Yes, I haven’t been posting. It’s hard to post when you’re stressed and tired of being stressed and tired due to stress all of the time.
Why? Oh, it goes something like this… starting in late May… (more…)
Month: June 2010
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Kidlet Update
As of Monday night, my son is no longer a high school student. His school’s graduation ceremony took place at Memorial Coliseum, a venue I hadn’t previously entered even though I’ve lived in this city since 1989. Go figure. Maybe I need to take up hockey fandom. (Or, perhaps, not.)
I think I’m glad that I didn’t graduate from a larger school, because good grief it took a long time to get through all of those kids’ awards and diplomas and what-not. At first we were delighted that Alex was sitting in the front row… then we found that they were cycling kids through starting from the back rows. It worked out, actually: It would’ve been much more tedious being elated early on at his name being called, then sitting through half an hour or so of listening to other kids’ names.
The girl playing the harp during one of the entertainment interludes was quite good, however. Staggering home at nearly 11pm after an event which started at 8pm wasn’t all that good… worth it, mind you. I feel like I’ve fulfilled one of those critical parenting milestones, you know? Yes, it’s as cool a feeling as you think it is.
My daughter, meanwhile, has a couple of years yet to go on her high school career. She just finished up and posted her art-class “final” project on her gallery, though, and I rather like it. Apparently she’s getting very good use out of that drawing tablet computer accessory.
I have awesome kids.
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Night Of The Living Dumb
One of the other units in our little apartment complex, at some point in the last few months, became the “party place.” You know, drinking and music and groups of idiots shouting at random, that sort of thing. Generally speaking they’ve kept it reasonable; they’re usually not super-loud, and they’re dispersed by 11pm or so. It’s not my favorite thing in the world, but when kept under control I can deal with it on occasion.
Not last night, though.
Full-volume music. Several conversations taking place outside at full volume simultaneously. People wandering out to the street to be noisy gits. And this went on well past 11pm.
And past midnight.
And past 1am.
The party didn’t wind down until two-freaking-thirty in the morning. (And it took another half hour or so for me to calm down enough to be able to sleep. Joy.)
Icing on the cake? Eight-o’clock rolls around and one of them decides to drive somewhere… announcing this fact by blaring their car stereo for a couple of minutes before driving off.
Yeah, they’ve had their exceptional party. I hope they enjoyed it, because if they try it again, cops will be called. Persistently and promptly. After a generally crappy week of work, this was precisely what I did not need. Grrrr.
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The High Price Of Online Documents
Getting the oldest child ready for college entails all of the zany fun one would expect. This weekend, for instance, we’re planning an Ikea run so he can get an idea of what sort of desk, bed and shelving he wants for his apartment space.
Then there’s the financial aid. Due to various circumstances, I ended up being the parent doing the “Parent PLUS” loan. Okay, that’s fine, but the last stage in that process (after we emailed various PDFs and DOCs back and forth with the financial aid office) involves dealing with the StudentLoans.gov website. The idea is that one can fill out the promissory note electronically.
Sure, you can. Riiiiight.
Actually, we know it can be done: Wendi was able to do it just fine. Since things changed to require putting my neck in the financial noose, however, I had to go through the process as well.
And it looked like it worked, at first… kind of. I got through it all, everything looked kosher, but when I’d go to look at the “Completed” section… nothing. I exchanged email with the financial aid office, who advised a particular method of getting results (accompanied by vague comments about how “the site’s been having problems lately,” no, really?) so I tried again. And again. Yes, I tried different browsers; this isn’t my first rodeo, Mr. Stark.
Eventually I was given a number to call. Which was off by one digit, so I was then given another number to call. The helpful person on the other end gave me… yet another number to call. Finally I worked with someone who could help me through the process properly. Great, now we’ll get results!
Only, no, we didn’t. Exactly the same results, even with the expert on the phone. “Huh, that should’ve worked.” You don’t say.
“So, what I need you to do is to print this out and overnight it to…”
Great. Mind you, there’s nothing to print out after the process fails, so let’s go through it one more time… turn the “proof” preview into a PDF… then print that out (pages and pages of inscrutable legalese)… then visit the FedExKinkosBananaFannaFoFanna after work and spend thirty dollars to overnight the silly thing to Alabama.
All of this over a document that was supposed to take five minutes to complete, for free, online. Ah, progress.
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Complex Shun
Why, at the ripe age of thirty-eight, am I still dealing with a facial complexion straight out of my teen years? Maybe I need to invest in a new brand of facial cleanser, because this morning’s acne outbreak is ridiculous. Even normally, however, I have to fight to keep this under control. I’m never going to look my age, am I…?
I guess I truly am staying young in some fashion… other than just mentally, that is. (“Right now, I’m five.” “Oh, really.” “YES.”)
