What I want to write

I'm home with my cold today, sniffling and coughing in private. This means I could be working on my NaNoWriMo novel. Instead, in true champion procrastinator form, I'm posting to my blog.

Part of the problem is that I don't know what I want to write. Chris Baty says, "No Plot? No Problem!" and his kickoff e-mail certainly has me tempted to indulge my inner goofball. But there are a couple of dusty works in progress that I should work on instead.

Aha! Did you see what I said?! I said "should." I owe myself a quarter.

And I think I just unblocked myself. Bye!

Thursday 13

Thirteen Things about Ronnie Exotic places I've visited 1. Mexico 2. Panama 3. Costa Rica 4. Cayman Islands 5. The French Quarter, New Orleans 6. Virgin Islands 7. Bay Islands, Honduras 8. St. Martin/St. Maarten 9. Kauai 10. Lake Powell, Utah 11. The Gulf Coast after a hurricane 12. England (well, it's exotic to me, Schuyler!) 13. LIFE Is Good 2007

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I am...

I'm catching up on my favorite blogs and found this meme over at Ren's place. If you pick up the chain, please put a note and link to your blog in the comments.

You can play by finishing the following sentences about yourself:
aaa

• “I am…”
• “Right now I am in…”
• “Most people do not know that I…”
• “I am passionate about…”
• “Decades from now, when my children think of me, I hope that they remember…”
• “My soul feels warm and I have a big smile when I remember…”
• “If I could go back in time and give one piece of advice to myself when I was 18 years old it would be to…”
• “I think that the most important thing about life is…”

aaa
aaa
Here are my answers:
aaa

• I am suffering from a cold but hanging in there. In the larger sense, I am more happily mySelf with each passing year.
• Right now, I am in a good mood due to the excellence of our Halloween festivities last night. MJ and Chloe were Alice in Wonderland a lá Grace Slick and a beautiful fairy/butterfly, respectively. They very kindly went trick-or-treating out at Grandma's with younger cousins first – 4yo Ella won the Cutest Kid in the World contest – and then roamed our neighborhood with unschooling buds Hunter and Logan (Sherlock Holmes and an employee of the Umbrella Corp., respectively). A most excellent night.
• Most people do not know that I have secrets. Amazing how much you can hide behind a whole lot of talking.
• I am passionate about my kids, my husband, unschooling, doing a good job, writing, family, travel, and fun. Not necessarily in that order.
• Decades from now, when my children think of me, I hope that they remember unconditional support, Christmas mornings, Happy Halloweens, cozy family nights watching Heroes, fun, fun, fun.
• My soul feels warm and I have a big smile when I remember birth days, especially MJ's and Chloe's, but also Megan's, Madison's, Ella's, and Lila's, when I was the coach. Nursing. Dancing at my wedding. Our honeymoon. Our family roadtrip in 2000. Our year with Chiara. Also, see the previous item.
• If I could go back in time and give one piece of advice to myself when I was 18 years old it would be to learn about attachment parenting before MJ was born and never send my kids to school.
• I think that the most important thing about life is nurturing kids and family, plus living it instead of letting it live you.

aaa
aaa
Your turn.

BOO!

NaNoWriMo starts TOMORROW!

Greetings, potential writing buddies!

Are you ready? Well, you'd better be, because the NaNoWriMo fun starts tomorrow!!

If you want to add us as your writing buddies, go here:
Ronnie - hmsdragonfly - http://www.nanowrimo.org/user/203795
Chloe - C.B.Pierce - http://www.nanowrimo.org/user/201352
MJ - coming soon! Check back later.

Still debating? Here's an excerpt from founder Chris Baty's kickoff e-mail. It might just bump you over into Yes.

For those of you who are new to NaNo, I want to quickly run through the noveling schedule for the month ahead.

Step 1: Keep reading this email; learn the secret of NaNoWriMo.
Step 2: Wait for 12:01 AM local time on November 1.
Step 3: Write a novel.

No problem.

Okay, back to Step 1. The secret of NaNoWriMo. Which is this: There is a door in your brain. The door has been there your whole life. You may not have noticed it before because it blends in with everything else in your brain. Weird art. Mismatched furniture. Squishy gray bits clinging to everything.

So what does this door have to do with your novel?

Your job this month is not so much writing a book (which is intimidating) as it is finding that door (which is easy). It's easy because you'll have guides in November who will take you right to it.

These guides are also known as your characters. They're kind of an abstract notion now, but you'll meet them in all their glory in Week One of NaNoWriMo. They'll be a strange lot. Insecure warlocks. Stamp-collecting squirrels. Teenage detectives. Whoever shows up, go with them. And go quickly. You may have a general sense of where you're going together; you may not. It doesn’t matter. Just write your allotment of 1667 words (or more) on November 1. Don't edit any of it. Editing is for December. Then come back and write another 1667 words the next day. And the next. And the next.

By Week Two, you'll be at the door. A few words later, you'll be through it. You'll know you're there because the writing will feel different. Less like work, and more like watching a gloriously imperfect movie with cringe-worthy dialogue, heaps of confusing tangents, and moments of brilliance so delightful that you'll want to scream. Once you've stepped through that door into the vast reaches of your imagination, you'll be able to return there as often as you like. It's an enchanted, intoxicating place, and there are other great things besides novels in there.

What unschooling looked like today

MJ spent most of the day working: my mom hired her to dogsit Angelo for the day. Since this is not an especially labor-intensive task, she also did some reading and movie viewing. She finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, a book we all enthusiastically recommend and which, academically speaking, covers more subjects that I can list. I'm not sure what movies she watched, will update later if I remember to get more details.

The work part of her day involved administering doggie medicines and food and acting as walk companion.

Chloe spent the day visiting unschooling pals Logan, Hunter, and Kyla. Sounds like it was a very physical day, with lots of running around shooting each other with Airsoft guns. (Don't worry, they wear goggles!)

Frank and I had a rare day sans kids. We used part of it to start our Christmas shopping, because we're anticipating a very busy November and December since MJ will have driver's ed three nights a week. Plus driving practice. Oy. Anyway, after shopping, we watched Casablanca.

MJ stayed over at my mom's, but late Saturday night, we went out to pick up Chloe. I'd been feeling headachy on and off all evening, and somehow the round trip out to Snohomish did me in. I had my usual, best-not-discussed-in-public response to a migraine the minute we got home, then put myself right to bed. By morning, I was fine. Very odd; I don't think I've had a migraine since I was 16.

Academic translations (excluding parental activities):
Development of A Sense of Responsibility
Physical education
Socialization
Lesser included subjects: math, history, physics, English, sociology, French, geography, psychology of grief, human anatomy, etc.

An open letter to a former math teacher

Let me introduce you to some wonderful kids.

First, there's Kyla, a 17-year-old whitewater rafting guide. She is also a book lover, so much so that she works part-time at the library and is considering a degree in library science. We don't see as much of her as we'd like, because her social life is very full and Patrick is very cute. She is gracious and friendly and loyal and fun.

Next, there's MJ, who just turned 15 and is eagerly anticipating the start of driver's ed next month. She's a vegetarian animal lover who volunteers twice a week at a horse rescue place; they love her there and have awarded her "rank" over their other volunteers. She's a beautiful writer, has very un-Maier-like penmanship (she can write in italics!), and knows more about music than anybody I know.

14-year-old Logan (aka "The Great God Logan") is a knight-in-training with the SCA. He loves manga and XBox and hanging out with friends. He's writing a comic book, loves horror movies, and wants to teach everybody how to play Magic. He's kind of a picky eater, but we all bow down to his greatness anyway. He flings himself into whatever fun presents itself, and he is always ready to laugh.

Chloe is a creative force and has spent most of her 13 years writing, drawing, telling stories, and imagining. She can talk faster than most of us can listen, has more faith in her little finger than I have in my whole body, and feels the injustices of the world quite keenly. She's something of a loner until she's in the mood to socialize, and then she's an effortlessly sociable creature. Small kids love her, because she hasn't forgotten how to pretend.

Hunter (12) is our athlete. If it involves running, jumping, swimming, batting, throwing, dodging, or shooting, Hunter is your man. He's sensitive and sweet, accepts you as you are, and always tries to be accommodating. Like his big brother, he is a talented gamer and an apprentice knight with the SCA, but he prefers anime to horror movies.

Michelle is also 12. She is passionate about gaming and often carries her DS and games with her in a special purse. She's teaching me Pokemon characters, but I'm a little slow. She is crazy about horses in general and rides a Clydesdale for her lessons. She has firm "self boundaries" and expects them to be respected, loves to talk, loves to win, and loves to drive dad's driving simulator.

These are the kids you had in your wagon at the corn maze last Thursday. These are the kids who couldn't (or perhaps wouldn't) tell you what 8x7 is. These are the kids you quizzed, judged, and criticized, and at the same time ignored.

What do you think you learned about these kids that day? Can you tell me which of them do math for fun? Can you tell me which of them use math every day? Can you tell me which of them score well on standardized math tests? I very much doubt it. You can't judge mathematical competence by a person's ability to do turn-the-crank parlor tricks.

More importantly, can you tell me a single one of them who enjoyed your company that day and wasn't thrilled to have that wagon ride over with? I very much doubt it.

Restaurant review: The Cherry Blossom Grill

Both girls were occupied last night, so Frank and I had a date. We went to the Cherry Blossom Grill for Japanese food. This is a new restaurant in Everett that we discovered last summer when Chiara's favorite sushi place was closed. Now we all like this one better! The decor is pleasant, the prices are good, and the food is very good.

Our favorite thing to get is a bento box combo. You get two entrees, rice, salad, and miso soup, all for the bargain price of $8.99 to $10.99 (depending on the entrees you choose). Last night, Frank had a hefty salmon steak and spicy chicken teriyaki, and I had California rolls and tempura. Very delish, and only $9.99 per person.

Another Cherry Blossom highlight is their wasabi (Japanese horseradish). It's the best we've ever had, creamy and flavorful.

For sushi lovers, we recommend the dragon roll. Excellent presentation!

Anyway, check it out next time you're in town!

Writing for success

I flattened my deadline at work and rolled right into the next project. Ah, the exciting life of a tech writer....

"The next project" is a couple of articles for the Web. I really enjoy writing these, since the product they are for is not documented well and we have never been given time to fix that. These articles help to fill some of the gaps. If you're really short on stuff to do, you can read the "Inventory Management Series" on the Web site that I maintain.

Write of passage

Chloe completed her novel—more than 50,000 words in less than 30 days—about a week ago. She was very pleased and still wears the pride in her own accomplishment gaily. We had a little quickie party to celebrate, complete with champagne—the good stuff!

MJ wanted to know why we hadn't had a party when she finished her novel. Our answer was rather unsatisfactory ("Umm, because we didn't think of it...?"), so we now owe MJ one quickie party.

Both girls and I are still planning to take part in the official National Novel Writing Month starting next week. Join us!

Thanks for your patience!

Still here? I'm impressed! I apologize for my blog neglect. Here are a couple of family reports.

Home alone

While Frank and MJ were gone, Chloe and I had a pretty idyllic stretch of mom-and-daughter time. I was (and am) working a LOT, but we still connected to a delightful degree. When I got home from work in the evenings, we both made a point of settling down to be together. It was great!

She made good use of her days at home alone. She is still working on her NaNoWriMo practice swing and put in some 5000-word days last week. Her total wordcount now is up over 44,000, with four days remaining in her 30.

I made good use of my days, too, putting in a whopping 65 hours of work last week. But enough of that! I'll still have some OT this week, but nothing like that.

One of our bonding experiences was reading Jennifer Crusie's Bet Me aloud together. We LOVED this book, although Chloe—being firmly in writer mode—did perfectly anticipate many of the best jokes.

Scrabble, Mollypop, Paul Jr., and the Blues

Frank and MJ returned Wednesday from their dad-and-daughter trip to New Orleans. Here are a few highlights from their visit:

• Dad Marty is doing okay. He has lost a little more right-side mobility due to a second "circulatory problem of the head" (that's a quote from a movie, not his doctors) last summer, but he gets by pretty well with his left hand. Mentally, he is as sharp as ever in some ways—he very much enjoys playing Scrabble and pulls off some sophisticated multiple-word turns—but he has to be strapped into his chair because forgets that he can't walk, and he doesn't consistently remember Gary, whom he has lived with for a year now.
• I'm almost too envious of this one to write about it, but Frank and MJ got to meet Jerry and Cori's too adorable daughter, Molly, who is (umm) 9 months old (I think) and whom everyone calls "Mollypop." She loved MJ's jewelry especially. I'm sure MJ protected her nosering carefully from those clever little fingers.
• Chrissy's son, Paul, and his significant other are expecting! Baby is due May-ish, Frank says.
• MJ wanted to see a couple of bands that were playing at the House of Blues, so Frank took her down there one night. I think he went only reluctantly, but it sounds like he was pleasantly surprised by the experience. She loved it, of course!

.....
There is more to tell, but my time is limited. Maybe Frank and MJ will fill in the blanks in the comments.

Another view of Columbus Day

From Columbus' own journal, written about the Arawak Indians of Hispaniola (Haiti).

"They...brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane.... They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

Within a few years of his arrival, 175,000 men, women, and children—half of the Indian population—were dead.

iCave

Succumbing to impulse and clever advertising, Chloe and I each bought a new iPod Nano yesterday. They are terribly cute. Chloe's is red and, for the moment, named Tsubaki (camellia), because it's a gorgeous red. Mine is green, and I'm still thinking up a name for it.

Setting it up is simpler than I thought it would be. I guess I haven't paid enough attention to MJ's iPod routine. I pop a CD in the computer, choose the songs I want to have on the iPod, click Import, and then move on to the next CD. The next time I plug in the iPod, all of those songs automatically get transferred over. Pretty slick.

Sorting through CDs has triggered a few music memories:

• One day not long after Mambo No. 5 hit the charts, I was driving through the sunshine with MJ by my side. That song came on and we mamboed our way down the freeway. When it ended, I said, "Play it again! Play it again!" And the DJ came on and said, "Let's play it again!" And he did!
• There was a time when a very young daughter of mine preferred Britney Spears' cover of "Satisfaction" to the Rolling Stones original. I'm happy to report that she's developed a little taste. She will remain nameless because she finds this past indiscretion terribly embarrassing. As she should!
• My first concert was AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock..." tour, highlighted by booming cannons and Angus antics. My favorite AC/DC album was (and continues to be) Back in Black, but it was a very good show. Kudos to my mom for letting her sweet young daughter (really!) start off at a hard-rock event, especially in the questionable company of my disreputable cousin Glen.
• MJ's first concert took place when she was much younger, but her escort was much more reliable: Daddy. They went to see Christina Aguilera. Her first concert with me was a Backstreet Boys one, at which I was pleasantly surprised by the entertainment value.
• Chloe's first concert was a year ago: EndFest, the all day alternative-rock festival, with headliners the Red Hot Chili Peppers. MJ was her concert buddy, and they didn't get into any trouble that I heard about. (Of course, my mom probably still doesn't know everything about that AC/DC concert...)
• I don't know what Frank's first concert was! I'll have to ask him.
• The first concert I went to with Frank was, I think, the Neville Brothers. We saw them together a few times. At one show, we got to talk to Art, the coolest Neville. (Cyril is a close second.) During a break, he came over to the bar near where we were standing to get something to drink, and we chatted for a couple of minutes.
• My other brush with fame was meeting Devo backstage at the Paramount, thanks to the passes my high-school boyfriend had won from a radio station. The rumor was that the Devo guys were straight-A students, something I desperately wanted to believe at the time, since filling out AC/DC t-shirts hadn't completely clobbered my brainy rep. I very earnestly asked them about it and got to watch them squirm as they danced between truth and what was probably part of their PR machine.
• My favorite concert was Prince's Purple Rain tour. We had been watching the movie and playing the album for weeks. They released the movie to video while it was still in theaters, but that didn't stop us from seeing it on the big screen at least a dozen times. The entire UW campus was "Purple Rain" crazy; you couldn't walk past the dorms and frats without hearing it blaring out of one window or another. Then Prince came to town and watching the show was like living the movie. We knew all the dance moves, we knew all the audience-participation moves: we were in a purple frenzy. And when Prince removed his hip-hugging chain-belt thingie and threw it to the crowd and my sister caught it, my friends and I developed a case of envy that hasn't faded after all these years.

aaaaa

Hmm, I'd better dig out "Purple Rain" and get it loaded onto my iPod... :-)

My oh my

We went to the Mariners game Friday night. WOW! It was so fun!

Top of the ninth, the game is tied 4-4. Our closer, J.J. Putz, comes in, looks a little shaky, and then takes us through an efficient three outs.

Bottom of the ninth, the fans are gleeful with anticipation. We're all doing the rally jig til we're breathless.

Beltre gets on. We rack up a couple of outs.

And then rookie Jeff Clement steps up to the plate and belts a two-run homer.

Wahooooo!

It was such a thrilling game. And how lucky are we, getting a game like that when we only went to one this year?!

The people who left early are IDIOTS. What's a little traffic in exchange for a singular sports experience? I have never understood people who can leave when the game is still up for grabs. Why bother to go at all?

Zoo review

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Frank and MJ just wrote to tell me all about watching "Zoo." To read the report, use your mouse to highlight the empty space below. If you want to have the fun of discovering MJ's performance yourself, don't do that.

MJ's scenes are at the very end; she brought the movie to a close. Frank says she's very cute. MJ is most excited about the fact that she is listed in the credits!!!!!!!!! She's "the unknown girl."

Frank says the dry facts of the case aren't really included. Instead, it's very atmospheric. He says:

"The director [Robinson Devor] obviously tried VERY hard to not make these people seem creepy; but they are SOOOO creepy, it came through anyway. Yeech!

"In one sense the most fascinating part was the comments by one of the actual guys (Coyote?) about his interaction with Jenny and John when they came to take the horse. He pontificated on and on about how they knew nothing about horses and didn't understand horses like he did.

"But then again, who'd want to understand horses in that way?"

One note for all: Jenny, MJ's boss at Hope for Horses, was displeased with their use of one of her quotes in the movie. In it, she says something about understanding. Frank says it's pretty clear from her earlier comments in the film that she doesn't really understand, but Jenny was still unhappy that her words were taken out of context, making it appear as if she might condone what happened. She does not.

For those who know that MJ was interviewed by the director, we are sad to report that no interviews were included in the special features.

NEA's latest jab at homeschooling

Okay, let me preface this post by saying I am pro-unions. I am also, in many ways, pro-teachers. But I find the National Educational Association a dangerous organization that consistently ignores what's best for kids in favor of what's best (or so they think) for teachers.

To sign a petition condeming their latest anti-homeschooling resolution, go here.

Spiderman

The "awwww" factor on this is extremely high. Treat yourself!

Fun stuff

Quick little write-ups on a wide variety of subjects:
http://www.ohiokids.org/tellzall/index.shtml