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

Dr Doolittles pushmi-pullyu llama daddy

Remember the movie with Rex Harrison doing the adaptation of that great kids book "Dr. Doolittle", the doctor who could talk to animals (by Hugh Lofting)?  And remember in that movie the push me pull you llama? The two headed llama with one head on each end?  I think there was a line in the movie in which they said it has trouble knowing which way it is going because one head wants to go this way, and the other a different direction.    

Right now, it is similar for me. I dont know which way I am going, forward or backward.  I keep trying to push myself forward, but something just keeps pulling me backward and I dont know if I am getting worse or better. Obviously going forward is better and getting pulled back is worse. 

A couple examples.  

I went with the family last weekend to the small cabin my wife is renting up in the mountains.  It went very well except I did not swim as much as I should have. I regret that.   But at any rate, it was fine, I swam with one daughter later on and bought them lots of whatever drinks and the floating mattress.  It was a fine sunny day. And also the next day was very nice.  We worked on building a stone bridge to cross a small stream. The girls had been working on it on a different weekend too. My older daughter loves that. I helped a little. I got a big rock here and there.  The water was so so cold but I stood in it and worked and even got used to it.  Like the opposite of a hot yoga.  A cold cold stream yoga.  Point being that both days were nice family days where I was there and welcomed and everybody was together happily.  Hot days.  

This weekend I am alone again.  I dont know what happened.  Well I knew for many weeks that my daughters were going on a canoeing trip. But I didnt know at all that my wife was going too. I thought we would have a couple weekend together.  But here I am Saturday night, alone, trying to get things done.  How DIDNT I know that my wife was going with them?  A simple calendar with the date and who was going would have worked. Why dont I have a calendar? What is pushing me NOT to hang up a calendar that we can use to write down activites and who is going where?  

Number 2. All during lockdown, I made a list for myself of important things I had to get done.  And I worked dilligently on them.  Even after my job opened up again in May I worked with the list. I plodded along and did accomplish.  So why now do things start to fall apart? I have to finish the last two things from that list. I have to follow up on them and do the last step organizing them. Instead I go back to my procrastination ways and stutter and dont get to them and DONT GET THEM DONE.   What gives? What is there inside my body that holds me back and perhaps scares me to accomplish them?  Some sort of freaky anxiety?  

Well, it isnt to say that I was doing nothing.  I got new goods practically every day this last week and I had to count them, write them down on the computer as new items etc.  Some goods came Friday and it was a lot and I got it all done on Friday and Saturday.  BUT, I didnt get to those other things that I have to finish.  One is getting a new computer. I have to send back some specs of what I need or some picutres.  Why dont I?  It has to be in the DNA.  The irrational, anxiety DNA or the fight or flight DNA in which getting things done would be the fight and running away and not doing them would be the flight. Flight seems to be happening.  I believe in the DNA composition of people more and more these years.  

I made progress during lockdown with some things i have been wanting to do for many years now:  a) I Nearly finished one of my books and b) I started practicing again and playing jazz violin.  

unfortunately not me

This weekend I thought I would practice Friday night. I didnt. Saturday morning. I didnt. I DID finally practice 30 minutes on Saturday night.  Sunday. Sunday I will practice more.  Will I?  

One recent weekend I was alone. I wrote for two days on my novel and got a good ways to the finish.  I mean I was surprised I got that far and there isnt much left to do.  I can get it done.  I can get it done..I keep saying.  Several weeks later and no more progress.  Nothing more.  

If you want to accomplish and move forward, you really have to do it every day. Even a small amount, but you have to schedule time nearly every day. I just cant push myself to do it like that.  It is such a push and pull. Some force has taken over in my body and is dragging it backward while I try to push my self forward.  Who is it? Get out. Rewire my brain. Fight it.  Dont flight from it.  

There are many many more examples I could give, but suffice to say it seems to be seeping into all parts of my life.   its all too much.  Such a push and pull that has me standing in place when the day, the week, the month is over.  Oh so tired from just standing in place because of the extreme push and pull.  

I dont know what the answer is.  Some people know how to push themselves forward, all the time, or maybe they just have better DNA.   Some people go forward too fast and hurt other people in the process.  Not me.  I stay in place very quickly and hurt myself and others in this manner. Its not fun getting so tired not getting anywhere fast. 

I can definitely say that Dr. Doolittles push me pull you llama exists. It exists inside of me.  Maybe it exists inside of you too? Isnt it awful?  

While writing I listened to my favorite Jazz violinist. I just "re bought" one of his albums.  Jean Luc Ponty.  I bought Civilized Evil.  

Steve Jobs in Hell : Dad against mobile (cell) phones and gadgets part II

 

photo creation Antoine Geiger

I am going to start out with a hyperbolic rant:  Mobile phones suck.  They make parenting no fun and ruin a lot of things. (Like all these people looking at their mobile phones in a museum. W.T.F.? 

This just finished weekend as anecdotal evidence.  I had to get up "early"  to play Monopoly.  Well, ok, I told my girls "dont wake me up before 9am because i need some good sleep". I just got my first shot of Moderna vaccination this last week and it tired me out and gave me such a pain in my arm that I had to take off my Saturday work and rest.  So sleep till 9am.  And dont get me wrong, I absolutely love playing Monopoly with my daughters.  I think it is one of the best things to do with kids inside the house.  But having the bed covers pulled off of me dampens my enthusiasm.   

But what does my older daughter start to do after we had started playing?  She starts watching her mobile phone.  During Monopoly.  She watches in between her turns.  This made me angry.   She said it was only going to be for 55 minutes as she wanted to watch the boards of Formula 1 racing.  Ach du Lieber.  I said she couldnt do that, she had to concentrate on one thing and that was all of us playing Parker Brothers Monopoly.  

She said, then she wouldnt play.  She had me. I was going to say, "ok, just me and my other daughter will play" but then I thought, oh, its better to have her play while glancing at her mobile instead of totally lying on the couch and just watching her mobile phone and doing nothing else.  So I let her.  Very reluctantly.  

But then since her sister got to watch her mobile when it wasnt her turn, my younger daugther got the ipad and started playing brawl video game in between her turns.  This made me angrier, but all she said was, "if she gets to look at her mobile, I get to play on the ipad."  It was quickly becoming no fun.  In fact they wanted to go to jail and stay there for three turns just so they could watch F1 or play video games in between.  It just wasnt fun for me, but I continued. I would rather have been doing something else myself, like doing the dishes, or making a tea.   The only good thing about it, was my younger daughter never looked at the board so when we landed on her properties we didnt say anything and didnt pay and she lost a lot of money not paying attention.  You do realize the unwritten rule is that if a property owner doesnt notice that another  person is on the property then the other person doesnt have to pay once they have left the property.   It doesnt matter though, she will probably end up winning anyway.  

Can you believe that?  Wanting to stay in jail, just you can play video games while you are in jail?   Ferocious.  

The electronic gadgets are a continual source of friction between us the parents and the kids in this household, AS I have a feeling they are across much of the world in many many millions of households.  I hate Steve Jobs.  People say he was a genius.  I say he has wrecked more homes and made parenting THAT much harder in our modern life.  Tim Cook doesnt have any kids so he probably doesnt know or give a damn either.   A curse on both of them. I hope Steve Jobs is wallowing around in the black tars of Hell being whipped with fire all day by red devils. I love to imagine his screams coming from Hell.   "But but but, how can you do this to me? I invented the iphone."  "Exactly," says the red devil and continues whipping him with a sea of fire.  Maybe even Johnny Cash is doing the whipping.  (Then they ll burn burn burn, in the sea of fire, in the sea of fire)

There really isnt a day that goes by that we dont have to yell at them or control their use of the cell phones.  I mean, the logical person will say, well limit their time on the gadgets.  Sure.  But the thing is a. you can say ok, an hour of TV a day, 2 hours of video games a day, but they are both on the same gadget, so the kids can just say, " I have half an hour left of my TV time" and continue playing video games in actuality.  b. They often have to do homework on the gadgets, so if you will yell at them they will yell back, "Im doing my homework".  And then what are going to do? Sit over them and watch while they do their homework.  You cant turn the internet off because then they cant do their homework.  Or my wife is also using a gadget to do some business work.  It just gets very complicated to limit the gadgets or turn them off.  Although I have done that in the past when my wife wasnt at home.  Then I would have to do other things too.  But it is worth it to me that they are limited in their time.  If there is a way of blocking or limiting ALL TV you tube and video games while still allowing them to use the gadget to do their homework, I would be interested in this.  

As it stands now, it is a continual battle of parents against the gadgets.  And if you tell them no TV or games, well then they yell at you, " I am listening to music, I am listening to spotify".  And well, is that one so terrible?  Difficult.  Difficult  Or else my daughter has told me, "I am watching National Geographic tv channel"  and what are you going to do? Turn that one off too?  She has me by the neck I tell you.  I really wish she would put it down and take up reading again.  I yelled at her to do that today and she read her Simpsons comic book for ten minutes.  Ach mein Gott.  

In the end, I just have to deal with the conflict.  I guess it is part of the modern family.  No beating or whipping, but yelling to stop playing video games.  And push my younger daughter to stop watching her sit coms on the cell phone.  Oy.  

Well all I can hope for is the eternal damnation of Steve Jobs.  

"And this one is for ruining Max s weekend Monopoly game with his daughter, Jobs"                                      "Ahhhhhhhhh".   

I didnt listen to anything while I was writing this one.  I wanted perfect concentration.