Dinner Dance

Jake looks absolutely smashing in his tuxedo, a white double-breasted jacket and a bubblegum pink vest, matching bow-tie, and hankie in his top pocket. He has been so psyched up for tonight's dinner dance at his 8th grade school.

I walk him in - everyone else is dressed up nice, but Jake has really kicked it up a notch compared to the others. All the guys compliment him on his clothes. But he gets even more compliments and wows and looks from the girls - they are obviously very impressed. The girls all look beautiful and way grown-up too, in their fancy party dresses and high heels and jewelry.

The school is set up to look like a cruise line, with portholes everywhere, and cabin numbers (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 - representing the upcoming high-school years), and signs pointing to the spa and pool and upper deck.

They all sit down and talk for a while, and then food is served. Included are strawberries, chocolate cake (that Jake eats way too much of) and lots of other things including a chocolate fountain!

Then they get to move into the gym, which has been set up as a disco, with loud music and flashing lights, and dance for the next two hours, having lots of fun.

Jake takes zillions of pictures and comes home so hyped up that it takes him over an hour to calm down before he can go to bed. He has enjoyed it immensely.

He looks so much older tonight, won't be long before he is off with a girlfriend going to parties in his own car.

Head to Toe Restoration

Am excited. Started up a new business this week.

I have been certified as a swedish masseur for many years, and have been thinking of setting up a little business on the side for a long time. Finally got around to it. Just bought the table tonight, a lovely thickly padded one by Master Massage Tables. Earlier I bought professional liability insurance, just in case anyone sues me. Ordered my business cards and they should arrive tomorrow. Have to buy a few things on the weekend, like more oils and towels and things, and then should be all set.

Threw a little website together over the weekend, and have been tweaking it ever since. Its wiltonmassage.com - check it out and tell me what you think.

To build up a client base reasonably quickly, I'm offering a promotion of the first massage free - hopefully once people have had the first one, they should come back for a second. Assuming they love the massage I give :)

Swedish massage is focused on relaxation, not like massage therapy where it can really hurt, and where you are trying to help relieve an injury or more than casual soreness. I have on more than one occasion put people to sleep while giving them a massage. Perhaps it was just the droning of my boring voice, who knows.

On Fire!

Badminton tonight, am feeling so good, so full of energy. Play for the usual two hours, and still feeling ready to go at the end. Think I am playing better than ever before, winning all my games. My senses were so attuned to the game, and to the other players - it is so much fun! :)

Not as many here tonight as usual, Megan and Heather and several others are away. But play with Peter and Despina and Michelle and Pierre and Madhura and several others.

Peter Bartush, the badminton instructor, has his arm in a sling at the moment. He has sutures in his shoulder somewhere, and can't move it, even has to be all tied up at night when he sleeps. He has been playing for years, and plays lots of other sports, and has had so many sports related injuries he has almost lost count. He's an excellent teacher - when not in a sling he can put the birdie anywhere on the court.

I signed up for the summer - will sweat a lot, but don't want to wait till the fall or I will have forgotten things and have to relearn them. Can't have that - this is too cool to miss!

Pierre and Madhura

Clever Sex

Lester suggests where we should go for our Thursday night outing. He gets to choose - its only fair since he was let go yesterday :(

He picks Dragonfly, a cool restaurant and lounge with a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere, and quite tasty food. We did Rack 'n' Roll last time, and all agree that we need a change from foosball.

The whole crowd is there, Albert, Leo, Nabil, Sruthi, Lester of course, Alok (he actually came this time!), Tawanda (Alok's new colleague), Manju, Bright, and his carpool buddy Sam.

The place is amazing, plush furnishings, gothic motifs, detailed stonework and carved woodwork. The ornate dragonflies hanging from the rich burgundy velvet drapes add a nice touch.

Nabil is into red wine, Sruthi is drinking some sort of plum martini, I'm having a mojito, everyone is consuming a variety of different cocktails and liquors - most of us have seconds and get very happy. The conversation flows freely, but you wouldn't want to take some of it out of context, or it might sound very suspicious. So here goes:

"Nabil is the best blower in CDR."

"I'm having problems with a vibrator - how do I get it working properly?", asks Lester inncocently. "Let's ask the expert, Sruthi!", everyone says in unison.

Nabil stands up and makes yet another announcement: "Leo shares his towel..." (don't even want to think about that one)

"You want it right now?!" demands Bright (whatever could he be talking about?)

"Banging goes with any alcohol!"

Bright gives us his words of wisdom about how gender and intelligence mix:
A smart man plus a smart woman is a great life;
a smart man and a dumb woman is pregnancy;
a dumb man and a smart woman is an affair;
a dumb man and a dumb woman is a marriage.

We all agreed whole-heartedly :)

Half way through, a live light jazz band starts playing swinging music, adding a lot to the atmosphere. A fantastic night out, we all enjoy ourselves immensely.

"Blow out those candles Nabil!" But he surpises us by extinguishing them with one swift wave of his hand.

Sounds

I wish you could hear these sounds. So many, and so varied.

I'm sitting outside in the front yard, just finished spraying some roundup to kill the weeds on the driveway. The sounds of modern day life are not very far away, even here where we are supposed to sort of be in the "country". Cars drive by on the road up front. A plane flies over. I even crane my head up to see a helicopter go directly above our house, flying low.

But then there are the other sounds. The waterfall provides that constant calming white-noise background. The wind blows softly through the trees. The leaves rustle in the undergrowth, probably a squirrel or something rummaging for food. And most obvious of all are the birds. Not one species, but dozens, each with their own unique sound, some short and to the point, others loud, complex, and ostentatious. One sounds like an owl, somber and low, maybe a great horned. Some chirping, others warbling, yet others twittering, from all directions, a cacophony of noise, grating and mellifluous all jumbled up together.

Its very peaceful out here, the sun will be setting soon, that magical time of day just before dusk. I just wish all the cars were gone, or replaced with quiet electric ones perhaps. Nearly time to go back inside to the even noisier family.

Justifications

I have a confession to make. I am a bad father. Every Saturday Charlotte has a soccer game, usually at 10am nearby, but today it's at 8:30 and is a few miles away. Charlotte was in pain last night, and I had to give her ibuprofen, as she been to the doctor that afternoon, and had shots in her arm including a tetanus shot. And she also recently had a fight with some poison ivy, and I put cream on a dozen spots on her arms and legs. So she is not exactly in a good shape atm.

Maybe we'll just her her sleep in today, and pretend our alarm didn't work properly.

So the question is, are we being nice to her, or just selfish, so we can sleep in ourselves in a nice warm bed?

...

Heavy breathing at our bedroom door. After a couple of minutes I wake up, and see Charlotte standing there. She of course had an alarm clock under her pillow, and I had "forgotten" to turn it off the night before. It's Sigrid's birthday, so we let her sleep, and creep downstairs to get ready.

So here we are, huddled and freezing on this miserable day, not enough rain to actually close the fields, sitting in our fold-out chairs, trying to wrap not-big-enough blankets around us, cheering on our "Pirates", who are running for the ball, or standing shivering in defence. What fun.

We just scored a goal. Yay!



Final score: Pirates 4, the other team 3. But its just a game, nobody cares about the scores. Ok, maybe just a little bit. :)