« music meme thingamabob | Main | really? that high? »
Friday, March 16, 2007
snippets
Today I did a bit of spring cleaning on my hard drive (I can never manage to muster the motivation to do the same for my actual house these days). I found some funny and interesting things that I'd completely forgotten about, like a wav file of LT singing the VeggieTales theme, and my old email folders. My goodness gracious I used to get a lot of email. I never understood why people gave me a hard time about it until I looked at the sheer volume of folders I had for sorting it. I think at one point I was on thirty or so different e-mail lists. It made me tired just to see it.
***************
Speaking of learning things about myself: I am discovering part of the reason my peers were so annoyed with me when I was a kid (and teen). In history class, I find it very hard to shut up. I am interested, is all, except that because I'm interested I always have something to say. Parts of the class (most notably the current events portion) are kind of a free back-and-forth discussion, and I noticed that I heard my own voice way too often in those discussions, and the instructor was starting to give me That Look, which I never fully understood in school -- the Look which means, "for crying out loud, woman [or child, whatever], will you LET SOMEONE ELSE SAY IT?" So this last Tuesday I tried an experiment: I would not speak in class unless I was directly addressed. Because I knew this would be difficult and because I have a very insistent inner child when it comes to treats, I promised myself a milkshake after class if I succeeded. Also, I allowed Debi (who sits behind me) to monitor me and slap me around if I started to lose control. It was touch and go a few times, but I managed to make it without duct-taping my mouth closed. And really it was a fantastic experience. The class discussion was actually really interesting when other people had a chance to participate, and I felt all virtuous and there was no shut UP Rachel self-flagellation on the way home, like there usually is. Was. Whatever.
*****************
I am toying with the idea of posting some of my reaction papers -- those weekly current-event essays for history class -- in this space. Goodness knows there's not much other content these days.
*****************
Monday is T's and my thirteenth wedding anniversary. I've been thinking of us as having been married for thirteen years since the beginning of the year, so I'm used to the number now and it doesn't seem, you know, old and wise anymore, for our marriage to have made it to the ripe old age of thirteen. We are not really doing anything to celebrate it this year. Gas is over $3 a gallon here, so even a 'free' trip to the aquarium would cost $60 or $70 just for the drive, and that's just not happening, especially when you factor in lunch money and parking money and all that sort of thing.
******************
LT has just joined the Boy Scouts, and T has signed up as assistant scout master for his troop. LT is a changed boy already. His confidence level is skyrocketing, and he's noticeably more considerate and patient and cheerfully obedient about things like helping out around the house. He even voluntarily came out to the clothesline tonight to help me bring in the laundry. He is also as gung-ho as any freshly-shaved Marine recruit, and he spends much of his spare time studying his handbook and working toward his Tenderfoot rank. This includes exercising, and today we paced off 110 yards from our house so that he could run his daily quarter-mile by going out and back twice. I tried it myself. It took me two minutes (nine seconds less than LT), which made me feel kind of old and decrepit. I've never been a good runner, but I used to be able to do a passing-grade under-eight-minute mile, something I don't see happening again anytime in this lifetime.
***********************
Also re: LT: We took him to the pediatrician a while back because his toeing-in had gotten a bit worse (he has toed in to some degree since he learned to walk; an orthopedist we saw about it when he was a toddler said he would outgrow it, but he never did) and his spine was looking crooked. It turns out that one of his legs is very slightly shorter than the other (so slightly that it's taken us nearly eleven years to notice it). We're supposed to be getting a referral to a pediatric orthopedist about that.
***********************
C is getting over a sore throat and ear infection, which came on the heels of a day or two of headache and fever. The poor princess was awake almost all night on Tuesday with the earache. As a result, of course, so was I, and I'm still feeling a bit off-balance as a result. The freakish early time change is not helping, although I love the longer evenings. It helps that we're in the middle of an uncanny-seeming warm spell -- it's been gorgeous weather. High 70's, fresh breezes, wildflowers popping out, green grass, puffy clouds, bliss.
******************
If I were more awake I would try harder to think of an apt and coherent closing for this space, but I give up. The End.
Comments
you should post some of your reaction papers! I would like to read them. As I am having somewhat of a difficut time with that. sigh. I NEED more words. hee hee
Posted by: debi at March 16, 2007 02:09 PM
Great hearing from you, Rachel. I'm proud of you for being quiet in class. You are NOT one of the clueless ones. Anyway, I hope the milkshake was good. I would have to do the opposite, and promise myself a reward if I DID say something. I'm very much a wallflower in group settings.
That is so cool about LT and boy scouts.
Posted by: Denise at March 17, 2007 06:10 PM
OK, #1 I wonder how many hits you'll get for "self-flaggelation."
#2 that whole paragraph almost caused my death.
#3 I vow to never read your blog whilst eating.
#4 great idea on turning class papers into blogs.
#5 if I forget (Or forgot) to tell you, happy anniversary. I was just thinking about that the other day.
#6 multiply two minutes by a mile and you've got an eight-minute mile! See, you're not old and decrepit.
#7 (Why am I still counting?) I hope all works out for LT and his leg.
Posted by: jenn at March 19, 2007 08:15 PM
