Can I grade myself an A++?

Careers in aerospace and defense.

We call my brother Jamey and ask about his work in the aerospace/defense industry. We talked about his role, what he does, how math is relevant (“…you have to know Excel…”), the attributes needed to work in negotiating contracts, and a summary of the military-industrial complex and how it relates to GDP. After speaking with him, we segued to a discussion of careers and college, student loan debt, and how a person lands a job in different fields. We talked about the differences between salaried and hourly jobs and management and labor.

Mathematics.

In math, Mrs B———- talked about probability and took the class through a number of engaging exercises, including a very fun and stressful one called SKUNK. It is likely a good thing that this class, including our son, does not take field trips to casinos or play poker for money. I spoke with another dad, J———-, whose daughter A—— is a classmate. We briefly talked about skateparks and how neither of us are skaters. He also has a 10- and 3-year old.

Also, there was a question about how many possibilities there would be if you tossed three pennies. I came up with eight, but for some reason could not figure out the ninth. I finally researched it on the Google and turns out there are…eight permutations. Sometimes you have to know when to quit.

As a reminder, I could have helped myself with the simple probability heuristic:

2 x 2 x 2
in other words, multiplying the number of possibilities for each coin by the number of coins

I’m a work in progress.

Work.

My 6-year old AirPods are going out. No longer keeping much of a charge, so I had to stop listening to Ray Davies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah while I wrote. A fellow with wireless over-the-ear branded headphones and a 2019 MacBook Air plopped into the chair next to me to inquire what model iPad I was writing on. Somehow this led to him telling me about how old MacBooks can still function well off a Linux system, because…because…well, I didn’t completely follow what he was saying. He said what he wanted to say about the matter and then informed me he needed to work, so I graciously let him stop educating me about operating systems and allowed him to get back to work. Then I did too.

I drank out of my Yeti mug my brother Jamey gave me last summer. It is short and thick and the most lovely shade of yellow. It has beautiful balance and the handle is well-positioned. I have received many compliments on it, despite it always being a bit of a conundrum for baristas to know how much to charge me. Apparently it’s a difficult size to ascertain quickly. I’d like to think it helps keep their barista toes ballerina-like.

Classroom.

I filled in as narrator for a Scandinavian play rehearsal. I would give myself an A+. I suppose the reality of my talent will be confirmed if I’m asked to stay on after the missing student returns. It almost feels like I shouldn’t be replacing a 7th grader. But my performance was clearly a new benchmark of thespian gravitas.

Consult.

I met with our son’s main teacher at this school. We talked about Fight Club and my feelings on author Chuck Palahniuk. I’m a bigger fan of the film than I am of his fiction in general. We also discussed our love of scary films (Hitchcock, Twilight Zone) and dislike of graphic gore and slasher films. We spoke of Theater, dancing, needlepoint, chess, and empathy, and how that relates to a certain 7th grader. Also, I congratulated her on completing her 2nd marathon last weekend. That is a feat I have not yet achieved this month, and may possibly not.

Passersby in the hallway.

I exited consult and ran into another friend and teacher, who had a number of items piled in his arms, including a full coffee mug and an additional glass pot of coffee. I offered to carry something; he accepted and handed me his mug. We spoke briefly about the dueling systems of capitalism and communism he had just finished lecturing about.

On the way out.

I stopped by to see a friend who has become my friend because she was first friends with our youngest boys. She often has purple hair, loves unicorns, and runs the front office with a firm voice and a big smile. Despite lacking the accompaniment of my youngest assistants, I stopped by to say hi, and she told me of the upcoming wedding she’s a part of. It sounds neat and even though it’s not her daughter, she’s like a daughter, to the extent that her husband will be doing a dad-daughter wedding dance with the bride after she does a dad-daughter dance with her actual dad. I showed her a picture of our youngest riding his bicycle down a skate ramp like Jim Craig rides a horse down a mountain (that’s a Man From Snowy River reference). Somehow that was a segue into me telling her how much they’ve been loving to play different versions of Memory Game the past month.

She reached back into the crevasses of her desk, without skipping a beat, and said: “Would you please give this to my friends?” And handed me a Unicorn Memory Game.

I delivered this to her friends - my sons - upon getting home, and their faces split open into Ernest P. Worrell-size smiles. That’s an Ernest P. Worrell reference.

Car conversation and class catchup.

She told us about a classmate who was so tired she fell asleep on the floor in the commons area.
She talked about a certain World Studies class and the excitement the teacher brings to addressing topics such as Capitalism versus Communism.
He told us about playing Chess at lunch.
He talked about getting home quickly so he could play Chess.

We stopped at a place so she could get some specific makeup for an upcoming short film production she is in.

Normally I am a fairly dull and uninteresting driver on the roads. But in parking lots I am swift and decisive. What that means is that I do not hunt for parking places. I find a place a ways away and park there. If possible, I find a place that does not require me to back up at any point. In other words, I look for a spot that is easy to pull into and away from other cars and close. Again, I do not hunt for parking places, as a general rule. Except…

…except when my daughter is going in solo, and even though she’s 15, it is in some of these circumstances that I do violate my own code of driving and parking etiquette and hunt. In this case, it was a short hunt, but I did hunt.

I wanted to be able to watch her walk the entire way to the front of the store and back. Unobstructed line of sight. Silly? Perhaps. But these things are important, even if they may not be important. I don’t know. It’s challenging sometimes navigating the optimal balance of independence and oversight; freedom and protection. All that jazz.

Home.

We made it home in the rain and the lightning and she took the last leg of the way. Her driving has improved in linear, and sometimes logarithmic fashion the last several weeks. We returned to a house filled with the sounds of boys who had been learning and making rich memories with their mama-teach all day. It made me happy. I immediately got into a hidden can of cheddar Pringles after greeting the people.

P.E.

I did not necessarily feel like taking a walk after a supper of hollow-noodles, veggie chicken nuggets, and salad. But I did. We all did. I skipped and held hands with a 3-year old, shot some super high frame rate slow motion video of a 12-year old prancing down a back country road, and watched a very dirty dog follow a 15-year old around for a snuggle, while she tried to keep her distance in pristine white pants.

Assorted.

A crossing guard informs me, after I’ve entered the school, that “…you almost got hit!” I’m not completely sure what this means, and possibly it’s a passive way of letting me know that she didn’t appreciate where I stopped to let our kids off before I parked. Possibly.

Starbucks have new machines in. They’re on-demand, and the baristas seem very happy, as they allow counter people to focus on customers instead of needing to keep coffee brewed every 30 minutes.