2/27/22 Moving Day, Boy Edition?

     Boy has finally moved out; we finally went and saw the apartment this morning and I kind of liked it.  It is way up north, and I am not sure about the neighborhood, but the unit itself was very comfortable.  He got a 2-bedroom unit, which is more than they need, but I guess it was something they felt they could afford, and I did tell him to get as much space as possible.  Both he and the girlfriend like to do hobbies and activities which require a little space.  He has a room full of 3D printers here and I told him he has to take them with him, eventually.  She likes to sew and put together costumes for anime conventions, so the space of a 2nd bedroom will suit them well.  I believe space helps so they are not on top of each other and having petty fights over that, in time.

    The details were just kind of there.  I hadn't been told that I would be needed to help them move, nor had Baby A.  Boy just assumed we would be ready, luckily there weren't any school activities, like a track meet to prevent us from being here.  He told us around 10:00pm last night that the trailer would be here at 9:00am, and I asked, "am I helping?"  Wife was as unsure, I guess Mijo just assumed we would be honored to help.  I got up at 7:0am, drank my coffee, took a shower and was ready right at 8:58am.  I then knocked on his door and he said the trailer was coming in a while, to just chill.  Girlfriend had some family members bring a big trailer, which did the job very well, luckily it didn't rain and between it and the 4 SUV's following, we got most everything over there.  I can honestly look in his room right now and still not be 100% sure he moved out.  He is leaving his bedroom set, and furniture, I guess they wanted to start with new beds and sofas.  He also has so many clothes that I know he took about 4 big wardrobe boxes and yet there are still piles of clothes all over his room.  I finally got tired of waiting after he left and got all our dishes, brought them down and washed them.  He honestly had most of our glasses up there, along with most of our forks, and half our plates.  It is a wonder why we haven't had ants in the house more often.

    He said he will continue working on moving the rest of his things, we are going to work to clean the room, Baby A wants to move over, the room has a better layout, it is longer, so he can have the bedroom part by the windows, and an entertaining area, complete with a sofa, if we get him one, on the other end.

    It's a good feeling that Mijo is moving out and getting congratulations and positive messages from the family.  I know in too many situations kids move out with hate and resentment or do it too soon only to fail and suffer out of the house.  Boy has a solid job, and he would have gotten a house if the Austin market wasn't so expensive.  I am hoping in a year or so, the girlfriend will finish a nursing program and then there salary together should be much more competitive.

2/26/22 Another Friday Night Soccer Game?

     Baby A had another fun filled Friday night going to watch the girls' soccer team.  This week it was only one game and not the two like last week that had us sitting in the car waiting for one game to finish so we could drive him to the next one.  The big difference to me was the weather.  At game time, it was about 35 and about the time we picked him up a couple hours later, the temps were down a bit more, but even worse, it had started to drizzle pretty hard.

    This week, he chose to go as a big party, and although I only picked him and two friends up after school, around 4:00pm, he supposedly has a light schedule on Friday, class wise, so he was waiting for me at the Dairy Queen across the street.  By 5:00pm, another two boys showed up at the house, and by the time the game was starting at 6:00pm, he had another boy we were supposed to go and pick up.  The only problem here is that my Excursion is still sitting there without its catalytic converter, so I am driving the Escape and there is a big difference in how many people can fit in the vehicle, not that it mattered.  First thing I did was go and place the bleacher seats we use to watch wrestling in the back of the Escape, then I loaded two of the smaller boys back there.  They complained and whined the whole way, but it was the only way to get them all to the game in one trip.  We stopped and picked up the other guy and got to the game a little after it had started.

    I then came home; Wife had arrived by then and she had gotten to work on some project.  She suggested we go get snacks for the boys so they would have stuff to snack on after we got them home.  At this, we headed to Target, got a bunch of stuff, then before we paid, Mijo was already calling that the game had ended.  This sucked because we hadn't paid yet, so we had to do that, run to the house to drop off the ice cream and sausages we bought for breakfast, then turn around and head to them.  As we were driving, the drizzle started.  I felt a little bad that we weren't there faster, but it is what it is.  By the time we got to the stadium, only a few of the big lights were on and we just saw a pack of wet boys running towards us, with the drizzle they were all visibly cold and looking for the heat in the car.

    We all fit a little better in the Telluride, except it has captain seats in the middle row, so one of the boys still had to sit on a 12-pack of sodas.  We took them to eat at Mod Pizza after, which some of them hadn't tried, all the pizza was eaten, then we headed home.  I know they were all up late, it's what they do, while Wife and I went up to our room and I called it an early night.

2/25/22 WWIII?

     According to some Tik Tok videos, Russia might have invaded Ukraine and somehow that might have triggered a war which we might eventually get involved with, or...., again, they are blowing smoke up our asses and telling us things are worse than they are, and nothing is going on.  I am unsure what reality is anymore, I believe Russia is moving in on Ukraine, but I don't understand if that is a good or bad thing.  War is never good, and that is not what I mean, but, for example, Putin says he is stomping out Nazis in the Ukraine, I mean, that sounds good.  On the other hand, Americans on Twitter and other message devices are standing with Ukraine, so are we on the side of the Nazis?  Is that just a ploy from Putin to ease the invasion of a neighboring country?  I don't understand politics enough here, much less on the other side of the planet, but weren't all these little countries the USSR before it crumbled apart?  Is Putin just trying to get the band back together?  

    The most ridiculous part of this is to hear the left saying if Trump was still president, he would have given Ukraine to the Russians.  Sounds nice to the latte drinking crowd but he was president, and nothing happened, we didn't even engage in any new wars or skirmishes during his four years but keep believing the BS sputtered by these incompetents.  They are still trying to prop up ole Brandon, like he is doing some sort of good job.  I don't want to see a major war in my time, but it sure would be interesting to see how many of these women/girls that yell daily about how men and women are equal join the war effort and go fight in the front lines.  If we are all equal, then women should make up 50% of our military and should make up 50% of the casualties when it is all over.  Why not, I have two boys, if a war breaks out, I shouldn't have to feel like my boys may be called to service, but a family with a bunch of girls will be spared, not in this day.

    What I find more curious is that this war does not even seem to be covered by mainstream media.  Maybe the reality is I don't watch regular TV anymore, so it seems that the only coverage is coming from people on the ground on Tik Tok.  I don't know, it may be more serious than what we are acting on it, but I've had no discussions about it with Wife, my boys, even other family.  It's like it's so far away we don't really care about it, or we can't accept it as something real.  I guess for now, we are not acting as the world's police and going over there and sticking our noses in this.  Maybe Ukraine does belong to Russia, those names do seem to go together, but again, I don't know much about that part of the world.

2/24/22 Baby A Stayed Home And Heard Noises?

     Mijo has the funniest ways of telling his stories about how he goes through life.  Since he had Monday off, for President's Day, he was alone most of the afternoon.  We jokingly asked if he heard any noises, to which he quickly responded "YES! A LOT!!!"  He said he went in the bathroom to shave, and while in there, he heard noises upstairs.  He told himself it was probably Boy coming back to get more of his stuff, it sounded like someone was dropping stuff on the floor and moving around.  His two conclusions were do I lock the door and hide in the bathroom, it might just be Boy and I will miss him to help him move some boxes, or do I hide in here if it is someone breaking in?  His big concern was "I don't want to go out like a little bitch."  

    Wife started talking about spirits and ghosts which gave him the creeps.  She then suggested maybe I should turn on some holy candles, to which he immediately said "No, why do you want to piss off the ghosts?  I don't want to get their attention by turning on candles it is just a warning to them."  I was just laughing because it sounds funny, but he kept delivering his words very deadpan.  He then added that he has seen enough horror stories, he knows what happens next when you involve holy stuff.  The ghosts get mad and then they attack, he said he would rather leave them alone.

    Wife can't take a hint.  She then says "Fine, I'll splash you with holy water."  He almost got madder "No, you're just marking me, they'll know I'm the one that is saying something, just leave it alone, Mom."  I was just laughing at his seriousness and added "yeah, it's like holy water is glow in the dark, they'll identify his chubby ass as the narc who told on them."

    I don't think the house is haunted, but there are a lot of noises I hear throughout the day and night.  Starting with the ice maker dropping ice once an hour or so.  There is a branch in the front of the house that is rubbing on the eave, I probably need to trim the branch back.  Not to mention, there are other noises, such as settling, if a fan is on upstairs, it will hum downstairs.  I am not scared of being in the house, we've been here since 2007, if a spirit is here, he likes us enough.  My dad always says he hears stuff when he comes and visits, kind of serves him right for refusing to join us and staying here alone all day.

2/23/22 Boy Is In Process Of Moving Out?

     I don't know if we say he moved out quite yet, it is still ongoing, but he does have an apartment, got the keys yesterday (Monday) and has started taking his stuff out, slowly.  I have very mixed feelings on this.  First, we are Hispanic and thus, very close.  My older white friend at work is chuckling at me saying he should have moved out a long time ago.  I can see that in a perfect world that would be the case, I moved out at 21, but I was moving here, to Austin to come to school at UT.  On the other hand, as he says, he will be 28 next month, and has been in a serious relationship for a few years now.  I did offer the chance for the girlfriend to move in and live with us, but she has as strong a personality as me and we just clashed in too many circumstances.  This may work in Boy's favor as Wife can and is a huge pain in the ass as well, strong women are, they just don't let us men do as we want.

    Although I feel a little sadness inside, I know we must let our little bird fly and make his way.  At this point, he is one class away from his degree (even with bad dyslexia, this boy doesn't quit), he has told us he has applied for graduation, he has a very good job at one of the big semiconductor companies in town, so he should be good going forward.  They have rented an apartment way up north, he said it was the cheapest decent place they could find.  It is over by Braker Lane, which is where I used to drive to back when I got my first job driving a forklift after I graduated and was lost for a bit as to what to do about my future.  He describes it as a nice place, it is gated the unit is a 2-bedroom one, he needs space for all his gadgets and stuff he has accumulated.

    The idea of him moving out has me rethinking our house.  It now seems huge, with 5-bedrooms, and only two being used now, we have almost too much space.  The problem is we couldn't even find a nice 3-bedroom house for half the value of this house, so it would not be cost conscious to move down.  Maybe if we sold this house, I guess theoretically, we might get enough to pay off most of a new house, but I don't want to jump into any decisions right away.

    We have told them to try it out, leaving out on their own.  If it is too hard, they are actively trying to save money for a down payment, they might or could move back in and try again, to live here and save money.  Baby A also has another year to go before he graduates high school.  I don't know, maybe if things work a certain way, we could end up selling and move ourselves to the coast, which has been one of our dreams all along.  It would be hard to displace ourselves, but it's not like work is appreciating us and paying us what we are worth, I am just too lazy to go out and find another job.  Austin has become ridiculously expensive to live in, something has to give at a certain point.

2/22/22 Finally Got Back To Watching Movies With Our Kid? (part 2 of 2)

     It would have seemed like two movies would have made for a full night of movies on a Saturday night, but because we saw most of Highlander early in the day, it was still only 9:00pm or so when Llamageddon was over.  I surfed through the selections and found another really interesting trailer, Vivarium.  I kind of thought this might be a weird but funny movie, but it was not.  Wife called it a psychological thriller.  This was such a weird movie, I kind of want everyone to see it because it was different from the norm, but I also don't want anybody to see it, it gave me the heebie-jeebies.  It starred Jesse Eisenberg, who tends to have a jerk quality to him, and Imogen Poots, not a famous girl, but she seems to like making weird movies.

    The movie has been out since 2019, so it isn't new, but I think it might have gotten lost with how movies are coming out now, mostly straight to Netflix or some other medium.  I don't think people are going to the movies much anymore.  Anyways, the premise is easy to follow, a young couple is hunting for a house they can afford, and so end up at a realtor's office, who instantly gives creepy vibes, but they go along with him.  He tells them of this brand-new community right on the edge of town, not too close, but not too far.  They follow him to the community which seems all wrong right away, as there are no other people, all the houses are identical, and everything just seems perfect and uniform, except too perfect uniform.

    They are casually going through the house, we have done this a hundred times, liking this, hating that, commenting to each other things we like, and things we could change.  When they go to look at the backyard, suddenly the realtor disappears.  At this point, they start realizing all is not right.  They try to leave, and the community seems like a labyrinth that just leads them back to number 9, the house they went to look at.

    The movie gets weirder from here.  Someone is supplying them food, and before they know it, they have been trapped in this neighborhood for a long time.  They are even provided a creepy baby to raise, which just makes it super creepy because no one ever explains anything to them, they just sort of keep carrying on, not that they have a choice.

    Like I said, this movie touched a lot of emotions.  On the one hand, Llamageddon has a high death rate, most of the teens are killed, but it was done in a stupid funny way.  This movie has only a few deaths, but it still leaves you feeling like you need a shower afterwards, and maybe the light on to sleep.

2/21/22 Finally Got Back To Watching Movies With Our Kid? (part 1 of 2)

     We didn't do much of anything on Saturday, it was nice to not have any obligations for the first time in a long time.  We slept in (well I still got up at 7:00am), Wife made some great breakfast tacos, then we started watching Highlander (we like watching movies from our youth with Baby A) around noon.  I am not sure I had ever watched the first one, Wife was a big fan and we joked that she used to utter that phrase to me all the time "there can be only one!"  This used to be one of her little war cries when we were fooling around or being funny, then at some point she added the Xena "yalalala!" to it.  Highlander was a decent movie, Baby A said he actually enjoyed it.  I thought the bad guy, Kurgan, was much more entertaining than the hero, Connor Macleod, who walks around the whole movie with a sour puss on his face.  The idea of gaining someone's power by decapitating them is a cool premise and them existing as immortals makes the story even more fun.  The special effects were a bit horrible, but in their own way, kind of great for the time.  There was no reason a car would ejaculate its oil because of a street fight, but again, different time.

    Because we were relaxing, we did stop the movie somewhere in the middle, I fell asleep after eating my breakfast, then Wife also took about a two-hour nap.  It was nice, we didn't even have a formal dinner, the evening came, and we sort of just poked around the food.  We had an extra pizza from the night before which I put in the oven at 5:00pm, then Wife heated up some tamales around 7:00pm, and even Boy went and got food near 10:00pm and he got us some gyros, which were delicious, packed full of beef and lamb.

    After we finished watching the last of Highlander in the evening, Baby A was sitting with us, and he was about to leave back to his room (he had spent the time we napped writing a paper for a class), when we saw the title "Llamageddon" on Prime Video.  We saw 10 seconds of the trailer and had to watch the movie.  It was so bad it was good.  As you would have guessed it, a llama from another world crash lands on Earth (in a modified red trailer with wings) and starts killing people.  This would have definitely qualified as a B movie back in the day, I don't know that I could have watched stuff like this when I was younger, I used to take things too seriously.  Through the eyes of Mijo, though, I can see that this is the campiest of shit.  Most every teenager gets murdered, but it's a llama, so it's still kind of ridiculous.  It stomps a couple of people to death, and you can about see the efforts of someone stomping with fake furry legs.  In a couple of scenes, you can even see the cameraman in mirror reflections.  Like I said it was such a bad movie, it was kind of cool, it also only lasted 50 minutes, so about the time it was getting silly, it ended.

2/20/22 Some Things Our Son Noted On A Friday Night?

     Baby A attended a couple of games this week and was almost shocked at how different the sports can be.  One of his coaches, I think the football offensive coordinator also coaches the girls' soccer team, and he is a young guy, who actually has a similar look to Mijo.  It is a little weird and I don't know if I should be offended or feel flattered that other people want to claim my son, but the coach likes to tell other students that Mijo is his son.  One way or another, our boy got himself on the field, which does not surprise us, we know how he is.  He said he saw "Doc", the trainer, and asked her if he could come on the field to help.  She said yes, and he jumped down there.

    He said it was way too casual, the coach introduced him to all the girls during halftime, we then discussed "can you imagine the head football coach bringing some ditzy girl on the field at halftime and introducing her to all the boys...?"  Definitely not, nobody is in a happy mood during a football game, we are all pumped up.  Even during the boys' soccer game, he said the guys would get off the field, go to their bags, which were on the field, and they would be texting and on their phones.  No way we could do that during a football game, the coach would make us run laps.  The girls also had cupcakes on the sidelines to snack on.  Mijo is like "we don't get treated with love like that, there's just too much going on during a game, we would throw up if we ate junk like that."

    He was also surprised at the lack of leadership on the soccer field, especially with the girls.  They all just kind of run around, there is no one leading them on the field.  With football, we know who is running the show, same with the basketball game we went to, you can tell who the leaders are.  Even the boys' soccer team had an equivalent guy to our quarterback, about as tall, but Hispanic, and you can tell he is the one they look up to.  The girls all just kind of do their own thing, nobody stuck out as the one in charge.

    Out as a civilian, he is seeing how different it is to be a football player, even a wrestler.  Both those sports require the athlete to be strong, so being an athlete to him means spending time in the weight room, but to all these people in soccer, basketball, or even the volleyball his band friends were playing on Thursday, nobody else seems concerned about getting stronger.  Compared to him, he notices everyone not in football being weak, nobody else seems concerned about lifting weights to get stronger.

    On that note, he seemed excited that the wrestling coach told them he will be opening the weight room in the mornings for them.  He had mentioned that the wrestlers in general, were not as strong as they could be, so he is trying to get a group of wrestlers to commit to lifting, including the girls, so they can get stronger for next season.  This might mean I will be taking him to school early every day, but I guess if it helps, it'll be worth it.

2/19/22 Change Of Plans? (part 2 of 2)

     We got up to the campus off of Airport and somewhere on the Eastside of Austin.  It was the same campus where they had a wrestling tournament that we are pretty sure more than half the team got Covid.  We got there in time so he could go and watch about half the boys' soccer team.  He really didn't want us to join, he was meeting a friend down there, who turned out to be one of the boys that comes to the house, so we know this boy since they were in First grade, but I guess he wanted to be cool out there without his parents.  There was nowhere for us to go, it was too far to go home, plus it looked like the game might not last that long.  We stayed in the car, we were kind of up on a hill and could see the field where the kids were playing, but soccer is too messy for me to enjoy.  They never line up; it just seems they move in a pack kicking the ball back and forth until someone gets lucky and scores.

    Wife and I played on our phones with the window rolled down, it was a cool and nice day to be outside.  After a bit, I took a little nap in the car, I have honestly gotten used to napping pretty much every day sometime in the afternoon.  I don't even worry about sleeping a full night most days because I am always pretty sure I will find an hour or two during the day to nap.  I napped for 20 minutes or so then Wife woke me that the boys were walking back to the car.  We now had his friend with us, and Mijo asked us to take him to Burger, which is about ten miles away from where we were.  The girls were playing over there, and the coach is one of his football coaches, so somehow or other he had told the coach he would go support the team.

    We missed the start of the game, but both boys got off and went into the stadium, it was the smaller football field at the Burger site, where he played some of his JV and junior high football games, but it is still a nice field with big night lights.  Again, we weren't really invited, so we headed off to Central Market, bought some breads and walked around.  We came back and sat in the car for another half hour or so, it was fine, Wife bought some cake slices and we ate them in the car.  The game was done by around 8:30pm.  It was a little funny, Wife thought she was getting off early and relaxing at home, but she didn't really get home until closer to 9:00pm, which normally she would get home around 6:30pm.

    I still threw the two of the pizzas in the oven while she showered, we ate and saw a couple of our half hour shows, but called it an early night, going upstairs by 11:30pm.  I always like hearing Mijo's insight on things and he had thoughts on the game.

2/18/22 Change Of Plans? (part 1 of 2)

     I don't know, Baby A is running rampant, he needs a sport to tie him down.  Thursday night, Wife was telling me "Mijo wants to just take it easy, buy some pizza and watch some movies..."  I had planned on making ribs, but from the sound of this, they wanted it to be even simpler than that, so of course, I accommodate and change our dinner plans accordingly.  Friday after I dropped him off and had my morning cup of coffee was the first time in a long while where I felt normal and decided to clean the house, feeling finally free of wrestling.  I then washed clothes, vacuumed, swept, mopped the kitchen, and decluttered the kitchen in general, making things look cleaner.  It had been a while since I had done that.

    By noon, I was ready to shower, then ran to the old HEB on Manchaca, there is a Papa Murphy next to it, so I got some sodas, and other weekend junk food, and picked up three pizzas, enough to keep us fed and hopefully keep us from going anywhere.  I then went home, but was surprised Wife called early and she was on her way home, before Mijo even got out of school.  I thought even better, she might get here in time to go with me to pick him up, start the weekend off right.  Nope!

    Our son had mentioned he might want to go watch soccer, and when I asked him, he had said it would be at school, so fine, maybe we pick him up a little later.  It turns out that part was wrong, when I picked him up, it was like in his head he had a conversation with me about taking him across town to watch the boys play soccer at Eastside High School.  I was a little caught off guard saying, "you expect me to take you across town, at 5:00pm to go see a soccer match that already started?"  He was very casual and a little shitty like "yeah, and if you could hurry it up, I really don't want to waste time going to pick up mom."  Wife was off by a little bit, but in the time that I got to his school, she had gotten home, remember, I thought I was just picking him up and bringing him home, he had not said we were headed on an adventure.  He grumbled a bit, because the game had started, but I told him if I was going to sit around and wait, I was at least going to go pick up Wife, so she could hang with me.

    We swung by, picked her up, then headed in the worst direction you can go at 5:00pm, downtown on I-35.  Of course, it took longer than we would have thought, it is always shitty driving on the freeway, especially on Friday afternoon when everybody gets out of work.

2/17/22 Tik Tok Shows People's Best?

     I have no shame in admitting I spend a lot of my free time watching TikTok videos, and I think we have settled into the not new anymore, the fad part is gone.  Since I had started until the last few months, it seemed there was a constant influx of new ideas, people trying different angles at things.  This made for some very entertaining videos, some I kept wishing for more.  Lately though, it seems the newness is gone, and people have their viewers, and they get what they get.

    Some of these girls are just empty vessels with large cans, man, I love me a big pair, but the brain has to have something in it too.  These girls aren't even trying to have any type of conversation with people.  I don't mean myself; I wouldn't even know what to tell them, but the fanboys are constantly asking questions, trying to initiate some kind of personal connection, and the questions just fly by on the screen.  Unless they ask about the nonsensical shit... "oh yeah, my tattoo means sun goddess..." or whatever horseshit they think some markings represent.

    On the other hand, I think that is the best some of these people can do.  If people are putting their best out there, comedians are constantly being funny, clever people are always working on putting something interesting or informational, and these girls, well, they'll bounce for you, if they feel like it.  But what else they got?  This might be as smart and capable as some of these girls get, no offense to anyone.  I guess from my viewpoint, as a fat regular person who would never have the guts to think "yeah, I'll just stand there, and thousands of people will enjoy me."  The ego must be huge to come on and just jiggle a bit or pretend to do some stupid little half-ass dance.  Don't get me wrong, when it was new, I was a bit impressed, but over time, one starts to think "what else can you do, shaking your ass is it?"  

    I still think TT is great, but maybe I have become a bit jaded, a fat ass shaking, or big boobs jiggling is not enough to keep me viewing nowadays.  This is a great platform for comedy, dropping a quick joke, or a quick skit, it just works.  I don't know, maybe I am ready for the next big thing, I might be ready to try a different platform.  Snapchat had its moment, so did Instagram, now I feel like TT is going the way of Facebook, not that exciting anymore.

2/16/22 Baby A Is A Free Man Right Now?

     Wrestling is over, like it or not, save for the girl going to State, she will be on her way Thursday in preparations for Friday and possibly Saturday.  Baby A is now suddenly finding himself full of free time and he does not quite know what to do with all his newfound freedom.  I would say since around July, when football practice started getting serious, he has spent most of his free time in a sweaty state representing the Cougars.  As parents, we have had the fun of running alongside him, and his involvement means we are involved.  I like to say we are almost as tired as he is, say, after a wrestling tournament, when we have been sitting in the stands for 13-14 hours, and he wants to give us attitude about how it is him getting his ass beat.  He needs to understand we are in it with him, good or bad.

    Now that he isn't at practice for anything, we had to remember that he actually should get picked up at 4:45pm after school.  I almost prefer he be at practice, because then Wife can get him when she gets back into town, around 6:30pm.  Right now, I am having to leave work at 4:40pm and swinging around in all that rush hour traffic, which is really the worst time to get out for a drive.  He was trying to get me to pick him up at 4:30pm, which is when the bell after school rings, but it is way too crazy at that time, with all 1,600 kids trying to leave at the same time.  I really aim for 5:00pm, which by then, most of the kids have left and the bus lane is open, which is where I like to drive into to get him, it leads right to the gym and track.

    He is actually on a forced break, the coaches told the wrestlers to take two weeks off and heal and rest up before joining the track team, if that is what they are wanting to do.  Today, Mijo found himself out by the track, he says most of the wrestlers look like they are going to be out on the track team, he says there were a lot of familiar faces.  I like the idea of him doing shotput, it is a total physical activity, and so, it should be right up his alley, he claims to be one of the top three strongest kids at the school, based on his lifting abilities.

    Other than that, he enjoyed a basketball game Tuesday night, and he was talking about watching a Soccer game Thursday night, I think it is great that he gets a chance to socialize and just be a teenager for a change.  He is so focused and serious when he is competing mode, I think the change of pace is good for him.  He is still not sure of he is going to try to join the track team, but whatever he does, we'll be right there with him.

2/15/22 Valentine's Day?

     I have to say, Monday sucks for a holiday like Valentine's Day.  In a weird move though, it worked for Wife.  Because the Super Bowl was Sunday, the Superintendent called for a day off, since there are so many absences anyway.  Another string of incidental luck was that it was Wife's birthday on Thursday, and she got Friday off as well, since we were prepared to go see Baby A fight as an alternate, if it worked out.  He did not end up fighting, but Wife still got a four-day weekend. 

    I don't know if it is my old age, but I never even got going to go get Wife a Valentine's Day gift, not even a box of chocolates.  Honestly, the wrestling had taken over our lives.  It is good that the season ended, we all needed to disconnect from it.

    Sunday night, Wife though, did plan a little about Valentine's Day and got us the standard chocolate hearts.  I felt a little guilty, but then again, I offered to run to Target and get her something Monday morning after I dropped off Baby A at school and she said no.  I think it is gift enough that I take him, and she gets to sleep in, that is her favorite thing.  Monday morning felt weird, Mijo had no reason to rush in, nor did he have a need to carry his extra bag of clothes for after practice.  He then got out at a normal 4:45pm, and we were home by 5:30pm, he looked around when he got off the car and asked "now what do I do?  He has not had this kind of free time since last Spring.

    Wife and I did have a little alone time, which we went and ate at Mod Pizza, around noon.  We looked at a couple of places, I wanted to eat at Luby's, but the crowds seemed big.  Wife would have settled for Rosa's Taco Factory down the street, but it was also pretty packed.  We settled on Mod Pizza because it had been a while and there was not a crowd there.  After eating there, I went to work, close to 1:30pm.  We did not have a lot of work, so I got out at 5:00pm to come join Wife and Mijo eating after school at Bill Millers.  Mijo said they were maxing out in weight class, and he did a max squat of 575ponds, up 50 pounds from his last best effort.  He wants to get to 800 pounds, which is the state record, he has another year to get there.

    Boy came home early, he said he was feeling a little like he was maybe running a fever, so he got to do his physics class from home, I guess if they have a good reason they can join in via zoom.  I went back to work, then came home close to 10:00pm and he was still working on some homework.  He is down to about one more week of living with us before he moves out.  He has boxes and a mess everywhere in the house right now.

    It doesn't sound like much of a Valentine's Day I know, but like I said, we are generally very busy.  It is hard to slow down and celebrate something that isn't really a holiday.

2/14/22 Super Bowl Sunday?

     This past Sunday, like it or not, we got into the Super Bowl hoopla, not that I cared for either team, but after finding myself enjoying the playoff games, I thought it might be interesting to see which team got it done.  I have not been an NFL fan for a few years now, I just never found a team to root for after the Houston Oilers left for Tennessee.  All the BS last year with the kneeling and the powers that be using the NFL to push their messaging down our throats was also not helpful, such as the names of criminals on the backs of player's helmets.  This year, I was honestly attracted by the camaraderie of Gronk and Tom Brady on TikTok, which made me think there might be some genuine people in the league.  I was then excited by the close finishes of the different playoff games, which led us to watching on Super Bowl Sunday.

    As it is more times than not, we grilled on Sunday, because that is what we do.  We also had DD, his wife, and baby DD, who was just born last week, he is tiny at 6lbs and change.  It was a nice time, we grilled fajitas, sausages, and chicken thighs to make tacos with, and then some simple chips and dips so Wife wouldn't have to cook anything fancy.  

    I can't say I know much about either the Rams or Bengals, but I don't think either team had won a Super Bowl in a long time.  Scratch that, the Rams won in 2018, I had no idea, they have been to the Super Bowl 4 times now, winning the last two times.  The Bengals have been three times, all losses, the other two times were in the 80's.  Interestingly, only two of the Bengals players were even alive the last time the Bengals went to the Super Bowl, the punter and the long snapper, specialists who don't take a lot of abuse.

    The game itself was close, and although the Rams won, it was only by 4 points and the Bengals could have played things differently and tied it to send it into overtime or even won it if things had gone a little differently.  I guess this is what is good about not being a fan of either team, I just enjoyed the good plays for what they were, elite athletes doing what they do.  Even the linemen are no longer just heaving fat bodies, these too are monsters, measuring over 6ft 2in to 6ft 8in tall and all over 300 pounds.  They almost look normal sized because they are all big, it's not until a running back with a normal height of 5ft 8in stands next to them and looks like a midget, that we can truly appreciate how big these men are.

    Hopefully, we can keep the energy going and enjoy watching games on TV, Baby A sat with me, it was actually at his request that I focused on the idea of watching the game.  Too bad the season ended, but another one is always on the verge of starting in a couple months.

2/13/22 Red Robin Celebration?

     Baby A had to do the dance one more time, showing up at Burger stadium Saturday morning, this time by 8:00am, though, since he did not have to weigh-in for the Regional Meet.  We chose not to go, instead opting to go to the store to buy groceries, then come home and do some light cleaning (okay, Wife cleaned, I napped).  For a second, we honestly thought he was going to be done early, Wife was walking around HEB talking about making this and that for breakfast and because the past couple months we have been at too many tournaments, we haven't even been making breakfasts where we sit together on the weekends.  We got home from getting groceries round 10:30am, but Mijo called at 11:00am and said he would be getting done by 1:30pm, so it ruined Wife's ideas of chorizo and papas, and eggs, and all that home cooked breakfast went out the window.  Mijo was off by a little, 1:30pm turned into 6:30pm when we decided to go to the arena to see what was going on.  We can see on an app what was going on, and all the matches were supposedly done, all the brackets seemed filled.

    We got there, and right on cue, we look over to where our team has been sitting and there is our Knucklehead, in a wrestling stance up on the bleachers, grappling with the kid he is always grappling with.  We walked in to catch the award ceremonies, they had a little podium and the kids that placed 1-6 all stood together and took pictures.  I wondered if we missed this part last week because it ran so late.  We then walked over to the group, since the meet was mostly over, we went and sat with them, not worried they would tell us something.  The kids were all excited about going to eat at Red Robin, some quickly said they didn't have money, we told them not to worry, we would treat.

    One of our girls qualified for State, as an alternate, but she still gets to go and can call herself a State qualifier, much like Mijo gets to call himself a Regional qualifier.  It was a very nice and happy meal, like we said, we have gotten to know most of the team, so we know their inside jokes and half the kids know us well enough to come and hug us when they see us, the boys, I mean.  They are always happy to see us because we bring them snacks.  We sat at the end of the table with the coach and had a decent enough time talking about the kids, how well, they did, how some were there and dropped out, how he kicked some off the team (one kid we never met was allegedly chased by cops and ended up with him flushing something down a toilet, then he got caught with a backpack full of wrestling gear).  I am glad we never met this bad apple, most of the kids that lasted all season are great kids, full of respect and fought their hearts out and showed good sportsmanship, even in defeat.  I am proud of the team and how far it got, I can only imagine this group will be better and stronger next year.

2/12/22 Wise Words From Our Captain To His Younger Teammates?

     I thought there was real maturity in Baby A yesterday when he was telling us about the Regional Meet, and his encounters.  He sounded a bit funny when he started with "I thought I was just going to enjoy some wrestling and hanging out with my team, I didn't know I was going to be counseling and going into therapy sessions with some of these guys."  The two boys that did get to wrestle got in on a technicality, the lighter weight one had only four boys in his bracket last week, so they all qualified, since 4 wrestlers per weight class move on.  The other kid which was also a lightweight class, maybe 138, was an alternate, he came in 5th, but one of the top four did not wrestle, so he slid in.  Both these boys had maybe 2 wins total all season, so they were very amateur, and should have probably been on JV, but I guess sometimes you get thrown in the fire early.

    Mijo was then trying to explain that for their first season they had done good.  They had both participated, learned, had fun, and knew what to expect for next season.  The lighter weight class kid insisted that he was no good, that he wanted to at least win more, and be more like him.  It gets hard here Mijo was saying that he wishes they had seen him learning last year, he was basically just a punching bag for the Senior kid who went to State.  He learned what he learned by getting thrown in the deep end and surviving or quitting on his own.  Mijo said something that I wish more people could realize "don't look at me in the middle of my growth an expect to be where I am at."  Everyone goes at their own speed.

     I told him that is good advice for life.  This people that hate on someone who seems successful, and I am sure people might see what we have and think we have had it easy all our lives were not there when I was driving a forklift my first year out of college for $8 an hour working a minimum of 60 hours.  They never saw Wife working as a telemarketer, and us sharing a car the first few months when she came up to Austin and some jackass decided to break her car window to steal her radio.  They just see us today living in a big house, living comfortably and assuming it has always been this way.  The path for Wife to get where she is at as a director was paved by us sacrificing together so she could go to school and get her master's degree and subsequent certifications.  The truth is we all start somewhere and hopefully, if we have done our work and have a strong base, we will move upwards slowly, but every time you look back, you will see that you are progressing.  Never compare your efforts to those of others, everyone is on a different path.  Those that want to be jealous of other's successes, I wish could take a step back and see where that person they want to hate on where they really started.

2/11/22 Regionals Wrestling Meet?

     The season has finally come to an end and although it is sad to see the end of something, it was about time.  I have honestly loved watching Baby A and the rest of the team compete, win or lose, but the whole structure of wrestling leaves very little to be enjoyed in between, for the spectator parents.  First off, I was worried all season we would see our boy injured in some freak way, although there are no punches or kicks allowed, it is still a very violent and vicious sport.  It was a rare weekend of wrestling that he didn't leak a little blood from somewhere.  Honestly, between a bleeding nose (multiple times), to a busted lip, busted inner mouth, scratches on his arm or the last one, a bleeding knee from simply rubbing on the mats so much, this sport seems to demand a gallon of sweat and a pint of blood from each of its participants.  Last week, at the District Meet, a kid was knocked out for longer than a minute, he must have been thrown on the mat too hard, he was out.  The referees, then the trainers were rubbing on his back, gently, to try and wake him, even when he got up, it took a coach on either side to carry him off on wobbly spaghetti legs.  Secondly, the wake-up times are crazy, for one meet in Bryan Texas, we had to be there by 6:30am, so we got up at 3:00am.  Thirdly, because there are so many weight classes, it can take hours between the one match your kid is in, so there isn't much to do but sit and nap or eat.  In most of the meets, we got to sit with the kids, so at least we could listen in and be a part of their goofiness, the girls love teasing Mijo and telling us about how he is a "bully" and for us to get after him, but for District and Regionals, we were separated from the wrestlers.  My final complaint is how careful they are to keep the wrestlers in the lower classes equal by having the weight classes be less than 10 pounds difference (lightest class is 106 to 113= 7 pounds difference), but then the heavyweights get a range from 220 to 285= 65 pounds difference, which is huge and pretty obvious when our son weighs 240 and is up against kids weighing near 285 who he can't even get his arms around.  But adding more weight classes would only add to the length of the day, I say combine the first few weight classes to reduce the number and then split the heavier weights, they say Americans are getting bigger.

    I do not enjoy seeing our boy coming down the stairs barely able to walk, for a couple of days after each meet, but it was becoming the norm, so the season ending is just a way for the beatings to end, he was such a fan that he would continue taking the abuse.  I personally felt the season was about as long as it needed to be.  He got up this morning at 5:00am, still went through the routine of getting ready, meaning no food, and putting on his singlet, for the last time this season.  We showed up as requested, at 6:30am, and then waited for the weigh-in procedure.  He was an alternate, meaning he would have to wait until today to see if he would even fight.  It could have happened if one of the wrestlers did not make weight, was sick or injured.  All the heavies were accounted for, so he was not needed after all.

    He still had an enjoyable day, he has been the captain all season, so he still got to go out and warm them up and cheer them on, as a group.  He even got to be a "towel tapper" for a short while, which we thought was funny, since he had rejected the idea of doing it.  The towel tappers are the kids assigned to come and hit the refs on the back when the clock reads zero, since the refs are not supposed to look away from the action of the two fighters.  Usually, a towel is wrapped with tape to look like a pool noodle, and this used to tap the refs, hence the name "towel tappers".

    It was a little rough for us getting up with him at 5:00am, then heading to the gym and because we didn't know what would happen, we were kind of stuck there.  We waited in the car for about 20 minutes then walked up to wait for the doors to open.  we got the same seats as last week, up at the top against the wall and got comfortable.  Somehow or other, time flies and before we knew it, it was 11:00am.  Since Mijo was not fighting, for the first time all season, he started wondering about food.  We tried going out to get the team burgers, but were initially told no, because they didn't want us leaving to get food when we should be spending our money on the concession stands.  The two ladies at the concession stands said they did not have a full staff to make burgers and run a hot kitchen, the lady there said thy could shut down the gate to the concessions while they made burgers, it just seemed like a difficult task, then they announced that we could go get food from the outside.  By then it was noon, we left to get some Wendy's burgers for everyone on the team, Mijo said all the food was eaten except for a couple of fries.  At that point, we chose to go home, we stopped to eat, then went home to nap.  We went back at 5:00pm to pick up Mijo, and that was about it.  A couple of girls are still in the hunt for a State Finals position, but I don't think we will be getting up super early to go see.  I want my weekends back, to sleep and do some work around the house.  I hadn't had the energy to even vacuum or sweep the last month or two, it will be nice to get back to normal.

2/10/22 Wife's Birthday?

     I always say, it sucks to have a birthday in the middle of the week.  Wife is too classy to whine, I usually bellow and whine as if I am more important than I am to want the world to acknowledge my day.  Wife seems happy enough if we remember her day, which I did, at 5:45am.  I got up to pee and thought "do I go and bother her while she is dressing to say Happy Birthday, or do I try quickly sneak back into bed and fall asleep before she comes down so I can sleep a few more minutes?  I did the right thing and went upstairs to say morning and all the stuff, she was mid dressing and caught a little by surprise.  I was already thinking that I would take the night at least half off so we could go have dinner as a family.  It is really a hard thing for the four of us to get together, it seems, so when we do, it is nice.

    I told her my plans and she liked the idea.  I then went back to bed, woke up an hour later to take Baby A to probably his last wrestling work out and told him of my plans to have dinner tonight.  Since he was having morning practice, he would feel freer in the evening, so he liked the idea.  I then got home and figured I should mention my plans to Boy, so he wouldn't disappear somewhere, as he often does.  I then went through my day, not in any hurry to do anything.  Work was especially light, I only managed to wash a box of bottles, one of the supporting things we need to do to keep the lab running.  We received no new work today, which made my decision to leave earlier easier, it's not like I was leaving work for others to do.

    Wife got home around 6:30pm, I had just woken from a light nap, and Boy woke up also, at that time.  We went and ate at a pizza place, on Manchaca, the name changed, I am not sure what it is called now, but I know we kind of like the pizza there, but it was a little too soggy tonight.  Still, Boy kept the conversation going talking about his work, Baby A had school stuff to make us chuckle, and we had about as good a night as we can have while eating.  I did buy a cake while Wife was on her way home, I ran to the Bundt cake store here in Southpark Meadows and got one so we could sing Happy Birthday after dinner.

    I wish we could say we are planning something for the weekend, but with the Regional Tournament for wrestling going on Friday and Saturday, I wanted to keep our options open.  Mijo is an alternate, so he will find out at weigh-ins if someone is missing, or didn't make weight, or sick with Covid, really, any reason one of the other top 4 finishers can't compete and he slides in and gets to fight.  It is the smallest of chances, but at least it's a possibility.

2/9/22 Timing Is Everything?

    These mornings get rougher and rougher, I had to get Baby A to school before 7:00am today.  He is traveling with the JV wrestling crew to spar and help warm up some of the other guys for their tournament.  It was supposed to happen last week, but the ice storm shut down school activities on Thursday and Friday.  Honestly, I wish I could join them, but I do have to go to work, and these events just stretch on for hours.

    Anyways, after I dropped him off, I called Wife (from the parking lot, not while I was driving) to talk with her, since I have been staying until almost midnight at work, I haven't seen her in the last two days.  She was telling me that yesterday they were supposed to go to the Dollar General or something at 10:00am to buy supplies since it is counselor appreciation week, but went to Sam's first, since she was buying more things there, she was buying supplies for the wrestlers, mostly waters and a case of Gatorades.  When they got to the dollar store, there was a lot of activity, and it turns out they missed an armed robbery complete with a shoot-out.  I thought Wife said they had tried to hold up the store, but the story online says an idiot tried to steal a security guard's car, and he got shot for his efforts.  Like Wife said, if they had gone there first, they might have been part of that action and been there when shots were fired.

    I always have to relate things to me and that is how I felt about timing when I hung up and got to the gas station.  I love when I am there alone, and it appears the store might be closed.  I was down to a few more miles, so I stopped to fill up and there was no one in the parking lot of the gas station.  By the time I got off, and walked around the car to start the pump, two other cars stopped to use the pumps around me, and another car stopped to go inside, maybe get some coffee.  It really is all in the timing, I am sure I could have been there three minutes earlier and maybe filled my tank alone.

    I know, much better to miss a shoot-out where one could possibly get shot as an innocent bystander, but my problems of having to share the gas pumps are on par.  Just kidding, I am glad Wife was nowhere near the shooting, but I guess working in a low-income school district, one is never that far from the next possible encounter with idiots, stay ever vigilant.  That's another similarity to me stopping at gas stations, always look out for the bums, looking for a dollar, they have no shame, they'll come up to your car and ask for money.  Ugh, life is hard.

2/8/22 Big Empty House?

     There are times it feels like the house just stores our stuff, and we get to do very little living in it.  During the week, I am not even sure if I should be opening the blinds and curtains, since by the time Wife gets home, it will be after 6:00pm and probably already dark.  We have argued about this, since I believe it is good to have some light come into the house, first thing I do in the mornings is go around and open the blinds.  First thing Wife does when she gets home, then is go around and close the blinds.  I know because I am here, like on Fridays, and occasionally she makes it home before it gets dark, and she still wants the blinds closed, for privacy.

    Maybe it's because Boy is fixing to move, but we do have a lot of house, and for long stretches of time, only 1-2 of us is here.  I am here alone from 7:00am when I take Baby A to school until 1:00pm, when I head into work, used to be until around 6:00pm before I went to work.  Honestly, though, with prices being what they are here in Austin, it would be impossible to try and move to even a smaller house.  It would cost more than this house cost us 15 years ago with the median price of new homes being very close to $500,000, if you can even find one.

    It is not actually a bad problem, to have too much space.  I have to say, even our utilities are not bad now, since we replaced the A/C units, our electric bill has been a lot better.  We used to get light bills of $300-$400 in the summer, and that was with the solar panels "helping".  Now, it is not uncommon to see our light bill at $69, or so.  Given that, there is no real reason to move if it's to save money on light.

    I still have a feeling someone else might end up living with us, we have had a few people moving in for periods of time, it is always interesting to have other people's energy around.  I don't think it will be the same people, Girlie is fixing to move in with her BF, DD is now a dad, and happily married.  My brother never liked Austin, which I am starting to feel this way too.  It sucks trying to get out to do anything nowadays and just running into too many people everywhere.

    Because of Covid, we have gotten used to just being home, so on the weekends when we do get to be home, it has felt like awhile with all the wrestling tournaments, it is nice to know we have room to all be here and not on top of each other.  Boy has entertained many times whole groups of people and we just go to our rooms and don't even feel that there are people in the house.  That is one of the great things of living in a big house.

2/7/22 Hanging Out With Boy?

     I hate to say it, but we hardly ever get time with Boy, he technically still lives here (at least for this month), but really spends most of his free time with his gf.  It was nice to actually have him join us Sunday for a few hours.  We were dragging serious butt from being at the wrestling meet until past 11:00pm, I think I may have gotten up at 10:00am Sunday morning.  I saw him in the kitchen, he was talking about going out to do something or other.  I was in no particular rush to do anything, but then Wife always has tasks for us.  It was our monthly time to go get blankets for the kids.  For about the last 5-8 years, Wife picks up small kid sized blankets from a lady, she has a program where "little old ladies" make these blankets out of scraps and such, and then they get handed out to the poorer schools in the community.  Wife has worked with her from when she was in Bastrop, over 5 years ago.  Anyways, we had to go and meet her at 1:00pm, so we got dressed for that and got going.  I was moving slow; I hate leaving the house for stuff like this.

    To my surprise, Boy was in the car when I went out (everyone else had already gotten in the car and were waiting for me).  We picked up the blankets, then headed to eat lunch at Cheddar's, which was nice.  They said it would be a 40-minute wait, but there were hardly any people waiting.  We sat down within about 15 minutes.  Lunch was decent, but Boy really joined us because he is looking for a sofa and asked if we wanted to tag along.

    After we ate, we headed to Haverty's, which is in the same shopping area where Cheddar's is at.  They do have nice stuff, but the prices are a little much.  Leather sofas and sectionals were all the way up over $8,000.  I mean they were really nice with all sorts of power movements, but it is a lot of money.  We also went to Ashley's, then Rooms To Go.  The prices were much more reasonable.  He saw a blue leather sofa at Ashley's for $1299, I think.  It was just a sofa, and maybe even a little smaller in dimensions, but I think it was fair for the leather and price.  He insists he wants some color that pops, so the blue got his attention.  He kept asking for like a pink sofa, or maybe even a green colored one.  The blue was about as close to exotic color on leather that we saw.  There was a green sofa, but it was cloth, and I don't think cloth furniture lasts as long as leather before it starts looking distressed.

    We mostly just walked along with him, I don't want to be overbearing and tell him get this or that.  I did mention the browns tend to match better with everything, but I guess being young, he wants to be a little bold, which I get.  I used to have some pretty tacky tastes when I was younger, so I totally understand.  Still, it was nice to hang out. We were talking about once he moves out; he is going to have to make an effort to see us, we know we can't demand his time, it has to come from him.  He says that he will come over to wash clothes on Sundays, which I said sounds good, we can then grill which we mostly do as a regular thing.

2/6/22 How Did Our Heavy Do?

     Considering this is Mijo's first full season of wrestling, I think he did extremely well.  He did participate last year, but the team was basically two guys, and we never even saw a meet where a whole team of different weight classes competed, like we did this year in the duals (2 schools), Tri (3 schools), and quads (4 schools).  Baby A said that was by far the most fun, sitting with his friends and supporting each other in one gym, on one mat.  Within the Austin schools in our district, Crockett dominated, the kids had an undefeated contest against Travis and McCallum, which was great for moral, even the freshman got in on some good matches.  The same thing happened at the Tri meet with Navarro and LBJ, where our kids won about 80% of the matches.  The shitty part is that the district is not the same as for football.  Our district, for wrestling, includes Dripping Springs, Leander (3 schools), Cedar Park, and then the schools within Austin that are 5A, for a total of 15 schools.

    Mijo ended up 5th place, technically, a podium finish, as the top 6 kids per weight class got a medal.  The top 4 kids advance to Regionals, but a 5th is also invited, in case one of the others cannot compete, he then might be called.  Normally, I would say the chance is almost 0, but with Covid taking kids out left and right (from competing, not out like dead), I would say he has a small shot of sneaking in next week.

    His first match was going well, nothing happened for the first round and about half the 2nd round, they grappled each other by the neck, but neither was taking a chance.  Mijo finally tried a move, lost his balance a bit, said his stance was not wide enough, and he tumbled over, and the other kid pounced on top of him.  His second match was against the Rouse kid, he fought him in his first match of the season, beat him on points, then fought him again in the match he got Covid at where the Rouse kid won, then fought him again and beat him again on points.  It was a really close match that could have gone either way.  The following match was to get the chance to fight for 3rd or 4th place, but he lost again.  His final match was for 5th or 6th place and won on a pin within the first minute.

    We were thinking "well, the season is over, time to relax and heal", but he is still in it for another week, saying he has to stay ready, plus because of the freeze, JV has their final match on Wednesday, so he has to practice helping his teammates by sparring with them.  The truth is he likes hanging out in the wrestling room, they are all friends and have a good time in there.  Even the girls like getting in there and being silly with them, which has to add to the fun.

    Overall, the season was good.  He learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and competed with class, he never tried to win by hurting someone.  Saying that, wrestling is a really tough sport and I think he has little nagging injuries that he is not admitting to.  He has said multiple times his elbow hurts and locks up on him, his knees are something that he mentions more and more, he still mentions his shoulder injury from football, and even an ankle says hurts for no reason, from time to time.  I think the boy needs to just enjoy and grow during the Spring, before starting football season again.

2/5/22 Getting Through A Muddy District Meet?

     Yesterday was another terribly long and challenging day for the wrestlers and I have to say, the parents who are there to support.  Because of the ice storm, things were moved around and as a consequence, both 5A and 6A schools from district 13 competed on the same day.  The meet was held at Burger stadium, which I do like, but it was a little small for this event.  Three mats fit on the floor, which is not the biggest we have seen.  Bowie had five mats on two gyms for the first tournament, that might have been better, to at least spread the matches.  Another distracting thing was the time start.  Competition usually had started at 8am at other meets, but we didn't start until 11:00am, even though the coaches asked for us to show up at 8:30am.  The final matches for our girls competing were at 10:00pm.  I don't even know what time the girls 6A finished, because we left as soon as the last of our girls competed.  They did the usual rotation, boys 5A, then boys 6A, followed by girls 5A then girls 6A, but they started with the heavyweights, instead of the lightest weight.  I think that may have been because the heavyweight group had the most participants.  There were 10 boys competing in Mijo's weight class, some of the other weight classes got lucky (I guess) and only had four wrestlers, so everyone advanced to Regionals.  The heavyweight girl's division had 1 girl, from Crockett.  She got the district champ title without fighting anyone.

    Wrestlers really have to love this sport because it is such an endurance thing, both while fighting and while waiting to fight.  Baby A, because he doesn't want problems with having to go to the bathroom won't hardly eat or drink until he is done fighting.  This means, like yesterday, he went all day without a breakfast, lunch and dinner (we ate some pizzas and corn dogs when we got home, close to midnight, by the time they heated up).  The fights may not sound long, at 2-minute rounds and three rounds long, but because both competitors are going as hard as they can, Mijo says it leaves you exhausted, and there is only going to be about an hour and a half between matches to recuperate.

    We have been providing snacks the whole season, not because we have to but because we wanted to.  Usually, it is a cooler full of Gatorades, Body Armors, waters, and sometimes even Capri Suns, for fun.  We also buy a bins worth of things like Cliff Bars, Cheez-its, jerky, peanuts, Rice Krispy bars, and whatever assortment of stuff we think kids might want to eat.  I also like throwing in a couple of bags of Gummy Worms and candy because at the end of the day these are still kids and I know they have to be healthy, but come on, they should be able to enjoy something.  Usually, the bins come back with a random mix of leftovers, but last night, there was 1 KitKat, from a big bag of candy (Halloween style), and a couple of Gatorades.  The poor kids went through everything.

2/4/22 Why Don't We Get More Days Off?

     Honestly, looking outside, it seems that today could have been salvaged and the kids could have gone to school and even Wife could have gone to work, with a late start, but I have to ask why?  Why is it bad to take an occasional day off as a society?  In as much as we use the holidays, Christmas, specifically, to spend time with family, why can't we do it more regularly?  Sometimes it seems we are in such a routine with school and work, that the idea of a break is the only thing that keeps me going.  I know there have been times in the past where I would tell myself "Come on, another month and a half and we get a week off for Spring Break."  After all this time off for Covid, those years past just seem a little sadistic.  Maybe it is true, that Americans put too much value in work and structure.

    I love a random day off to make a weekend into a long weekend.  This one was great, with the potential for bad weather coming in on a Wednesday night, it just became "let's take Thursday and Friday off."  In my head, the whole city shut down, but I don't think that was reality.  For starters, Boy's GF was here Wednesday night and she got up and went to work Thursday morning before 6:00am.  I myself got home after midnight on Wednesday, but that was with the thinking that I was just finishing the work to get us through the work week having met all our commitments.  Then we see our manager texting us that he is out and about enjoying breakfast in Bastrop, "the roads are a little slippery, so be careful" was his warning.  There were also other little signs that this freeze was not as bad as it could have been, but I still love the idea of being locked in.

    Baby A keeps saying he is happy he is getting a chance to rest, it has been rough for him, with practices at 7:00am.  Add to that, at this point in the season, most wrestlers are hobbling around with various little nagging injuries they have gotten while getting thrown around, in the moment of the sport.  Whether we admit it or not, this is really a vicious sport, a lot of matches can go by when nothing much seems to happen, but then there are nose bleeds, dislocated shoulders, and worse.  A couple days off before the district meet this weekend might not be a bad thing.  The kids know what they know, they just have to go out there and perform.

2/3/22 Great Time To Be Alive?

     People spend way too much time crying about non-problems that I think we forget hoe easy life is nowadays.  Take this "winter storm" we are in the middle of right now.  Because of technology, we knew it was coming, we were not surprised that we were going to be inundated with cold.  Given what we know, the smarter ones of us made the necessary preparations and went to the store a couple days beforehand and got what we might need.  We also got a chance to "batten down the hatches" as it were at home.  I, for example, drained the water from my pool pumps when the weather was nicer, so I won't have to worry about them freezing.  I also wrapped my outside faucets and Wife brought in the few plants we have in the patio.

    One hundred years ago, or even before weather forecasting became what it is today, thousands of people may have been caught unprepared and even died from simple exposure to the cold, even here in Texas.  We see the weather problems up north on the news, and as bad as it seems, and plenty of people still find ways to die in bad weather, at least we are warned to travel with supplies, keep food and water in the car, you never know when you might get stuck in bad weather out on some remote road.  The beauty of today is that we have up to the minute information at our hands, literally, with the phones we all get to carry.  It is nice to know this particular cold snap is only lasting a day or two.

    Some jackass is still going to say, "but the poor this and the poor that", life like everything else is set up as a big bell curve.  Most will be okay, some, at the extremes, get fucked.  It is sad, but we don't live in heaven where everyone is equal, but it is still better than most other places to live.

    My point still remains, the great majority of us that participate in society knew about the cold front coming, most of us have warm shelters, and food reserves to sit at home for a couple days and just wait it out.  Shoot, even our clothes is technologically superior to something from a generation or two ago.  I rarely wear more than a light jacket and because stuff is designed so well, it is probably equivalent to multiple layers that would have been worn back in the day.

    Either way, I appreciate where we are, as a human, and will take time to reflect and think about the world we live in.  It's nice that instead of having to be out there, maybe cursing the world as to why this cold showed up out of nowhere and here we are, stuck in a ditch by the side of the road or worse.  No, we just get to stare out the window, with a cup of coffee and just smile that we get to stay safe and cozy, for this round of calamity.

2/2/22 Horrible Experience At Wendy's?

     I know restaurants are short staffed and maybe the people they do have working are not the greatest humans, but man, it was a weird one today at Wendy's.  First off, we rarely eat there, even in the best of times, this location is staffed by a bunch of Mexicans, not that I have a problem with them, but they usually seem even scared to approach and talk to the customer.  Tuesday was no different, except for a couple of black ladies, who I am not sure if they were even speaking English.  I am in no way trying to be a smart-ass but there seemed to be a definite language barrier, I even thought they were doing it on purpose, for a second.

    Baby A has been practicing at 7:00am, so I get the honor of picking him up after school and this boy is always hungry when we get him.  I offered the tuna which was at home, and I had proudly made in the morning, but he said it would be cooler if we ate somewhere like Wendy's.  That was a desperate attempt from him, I don't think he is really a fan, he just wanted to eat somewhere and that is one of the closer places to the house.  We walked in, after I had him check if the dining room was even open.  I hate picking up fast food to take home, it usually falls apart on the way home, and tastes crappy if it sits for even a few minutes.  We walked in, Mijo made his selection, from a piece of laminated paper, the fancy light up screen had a blue Windows screen of death look to it, as did some of the other screens that used to make it look semi-nice before.  He then proceeded to go wash his hands.  I stood there waiting for somebody to come and take my order.  After about 5 minutes or more, a young lady came to the counter but said this register is closed, I will have to take your order from the drive thru register.  I looked at her confused, then asked if she wanted me to go order from the car outside.  She said no, but still looked at me, like I was supposed to do something with the information.  Eventually, I kind of just said it's a Baconator combo and a #9, go press the buttons on your machine and I'll give you my credit card.  This took her a few more minutes, but I did get a receipt and my card back.  Ugh, if I had seen the prices, it was over $25 for two dinky burgers and questionable soda.

    I could see order after order flying out the window, but we seemed to have been forgotten.  At some point one of the black ladies came up to me and made sounds is all I can say, I have no idea what she said, but she didn't understand when I said, "I already ordered", which she saw me do it too.  After a few more minutes, probably more than that.  Another customer came and also waited for a few minutes, I told him I had been waiting over ten minutes and wasn't sure what was going on, he eventually thanked me for tipping him off to the bad service, and he left.  At this point, I gave a loud "what is going on, where is my food?"  The black lady came forward again and uttered more weird noises, Swahili came to mind, not that I know anything of that language.  I started making shapes of burgers and food, with biting motions, I didn't know how else to convey my message to her.  After too many minutes, she gave me two bags with burgers and fries that had been sitting too long, even after I told the white chick I wanted fresh fries, not any of those that have been there since I got here.  The black lady gave me the bags with the effort and motion like I wasn't really wanting them, but I guess I can have them.

    Honestly, the burger was decent, for having sat there on the counter waiting until I yelled and even the fries, had they not been all little shitty bottom of the bag fries, were not that bad.  But it'll be a cold day in hell before I go back and try to eat there.  Oh, while we were waiting, an employee tried getting some free food, and to her, the black lady spoke perfect English "Stand behind the counter."  She was outright rude, given the girl seemed friendly with the other girls making fries.  After a few minutes, she went back behind the counter, then behind the wall where the famed drive thru register sits and she came out crying, like sobbing and went and sat at a table to make us uncomfortable.  I don't know if she got fired, but if she did, they did her a favor.  This fucking place should just be shut down, it felt like walking into a Twilight Zone.

2/1/22 I Am No Gordon Ramsey, But I'm Trying?

     I am still not sure how it happened, but all of a sudden, I have become the family cook.  I guess it is a long time coming, I have more free time at home, technically.  I was telling Wife just casually last week something like "shit, I am the cook now, I am making all our meals."  I wasn't trying to pick a fight, just mentioned it casually, but of course, say that to any woman, and she'll be looking for a fight.  Wife looked at me like I was lying then I counted the days.  In the end, she just said "Good, you're home, get to work!"  I guess as my skills get better, I don't mind doing the cooking, but it has to be stuff I want to do.

    This week kind of started with BBQ leftovers.  Technically, it was a meal Wife cooked Sunday, but I went to the store and chose the meat, then I cleaned and started the grill.  She just flipped the meat once or twice.  In reality, Baby A and I ate at Bill Miller after I picked him up afterschool.  I like having a chance to sit with the boy and hearing what he was up to during the day.  For tonight (Tuesday), I already made some tuna, which is now sitting in the fridge waiting for tonight.  Wife and Mijo have both said they like the tuna how I make it.  I like to throw in a couple potatoes, and 9-10 eggs, with 3 big cans of tuna.  I am planning on using the Crockpot for the next two days, I have pork Carnitas cooking tomorrow in Salsa Verde sauce, and I am going to try chicken in Crockpot for the first time on Thursday.  I saw a recipe online and already bought all the ingredients.

    Because I work nights and Wife doesn't get home until 6:30pm, we can't rely on traditional cooking on the stove when she gets home.  I like the Crockpot, we can go real slow cooking things, so I can start it before I head to work and have it be ready, more or less, by the time Wife gets home.  Another idea that has worked a couple times is preparing a whole chicken, cut up into its parts, and set up on a tray to go in the oven.  Wife can then get home, throw it in the oven, go shower, then have it be close to done by the time she gets outside.

    I can also do the occasional steak on a pan, and even macaroni and stuff like that, so I guess I have come along way, baby.  Which still leaves me wondering, I do all the work around the house during the week, how do I still get called a male chauvinist pig?  I'm fucking awesome is what I am! 

1/31/22 Where's The Snow?

     We might have over prepared, but that is still okay by me.  We are now in February, and it is starting to look like we will not have another polar vortex bringing North Pole weather all the way down to Texas like last year.  In a sense, that is a good thing, many people suffered, and we were exposed as being quite ill prepared for the worst that mother nature can throw at us.  Having said this, and luckily for us, we got by unscathed, we only lost power for maybe half an hour at most.  I still felt an urgent obligation to prepare for a repeat this year.  In the Spring, we went and bought a good-sized generator to keep our fridges and freezers running, if need be.  We also bought a set of propane powered heaters, which even if we don't use, are good to have, and they were not expensive.  I even bought a small butane stove that is rated to use inside the house.  Since I am doing the list, I then commandeered one of our smaller closets to store emergency provisions, such as 5-gallon jugs, which I bought slowly over the summer.  We have candles, matches, toilet paper for months, Clorox wipes by the tube, and some food reserves, although I should probably work on that.

    Given all that, it is looking like the winter storm this year will last maybe a day or two, and then I imagine we will start looking for the weather to start warming up.  I don't mind being wrong, I remember having the discussion with coworkers and even my brother who kept saying he was going to do this and that, but last I checked, he was still sitting on his thumbs, not ordering anything.  As responsible adults, and as men, we should be prepared for the worst, like they had said, we were also supposed to experience brown outs during the summer, where we were going to lose power here and there intermittently, to keep everyone powered up, overall.  This also never happened, mostly because we stayed cooler than normal.  I felt safer knowing we have an alternate source of power, if we do end up losing city power.  On a side note, we bought a smaller room A/C, so the generator wouldn't have to run the giant units outside, if that came to be, and we had troubles with our upstairs unit.  Wife, being thick-headed, insisted on sleeping in the bedroom, instead of coming down to our ghetto bed in the living room downstairs.  The portable unit kept the room quite comfortable; I feel it would serve us well in an emergency.

    Who knows what will happen tomorrow or next week, but now that I am a little better prepared, I feel safer and not as exposed to possible needless suffering.