August Fun

Tumbleweeds float down the streets of my blog. And the spam builds up in the comment section. 

Augusts are always a tough month to work. This August, it's impossible.  

As usual, camp is out, and the kids are home full time. They are at an age, where they are WAY more entertaining than any blog or work project. I am having a ball hanging out with them. We went to a driving range at a Korean golf club this morning and whapped balls across a green field. Tomorrow, we're going to see the Lion King on Broadway with my parents.

There have been lots of trips to the swim club. After nine months of swim lessons at the Y, Ian has gone from being afraid to get water on his face to swimming with his face in the water across the pool. Which is HUGE, but he's still not quite strong enough to keep with Jonah and his friends. He tries to keep up with them, but then his little head goes below the water line too many times. I have to trail behind him in the pool and keep rescuing him. 

We're visiting friends together and eating out a lot. Poor Steve has another week of work before his vacation kicks in. Well, I have a brown bag of fancy sausages from the German butcher that I will grill up for dinner tonight. Sausage makes my husband happy. 

The move has made work even more impossible this August. I signed up Jonah for school on Thursday and totally failed. I brought over all the wrong paperwork, and the office secretary scowled at me. Making friends all ready! 

There's the packing. Sign ups for soccer teams and CCD lessons. The floor dude needs to get in there to refinish. When do the parties begin? Lots of important business to work out. 

A month without any work, especially a few weeks ago before APSA, used to send me into a tailspin of stress. I used to fit in life around the edges of work. Now, I am reversing that balance. 

Yesterday, I had a minute to watch the news before the kids came running down stairs demanding breakfast and snuggles. As I was flipping channels, I somehow stumbled on an old episode of Homicide: Life on the Street and paused for a moment to watch Andre Braugher. I loved this bit of dialogue:

Kellerman: What do you do for fun, Frank?

Pembleton: Define "fun".

Kellerman: Fun is when you do something exciting, maybe dangerous, with the possiblity that you're gonna feel really good before it's all over.

Pembleton: Oh, you mean work.

Kellerman: No, I don't mean work. I mean… sucking unfiltered Camels until you get headaches and snagging a 50-pound marlin on the line, and guzzling Wild Turkey until you puke, and running around the block all night and shooting pool for money against mentally defective bikers. Stuff like that.

Pembleton: I don't have time for fun.

Kellerman: Then what the hell gets you up in the morning? You gotta believe in something.

Pembleton: Well, you can't believe in fun. That's not a faith.

Kellerman: Fun is my god, Frank. I worship fun, I live for fun, and when I die, I hope that I'm having fun. Like that upstate car dealer, — You remember him? He had a heart attack while nailing his beautiful, young mistress. Came and went. Now, that's the way to die.

Pembleton: Smoke a cigarette, please.