First, I would really appreciate it if Pandora stopped trying to make me listen to a cover of ‘Rebel Yell’.  I don’t like it and can only thumbs down it so many times before I feel like I’m being ignored.  Not against covers, but I didn’t get into this one.  Just needed to get that off my chest.

Writing

With my son finishing summer school on Tuesday, I haven’t done much here.  Finished the character bios and started the plot divisions for one the Sin stories.  Really need a series title for that.  ‘Tales of the Ether Son’?  ‘Adventures of Sin’?  ‘The Ether Son’?  It’s hard to figure out because every book is Sin getting into a new adventure with very little connection to the last one until the main plot finally rises up to meet him.  He isn’t even aware of the connections beyond running into a few familiar faces and his own personal goal.  So, the title has to connect to him, but Sin isn’t easy to pinpoint.  He’s a thief who uses a crossbow and is smart enough to get in and out of trouble.  Think of Luke Callindor with more arrogance, foresight, and thought.  Also, not that interested in being a hero, but he keeps stumbling into situations.  Kind of like Mad Max.  Anyway, a series title is going to be a pain here.

I managed to get all of the non-interview guest posts done for December and I tested the blurbs of Path of the Traitors on Thursday.  Yeah, I just want to mention that they were up for about a day and got no comments.  Really hoping that’s not a sign that things are pretty bad.  If people want, I can try again tomorrow and see if I get responses and insight into them.  Figured a weekday had a better chance of responses, which is partially true.  I got a lot of likes on that one.

Laptop

It came back yesterday with the O.S. wiped clean, so I spent the afternoon putting it back together.  Didn’t put on all of the programs I used to have since there were a bunch that I never used.  I’m still nervous about this machine because they replaced the speaker again instead of the sound card.  If it happens again then I’m not sure what I’m going to do.  I want to test the machine with external speakers, but I don’t have any or know anybody with them.  At least in this case.  Still, nice to have the machine back.  Oh, and it tricked me into setting up a ‘visual scan’ or something.  It only opens Windows when the webcam catches my face.  Not sure how I feel about that.

Parenting

This is the main event for the week and it’s been busy.  My son got into martial arts last Saturday and we’ve been doing lessons.  I brought him to one and my dad brought him to two because I had to cook dinner.  They’re early evening, which means we have to rethink our schedules.  He’s having fun and learning a lot.  It’s MMA from what I can tell since the three classes he’s had are strikes, grappling, and defense.  The grappling threw him off, but he was able to demonstrate it on the wife.  I warned her it was a bad idea to do it before bed, but what do I know?

We tried to go to a nature preserve too.  This really boils down to daddy getting lost in the wilderness for 2 hours.  There are plenty of nature preserves around Long Island and this one was in the middle of a suburban area.  It had two lakes, which I thought was interesting.  Parking was finding a spot on a side street and then wandering along the barb-wired fence until we find an entrance.  We saw birds, fish, and dragonflies, but my son wanted frogs.  No luck there and finding another way out was a headache.  I was eaten alive by mosquitoes and we ended up having to head back towards the way we came in after wandering aimlessly.  Hoping to go to one that is on the shore and has ospreys.  This one is simpler than the last, so it shouldn’t go south then.

Can’t say it’s been a smooth week though.  We’ve been having trouble with food because my son got upset to the point where he threw up.  He associated this with eating something bad, allergies, and then being afraid of throwing up. So, we have to convince him to eat and he gets panicky at the mention of breakfast.  It’s going to be a long battle to reverse this because he isn’t caring that it makes him sleepy and lethargic.  This is made worse by multiple adults having multiple tactics and stepping in each others way.

Oh, there is one funny story here that I almost forgot.  My son and I went to a place called ‘Sonic’ for lunch.  We had just finished getting the last of his school supplies.  He needed to go potty, so he ran off ahead while I cleared the table.  By the time I got to the bathrooms, he was inside.  I had two shakes and a TMNT figure in my hands, so I needed help getting the men’s room door open.  It was black in there, which meant he wasn’t inside.  Panic set in for an instant before I realized he would have come to the women’s room first.  He’s always gone in with me or my wife, so he never paid attention to the signs.  I had to ask the woman behind the counter to check for him.  There he was wondering what was going on and unsure of what he did wrong.  Apparently, there was someone else inside that didn’t think anything of a little boy in the women’s room.  I spent the afternoon explaining the signs and why I couldn’t go in after him.  Time will tell if he remembers.

Goals for the week:

1. Parenting
2. Working Sin outlines
3. Maybe do the brackets for Ninja Never Wins
4. Cook some dinners
5. Escort little guy to martial arts and swimming
6. Nature preserves, playgrounds, and other fun stuff
7. Ask about October posts
8. Stay cool