<p>Alu! My H is in Shanghai right now! </p>
<p>He's 6'9" with a long pulled-back greying&thinning hair and a beard and glasses, and he's not Asian. If you see someone like that on the street, feel free to say hello. :)</p>
<p>Mootmom,</p>
<p>He may be the only 6'9" guy in all of Shanghai!</p>
<p>That's why I mentioned it: I figured it might make him easier to spot. ;)</p>
<p>You got it. Although, there are tall people in the north of China....But they generally don't wear ponytails:).</p>
<p>We have the look here....call it EUers</p>
<p>Gee, SBmom, I don't know! ::::very big grin::: I haven't been over to the high school since the last Last time I brought snack! lol The only teenagers I see are the slacker musicians who show up at my house on a regular basis. And, they all look the same...like young Elvis Costellos wearing black-rim Brooks Bros glasses and skinny pants, or some sort of unisex-guy things with generic shag haircuts and girls' jeans that look a size too small. </p>
<p>I try not to pay attention to them, but every now and then, I have to come out of my underground lair and scare them away from the refrigerator. :p</p>
<p>Yay, m&sdad! You can always count on the marmots! Does that mean that she's made a decision for MICA, then? Wow, you must be so proud of your m&sgirl! :) I'll have a Blue Wave martini with a wedge of fresh pineapple and a little umbrella. </p>
<p>Don't know about you guys, but I'm getting excited about the end of this year! We got a coupon from a tux place this week, and I casually shrugged it off as I was throwing it into the recycling bag. Sluggson's response, "Of course, I'm going to the Senior Ball!" </p>
<p>Well, yeah...old senile me. Of course, you want to go! What was I thinking?? You'd spare us the final senior year battle over the all-night-orgy-at-the-hotel-sleepover? Of course not! Drunken orgies are not his scene, as far as I know, but I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to rampage around the City all night. He'll be rampaging on trolley cars and Muni buses, which is fine with me. ;)</p>
<p>Y'know, Alu...this won't be the first time we've thought about shipping him to China! Our plan, however, involves a Hong Kong junk and a lot of duct tape. :D</p>
<p>Sluggs- no one, I repeat NO ONE,could deliver report card "news" with such creative FLAIR,
hysterical, simply hysterical- ty</p>
<p>East Coast, West Coast the universal nightmare: LOL so funny.</p>
<p>"You'd spare us the final senior year battle over the all-night-orgy-at-the-hotel-sleepover? Of course not"</p>
<p>Well, I survived a "driving lesson" today with the 16 yr. old. We almost had a three car crash a block from our home making a left turn. But miracle of miracles, we did not :). I've been saying all along that I am not a good person to ride around with a beginning driver, trying to hand that parental chore off to my hubby, who claims he is busy at work. Oh, sure . . . Gee, that makes 6 hours of supervised driving completed, 44 left to go??? NOOOOOOOOO!</p>
<p>Oh Sluggie, so sorry to hear about the bad report card. All I can do is sympathise, as I have been there. :(.</p>
<p>Mstee, we're sending the marmots over to your place with flashlights and Semaphore flags...and a bottle of tequila and some limes. That should get you through the next driving lesson (for afterward, not during)! :D</p>
<p>SluggJr owes the marmots, big time. Where are they? I want to hug each and every one of them. Three, count 'em, three C's (two in AP's) and an F (in AP Calc AB). Life is good! :)</p>
<p>Tomorrow, my report on UC Davis' Welcome Day. It was wonderful! ;) We left there inspired.</p>
<p>Mstee, I believe it is one of those parts of parenting that no one talks about! I was a door grabber and rightly so.....opps, that was a red light you just stopped at and then drove through......Unfortunately, my experience got stretched out over 2 years. Everytime we were in CA, here we go again. :)</p>
<p>And here's to the end of report card hell.......three cheers to the Marmots and maturing young people!</p>
<p>Mstee, teaching your kid to drive....I put that in the category of one of the worst parts of the parent "contract". I guess we all survived somehow but at the time, it felt like we would not!</p>
<p>It's been almost 30 years but I still have that look of sheer panic on my dad's face etched into my brain, along with his hand and foot jammed on the dash, him yelling "Break! Break! Break!"</p>
<p>Guess what goes around comes around.</p>
<p>Think I'll let the marmots handle the drivomg lessons...</p>
<p>Well, it's one week until TJFH takes his roadtest for his license, after which I'll have to make up other reasons why he can't have the car. Assuming he passes (fingers crossed), I'll be sending him to Defensive Driving Class this summer. Then he expects to start agitating for the Motorcycle Defensive Driving Class and licensing activities.... :eek: (And no, we will not contribute to either the cost of such a vehicle nor the insurance on same.)</p>
<p>Off to get him back on the stickshift while it's not pouring rain outside....</p>
<p>M&SDad:
Oh, the curses of this western tongue... :)</p>
<p>See, your dad thought he was yelling 'Brake!", and you thought he was yelling "Break (right)!" . Which explains, I suppose, why you totalled 2 mailboxes, a fence, that innocent collie and a not-so-agile grandma.</p>
<p>But as long as your kid doesn't know about your checkered past, and you can lie with a straight face and claim you got your license after your first test, all will be well in the world.</p>
<p>MootMom:
A stickshift! You mean there are others besides myself who still believe in this anachronism? Oh, joy...</p>
<p>What a mental slip on the break/brake. Must have been subconciously thinking about three years later when I totaled his car when I did not see a traffic light and ran though a red! Doh! </p>
<p>I was so lucky: just a bruised knee on the steering column and a star of crystallized glass on the windshield from my forehead. That image also feels like yesterday...</p>
<p>My kids will also learn of a standard transmission. Still common enough should they want to rent a car in Europe and good to know in an emergency.</p>
<p>calmom, </p>
<p>saw in the russian schols thread that your D has selected Barnard. Congratulations! We know that's the school you were lobbying for.</p>
<p>You buying this round with all that new found financial aid?</p>
<p>Better than that, I'm sending my daughter to Barnard's Bartender school. </p>
<p>Seriously: <a href="http://eclipse.barnard.columbia.edu/%7Ebartend/%5B/url%5D">http://eclipse.barnard.columbia.edu/~bartend/</a> -- a 6 week course in how to mix drinks!</p>
<p>Calmom,</p>
<p>I think that sac's son who attends Columbia, did the bartending thing and acutally makes a nice piece of change (the irony is mixing drinks when you are not old enough to drink).</p>
<p>Let's just hope your encouraging bartending school is not comfused with a free pass to come to SA :)</p>
<p>My D has MICA listed on her myspace page so I am assuming that decision has been made. Interesting communication model nowadays...</p>