Update on All My Children (mine, not the daytime drama)

Some of you have asked for updates on my children. Ready? GO!

Light
Light is 28 years old now. She finally graduated with her Masters of Fine Arts about a year ago. She still lives in western Pennsylvania (where it gets seriously cold) about an hour east of Pittsburgh. The barista job was a good one, but she outgrew it. She's now a baker in a bakery two blocks from her apartment. I got a call from her last week: "Mom! It was 60° yesterday and today I'm walking to work in 4 inches of SNOW!" From all accounts, she loves her job. One of her bosses is a French man who loves me. I know this because he speaks with a French accent and he gives me sweet baked goods every time I visit.

And she's getting married!! In April. In Pennsylvania. To a transgender man. It's fitting, since Light is bisexual or possibly pansexual, I'm not sure if it matters, but marrying a trans man, kinda getting a bit of both? Anyway, he's a lovely young fellow, a couple of years younger than Light, named J. He graduated with a BA in religious studies and some kind of English composition thing the same semester Light graduated. He wants to go to grad school for to be a writer of poems or maybe fiction I think. The grad school he most wants to go to is in Nebraska. I'm not crazy about the idea of Nebraska. Not that there's anything wrong with Nebraska, necessarily, but it's far far away from South Carolina.  J has some health issues, possibly Rheumatoid Arthritis though that hasn't been diagnosed. I worry about him. He says I worry too much.

So I'm focused on the wedding. I will be making her wedding dress. We have the fabric, the pattern, and I made a "muslin", a trial run with the pattern in some unimportant fabric. It needs tweaking. And it's time to start seriously working on it. Yeah, as soon as I can move again. (Creak, Groan, Other Old Lady Noises)

Twitch
Twitch will turn 27 years old on Valentine's Day. He's doing so well! I'm proud of him. He's always been a bit behind the curve socially. I'm sure he's on the Autism Spectrum, though high functioning. He also has Tourette's Syndrome; thankfully he has grown out of a lot of his more obvious tics. He's got a great job now. He worked at Arby's for a few years after he graduated from college (with a degree in graphic design, a profession he's never worked in). Last year he achieved employment at our favorite brick oven pizzeria and beer micro brewery. By all accounts it's a fantastic place to work and he does good work. He's in the kitchen making sandwiches and other entree stuff. The pizza station is behind the bar, very public, everybody watches. Twitch, his mother's son, doesn't like being on stage like that. He can make the pizzas but prefers being in the kitchen.

The crew there has a family style closeness. Employee turnover is rare, slow, whatever ya' call it. Twitch seems to fit in well. He's a unique guy, kind of an acquired taste, and I think the crew accepts him well, uniqueness and all.

Twitch has the adulting thing under control. Yes, he's young and makes choices I think aren't as wise as perhaps they should be, but overall he's truckin' along. Pays his bills, fulfills his obligations, helps out his mom and dad occasionally. It's good.

Diva
Oh boy. The Diva lives in Greenville now, in her own apartment I think. That's what she tells me anyway. OMG she showed up on our doorstep one afternoon last spring. I opened the door and stood there staring at her, stuttering, opening and closing my mouth in goldfish fashion. She laughed at me (kindly, not cruelly) and said "you're speechless!" I'm rarely speechless. We hadn't seen nor heard from her in maybe 18 months. I kinda freaked out. Ended up taking her out to IHOP for late lunch. We made friendly conversation.

I haven't seen her since, though we have communicated by email a few times. Her birthday is December 4th, and I sent an electronic birthday greeting. She wrote back, mentioned a book she was reading (reading a book?! Oh wow!) and wanted the next book in the series, so I ordered it from Amazon and had it sent to her. In doing so I learned her address. Looked it up on Google street view. It ain't fancy, but isn't gross either. She's working in fast food still, perhaps two jobs, I'm unclear about details. She also said something about being a manager. I think she means assistant manager, but I could be wrong. The girl has moxie, chutzpah, and a tenuous grasp of reality so she's likely to try things that I doubt she has aptitude for. Perhaps I'm underestimating her and she can do more than I believe of her. Her book smarts are weak, but she's got a particular social intelligence that takes her places.

Superman wants nothing to do with her. A brief synopsis: when she left home at 17-and-three-quarters, he helped her get into an apartment very close to the store where she worked. The deal was she would pay two thirds to three quarters of her rent, he'd pitch in the rest. They had specific monetary amounts in this deal. Since she wasn't 18 yet, she couldn't sign the lease, so of course Superman did. Then, surprising no one, she reneged on her responsibilities. Actually didn't pay a cent if I understand the situation. Ended up, after rent payments and penalties and fees, he was out over $3000. Even worse was the betrayal. She seemed to be so capable, was acting all responsible for a minute, and he had great hope. But true to form, she broke the faith. She broke him, a little bit. Definitely broke that relationship.

I now approach her with caution. I want to remain in contact with her, to check up, see how she's doing. I care about her well-being. But I know from sad experience how much she can hurt me, how she's turned on me every time in the past. I don't want her all up in my bid'ness, do NOT want the drama that constantly surrounds her! Pretty sure she doesn't want me in her business either. But it's good (bittersweet?) to know where she is and how she's doing.

Sproing
Sproing. Now there's a topic. Cut to the chase: he's in prison. Big boy prison. The real deal. Projected release date August of 2019. He'll be 21 years old then. Now, there's a possibility he'll get out earlier, but I don't know and neither does he. He's incarcerated in the Turbeville, South Carolina facility. Before he went there I didn't know that Turbeville, SC existed. I don't think there's much there except the prison. Florence, SC is the closest city.

He's in prison now because he violated probation. This is for his 2nd degree burglary charge he got in August of 2016? I think. He's been on probation for two years and hasn't fulfilled his obligations, but did fail a drug test. He smokin' da weed, mon. Not that I care about it, but this state does. His probation officer does. I'm not sure if it was the drug test or failure to pay any restitution that put him in prison. But there he is. He had a court appearance in mid September to review his probation and the judge said "Nope. Do not pass go, do not collect jack shit, go to jail." Prison, actually.

I was in Florida at the time helping my Mama move from the Orlando area to Merritt Island. And avoiding hurricane Irma. Can't remember where Superman was, but iirc he was out of town, too, for a couple of days. Anyway the dog and cat needed tending and Sproing was gone. Think I called Twitch to come do pet duty until his dad got home.

I don't even know what to say about Sproing. I'm disappointed, nay heartbroken that he has gotten himself into this situation. I strongly suspect racial profiling plays a part in how he got to this point, but he did in fact commit burglary in the 2nd degree. The young'un has aligned himself with criminal peers, gone to places where he would look suspicious, and blatantly broken the law a number of times since he was still a juvenile.

Sproing talks about wanting to get his GED, go to college, play college baseball then try the pro's. That baseball talk sounds implausible to me. He could probably get his GED if he concentrated and applied himself. I know he could get into college with a GED, but whether he'd succeed there is another matter. He's smart enough, but unless many things change, he's not disciplined enough. He also talks about wanting to help out around the house, help take care of Superman and me.* But when he's here he's rude and disrespectful, reluctant (or blatantly refuses) to do any kind of chore we ask of him.

In conclusion
Superman and I now have the house to ourselves! Well, plus the cat. Did I tell you the dog died? It was very sad. He was only four years old when he got sick last November (October?). We didn't notice anything amiss until he was very sick. No, it was in September when I was still in Florida. I spent most of September in Florida. Superman took him (Oreo the dog) to the vet, who ran blood tests the results of which came back with weird numbers. Like, the leukocytes outnumbered everything else so that they couldn't find the other blood component they were looking for. iirc. Honestly, the details escape me now. Oreo had Leukemia with complications, like some kind of serious infection that couldn't heal. Oh, he was bad. Superman and I took him to the vet to be euthanized. It was sad. Hard. He had been such a good dog, Sproing's dog, and Sproing hadn't taken good care of him. Of course we took up the slack providing for him, but he didn't get the kind of attention and exercise he needed.

So, to get back to my story, see, we're left with just the cat, who is right now sitting on my forearms as I attempt to type this. She's kinda heavy. Although successful, it isn't easy. Black Fuzzy Cat don't give a shit.

But let me tell you, we LOVE the empty nest! We do not at all miss having young people live in our house. When Sproing gets out of prison he will NOT be moving back in. (Dunno what he's gonna do; we'll worry about that as time approaches.)

Oh! P.S. Diva is 20 now, and Sproing turns 20 this Wednesday, January 24th.

*It's Superman and me because if I left off the first person mentioned, the sentence would be "... help take care of me." It's not difficult to figure out. "Help take care of I" is obviously, painfully wrong. So, simple check, if you were to only mention yourself, would you say "I" or "me"? Whichever fits there is also the word to use when saying "(the other person) and I/me". Thus ends the grammar lesson.

A different kind of cat video

This is very artsy. I like it, though I doubt it will appeal to a wide audience.

I'm bored

I'm sitting here with a cat draped across my arms. She seems to like the subtle movement of my arms as I type. She has lots of hair, some of which has drifted up to my nose. My nose itches, but she's lying on my arms.

Superman has taken the two current resident kids (Light and Sproing) to his hometown for a visit with family. I'm here, blissfully alone with the cats. C was home last night with half a dozen of his friends. That was exciting. I met one of them for the first time last night, a freshly graduated high school student. Charming young man, with bright plans for the future.

I went to bed around midnight, and when I got up this morning everyone was gone. C has been spending a lot of time with one of his friends, and they often spend the night with each other. Evidently they were at his house last night. I've inquired about the nature of this relationship, and have been informed that it's just a very close friendship. If the possibility presented itself, C would very much like to make it more than that, but for now it is what it is. His friend is bi, and recently broke up with his girlfriend of three years. I'm trying to be patient, but oh, how I love a good love story! Java, stay out of it! Don't mess with things!

I planted some morning glory seeds recently, and noticed yesterday that I've got a few plants beginning to leaf out. I have wanted to do this for the last couple of years, but hadn't gotten off my lazy ass to get outside and do it. There should be some lovely flowers climbing my fence in a few more weeks. I'll take pictures.

I'm taking the summer off from school. I'm getting so intellectually lazy. I had intentions (still do, really) of reading some heavy, heady stuff. I've got a long list of books I want to read. So far I've read a few chapters in The Tearoom Trade, which was written from the doctoral dissertation that Laud Humphreys did back in the 70s, iirc. Though written for general audiences, it follows the style of a scholarly paper, so in that sense it's not exactly a page-turner and the plot is weak. Also, the information is very out of date, and I don't know how much of it remains true in these times. Some of it does, for sure, according to the adventures of former Senator Larry "Wide Stance" Craig. Times are changing, though, and I like to think (and certainly hope) that men are able to express themselves and meet their needs in less risky situations.

I learned of this book in my research methods class, because Humphrey's research method pushed the bounds of research ethics. I think that's the most relevant aspect of the book today. Perhaps I'll pick it up later today and read on.

I have been reading, though. I read a couple of online serial stories (neither of which is finished, so I have to wait for updates) and have read at least three light gay romances. The most recent one was Scalping the Red Rocks by Greg Lilly. I recommend it. It's a murder mystery with a bit of romance thrown in, though the romance is understated and not a central part of the story. The book won't officially release until July, but I got an advance copy because he used my name (a pseudonym I suggested, but it's my real first name) for one of the minor characters. By "minor" I mean that she isn't the murderer. :-) I won a contest. Yay me. His other books are currently available, and are pretty good, especially Under the Copper Moon. It's enjoyable light reading, intellectually kinda lazy.

I just checked my online story, and there's a new chapter available. I'm going to go read. Y'all have a great weekend.

Pictures of my cat clock, just like I said I might show you

This is my new clock for my office. I didn't have a clock in here, and if my computer isn't turned on I didn't know the time. I do now.
I don't, however, know how to hold the camera still to get a non-blurry photograph.

I like my new clock. It's got cute appeal without being too terribly tacky.

The wall is actually a greener green than that. It shows up too gray on my monitor. I have no idea what it looks like on your monitor. I'm not overly fond of the wall color. This is the paint that Light picked out, since it was her room before it was mine. I'd like to find a nice blue for these walls, but I'm not sure what shade, tone, etc. I want. Any suggestions?

I have tests and papers and such like in the next week. I don't have time to blog much. The semester is about 66% gone, so I'm supposed to be gearing up for the final push. My heart isn't in it as much as I'd like, but I will muddle through.

Right now I need to figure out what courses to take next semester. I meet with my advisor tomorrow, and I need to have a clue what I'm doing before then.

There are probably some more topics I should address. It seems like I'm forgetting something. I'm too tired to worry much about it now. Oh! I would like to thank you for all the encouragement (and comments!!) on the previous post. Superman appreciates the sentiments, of course. He's such a nice guy. I'm glad I stayed married to him.

On to more scholastic things. TTFN