December, 2006

I’m taking a break from the blogging.

This could only be until my final is done on Saturday or for a longer time. My first thought is that I want some time to concentrate on other things that have become more important to me than this hobby and that takes up much more of my time.

I understand the value of dirtyolive.net and I appreciate the confidence the blog has given me in my writing. However, as many of you know, I have been contemplating leaving this site for some time now.

Recent events and recurrent problems have me thinking that this venure isn’t the best form of comunication with my friends and family.

Regardless, this may not be a permanent break. I may return in the New Year. I am seriously considering a new blog altogether and if this happens I would like to contact readers here and direct them to the new site. However, I will no longer be writing about my family so my status as a Mommy Blogger will finish here.

If you are interested in my new site, if I continue to blog in the new year, please email me at dirtygreenolive@hotmail.com

Thanks.

Really.

Franklin had his four year health check-up yesterday. He has changed so much over the summer that every little yearly thing we do these days emphasizes his growth and it is remarkable how much it affects me.

You always hope, as a parent, that the child you raise will have an independent spirit but I had always thought that this independence was going to take a lot of consistent effort on our part – don’t ask me why. I thought a lot of things that I have learned are far from the truth when raising a child. Things like “bribery doesn’t work” and “television is not a good baby-sitter”.

Franklin is his own person. There are things he is comfortable with that I don’t think ever entered my mind as a child. There are also things he will shy away from that I remember being completely devoted to (and still love). I know this is old news to those of you who read this regularly, but I am constantly amazed to watch this human being develop in front of me.

At the doctor’s office there was no fidgeting. He waited in the reception area like he was waiting for an important job interview. He stood on the scale and straightened his back like all of this business, this measurement business of his growth, was vital for the future of the universe (and it is).
When the receptionist told him how well he was doing and how tall he has grown, he calmly replied that “it is due to my vegetable eating”.

due to?
What the hell?

When the doctor was examining him I told him that if he had any questions about his body, this would be a good time to bring them up. So, instead of asking how poo comes out of his body or why we have saliva, he mentions that he had a sore mouth when he got carsick last summer. As our doctor went to check out his mouth (I’m not sure if she understood that this was a past experience), he took her hands in his and asked her to finish her previous examination before she did something new.

Again, what the hell?

I don’t remember having such presence of mind when I was a child. I remember feeling out of control and overflowing with energy. Either D was a calm and collected kid, or the preschool has been slipping him sedatives (Franklin, not D).

This evening as we were coming home, I noticed that there were no questions after awhile. In fact, I was left alone with my thoughts for about two stoplights.
Miraculous.

When I checked the little guy, he was fast asleep. Not only was he asleep, but he was also sitting upright with his fingers clasped together and folded neatly on his lap. The only other person I know who does this is my father.
In addition to this phenomenon, Franklin is the only other person I know besides my father who wanders around with his hands clasped behind his back. I’ve never done either one of these things and (unfortunately) Jido’s not really around enough for Franklin to really pick it up from him either.

So, how did he get this?
How has he developed personality traits that seem so incredibly different from D and I? How has he picked up mannerisms and body posture from my father that he might have seen once or twice in his life?

This raising of offspring is blowing my mind, man.

neighbourhood pub

Originally uploaded by meow_meow

I’ve been getting numerous emails regarding the Victoria Grid Project and so I’d thought I’d post a bit of an update on here to keep everyone informed. I am worried that I may not have gotten back to everyone who has inquired about it and those who have contacted me from within our actual city (and those in Sidney), I want to make sure you are aware of the next step in the process.

We are meeting at The Bent Mast in James Bay on the 13th of December at 7pm. Where the hell is The Bent Mast, you ask? Well, I can’t fault you for not knowing this; I didn’t know Nelly Furtado was from Victoria so we can swap ignorant Victorian trivia when you get there.

The Bent Mast
512 Simcoe Street

Google Map, anyone?

The photo above and to the right is what you will see once you get there. The bus route to take would probably be #5. I think others, like the 27 and 28 will get you pretty close though.

There is no food service in the upstairs portion of the establishment, where we are holding the meeting, but you are welcome to order downstairs and carry you food up. There have been a comment over at Vibrant Victoria that we might want to bring our own food, but I’m thinking that if you haven’t eaten dinner by 7pm, you shouldn’t be all that picky. Crispy fries and a beer, please.

Anyway, it will be great if you can all come.
We plan on choosing the first grid, discussing the project and generally getting to know each other.

Yup, I’m terrified.
Why do I do these things?

The last day, I fall asleep in Franklin’s bed and there goes the month of November Blog Once a Day Like a Dork Marathon. Ah well, I started late so I wasn’t eligible for any of the prizes anyway. I’ll be doing this all December too so you can all look forward to more regular posting.

“All of you”
As in the multiples and multiples of people who get up first thing in the morning to read this blog.
Har.

I had a job interview yesterday. It was hilarious (read: interesting, exhausting and slightly insane). I have no idea how I did. I have never been in an interview that asked so many personal questions,

“Do you feel you are successful?”

“Would you change anything about your life up until now?”

“What makes you stand out in a crowd?”

I’m not exactly sure what these questions measure but I answered them as honestly as I could. That’s all I could do, right? I mean, I have friends who coach people for interviews for a living but none of them mentioned these types of questions.

The unfortunate thing is, I know that there are “correct” answers to these questions. There always are. As much as one would like to say that you just need to be yourself, there are answers they are waiting for and I’m hoping I gave them – but to be honest, the look on their faces when I responded to some of them made me feel like I didn’t even come close – that or I was babbling so much they were wishing they had learned short-hand in high school.

Ah well.
We’ll see – and I’ll tell you alllll about it.