The Eclectic Mix

Day one of the new school year. It means that we now fully and officially have a ninth grader and two fifth graders in the house full-time.

The day started normally for a school day, everyone getting up and getting ready for the day. I took Patrick to his bus stop near Jenni’s school, and Jenni saw the girls down the block to catch their bus.

By all reports, all went well for the day. Patrick’s school was just open today for the incoming freshmen, so that they could get acclimated to the school before all 2,400 students descend upon it tomorrow. It’ll be interesting to see what he thinks with that many people scurrying through the halls there, because he’s never been in a school that large–last year, the school had classes just as large, but with only two grades in the school, there were only about 900 kids there.

The girls moved on to new teachers, and have in fact moved up to the third floor of their school, after having spent their whole career there on the second floor. And things are changing for them–Hannah complained, albeit briefly, that when she gets homework, it will be due the next day. But their school is changing, taking on a greater focus on the arts, so they’ve got puppetry, dance and theatre classes mixed in with band and their regular subjects. I’m anxious to see how the year turns out and how the girls take to it, because we’ve got decisions to make about the future for them. But for now, they’re happy and excited about the year.

But the wheels (pardon the pun) came off the day for all of them on the way home: Patrick actually missed his bus to get home…or back to Jenni’s school to wait for me to get them after work. So I needed to leave early to get him and take him home. And the girls had their bus break down on the way home. Half an hour later, a replacement bus picked them up and got them home.

So we’re off and running into our new adventures at school. As long as the buses cooperate. We’ll keep you informed.

See you tomorrow.

Lathropworld day at the State Fair was yesterday. It was also Patrick’s birthday, a happy coincidence that Patrick was thrilled about, no doubt. And then to close out the day for Patrick was a concert by his all-time favorite performer: Weird Al Yankovic.

Everyone has traditions at the fair: foods to eat, things to see and do, and maybe even a specific route or order to take throughout the grounds. And yes, we do too, or we usually have a specific order to do things, settled on about two years ago as the best way to make our way around to do things without having to backtrack or cover more ground than needed.

Yeah. Yesterday was different, for a whole host of reasons. But let’s get to the highlights, shall we?

Ah yes, the obligatory “before” picture, on the bus from the parking lot:

Within minutes of walking in the gate, we come across “Fairchild,” the gopher mascot of the fair. Patrick, always one to hug and pose with an oversized, stuffed mascot, obliged:

But wait…off on the right edge of the picture, there’s a guy with a video camera on a tripod. Wha? Why’s he shooting a video of my kid and the anthropomorphic creature? He looks so familiar…Oh, wait! Let’s get a better picture:

Ah! That, kids, is James Lileks, erstwhile columnist/blogger/video dude from the Strib, and a guy whose work I read and admire on a daily basis. And the video camera? Yeah, he used that to produce this piece: note Patrick around the 44 second mark of the video. I just have to say, though, he looks a lot shorter in person than he does in print.

Moving on, the obligatory “cheese-on-a-stick” picture, a tradition around these parts for six years now (to see them all, you can hit last year’s State Fair entry here):

And no, I have no idea what the guy is doing in the background…They just would not move.

But the main event, at least as far as Patrick goes, was the Weird Al concert last night. The tickets he and I had were unbelievably close, and he just kept saying “you’ve got to be kidding me,” as we kept walking toward the stage. Once seated, he quivered for about 15 minutes, just from the excitement.

So where were the seats? Here’s Patrick and the view from our seats:

For those of you who may not know who Weird Al is, he is a parody and comedy music star who’s been performing since the early 1980’s. His songs are always funny, and you have to admire someone who can perform such a wide variety of music and still put goofy lyrics to pop hits of the day. His live shows incorporate many costume changes, and a lot of energy. And Patrick just loves his stuff.

So as you can see, we were very close to Weird Al, probably 50-60 feet from him at any time during the show. And between telling me that this was “the best birthday ever,” and checking the time to see how long until the concert started, he spent the whole time before the show talking to the fans around us: a younger guy and his girlfriend in front of us, and a late 20s single woman next to him. They talked favorite Weird Al songs, how many albums they have of his, whether they’ve seen his shows before, or the movie…Patrick was in geek heaven, and I was a happy father because of it. In short, my son was in his element.

He and I sang along during almost the whole show. Screamed when our favorite songs played, laughed at the gags, and high-fived each other after almost every song. It was great: good music, a very close view of the artist, that we were sure couldn’t possibly be any better…

Well, until he came off the stage and wandered through the audience during a song:

He passed within about 15 feet from us, right at the end of the row. Patrick was thrilled, because he has now been “that close” to a musical hero.

The rest of the concert was a blast, and could have ended after just about 2 hours with Patrick perfectly contented with the whole show, but then came the encore:

Song one: A parody of Don McLean’s “American Pie,” called “The Saga Begins,” about a young Anakin Skywalker, who would eventually become Darth Vader…Please note all the Star Wars characters in the background…

Song two: “Yoda,” a parody of “Lola” by the kinks. Patrick stood for the whole encore, bouncing up and down, singing along, cheering as loud as he ever gets. And this picture, even though it’s blurry and not terribly clear, is one of my favorites from the night:

This was during “Yoda.” Patrick’s voice was hash from screaming and singing. He’s been standing up for the whole encore by now, and his energy and excitement never waned one bit. That blur on the right is him–moving just as constantly as he had throughout the whole show. Oh, and Al’s the guy on stage with the long dark hair in front there…

It was a hell of a day, and a great evening. A very happy birthday for Patrick. And a great family day at the fair. You can check out a few more pictures at the Flickr site. Or you can see all of these photos in a larger form or even download them for yourself. Enjoy!

See you tomorrow.

It’s State Fair day tomorrow here in Lathropworld, so we’ll be indulging in all of the fried and on-a-stick foods that we care to during the day. Pictures will be forthcoming, but probably not until Thursday night.

Tomorrow is also Patrick’s birthday, a fortuitous happenstance, especially considering that his musical hero, “Weird” Al Yankovic is the headlining performer at the Grandstand tomorrow night. Patrick and I will be partaking of that for his birthday. He’ll be 14. It hardly seems possible at times, and at others, I really have to work hard at remembering what life was like before he came into our lives…Back in the old days of a one-bedroom apartment in St. Paul, and five-bedroom houses in North Dakota. That all was a whole different life ago.

But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Sure, the girls are an amazing thing to watch–I mean, having twins around you every day is just a fascinating thing to behold. But Patrick–nothing against the girls–is a whole different thing. He has a mind that is turning 24×7, and the thing with him is that you can see it happening. And I just sit back and wait for the next thing to come out of that head. It’s one hell of a kick.

It’s turning into quite a week with him: high school orientation, turning 14, and an evening with Weird Al…If he doesn’t collapse at the end of tomorrow night, I’m pretty sure I will. And somehow, I didn’t take two days off this week. (Well, printers had something to do with that…*Surprise!*)

So to the State Fair tomorrow. I’ve scoped out some discounts and deals already to have them in mind: Library cards will be in tow to get us $2 off per admission!. I go in every year with limited objectives, because it’s all I really need to make it a fun time: pork chop on a stick, a chocolate malt, mini donuts, and a Pronto Pup. Outside of the food, we’ll troll the booths in the grandstand, get the obligatory picture at the cheese on a stick sign, and just wander the grounds, giving everyone a chance to get through their list of must-do items.

This year will be different because I’ll have a 14-year-old along. Wish us luck.

See you tomorrow.

Damned parenting. Subjecting you to all kinds of thoughts and feelings that you don’t want or need, and then launching you into periods of deep and thoughtful recollection to try to remember if your experience was the same.

Dammit, dammit, dammit!

Roseville Area High School had it’s open house for the incoming frosh earlier this evening. We got to walk the halls that Patrick will be walking in just over a weeks time, see his classrooms, find his locker, and get his schedule. In short, the whole of the ninth grade school year was just briefly played out for us in just under and hour.

But, as seems to be the standard MO for parents, it set my mind a-wanderin’, back to those days now about 27 years ago (oh…my…God…Really??? Holy crap, I’m old…).

The first thing I wondered is if all high schools come with that smell of teenage sweat, hormones and paper dust. It’s as if it was painted onto the walls, or infused into the industrial grade flooring that covers nearly every square inch of floor in that school…And let there be no mistake: it’s a huge school.

That’s the second thing: is my son’s school bigger than mine was? The stats I’ve seen put it larger in terms of student body size–mine was right around 2,000 kids, his is 2,400. But physically, the building just keeps going on and on. There are signs at every turn pointing you to A-wing, B-wing, C-wing or D-wing, and that’s just one half of the building: the other half has gymnasiums, the main office, the auditorium, the lunch room, and who knows what else. My school at least was a giant, two-story rectangle, so if you kept going, eventually you’d have to turn around, or end up coming back to some area where you already were. At Patrick’s school, there seem to be a nearly endless supply of offshoots, branches and dead-ends. But this is what happens when one building is added onto enough to eventually engulf another–it’s a mish-mosh of styles, levels, and the like, with ramps and stairs everywhere. Hence the wings, none of which seem married to another in any cohesive way.

Then there was one of the big questions: did my parents do the same thing when I was heading into high school? I don’t remember an open house for high school. I’m sure there must have been something. And if we were all there, was it similar to tonight? Did my parents go through thinking to themselves that there’s no way in hell that their kid is either old enough or ready to face high school? Or at the very least that they as parents weren’t ready for it either? I’m as ready as I’ll ever be, but then again, as much as I think I know about most of what’s going to come at us this year, I’m certain that there are things I can’t possibly forsee with any accuracy. And let’s face it: I’ve never been the father of a high school student before. This is entirely new ground.

It’s the problem with perception, though: walking through his school, I couldn’t remember myself that young–I’ve always been the age I currently am and carry that as the frame of reference, no matter if I’m 14 or 41. It all feels the same.

The beginning of a new phase of our lives is coming, and very soon, judging from the smell.

See you tomorrow.

Another long weekend, and another busy weekend. But it will have its highlights.

Today was the second Twins game in 3 days for Patrick and I. Fun and enjoyable, but danged hot, really. Sure we were in the shade for the entire game, so we probably can’t complain as much as those in the full sun for the entirety of the festivities. But still, it was hot. And when the ballpark is full, and you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with other fans, it doesn’t make it any more comfortable. The only saving grace: when you buy a “collector” cup (read: plastic versus paper) for your pop, you can go back and get a free refill of ice. So Patrick and I were awash in ice cold water for the entire game.

But the game wasn’t until mid-afternoon. So prior to leaving, I did some cleaning in the kitchen, picked some raspberries from the bush beside the house and made homemade raspberry ice cream; and made some chicken fried rice for Jenni for dinner and for as long as it lasts…

After the game, home briefly and then up to a family event to watch the annual homemade fireworks show. Uh, no, the fireworks weren’t homemade…Those were still cooked up in a sweatshop in China, like all fireworks…The show was homemade…Oh, never mind. They were fireworks. Fun time. Except the bugs and the one green firework that shot past Jenni and I. But no harm, no foul.

I think there are things going on each day this weekend. We’re talking about a movie tomorrow. Then the possibility of something on Monday.

I’m waiting anxiously for Jenni to settle in her new den here so I can kind of expand my desk to her old one until I get to move into my man-cave space in the basement. She still has a few things on her old desk, and I don’t really want to be presumptuous and pack it all up and bring it down to her…That just seems a little wrong. But see…I have this vision of my computer desk on a larger space: monitors, laptops, a practical nerve center of computing power. When it’s set up I’ll snap a picture of its drool-worthy, awe-inspiring appearance.

So well, there you go. Probably more than you needed to know, but not enough detail to want to care, which is good enough for me.

See you tomorrow.