Cassie's Journal - October 5, 2012

Happy 12^th birthday, Sally!

There’s a very good chance that Sally pulled off the party of the year for our class, and while I’m not at all comfortable with boy-girl parties; I really love barn dances!

It was a lot cooler today, and we had a few spits of rain this morning, but Sally’s family just added a little heat to the hay barn; and the colder weather didn’t affect her party at all – except maybe for her father and uncle while they were working the barbeques outside before dinner.  Before I get to the party recap, though, I should probably get the school day news out of the way first.

Day One Fridays are always more fun for me now, and other than needing to settle for Tai Chi indoors, it was a good day.  Even though the other girls were talking a lot about boys today, Rowen and I put up with that during lunch so we could hang out with Sally; and the party talk and speculation was entertaining.  In music class, we’re already attempting to play songs, and I don’t mind admitting that the saxophone and flute sections of our little would-be ensemble are the best in the class.  I’d say that the extra work Rowen and I are putting in is helping a lot, and Michael was already ahead of the rest of us thanks to his background in music.  That class was the most fun, but though I love Spanish too; today it was just the last class we needed to get through before it was party time.

Rowen and I split up after school to get ready for the party, and then we walked over to the computer store to get a ride out to Sally’s house with Rowen’s mother.  Sally had invited all of our classmates, most of the girls she’d played baseball with; her cousins; and some of their friends.  Bringing dates was an option too, and that all made for a very big group of kids and teens at the farm.  It also required some parental cooperation for the transportation, and Patricia was also taking Rebecca, Jenny, Michael, and Tim.  My Mom or Dad was going to be doing the return trip when the party ended sometime around eleven.

If I’d crossed over and cared about these things, going to the party with Rebecca and Jenny would have been a very bad start to the night.  They both fill out a pair of jeans and a top way better than Rowen or I do – a fact that the boys at the party noticed immediately.  We were practically invisible by comparison.  For some parts of the night, that was a good state for us to be in; but I’ll get to the weirder parts of the night in a bit.  A hay barn dance sure isn’t anything new, but it was new and exciting to me.  The floor had been swept clean; bales of hay lined the area that was set up for the dance; and everything from pumpkins to scarecrows were used to decorate the place.

The party started out with a social hour that included all of the adult members of Sally’s family – her parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  They were all on the work crew for dinner, and ate with us too; but then, once the post-dinner clean-up was finished, the rest of the party was almost completely chaperone-free.  Yes, that is Halloween-scary!

Rowen and I weren’t the only ‘single’ girls tonight, but we were the only two in our class.  Rebecca was the only girl there from her Grade Eight class not currently playing the dating game; and she spent some time with us now and then; but had to juggle doing that without taking a hit to her reputation.  I wasn’t worried about that for myself, and if Rowen and I lost points with the girls in our class; we traded that for bonus points with the younger girls that we did spend time with; encourage to get up and dance; and entertain with some younger-girl rated chat and jokes.

That was all fun, but the weird and scary was all around us too.  Apparently, haylofts are popular places for making out, and explained why party guests kept disappearing in pairs.  Some of our classmates and friends were among those couples; though I’d guess that not all of those trips to one of the haylofts were ‘successful’.  One couple that apparently did have fun playing in the hay, though, had Rowen’s attention when they returned to the dance; and not in a good way.

A cool night walk was exactly what she needed then, and we wandered around outside for a good fifteen minutes before she was ready to go back inside and not attempt a seriously inappropriate Transmutation on our unsuspecting classmates.  Yes, that’s totally wrong for a Magi of the Light, but we’re the good guys; not perfect.  I’m not mentioning any names here for Rowen’s benefit; but I know she’ll be expecting me to write about the fact that Michael looked desperate to escape when he and Vanessa returned from their little hayloft sojourn, and she didn’t seem particularly happy with him; though not for the same reason.  Vanessa had the full-on boys-are-so-dense look going on, but at least, according to the girl chat Rowen and I heard later, Michael was getting the benefit of the doubt for just being too nice a guy instead of too dumb to take the hints.

I don’t really want to write about that anymore, so let’s talk about Sally’s best birthday ever so far instead; since this is her big day.  The invitations had been best wishes only, but Rowen and I, and the rest of her closest friends, brought gifts that she opened during the cleanup between dinner and dessert.  I’m pretty sure that she got her birthday wish too, since she spent a lot of time dancing with the guy in our class that I know she likes the most, Joshua.  I’ll be very surprised if they’re not an ‘official’ couple soon.

The party started wrapping up at eleven, and Mom came to pick us up at about ten after; but it was closer to eleven-thirty by the time we were on the road for Witch Falls.  That was mostly due to having three out of six members of our carpool AWOL.  I pretended not to notice that Michael wouldn’t look at me even once, or that he was trying to hide the fact that he was blushing.  Tim wasn’t blushing, and instead looked a bit dazed as he sat in the van with a lop-sided grin on his face.  Jenny didn’t say much, since she sat up front with Mom while Rebecca, Rowen, and I were in the back seat, but there was no doubt that she’d had a great night.  I’m glad that it’ll be Rebecca who will be doing that best friend chat sometime soon instead of me.

Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne were still at our house when we got home after dropping Jenny and Tim off along the way.  They’d been over for dinner and a movie night, and I found out right after Rebecca, Michael, and Rowen went home that they’d stayed specifically so Aunt Leanne could grill me about the party, and tease me about things like not kissing Michael goodnight when he left for home from our driveway.  I’m sorry about being such a disappointment to her for wasting a perfectly good barn dance opportunity; but Mom and Dad didn’t have a problem with me not dancing with any boys or spending any ‘quality time’ in a hayloft either.

In the category of too much information, I did not need that little side-chat about how much fun my parents or aunt and uncle think that making out in a hayloft would be.  Yes, you all missed out on doing that because of growing up in two different parts of the country and age difference respectively; but I really don’t think you should be looking to chaperone the next birthday barn dance just so you can experience what might have been when you were teens.

I was freed from the interrogation by twelve-thirty, and needed to have a shower before climbing into bed with Mandy.  It’s a good thing that I wasn’t playing in the hay.  It was hard enough dealing with my hair with what got in it just from leaning against bales of hay when we were sitting around and other incidental contact.  Replaying the events of the party has kept me awake, and Aunt Leanne’s teasing didn’t help either, so I’ve been doing some archive reading while winding down.  That included some work on our Magi project, and I always seem to have more to add to that after parties like this one.

We’ve got a yard work weekend planned, though, and I need to get at least a little sleep, so it’s past-time for me to...

...say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.

“Goodnight, Cassie.”

Cassie's Journal - October 4, 2012

Rowen and I are both having issues today.  She temporarily crossed over and back again two or three times today; and I had Aunt Leanne trying to push me over while we were at the Inn.  I really don’t want to miss out on our Thursday night out, but skipping game night for a while is looking better and better every week.

Avoiding boys and boy talk among the girls had Rowen and I hiding in the music room again during lunch, and we were both glad that it was a work night after school.  The work was fun for me, since I got to help turn a potential Halloween overstock loss into a profit after getting two of my companies together to work out a deal.  The rest of my work was Christmas-related, and that still seems weird to me; but it is cool getting to know ahead of time what my companies think will be the toys, gadgets, and clothes that are hot this Christmas.  Sometimes I put in my two cents worth when I think they’re wrong, but they’ll never know that advice is coming from a kid’s perspective.

It was quick dinner night, and Mom had Alicia’s help; so I worked until dinner was ready; helped with the cleanup; and then we walked over to the Inn with Aunt Leanne, Uncle Adam, and Rowen.  I’m beginning to think that the competition for the game night championship is just a side show to the real action going on in the dining room – at least for too many of the tween and teen players.  Vanessa and Nora were happily continuing their pursuit of Michael and Tim, but they weren’t the only girls or boys playing that game.  I’m fairly sure that Jenny’s picked her next boyfriend, and since he wasn’t a game night regular either; it seems he’s interested in her too.  I already mentioned that Aunt Leanne was attempting a little matchmaking for me, and even though I did my very best to side-step her efforts; she still managed to put Michael in my path – or me in his – three times.

I love you, Aunt Leanne, but please stop it – you’re scaring the kids!

I can wish for the impossible, can’t I?

Moving along, there was no game night glory for our family this week, and even with the little problems Rowen and I were having; we still had fun.  Dad had work to do after we got home, so I helped Mom with getting Ethan and Ehlana off to bed, and then I came up to my room to get started on my nightly computing and some extra studying.  With the party tomorrow night and a big yard work weekend ahead, I don’t expect to have much time to work in the archives or on my languages, so I put in an extra hour on both; and it’s now going on two o’clock.  Falling asleep at Sally’s party wouldn’t be good, so I’d better wrap this up and get some rest.

Say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.

“Goodnight, Cassie.”

Cassie's Journal - October 3, 2012

The day after a party always seems to be quieter and unexciting by comparison.  That pretty much describes today for me; though there may be a lot of people thinking that just because it’s Wednesday.

With a home football game on Friday night, the guys at school were mostly talking sports, while the girls in my class were all getting fired up about Sally’s birthday party.  She wasn’t giving out many hints, which just heightened the anticipation.  At least a few of the guys seemed to wish that they were going to the football game instead of the party; but that could have just been for show around their buddies.

It’s been a beautiful day, so Rowen and I spent our lunchtime outdoors, and then went to the park with Ethan and Ehlana after getting our homework done.  That included another visit to the football field, but we spent most of our time there at the playground and walking the path along the river to the falls and back.  Rowen stayed for dinner, and then Mom did a lesson with us before she went home for the night.

I came up to bed early so I could have a soak in my Jacuzzi while doing my regular nightly computing.  It’s time for an early night; so I’m skipping the extra studying.  There isn’t anything else to report for today, and I need to get out of the tub soon anyway, so...

Say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.

“Goodnight, Cassie.”

Cassie's Journal - October 2, 2012

Happy 2^nd Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Second anniversary gifts are supposed to be cotton or china.  I seriously doubt we could buy China despite how many little pieces we do own there; and I can’t see Mom or Dad taking up cotton farming; so what do you get a couple who has everything?

Well, we do have everything we dreamed possible; but Ethan, Ehlana, and I didn’t really have any problems finding gifts for our parents.  We gave them one of those gifts this morning in bed, and then Mom and the twins surprised Dad and me with a pair of little gifts to celebrate our second Father and Daughter anniversary too.  That, Tai Chi by the river, and a special breakfast made for a great start to the day, but it was still a school and work day; and we all needed to get back to the real world for a while.

There isn’t much of anything to report from school.  Morning classes were fairly quiet except for one quiz; Rowen and I practiced in the music room again at lunchtime; and other than having a bit too much politics in Social Studies, which will probably continue off and on until after the elections next month, Art and computers classes were mostly play time for us.  I was on the volunteer list for Aunt Leanne’s party work crew, and drafted Rowen to come along and help out too; so we checked in with the parents; dropped our bags off; and hurried over to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house.

It’s been a really nice day, and Aunt Leanne had considered having dinner outdoors, but decided to have it in the dining room instead; mostly because it would be dark by the time the party was over; and cleaning up would be harder.  Rowen and I were first put on table set-up, and then we worked the prep line for an hour or so before being sent home to get cleaned up and changed.  We were on babysitting duty after getting back again, and we played with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden in the living room.  We were the only kids at the party, but the real significance is that the twins and I had our best friends with us for the party.  Since Aiden still isn’t quite a year old, he and Ethan aren’t exactly best buds yet, but they will be; and Ehlana and Naomi already are.

Mom and Dad were fairly thoroughly roasted during dinner, but I didn’t completely escape notice; and Aunt Leanne especially made a point of including some of her favorite stories about me.  Since none of those stories involved her matchmaking efforts on me, it was all good; and a lot of fun.  Grandpa was probably the next most-active storyteller, but all of our friends helped out too; and we spent about two and a half hours in the dining room from the time we sat down until finishing after-dinner drinks.  Cleaning up took another hour, and Rowen and I helped with that while Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa were put in charge of the kids and shipped off to the living room.

Ethan, Ehlana, and I found out that we were doing sleepovers when the party started breaking up; and Aunt Leanne came home with Mom, Dad, Rowen, and me so I could get my overnight bag packed, and take it, and my computer bag, with me to Rowen’s house.  Aunt Leanne threw together a few things for the twins, and it wasn’t long before we were all on our way; and Mom and Dad were kid-free for the rest of the night.  Patrick had been spending the evening at Scott’s, and Rowen and I got the bonus news from her parents that he’d be spending the night with the Faulkners.  We still had our homework to get done, so we did that first; spent an hour watching television with her parents after that; and then got ready for bed.

We’ve been playing on our computers since then.  I’ve only done the basic nightly computing, and we’ve spent the rest of the time chatting and surfing for random entertainment.  I’ve skipped the extra studying and archive work, but we have somehow managed to lose track of a couple of hours while we’ve played; and it’s time to wrap this up and get to sleep.

Say ‘goodnight, Cassie and Rowen’.

“Goodnight Cassie and Rowen.”

Cassie's Journal - October 1, 2012

Normally, on a nice, unseasonably warm October day I’d have much rather been outside after school; hanging out with Rowen; and biking or playing at the park.  Today I was just glad that I needed to do a work night to make up for needing the night off tomorrow for Mom and Dad’s second anniversary party.

It was an especially weird day at school.  From what we heard today from the girl chats going on around us, Vanessa is quite sure that she’s all but locked up Michael as her boyfriend thanks to her bold birthday surprise.  I didn’t need to get close enough to Michael to know how he was feeling about that, but then we sit next to each other now in music class; brush arms occasionally while we’re attempting to play our saxophones; and the brief contact was enough to confirm that he wasn’t happy about things with Vanessa at all – and had no idea of how to deal with the problem.

Wow, does that sound familiar.  I should probably be afraid...very afraid.

At least I didn’t have to wear cologne, or perfume, to school to avoid offending the gift-giver.  Dealing with the attention both from her and his buddies because he did was even worse for Michael.  I’d have liked to help him, but there really was no way for me to do that – especially considering what I found out on Saturday morning.  By lunchtime, I’d had enough of the unending daytime soap opera that I’m apparently going to be immersed in for the next three or four years; so Rowen and I ate quickly and then went to hide in the music room and have an extra practice.  From what I picked up during our afternoon classes, Michael wished he could escape too, but didn’t.

Moving along, I was glad to miss out on what’s been our usual Monday afternoon visit and football watching time at the park; though Ethan and Ehlana talked Mom into going for a little walk so they could still go there.  That worked out for me too, since it gave me nearly an hour on my own to just concentrate on work.  I stopped to help Mom with making dinner, and then we had Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne over for our weekly Magi Healing lesson.

I went back to work again in the office after Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne went home, and after putting Ethan and Ehlana to bed, Mom and Dad worked there too until a bit after eleven o’clock.  We all went up to our rooms then, but I’ve been working in the archives and chatting in Portuguese since climbing into bed with Mandy.  By the way, my adorable kitty has been offering her two cents worth on what I should do about Michael, but I haven’t written about that because cats apparently have a very different idea about how to deal with potential mates – her term, not mine.  While I wasn’t interested in following her advice, she did point out that I was lucky to have picked her instead of a dog; or I’d have been getting advice that included butt-sniffing and other extreme grossness.  I’ll give her that point.

Well, that’s quite a thought to have in mind right before going to bed – not!  I’d say it’s time to finish this, and find something else to do until I’m tired enough to sleep.

Say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.

“Goodnight, Cassie.”