There’s always a lot going on that I never get around to
writing about in my journal; but there were two things that I haven’t discussed
that hit my radar in a bigger way today that are going to get mentioned now.
The first, thanks to nearly every kid except me at school,
is the new video game systems. The
Playstation 4 is out; the XBox One will be out soon; and the race is on to see
which lucky kids and teens will get one from Santa this year. The guys are also debating which system is
better; and they’re happily talking about the new games that will be available
along with the systems.
Yes, I’ve mentioned that the new systems were coming, but
while the talk around school was big news today; there was something that Mom
was able to do behind the scenes that’ll be a big deal for some of my
classmates and friends. She stopped in
to have a little chat with Jesse Warren at the Fix-it Shop; and he was more
than thrilled to accept her offer to get him five dozen of each system from one
of her clients – especially since he wasn’t expecting to get any from his usual
suppliers. I’m sure that would sound
like a tiny number of systems in nearly any city, but with two or three kids to
most families here, that’ll put a new system in nearly every house; and Jesse
will be the most popular parent and store owner in town this Christmas!
If that little story is news to you; it’s because Mom made
sure that her name wouldn’t be mentioned – and Jesse doesn’t know that those
Playstations and Xboxes came to him through one of our family businesses. Please continue to keep that little secret
for us.
The other story was family-related. I found out tonight that Aunt Grace is
looking for a new car at Landry’s. She
and Uncle Mark were away this weekend, and I should have mentioned that before
now if only to recognize that they’d gone to Granite Park
for Kaitlyn’s sixth birthday party on Saturday.
Happy belated birthday, Kaitlyn – though Mom, Dad, Ethan, Ehlana, and I
did send gifts along with Aunt Grace and Uncle Mark; so we didn’t actually
forget her big day. Moving on to the new
car search news, they didn’t have a major breakdown or anything with Aunt
Grace’s car, but she was annoyed with it for a number of irritating reasons;
and has decided that they won’t be taking it on any multi-hour drives ever
again. While she and Uncle Mark weren’t
planning on having two cars anytime soon, they’re apparently also going to keep
her ‘old’ one for him to drive at least for this winter; and use for things
like emergency calls.
I wouldn’t dream of asking Aunt Grace whether that decision
might have something to do with the thought of having a brand new car messed up
by transporting injured patients in it, but since she’s even more squeamish
about things like blood than Aunt Leanne is; I can take a good guess at what
her answer would be.
Now that I have those prior omissions corrected, and the new
news reported; let’s get started on the normal daily update.
Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and I were up early to have a visit with
Dad while he had breakfast; we saw him on his way to Crystal Springs; and then
we had a nap together in Mom’s bed before needing to get up again and started
on our usual weekday morning routine.
Michael came over for Tai Chi; went home to have breakfast with his
parents and Rebecca; and then met up with Rowen and me for the chilly walk to
school. We really only felt the cold
more this morning because of how far the temperature had dropped from the warm
and beautiful yesterday afternoon, and while it did warm up a bit from those
early morning lows; we were definitely back into late fall weather again today.
We started the morning with eight school days left until the
Thanksgiving break; and since it will mostly be fun and games next week; this
is a major testing week that is only slightly offset by the ongoing Thanksgiving
themed lessons and activities. With
twelve classes, that means two or three tests a day, and since this is a Day
Two schedule Friday week; we wrote three tests today – Art, Social Studies, and
History. The other three Day One
schedule tests will be on Wednesday; and we’ll take two tests a day on Tuesday,
Thursday, and Friday.
That’s why Rowen and I played football at lunchtime with
Michael and Tim. They didn’t have enough
guys available to play because some of the regulars were busy trying to cram
for the History test – or other tests that kids in other grades were writing
today. So much for being done with
playing football this year now that it’s colder; but it’s pretty much impossible
for me to turn Michael down in situations like that; and Rowen and I always
manage to have fun – even if we’d rather be doing something else.
Tim would have rather been doing anything else other than
studying after school, but with Music and Geography tests to take tomorrow; he
grudgingly conceded his personal need to spend extra time getting ready for
both. Mom’s going to be in Crystal
Springs tomorrow night, and I’ll be at Aunt Leanne and Uncle Adam’s; so Michael
and I did family night at his house tonight – and had our study session there
too. We started with music, practiced
for our playing tests, and then studied for the theory test too before moving
on to Geography. Neither subject is at
the top of Tim’s best classes list, so he and Rowen ended up getting dinner
invitations too; and we studied right up until dinner was ready, and for
another hour after we finished eating and taking care of the kitchen clean-up.
While Michael, Rowen, and I didn’t need to work nearly that
long, we had fun trying to drag Tim along into academic achievement; and he may
even manage to impress our teachers tomorrow – if everything he learned tonight
doesn’t dribble out of his head while he sleeps the way he joked to us that it
might. There are always comments going
around about Michael, Rowen, and me, and Michael gets razzed by the guys about
being one of the class brainiacs; but Tim is really very smart too – he just
hasn’t put much effort into his studies before we all started doing homework
together this year. His parents will
certainly be pleasantly shocked if he starts coming home with a lot of A’s on
his report cards from now on.
Rowen and Tim headed out at a bit after eight o’clock, and
since that was mostly because they thought that Michael and I might like some
alone time; we were okay with saying goodnight to them and taking advantage of
the opportunity. That little blast of
fun was even worth getting teased about by Miranda when we joined Michael’s
parents in the living room for our usual visit and chat before I headed
home. Tonight, she wanted to know why
the music part of our guitar lesson only took less than fifteen minutes; while
‘practicing the rests’ lasted three-quarters of an hour. I thought the use of our alone time was
perfectly balanced; but then my perception of that might be different than
Miranda’s.
I don’t mention this enough, but I really love just getting
to sit and talk with Jacob and Miranda.
They get underestimated all the time because all some people can see is
a cook and server – or a pair of small business owners. They’re two of the smartest people I know;
and not just because they’re content to work in a business they love while
staying in their home town with the family and friends they love the most. Miranda is a talented businesswoman, but her
insights into people and society in general are deep and fascinating. Jacob is quiet and easy-going; and he could
also be an amazing philosopher with his own unique perceptions of the world
around him. I guess that’s probably true
for many artists; and his culinary skills are art; but his ideas and
convictions are solidly rooted in simple, practical truths and honest,
relatively un-biased evaluation of the world as he sees it.
This might be the point where you would expect me to write
something about getting people like our parents in politics; but Jacob would
just suggest that would be a waste of time, and that the majority of people in
the world are better off expending their efforts on minimizing the impact that
politicians and other social elites have on them and forget about trying to
fight the system from within. I really
get that because we basically end up doing that nearly every day with our
family business.
I won’t bore you with a diatribe on the current events
idiocies with governments around the world; but anyone reading this in the
future will know that Jacob’s advice is going to be worth following until we
start coming up with real solutions to all of the global problems.
Moving on, I went home in time to do the bedtime story and
phone chat with Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana; Mom did a long Magi lesson with me
after we finished tucking the twins in for the night; and then I came up to my
room to get started on my usual bedtime studies and work. I wrapped up the studies by shortly before
two, but then I needed to deal with some family business email work that kept
me going until after two-thirty before I was able to finish up my nightly
computer checks. We’re closing on three
very fast now, and there isn’t anything else to add to my journal for tonight;
so I’m going to put my computer to sleep and crash for a few hours –
right...about...now.
Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
