What’s Going On?

~ Laura

Just bopping in here quickly for an update.

I wrote a newsletter just about progress with Ian’s transition efforts this week. Since I wrote that, he attended his first in-person college classes and did great. We know he can do the work, but everything else can be challenging for him. But he did great, so “woot!”

Campaigning is taking up most of my time. Or preparing to campaign, to be more exact. I’m going to meetings, ordering flyers, setting up more meetings. I’m having a great time, so win or lose, it’s all great.

We went to too many restaurants this summer and put on some pounds, so we’re cooking healthy meals and counting calories right now. Boo. We’ve done a few day trips this past week, including a visit to Steve’s office. More pictures of that to come.

This is a lame post, I know. I’ll do something better soon.

Published by Laura

23 thoughts on “What’s Going On?”

  2. Absolute woots on the promising start in the college class!

    Love that you are enjoying the process of applied political science. As life shifts and changes, I think the capacity for enjoying the process and not just the product makes all the difference in happiness. But I hope you get to follow through on the experiment and make a difference!

    Lots happening here, lots of change. Family will be in 5 different time zones soon (I’m going to have to buy more clocks for the time zone wall).

    Like

  3. We’re headed to New Jersey today! We’re going to see Springsteen on Sunday with college friends, and today we will drop off some stuff in Queens for S in her new apartment. Now all she needs is a new job to go along with it!

    Like

    1. Bruce!!! Everybody is going. It’s like Taylor Swift tickets but for Gen Xers.

      How’s the job scene? Jonah will be on the market again in three months, after he finishes his last 2 classes. Yay!

      Like

      1. Unclear about the job scene. She had a good interview last week and another this week. TikTok tells me that there is a “September Surge” in hiring. We will see.
        Good luck to Jonah. E is taking his first-year writing class for the third time. The kid hates writing and doesn’t hand in his papers. I think he is crazy for doing this during marching band season but no one ever asks me.

        Like

      2. Good luck to all the kids job hunting. I haven’t the slightest idea what the economy is doing for new graduates. It seems to be doing fine in general.

        Like

      3. Wendy, I’m glad to read other kids don’t always hand their papers in. I don’t get it, but this happens with one of my kids on a semi-regular basis.

        I’m over the worse of the new-to-this-job thing and loving it. Now my spouse is changing roles, my oldest did finally settle on attending university this fall, and my youngest is going to a new (middle) school. And we got (trying HTML in the comment box here) a puppy. He’s a St. Bernard/Bernese mountain dog cross rescue puppy. So this is our season of change I guess!

        I’m right with you on the gain in lbs and the trying to be sensible before the holidays. Midlife, man, you take your eye off the ball for a short time and suddenly…

        Like

      4. Elder found a job after spending the summer searching, and even negotiated her salary! The alternative was going to be a bookstore and living at home.

        I have been hanging out at the “living wage” database and being kind of shocked at how expensing cities are. and I live in an expensive city.

        I’ve never searched for or had an entry level job so it’s been enlightening to watch the process.

        Like

      5. bj wrote, “I have been hanging out at the “living wage” database and being kind of shocked at how expensing cities are. and I live in an expensive city.”

        This comes up in the book Paying for the Party. There are certain career tracks that involve living in a big expensive city and being subsidized by your parents, and they are not a good option for out-of-town kids without family support. And frankly, our family is reasonably prosperous, but we wouldn’t/couldn’t spring for that.

        Like

      6. Fortunately older is earning more than the official living wage from https://livingwage.mit.edu/ (even before salary negotiation). So we are not having these discussions about subsidizing a life now.

        We do know kids who want to take a shot at those kinds of careers, in film, theater, art. One has a contract editing film offer for less than a living wage even in the lower cost city where he will live with his parents. The general chatter is many parents I know willing to let their kids take their shots even when (or maybe because) they stayed so firmly on track. But, these kids are very intense and the ones I know personally are thoughtful (on Instagram, on the other hand, there are definitely kids where you’re wondering how they are living there — fancy NYC apartment — doing that — pitching documentaries).

        Kiddo, though, is starting with an anti-poverty nonprofit. She’s being paid well enough for that work, but it would not be enough to save for the future or a house (which the living wage site does not include).

        Like

      7. I too have heard (via my wife who works with some people who are recent to a year or two out of undergrad)that there is a bunch of hiring going on right now for junior/entry level positions.

        Everyone I know who lived in expensive cities like NYC or SF made it work with roommates and getting into a rent controlled place with an old lease. Of course you have to be willing to move in with strangers but it’s kind of like college in that way. I found it a good way to meet people. Does that even work these days?

        Like

      8. Kiddo is making it work with sharing.

        Kiddo was very knowledgeable about how to find a share place: apparently, Facebook groups. Requests are posted (some of the FB groups are for specialized communities, theater, LGBTQ, . . . .) and rooms offered. After DMs, video phone calls are scheduled to interview each other and view the apartment and offers are made for the lease. The process was fascinating. Kiddo spent about a week “on call” fielding the phone calls and responding. She is sharing an apartment but with strangers, which she hasn’t done since her assigned roommates in camps & freshman year and is nervous but keeping fingers crossed.

        My first non-dorm space was a small studio and then I and my partner moved into an apartment together, so my only stranger share was as a freshman in college.

        I think some folks find the share much harder than others, and that more people have less experience with sharing now than when we were young because houses are bigger and children are fewer.

        Kiddo does not know which kind of person she’ll be yet. I don’t think she’d choose a “apodment” (for which my city is an epicenter) because she wants a kitchen with a stove, but I know other young people who would.

        Like

      9. bj wrote, “I don’t think she’d choose a “apodment” (for which my city is an epicenter) because she wants a kitchen with a stove, but I know other young people who would.”

        *shudder*

        Like

      10. My first non-dorm space was a six bedroom house with seven 19 – year old men living in it. We had parties with $5 cups for all you can drink from the kegs, which usually resulted in police presence. Anyway, it was $108/month for each of us.

        Like

      11. MH wrote, “My first non-dorm space was a six bedroom house with seven 19 – year old men living in it. We had parties with $5 cups for all you can drink from the kegs, which usually resulted in police presence. Anyway, it was $108/month for each of us.”

        OK, I’m starting to see the charm of the pod.

        Like

      12. My kids share apartments or houses with others. I’ve seen them go through search processes with house/flat-mates. Yes, social media lets you cast a wider net, but it can be almost too wide. The most recent search a kid went through had dozens of applicants. The crew had to set up interview schedules, show both the new property and the old property to prospectives, make time to cull through results.

        Like

  4. Campaigning is gonna be a terrible drag on attempts to regain a girlish figger. Campaign events ! Salted nuts and Brie and Chardonnay! Mineral water is your friend…

    Like

  5. Our oldest is a fourth year college student, but we plan for her to take a fifth year in order to take more classes and apply to graduate school. Our middle child is a freshman. He’s had two blissful and exhausting weeks at the dorm…but now he’s home with COVID. It’s not the worst case of COVID we’ve ever seen, but now it needs to work through the rest of the family.

    Like

      1. Thanks, we’re hoping he’ll be back in the dorm by Tuesday, enjoying his endless ping pong and rock climbing. His roommate has been surprisingly COVID-concerned. The college COVID policy is currently: isolate 5 days then mask 5 days, and they encourage (but do not require) leaving the dorm. Freshman is able to really painlessly sit this out at home since we live in town. Funny story: his roommate has walked over three different times to our house to get home COVID tests from our stash. Three days after Freshman came home, 5th Grader turned positive. I talked to school, and they said they are now treating COVID with the same rules as any other illness. 5th grader had a real fever the first day of symptoms, but has had light symptoms the next day. Freshman had one rough night and it’s been better ever since. So far, so good.

        Like

  6. A young relative of mine, graduated in June, is living at his parent’s home studying for the LSAT. LSAT prep is going great (he got a 170 on his first run and is gearing up for a second test in October), living at home less so. The LSAT is a whole world unto itself, with the score determining not just whether you get into a “top 14” school but how much aid you get, and whether you can negotiate up the aid you are originally granted. So it’s not crazy that he hasn’t dived in and found a job and apartment, but that needs to happen soon for everyone’s sanity and overall health.

    In my own classes, this year’s freshmen are a little more focused than last year’s, fingers crossed they stick with it.

    Yay Ian and good luck to you with the school board campaign!

    Like

Comments are closed.