Jabober

Allison’s soccer practice is cancelled due to the fires. In fact, all of the games for the entire league are cancelled tomorrow due to the fires. Ash has been falling all day. Even the spider web that decorates our front porch is covered in ash.

The kids are disappointed, but not distraught. Although, I don’t think they really understand why the games are cancelled. When I asked Cam what we should do tomorrow, since we won’t be doing soccer, he said, “Well, we can go find a field, with lot of kids and kick the ball around.” I said, “Well, there’s lots of ash in the air, that wouldn’t be good for our lungs to do that. That’s why they cancelled the games.” He replied, “Oh, I don’t mean at the soccer park, I mean at Pacific park, or one of the other parks [in Burbank].”

It’s really hard to explain to the kids just how big this fire is without freaking them out. Last night we told Cam about the fire, and we could see the worry in his eyes. We told him he was safe, and that everything’s OK for us here. But when one of the fires is in Burbank, and it’s so big that we can’t play outside, it’s hard for him to understand how it can be that big, and we’re not in danger.

I have to admit, when I heard about the Burbank fire, I started to worry a little too.

Posted by Tammy at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We went to the LA County fair today. Click for the extended entry to see all the pics. We went to the LA Couny Fair today with our local homeschool support group. Once on the grounds, we went our separate ways. The kids and I headed to the animals first. I wanted to see them first because I knew it was going to be hot, and being in the livestock area when it's 100 degrees outside is not on my list of appealing things in this world.

We started out looking at the sheep.

Then we strolled over to the billy goats.

After which we enjoyed looking at the pigs, cows and chickens. There were a lot of babies there, including a whole mess of piglets and their milk-laden mamas. We also went to the dairy cow area, where the cows were lined up, udders full to the brim, each of them with two metal bars on either side of the necks so they wouldn't move. It was actually sad to see. There was also a few signs explaining how the process works. One of the signs said that for maximum milk production, cows need to birth at least once a year. Man, milking cows don't have a fun life. Fortunately, that aspect went right over the kids' heads. They were more interested in seeing the baby animals and asked why it smelled so badly.

Then we were off to Heritage Square, where they had a couple dozen displays and demonstrations of colonial America. We saw all of the old machinery that was used, they had a brick-making demo that we chose not to get involved in, and several other examples of "they way it was back then."

One of the demonstrations, which I thought was one of the best, described the games played by colonial kids. One of the games was a bowl and sack game.

Cameron said he wants to make one of his own.

We also participated in the quilting demo.

After this activity, we went inside to the kids' arts and crafts area. It was so incredibly crowded in there. We didn't get to see much because there wasn't room to push the stroller in between all the school groups. So, we played with the dinosaur display for a little while.

For lunch we had some really scrumptious hot dogs, big juicy fries and PBJ's that we brought from home. It was starting to get quite hot by now, so we headed inside and walked around the shopping pavillions. I got my ring cleaned, we saw a veggie smoothie demo and oohed and aaahed at the nifty toys and gadgets. There seemed to be an even mix of crappy new products made in sweat shops in China and of nice hand-made crafts, as well as a sprinkle of interesting booths like Evangelist Christians, Credit Card Debt reducers and Make Your Own Website promotions.

During our time in the shopping pavillions, I bought a gift for our neighbor and donated a couple books to our local library (through a promotion where we can buy books for ourselves, or buy them for a group of our choice.)

At one o'clock, we arrived at the much anticipated Chinese Acrobat performance. We were not disappointed. It was quite the show; spinning disks, amazing feats of strength, flexibility and balance, and the favorite of them all—the woman who balanced 5 tiers of glasses on her nose while walking on a ball and spinning a hula-hoop. All stuff that doesn't seem humanly possible.

Before we left, we stopped by the miniature train display. I love that display. I could spend a long time there watching all the trains go around. There were twenty-one different circuits, and the longest train had 52 cars. It was very very long. Six of the trains could be controlled by visitor-accessible buttons. Other trains were controlled by an engineer station, and some were on an endless loop.

We also hopped on a couple rides on our way out.


The trek back to the car was hard. We were all tired, and it was dreadfully hot. The girls fell asleep on the way home.

What a fun day. I love the LA County Far.

Posted by Tammy at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just received notice that one of my articles (which actually originated as an e-list post) has been included on the A2Z Home'sCool website. Thanks Ann!

Posted by Tammy at 06:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When my mother-in-law gave me Hooked!, by Stephanie Kaza, for my birthday, I thought that I might be in for some dreadfully guilt-laden reading. A collection of 17 essays on Buddhist perspectives on greed, desire and the urge to consume, Hooked! was at first glance intriguing yet potentially upsetting. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to face up to my own materialistic views.

I have always considered myself a minimalist. For many of my college years, I had only the bare minimum I needed to get by, with a few perks (a computer always being one of those perks). But the real reason that I was a minimalist, was that I spent so much time moving from place to place, that I didn’t want to have to haul all my stuff around, so I kept my possessions light (except for the heavy 286 I lugged around everywhere.)

Now, I live in a house that is crammed full of stuff. Much of that stuff is mine, but it’s also a lot of stuff for the kids. Mostly it’s stuff that we don’t use very often. I get a grand satisfaction in having garage sales and giving away bags of stuff, yet the space that giving stuff away makes is soon filled with more things. I struggle with this issue a lot, because although I don’t feel that I need very much, I actually do have more stuff than I think, and that makes me uncomfortable.

So, reading Hooked! was scary for me. Fortunately, Buddhist views are generally less extreme than mainstream environmentalism and anti-consumerism. Most of the essays in Hooked! have a moderate viewpoint, and focus more on being aware, than being guilty. I found the first section of essays to be the most enlightening (pun intended), as it spoke of what makes humans, and in particular Americans, have an incessant desire to have more stuff. And not only more objects, but more money, more technology, more knowledge and generally amassing as much as we can of whatever we can. The first step to making changes in our lives, and in our world is to see things clearly, and understand the problem.

The second section I found useful as well. This section focused on practical tools we can use, from a Buddhist perspective of the middle way, to find a happy medium between what we want and what we truly need to survive. It also talks about making choices based on things other than status and whether something is a good deal, but rather from the perspective of who had to be hurt, who had to work hard and what had to die in order for me to have this thing. Kind of harsh because it’s so “in-your-face”. But one the major things it points out, is that we are so far removed from the process of creating the things that we have, that we don’t have any connection to the people who did the work to make the things that we have in our possession.

The last section is about giving. From the Buddhist point of view, we get more the more we give. And by giving, we can decrease our desire for stuff. Giving away our excess stuff, time and money to people who have less than they need, or even just to people that we love (and in Buddhism, that’s everyone, in theory), gives us the opportunity to appreciate what we have more, and to see that our stuff does not define who we are. This section also talks about the value of money, and how we see money in our Western society.

As much as some of the articles hurt to read (because they were honest, not sensational), I benefited greatly from having hashed it all out in my head. I think that anyone, Buddhist or not, would gain from reading many of these essays, and thinking about how we got to where we are commercially, and how our American push for a stronger market and more consumerism effects the world, including the one that we live in day to day.

Although Hooked! is chock-full of Buddhist quotes and references, the concepts are universal. And, if one has any question as to what Buddhism is all about, and wants to know more, this is a good introduction to it, by exploring something that we can all relate to from a (mostly) middle way Zen perspective.

Posted by Tammy at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We Love Katamari. The king is so touched. He and his chin.

Posted by Tammy at 05:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sugar free syrup? Is that even possible?

As I was cutting coupons yesterday, I noticed a coupon for Aunt Jemima syrup. On the coupon it says, “Now available sugar-free!” So how do they get the sweet into the syrup if there's no sugar (and if they take out the sweet, what is left)? Is it completely stuffed with Nutrisweet or Splenda? What’s the point of putting syrup on my waffles if there is no sugar in them? The whole reason I put it on my waffles is to make it sweet and sugary.

This reminds me of a great bit in the The Wedding Crashers (great movie BTW). Jeremy (played by Vince Vaughn) goes off on a bizarre rant about syrup, seemingly out of nowhere. Then later in the film, in a very quick breakfast scene, he pours syrup ALL over his breakfast plate, which consists of bacon, eggs, toast and other breakfast stuffs. The character he plays is totally crazy and hyper and talks a lot, and loves syrup. It’s awesome!

Wow, that makes me want to have some waffles. Man, I don’t have any. Anyone wanna swing by with some waffles? I got the syrup (and it’s not sugar free).

Posted by Tammy at 08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A friend of mine lives in Texas, and she is taking a mandatory vacation, as she calls it; she’s being evacuated due to the incoming storm.

She said that she spent yesterday packing up the car and working out where her family is going to stay (she’s going to stay with her mother-in-law in San Antonio). The hotels all over Texas are already booked up (no doubt leftover from Katrina). Many of her neighbors and friends are choosing to remain in their homes. The officials in the effected areas are telling people, "If you refuse to leave, please write your name and social security number in permanent marker on your body so that you can be easily identified."

Her children have packed their most prized possessions (including stuffed animals and toys). She and her husband had to wait in line for gas, and spent three hours getting plywood to be able to board up their house.

She took her laptop with her, so she’ll be giving us updates when she can. I’m crossing my fingers that this storm will not be as bad as they say it will; I want my friend’s house to still be there when she gets home. I also don’t know if we can stand another extreme demand on our country’s resources. Overall, for many reasons, another horrible weather disaster would not be good.

Here’s Rebecca’s homeschool website that she maintains.

Posted by Tammy at 08:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Cameron’s been literally climbing the walls. A couple weeks ago, I mentioned to Yoshi that I wondered when our kids would figure out how to shimmy up the doorway, like we used to do when we were young. Well, Cameron overheard our conversation, and immediately took to figuring out what we meant. Ever since, he’s been spending ample time each day climbing up the door frames.

Right now, he has classical music playing at super sonic speed, running around the house and climbing the walls. Megan is looking on with great interest, perhaps envious? Allison doesn’t seem too interested, except for taking the opportunity in Cam’s temporary helplessness to smack him in the backside as she runs by.

Who needs jungle gyms anyway?

Posted by Tammy at 05:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Avast Mateys! It's Talk Like a Pirate Day!

About the tradition
Pirate puzzles
Get a pirate name (I'm Pirate Antonia the Off-White)
Pirate jokes for computer nerds
And for you crafty types....

Enjoy your pirate day! (But no pillaging or looting please.)

Posted by Tammy at 08:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sunday mornings are the best time to go running. There is nobody out on the streets, and I can do my run a little later than I could on a weekday. By doing my run a little later, I have less chance of being hit by a sprinkler. Although spider webs are still a concern, so I run in the street.

I’ve been running for a little over a month. (Well, I should define “running” as moving just a tad faster than walking, with walking, sprints and squats sprinkled throughout the journey.) I had been hesitant to get back into running because of my previous injuries in my knee, ankle and sole of my foot (all 3 separate incidents). So I started slow. Walking mostly, with a few short sprints.

Now, only a month or so later, I’ve come to remember what it was that I loved so much about running back when I was doing races and lived at the gym: The Zone. The zone is a place that I can really only find while running. And, it’s much easier to find on a quiet Sunday morning than any other day of the week.

I fell into the zone for a few minutes on my last run, which was over a week ago since I was sick this week. On today’s run, I didn’t expect much, thinking that I’d still be in recovery mode. It turned out to be the best run so far, and I was in the zone for a good 10-15 minutes before I had to stop for a side-stitch.

When I slowed down and started walking, it was almost painful. My legs wanted to just keep running. So I walked very quickly, to satisfy my limbs’ urge. I didn’t want to come home, but it had been over 30min. and it was time to go check up on Yoshi and the kids.

Getting out early in the morning is incredibly hard for me. I’m a late-morning, early afternoon person. But on the days that I manage to get that run in, even if for only 15min. or so, I feel tall and capable the rest of the day.

Maybe one day I might be able to start running in races again. I’ll let the zone (and my knee) tell me when I’m ready. If I can find the zone and stay in it for an hour or so (without knee pain), I think I’ll be ready to start to train again. But if I don’t, and the zone is only accessible for 10-15min. at a time forever and ever, I’ll be satisfied with that. It’s a nice enough place, that spending even 10 minutes there is a satisfying vacation.

Posted by Tammy at 01:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I picked up A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula Le Guin, in a moment of weakness in a beautiful bookstore in Montrose, called Once Upon a Time. I had promised myself that I would not buy anymore books, and instead borrow them from the library. But this particular bookstore had a whole section of “We recommend” books, with bookmarks inserted, each with a compelling description of the books’ best assets. I just couldn’t resist picking up a couple books to read (I mean, to add to my pile of books to read.) It was during this same shopping trip that I picked up The Eyre Affair.

A Wizard of Earthsea was described on the paper insert as a Harry Potter-esque story that takes place in another world of Arthurian magic. After reading it, the only resemblance between the two stories seems to be that the main character is a young wizard coming of age and discovering his power and importance in the world he lives in. The cadence, the adventures, even the kind of magic used in this novel is not at all similar to that of Harry Potter. I wouldn’t even put them in the same category of literature. I would say that it's much closer to The Lord of the Rings type of storytelling, with much less detail and much less bloodshed.

Earthsea is a Homer-esque adventure of a wizard who has opened the door of the dead and must find a way to restore balance. All the while, he learns who he is, and teaches the reader about the lands in which the story takes places. The story does not unravel like the tightly woven story of Harry Potter, rather, in rolls out as a timeline—an adventure story where the main character has a goal, but is met with one thing after another that keeps him from reaching it.

The writing style is sprinkled generously with Old English turns of phrase and the cadence of the story is uneven, interweaving meticulous description with quick-paced action in an unexpected manner, making it a little difficult to initially find a reading rhythm. But this inconsistency contributes to the story’s charm; seldom is the story boring despite the fact that many of the trials and tribulations of the main character do not strongly contribute to the overall storyline, being merely descriptions of interesting things that happen along the way.

In this way, I think it would a wonderful book for a child (perhaps 8-10 or older, depending on their reading ability) to be introduced into the genre of fantasy novels; the story can be easily read a page or two at a time without losing the storytelling rhythm, and the events in the book are interesting and even a little frightful, although not indiscriminately gory.

But perhaps the most important aspect of A Wizard of Earthsea concerns the maturation of the main character, Sparrowhawk. His path to wisdom is a universal message that many young readers (or even adult readers) would find inspirational. It conveys a message that how we respond to pain and mistakes is an important way to wisdom—a message which resonates from the beginning to the end of this account of Sparrowhawk’s adventures.

Even though the story was well written and compelling, I don’t think that I’ll be reading the next books in the series (there are four). However, I’ll keep it on the shelves for the kids when they are old enough to start to read this kind of fiction. My husband will probably also enjoy it; this is the kind of story he likes to read—lots of adventure, running around and exploring, in a world of magic and dragons.

Posted by Tammy at 03:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call to make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?" - Stephen Levine

"If your friends or family were to die tomorrow, what would you tell them? To whom would you say "I love you"? And why are you waiting?" - Tammy Takahashi

You lived your last days to your fullest my dear Lestat, giving everyone in the neighborhood your endless love and affection. You were loved by many, and you were able to run free like you had wanted to for so long. Now, you can be free to fly in the wind. Goodbye little one, you will be missed.

Posted by Tammy at 03:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today we failed miserably in trying to re-create this optical illusion.

I laid out the first part of the grid. (Fuzzy pics, I know.)


Then Cameron finished the rest of the two grids.


The browns in the middle of each grid look only slightly different. I’m really curious what element we’re missing to make this work.

It was a interesting project though. And it was fun looking at all the other illusions. I still can't figure out how the table illusion works!

Posted by Tammy at 01:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Although melting faces sounds very interesting, I’ve decided to specialize in the Holy/Discipline talent tree for my priest. While Llewelyn is all about soloing, I’d like to focus on grouping my priest in instances and dungeons. It will be a completely different game than I played with Llew, and I will see content that I haven’t seen before. So, for this purpose, holy would be a better fit than shadow specialization.

Llew is just about level 60, and I plan to mostly retire her while I focus on Amme. Surprisingly, I find myself with a renewed interest in playing after having thought for a long time that when Llew got to 60, I’d be done with WoW. I have even been thinking about what I want to do after I get Amme to 60—play on the horde side, and see if I can corner the market in the auction house over there too.

Another interesting development in the online gaming industry—EQ released its new expansion, Depths of Darkhollow. In this new expansion, anyone of any level can play together, as monsters. The zones are instanced, and everyone plays at the same level with pre-set monsters. Loot and experience then transfers to each person’s permanent character after the event. Sounds fun. I’m actually tempted to try it.

This just proves that no matter what length of break I take from playing RPG's, that I'm destined to be an online gamer geek. I might as well acquiesce to my destiny.

Posted by Tammy at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Time travel, supernatural mysteries, political strife, and literature all come together in the tongue-in-cheek suspense novel, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. Dickens, Shakespere, Milton and Brontë are all taken very seriously, so seriously as to be absurd. Yet, we are easily convinced of this alternate reality as Fforde guides us through the experiences of Thursday Next, SpecOp LiteraTec detective.

Describing Thursday Next or her adventures is nearly impossible without explaining the entire book. The intricate, yet easy to follow and compelling story takes several unexpected turns, with character names and literary banter destined to cause a chuckle or two. At once, Fforde shows a love of classic literature, while taking a jovial look at the books and their authors.

The most intriguing aspect of the story, however, is not that it’s a mystery, or that the events happen in an alternate reality. It’s the way that characters in the Eyre Afffair interact commonly with the characters from the classics. The line between the reality presented in the story, and the fantasy of well-known literary texts all but disappears.

The cover of the book touts an old, worn book, with a door handle attached to the front, and a large key protruding from the keyhole. This picture is perfect, for the story of Thursday Next literally lets us step through the door of literature, leading us along with a witty and incredible story.

There are currently five books in the Thursday Next series. The Eyre Affair leaves several unresolved story elements to be tackled later on in subsequent novels. I look forward to revisiting some of these mysteries in the second book. I’m amazed at Jasper Fforde’s ingenuity and creativity, and if the second book has even half of the charm of the first, it is guaranteed to be a good read.

Posted by Tammy at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I’m not sure what’s worse – being sick, or the medicine that is supposed to make me feel better.

I took Tylenol Cold (daytime) this morning, to stave off the body aches and full head. It seemed to help with the symptoms, but now I feel a little out of it. I suppose though, that feeling detached is better than feeling annoyed and uncomfortable.

The kids aren’t feeling well either. I knew something was up when Cameron voluntarily went to bed at 9:30 last night, and fell asleep almost immediately. Today, all three have drippy noses and they are quite mellow. In a way, though, I’m glad we’re all sick at once. I don’t think I’d be able to keep up with them today if they were all in good health with tons of energy.

My mom tells me a story of when I was a baby, and I wasn’t feeling well, they put whiskey on my lips, and I fell right off to sleep. I think of that story when I get sick, or when the kids get sick. And although I would never give our kids whiskey, the fantasy of us all spending the day sleeping sure does sound appealing at times like this.

Posted by Tammy at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For my birthday, Yoshi got me Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube. It’s the kind of game that I have liked to play since college, with puzzles to solve, monsters to fight, and cute characters that run around trying to wittily jibe each other.

I enjoy playing it; it has a fun play style, the graphics are nice, and the puzzles are interesting yet not overwhelmingly intricate. However, quite a bit of time is spent showing the characters chatting with each other. I’d say that I’ve passed just as much time watching the characters play out their mini movies as I have running around trying to find things and doing puzzles.

The game’s cover touts the enormous effort that was put into creating the story. And yet I wonder – who cares about the story, really? Does anyone who plays this kinds of game enjoy watching all these video clips? And then I wonder if it is possible to tell the story without so much chit chat between characters. Granted, there are some scenes that explain the motivation behind why the characters want to go out to beat up monsters and do puzzles in the first place. Those scenes are compelling to watch (for example, there’s a scene where one of the characters tries to save a human slave from an unwarrentd beating, and ends up causing his home town to be destroyed, which sends him off on a journey to rebuild the village). And, some of the chatting covers up the transition between playing and doing the tutorial (“Hi, I’m the librarian, your dad’s best friend, and he asked me to teach you how to use your R Button.”).

But I hope the games starts moving at a little bit faster pace, because although I enjoy knowing the back story and the characters are fun, I’m used to playing WoW and EQ and other games where the primary focus is the fighting and strategy; in other words, actually playing the game, rather than watching anime.

I guess this sounds like I’m complaining about the game, but I’m not really. I like it. I’m complaining about the movie. But even after all my whining about too much video, I have to admit that they did a pretty good job with the snarky dialogue, and I got to give them credit for integrating the tutorial into the story line.

Posted by Tammy at 08:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ansel Adams was homeschooled. That so rocks!

His Biography

Posted by Tammy at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have absolutely no experience with art (other than the stick figures I draw for the kids), so pursuing Allison’s interest in artsy things has proven difficult for me. For this reason, I decided to try out KidsArt in La Cañada to see if she would enjoy something a little more formal than my rolling PlayDoh into hot dogs for her over and over.

For her age level, the classes are mostly drawing with pencils and markers. They use a step-by-step system which guides the kids to draw a relatively elaborate picture from basic shapes. First they draw ovals and triangles and circles and such with a light pencil stroke (or, about as light as a four year old can draw), following a four-step instruction sheet. The teacher helps with the first few shapes to get the kids started.

Then, after all the shapes are drawn, the kids use a permanent marker to trace over certain parts of the shapes to define the picture. Before they are to draw, though, they have to take their finger and trace the shape on the model. Then they go to their own copy and retrace the lines. I’m not quite sure what the finger tracing is for, but it seemed to work with Allison. At the very end of this phase, they helped Allison put some details in to give the picture a unique character.

The last step is coloring the picture. Allison’s teacher colored in some of the picture as an example, then helped Allison to the rest on her own.

At the end of class, the teacher took down the pictures one by one and announced who they belonged to and what a great job everyone did.

Allison said that she liked it. And now she has an awesome picture of a butterfly hanging on the wall. It looks awesome. But, I don’t know how an artist’s mind works—are these things learned best with a class, or are they better learned with trial and error? Is it art to copy a picture, or is it just like copying sentences out of a book to practice writing? The class does allow the kids the opportunity to pick the picture they want to copy, but once they pick it, they teach a very specific way to go about drawing it. Is this a good way to start with art?

Their schedule isn’t particularly convenient, but I’m thinking we’ll try to make it work for us, since Allison likes art so much. I don’t think she cares how she gets it, as long as she gets it. And, she can take the techniques she learns home to free-form draw as much as she likes. I’ll stay open-minded on this one, and see how she likes it over the long term before making any judgements on the program.

It’s very much like the debate I had with myself about whether to get Cameron into formal piano lessons. He has so much fun playing, and he can pick up a song by ear, it made me wonder what would be the benefit of going to lessons. But now, I see that overall, formal lessons have proven to be very beneficial to him. I’m thinking that maybe Allison’s art lessons would be kind of the same thing—guiding her natural interest and giving her techniques she can use to make even more masterpieces on her own.

Posted by Tammy at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We went to Disneyland on Sunday (yes, on Labor Day Weekend) and we rode Space Mountain for the first time after its remodel. Yoshi, Cameron, Allison and I went on together. We all liked it a lot!

They did a really good job on the theme. They incorporated many different stimuli to give the ride more dimension than it had before. It’s essentially the same roller coaster as the original, with some small changes in the track composition. The major changes were made with the décor and ambiance.

It is much darker. It was so dark I couldn’t see Allison sitting right next to me. But I could see the track apparatus a little bit. The “sky” was filled mostly with stars, without the spinning planets and moons on the ceiling like there were before. It was also very cold, with a wind blowing, not only giving a feel of going faster, but a feel of being in deep, cold, space. The fast-paced music playing from speakers in the headrest put a final touch on the speedy experience; it almost felt like I was in a movie during a cosmic chase scene.

There are some rides at Disneyland which are amazingly dynamic. They aren’t just about waiting in line and being carried around by a box for a couple minutes at the end. There’s a story, complicated décor, and unique flavor that adds an element of complexity that only Disney can create. As much as Disney is a shameless commercial giant of a corporation, there are some things that they can do very well. Ride development is one of those things. Space Mountain, to me, is an example of that.

Oh, and the roller coaster is fun too. It goes really fast, spins around and gets the riders airborne a couple times. Not as quite as intense as California Screamin’, but it ain’t nuthin’ to spit at.

Posted by Tammy at 01:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Allison got her soccer uniform Friday. It’s pink! She has been talking all summer about her pink soccer uniform. Yoshi and I continued to remind her that she wouldn’t be able to choose her colors, and that she might not end up with pink. Even so, she continued to insist that pink was going to be the color.

So, when she came home holding up a pink (and blue) uniform, I was ecstatic! She was so happy that she got a pink uniform. And I was so relieved that I wouldn't have to hear how disappointed she was about getting the wrong color. We both gave each other a big hug.

Then, she tells me, her team name is “Powerpuffs”! How could things be any better? Even if she hardly plays a wink this whole season, it will be a season of good memories, if just for the uniform and team name.

And to think, all summer I was worried that this soccer season would be difficult for Allison. Everyday, the kids teach me something. This time, Allison taught me to stop being such a worry wart.

Posted by Tammy at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

David Albert was so kind as to give me an advanced copy of his book, Have Fun. Learn Stuff. Grow. A Curriculum of Love to review for the California HomeSchooler. This is a collection of his various writings from Home Education Magazine and The Link of the past couple of years.

Musing on his own experiences as a homeschool dad who followed his children’s interests, David talks about everything from video games to dancing, math to writing. Definitely unconventional in his approach to learning, he also took somewhat of an unconventional approach to writing a book about homeschooling.

In this way, if you read his book, don’t start in the beginning. Instead, turn to the middle somewhere and read an essay that has an interesting title. Then do that again, and again. Just like he taught his daughters to learn by what is interesting to them, his style is best digested when the reader reads the essays in the order that best suits him, which isn’t necessarily the way that David put them together in the book.

His book will be released September 23rd. He is also offering HSC members and friends a $2.00 discount on signed copies from his website. Write “HSC” on the comment line to get the discount.

I finished another book yesterday: Hardboiled and Hard Luck, by Banana Yoshimoto, which is consists of two short stories translated from Japanese. Hardboiled was a curious story about ghosts. The second, Hard Luck, was a story about death, that was strangely parallel to the Terry Schiavo situation, even though the story was published in 1999.

The family crisis is portrayed with a familiar mix of grief and hope, where real life goes on around a beloved sister who is kept alive by an resperator, despite being technically brain dead. It’s a story of letting go while still hanging on, while nothing very extraordinary happens. In fact, the story itself was quite ordinary. It was a story of a painful family situation, yet it seemed so "normal", as opposed to the standard literary/Hollywood formula of crisis/resolution patterns that go above and beyond normal life circumtances and emotion in order to create tension. This story, instead, is a portrait, which doesn’t have a beginning or end, or even a point. It just is.

Ultimately, I feel indifferent to both stories. But Hard Luck did move me in a peculiar way—it made me feel an intense need to finally sit down and write about my grandfather who passed away earlier this year. I guess I’d been waiting for something to make it Ok for me to write about what I really wanted to say about his death. And this story did that for me.

Posted by Tammy at 08:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Cameron’s soccer team got their uniforms on Tuesday. They are bright green. The naming ceremony was, rather, unceremonious. One guy suggested “Warriors”, another said, “Tigers”, and then a third boy piped up with “Waterfall Flamers”.

Well, after a bit of banter of whether “Flamers” was even an option, I suggested “Dragons”, since that still had the flame thing, and it was green. All the parents vehemently concurred that “Dragons” was a good name. We voted. Dragons won. Yay!

So now, Yoshi and I have the duty to select the banner graphic. Here are the dragons we have to choose from (you might need to scroll to the bottom of the page):
First set of dragons
Second set of dragons

Which dragon should a group of 6-8 year old boys, who seem to like flame, have on their team flag?

Posted by Tammy at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The neighborhood kids are all headed back to school today—backpacks on, pencils and crayons tucked away, homework folders ready to be filled. But not our kids. Our kids woke up at 8:30 this morning, and now we’re hopping around the house listening to music, Allison’s drawing, Cam’s playing the piano, and Megan’s trying to beat the computer into submission (and decorate it with stickers). And Mom? Well, mom is extremely grateful for the life she has, not having to fight with homework, able to schedule days according to everyone’s rhythms, and see her kids evolve before her eyes, while having a whole lot of fun.

This is the time of year when everyone’s talking about which school the kids are going to, and which teachers they have. We like to say that our kids go to the best school in the neighborhood, and they have the best teacher – voted #1 seven years in a row!

Happy new school year to everyone – in school or not!

Now, homeschoolers, it’s time to par-tay! DJ, crank it up!

Posted by Tammy at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)