It certainly got cold again in a hurry overnight; and the
freezing temperatures seem a bit harder to deal with this year because of the
flip-flops between frozen and near-spring weather.
Helping Michael to warm up from his walk before Tai Chi was
fun; but the walk to school with Rowen and Rebecca wasn’t quite as much fun
because of the cold. The deep freeze
seemed to put a damper on things at school too; and not just because only a
very few kids bothered to even attempt some outdoor time before or after school
– or during lunch either. We still have
a couple of weeks to go on the current round of study modules in most of our
classes before we’ll have a break for Valentine’s Day week, so other than a
test and a quiz; there wasn’t anything newsworthy to write about from our
classes today.
There’s more action on the gossip network – both around the
school and the town. At school, and for
our class; that started with the post-party recaps from Friday night. Valentine’s Day is getting more attention
too; and a couple of couple-related stories involved both of those top topics. I’m sure that bumpy teen relationships are
common in big city schools, but then months-long dating would be considered
long-term in those schools too while that isn’t the case here. Dating a different guy every week at our
school would mean a girl would be out of dating options in about three months –
and only if that included dating the boyfriends of other girls.
I guess that’s really good in some ways; but it also
sometimes keeps couples together long after they’ve figured out that they’re
not really compatible as a couple. It
can also make for long, drawn-out break-ups.
For the two couples I’m referring to here, that means that Lisa’s party
wasn’t much fun for them; and Valentine’s Day could be make-or-break time for
either pair – though it doesn’t sound as though that will happen between now
and then. There are other teen romance
stories going on around school in other grades, including potential break-ups
and brand-new romances; but none of that happens much by Grade Twelve – the
seniors are either paired up for years by then; or haven’t found a match here
at home and are single when they head off to college.
Except for any guys involved in the current romantic
turmoil, none of the other guys are interested at all in Valentine’s Day or any
of the favorite girl chat topics; but they were talking football a lot now that
we’re less than a week away from the Super Bowl. The game itself is only part of the most
important aspects of the day, and for some of the guys; whether they were going
to the ‘best’ parties was socially a very big deal – with the one at the
Landry’s house being the coolest party to get an invite for. I guess that was a big deal for a few of the
girls too, so Jenny’s happy that she’s on the list along with Garth, the other
guys on the football team, and most of the cheerleaders; but I’m glad that
Michael and I will be helping his Dad out at the Inn instead – though I’m sure
we could have gone to the other party with Tim and Rowen instead. They’re going to make an appearance there;
but spend most of the day at the Inn with us –
at least when we’re not helping out in the kitchen.
I heard more about the Super Bowl party and dinner at the Inn tonight while at Michael’s house for dinner and the
evening; but I’ll save the details for that until my journal update on Sunday
night. Since I’ve covered the only
interesting parts of the school day already, and there isn’t really anything
newsworthy to report from our after-school studying at my house; I’ll just skip
that and continue with the news and action from my time with Michael and his
family.
Rebecca is happier lately thanks to some extra best friend
time with Jenny. That’s meant fending
off some matchmaking suggestions; mostly because she now knows from experience
that Jenny’s taste in boys isn’t at all like her own. Since I’ve been known to take an active role
in matchmaking, I can’t say anything about Jenny’s attempts at that; other than
that she really shouldn’t use her personal preferences as a filter for
Rebecca. My thoughts on that are also
colored by what Ethan, Ehlana, and I know about the probability of certain
future events that might involve Rebecca in a big way, but even without having
that insight; I know that Rebecca and Jenny will never have the same taste in
boys.
While Rebecca and I had a chance for a little girl talk by
ourselves, the main dinner conversation topics were Miranda’s upcoming girls’
weekend trip and Jacob’s plans for the weekend while she’s away. Those plans include having Michael and
Rebecca put in some extra time at the Inn; but
I’m sure he was only joking about the all-night parties after work on Friday
and Saturday. There were also jokes
about taking Miranda shopping tomorrow so he could help her pick out some
clothes for the trip – like one of those old-fashioned, neck-to-knee swimsuits;
but the girls at the table managed to convince him that he wouldn’t find
anything like that at the mall anyway.
He’s really just wishing he could be there to watch his wife
if the girls get to have any swimsuit time this weekend, since he certainly
doesn’t have to worry about any Hollywood hunks sweeping Miranda off her feet
when she has him waiting for her back at home.
Michael’s fairly progressive for a teen guy, but even he
didn’t really want to hear about his mother’s hotness factor; whether she
should take skimpy bikinis along; or anything else about what happens when a
group of mothers go away for a girls’ weekend away. Since Rebecca and I may want to go on a few
of those weekends with our friends when we get older; we were fine with finding
out about some of the details – though I’d heard about most of them from Mom
and Aunt Leanne already. I suggest
trying that out soon, but I suppose we’ll at least need to wait until one of us
can drive before doing that. A girls’
night campout in the back yard wouldn’t count; and I don’t plan on biking to
Crystal Springs and back – even if I could get a group of girls willing to give
that a try just for the chance to do a sleepover at a hotel and maybe catch
some spa action, fine dining, and a movie.
It’s probably getting boring to hear about the great food we
get to have every week for our meals at Michael’s house, but I never get tired
of the culinary experiments; and the dinner tonight was fantastic! Michael, Rebecca, and I took care of the
clean-up, and then Michael and I went up to his room for my guitar lesson and a
music practice – including getting ready for music class; band; and our
Valentine’s Day duet. We had just a bit
of play time while we were alone, but then I had a visit with Rebecca in her
room before we both met up with Michael, Miranda, and Jacob for our usual
end-of-night chat before I headed home for the night.
I was back in time to help Mom with getting Ethan and Ehlana
bathed and ready for bed; we did the bedtime story and snack with Dad in the
office; and then it was time to get going on the rest of my school night
studies.
My Magi lesson with Mom was first; and after spending an
hour or so working on advanced manipulation of the elements before it was time
for me to come up to my room and get started on my bedtime studies and
computing. That all went really well
tonight, but the late start to that is why I’m just getting to this at
two-thirty. Now that I’m getting through
the basics of the current group of languages, those studies are getting more
interesting, but the archive assignment Mom gave me tonight was a snooze-fest. I guess that’s about it for tonight, since
there wasn’t any news to write about from my email tonight; so I’m ready to
tuck my computer into its bag for the night and crash for a few hours. I have lots of work that I want to get done
this week, but I’m also going to need to
think about some extra sleep too in case I end up spending time this weekend
helping out with Zack or Leah while their Moms are away with mine.
There might even be a chance for some alone time with
Michael tomorrow night, and I don’t want to be falling asleep if we do get a
chance to do that; so, until next time...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
