SANTA aint allowed around here no more, if....

 

Well that wonderful time of year which never really is so wonderful has finished once again. Or at least we are into the second half of it past the gift giving and complaining and the usual Christmas tantrum past that to New Years Eve.  Thank goodness.  Although I do love the Christmas tree. It is lit now and I stop writing and take a look at it. Meanwhile the New Years Eve bombs go off on the street.  

The way it works around here is the daughters write to Santa in December what they want and leave the note on the windowsill.  Santa takes the note off the sill in the night and fulfills or does not fulfill her wishes.  My younger daughter always asks for a bunch of stuff most of which I can fulfill. And she always asks for the usual collection of fruits: grapefruits, oranges, and lemons and any other fruits.  That is nice.  Santa can get together a big box, it looks good under the christmas tree, which is filled with good fruits.  

What all kids should get for Xmas

My other daughter usually asks for a number of high ticket things which if we manage one it might be a small class miracle. And I am not talking about wishes for world peace either.  She usually asks for bicycles and ponies, and now for skiis, a snow board and on and on.  

But this year she asked for just one thing from Santa:  a Nintendo Switch.  Just that.  OMFG.  

See, if you have been following me over the year or two during the pandemic, I have been complaining every so often every third or fourth post about my daughters watching time on her telephone. Or rather her over watching time.  First it was her playing too much DURING school and not even paying attention during school in progress. Well it wasnt stated explicitly in that post maybe but duing that time I was very frustrated with their "combination" of playing on their gadget at the same time school was in progress.   And then about Steve Jobs and in general how iphones SUCK.

  Life used to be good before Iphones and general smart phones took over the world.  Now the world just plain sucks.  Oh and what about playing time on phones?  Now that is racheted up and encouraged by Roblox (tm or C or whatever) to block up as many daily hours of your loved ones starting from the age of five.  2.56 hours on Roblox, an hour or two on tv, maybe more, AND or while doing both, listening to the radio on the phone, but extra time too... say 6 hours a day looking at that demon dingy gadget.  That just is disgusting.  

So now, picture it, fathom it, get your mind around this!: my daughter is going to ask Santa for a box so she can spend another 2 to three hours watching and playing on the screen???  And that is the one thing she asked Santa to get!??

Well, I am sorry Santa but if you come around here showing your face with that Nintendo Switch my daughter asked for, or with any playstation or xbox or by any other name, the cookies and the milk will not be on the table, nor carrots for the reindeer, not even a pick me up for Rudolf's nose.  Santa dearie, you will NOT BE ALLOWED AROUND HERE NO MO'  

Well as it was my daughter did not get the nintendo or any other brand. She DID get this good quality speaker (I dont want to say the brand because I dont  do any brand promoting, but brand demoting, no problem) which can hook up to your cell phone and play your music through a quality speaker.  It cost a pretty penny but .. it was okayed by me.  

As a result, Santa is not on my shitlist.  He is welcome here next year

Happy new year to everybody and a better year to come for 2022.  In my next blog I will be telling you how I know it is getting back to normal.  

Just finished reading this ridiculously long, overly long book by Tomas Pynchon.  Now I have read three of his books. Although sometimes I think I read one three times.  And I was listening to a lot of music, including this old CD I want to sell.  

Dad thinking about Dad and thinking about future Dad

a book by my father

 I have reached an age where I am the same age as my father was as I came into "being able to remember".  

I tried to make that sound less confusing, but anyway I write it, it still does. I have to explain it. 

In my opinion my memories which are solid and not slippery came into being when I was about ten years old, like third or fourth grade, and especially fifth grade.  When I was that age my father was X years old.  Now I am that same "X" age that my father was when I was 10.  

Why is this interesting?

Because I think I can finally feel or have an inkling of how my father felt when he was this age.  Now when I look a certain way, I suddenly think, "Oh, yeah, my father used to make that face. I think he was feeling or thinking the same way I do now."  Or, "yes, my father used to have the same reaction to this situation, I bet he was feeling the same way I am now." 

Its funny because I will always be my father's son, but in a way, by this age, I have become his peer a little bit.  More as if we were brothers who acted or thought similarly.  In this manner I feel a stronger kinship with my father even if he has passed on. 

One more example.  My father used to be very quiet on questions.  But I think I get it now. He wasnt so much as quiet as just thinking about it and turning it over in his head.  I take time to answer questions too. People think I havent heard because I dont answer right away, but I am just thinking.  It isnt a snap process.  

Beloved jeans

Or my "love" of old clothes.  My wife hates my old clothes. She says I look like a homeless person and throw them away they make me look terrible.  I like to wear them because a) they are comfortable and nostalgic for me making me feel more at ease and b) I dont like the throw away culture.  Things should last. We shouldnt just throw them away because they have a hole in them or are out of style.  My father was the same way on at least one account.  He didnt like to throw things away. He didnt like that throwaway consumerism.  But ... maybe, I think, he also felt comfortable in his old clothes. I couldnt tell that they were out of style. I dont think my father ever wore anything that was in style.  But maybe they had been in style when he had bought them, but were out when he was still wearing them x years later.   I guess he never looked like a homeless person though. I always thought he looked well dressed, well, like a professor, who, walked a lot. Which he was. His pants werent faded or dirty.  Now, since the 70s, its been a jeans culture and I guess when jeans fade they look like homeless clothes and dirty.

My Fathers hat.  

  Do professors wear faded jeans these days?  

So, times change, but our feelings are passed on from generation to generation.  Maybe.  

Now both my daughters are at an age where they will have "solid" memories.  Now is when I better watch my self and give good impressions and try to build my legacy.  

Speaking of legacy, how will my daughters think of me in the future?  When they reach the age I am now, will they have epiphanies and say, "Oh, yeah, that is probably what Dad was thinking."  Or, "Oh boy, I thought he was being mean, not letting me stay out so late, but in fact he was pretty nice and lenient letting me stay out at all considering it was dark from 5pm and I was only 13 years old."  Maybe I will be redeemed and an aura of good will from them will be emitted and maybe wash over me.  

I hope I will still be alive to see the day and feel the new good vibe. 

 

I listened to this full cd just before I started writing. Its a couple decades old. 

Of course the Talking Heads.  But a special version. I think this one is pretty hard to get.  It isnt bootleg, but it was discontinued as it wasnt "sanctified".  I guess it is just about the same as "stop making sense" the movie and accompanying CD.  This one has 5 more songs.  

 

How we grow up fighting our siblings. part 2

 

Exactly five years ago on November 8th I wrote a post on my daughters "discovering" fighting with each other.  On Nov8 2016 I wrote this post.  

My younger daughter was 5 years old at the time and older daughter 8.  It seems amazing that they started fighting with each other at such a young age.  

I ask myself now how did it start at such a young pure age?   In the post listed above, I just noted mostly that it was fun  for me  to fight.  That is why  I dismissed it and tried not to take sides when my daughters began fighting.  Now I am wondering if there is not in fact something darker and negative. 

At the same time in the past five years my relation with a sibling has not always been pleasant on contact with emails. 

This is what happened.  It was in 2016 that I wrote that post. In the meantime Donald Trump came in and spent four years in the white house.  The atmosphere on social networks became much nastier.  In fact my emails with my sibling became or usually ended up combatitive.  I guess it was happening all the time, or in fact I had more discussions and they always left me angry and with bad adrenaline.  Mostly it seemed to me that they just wanted to beat me in the discussion and they had no intention of agreeing with me or saying yes that is correct,  agreeing or being diplomatic.  It just seemed like, well, a gladiator tournament.  

I grew very tired of these "discussions" and tried to stay away.  But of course you cant help writing an email once in a while.  But they all ended the same.  

You know, the "weird" thing is both my parents seemed to stay away from their siblings while they

were bringing up kids.  It was only after their kids had grown up that they got back together and started talking or visiting their siblings.  My father had a fight with his brother because his brother worked for a tobacco company and was trying to prove smoking tobacco was safe.  Yup, that was my Uncle. .  My Mother and her sister didnt have much contact during their mid life adult years but were great friends after  retirement.    

I said in my post that I just liked teasing my one sister.  But I havent spoken to her now in 10 years besides for one zoom meeting.  I guess 2008 was the last meeting. Granted we dont really live that close to each other, in fact half way around the world from each other.   

Now I see my daughters fighting harder.  The younger one really will get into it and start huffing and puffing away.  Sometimes the older one gets out of control and gets really angry and starts lashing out, quite a lot.  .... It seems like it is more intense these days.  

Is there some sort of pattern happening?  

Maybe they are getting older (well, 13 and 10, still not adults) and what is developing is a long term relationship which will be in fact an anti relationship. They will not be in touch their whole adult lives.  Is there a pattern?   Is there something I can do? Or do I just have to let the river run its course? We dont get to choose who our siblings are.  

Its my younger sister's birthday on November 9th.  Maybe I

should send an email and say something nice.  Maybe I was a jerk to her when I was a small kid. I just liked to tease her and fight good naturedly.

I couldnt listen to this while I was writing, but I listened before and after writing. It was too violent to listen while i was writing.  But a very hardcore intense album this one. Much harder than the others, I think.  

 I had to listen to music without singing.  So I opted for some Luke Slater.   

Our ingredients for a wonderful summer

 HI,

Basically I am writing my blog and my posts as a memoir for myself and perhaps my kids.  It is like a journal of me interacting with my kids.  A diary.  It is mostly for me, but I write it in a blog so it is public.  If there are 5 or 10 or 1000 people interested, whatever, that is fine.  But I have to tell you I am not writing it for you, I am writing it for me.  If you find it interesting, then I am very happy, but if no one reads it besides myself and three people, I dont really care.  Or I should be polite and say, that is also ok.  

The reason I mention this now is actually because this will be the first time I have thought about it.  I started thinkng about it because I knew I was going to write a post which really was probably not going to be interesting for anybody.  But then I thought, well does it have to be?  A lot of what I write here is probably boring or not intersting for people, this one wont be much different.  But all the same, I thought I should write a warning before this post. Then I thought I should write a whole forword and explain.  So... there it was and here it is

Our main ingredients for a happy summer  

Spider Lake and Greilick Road.  I have been going there all my life, every summer. I missed the summer of 2020 so that is why we really had to go in 2021.  Despite the pandemic (it was getting better when I booked, but then was getting worse when we went) this is what I and now my daughters love.  I guess it is not impossible to fall in love with a place.  I have.  Now my daughters love it too.  I cant really say what is so spectacular about the lake.  It is big enough and not too big.  It is getting more boats now, that is true.  A bit busier than when I was growing up on it.  But in my opinion it is just as beautiful as any body of water in the smaller lakes category.  It can compete and win against any New Hampshire, Minnesota, or Northeast state lake.  I guess water has always attracted me.  Sun shining off the water is very beautiful.  The sparkle is magical.  But Spider Lake is even more magical. It has some magnet effect. 

1

We used to stay here (1) now we have to stay here.(2) A kind of very sad change that happened in 2018, but I guess it had to happen, maybe, maybe not, and at least we are still on Greilick Road very close to the old location and still in the neighborhood and on the lake.  But even sadder for me, as place 1 is where I grew up and my daughters started out there too.  Now it isnt ours anymore in a sudden change.  But....

2

 Then there is swimming.  Naturally in the lake I showed you in the picture above.  I guess these days the recipe calls for swimming at the island pictured below. It has the best swimmng area. It is very sandy and has a big area to swim in.  The problem is, that many other people believe the same.  So on the weekend it is too crowded to swim or we have to wait.  During the week it is fine.  

Michigan corn.  Sometimes we get to our vacation too early to get a lot of corn.  And then I have to cook more suppers, which is not good as I have a limited repertoire.  But this last summer it was August and the corn was in full swing.  We ate it nearly every day or every other day.  And Michigan corn is the best.  Sorry, nothing else comes close.   I know everyone will say their corn is the best, but, all I can say is you are wrong.  Ok, no sense to argue.  Corn on the cob is an integral ingredient for a wonderful summer.  This last summer 2021 it played a big role.  

The thing we do eat EVERY day even more than corn is really bad.  I guess it is my secret enjoyable sin.  Well, in fact it cant be mine because I never get any. My daughters love it even more than I , so I never get any. I have to make myself a regular sandwich lunch and they give me a couple spoonfuls which I was grateful for. Besides I knew it was nt so good for me, especially to eat every day, so a couple spoons was good enough.  And yes I realize I am a bad parent, but a good parent, for letting my daughters eat this awful(ly) bad/delicious food.  It is our favorite. We cant get it during the year.  So, it is a summer thing.  It is part of the summer ingredients.  Here it is.  

Then there are a couple other ingredients.   The best pizza restaurant in this section of the world.  That is another thing people are very patriotic about. Everyone will tell you the best pizza is made in.... Chicago, Ann Arbor, Tulsa Oklahoma.  I wont argue with these people because I do realize in this case that. well, yes there are good pizza restaurants in all parts of the U... world even and each person has his good memories and his idea of what is a good pizza.  But here is ours.  Best around.  Go there if you get up to these parts.  We always get it two or three times in the summer vacation.  Peegeos pizza is the best you can get around here.  And that is very good. 

Then there are assorted other things.  A couple other fast food joints that we go to like a tradition.  I have put up pictures of Bryant Park on Lake Michigan a couple times and it is a necessary ingredient for the summer vacation.  A new event as a result of the pandemic, since most of the restaurants were on lockdown still this last summer we had to get carry out from the restaurant and then eat it on a picnic table in front of the bay.  I have to say was a very pleasurable experience, especially on a sunny day. So maybe we will do that again next year.  Also the museum on the Northeastern Michigan campus we go to every year.  It has a great hands on learning room, which hasnt changed much in 5 years or more, but is still always enjoyable.  

There is one last thing that I must mention.  That is the local branch of the public library system.  The East Bay Township branch.  They have been an integral part of many of our summers, at least since the kids could read.  The staff has always been the nicest and they remember us every year even though we just come in the summer.  Especially nice are the extracurricular events they organize there, especially on Saturdays.  We have painted rocks, made colorful pom poms, watched old short animated films and of course gotten out ten books a shot.  Hats off to the wonderful people who work there.  You have to stop and pay respect to the "peripheral" people in your life who help make the whole life picture much nicer and better.  The library crew at East Bay township branch, well always wonderful and as a result an integral part of a great summer vacation.  

I listened to so many tracks while I was writing this that I am just going to end with a picture of the library instead of my usual recommendation of music I have or will get.  

Thanks for reading and maybe even enjoying.  Leave a message

Max 

Summer is usually wonderful. Well, duh.

 Its October now, but I still have summer on my mind.  And I am still going to write about summer. Summer is keeping it chilled. Getting a lot of sleep. Not stressing about how we look to others. Diminishing anxiety and stress.  Doing what we feel comfortable doing but being healthier too. 

In the summer everything is kinder. In October my daughters and I are still playing monopoly at least two games a week. But I had to stop one game in the middle because my daughters started fighting and then wrecking the board and getting vicious.  My temper line was crossed and I spit fire like a dragon at them and told them to go read.  Game over.  

In summer we never had fights like that.  We had one fight because a friend of one daughter came to visit and of course the other daughter who doesnt have a friend got jealous and started to provoke.  But we would go back to Monopoly every night even when the friend was there and play till 11 ot 11.30 pm

Now, we have to look at the clock and try to finish the round at 9.55. (oh come on dad, one more round, its not ten o clock yet).  I want them to get as much sleep as possible on school days, and I wish it could be 9 hours.  But it hasnt been hitting that.  Only on the weekends.  In the summer I didnt really care how long they slept.  In fact the more the better. I think our whole family is a late to bed late to rise family, so.... no point to resist. If we are awake at midnight and sleeping at 9 am, we dont have to get up to feed the farm animals.  

I DID always
get up and go rowing on the lake. I would come back and they were getting up, slowly.  No worries man. They were getting over 9 hours of sleep, 9 and a half.  More and better development for their brain with more sleep.  Overall good for the development of their tween and teenage selves.  

Speaking of development of their selves.  Have you heard of the studies out now that Instagram is bad for teenage kids and their image? I would guess that most kids try to look as beautiful as possible, "Look at me, arent I the most beautifulest?" And the other kids who cant live up to the beauty get depressed and get a negative image of themselves. Here is an article written by a teenager which sums it up the best  So, in the summer, my oldest daughter didnt have her telephone with her so she couldnt do IG or FB or those other social sites.  I didnt have to keep her from messing around  on her sites and wasting time indoors when she should have been outside.  That was much nicer.  I was spared the mental anguish of having to deal with that. You can look at all my

A Devil where his soul should be

posts and see how many ISSUES I have with gadgets.  

During the year it is always a struggle to keep her away and at a maximum of an hour a day watching or messing around on her telephone, usually playing games. She is an addicted gamester.   

At our summer place, she didnt have it. We swam and played monopoly and did a couple outings but nothing big.  

Speaking of outings, my wife organizes the outings, the big walks, the hikes, the travels. I am not so good at it.  But I think we compliment each other. So in the first half of the summer my daughters had big hikes and outings.  When they went on vacation with me, we had lots of monopoly games and an outing was a trip to the grocery store to buy food for the next couple days.  But one daughter is not a fan of big hikes, so she was relaxed and chilled on our vacation.  

Sleeping is a family activity

We did what we wanted.  A little bit more. I tried to keep the anxiety to a minimum which for me is very difficult because I get anxiety attacks having to get up in the morning. And driving is a major stress creator.  But I TRIED to keep my stress down.  For all of us. And ... to some extent .... it worked.  

Summer is nice. Summer is usually wonderful.   Our problems and anxieties melted and were buried in  the sand for a couple weeks.  

I have been listening to the echocord label.  Just discovered.  Techno dub.  Ohhhhhh great stuff.  

Comng out soon a triple lp collection to recognize their twentieth year.  I ll be ordering that!

Daddy 40 per cent at home turns into DAD 40 per cent at home

Does this guy look like a daddy or A DAD?

I could just about tell you the exact day when my moniker changed from Daddy to DAD.  It was after we got to our summer vacation destination in the US.  I have to ask my older daughter again how she came about calling me Dad instead of Daddy. She had some long reply.  Suffice to say that I guess it happens at some point in the life of the kids when they realize that "daddy" is kind of a moniker used by littler tots and think that "Dad" is more mature and adult like. 

So, I think we were swimming in the lake and she called me "Dad".  I had to turn my head.  It confused me and it sounded strange.  To tell you the truth, I didnt like it. I have been used to "daddy" all these years.  "Dad" is going to take some time to get used to.  Nearly 13 years I heard "daddy".  Now I have to           respond to "dad".  

I dont know.  I liked "daddy".  "Dad" sounds like it should be used by my adult daughter who is calling me up on the phone and saying "hi dad, I had to call...etc etc".  Or "Dad, I¨m writing to you because etc etc ..."  Or "Dad, can you call Mom".  Those are ok.  But just "dad" out in the lake or when we are right near each other... it is weird to me.  I guess maybe because it sounds more like she is an adult and not a kid anymore and she  cant call me "daddy". End of her childhood?  It just sounds strange and I still dont like it. 

But it doesnt end there.  

Pretty much the next day or maybe the next day after, my younger daughter also started to call me "Dad".  Wait a sec.  She is still small. She just turned 10 last week from this writing. At the time she was still 9.  When my older daughter was 9 there was no way she was going to call me "dad". She was still a young girl. I guess she thought she was old and I thought she was old when she was 10, I remember her tenth birthday quite well, but... no... she was still young.  

So, how is it that my younger 9 year old can start to call me "dad"?  I asked her.

I said she was just copying her older sister and didnt want to call me "daddy" because her older sister was using the "proper" adult form.  Not to be left behind by her.  She didnt agree to that opinion. She said, it was true she heard her sister calling me "dad" but then she seemed to repeat the "name" "dad" in her mind and decided it sounded better too and started to call me that.  

You know what? I dont like either of them calling me "dad".  I want to be "daddy".  

Now it is September and, well, Dad is the name that has taken over. No more "daddys".   The problem is, it is about a month after that original "daddy" to "dad" change and I STILL have not gotten used to "dad".  No, I have not.  

So, I am not sure what comes next. I guess I just have to get used to it. I can ask them to start calling me daddy again, but I think either they will refuse or they will feel really weird doing that. I dont think they will do it, or will do it a couple times and then revert.  

I guess... I guess I just have to get used to it and realize that I am now a DAD.  

But wait.  Why do they still call Mommy "mommy"? 

I bought the re released Emerson Lake and Palmer Cds today.  All 4 four of them. 

Tarkus is probably the best.  In my opinion.  Very powerful.    

 

Traveling is Hell. Getting to summer vacation part 1 during covid second summer

You know what? Traveling sucks. And if it is bad for me, imagine what it is like for kids. Boats, buses, cars and ESPECIALLY Planes. You know I have to call a warning out and tell people, DONT travel through O Hare airport in Chicago. This is the most unfriendly family airport or even place that I have ever been to. I dont understand why these airports just want to be bigger and bigger when becoming bigger just makes them suck more and makes people try to avoid them. Top Three airports to avoid when travelling: Heathrow in London. Terrible lines, no clue. JFK in New York. Dont know how to get from one point to another and sometimes you have to go to a completely different airport. Number one : O Hare airport in Chicago.

  Ok, to their "benefit" it happened to be one of the first days of the Afghan collapse and Chicago had many extra travellers from Afghanistan. But looking around, I think this influx accounted for about 10 per cent more. Not a whole lot more, some more, but by far not the most. The real problem was frankly that there were a lot more people traveling and they were unprepared for them at customs. But cmon, how long have they been in existence? I mean I can only give them the benefit of the doubt again that maybe they thought there wouldnt be any travellers because of covid. But they should have seen it building and been reading the news. It isnt rocket science. They needed more customs checkout counters. It was probably that simple.

Really, what airport treats the customers like this besides Tel Aviv airport that makes the incoming from overseas flight stand in a line that snakes around and around for maybe 2 kilometers or a mile. Seriously. If you had seen it. And this was pure terrorism to make people stand in this line, let alone kids. O Hare has been consistently bad rating in the top ten of long wait at customs, for many years as noted from this picture and accompanying article from 2013. 

 Which comes to my real beef as a daddy with young kids. There were no separate lines for families with kids. Are they that stupid to not make any accommodations? They think a 2 to 10 old can wait in a line for more than two hours. But seriously, they just did not care. That is the only explanation I can think of. That all people are equal and all people had to wait equally. That may work for adults, but not for kids. No, kids are not equal and cannot wait patiently in a line like adults. But the line checker had no mercy. She just made sure you were waiting patiently and told you which way to go and "sorry, no this is the only line". It is just cruelty to make kids under 10 wait in this line. Not to mention that most of the people were coming off overseas flights of at least more than 5 hours if not 9-12 hours. AND THEN they have to wait in line more? Cmon come on come on. What is that? I ll tell you what that is, cruel and unusual punishment.

 But on top of that, my youngest daughter, not yet 10 years old when this happened (august 10th 2021)

gets motion sickness. So she was throwing up every hour. She couldnt stand. She needed fresh air. The air in the airport is sanitized hospital air, she needed to get out and breathe outside air. BUT NOOOOOO. We had to go through customs first. Sure fine, everyone coming from another country overseas has to go through customs. But for the tenth time, give us a special line for us parents with kids. Or have a health line overseer who should help people or kids under stress. When we were still a kilometer away from the customs booths we could have used someone to help my daughter out just to get some fresh air. For lords sake, they had no garbage pails anywhere there (which I understand a little, they dont want terrorists throwing stuff in them... uh??? Maybe? ) so I had to carry my daughters throw up around for an hour before i just set it down in a corner.

 

This stuff really works

The result was that we missed our next plane that was going to get us to our final destination. This is not the carriers fault. This is quite plainly the airports fault. They should have given me a voucher, and for the Hilton on airport premises, straight out. Not the airline carrier. But it was up to me to try to get re imbursed for a hotel to sleep in for 8 hours. Oh my goodness, it was a nightmare of lines and waiting and throw up. I needed a vacation just from the travel to my vacation. But I have to say, it has been like that more and more in the past ten years. But even worse was this ordeal at O Hare airport. It wasnt weather. It was their terrorist activities towards travellers. It was their short sightedness on the number of customs officers they needed. It was their problem because hopefully now fewer people will go through Chicago. I definitely will never go through there again. Detroit is much much better. The lady in front of me in the line, said, "yeah its O Hare, you have to expect it might take three hours". This is not right, and they dont try to get better??

Ladies and gentlemen, AVOID O HARE AIRPORT. Especially if you have kids. The kids may very well die waiting in the lines at Chicago. This is the truth. And because of it, the carriers using Chicago as a hub.... I hope you have worse business because people dont want to go through Chicago. I know I never will go through Chicago. And if your carrier MUST go through Chicago then I dont think I will be travelling with you anymore. 

AND I AINT NEVER.... 

GOING BACK..... 

TO O HARE

AIRRRRRR PORT

13 Candles. But not so much about 13 candles. But good name.

 Pre boarding.  Get everything prepared.  Vacation time coming up. 

My oldest daughter got her first vaccine shot against covid.  They had to come back to the city where I was off  from work that day.  They stayed for two hours before they left again for their holiday.  I was happy to have a lunch with the family, but sadly surprised that they left again after less than two hours.  Anyway, the point being that while they were home, my wife says to me, "Be patient when you take the girls on vacation.  Your older daughter can be very nasty or moody or both and you have to be patient."   

Well, ok. I guess so.  I think of myself as a very patient person. Um.  Well there are times when it snaps. It can snap and then it is dangerous.  Then I am not patient.  I am not.  

The whole problem might stem from the fact that this month my older daughter will turn 13.  Teens. 

I have dreaded this time for several years. I keep asking other parents who had kids who are past their teens, "How was it?"  "How did you survive?" One student said that his older son was the worst between 15 and 17.  Now he is 18 and better. The father says, well he is 18, he can do what he wants this summer.  The problem with me is my daughter is 13 and she CAN NOT do what she wants, although she very much wants to do what she wants to do.  

I think the worst thing is the very unpopular  mobile phones.  I dont know if it is just my daughter or more likely every child in the world from Africa to America to Asia who owns a cell phone. I have written several posts in the past on my disdain for smart phones.  They may have advantages, but for me, maybe for many parents..  they are not a godsend Steve Jobs. So stop portrying him as a genius. He was a jerk in my book. But, I have also written about that in another post. 

Anxiety and stress personified, or alienized

So here I am. Not quite ready for the vacation and not just a little bit full of anxiety, but FILLED with anxiety because not only do I have to move and travel half way around the world but I have to fly with a mask on for 15 hours (I can do that, and so can my kids) into a country which is not doing so well with the covid disease, though granted it is centered in a couple places and actually isnt as bad where I am going, but it is rising all over, and my Mother didnt want us to go and is angry AND I havent even finished planning the trip.  There. How was that for a sentence?   (As Pee wee Herman used to say, "I meant to do that")

In the midst of this my wife says to me, "Be patient with your daughters. They might get you down with their fighting and complaints, especially your older daughter".   Weeeelllllll.  

  I have been worrying about dealing with my daughter becoming a teen ager a since she was 10.   Then when it comes I can say, hey, she is a bit obnoxious, but not so bad.  The same as usual. She isnt so bad.  Just that D... telephone is terrible.  But same as usual.  Maybe.  

So, next week we make a big travel.  We had to go this year. Even though my mother got terribly angry and said "no" at first.  We have to go to our usual vacation spot.  All three of us love it there in the summer.  And I think it is important to develop the tradition for the kids growing up so they can look back at the tradition with fondness and it makes them happier and stronger in later life. I think. I loved it, now they love it. So, next week at this time we should be on vacation.  I cant say I am looking forward to it as I am a pre travel panicker. I dont often look forward to making a trip.  It s not my fault. Its in my DNA.  But.... we got to do it. 

So, excuse me, now I have to finish organizing the trip and hopefully still be able to book a hotel or motel or air bnb or something for a couple days lacking.  Yup.  In the midst of our vacation my older daughter will become a teenager.   If we are still there, we will get a pizza I think.  

Hope you all are having a nice summer vacation.  Enjoy it, but please for goodness sake take pre cautions.  Is it so bad to have to wear a mask?  By the way, if you visit me in my store, you have to be wearing a mask.  Government orders.  Look, 97 per cent of the people getting sick are those who have not been vaccinated.  Isnt this telling you something?   

I have to listen to no vocals music when I write usually. I thought this would be a vitriolic post so I put on one of my most favorite jazz meisters, Paul Desmond and then Chaz Bundick.  

 

Summertime blues 2021

 Well, here we are in the middle of summer.  

How it works most years with our family is my wife goes on vacation with our kids for several weeks then I go on vacation with them for several weeks.  My time is usually a big chunk in the middle and she has both ends.  

It didnt quite happen that way this time.  She had one week then they came home and did a summer camp at home for a week. Now the Mommy is on vacation with them for a second of three weeks.  Then I will go on vacation finally with them for three weeks, or close to it.  

We do it this way, well because, the summer is long and we cant both be off the whole summer.  So we have three weeks each and then some summer camp and it goes by.  Not like I am trying to kill time though. I love summers.  I have always loved summers. 

Even last year was nice.  We had summer vacation together which I have to say, was nice, different, but nice. But I dont think we can do it that way all the time. They went on camp for three weeks by themselves.  They didnt like the camp. They didnt want to do it again.  They did a skate camp for a week. They didnt want to do that again either. Well, so.  They didnt. 

Anyway, the point being that now my wife is on vacation with them in the mountains. I am alone all week in the house and go to work every day 11 to 7 pm   And, you know, I really dont like this

Marek D 2017 picture Mumlava Waterfalls

I really miss them. I dont like being alone all night. Sure I am trying to catch up on things and I have to make sure I organize my summer vacation with them, which took several days and I am not done.   But,, I wouldnt like this system to last too long.  

I dont know what single fathers do.  They just go to work and come home and eat dinner and read the paper in bed? Or do they get a new partner right away? Or go out nearly every day of the week?  It has to be boring.  Or maybe they never stop working. They are night owls and just work through the evening?   

I would not like that to happen to me. I go out with a friend or two once a month or so. I guess it would be more if I were a single father. Or I would sit in front of the computer and get more done (supposedly) and read more and write more (supposedly).  But if you read my last post just before this one you would see that I probably wouldnt get so much done. I would probably read more economic articles and think that I was preparing my stock knowledge for some buying or selling on the stock exchange.  But reading comments on articles probably doesnt get me much knowledge.  Or else I would watch more Larry David "Curb Your Enthusiasm" show.  I love that show. I would binge watch all seasons over a month or so and then I would be very lonely again and sad.  

The point being, that I rather like my family. (even more than the Larry David show). I have a bad schedule working from 11am till 7pm in my store.  But before the covid I always had a couple days during the week when I was home all day, thus the daddy 40% moniker.  But when I get home at 7.30, I am hoping that they havent eaten dinner yet and we can all have dinner together. And then one or either of my girls will need my help on some homework, english or math and then we can play some card games, or battle ship.  I mean, this is worth a lot, more than reading stupid comments from trolls on an economic site where many of the members are close minding greedy pigs.  Yeah, definitely worth more.  

A family is worth a lot. I will be going on vacation with them after the first week of August.  It is going to be a bit of a stress because it will be a lot of travelling again.  And Covid is rearing its ugly head again.  We had a little window of opportunity in June and July, but now it is getting worse again.  So, the vacation will be a little risky because of the travelling, but... it just had to happen this year.   

Wish us good luck.  Good vacations, good summers for all.  

Bought myself another Bob Dylan CD last week.   One  of his classics.  Also, I sold the Arkaics to a happy customer today and I have been listening to that every day too.   I watched a video concert by Steady Sun from March 5 2020. Here is the link.  The steady sun has a track on "battle of the bands" on the Wick label which is the same label as the Arkaics.  Good 60s Garage and Pyschadelia.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3WTl3-ZnME&ab_channel=JimMcLain