Trip Journal (so far) by The Boy

Sunday October 3rd

“Cancelled”!? That’s when I knew that our day was going to malfunction. We were going to fly from Modesto to San Francisco and san Francisco to Boston. The day started like this. First the family woke up, then we did chores. Annie the housesitter got to the house and we showed her around the house. We left, then we drove in the car for a long time. we sat around in the Modesto airport for a long time. I ate chips and played my DS. Then we found out that the flight was cancelled because of bad weather, and I went out to the car for a very long time and played LEGO Indiana Jones on my DS and ate salami bits while Mom negotiated with the helpful people at the very small airport. Then we went driving around Modesto. We saw the McHenry Museum and we went in and went on a tour. The docent was the Docent from Hell. she droned on and on and on. The other family kept saying that they needed to go, but she said “but you have to see what’s in this next room!”. And so it went on. Then when we escaped, we saw that it was time to go. We hopped it back to the airport. We flew to san Francisco. Then we ate dinner at the San Francisco International airport while mom killed time finding a good hotel on priceline. Then, when we left the airport I accidentally hailed the wrong bus “white, not green” then we went to the hotel. We (me, My sister and mom) went on a walk on the walking path across the street and I watched TV. Then I went swimming at the pool. Then I played my violin by the pool (it is very echo-y). then I came up and wrote this paper.

Today I learned that you should always check the weather before flight.



Monday, October 4

We boarded the plane. Me and Dad went to the upgrades part. I sat between this guy who was making a really big ultrasound presentation on his computer before it blacked out, and a guy who always seemed pretty angry. He didn’t respond to anything except requests to move so I could get up, and he just looked angry. The reason that I sat between two strangers is that is the only place that I could sit in economy plus (extra legroom). I spent most of the time reading my book Johnny Tremain or watching TV. Then when we finally got to the airport, we had a big tearful reunion with the family because we were all spread out over the plane, except for Mom and My sister. And then we drove to grandma’s house in Cape Cod. we got Rl to give us the keys to Granny’s Cottage and then we made our way in and went to bed.






Tuesday October 5
Violin for the infirm

First, We woke up and we ate breakfast (nutella on raisin bread) and watched TV. Next, we went to see Grandma at the rehab hospital. Then, we went to the first thrift shop. While there, I bought a small package of drafting pencil graphites. Later, mom bought them off me for six times what I paid. After that, we went to the second thrift shop. There, my mom bought me a warm, soft scarf. Soon after that, we went back to grandma. we took grandma to the small lobby. mom made me play violin for grandma and brought her To her house. In quick succession, we left, we went to grandmas house. Grandma broke her hip last July. She’s been in a rehab hospital and hasn’t seen her house for a long time, so she wanted to see her house. (At her house, her sons (my uncles) M and Rl are living.) , me and mom and My sister got sandwiches, we talked a long time, we ordered dinner we ate dinner, and we went back to the cabin.

All in all, a hectic day.


Ship’s Log: Wednesday, October 6th , 2010
Job Lot

Today I woke up at 8:00 by being woken up annoyingly, and way too early. Because I had to do homework. So, I did a bunch of homework, and then we left in the car. We went to a thrift shop. We go to thrift shops because thrift shops often have good stuff, and we sometimes forget stuff. And there are weird old ladies shouting recipes for Macaroni and Cheese. There, I got a jar with a crystal glaze. (Crystal glaze is when there is a special crystal stuff inside the glaze that grows into real crystals.) And a book of Baby Blues comics, Motherhood is not for Wimps. I got that book because it was full of comics from newspapers. I have read this comic in the newspapers and I think it is pretty good usually, reminding me a lot of my relationship with my sister.

Then we went to The Job Lot. Which is basically a cross between Ross, Grocery Outlet and the Dollar Tree. We go there because it’s a tradition and they sometimes have good stuff. While we were there, I bought a toy light saber for $2 and a package of cookies for 40 cents. Then, after that, we went to the Rehabilitation Hospital, where grandma is.

When we got there, we went up to Grandma’s room. It was quiet in Grandma’s room, because both her and her roommate were sleeping. However, it was not so quiet because her roommate was sleeping in front of the TV, and it was on, so we could hear it. She was watching Animal Planet, the Ten Most Extreme. And every 20 minutes or so there would be another category of most extreme, such as excavation or weapon. One of the animals was a bug called an antlion the antlion makes holes in the ground to trap ants

Me and Dad talked to Grandma for a while, and then in came Mom and My sister, and we all talked for a while and we showed grandma pictures of everything that we had on the computer. Then after a while we took grandma downstairs into the little church room that they had. I made probably the shortest speech in recorded history, consisting of one, two-letter word “Hi”, then my sister played the piano. She played it very acceptably.

Later, we went into the hospital dining room. Three old men were sitting at a table. My mom thought that they were trying to put two tables together when really one who had lost use of his right side only wanted to put sugar and creamer in his coffee. Later, he went away for a while, only to find that someone else had stolen his spot at the table. He promptly pushed away some other guy, who didn’t seem to get it .

Today I learned that it is antlions that make those holes in the ground around my house…


Thursday, 10/6/10
Lobster and Trains
Today we (Grandma, Uncle M, Me, my sister, Mom, and Dad) went to ride the Cape Cod Railroad. We boarded the train through a raised platform, because grandma is in a wheelchair. We were the first people on the train and we were early. We got coffee early, before the other people did. The other people got on the train later. On the train, we had lunch. For eating, there was ravioli and chicken salad, seafood chowder, coffee, And raspberry-chocolate cheesecake.

The servers were nice for the most part, there was Rob, the server who knows Santa Cruz and is from San Bernardino, Bob the conductor guy, who knows trains for the most part, the Coffee Lady who serves coffee, to my knowledge mostly and the Over-Cheery-Possibly-High-Photographer-Lady, who takes mandatory, overpriced photos.




Later, we went to the store to go get lobster. This is the story:

We went to the store. The lobsters were all in a big tank among the other lobsters and we couldn’t tell which were going to be our lobsters and which weren’t. Then the guy got this PVC thing to beat them apart and grab them out and put them on the scale for weighing. Finally, he just put them into a double-walled paper bag for us to take them home. I don’t think they liked it much in the bag--dark, smelling of fish and no water. My sister carried the bag for a little while through the store and swung them to and fro like they were a purse or something. I don’t think they liked that much either. Then we went to the car. It was getting dark and My sister was still pretty much crying over the inhumanity of killing the lobsters. Then after a long time of deliberation, the big moment happened. Mom put one of them big, ugly sea bugs into the stew pot. I thought that I heard something go “eep” but it was only mom. Finally, dinner was ready. Actually, there was very little meat, and it was overcooked.
Wow! Great story, huh? NOT!!!!!

LOBSTER ANTICLIMAX!!!!!!!!!!!!










Friday 10/8/10
Low Tide

“Wake Up!“ I woke up to annoying shouting, and tried to go back to sleep. We were going to go for a walk on the super-low-tide beach and go and a walk and see the sights of the super-low tide beach, and pick out the shells and rocks. It was our first sunny day since before we got to Cape Cod. On the beach, I saw rocks and little tiny dunes, and shells, and razor clam shells, and a dead crabs and a live crab and a hermit crab, and beach grass and beach grass sod. It is different then the beach at home because it has sod and it is the flats and is full of sand bars and stuff. We went on a big walk bundled up in sweatshirts and jackets and long pants and thick shoes. I got my feet wet as I was trying to ford a little tiny tidal river and I hit a slimy sand bank and went backwards until I righted myself with my other foot. Then I continued even though I was soaked. It was chillingly freezing. The beach went out about a ½ mile out from the shore to the water. It is only like that in really low tides.

Then after we got off of the beach, we went to Buckies which is a really good desert place, and Mom bought me a cupcake. It was a really good cupcake very lemony.

From there we went back to the cabin, and I did a whole lot of homework .

Then we went to grandma’s rehab hospital and from there we brought her to her house, where we had her birthday party. My sister and I ran around the yard for a long time doing random stuff such as climbing the big wall, although it is not so big anymore because I remember it being bigger, but when I climbed on it before, I was smaller.

Then we went shopping with Mom and bought Kaiser rolls, and went on a lackadaisical search for thrift shops. We didn’t find any because Mom was unwilling to go more than 10 feet, because she said we needed to get back to spend time with Grandma.

When we got back, I did yet more math, and even my Grandma was pestering me to get it done. And then finally it was time for dinner. It was lasagna, leek and potato soup, Kaiser rolls, salad, and clam chowder. Then finally, the big moment came. Cake!!! It was chocolate with chocolate covered espresso beans and “happy Birthday Mom” on top and espresso goo in the middle, although everyone, including me, thought it tasted like raspberry. Then I did more math while everyone else talked and had fun (curse you all!) then it was time to go and we took grandma back to the rehab hospital, then Mom and I dropped off My sister and Dad at the cabin and went to the library to do some Washington DC research. Then we came home and wrote this. Now I need to pack to leave tomorrow. We are going to Boston!
Saturday 10/9/10
Omni-Parker House, Boston

I woke up unhappily and packed. Soon we were speeding along our way to the dump store (everything‘s free), where I got a book on cats, a candlestick, and a large plastic Christmas ornament. Then, we went to EP (the rehab hospital) for the last time this trip,(and hopefully, the last time period!) to say our goodbyes to grandma. While we were driving again, mom took away my DS and made me do homework, until we got to Costco. When we got there I followed my mom, apparently silently, into the store, to buy contact lenses. Out in the parking lot, we had lunch (salami and a peanut butter sandwich for me).

We finally drove into Boston, drove past the site of the Boston Massacre, pulled up in front of the Omni-Parker House, and mom drove off to return the rental car. The Omni-Parker House is a lavish hotel with overpriced mini-bars and snooty bellhops, and when we finally got to our room, we took it all in. The one small bed, the flat panel TV, the mini-bar and the desk. Soon we had a mini-bar and bathroom amenities conflict. To get us out of the room, Dad took us out of the room on a walk. He took us around the park (Boston Common), through the frog pond (empty) and back again, but refused to buy me a pretzel.

Soon came the arrival of Mom. She was waiting in the hotel lobby for us. With a cup of coffee. After a brief discussion, my sister and Dad went to Starbucks while me and Mom went to the room. Mom made me play the violin. When Dad and My sister got back, we all went on a walk to find dinner. We found dinner at a Japanese restaurant, called Ma Soba. After dinner, Mom saw fit to give me my allowance. We left Ma Soba to go next door and get frozen yogurt. I got
frozen yogurt chocolate chip in a cone, Mom got peanut butter in a cone, and My sister got peppermint patty in a cup. Dad didn’t get anything. From there we all went to Whole Foods. We got stuff to eat on the train tomorrow. I got chips, lettuce, and a brioche slider roll. We finally walked back to the hotel. First we went to the bathroom, then to the workout room. After that, we went to the Fourteenth floor and the Ballroom.

We got back and I started this writing.


I read an article from Scott Adams that said that to write funnily the writer must utilize complicated vocal patterns in your writing.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

My thoughts about travel are that sometimes its super-fun, and sometimes its super-boring.

Today was super-boring. It wouldn’t have been so, if I hadn’t been forced to do homework all day on the train, instead of being able to look out the windows.

I woke up in a fancy, over-expensive hotel in Boston. Then we packed up our suitcases and started walking to South Station. At South Station we ate food and Dad bought me hot cocoa. Then while we were eating, I saw a guy with a duffle bag, which had printed in large, friendly letters, “Don’t Panic”, which is printed on the cover of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (the actual guide, not the novel).

Then Mom saw someone she knew from her “train life” (only slightly separate from her private life) we went past the bomb sniffing dog and boarded the train
Aboard the train, life was not to different from school. Parents not teachers, tray tables not desks, but it was Sunday, and there was no recess. Soon, after about 8 hours, we got to Washington DC.

We walked to a cab that took us to the hotel. The cabbie was really nice. He told us about the city, and even why he had moved here. He was from Uganda. We got to the hotel, and paid him. The bellhop took our bags to the front desks. We got our room keys, and went up to our room. We took it all in, and left to get groceries. We ate, and watched a baseball game on TV. I sent an email to Mr. D about how he was right about the humidity in DC. I started to write.

I learned that the travel doesn’t matter, but what you are doing while traveling.


Monday 10/11/10

“Ouch! What was that for?” Mom had just slapped me on the bottom of the foot to wake me up. Then I pulled the blankets off my sister to wake her up and she slugged me really hard! Even though I had not meant to hurt her. Then Mom and my sister left, and I did my math assignment for the day, and Dad and I went down to eat breakfast. For breakfast, there was scrambled eggs, hash and sausages or bacon. There was also biscuits. I gave Dad most of my eggs for his sausage.

After that, we went to the Watergate complex. No, we didn’t meet Nixon’s ghost, and I considered buying a cane at the CVS Pharmacy in the Watergate complex. After that, we walked along the Potomac River for a really long time. I thought it looked really big, deep and full of logs. There were lots of small boats. There were two of those big long skinny ones with teams of rowers, with motorboats following along behind them.

Then we walked up on to the Capitol Mall and saw the Vietnam Memorial. The Vietnam Memorial is a really long, black, mirrored stone wall, covered in the names of our troops who died in the Vietnam War. It was vaguely depressing, because there were so many people who died in the war. Aside from us, there were a bunch of older people, probably who had lost a loved one in Vietnam. We saw people taking rubbings, and also acting like tourists. There was a group of four French kids who were gabbing on and on, disrespectfully. I was kind of dismayed because there were no names of civilians who had died, or South Vietnamese soldiers. But I understand it wasn’t really about that.

Then we stopped at a park bench for lunch. While there, we met a squirrel that was completely tame and new how to play dead, and came when called. My sister was petrified by this silly little stupid rodent. I’m not going to call it a squirrel because it might have been a rat with a fluffy tail. It did not act like a squirrel.

Then, we moved on and we saw the ending band and a half, at a national band review thing. The one that we actually saw completely was Woodridge High School, “Rome, from bricks to marble”. They were from California. Then we went and saw the White House. We didn’t get to go in today, but the day after tomorrow, we will. Then we went to the post office. We were still looking for bicycles to ride. Also because we knew about these new stations for Capitol Bikeshare, which was basically a totally automated bike rental place. We tried several stations which didn’t work and finally got to one that did. And then went the Smithsonian Institution and saw the Hope Diamond. And I might have actually got a copper ball in the gift shop but changed my mind at the last second. Then we rode the bikes to the next station where we accidentally put them away, then we walked to the hotel. When we finally got there, we watched TV and I did my homework.

My thought for today is that Watergate Complex is actually quite nice, but it has just been sullied with the name of Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal.





Tuesday, October 12, 2010

“Mmuh leeeme lone” Translation “Leave me alone”. That’s how I woke up. It wasn’t’ very nice. In fact, it was downright mean. From there we went down to breakfast where we had pretty much the same thing as yesterday, except this time it was Mom and My sister too, and Mom got continental breakfast.

As my sister says, and its right, it really is intercontinental breakfast, but whatever. From there, Mom and my sister went to Kinkos, while me and Dad went to the room. I did my math assignment, while Dad fiddled around with whatever.

Then, when I was finished, me and Dad went to Kinko’s to meet my sister and Mom, basically now it was a Fed ex, and they had computers, boxes, cards and a counter. Mom was printing out my photos and journal entries.

After that, we got rental bikes and went to the Smithsonian, and went into the Asian Art museum. Dad and I went through the pottery exhibit, which wasn’t so bad compared to other sojourns into “pottery land” which involved much less strife and annoyance and lecturing per shard of ceramics than other times. (ie: San Francisco International Airport Chinese ceramics exhibit).

Then, we went to the gift shop. I got a pair of chopsticks (for Emily) and Mom got little statues of a Buddha and the elephant-headed guy from Hindu mythology. She was also considering buying a book of Hindu deities.

Then, we went outside and ate our lunch. After that, we walked down the mall and looked at all of the plagues about the planets and their distance from the sun and it was pretty dang cool. After that, we went and had cookies, and my sister had vitamin water and I had Hawaiian punch and lemonheads.

Then from there we went to the Japanese American Memorial. It was kind of sad and really stupid that all of those people were imprisoned because of their heritage. It’s like saying that since my ancestor in the Revolutionary War, Benedict Arnold, was a traitor, I must be locked up to prevent me from following in his footsteps.

Then, from there we went to the Capitol. We went on a very long, and boring tour. I didn’t know there was such thing as a tour that long and boring. My sister said that it was cool because we got a real tour guide, and not a recorded message. “It was interesting because our headphones did not play a recorded message, but broadcasted what the tour guide was saying”. She says.

At the capitol we saw a bunch of statues and pictures, we also saw the old judiciary hall (Supreme Court) and old senate and the old house room. They had to move out because they kept growing and the rooms were too small. They grew when states were added to the union, and got bigger.
Then, we went walking around the other side of DC, got on bikes and rode around and saw the “Transformers” thing. In DC, as I speak, they are filming Transformers 3, on the Capitol Mall. We saw a car carrier truck filled with police cars (probably soon to be wrecked) and lots of lights. There was also a special unit squad truck with cast iron girding welded to it, to be used as some sort of autobot or decepticon in vehicle form.

We rode back to the hotel, and parked the bikes at the Kennedy Center for the performing arts. We walked back to the hotel, watched TV, and started this.

Today, I learned that bus drivers can be really stupid. Because one of them tried to get my sister out of the lane, even when she had the right of way (on bike).

Trip Planning

Why is it we always have to work so hard before a trip? It seems like we are compelled to make sure everything is all ship-shape before we go. Heck, we're paying the house-sitter, so she should be able to tolerate our usual mess.

I'll have to admit, its nice coming home to a "fresh start". So, we've been scrubbing the porches, de-cluttering everything, even upgrading the landscaping. Dad is frantically trying to finish the well project that started last October, so we can get signed off on the permits before the trip.

In order to preserve the maximum amount of cash for travel, we've even been doing a kitchen purge-- for the last month we've tried to eat everything we can from the cupboards and purchase only the most minimal amount of fresh groceries. Its amazing the stuff we have lurking in the back of the cupboards! Because we used to live so far from the grocery store, I think we developed sort of a hoarding habit. Even after a month, we still have at least 15 lbs of beans and another 10bs of pasta. But the freezer is cleaned out.

I guess that's another reason why we need to travel-- so we catch up on all of our "to-do" lists.

I look forward to coming home at the end of October and enjoying a clean, organized house-- while it lasts!

The Boy is annoyingg

Back to School Assignment by The Boy

Assignment was to start a sentence about the summer with every word of the alphabet.

Attacked a tree with an ax, won.
Burnt my hand while camping.
Caught brine shrimp at Mono Lake.
Died, in GMOD.
Extremely futile is this existence.
Fought a friend, broke sword.
Got to play in snow.
Huell Howser is very rude.
I have insomnia.
GMOD is fun.
Kayaked on Mono Lake.
Life, I have it.
Man, I'm tired.
Harry Potter, I read it.
Oh, No! One of my swords broke.
Parry Otter, in Monterey.
Quietly looked for beavers.
Runescape, a membership purchased.
Salvaged a broken sword.
The Lost Boys, I watched it.
U R chosen as teacher.
Very good sword was broken.
Went to Santa Cruz several times.
Xactly positioned car to fall on metro-cop (in GMOD).
Yelled at my annoying sister.
Zoned out in first week.

Whoah!

Its been almost a YEAR since I posted. Wow.

What happened is this. The kids get embarrassed when I post, and it seemed reasonable to respect their privacy.

So, I started another (anonymous) blog to ramble, and guess what? I never get any readers.

Anyway if anyone is out there, I'm pondering an amazing, finale, parent-wise.

I recognize that the kids are getting older, and part of that is the whole separation-thing. These days we go for smaller adventures, because that's all they seem to be able to tolerate. They want to be with friends, or on the computer, or whatever.

"The Boy" starts 8th grade this year. That's the last year before high school.

"The Dad" wants to visit his mother for her 80th birthday in Cape Cod in October.

I have hundreds of hours I need to take off from work this fall.

So, I'm calculating. Round trip tickets for 3 (Mom & 2 kids)= $1,500. Car rental for one week=$1,000. Total cost= $2,500.

Can the kids and I cross the country (twice) on $2,500? (Dad only has a week of vacation at his job, so he's on his own, I guess).

It may be the final chance, since it will be harder to miss a month of school once the kids are in high-school.

Can we do it? Hmmmmmm. Pondering. . . .

No Photos, Just Text

The kids just got back from camp. "Kit" got home yesterday. "Lets have a treat", I think.

"How about vegetarian corn dogs and sweet potatoe fries for dinner", I ask.

"Mom! I ate that kind of junk all week at camp" she replied, clearly rejecting the idea.

She ate a salad for dinner.

Today "the boy" returned from camp. Not learning my lesson from last night, I asked "Would you like sloppy joes and some sweet potatoe fries for dinner?"

"Yuk!" he exclaimed. "We had that kind of food at camp all week."

What did he want for dinner? A salad.

So, the moral of the story is. . . if you want your kids to eat more vegetables, send them to camp.

* * * *

On another note. . .if we went to more cocktail parties, it would be a popular topic of conversation. But, we don't. So, here it is. . .

We are a family where both parents work for the State of California. We are now furloughed 3 days a month, each. This means a reduction in pay of about 15% per month, each.

We're lucky. We have no car payments. We buy our clothes at thrift stores, and "being thrifty" is our hobby. Our only debt is our house payment.

Some of my staff are in much worse situations, because they don't make as much money. The workload hasn't changed, so if you don't go to work voluntarily on the furlough days, the extra work stresses you out. Personally, I don't work for the paycheck, so I'm trying not to focus on it, or I'd be depressed.

"The Dad" works at an office that completely shuts down on 3 fridays a month, now. They lock up the building, and even the parking lot! So, in one way, its nice to have some extra time off. However, his department may soon be turning away budget stimulus projects, because the reduction in staff time is preventing them from being able to complete the projects.

On top of it, we are only taking pay reductions. Our benefits (the state's "burden") are still in full effect. Nice for us, but that really doesn't save much!

Its a bizarre situation. And, the new "Fudget" means this isn't the last we'll hear of it.

Silver Polisher

The Boy has decided that he now collects silver. He got home from Grandma's he was excited to see the thrift shop find we got him. He polished it and added it to his "collection".