Partly

There are times when I'm thinking I'm taking this "I'm the mom, I need to be protective" not quite seriously enough.

The setting: Myria (who will be in college this year and who is currently 18) wants to take a short trip with two of her girlfriends. They want to go to a small town about 3 hours away where there's this little (supposedly haunted) hotel. There's little arts and crafty shops that they can go to.

I thought it sounded fun.

All the other parents are, ah, less than enthused about it. The trip is on the verge of being cancelled all the time.

I mean, I understand the parental concerns. Driving on the highways, three young girls alone, older cars and all. I watch the news, I'm not naive, here. But...

I know these girls. They are good and smart and, well, NOT STUPID. Yes, I know that bad things happen. I know that there are bad drivers and bad people out there... But they all have phones. They will have a GPS. Russell lives in La Crosse, which is close to where they are going. I can hop in a car and DRIVE to where they will be in 3 hours.

I mean, I am wrong for thinking she should do this? Am I not being protective or concerned enough? I'm planning on getting her a "war bag" that has the stuff she needs for an emergency, making sure she has her phone and charger, telling her to be smart and all. But it's a in-state trip, after all.

Yeah, it would be different if they were heading to Chicago or the like. If any of them would be into partying or hanging out with the "wrong crowd" it could be different. If they were heading out into dangerous territory with no phone or GPS or driving a car that was, well, like the one I drive, I might think differently. If they weren't smart and, more importantly, cautious, then maybe I'd think twice about it.

I keep thinking that I'm missing something. That I'm not doing my parently duty by thinking that this would be a fun trip for her, and for letting her go. Should I be more concerned about this? Am I not doing what I should?

Myr, studying calculus. Me, sitting next to her.

Myr: No. No, don't crush it! *sigh* #21 crushed my soul, Mom.
Me: Souls are resilient. I learned that from watching Supernatural.
Myr: What do they know? They only dealt with hell, this is Calculus.

I really couldn't argue the point.

I finally got around to making a little video about Myr painting her Master Painting on the wall as school -- which I talked about way back when. As she painted, she took a picture every now and then.

So here you go. A Master in A Minute.

This is my little girl (not so little, she's 17 -- will be be an official adult in May)

She's the most amazing person I know. If, all those years ago, you would have told me I could have custom ordered my "perfect" child, she never would have been half as cool as the one I got. Right now she is trying to do all her homework because at 7:30 am on Saturday she got on a bus to do Band Competitions and didn't get home until 7:30 pm tonight. Plus Friday she played at the football game and then had a bondfire event that was postponed from Homecoming two weeks ago. So we are listening to her music and staying positive despite the total lack of sleep she had this weekend.

No specific reason for this post, other than the icon and the fact that she is uber-cool.

There are times in this world when being competent sucks. Don't get me wrong, strength and the ability to deal with life is never a bad thing. It's just, occasionally, being competent makes the world just a little less... sympathetic. When things go wrong and you are all "I can handle this" people tend not to notice how bad things really are. Or even how much you would really like (or need) help. ( My daughter is learning this. )

Down in Madison again. This time so that Myr can go to a play with her uncle. We have to be back in Merrill by 1 pm on Sunday so it's a shorter visit, but we got to walk state street this afternoon, so that's great.

I get to spend tomorrow with the splendiferous finabair. Well, tonight, tomorrow and a short time Sunday AM. We're going to start with steaks, baked veggies and mojitos tonight and it's all up from there!

Ho[e you all have a great weekend.

Myria is a very good artist. She good enough to qualify for the AP Art class next year. I'm sure I don't post enough on all the wonderful work she does. But there are times when bragging is a necessary.

Our school district has an excellent arts program. The choir and band program does a lot of great things and the fine arts program has both a drawing/painting and 3D tracks that funnel into AP related courses. And it provides the kids with good connections if they want to go on as a Art Major in both Fine Arts and Liberal Arts schools.

One of the other things that the Arts Department started several years ago was a program where several students would work for a week during the summer to paint a 4' x 6' reproduction mural of a Master Artist's work on the walls of the school. It's a great program. The teachers write for grants to cover the cost of the paint, the framing and the plaques. Here's some examples of the work (click for a bigger pic).




They also did smaller "Department Portraits" which hang on the cafeteria wall. Each of these is a portrait of someone who is important to each of the departments in the school, such as Freud for the Psychology department.


Last year, instead of wall murals, the selected artists did reproductions of Normal Rockwell paintings. These were still 4' x 6', but they were painted on canvas and will be hung high on the walls of the gymnasium. They were beautiful but I don't have any pictures of them.

Anyhow, this year Myr was chosen to paint a mural. YAY! See the letter:


Myr is painting The Great Wave off Kanagawa:


She started today and is booked to paint 8 am - 4 pm today through Friday. Plus she is signed up for a "How to a Write College Entrance Essay" class that runs from 6 - 9 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Her mural is going on a wall on the second floor of the school, near the Foreign Language Department. She has an electrical outlet so she can plug in her stereo, there's a window nearby that can be opened. She just texted me saying: There is a breeze. Life is good.

I can't disagree with her.

Your uniqueness is more than an outward appearance.

My daughter translated it: Mom, you're weird inside and out.

Myr was down in Madison today to see the University's production of "Hair". The story, as she told it (although it's much better when told directly by her and for full effect, imagine it all said in one, long breath):

---

We were waiting for the play to start, and all the cast was out in the audience, handing out flowers. One gal sat down next to me. "How are you," she asked. "I'm fine. How are you?", I replied -- because this is what I always say when someone asks me how I am. She looks at me and goes, "I'm high." And I reply "Well, that's always fun". I obviously wasn't thinking clearly, because she was one the cast and she was sitting by me, out in the audience. After she left, this guy came and sat next to me, too. He put his arm around me and said, "How you doing, sister?" I don't remember what I said, but he smelled the (fake) flower I had in my hair. Then he went away, another guy came and asked me if the flower was real, when I said no he goes: "Reality is the way, man. Go with the truth." I really wish I would have said "But reality fades," but they were rather scary. For the next 15 minutes, I was terrified they would come out again. During intermission the (actor) cops came out and arrested the person in front of me. I kept thinking they were going to choose me. My chant: Actors belong on the stage. Actors belong on the stage. Actors belong on the stage.

---

She really liked it, despite the fact that it was "seriously awkward" in parts. She was really glad they didn't do the nude scene because "How awkward would that be? They were sitting right next to you before the start and then, there they are, up on stage, nude. Seriously, not cool." Of course all musicals make her "ridiculously happy" and that she'd like to see it again.

It's a ton of fun to listen to her talk about it all and to watch her demonstrate some of the less subtle moves that the males on stage would make. She goes: "I kept thinking: Really, man? I mean, seriously?", which is inevitably followed by her favorite comment about the show "It was awkward."

In between all of that wonderful commentary, she did have some more analytical comments about the play. She says it's a lot like "Across the Universe". Everyone seemed to have "a lot of issues". She wasn't sure, if at the end, if Claude died in reality or just symbolically - as in he was dead to the group once he did something that didn't follow what they believed.

I totally and completely adore my child.

Just to add to that love: She wants to stop at the library to pick up a copy of "Hamlet". She's reading a novel called "Ophelia" all about, well, Ophelia and she wants to read Hamlet to see if the play is as messed up as this book portrays. I think she's going to love Hamlet, as she has a fondness for crazy.

I've been so careful. I am well aware of my fangirl weakness and I take care not to play into them.

So where did I go wrong? I have been main-lining three new fandoms

NCIS: Okay. This one snuck up on me. I tried to watch it when it first came out because the premise looked good, but I couldn't make it through a whole episode. Gibbs and Ducky were wonderful. Abby was interesting, even if I thought she was overly-cliched. However, Kate annoyed me and Tony pissed me off. I can't watch a show where I want to slap half the characters every time they're onscreen. Then I caught a couple of third season episodes when they played on USA. I fell in love with McGee and Ziva and Jenny. Turned out that Abby was a well-developed character, not just a fangirl fantasy. They even managed to make me like Tony -- no small feat considering how much I hated him. I still can't watch most of the first two seasons, but I adore the everything since then.

Leverage: This was a no brainer. I love the A-Team, To Catch a Thief, Switch -- any of those "outlaws work for justice" type shows. I tried to be smart and not watch it, however, my hubby loves me and he set the DVR to record it. I couldn't very well not watch it, could I? The show is that perfect light-hearted caper show that isn't anywhere else in the world right now. I have the last two episodes to watch yet -- saving them up because I won't get any more until next season.

Burn Notice: How can you not like a show where the main character says: "I'll take a hardware store over a gun any day. Guns make you stupid. Better to fight your wars with duct tape. Duct tape makes you smart." It's like a hybrid between MacGyver and The Equalizer, with a cool talking-to-the-fourth-wall style that makes you part of the show. And it has Bruce Campbell! And Sharon Gless! I have so much mad love for this show. There is nothing about it that I don't adore.

You know what makes all this fangirly fun even better?

I get to share it all with Myr! She's the one who first wanted to watch Burn Notice. She encouraged me to give NCIS a second chance and not be so quick to judge a show based on the first season (which she also doesn't like). She loves the characters on Leverage as much as I do.

Fangirling is so much fun when you can share it -- and it gives me an insight into how my soon-to-be 16-year-old daughter thinks about the world. She loves the shows where justice is served. She likes the happy endings in Leverage but also enjoys the satisfying but not completely everyone is perfectly happy endings of Burn Notice. She notices but forgives the sometimes uninteresting plots of NCIS because the characters are so very compelling. She likes ships but doesn't want to sacrifice character to get one.

However I must admit that my favorite comment from her was much less cerebral. We were watching an episode of Burn Notice where Micheal (Jeffrey Donovan) is going undercover as a slightly grungy good-ol'-boy by the name of Homer. She looks up from the art project she was doing and sees him standing there with a beat up baseball cap, greasy sleeveless t-shirt and goes: "Good Lord! Is there anything he doesn't look good in?"

Oh yeah. She's a girl after my own fangirl heart.

At the end of last week, Wil unexpectedly learned that he would have the entire weekend off. Which considering it's the weekend before Thanksgiving and Wil works at Sears... well, you get the picture. We decided, on the spur of the moment, to head down to Madison and spend a great weekend relaxing.

However the trip was both much shorted and much more exciting than planned. Also to add: not very much relaxing happened.

Wil worked until 9:30 on Friday, so Myr and I drove down to pick him up and head out. Myr, who just got her driver's learning permit two weeks ago, drove all the way down and through Wausau to pick him up. Then she was going to drive for the next couple of hours until we made it to Portage.

So, you ask, when did it get exciting??

Shortly outside of Stevens Point we were passed. That car edged slightly into our lane just as Myr edged slightly into theirs. Myr corrected, then corrected again, but the car was sluggish and then went into a spin. we ended up backwards in the ditch. We didn't flip and the car was still running fine when we stopped. It turns out, however that a lengthy skid on pavement and into the frozen ditch is very hard on tires. The rear tire was off the rim and the front one was chewed up pretty badly. Yeah. There were a whole lot of things that could make spinning off the road at 60 mph a whole lot less happy.

By the time we got out and decided that we were all fine and took inventory of the car and tired, the gal who was passing us when we spun out circled back to see how we were (very nice of her). She had already called 911 (even nicer of her) and she said she would wait until help came (can't get much nicer than that). A sheriff's deputy should up about a minute later. She called a tow and she checked everything out and made sure we were fine.

All told we were towed out of the ditch and in the tow garage in under an hour. We had been hoping to be able to change the rear tire and drive home, but the front tire had also decided to go flat, so we opted to have it towed to a near by garage. They could fix the tires and put it on the lift to make sure there wasn't anything else wrong with it.

Turns out that the ball joints were bad. They could have sustained some damage in the spin out, but most likely they were going bad before. Since the ball joints, I'm told, deal with the steering, they could have contributed to the wipe out. I have noticed that the steering seemed a little spongy lately, but was putting off getting it looked at. Yeah, I know, dumb move.

Anyhow, the only damage from the wipe out was two tires. Since that was way under the $1000 needed to report an accident. So YAY. Of course, that means no serious looking into what caused the accident. We will never know exactly what happened. But since no one was hurt and we still have a car, it really doesn't matter.

Myr is much better today than she was yesterday. She did drive us to the movie theatre on Thursday, so that horse has been rode. She is also dealing with what might have happened very well, although she did say to me "You are being awfully nice to me considering I almost killed you and Dad." I told her that that type of thing is true, but that it didn't bear thinking too much about.

In any case, life isn't bad, despite the cost of repairs. (OK, I really want to whine about the cost of the repairs and the fact that I really can't afford them. But I will just leave it at that.) The biggest drawback to all of this was that we didn't get to visit finabair. *pout*

It's the end of the school year and Myr is finishing up classes. She has gotten back most of her work and her research paper (on the Triangle Shirtwaist fire) from English was graded and handed back.

She recieved 280 points out of a possible 280. WOOT! Even more impressive was the comment put on the top: This was signularly the best research paper from a high school student that I've ever read. You have a graceful and intriguing writing style.

Oh, yeah. She is good.

1. Wait for daughter to be off of all allergy/asthma meds.
2. Let 10 days pass.
3. Arrange to move lots of boxes and shelving in very dusty basement.
4. Sit back and watch itching and sneezing!

Actually, Myr is going in tomorrow to be officially tested for allergies and asthma. She needed to be off all antihistamines 10 days prior to test and all other allergy inhibitors for 3 days prior to test. She could still use an inhaler if she needed, but that was also discouraged. If she developed hives or if she couldn't breathe she could medicate as needed, but she was supposed to stay away from it if possible.

Tonight we had to go over and help my mom clean out her basement. This was a spur-of-the-moment thing. They are having their basement waterproofed and needed to get everything away from the east side wall and half way along the north and south walls. Now my folks basement if finished but not FINISHED -- as in it's got cement floor and my mom's sewing stuff is down the along with the washing machines. My dad has his reloading bench and sundry outdoor stuff. It's not finished to the point of being "rooms". They do have a "root cellar" -- a homemade walled off area that we store all our canned goods and potatoes and onions and the like. They also store lots of stuff. Some theirs, some ours, because we have no storage.

We ended up moving all that stuff to various parts of the basement. There was much dust. There was much physical exertion. There was some dismantling of shelves and hauling of heavy shelves. It was hot and stuffy.

Myr did great. She sneezed and wheezed and coughed. But now we got home and she showered and is good.

She still thinks it was a mean mom trick, though.

Myria did her first freshman paper, on the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York. She worked really hard on it and it's a terrific paper. I'm not putting it here because I expect you to read it, but it is interesting and a great bit of history. Of course, it may just be a mom thing...

( Triangle: The Fire of Change )

This past Saturday was the Speaking and Puppetry Contest for 4H. Myr did her reading that she's doing for forensics called Dragons and Dining.

She did very well. As part of the fair, she earned a Blue Ribbon. Even better she was awarded "Best in Show"! Life is good.

Here is a video of her performance. It was taken with Myr's little digital camera so it's not the greatest copy but, as fate would have it, the official tape cut out 3/4 the way through her performance. Oh well, I'm sure I can tape her when she does it again, but I thought I'd share it now, anyhow. (I'll warn you, it's about 7 minutes long).

Sitting in the living room watching music videos and chatting about nothing, Myr says to me:

"You know what I've decided, Mom? The summer after I graduate (that's over three years away, mind) I'm going to take a two week trip by myself. I don't know where I'm going to go, but I'll camp. I'll take Papa's bike -- the little one -- and just head out."

She pauses a moment and says, "That sounds good doesn't it?"

Let me think: my 18-year-old daughter, on her own, on a red Honda 250, spending two weeks somewhere in the country, alone. I so don't think so.

I say: "Sounds great, honey. A trip to remember."

Gads. This mom stuff sucks.

It's just Myr and I today, as Wil has a Redemption tournament and then works late tonight. I have big plans for the day.

• Sleep in late.
  
• Get up slowly and bum around the house for a bit.
  
• Go to coffee shop.
  
• Drink coffee and eat a breakfast sandwich for lunch. Write/work on computer and chat with Myr until 1:00 or 2:00 (Coffee shop closes at 2 so we will have to leave).
  
• Go to the library.
  
• Return books, walk the stacks, write/work on the computer and chat with Myr until 4:00 or 5:00 (Library closes at 5:00 so we will have to leave).
  
• Go to folks place and eat supper with them. I think they are having chili or potato soup.
  
• Head home, do some wash, clean the kitchen and put the chicken in a brine so it can roast tomorrow.
  
• Drink some wine, write/work on the computer.

Since it is now almost 1:00, you may be interested in how well my plan is going....

Quite well, actually.

My coffee shop recently added wireless so I get to do some online stuff (like make this post and chat with finabair). Coffee is $1.75 for unlimited refills of non-specialty coffee so I am well caffeinated. Myr and I have chatted and ate and are having fun. She brought her own laptop and is working on a "sad" Christmas icon that she won't let me see.

The only drawback is that I haven't done any actual writing yet. I still have plans, though. *grin*

Being a Freshman, Myria didn't get a part in the HS play. She almost didn't get to be part of the crew either. But a couple of her friends were on the crew and she finagled her way on to being part of make-up. Which turns out to be a really cool thing since the play they are doing is "Be My Ghost" and they are using latex to make everyone up to look like ghosts and zombies. The first dress rehearsal didn't go so well with one of the girls Myr is making up complaining that she was made to look to "ugly". Heh. The other two people Myr does up didn't complain and I think (knowing both Myr and this girl, not the one pictured below) that it's mroe of a personality thing. Ah, High School. Gotta love it.

We have two local papers here in town and when the Merrill Courier did a piece on the play, they focused on the backstage and make-up stuff and Myr got into two of the three pictures. So I thought I'd share. You will note that the icon I am using of her is about 10 years old. *grin*

	Watch and Learn
	Making a Ghost

I'm alone in the front room while Myr and Wil are watching TV in the living room. I'm working on the curling webpage, drinking wine and re-watching CSI:NY. This makes me agreeably mellow.

What makes me smile is the overheard bits of conversation that I hear from Myr and Wil as they watch some DS9. Myr hasn't seen any of the eps before and she is guessing what may happen next or dissecting character interactions. Wil provides some answers but mostly lets her just talk and watch.

I love it when the two of them do things like that. When they talk about art or school or anything. There is a relationship there. It's not fully formed yet, after all she's only 14 and has a lot of growing up to do. But there is an inherent respect between them and an understanding of who each of them is on a level that is different than just father/daughter.

I know that it will change and grow and, like all relationships, be a living thing, but they have a very nice foundation of trust and acceptance going. Right now, it's wonderful.

Life is good.

Myr has decided to enter a couple of photos in the County Fair this year.

Pet picture:


She didn't like any of the ones she took of the dog, so she went with the fish. It's an interesting picture.

Water Picture:


I totally love this picture. Can't tell you why. But I end up just staring at it. I'm glad she chose this one.

Flowers:


She can only have one of these two. I don't know which I like best, but she has until Wed. to decide.

She also has three 3-D art pieces that I don't have pics of (yet). A paper mache cow, a clay cup and a sculpture that she hasn't finished yet. *grin* I will post them when I get them.

Myria is taking a wheel pottery class at the UW this week. When I talked to her today she said that the piece she made was "not good, but not that bad". In Myr talk that must mean that the piece was pretty darn nice.

Here's the picture of it that she sent me:



See, pretty darn nice.

I love the kid. She did it on the kick wheel, too. I sense an expensive purchace in my future.

The most happy of birthdays to my favorite kid in the whole world: twilight11.

Congrats on being 14!

You were a wonderful kid and you are going to be an equally wonderful young-adult. Thanks for sharing your life with me.

Love,

Mom

(PS. I may get an updated pic for an icon, if you allow me).

Myr is applying for the Missoula Children's Theatre and she needed two letters of recommendation. Being a proud parent, I need to share. I know that, being letters of recommendation they have to say nice things, but they still are very cool.

From the youth pastor at church:
I am very excited to write this letter of recommendation for Myria Kuldy regarding a two week acting camp sponsored by the Missoula Children's Theatre. Myria has been an active young lady in the life of the church. OVer the past few years, she has been involved in leading youth services and taking major roles in skits. I believe she is gifted in the area of acting and excels in most everything she does.

Myria is a pleasant young woman and I am happy that I could write this letter of recommendation for her.

From the drama coach in the Middle School:
I would like to recommend Myria Kludy for your summer Drama Camp. I have been the Middle School Drama Director for the past two years, and Myria has participated in both productions. One year, she had a major narrative part and was on stage during the entire production. Another year she was chosen for a singing part in a musical. Myria is an extra effort student who always gives 100%. She is the type of person who you can ask to do ANYTHING and you can rest assured she will follow-through with flying colors. She is very coachable and takes advice to heart. You rarely need to repeat directions of any sort twice.... she "gets it" the first time you say something. She is bright, imaginative and theatrical! You will enjoy working with her!

Myr has to make a 3d architecture structure in art and she was looking for a model. She was thinking about a castle and looked at the Japanese variety because that would be something different. Then she thought that she may do the Crooked House from the nursery rhyme "The was a crooked man who walked a crooked mile...".

She googled "crooked house" and found this picture.

She IMs me the the link, then writes: I guess that the picture above is FW: The Coolest Pub... bet you it looks straight when you are drunk.

Hee. Love that girl.

Well, not me, but Myr.

We had a nice dinner, a pleasant presentation and Myr won $50.00 for the Stock Market Game. Top prize was a cool hundred, but she had to split with her partner. S is a wonderful kid, so all is good with that.

They have plans to take part in the spring contest, too. They have their sights on winning state, which would net them a trip to NYC. I don't see that happening. They won with slow and steady investment. They bought a good deal and stuck with it. If they would have went for the riskier stocks, they could have made more, faster, but that is very, very tricky. You rely on a lot more hands on manipulation and luck than anything else.

It will be fun to see what they can do, though. As S said, Myr is a worrywart and that helps with stock market stuff. I think she'd hate to lose, and that will hold her back from taking those really big risks. That' s not a bad thing, but it may not get the win on a game like this.