Doug and Geoff just left for Boy Scout Camp. I hope they have a good time, because yesterday on more than one occasion, I thought Doug might kill Geoff. Pray for them... Doug especially.
After they get back, I don't have Geoff enrolled in anything at all. No camp, no nothing. Not sure what to do with him. Hmmmm.
You want him? You know you do.
Part of my problem is that I thought he would do both sessions of Shakespeare. But he rejected the idea of doing the August program because he will miss 2 football practices during the week of the performances. I talked to the coach, and he said it was okay by him since Geoff is a returning player. He said "There's more to life than football, and that sounds like a great program for him." Thing is, I don't know that they'll even have practice those two days of the performance dates because those two days are during the first week of school. So it would probably not be happening then anyway.
But. He'd miss the first three days of school, even with the football coach's permission to miss practice. And he told me that he can't miss the first three days of school.
First of all, I hate our district. None of the other districts in the area are starting on the Tuesday before Labor Day this year because Labor Day is very early. But ours is. Seriously, I called seven school districts all around us, and not a single one is starting before September 2nd.
I don't have a problem with him missing it, Jess is missing it because of her Shakespeare thing. But the boy is insane.
What kid on this God's Green Earth doesn't WANT to miss school, especially when he or she (he, really) bitches and moans incessantly that school is horrible. School is evil. School is no fun.
Whatev.
So... Football practices start August 11th, so he has to be HERE in town at 4:30pm to go to practice so it isn't like I can take him somewhere or send him to a sleep away camp for two weeks... I may see if I can hire someone from the local college to watch him.
For the week after camp, I can see if he can go to Camp Grandma... He'll complain about it, but ... it was his choice to not do Shakespeare camp.
So there. Deal with it, I'm doing my best to work around your choice to make life okay for you. I'm dealing with it, you deal with it. Feh.
Thing is, he wants to stay home by himself, and he can't. Not yet. I think he's about 2 years away from that. For an hour or so, yeah. I can see it. But all day? No. Not gonna happen.
Anyway, enough bitching. What's the update over here?
Yesterday our Boy Scout Troop worked a fair and we did a barbecue tent with burgers and dogs and stuff. I ended up manning the grill. The boys were putting two burgers on at a time, and I was all "um, people are going to show up and be like ... hungry?"
The burgers took 10 minutes to cook, and another minute with cheese. So I stepped in and threw a million burgers on the grill and just started cheffin' the joint up. The boys were relieved, because it was so damn hot. So incredibly hot. They would come get completed burgers and place the order... And I just kept them coming.
My buddy Thane was all setting up the buns for the finished burgers to just slide on. We had a system... it was rocking. I think I may have shot myself in the foot though, because our next big fundraiser is another barbecue at the town homecoming festival, and I may be manning the grill by the looks of things.
It was three solid hours of working my ass off. I got home and was all exhausted, and discovered Doug didn't take himself and Geoff shopping for the stuff they needed for camp, and no one took the laundry out of the washer and put it in the dryer. So I flipped out a bit, yelled some, got a shower and felt better... Doug and I ended up taking Geoff to go get the supplies. Why they needed me to come with them, I'll never know.
Doug hasn't owned a bathing suit since college, so he needed one if they were going to be out in the pond doing stuff with the boys. There is a mile swim challenge that a lot of the boys try to do, and Doug may have to row a boat beside the swimmer for safety. So he wanted to be prepared.
But we went and it was fun until we were at the supermarket and Geoff, for reasons unknown even to me, brought our EMPTY shopping cart (because we only had 3 bags and I left the cart inside the store) out to the parking lot. Empty. And then he let it go, and it went flying and crashed into our car.
BANG!
totally dented the hell out of the front passengers side front fender where it meets the door. He could NOT have hit it in a worse spot. The passenger side door will not open now because the metal is all bent to shit.
So that was awesome. I was supposed to keep that car for the week but Doug took it because we'll be getting in and out of it (Jess will, actually) and whatever vehicle he was taking would just be sitting somewhere. So. He figured it was only fair.
That boy. Gonna drive me to hard liquor.
Anyway. On Wednesday of last week, Doug took Jess to go get her learner's permit.
You read that right.
They both read the book, he quizzed her on all the possible questions, and they went over. They waited an hour. She went through intake and got right up to the point before they were to administer the test to her, and the woman asked her for her birth certificate or passport for ID purposes.
Um... yeah.
They didn't bring her passport, birth certificate or social security card or anything because the literature didn't SAY to bring that information. Nowhere in the information they had did it say "bring your passport or birth certificate and social security card."
Nowhere.
So ... they didn't, and the woman explained that she couldn't take the test. She has to come back next week and get things taken care of. And Doug was pissed to shit about it.
I said to him "What were you thinking? This is a post 9/11 world. Everyone needs ID for EVERYTHING (except people who come illegally across the border and then get jobs at their friend's meat packing plants, but, whatever...). Of course you need an ID to apply for a learner's permit. You need an ID for everything. Every. Damn. Thing. "
"But you show me where it says so in the literature and on the form," says Doug. "It doesn't. It does not say it ANYWHERE. So if they want people to bring ID, it should say it."
"Yes, it SHOULD. But it goes without saying in this day and age that we need to always ALWAYS bring ID to anything. Wow. What is this, 1955? No. It is post 9/11/01 and you have to show ID for fuck-all everything. Like it or not. And leaving it off the form is probably just their way of saving ink."
He further explained that he was her representative, he was her ID. As her parent with HIS ID, showing residency in our house and shit, this should be sufficient. It was when he got a license. His dad went with him and showed his ID. But honey. That was like 1984. Totally different world.
So we argued about it, and on the one hand he's right -- if it doesn't say you need it, well then what do you expect. On the other hand, I'm right. We should always always have our damn IDs on us to take care of this shit.
Gah. Frustrating.
Anyway. I'm going to grab a shower and head into my office for a while this afternoon. I'm trying to be as far ahead as humanly possible, as our office is moving this week and I don't want to be caught behind the 8 ball. I am taking a couple days off during the week this week, and really don't want to be anywhere near the office the day of the move. So. Going in today for a few hours will make a difference. Maybe take Jess out for dinner tonight. We'll see.
Right then. More later. Have a nice rest of your Sunday, or happy Monday if you're reading me at work in the morning.
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