Month: September 2016

Jeremy drove into work today (he hates driving into work, I think he’s done it less than 5 times since he’s been at his job almost 9 years now) because he had to drive to New Jersey tonight for a work trip for the next few days.  Of course, it’s pouring rain the whole day.  Google maps took him on surface streets the whole way downtown.

Edda’s excited to go to school in the rain.  Laughing, happy.  The rest of us are still a little sick (Vince) or tired (Jeremy & me).  Vince passed an unfortunate milestone today.  He still felt crappy when he woke up this morning, but he looked at me wearily and said, I can’t miss more class or I’ll get too far behind, hand me a Motrin.  And then he went to school.  Isn’t that such a terrible adult thing?  To keep doing what you are suppose to do even when you feel lousy?  Boo.

Text confirms terrible traffic on the way into work.

On his way to New Jersey this afternoon, he got into the minorest of fender benders.  This car (two cars back) rear ended the car right behind Jeremy and that car got pushed into the Honda.  Luckily, only the tiniest of scuffs happened on the bumper of our car.

Nighttime dog walk in the dark…boo.

Vince was sick yesterday and stayed home from school.  He’s like a little adult now, I can leave him home sick and tell him at 11:30 take the next dose of Motrin.  A miracle.

Though he felt lousy, he felt much better when Donald’s hand-me-down iPhone 6 showed up in the mail.  We are going to wrap that baby up in all the protective gear I can find before it gets released in the wild.  Thanks Donald… <3

Vince used to insist on Android, but somehow an Apple product is OK too now.

Fun times at our community health clinical.  Me and Kate led this morning’s exercise class.  Usually, they follow a Sit-and-Fit DVD, but Kate had a different idea and found Korean morning calisthenics on youtube.  She told me that there is a particular type of Korean music that always goes along with the routine and that it’s a tradition in Korea.  It was a little more vigorous than Sit-and-Fit, so these ladies (after 3-4 minutes) were like, I gotta sit down.

I have been reluctant to toot my Chinese speaking horn at this clinical.  Our other other language speakers are native in the other (their first) language and English is their 2nd language.  And I feel like I speak Chinese like a toddler.  So I didn’t advertise it too much, but the resident Chinese translator is in Taiwan visiting family for a month so I got to translate the following things today:  “tap dance class” “podiatrist” “church sponsored dinner”.  God, I’m a terrible translator.  Also, I got to try to explain free or reduced cost dental benefits to a resident.  First, I’m trying to understand how painful the tooth is, is it infected? a sharp pain? a dull pain?  This is difficult when I only know the word for tooth.  This poor gentleman just repeats, my tooth is (some medical word) which leads me confused, so then I ask, do you need to see the dentist today? next week? or in 6 months? Then I explain that the mobile, free dental service will take 6 months to get an appointment.  The subsidized dental clinic, you’ll need to apply in person at this particular address, but that will take some time too (unknown).  Then if you need to see a dentist now, here are some recommendations, but you’ll need to pay cash.  But all using the vocabulary of a toddler – so “mobile clinic” turns into “a big car which is driven by the dentist here”, podiatrist becomes “a doctor that looks at your feet” (which she seemed terribly confused by, maybe there aren’t podiatrists in China/Taiwan?) and subsidized turns into “maybe you don’t have to pay money, maybe you do, but maybe only a little”.  My classmates are laughing at me, because they hear the Chinese coming out quickly, and they are like – I thought you spoke like a toddler? But they don’t understand that the first sentence I said to the resident is, I apologize in advance that I speak like a small child, but I will try to help.

Edda and I went to Montgomery Mall today.  I need to buy 4 pairs of pants (probably jeans) to last me another half decade – that is the frequency in which I buy pants.  When Vince heard me packing up, he asked “You going to the mall?  Without me?”  I answered that he had work to do (English paper, science project, social studies something or other), so no hanging at the mall with me.  And he asked – could you buy me some shirts?  I said maybe.

*******

Since I go pants shopping only every half decade, I get easily overwhelmed by the number of types of pants that I can choose from.  I just want the “regular” pair.  Levi’s 501?  I think that’s what I want.  But now all the pants are pre-worn and strangely washed and stretchy, skinny or mid-rise.  It’s not that I wouldn’t wear pants with holes in them already, it’s just that I don’t think they will last the five years I need them to last.

But we did score big at the Vans store.  Vince has been into Vans and they had a bunch of sale items which were buy one get one half off.  So I got ten pieces of clothing for $140.  I think he’s set for the fall.  Though I think he needs more pants.  He was so excited that he started skateboarding in the afternoon.

*******

Edda and I continued our quest to eat at all the eateries at the Montgomery Mall.  We ate at the pizzeria today.

This was pretty good though the people didn’t heat it up enough.  The calzone was a little cool on the bottom.

******

I spent the afternoon at Haines Point playing footgolf.  I couldn’t resist the invitation and it was a gorgeous day.

What is footgolf?  It’s where you play golf, but with soccer balls instead.  I didn’t not dress appropriately, no plaid or patterns on me.  See the Washington Monument in the back?

Happy birthday Lael!

Gym in the early am.  I usually don’t go early – but when I have (usually on a weekday), there have been this group of older guys who blast music from their own portable speakers.  I was surprised to see them there today on a Sat, they must go everyday.  They are nice and jolly, but they still play their own music too loudly.  The schedule says the gym opens at 6am, but when I get there at 6am, there are already the music-blasting guys working out.  Turns out the secret opening time is 5:45 am, which is when the swim team starts practice (on Sat too?  Those swimmers are crazy.) and these are the dads (I think.).  The trick to going to the gym early (or doing anything early) is not to let the thought “I don’t wanna get up” form at all.  After a while, it gets easier to dismiss that thought and there you are, at the gym super early on Saturday morning.  You can also learn to start ignoring thoughts such as “That guy is so annoying” “There is too much work, I’m overwhelmed” “This is incredibly frustrating” “I’m lonely” “I’m itchy” “I can’t do this” “Other people are having more fun than me” “This is boring” “I don’t wanna.” “I’m failing at this” – not 100% of the time, but a lot of the time, probably 80% of the time when I’m well rested, it may drop to only 40% of the time when I’m under stress.

******

Jeremy’s secret talent of loading dishwashers.  I’m impressed.  I need to learn from him.

*******

Why did I have to go to the gym early?  B/c Jeremy wanted to go bike riding at 8 am – Go Team Science!  I got him this UCS biking jersey for his birthday, unfortunate that it’s in white…I think it’ll get dirty too fast.  Fancy – actually looks like a biker.  (He went with the slow group today, next week, back to the fast group).

******

Mom, Dad, Vince, Edda and Kitachi all went out to Chinese food for lunch.  Kitachi was a good sport, trying all the weird Chinese brunch stuff – probably involving red bean paste and taro.  My mom want you to know that her shoes have memory foam in the soles.

******

While they were out, I did bills.  Sleep Safe bed?  DENIED!  Not medically necessary apparently.  ^*&#^*!#& (Oh yeah, I’m suppose to ignore that thought.)  Gonna try to appeal.  Some people dream of an overpriced car, or a luxury purse, or a fabulous vacation.   I dream of an adult sized crib.

******

I didn’t think I was tired, but I slept for 2 hours on the couch.  Edda did not sit on my head.

Ha ha, now I’m feeling the squeeze of fall.  Lots of things happening, lots of things to coordinate.  Let’s see.  Thursday, Vince had a dentist appointment.  His teeth are beautiful according to the dentist.  Naturally straight and evenly spaced.  The dentist suggested finding a wife with equally beautiful naturally straight and evenly spaced teeth and then they could go on and produce children who would need no orthodontia.

******

Back to school night was also on Thursday night at the high school.  Jeremy and I were arguing between classes.  Both of us had had a long day and we both skipped dinner.  It was a strange argument because we’d be perfectly nice and engaged during the 10 minute teacher presentations and then fall right back into arguing while we were traveling between classes.

English class, 1st period.  New for MCPS this year – no finals.  Only end of the quarter tests that are worth 10% of the grade.  Everything is on Google Classroom and kids have laptops they work on in school.

The infamous Chinese teacher – she claims that after three years of learning simplified characters, students should easily be able to switch between simplified and traditional characters.  Sigh.  These poor kids. Chinese is so hard, so hard for kids who don’t have anything to anchor anything to.  Unlike the other two languages taught (Spanish or French) there are no letters, nothing that kind of looks like English and to throw two systems of characters at them is just brutal.  Grrr..

I was most impressed with the US History teacher who gave a very heartfelt speech about how much he loved history, how he loved challenging the kids, how history is a story about people who lived lives much different than our lives and that’s worth knowing and thinking about.  Almost makes me want to learn about history.  Almost.

Our argument continued to the car, where I’d forgotten exactly where I parked the car (far away because the lot was full).  Sometimes in these situations when I’m exasperated, I irrationally tell Jeremy to find the car himself which is impossible because Jeremy walked to the school from the Metro stop.  I was the only one who parked the car.  When we got home, Jeremy was like – we are not talking to each other until we have both eaten a taco.  So we both ate a taco and then felt much better.

********

On the morning run, a huge spider web.  Finally fall running weather is coming back for sure.  This was the first run since May or June that I didn’t bring any water with me.

******

Friday night dessert.  This is what my mom served for dessert.  Taro and red bean paste.  Chinese people are not very good at dessert.

*******

Friday night lights!  Wootton vs RM at Wootton.  We know where each of us stands.  Drove by to find out my beloved Patriots were down 6-14.

It’s been a long day, but look who surprised me!  Beth was in the area and dropped by to say hello.  We really are almost related to each other.  Not only do we have Rett Syndrome in common, but her cousin is married to my mom’s college roommate’s daughter.  Said college roommate let Donald live in their Los Altos Hills house’s outdoor shed for a few months when he needed a place to sleep.   So, you know, we are family.  <3

Bob and I did an early 4 mile run on Monday.  Holy cow, can this guy run.  It was very humid as you can see.

*****

My dad is a rockstar when it comes to helping Vince out with Chinese/math.  Chinese class is frustratingly inconsistent, but Vince is acing those two classes, no problem.

******

Monday night was date night.  We haven’t had one of these for a long time, trying to work out the evening childcare issues….  We went over to Lael’s apartment and tried on some of her small hats.

Then we met Rachel’s dog, Hugo.

And we played a very heated game of Trivial Pursuit.  I’m was a embarrassed to find out that I was the only person who knows the movie the Aristocrats.  And that I did not know Moby Dick was a sperm whale.

Then we took public transit home.  Some difficulties navigating Google map’s suggestions, but we made it home by midnight.

*****

This afternoon, Dad brought over Mom to help figure out some of the tricker math problems.

Really, nothing makes them happier than working through the toughest of the high school math problem sets.  I used to take all the hardest problems to them when I was in high school and watch them argue over how to solve the problem.  Now Vince gets to see them do the same thing.  They don’t give up.  Some grandmas bake you cookies.  Others rotate a line around the origin for you.