Wow, twice in 2008 and I'm on a roll!

We were hit with some crazy snow, which kind of makes the boy's birthday present of a new bike more an exercise of torture than anything: "Here's a new bike but you can't ride it! Happy Bithday!". I'm sure since he's turning 7 he will bring this up when he is 27 and in therapy, lesson in delayed gratification notwithstanding.

I finished a research paper for one of my classes and only have the last reading assignment and an in-class essay to prepare for this week. Next week is review & then a week break before the three hour final, which entails text identification and two essays. I should be in the clear, as I know for a fact that I am only one of maybe two or three students of a class of less than dozen who actually competes the readings. Students these days like to rely on wikipedia ands Sparknotes to write papers I guess. Get your money's worth of your education guys. I ahve another class that is distance-based that I will be able to focus on, which I am about halfway through--keep the nose to the grindstone as they say...

A friend posted a note that simply read, "You can't pick your family." My sentiments exactly. I've been having some familial issues over the past few years that have resulted in me not associating with some members of my family who I feel are not healthy people to spend time with. It involves abuse, mental illness, denial and acts of vandalism & harrassment (trust me you don't want to know). Thankfully, although I was never a victim (except for the vandalism & phone harrassment) I want to keep it that way for me and especially for the sake of my kids. There's a lot of underrugswept action in the family of denial. In the interest of my own nuclear family I have removed myself from all contact, which is a sad means of action, but the only one remaining that will keep my sanity intact. Sometimes you have to make a break with people who refuse to make positive changes in their lives, especially when their actions have negative consequences for others. It does get a little tricky when you live in the same sity as the people you want to avoid, and particularly difficult when they resort to immature antics. But, you can't control what other people do (to a point), so my course is set. Gawd, I sound like an episode of Intervention!

We watched a cool movie the other day & I recommend it. It is called The Last Mimzy and is based on a short story that you can hunt down in the public library if you are so inclined. I also came across a couple of great children's books that put the onus on the reader to create the story, but I'll dig them up later to share.