Yeah, there's definitely something strange about the passage of time (though, seeing as this same PiBoy is going to be Bar-Mitzva in only a few months, this strangeness encompasses others, too).

WHAAAAA????? Unpossible. Nuh-uh.

Separate note, but for various reasons (like, 90% my sister, let us be honest), this is going to be a less-than-optimal holiday season for me, though far less less-than-optimal for many, so yeah. Gentle hugs to all.

OH MY GOD THE CAR IS SO AWESOME!!! It is so shiny and black, and therefore 100% KITT from Knight Rider. (Or, I guess, Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World.)

Nice!!

Yeah, there's definitely something strange about the passage of time (though, seeing as this same PiBoy is going to be Bar-Mitzva in only a few months, this strangeness encompasses others, too).

I also meant to express amazement and consternation at this fact!!

WOO KITT!

I always liked Christmas and all that went with it, but it was a huge relief to me when I decided not to celebrate it at all. Just lightened the load. Not that everyone should do that, obviously, but it is a burden even if it's generally good.

I always liked Christmas and all that went with it, but it was a huge relief to me when I decided not to celebrate it at all. Just lightened the load.

It occurred to me recently that the burden I feel around Christmas is because it's treated as a whole dang season -- not "season" as in spring, summer, fall -- but it feels to me like it's at least a month of ChristmasChristmasChristmas. And that just wears me out. It's helping me to think of it more like Thanksgiving. Or Thanksgiving Premium, since Thanksgiving is one day, and Christmas for me encompasses 2 days (Eve and Day) because of the various family members.

Anyway, thinking of it as just a 2-day slot has helped me be less overwhelmed by it. (The conflict is that I married someone who is full-on, let's-start-celebrating-Christmas-after-dessert-Thanksgiving-night. But we're finding ways to meet in the middle without me feeling too overwhelmed* and him feeling like all the Griswold Family joy has been sucked away.)

*(Now that Tim has a 6-million-dollar back, he can't bring up the tree from the basement, or the big ol' wooden base that the train tracks sit on, or the big giant wreath for the front porch. So that leaves puny me to do it, and that is an adjustment. Now that I've got my post-Long Covid cardio pretty much back where it needs to be, I really have to add in weights, because I am the only member of this household that can lift anything over 15 pounds.) (And that's because the cat is a lazy slacking freeloader.)

Quick nonsequitor (sp?) post, 'cuz no one else would get why it amuses me.

Under the new owners the division I work at has been designated Gas Turbine Fuel - San Diego, or GTFSD. Every time, and I do mean EVERY time, I read it, it starts as Get the F*ck (out), San Diego. Kinda the opposite of, "Stay Classy, San Diego," I suppose.

I would read it the same, Epic. Hilarious

Because nothing says Xmas spirit like forcing your family to visit you.

Fa la la la la, la la la la!

I just had a giant, mostly unexpected stress mountain thrown onto my shoulders: Alex is supposed to be getting his first two years of college for free through Seattle Promise, and this was his first quarter as a full-time student. Unfortunately, due to a series of unfortunate events that were about 60% the college and the Seattle Promise program not communicating requirements and expectations clearly and 40% Alex not advocating for himself or responding timely to certain notifications he's received, he's now kicked out of the program.

We're on the hook for this quarter's tuition, which is fortunately not that big of a thing for us in our current financial circumstances. ::knocks wood that that doesn't change:: And he should be able to reapply to the program and get the scholarship restored.

The problem is he's angry (justifiably) and not even sure he wants to try again. He definitely wants to skip winter quarter. We've told him that his options are to spend that time getting everything in order so he can start again in spring quarter or to get a job. And he's an adult and it's his choice.

But internally I'm all, But you HAVE to go to college! Nothing is more important to your future than a good education. And you're so, so smart! You can't let that go to waste! And part of that is my own intellectual pride and elitism at work--I fully recognize that. Those questions from friends and family about what Alex is up to are going to be awkward to answer if I can't say something like, "He's taking classes at North with the goal of finishing his bachelor's at UW."

But it also scares me to think of Alex just kind of being adrift because of what that means for his future. I don't want him stuck in dead-end jobs. I want him to have a comfortable life, with the space and resources to do the art he loves even if it's never what pays the bills. I want him to be able to afford life in this nice, safe, liberal but very expensive city if that's what he continues to want.

I know this is all a struggle for him because he seems to have inherited Dylan's ADHD and mine combined, and without the competitive streak that helped me stay focused throughout my school years. I also think the pandemic hit at exactly the wrong time for him, since he was on lockdown and Zoom school at precisely the point he should've been gradually building independence and self-reliance. Basically, despite being 19 and quite mature in some ways, he just wasn't ready for college yet. And I'm scared, and because I'm a mom, feeling guilty in about a dozen different ways.

I’m sorry Susan, that’s very stressful.

Public service announcements: Trader Joe’s cacio e pepe cheese puffs are delicious. Coincidentally they are also my dinner tonight because I have no spoons left.

That’s hard, Susan. For you and probably for Alex. It may help you feel better to know that when my niece and nephew went through kind of similar educational travails it became very clear to me that I personally would have been better off if I had done something similar rather than stubbornly sticking with the bachelor’s program I decided on at 17. And both of them are now doing pretty well with at least as much direction as I had at their age. Or maybe now. Which is kind of a low bar, maybe, but the bar doesn’t necessarily have to be high, does it?

But what you want for your kids and what they have being different is always going to be hard.