Friday Fragments: August 28, 2009

My brain hurts. My fragments have fragments. Perhaps I should seek medical attention, but…eh…

• Contrary to all proof on this site, I am actually not dead, kidnapped, or have run off to “hike the Appalachian trail.” I am simply busy. I am also taking better care of myself. My acupuncturist and I have a working theory about the exhaustion that descends upon me with little to no warning. I’ve had mono twice. We suspect the Epstein-Barr virus hangs out in my system and, when triggered, flares up. Not into full-fledged mono, but knock-down, drag-out, please shoot me exhaustion. The trigger? Stress. Perhaps wheat. Fun to be me! This summer, with the boys out of school and A’s ongoing digestive issues/ADHD and several trips, probably triggered it a bit and that may be why I’ve been dragging. With the boys back in school I’m feeling a lot better. So to keep it at bay (and this is a lifestyle change, because this will likely dog me my whole life), I really need to focus on a healthy lifestyle. Eat well, get enough sleep, reduce my commitments, manage my stress better, exercise, and see my acupuncturist. Nothing outrageous there, just hard to make some changes, most notably the “reduce my commitments” part. I’ve dropped a few things and will continue to drop what doesn’t serve me well.
• I’m getting a sore throat. Please just be fall allergies or dehydration. I’ve been taking my Cold Nip, which I can’t recommend highly enough to scare off colds. I take it and I don’t get sick. The only time it didn’t work was last spring when I got the flu AND strep at the same time. It just couldn’t compete. The stuff is strong, but it really works. Get some.
• Mama got her iPhone. Mama is a happy, happy camper. Mama couldn’t wait any longer.
• That said, MAMA IS GOING TO KILL OUTLOOK. I had to go back to Outlook so I could sync emails/contacts/calendar with the iPhone (and so help me, if you tell me I didn’t have to go back to that POS program I will start drinking heavily). Setting up the iPhone took the better part of last week, through no fault of the iPhone. It works great and makes me extremely happy. My PC is just pissed at the new intruder and knows that it is the inferior piece of technology. YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED, PC!!!
• Have I mentioned today how much I pink puffy heart Pandora? In fact, I love it so much that I hit my monthly limit this week. Yeah, a monthly limit. So I sucked it up and paid for a year. Thirty-six bucks for a year of whatEVER I feel like listening to. For this musician, music to my ears.
• So. School. We’re only a week in, so I’m keeping my mouth shut and my eyes and ears wide open. But. A was kept in at recess on the second day of school to finish some work. Talking to other parents, they’ve been losing recess this week because of being loud in the halls. Then. Got a little info sheet on what 3rd grade is doing math-wise this unit (a week? a month? doesn’t say) and it’s all stuff A did last year, if not the year before. I know the kids need review after a summer of brain rust, but OMFG. We worked on his math homework earlier this week and it about effing killed me. TWO HOURS of arguing and roadblocks and frustration to do FIVE math problems…math problems of “rearrange these numbers, then draw a circle around which one is greatest and a square around which one is least.” TWO HOURS. Oh, this was because there was some concern that using the words “biggest” and “smallest” was confusing: 75 and 57 are the same size because they have the same numbers and are both double digits. So the kids have to learn “greatest” and “least.” Are.You.Effing.Kidding.Me????? So two hours of misery and then…and here’s the eye-opener…the “bonus” question: What do you notice about the numbers you marked as “greatest” and “least?” And, no shit, A took one look at that, glanced at the problems, shouted out “THEY’RE BACKWARDS!!!!!,” and scrawled out the answer in under thirty seconds. And right there, my friends, is the challenge of giftedness. Too easy and he shuts down. Make him use his brain and watch out. Hm. Just realized I never posted about his testing at the GDC. Might want to do that, get my thoughts down, so as the school year goes on I can remember how I felt.
• I’d like some more summer, but I suspect fall is going to come sooner rather than later. I’m actually driving with my seat heater on. It’s August.

And that is apparently all I can dribble out today. My fragments are apparently even more fragmented than I realized. I’m sure I have glue around here somewhere…