Day in the Life of an Idiot

I meant to update a while ago about the CAR. The short of it? All is well--for now. I was actually very butchily mcButcherson and talked to the car part store guy about my heater problem. He recommended that, since I got the heater BLOWING again, I put the extra fuses back on the shelf and try adding antifreeze.

Guess what?

It worked.

And it was a lot less butt-munching cold to stand outside with a bottle of antifreeze than it was to try to jam the stupid fuses into the stupid spot under the stupid steering wheel (seriously? Why there? So NOT convenenient.) At any rate, since we had a quick fix, I took the car to get an oil change thinking that if there was a massive hole in the oil works or antifreeze parts maybe they'd notice and tell me about it. Well, they didn't. But, the last is pretty obvious. The car stinks like she's burning oil. So, we're going to have to budget to take it in to the shop at some point soon here. In the meantime, I just keep checking oil and antifreeze levels and keep fingers crossed that nothing goes horribly wrong.

We had a mostly lovely weekend. Saturday was Mason's swimming lesson. He's in level 4 now, which is called "stroke improvement." So, he's learning the right way to do the front crawl and back stroke and all those official swimming techniques. I didn't learn those until high school, but I'm pleased that, no matter what happens in this class, Mason can swim. This is a good life skill to have in the "Land of 10,000 lakes."

Saturday afternoon was KidCon III, hosted by naomikritzer. Mason had a blast playing ALL THE GAMES. Shawn and I took advantage of being kidless to... (wait for it!)... go grocery shopping! I tell you, the romance is still smokin' hot, people!

Yeah. Kind of sad.

Still, it went a lot quicker this way and now the house is well stocked for any cold/snow snaps we might have in the next several days.

Sunday, as you know, was the Superbowl. I have to admit, I had no idea who was even playing, but as it is also the wedding anniversary of seanmmurphy and his wife Katherine, we often have an invite to a Superbowl party. Shawn was feeling under the weather, so Mason and I headed over. I have to admit to being not-in-the-best mood myself as we'd had a rather trying day attempting to get Mason to organize and put-away his LEGOs (I finally broke and just DID it myself). I'd also spent the morning and much of the afternoon giving the kitchen it's once-in-a-blue-moon deep clean. Thus, I was actually a little crispy and spent, but the Murphys had chili and treats and all the traditional offerings. Plus, it's a damn-near National Holiday, so I felt I really needed to at least have some Superbowl experiences so I could feel as though I was a pariticipating citizen of my fine country.

Wow. Go.Daddy, huh? GROSS.

Plus, I did. not. need. on a HD TV, which the Murphys have.

See, now I'm a hip, with-it American. You're all suitably impressed, right? However, here's where I have to confess that Mason and I didn't even last until half-time, so I missed all the excitment of the black out and the resurgance of the 49ners and their subsequent nail-biting defeat at the hands of the Ravens. This is what morning-after DJ patter is for, as well as the "superbowl ad recap/review" on the NY Times web site. So, while I heard that the pony-Budweiser commerial was a tear-jerker and that Iron Man's trailer was shortened by 30 seconds, I have no actual experience with either major event.

I did make it home in time to catch the first 30 seconds of Downton Abbey, though, but we recorded it for later since Mason stayed up late on Saturday (which might have accounted for some of the whiny/irritablity on Sunday) and we thought an early bed time was good, considering I'd fallen asleep on the couch at around 6:30 pm right after coming back from the Superbowl party. So, don't tell me any spoilers, especially you people who already watched this season on BBC.

My big plans for today are to get a few more words in on Samurai High, consider a number of other projects, and finish mopping the foyer and the dining room (the latter of which had been covered in LEGOs until late yesterday.)

Right.

Off to it.

Any minute now.

Hmmmm, first I should make some more coffee.

//Updated to add: I forgot to tell you all the ridiculously BAD NEWS. I'm apparently ready to test for my blue belt at Kuk Sool Wan this upcoming weekend. I think my head instructor is out of his bald-headed gourd. My head instructor actually looks *exactly* like this:



So, you know, you JUST DON'T ARGUE with a guy like that, so I will be testing next Saturday. Now, whether or not I will actually PASS is another question. Given how rarely I remember any of the steps to the techniques, I'm fairly certain that I'll be doing this more than once this month.

This is one way in which I am completely unlike my Bleach crush, Renji. I would pretty much rather never advance. EVER. I like just kind of hanging out in the lower-ranks where there is no pressure. But, apparently, my Zen-attitude of "it's the journey, man, not the destination" isn't going to fly.

*sigh*

I spent four hours today at the Kuk SoOlympics (an in-house competition at our dojon.) It was a blast. I placed last in every event I entered, but I really couldn't have cared less. I had tremendous fun. I really, REALLY love all the people there, and the energy was amazing. In fact, I'm only feeling a little down right now because I think I blew all my reistsu (spiritual pressure) cheering for all the competitors.

My only regret is not taking better advantage of the mystery event. It was "make-up your own form" and I wish I'd had the presence of mind to just not even try kuk sool moves, but go into a Uhara (from Star Trek) seduction dance. That would have been awesome.

Next time.

Mason did great. He even took first place in his group for forms. He was pretty tired by sparring, but he did all right there, too, getting a second place medal. And a third place in the obstacle course.

I ended up having to go first in my group for forms, and I can't tell you how nervous I was... I shook through the whole thing, which really isn't me, so I'm not sure what that was about. Ah, well, I've decided on a rival now -- all good Anime heroes need a rival, after all, and he will bring me up as I try to take him down.

I probably just need more coffee, but I'll tell you something for nothing, pal: I don't feel like doing anything today. I just want to curl up in a corner and sleep!

Alas, that's not really on the agenda. I did manage to decorate the porch for the holidays. There is tinsel! Ornaments! Light! F*cking Cheer! And the entire time I struggled with the lights and such, I did, in point of fact, swear like a sailor. Not exactly in the spirit of the season... well, I suppose it depends on what season of which I speak. Since the days ARE getting darker, perhaps my equally darkening mood is completely within the realm of "seasonal."

:-)

We had a great time at kuk sool wan last night, which we did finally make it to. I love the kids/adult classes because we got to run an obstical course last night. I really, really wanted to get to the part where you had to throw yourself on the mats, but, alas, it turns out I can not walk backwards on a balance beam/straight line. Very sad! :-)

However, I always have a great time trying.

Trying and failing is FUN in the kids/adult classes.

I don't feel the same way when I go to the adults only classes. I don't know why anyone would go to them. The parent I talked to last night explained that he's "addicted to the adrenaline rush," which makes absoultely no sense to me. Perhaps, he's better at KSW than I am. Perhaps he gets a thrill from his own phsyical prowess. I'd have to be someone else entirely to experience that, however. I need, instead, to be happy being dorky. Luckily, this has always been my personal relationship with my body.

Well, I should go eat a little lunch and then try to get some revising done after all. I got through the first chapter! Yay, me.

Shawn's Christmas present came early. We now have wireless AT HOME. Yes, no more dial-up for me. I have officially entered the 21st century -- though I did read in the paper today that only OLD people (GenX and older) use Facebook and write blogs. I suppose all the kids Twitter or Four Square? I don't even know what the heck that last one is, but at least my alter ego is on Twitter.

This is so cool. I may have to wax poetic about how I am sitting in my own bed upstairs with my toes tucked comfortably under the comforter, a cat taking a bath on the pillows and another one behind my head -- and I am actually talking to you, HERE.

Coolness.

That's kind of the big news. The only other things to report are the fact that I had a little computer scare yesterday when I was out having coffee with Eleanor. My computer briefly decided it couldn't find its own hard drive. It asked me to do a complete diagnostic, which I did, and then it rebooted itself and worked fine. I, of course, had not saved any of my works in progress, and the instant it was better I immediately did so. Yes, yes, I know, I should really back up more often or subscribe to one of those on-line places (which actually makes more sense now that I have wireless at home. Less so with dial-up.) Of course, the really big question is -- will I be able to write now that the shiney of the interwebs is right here on my very own doorstep?

We'll see.

Other big news, Sa bum nim (our head "karate" instructor) says Mason and I are ready to test for our yellow stripe. I know! Already! I've actually been a bit freaked out about it. Am I really really, grasshopper? I don't think so, but, you know, I'm actually perfectly okay with failure. I'm not sure Mason is, though. It will be interesting. I'll keep you informed. Our big test is sometime in early January. I'll be practicing every day until then.

Okay, well... Squirrel!