I made it to summer break, which is bizarre considering it’s mid-August. Guess that week between the end of the school year and start of the summer session would count, but it didn’t feel like it. Now, I have 1.5 weeks before I’m back at work . . . I know beggars shouldn’t be choosers, but that still hurts.
The last week of summer session was filled with activity, but nothing was really worth posting about. All of the kids had fun. The adults had some fun and I think our sanity survived intact. Final field trip was to the big mall nearby, which was the smoothest trip all summer. Even I got to buy a few things, which was great since I learned I had about $50 credit to use at the Lego Store. Got the two newest botanical sets to continue making my room pretty without needing to water plants. The week ended with a pizza party picnic that included bubbles (bubble tornados to be specific), attempts at kite flying, and a lemon lime cream cheese pound cake. Tasted really good. Anyway, that brought about the end of the work period of the summer and my son finished camp.
For the next week, I’ll have my son and that means a lot of . . . appointments. He has a bunch of things that have to get done and they can’t be done during the time he’s with his mother. Just bad timing, so he has 4 appointments. Monday is fairly shot along with Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. So, we’re going to try to make the most of what we get, including getting haircuts. We both need those.
The outings are mostly going to be for Pokemon Go since there are a few single period events and the one going on for the next few days. Those are easy to factor in since I play now too. Today is our traditional summer trip to the big zoo, but we’re meeting up with my sister, BIL, and niece this time. My car was fixed just in time for that, but no real story there since it was maintenance. Wednesday is a trip with my parents to the New York aquarium for the morning. Beyond all of that, we might get ‘LOTR: Two Towers’ in using the two butchered afternoons. My son wants to work on art, so he’ll do that while I work on a writing project.
Speaking of writing, I managed to get all of the hand edits typed into Darwin & the Avenging Elf. That means I can dive into Darwin & the Demon Game once I get back from Oswego. I still plan on only doing notebook work. I’m also borrowing my son’s Chromebook for anime watching when I need a break. So, I won’t be doing any typing or setting up blogs. Everything through October is done, but I don’t think I’m going to dive into my November topic list until after the break. At most, I’ll set up the poetry and teasers posts. For the most part, I want to get my mind turning towards ‘Phi Beta Files’ and anything that comes after that.
The only other event that happened this week was a negative. Last weekend, I was out in the heat doing Pokemon Go a bunch. I hydrated and got indoors before I got too overheated, but it was enough. So, I started the week fairly tired and it became a long drag to get to Friday. Other events triggered my anxiety, so I didn’t get to start any of the packing. Made a list for it and instructions on how to design my son’s Halloween costume, which I might start this week. Probably should do that since I need his body to get proper measurements. Kid is turning me more and more into an amateur (and terrible) seamstress. The worst part about sewing for me is getting the string through the eye hole and those dang helper things never actually help. At least I know where to get a lot of the parts.
Nothing else to mention about the future since it’s all appointments, outings, some form of art, and packing. I’m going to have less ‘me’ time in Oswego than I planned, but I don’t mind seeing old friends. One goal I have is getting up there before this exotic candy shop closes at 9 PM. It won’t open again until Tuesday and I’ll be on the road by then. It has flavors of KitKats and Lays chips that are normally only found in China and Japan. Want to buy a few to snack on that Monday when I’m doing most of my writing. I’d bring some back for my son, but the ingredients are supposedly in Japanese or Chinese, so I won’t know if he’s allergic to them.
Well, let’s look at the goal list:
- Have fun at zoo.
- Have fun at aquarium.
- Have fun at Beldum Community Day.
- Have fun getting haircuts.
- Have fun trying to watch ‘LOTR: Two Towers’.
- Have fun sewing or tinkering with story ideas.
- Get sleep.
- Have fun playing Pokemon Go.
- Hydrate.
Legends of Windemere 
I hope everything goes well with your real break. Also, good song choice!
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Thanks. I had that song saved on YouTube for weeks. Just remembered it.
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You’re welcome. It’s a good song. It’s one of the early examples of “bedroom pop” if you will and Jyoti Mishra did all the instruments and programming. Also, the trumpet melody is from the big band song “My Woman” which Bing Crosby co-wrote and not The Imperial March from Star Wars as some people have thought.
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Huh. Never heard of the melody inspiration or the term ‘bedroom pop’. Not sure if the latter is about helping you sleep or setting ‘the mood’.
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I didn’t know the original melody until I saw a YouTube video from the One Hit Wonderland series that covered “Your Woman” which also showed the original song and even a movie musical which had a version of it. Bedroom Pop is a term used because it involves musicians recording in their bedrooms (or at least somewhere in their homes or apartments) as opposed to recording at a professional studio. This song came out in 1997, so home recording software would’ve been rare at that time. GarageBand wouldn’t be invented until years afterwards and that’s not counting cheaper recording equipment after the fact.
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I always thought Garage Bands were around before the late 90’s. Could have sworn I heard about them as a kid in the 80’s. Also, I never would have guessed that definition of Bedroom Pop.
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Literal garage bands were around, but I was talking about the free recording software on Apple products where people can record music whether it’s beats or live instrumentation. Yeah, that’s where the genre and aesthetic of Bedroom Pop comes from. Normally they are Lo-fi, but I heard some examples recently have gotten mainstream attention with cheaper recording software and TikTok nowadays. White Town did that way before it was a trend even if it wasn’t so convenient with technology in the 90s at the time.
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Never did more than listen to music while writing or exercising. So I never knew about the software. Pretty simple-minded when it comes to it. Me hear music that me like, me listen.
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Gotcha. That’s fine. I’ve done some recording before, so I have familiarity with GarageBand. I’m not judging if you only listen to music and not writing or performing it. Nothing wrong with that.
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What I like about that list is the repeated word “fun.” Have some!
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I’m hoping to.
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Here’s hoping your week is enjoyable. Lots to do that looks like fun.
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Day 1 went well. Zoo trip down.
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Excellent..
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And have fun with friends in Oswego! Charles, can you tell me about a bubble tornado? Is it something I can do with my preschoolers?
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Thanks. I don’t leave for Oswego until next Saturday. This week is time with my son.
Bubble tornado is when our tallest student took two bubble discs (or whatever), got them ready, and spun screaming bubble tornado until he had to refill then do it again.
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Thanks for the info. You have two nice weeks ahead.
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Enjoy your well deserved family and vacation time.
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Thanks.
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I like the have fun part of this list. Reminds me, I need a haircut in the worst way.
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Thanks.
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This song reminds me of spring break 1997. Alternative was yielding to electronic and pop. This is a nice fusion of two or all three! ☺️
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It’s a good song. Heard it randomly on Pandora and had to use it.
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