been trying to finish up a project that has been fun to work with that at the end presented its own set of headaches. A welcome relief from this was my Sword Brother was in town, someone who I have not really seen or spoken to in, oh, about 12 years or so. In between we would have infrequent phone conversations or emails, but nothing of merit. That was until about two weeks ago. We first talked about meeting for dinner on Thursday, before he left the DC area for home. After thinking about it I asked him if he would like to first hit the practice, then perhaps dinner after, to which he agreed.

I think S_B enjoyed being there, seeing/catching up with people he had not in a while and doing some teaching. After practice we headed out to dinner, where we met up with Deer and Dancer (to pick up Flash and Taz, as I had them for the evening). We all enjoyed that time, and after they left, we got into more deep discussions.

Over one or more beers, several of our threads led to fighting, which was starting him to seriously think about fighting again. His doctor has cleared him to do so and I think after sitting through the practice opened up that itch to do so once again. This I think will happen, as in one of our last exchanges he mentioned the “Avatar was calling”, which was preceded by acknowledgement that the wife had put her stamp of approval on such activity.

Gods help the Outlands, as I don’t think they will know what is about to hit them…

Two things are back in the stores now to brighten the now dark mornings. Eggnog, to add to my chi in the morning and Clementine’s, which usually end up being my source of vitamin C this time of year.

One thing that has been driving me crazy about Dancer is the way, or rather lack of studying she does for her school work. Despite this she comes up with a mix of A’s and B’s. Not bad, but if she put that little extra effort in she could pull straight A’s.  Also what does not help is the grading scale for Fairfax County. A’s begin at the 94% percentile, not the 90% as with the rest of the nation. The disadvantage of this for the students was pointed out in this article in the Post today.

Colleges and Universities taking applications to their schools are not aware of this, thus putting these students at a disadvantage. Well, to push Dancer to try harder, I made an agreement with her. If she managed to pull all A’s for the first quarter, she could get a new cell phone. Pull it for two straight quarters, either a ski trip or trip to Chicago to visit her friend there (all dependent on the time of year). Three straight would be an additional trip. The grand prize for four straight would be a trip to Japan or Ireland.

Well the carrot worked, as she has been more cognizant of her work and grades. I was almost on the hook for a new cell phone (and an on the hook for a trip overseas), but in Japanese it is looking like she will be bringing home a B+ (which in other school systems I am sure would be an A). She has already asked her mother if she will still get the phone, to which she reiterated the deal, ALL A’s. Despite this, I will try to do some sort of consolation, behind the scenes, so it will not be viewed as such. Bringing home all but one A is nothing to sneeze at.

Yesterday was an interesting and fun day. I took the day off to take Dancer downtown to peruse some of the art museums on the mall, as she had off from school for a teacher work day.  A friend of hers, who stayed the night, came along with us.

Walking down the National Mall I was surprised to hear her friend ask what the building with the dome was. From that moment the itinerary for the day changed. We continued walking to the end of the Mall to get tickets to tour the Capitol building. Our tickets were for noon, so we had time to walk through the Arboretum before heading to the East Wing of the National Gallery for a late breakfast/early lunch. (For those interested you can check things there and leave them if you don't want to carry them around the Mall).

I am very proud of Dancer right now, as she has taken a very big interest in this election. She has followed the debates this fall and when she made comments on remarks made by either candidate I have challenged her on them on why she was thinking and why, so that her thoughts are not just emotional, but there is a reason behind her response. She has stayed up to watch the results and there has been an enthusiasm from her that is good to see as a result of the election.

Dancers friend went to the middle school that I did growing up and doing this tour made me think about my ninth grade history teacher, who was perhaps one of the best teachers I have ever had. At that time the class in Early American History started with the discovery of America up to the end of the Civil War. Through this we were introduced to civics and structure of the American political system.  The tour through the Capitol brought back memories of him and his class, as memories of his passionate lectures surfaced.

 I know Dancer got much out of the trip to the Capital and would like to come back and sit in the gallery to watch the first House session of the New Year. I hope her friend also got something out of the tour. We walked around the Library of Congress before heading to grab a late lunch and back to the East Wing. There we viewed the Pompeii exhibit before heading home.

The line for me voting today was very short, as it only took about 15 minutes. I was glad to see that they changed from the touch screen machines to a scanned card. I asked questions about the equipment on how and if verification was to happen. One thing that surprised me was that they did not do a test to make sure the equipment was registering correctly or that they did not do a small sample of the scanned cards to make sure there are no irregularities. The election officials seemed suspired and thoughtful at my questions. This year I feel better about the voting process and that my voice was heard.

Dancer had her annual physical Monday of this week and had the first of three shots for HPV. Fortunately it is the end of the semester for her, as she has only been to school one day this week due to the flu llike reaction it has had upon her. And I know she is not feeling well as she has not danced all week and it is looking like she is not going to be heading anywhere tonight.

There is nothing like having good management behind you. Bad or poor managers can really make work life, to put it kindly, UNplesent. It may be time to look for a new job...

I wish I could take credit for finding this, but I can’t, as Deer passed it on to me. For those wanting a drinking game for the last and final debate, go to this site, print out one of the BINGO cards and play along. Hopefully you won’t fall out of your chair too drunk before the first half hour of the debate.

In an interesting note, Dancer has been trying to keep up with the debates as she sat down and watched the last one with me. An interesting challenge for her was to put into words why she did not like one of the candidates and why. One of her biggest concerns is the ability to be able to get student loans when she is ready to do so. From there we went on to some of her other beliefs and where they stood with both candidates. It was an interesting discussion and hopefully something she will continue to pursue in her future.

So, tonight I’m looking forward to sitting on the couch with Dancer, after we get back from ballet with my BINGO card, marker, Scotch (?), and shot glass in hand - or at least in front of me. Hopefully Dancer won’t have to put a blanket over me before the debate is over…

9: 55pm - Ok, one full rum and coke down (16 oz Dogfish beer glass 80/20). Yea, so I didn't go with the scotch, but I think I would be under the table by now. I didn't make the second quite so strong (somewhere about 50/50) Dancer has taken over crossing off the BINGO sheet at this point.

Beautiful moon and morning, though I’m not sure I like leaving the house when it’s still dark out. And all too soon it will be dark when I leave work in the evening. But it was nice to not walk out to a car drenched in dew and for it to feel like summer again.

Ahhh, now if I were only at Seneca…

Christmas stuff in stores already! NOOOOOOO!!!!!

Well, it looks like I may have something called Persistent Cough Syndrome, which was explained as the tissue in the upper respiratory tract being irritated. Not quite like bronchitis, but close to it. So I'm now on a steroid inhaler to quite it down. She told me that if this works, I should be able to do something by the end of the weekend.

If this doesn’t work by the end of the month, I get to go back in and have test run and x-rays taken. If I have a choice, I'm opting for the first treatment to work...

For the philosophy class, I think I'm going to see if I can find someone to study/hang out with a few nights a week while studying. Someone I can talk to and bounce idea off of. I have a few ideas of people to ask, so we will see how that works out. I'm going to have the time from when I drop Dancer off, till I have to pick her up. Then perhaps some time after that.
 

My body is wanting to get out to do something soooo bad…
   Hopefully soon...

OK, so it has only taken a week to get me almost a week to get from other people to start testing that I am suppose to have done by tomorrow. I don’t think it’s going to happen…