another blog that I like...

is this one. She seems to be the type of person that would actually read this blog.

Anyway, are last year's NaNoWriMo authors ready for November this year???? Mwah HAH HAH!!

And what is everyone up to? I miss everyone. Even the new lurkers that I do not even know. Please out yourselves!

And behold another reason why living in New York City suits me fine:

Tour today

Sooo......A and a friend took a tour of DC Comics today. While the boys were whisked upstairs to take the private tour with Very Important Professional Who Works There, I waited in the cafe downstairs. I drank a latte and peered into the current issue of Vogue. I know, so brain-drain.
I guess I am happy to know that Kate Winslet is a real "blackhead-squeezing, spot-getting, irritating" type of woman.

Again while waiting for the kids on tour, I crossed the street to David Letterman. "How do I get tickets?" I asked the David Letterman tickets helper. I must participate in a quiz, I was told. "Oh?" I said. I must show up between the hours of 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and participate in said quiz. If I get the answers right, I might get a phone call. Then I might be able to attend the David Letterman show that same evening. "I see," I said. "Thank you for the info." And Oh, the David Letterman tickets helper asked me, Is that Marvel Comics over there? "No, DC Comics," I said. Cool, the helper said.

When the boys came out, they had Superman bags in their possession, comic books inside.

I got a phone call on my cellphone. "We have Climbing Parnassus here at the store for you," said a Barnes & Noble bookseller. Ah yes.

It was about time.

Yes, dear reader, you are right...

...these have been a few months of Maitresse "light."

A has an intense summer of estuary biology in store for him, beginning in July. I assigned to him structured reading of "Lord of the Flies" and so far, he hates it. "Too violent." Ah, well.

A likes to use the word "apparently" a lot. As in his cellphone voicemail automated message: Apparently, I am on the other line or away from my phone right now. Leave a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

We are eating way too much Thai food of late. The owner of the Thai establishment which I frequent has taken to ordering food items for me. "You can't eat the same thing over and over," he tells me. So one day I let him choose. "If your son likes Pad See Iew, he will like this one," he suggested. So that is our new dinner routine. I call, and somebody else decides what we eat. So far, we haven't been disappointed. And we have been promised a hook-up in Bangkok by the same restaurant owner.

And apparently, A is less and less interested in blogging, and more and more interested in taking my laptop apart (5 x /day) and figuring it out. That and flash programming. I am most interested in hearing from anyone if their kid(s) have had much success in software programming? Only one of you (Liz) has provided links, thus far...

Much drama in the behind-the-scenes of Big Project. We will be heading on vacation a couple of weekends from now. I need the peace and quiet.

OK, we just covered Rwanda. And a little Afghanistan. A knew all the languages of Rwanda, and Afghanistan, and the politics of each country. I love hotbed quizzes.

Man, I need a new template. A few h-schooling bloggers seem to be changing theirs...MySchola, M-MV...

A is currently taller than I am. He stands at 5'9" at 12 years old. Arturo Vega, artistic director for the Ramones, was flabbergasted when he found out A's age. "Erm, didn't Joey stand this tall at around his age?" I asked. Joey was skinnier, though.

And yes, La Mai's next big project is the classroom. I keep saying it, because I have to. It's my mantra. Like, "I am going to Teany Teas today." And lo and behold, I find myself sitting over oatmeal and scones, and tea infused with rosebuds.

MWAH HAH HAH!!!

Surprise Geography pop quiz in store for A.....I can't mention the countries that will be quizzed here, lest he secretly check this blog to find out...

More than Act One...

Okay, I've been awful about posting regularly. My apologies. Life has been...well, you know.

A has said recently that he "would like to work part-time and make some money. And learn about stocks." Which is a refreshing change from, "I want to play in a band." Of course, he can do both. So, we've been brainstorming about job ideas: make a product and sell it (his friend Avi sells home-made soap on the street in the Lower East Side), work part-time at CBGB, or something else. Recently, we had electrical issues in our apartment, and he chatted up the electrician. "Mom, did you know that electricians make $43 an hour while they're in electrician college? And you can travel ANYWHERE you want with electrician skills!" Really? I replied.

A is getting very good at HTML programming and I have succumed to his request to purchase Flash animation software. Perhaps he will be a self-made Flash website programmer like this self-taught flash animation designer. I would love to have our classroom set up in her studio building, by the way, but it looks like we might settle for Long Island City. Who knows.

We plan to see Shakespeare's As You Like It featured at Public Theater beginning June 25 (it's free!). SparkNotes No Fear Shakespeare will be our guide until we see the live production. We hope the lucifers come out to the bushes to keep us company, as they did last summer...

Ernie Fritz, the documentary filmmaker who has been involved in my Big Project, caught me talking about homeschooling. Ernie frequents the theater an awful lot. And he updates me on the shows he sees. I wish for A to become as interested in theater. We really are very lucky to have the type of entertainment that we do here in New York City.

Curriculum has taken a while to "gel" so please be patient while we figure out what we're using this time around (it's still classical-based). Homeschoolers get the luxury of figuring out, by trial and error, what instruction actually works instead of being chained down to a set type of textbook or publishing house or software.
And that's just the way we like it.