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.

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

Provoked

Provoked, the true story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, a Punjabi woman who leaves India to marry her British-Indian husband. For ten years she suffers his abuse, mental, physical, and sexual.

In an attempt to prevent him from chasing her, she tries to burn his legs, and succeeds in giving him fatal burns, for which she is sentenced to life imprisonment. The efforts of a team of dedicated activists allow her story to come to light, and her sentence to finally be remanded to the over 3 years she had already spent in jail.

Aishwarya Rai plays her so sensitively, evoking such emotion, her facial features perfectly reflecting the turmoil of her soul. A touching movie - brought tears to my eyes.

Udderly Irresistable

Charlotte tonight told me a bed-time story, since I couldn't think of one to tell her. She made it up as she went along, which was surprising, as the whole thing fitted together quite well. Its quite short, and it went something like this:

There were once four animals, a horse, a dolphin, a rabbit and a cow. Each represented a different aspect of life.

The horse, majestic and free, represented the soul, proud and strong.
The dolphin, quick and playful, represented the mind, intelligent and creative.
The rabbit, cute and cuddly, represented the heart, emotional and compassionate.
The cow, slow but content, represented the stomach, empty, full, and everything in between.

One day the horse, the dolphin, the rabbit and the cow came together for a party. Everyone brought something to eat, that they might all share with each other.

The horse brought cookies, the epitome of soul food.
The dolphin brought bananas, food to enrich everyone's brain.
The rabbit brought candy, little valentine sweets to make everyone smile.

The cow didn't quite understand the whole concept of party food, being, as we said, a little on the slow side, but nevertheless brought something that seemed appropriate, at least to her. Although the others were not exactly impressed with her choice.

"Can you guess what it is dad?", asked Charlotte, stalling a while so she could make up the ending in her mind. "No Charlotte, I can't."

'C'mon, guess, please?"
          "Um, was it grass?"
"No."
          "I don't know, tell me Charlotte."

Charlotte thought for a moment more, and finished the story with one quick statement, that sort of summed the whole thing up in a nutshell.

The bright bovine brought a cowpie.

Coconut Creme Brulee

Its our fourth wedding anniversary today. Check the date and you can easily do some simple math to work out how long we've been married for :)

Coco Bongos, a neuvo latino restaurant in Ridgefield, CT, only 20 minutes away. Lighting just right, with little candles set in insets in the custom made stone wall, and in artistic spiral cast iron swirls on the other walls. And cute sparkling stars flashing above the central palm tree. Cozy atmosphere, excellent and fast service, absolutely delicious food (I had the Carne Latina and Sigrid had the Churrasco, am going to have that one myself next time), with a lovely bread and dipping sauce to go with it. And the dessert was out of this world.

And the tasty Caipirinha cocktail (a Brazilian drink made with lime, sugar, lots of ice and a sugar cane-based drink called cachaça) I had with the meal was oh so strong and made me happy and sleepy - Sigi drove home :)

Wipe Out!

A perfect day. Sunny, not a cloud in the sky. And in the last 48 hours it had snowed 9". Charlotte and I were at Ski Sundown, and the slopes were treating us well. We came early, and stayed late, Charlotte didn't want to leave. She even told me at one stage to leave her alone for a while so she could flirt a little with the boys, but they weren't accommodating, they were too busy skiing.

The only hitch came at the end when the main 2 lifts weren't working for a while, but they finally got them going again.

And wow, was Charlotte wiped out the next day! Did not want to go to school at all. Was a bit tired myself actually :P

And you thought I meant she fell down on the snow! Didn't you!? :)

Look into my eyeball

Along Came Polly, a funny romantic comedy about Reuben meeting and falling for Polly, a woman with a fear of committment, two weeks after finding his wife in bed with another man on their honeymoon. Loved it.

(The eyeball quote is by Claude, the Frenchman that seduced his wife.)

Waterfalls, horses, alpacas, and animals of all description

On the way up to Mohawk Mountain today we saw an interesting waterfall, and had to scramble through the brush to get a good view. Then we stopped off at a farm and two horses came up and had a talk to Charlotte. Half a mile up the road was a lovely lady with 6 alpacas and a pony - Charlotte had a great time walking amongst them and having a nice chat (to them and to the lady).



Charlotte had a wonderful time on the slopes. She is really starting to get the hang of skiing, doing her turns nicely back and forth across the snow. This is the second time this year, and before that it was five years ago, so she has made fantastic progress.



We stopped for a nice hot chocolate at the half way lodge half way up the hill, and took off our skis and loosened our boots. Boy it felt good :)

Charlotte near the end of the day wanted something a little more challenging, so we tried another ostensibly easy slope, Ledges, which turned out to be more difficult than we thought. Charlotte got through the top section, but then came out further down going too fast and couldn't control it, and ended up falling head first on to the hard-packed snow. Ouch! Even with a headache though, she got back up the slopes for a final run.



On the way home, we found a guy who made metal sculptures in a unique style, animals mainly, very artistic. All in all it was a great day, and Charlotte really enjoyed herself - except for the minor concussion of course - lucky it was a no-school day the next day :P

Laughing Gas

"Breedbate": to pass gas while laughing. This was just one of several weird answers we made up for even weirder words in a game of Balderdash.

"Bantling": the offspring of a hedgehog, or a lame duck? No, its actually a spoiled brat.

"Mortress": dead hair, or a wall built to keep firebrands out in 1524? Sorry, its a hearty meat and vegetable stew.

"Leveret": an incorrect yet humorous answer, or a small lever? Nope, a small rabbit.

We won't mention who was doing most of the laughing, but it was the same as the one that made us run for the air freshener     :-/

Slow Motion Raindrops

The most wonderful cinematography. The coolest scenes. Like the bubble of air surrounding Ben and Bridget in the middle of a hurricane as he reconnects with her after a crazy two days on the road with the precocious Sarah. And my favorite, the slow motion raindrops falling on tires and wheels seen from above as Ben and Sarah run over them on their way to shelter.

Forces of Nature, a romantic comedy about the choices we make in life, about love, commitment, spontaneousness, regret. The first half of the movie is depressing, Ben seeing one example after another of how marriage for so many people was a mistake. And then so many things go wrong as they race the clock on their way to Georgia, while Nature, in all its various forms, conspires against them.

What would have happened if Ben had stayed with Sarah, the wacky, unpredictable, amazing Sarah? Instead of staying with his first choice, the safe, respectable, conventional Bridget. Is the first choice always the best? I don't know, but I do know its a tough choice.

You Schussed Wonderfully!

Charlotte is going for a school field trip in a couple of weeks, up to Mohawk Mountain for an evening of skiing. But first she needs a lesson, as its been 5 years since she skied last. So she and I drive up there today, get a little lost on the way and have to ask directions from a couple of guys at a bonfire (who was the bright spark that invented a road with the middle third just plain missing?)

After a couple of hours on the easiest slope, Charlotte has her lesson while I try out a few of the other slopes. Feeling like she is so much better, she decides after the lesson that she wants a challenge, so I take her on the green circle slope (easy, not like the black diamond most difficult ones). It is twice as steep as she had imagined, and she hadn't listened in class half as well as she thought she had. So after taking off her skis and walking the down the first half of it, she puts them back on and schusses down the easier half in style.

"Yay! Didn't I do well, daddy?"

"Yes, Charlotte, you did wonderfully!"

Treasure Hunt - Again

Got to see National Treasure - Book of Secrets. Pretty good movie, with everything from kidnapping the president to finding the secret compartment in the Queen's desk, and long forgotten hidden caves with cities of gold. Not quite as good as the first movie, but still not too shabby.

Will Smith and Zombies

I Am Legend, quite amazing how they make New York look empty. My god Will Smith works out, talk about muscles. Anyway, cool movie, if you like suspense and nasty looking creatures chasing you in the dark. Or chasing someone else preferably.

Road Trip

Professor Yeardon of the Rhode Island School of Design invites me to come and meet with his students in the spring, to discuss with them my little nanoDiamond project. We expect they will have lots of interesting and creative ideas on possible applications.

Never been to Rhode Island before, so should be an interesting visit. I'm excited! :)

Charlotte's Daemon

The Mist

The Mist.

Scary. Great.

And yeah, I don't like spoiling movies by giving too much away. Go watch it.

Flying Feet

Sarah holds the pads, wrapped tightly around her hand like gloves, and positions them about chin height. I am at the gym, practicing some Tae-Kwon-Do kicks and punches. I had just met Sarah a few minutes ago, and she is being very helpful assisting me for a few minutes.

I do a few practice kicks, and then on my last one, Sarah's pad slips completely off and flies through the air! It lands way up high on the ledge near the lights, where it is stuck, until Brent gets the ladder and brings it down.

You should see the look of surprise on Sarah's face :-)

Rachel Nichols

P2.

Tense. Great.

Ooey Gooey

On our way to P F Changs for lunch (which is quite tasty, even though it arrives somewhat late, much to Leo's annoyance) one of our party steps in a huge blob of chewing gum. Guess who. Yep, Leo. He is having one of those days.

He then takes off his shoe and spends the next 5 minutes hopping around and trying to scrape it all off his heel, with Albert giving him advice, and everyone else having a good laugh. :)

The Great Wall of Chocolate makes us forget all about it of course. D-licious!

Oh, and my fortune cookie says "Be careful! Straight trees often have crooked roots." Have no idea what that means.

"Who are you and what have you done with my son?"

I drive Charlotte to her friend Jenny's place, all dressed up in her witches outfit, and they go off together tricking and treating (probably all of the latter of course, watch out for that sugar rush).

Get back and ask Jake if he wants to go out as well, and he says "No dad, you deserve to have a break too, go and play your badminton tonight. I'll go out for Halloween next year."

He is getting so considerate lately, its like he's a new person.