Sunday – is a day of rest for most people, but for me it is a day of angst. Sunday doesn’t really count as a weekend day, because it is not a day where I can relax. I really need two Saturdays and then a Sunday. That would be better. Sunday is the day the rest of the laundry must get done, the groceries need to be gathered, and everything has to be readied for the oncoming week.
I am presently sitting on my patio, thinking of all the things I would like to do, and all of the things I need to do. I would really like to plant some Impatiens, with maybe some Lamb’s Ears (Stachys) on the side garden. It is shady over there most of the day, and even in the heat of the summer, things really seem to flourish there. But then I wonder if we will be on water restrictions again this year (see Class–Based Drought), so why bother planting anything. I am tired of not having any color in my garden because of the drought, but yet all the fancy people have the landscapers out there planting beautiful flower beds and somehow manage to keep them watered. There is so much inequity in this world.
I am also in the midst of finding Summer Camp jobs for both of my boys. Oh – just stop my blogging friends, I can hear you out there muttering under your collective breaths about “why aren’t those boys finding their own jobs?” Well, I am embarrassed to say, neither of them have ever had jobs, and yes, that is my fault, I should be forcing them out into the work world to make $8.00/hour at a fast food joint, but it seems kind of pointless when you think about. You figure, if they work an 8 hour day, they will gross $64.00 – then after the Federal government takes a chunk out of it, then the State of California comes along like a little Pac man, with its jaws chomping up and down, they will end up with less the $50. Granted they need work experience, but does working at Wendy’s really add punch to one’s resume? I don’t think so. I worked at Wendy’s for 3 days once in college, and I hated it.
I came up with the Summer Camp job idea about a month ago, and I think it is a really brilliant idea for several reasons:
- It will get them out of the summer heat of the Central Valley. It is oppressive to say the least, although people remind me it is a dry heat, oh that makes the 110 degree weather seem so much better – NOT!!!!! That reminds me, I must find my oven mitts for the car. Most of the Summer Camps are up in the Northeast part of the country where it is nice and cool. The majority of the camps cover travel expenses to get there.
- They will have free room and board. Someone else will be covering the boys’ food expenses. They both are bodybuilders, and have lost about 90 pounds a piece over the last couple of years (see Boys Getting the Gains), but they eat 6 times a day. Right now our grocery bills are running about $1600 to $2000 a month. Let someone else absorb this for a couple of months.
- Both of them are pursuing careers in the Fitness Industry. What better way to gain worthwhile experience than learning leadership skills, tolerance, and patience by spending a summer with overly indulged kids who reside in the large cities on the East Coast? Of course, I can hear you lot chuntering on again about how they will probably relate to those summer camp kids, being overly-indulged and all. When I speak of overly-indulged, these kids come with wads of $100 bills in their suitcases for the Camp Snack Shop and are dropped off by their “House Staff” in Rolls Royces and Bentleys. The tuition for some of the camps on the East Coast are $11,000 plus for a 7 week session (Oh, but there is a sibling discount of $100 – whoopee!). There are levels of over-indulgent. Anyway, I think that would be great for them.
So that is why I am helping them find camp jobs, there are benefits in it for me, my checkbook and most importantly for the boys. Of course, I will miss them terribly and it will be painfully quiet around here.
The other thing I am pondering is the issue of the green traffic sign (see The Traffic Sign). This situation is heating up. The first green traffic sign met an untimely death, and so another traffic sign has appeared in the middle of the street. It completely impedes traffic and is annoying the snot out of all the people that live down our end because we have to navigate around the sign and the children and the bikes scattered about in the middle of the street. Well, my oldest irritated one of the Dads who are responsible for that sign being erected. The Dad follows him down the street, and waits for him to get out of his car, with his arms belligerently crossed in front of him, impatiently tapping his foot. He tells my son” Hey, you better slow down, because if you hit one of my kids, you will be sorry.” What an inane thing to say – let’s just say he is not a Mensa candidate. My son, who has been so incredibly annoyed by all of this, says “I was going the speed limit, and besides the street is not a place where responsible (I think there was an over-emphasis placed on the “responsible”) parents should let their children play.” Well, as you can imagine this did not sit well with the Dad, and with much grunting, and beating of fists upon his skinny chest, he makes an aggressive advance towards my son. My son is 6’ 4” and can do bicep curls with something like 125 pound dumbells in each hand. My son goes barreling towards him, the Dad stops, seeing his bluff has been called, and hightails it back down the street to his green turtle with the red cap, holding a flag sign, saying something about “this is not over”.
I too fear this is not the last of this drama. Maybe Netflix could do an original series on “The Green Turtle Traffic Sign.”
There is one last thing I am thinking about. I had this dream last night – it went like this. I fall asleep with my laptop opened and facing towards me on my bed. I am having the nicest dream (in my dream) and I hear a voice. At first I think it is a voice from my dream, the one I am having a dream about, and I ignore it. But like the alarm clock, one can only ignore it for so long, and it breaks through the dream state. I wake up from my dream. I have had one of those naps that were so intense, I feel weak and shaky and everything has blurry edges around it. I blink, and blink some more. I feel like I am being watched. When my eyes finally do clear, I realize I am, in fact, being watched. There is a huge eye staring at me from my computer screen. It blinks. I blink, thinking what freaky website did I stumble upon before falling asleep? It blinks again and then looks directly at me. I can tell it is looking at me, because the pupil of the eyeball slightly constricts, as if it is focusing. I hear a voice “Hello SD.” What the heck I think to myself. “I have been waiting for you.” In my dream, I roll off the bed and plummet to the floor. I think the fall woke me from my dream (my real dream). But I have been thinking about that eye ever since. It is one of those dreams that you can’t get out of your head, and I am thinking what if I had stayed asleep, would the eye have appeared on my phone? Would it be on my computer at work, just blinking and staring back at me? What does it all mean?
I have completely procrastinated, put off all the things I should be doing, and instead wrote a post about summer camps, green turtle signs and disembodied eyes. I realize it is Sunday, and regrettably I have stuff to do.
Ta-ta for now!
Have a good week!!!!!!!!