Parents of the HS Class of 2010 and college years beyond (Part 1)

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
40801

<p>YDS, general PVC boost was sent, hope it helps.</p>

<p>alicew, we gave up on dorm mountain in DS’s room. H spent about an hour picking up stuff and moving boxes. He loaded the entire armoire with “treasures” not clothes. I spent some time getting the bed up and back in place. My DD was amazed that it looked like someone could actually SLEEP in there In a bed, Not on the floor (DS did that all summer instead of putting his bed together. I kept hoping the endboard leaning against the wall would fall and boink him on the head (seriously, he needed a wake up call! but i wasn’t going to fight with him all summer when I knew there was an end in sight.) We did not give up hope that DD will come back and deal with her few bits and pieces and boxes that are stacked in her room. At least with the boxes, we can just move them to the basement and tuck the clothes on the bed in a drawer; she is much more organized and orderly than DS by nature. She also only lived at home for 3 weeks. She moved and sorted stuff every summer while she was in undergrad school, too. He just piled up MORE stuff. I look at the BAG a WEEK thread longingly when people crow about their kids getting rid of their stuffed animals and their grade school “event” T shirts. </p>

<p>G# did I miss the vacation scans laptop review? Did it freel scary/fun to be on vacation without kids? One of our first ones was kind of surreal. Still feels that way sometimes. </p>

40802

<p>OK this is classic. I finally got to see son’s room/suite when I was on campus for homecoming. (DH moved him in in the fall as I was out of town.) It’s a very nice kitchen, 2 bedrooms, and a shared bath. There is black mold all over the bathroom fixtures, which son says “It was there when we moved in.” Huh?</p>

<p>There is maid service during breaks, and I would assume the place was thoroughly cleaned over the summer. I would have complained to the front desk, but it obviously never occurred to DH. And obviously it never occurred to the 4 boys living there to um, CLEAN the bathroom. :)) Ugh.</p>

<p>S does like living there. It’s very quiet. You can almost hear the mold growing.</p>

40803

<p>Yuck, momannoyed. </p>

<p>Happy Monday morning all. Yes, I am stopping in here to pour some coffee as a way of stalling going to work. But I think it’s time . . .</p>

40804

<p>Ick on the black mold. Doesn’t it bother him? I know dirty bathrooms don’t seem to bother college students much–but I’m with you on the yuck factor! I’ll let you know how DS’s bathroom looks in about a month when I go to see him again. It was clean when he moved in!</p>

<p>I’m in nail biting mode waiting for DS2’s ACT scores. He is a HORRIBLE test taker. Don’t believe me? Well when he took his first (and only) SAT he scored around 700–TOTAL. Yikes. I don’t know if he guessed a lot (although he knew not to) or as we’ve come to imagine–he bubbles in the wrong thing. Maybe it’s a dyslexia thing or something? I caught him doing it on a practice ACT online–he asked me to explain one of the math practice problems. He got the correct answer but when we looked at the scores for the section he missed that question–ACK! He marked the wrong one. He’s not a good test taker to begin with, so adding these errors on top makes for terrible test scores. So I’m hoping he can raise his ACT just a bit. He’s not trying to get into top schools just schools where he will fit (but his first choice is more selective than the others). So retroactive PVC’s would be nice! (Can PVC’s do that???)</p>

<p>Thanks for the coffee aliceinw! </p>

40805

<p>Good luck, VA! When are scores released?</p>

40806

<p>YDS–some scores were released today. Next release date is Wednesday. Not sure exactly how they decide or if it’s totally random. The ACT CC thread gives good information on release dates! </p>

<p>On DS1 front, he’s still waiting to hear about medical school interviews. He has one, but is definitely hoping for several more. The waiting is painful! Of course then once he has interviews there will be more painful waiting until acceptances are announced. So I’m going to be waiting a lot this year between my HS senior and my college senior!!!</p>

40807

<p>VAMom2015–It’s the best of times and the worst of times! Good luck to both your sons!</p>

40808

<p>Happy Tuesday to the iPeeps! I’m offering espresso this morning because nothing says “Tuesday” like espresso.</p>

<p>VAMom2015: sending PVCs for good scores & good interviews.</p>

<p>momannoyed: I can identify with that black mold experience. Ick!! I wanted to wear a Hazmat suit when we moved S2 out of his off-campus house after graduation!</p>

<p>GSharp: I’m sorry we missed you at Dayton airport. It was a near-miss. Did your D2 go to the “Madeline” exhibit? That sounded interesting to me and I’m an adult … no really, I am an adult. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>S1 did well & finished his first marathon! I never found any cowbells but we had a great time anyways. There were 16,000 runners doing 5K, 10K, half- and full marathons at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, so this was a major event. We underestimated the traffic and missed the 7:30 am starting gun while stuck in a line of traffic that was reminiscent of the final scene from “Field of Dreams.” But we were there to welcome an exhausted S1 across the finish line, which was under the massive wing of a Boeing C-17. (The same plane appeared in the “Transformers” and “Iron Man” movies). The C-17 was part of an outdoor exhibit at the National Museum of the US Air Force, which was fantastic! I highly recommend the museum to anyone visiting Dayton.</p>

40809

<p>12rmh18–Thanks for the espresso! Thanks also for the PVC’s. Looks like ACT had some issues and didn’t release too many scores yesterday. Now they are saying next release is Friday. Oh goodie, I get to wait some more! :wink: </p>

<p>Congrats to your S1 on his marathon finish! I’m always amazed at people who can run that far. 2 miles is about my limit–and it is a pretty slow 2 miles! Speaking of which I really need to get back to my walking/running. I’ve been a slacker for too long.</p>

<p>Enjoy your Tuesday everyone!</p>

40810

<p>Hi, everyone! It’s nice to see this thread still percolating along (see what I did there?).</p>

<p>I wanted to let you know that all THREE of our kids are doing well, at the same time! DS is a 5th-year senior at our local university, still studying applied math. He is taking two advanced math classes this semester. He is stable and happy! He volunteers once a week at a local food pantry - that has been so good for him, because he has to socialize with others and follow directions. The woman who runs the food pantry came over to him last week and said she would be very happy to write him a job reference if he ever needs one.</p>

<p>He also started equine therapy - working with horses. He’s not an animal person and was a little reluctant at first. But now he LOVES it! The therapist teaches him all about horses (understanding their signals, setting boundaries, etc.), then extends the lessons to people. He is learning how to get the animals to gallop, cantor, follow him, etc. He also grooms them. Once he develops a close bond with one of the horses, he will get to start riding. His mental illness is still tough - he confided that he hears voices a LOT. It makes it hard for him to read textbooks or focus on instructions. But he feels like he’s managing them fairly well at this point.</p>

<p>Middle son, 19, just left this morning for a second session at YWAM (Youth with a Mission). His bipolar disorder has not bothered him for the past year, even though he stopped the meds with the doctor’s permission. He would love to do humanitarian work with a Christian organization. The people we know who do this for a career have all told him he needs a college education, but he REALLY doesn’t want to go that route at this point. He knows that we will support him financially if he goes to college; otherwise, he needs to support himself.</p>

<p>I can’t believe that my “baby” is 16 and a HS junior already! She is playing jazz piano, running cross country, and taking some IB / AP classes. She is the type of kid who doesn’t EXCEL in any one area, but is just well-rounded and HAPPY! She has thanked us for not nagging her about studying, etc. (I have learned to bite my tongue better!).</p>

40811

<p>ML, that’s like music to my ears. I am so happy for you.</p>

<p>12rmh, congrats on ds’s marathon! But what a bummer about missing G#. I know he’d be easy to spot across a crowded airport; he’s the guy in the GWAR shirt. Surely there aren’t a lot of those in Dayton.</p>

<p>VA, I’ve asked a couple of my clients how their ACT scores went. I hope they are two of the lucky ones who found out!</p>

<p>alice, a former teammate from college is in town for a couple of days; ds is hoping to see him tonight.</p>

<p>G#, ds2 saw Paisley in concert last week, too, but at Bristow. Ds wants to be Brad Paisley.</p>

<p>Ds1 goes out of town tomorrow for his first work trip. Low-key and fun – he’ll be driving himself and three co-workers 2-3 hours to another city to meet with their kids/clients. He booked the hotel through his cousin – nice property at a great rate – and arranged to get free food from a local restaurant as an enticement for his kids to come meet him. I guess all that asking for things on his Eagle project has translated to the workplace. And it worked on me, too – I am baking cookies! I asked him last night whether he will re-up for a second year, and right now the idea is appealing because he would like to see some of his kids through the next step (transferring to a four-year school). He feels bad for kids who have six coaches in six years.</p>

<p>Oh, and he gets home Thursday night from that trip and turns around and heads OOS with his club team for regionals the next day. It’s not so bad having him home when he’s gone all the time. ;)</p>

<p>Have a great rest of the week, y’all!</p>

40812

<p>Good morning! Lot’s of activity today! </p>

<p>12rmh: Congrats on the marathon! Running one is not on my bucket list, but I would definitely enjoy cheering someone else along!!</p>

<p>ML: Sounds great!</p>

<p>Not much to report here. D1 LOVES her honors sophomores who actually do their homework and participate in school activities. S2 loves his classes and loves his internship, just doesn’t love driving in traffic to get to them. We don’t hear a lot from S3, but from what we do hear he seems to be happy. He joined the sailing team. Although he has been sailing most of his life, I would imagine sailing in the SF Bay is much different than sailing in the summer down in sunny Southern California. </p>

40813

<p>Stopping by to say TGIF to the iPeeps!! It’s Friday! I’m serving regular coffee today.</p>

<p>I’m enjoying all the great updates. Sending PVCs and good wishes to our next round of college applicants!</p>

<p>Not much to report here: S1 is changing jobs and is caught in a bureaucratic tug-of-war between his employer and a contractor that doesn’t want him to leave and is making it difficult to do so. He is looking forward to a new office and new responsibilities, and he will be very glad when the dust-up from the transition finally settles. I haven’t heard much from S2, who is still working 90-100 hrs/week. I guess he’s getting used to it.</p>

40814

<p>Hopefully the travel gods will be friendly today…</p>

<p>Momannoyed – Sorry that it wasn’t your Bearcat’s week. I’m sure a “Get Out of the Basement Free” pass will materialize. Your homework for the weekend is to go to the Midpoint Music Festival and give us a full report on the Afghan Whigs and Dinosaur, Jr. It’s gotta be better than cleaning mold. :wink:
<a href=“http://mpmf.com/”>http://mpmf.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>12rmh18 – Bummer that I missed you! Do you know if the entry fee for the Air Force Marathon was “Your first born?” I never saw so many strollers come off of one inbound plane in my life! :wink: Congrats to S1 on his accomplishment and I hope he gets through the job red-tape reasonably unscathed. I have heard many good things about the museum in Dayton, but have yet to visit.</p>

<p>

Or was it “I totally managed to black out while I was there.” :wink: I forced myself to venture up to Times Square a couple of week ago… it was awful then, I plan to never go back.</p>

<p>Esobay – so your DS lives by the “A pile for everything and everything in its pile” method? :wink: We have slowly been whittling down the stuffed animals, etc. We gave D2’s collection of 50 million Polly Pockets to one of the nurses who took care of my FIL for her daughter. She sent a picture of one happy little girl playing with them, so we knew that we did the right thing. And no, I quit my laptop free vacation by Tuesday, ergh!</p>

<p>VaMom2015 – I’m bundling up some retroactive PVCs to send up your way!!!</p>

<p>ML – Wonderful to “see” you again from the home of Moxie (Moxie Makes Mainers Mighty). Your family is truly inspiring!</p>

<p>

I bet it’s a lot colder! We lived in Palo Alto when my dad was at Stanford and couldn’t even bear to get in the water in August.</p>

<p>YDS – I see that your DS1 continues to be a slacker. :wink: Oh, you reminded me to let everyone know that GWAR has a new “singer” and is back on tour if you are looking to see if they are coming to a venue near you this fall. I know that you can hardly wait. :wink:
<a href=“http://www.gwar.net/tour-dates”>http://www.gwar.net/tour-dates&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>D2 is making the trek back to campus this weekend to visit friends and go to the game. She still loves her alma mater. :slight_smile: She continues to settle in NYC a little more. Last weekend was friend X has invited me to someplace, friend Y has invited me to another place, friend Z has invited me to a different place… I don’t think I’ll be able to fit them all in my schedule. So much for her (and us) worrying too much about whether she would find her people. </p>

40815

<p>S2 is a couple of weeks into his internship. It’s a good experience, but he confided he probably doesn’t want a job that requires sitting in front of a computer 8 hours a day. I said I thought that was a good thing to know about oneself. The job comes with some nice perks. Last week it was free tickets to a Broadway show. Don’t ask about the driving. So far the only practice he’s gotten is ten minutes every other day to the gym, if some grownup (ie dh) is willing to go with him. We are perfectly willing to pay for someone to let him drive for an hour at a time. Just get the hours in!</p>

40816

<p>Spoke with both my kids today. :slight_smile: Well, S and I texted - it’s Parents Weekend at his school, but he has a bunch of friends from home visiting since it’s also his birthday weekend, so there was no point in me going up. H and I are going on Sunday, so I wanted to know if he’d like us to bring anything. He texted back, “food and drinks.” I said, “can you be more specific?” His answer, “awesome food and drinks.” Ok… I called D just to touch base since I’m going to be pretty busy the rest of the weekend.</p>

<p>GSharp - hope your D has a fun time this weekend. A couple of D’s closest friends are now working in Boston/rooming together, and I’m sure she’ll be visiting them at some point. </p>

<p>Btw, Times Square isn’t that bad once you get used to it - other than all the costumed characters that have taken up residence - they’re very annoying. At least the Naked Cowboy just does his thing without bothering anyone. I’ve been there several times over the past few weeks, and believe it or not, one Sunday I actually sat at one of the tables set up in the middle of Times Square and read my Nook while waiting for S to meet me for lunch. I was in the city for meetings this Wednesday, and it was more packed than usual, probably because of the stuff going on at the UN. </p>

<p>My friend said nothing about me blacking out that night, so I really did block out the experience. Strange.</p>

<p>Mathmom - good luck to your S with his driving. I absolutely hate driving, but it’s one of those skills we all need, so I hope he sticks it out and gets his license.</p>

40817

<p>good morning… coffee is ready…</p>

<p>Vamom… good luck on the interview front for S1… i would definitely agree… this whole process is painful</p>

40818

<p>Coffee’s ready. Happy Tuesday, iPeeps. Not much happening around here. </p>

40819

<p>Happy Tuesday…DS had a phone interview yesterday for a possible job interview but he hasn’t said how it went. No news may not be good news. He is not at his best on the phone…says a lot of “uh, uh” before actually spitting out a sentence and you can’t always tell if it’s bad reception or he really is pausing! </p>

<p>Anyway, it’s early in the year and this was supposed to be a “practice” interview and not one he really really wanted. Hopefully he will improve his skills as the year goes on! He can go to the career center & do practice interviews also.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, it’s heavy Indian summer here in the Ohio River Valley, with lots of sneeze-inducing pollen. :(</p>

40820

<p>stopping by to wave! ~~~ glad to hear people are doing well. </p>

<p>Momannoyed, wishing your S lots of PVCs on the job front. My D2 is also up for a job fair tomorrow hoping to get a coop position, after striking out last quarter. The coop office at her school is all talk and no action, very disappointing that the reality is not what was proported during college visits X( Anyway, we are focused on plan B and hope she doesn’t have to move to plan C. You mentioned P&G, she would love to get an interview there (she is chemE)</p>

<p>D1 is doing well and is 6 weeks done with classes so far, much different than the quarter system for under grad which just started classes yesterday. She will be home volunteering at the 50th Head of the Charles regatta, and will get a nice volunteer jacket. I am also volunteering, I could use the swag as well :-)</p>

<p>The real reason for the visit to cc was for the caring for parents thread. I am in the process of trying to convince my father to stop trying, because all forcible tactics I’ve tried have hit dead ends. I’m optimistic at the moment but have hit lots of setbacks.</p>