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| Blogs > Fallic40 > Seeing Red ....... |
Happy Father's Day To Me, Happy Father's Day To Me (Oh Fuck, Singing Put My Back Out)
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Happy Father's Day To Me, Happy Father's Day To Me (Oh Fuck, Singing Put My Back Out) So today is Father’s Day, which is cool and all that. But when you are a divorced dad who has lived for almost twelve years seeing the daughters every other weekend (if the ex is feeling like playing nice) then every other Sunday is Father’s Day. I did get one of the best Father’s Day gifts ever today though: my youngest gave me her report card with straight A’s on it. And yes, like most parents, there is a reward in place for such an achievement ‒ I could not run fast enough into my room and fetch $100 out from under the mattress (or wherever else it is that I keep my Apocalypse stash). This was the first time either has produced straight A’s. She did really poorly in the regular high school she started last September and almost flunked out. It is not that she is not smart, she is incredibly intelligent. She just does not play “the game” very well and so this caused her lots of problems with teachers. Also she has her own sense of personal style and so ran afoul of some of the more “fashionable” freshman girls. This led to her transferring to a much smaller magnet school that has an alternative program and ideas on how to teach students. Ironically, all of these , about seventy of them in all, who cannot achieve in a standard high school, are all extremely smart but rather bolshie in appearance and attitude. The way that a really good friend of mine explained it to me, this school is for students who are unable to achieve the required level of mediocrity required in even the best high schools. (As a quick proud dad aside, the school requires all freshman to take the ACT and she scored a 22 out of 25.) Several weeks ago, JW#2 brought her first main boyfriend over who is a year older than her and we were talking quantum mechanics and chaos theory. Of course, we also discussed “real” punk rock (as I consider myself ‒ rightfully so ‒ as one of the original London punks) and political alienation manifesting change (kind of an interesting side step into Iranian politics right now) and the digiwah versus the wahwah peddle. And the school she now goes to does not have final exams. This is not because the students cannot handle the exams, but rather due to the nature of the students: they would become overly focused on how to destroy the curve, break the test model, etc. Instead of this, the student gives a one hour presentation of their entire semester’s work. Each student sets their own curriculum. They start with a topic and then all of their studies are based around that topic and they produce mathematical models of their findings, study the history relevant to the subject, etc. The presentation is made to the students class which, in JW#2’s case was the freshman class (all twelve of them), as well as representatives from the other classes plus teachers, counselors and, in many cases, people from industry or business. Questions, especially difficult ones, are asked of the student about their findings and their methodology plus their theories are challenged by their peers. It is far more difficult than doing some finals………… So anyway, both girls trucked down to visit me and to say hi and “happy father’s day”, there were cards and I always discourage them from buying any gifts for me. The gift end of things is more a process that they have to go through for their step father since their mom wants to create the “perfect” father’s day experience. Years ago, I told my girls that father’s day was the day we do something really fun and it’s to only be us and dad pays for everything. True to my words, we have deferred doing anything until next weekend because all three of us have had an agreement in place for months (ever since we saw the first trailer) that we would make a family trip of going to see the new Transformers movie. I can wait a week to celebrate Father’s Day. And both of my girls have said that they will be coming down to help me move furniture tomorrow which is a better gift than anything purchased since my back has been spasming continually since last week (and JW#1 came down last weekend and did my grocery shopping and helped clean my apartment since I was hurting so badly). I have used the upcoming visit _Saf as a suitable excuse to get my carpets cleaned and so all of the movable furniture needs to be moved. Notice that I said “movable”. The fish tanks will not be moving since they are incredibly heavy (8.33 pounds per gallon). And the other motivating factor is that I have purchased a third fish tank. Originally, JW#1 was going to take one of the 29 gallon tanks and move it into her new apartment. Then when that fell through, she was going to move back to her mom’s and help out while her stepfather underwent surgery and treatment for advance prostate cancer. Now that move looks like it is off due to the ex-missus going back on the piss (again). While all of the planning and replanning and re-replanning was going on, I was hunting for a larger fish tank on C*****list. And wouldn’t you know it, I found one last week. I picked up a 55 gallon tank, filter and really well built oak stand for $100: that was a deal not to be passed up. So now I have three tanks in my apartment: one 29 gallon tank with South American cichlids, one 29 gallon tank that is a community tank, and now I have a 55 gallon tank that after much discussion with my co-engineer (_Safira) will house Lake Malawi cichlids. The first plan was for the big tank to go in my dining area and move the community tank to the family room in place of the departing South American tank. That plan has had to be rethought though since it now looks as if the tank will remain here (and quite possibly so will JW#1). As a result the big tank will sit between the dining area and the living area. When I measure the width of the wall it was the same width as the tank stand: coincidence? I do not think so. I cannot do much more to the tank once the girls and I have it in place tomorrow since that aquarium building project is going to be started once _Saf gets here. I have to get coral sand and shells and rocks when she is here. And in the interim, I need to decide how I want to filter the tank. And then of course, there will be several trips to the fish store on the other side of town for several pairs of cichlids. We can only put four fish in the tank at a time so it is going to be a while before the tank has its full complement of fish (16 -20). So my special day was spent redesigning the layout of my dining room, firing off photos of what I was doing to _Saf and my mum for feedback of the yes/no variety and starting the great furniture migration that will be finished at 4am in the morning right before I leave for work. I got to refinish the fish tank stand (cool), move shelving and drill holes (always cool), clean a 29 gallon tank and move it to a new stand I purchased yesterday (easy assembly: my arse) (not cool but very necessary). I even found time to sit and enjoy a couple of episodes of the Eureka marathon on SciFi. This has been a great Father’s Day ‒ a day of power tools, sweat, back pain medicine and a Subway sandwich lunch (with a bottle of Stella) with my girls and their stinky dog.  |
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I am drinking an Harpoon IPA in honor of our joint venture ... I am super excited! One request? Please try not to injure anymore body parts? Pretty please?  / *love you* / ~*~8.5 days~*~ /  This is my blog - [blog _Safira]. There are many like it, but this one is mine. RECOMMENDED READING: A F F The Only Site For Me
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I'm glad you had a lovely Father's day....you def deserve it. Sounds like the kids are all doing lovely, enjoy your time with SAF... **hugs** I make mistakes, I am out of control & at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best. ~Marilyn
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6/23/2009 10:37 pm |
sounds like a perfect day, Fallic!  Sorry to hear your back is giving your grief...I hope it's better by the time _Saf arrives! Enjoy getting your fish tank set up! Happy (belated) Father's Day!  "All you'll get from strangers is surface pleasantry or indifference. Only someone who loves you will criticize you." - Judith Crist, crack film critic
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And here we are ... FINALLY ... there will be fish this weekend! I'm so excited!! *yay* / This is my blog - [blog _Safira]. There are many like it, but this one is mine. RECOMMENDED READING: A F F The Only Site For Me
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