<p>I have given the marmots little pedicures with glitter polish. They like it when their marmot paws sparkle. I'm pretty sure I saw them heading down the highway on Riley's bike...</p>
<p>AAARRRGGGHHH!!! The suspense about the scholarship is killing me! But that's the LEAST of it. In the "whatever can go wrong will go wrong" vein, S. is juggling one snafoo after another. Where to begin:</p>
<p>His college email was converted to a new server a few days ago, and glitches have prevented him from getting into his email account (and thats where he'll hear about the scholarship). There is a website for the scholarship, but it hasn't been updated in about 10 days. Frustrating! However, bigger hassles are on the forefront:</p>
<p>He is finishing his summer internship this Friday. He has a HUGE presentation to give tomorrow to the managers. His housemates (other interns he arranged housing for) are in the process of moving out- the power company screwed up and turned off the power in the upstairs apt. (where he is living) TODAY and wont turn it on again for at least 3 days. The roommate who could try to get it handled sooner is moving out and doesnt care. Internet has also been cut off in the house prematurely. Makes it a <em>little</em> difficult to finish the presentation, the packing, moving etc. with no power (no a/c) and internet (and- its over 100 degrees there as well). Roommates are leaving huge messes which will prevent their getting back their security deposits.. unless he cleans it all up (with no power on... swell). And he isnt the type to leave the place a mess-- so knowing him he'll try to clean the place.</p>
<p>He isn't <em>supposed</em> to access personal email from the internship company, but there * are* ways around that... if the !@#$$%%%^ college email was working. He'd hoped to sell the last of his furniture before he leaves on Sat. to students moving off campus, but if they cant access their email, forget that (no time to put it on craigslist).</p>
<p>So, maybe he can take his laptop to a wifi spot. Yes.. but he's got a Dell with one of those !@#$%% batteries that is being recalled-- fire hazard!!</p>
<p>What else?? His car is misbehaving. Battery died the other day, and when AAA showed up they brought the wrong truck (big flatbeds dont fit in a 4th floor parking garage) and they thought he had a flat tire, so also had the wrong equipment (no big portable battery charger). Attempts to push the car down the parking deck led to harrowing "near misses" and a big dent in the wheel well (from pushing it) but they finally got it out and he got a new battery. (AAA said they'd "look into" getting the dent fixed- but havent returned any calls since.. Grrr...) Now the car is leaking power steering and some other fluid (hopefully not brake fluid!). Need to get it to the shop before he flies out Saturday, but when???</p>
<p>Cellphone battery is low. Wheres the charger? At the house (with no electricity). And so it goes........</p>
<p>POUR ME A DOUBLE, PLEASE!! Actually, I'd love it if one of the twinkle-toed marmots would do the pouring. I could use the entertainment.</p>
<p>A big marmo-jito coming up for jym626! I think your son definately takes the prize for worst luck week ever. It can only get better, right?</p>
<p>Pour me another mominmama! That first one went down real fast!</p>
<p>I just reread Alu's musings about her 11th grader. I've got one of those. Sounds real similar-- except mine's brain is still into videogames and text messaging... Maybe his hormonal surges will shift like alu's son's... I can hope...</p>
<p>I need chocolate. Would it be sacreligious to eat a mallomar-mot?</p>
<p>Mallomarmot. LOL. They are like Peeps, you know those yellow mushy birdies you eat at Easter? Only when you bite into these, what is inside?</p>
<p>FLASH! Maybe this will help cheer up those of you with sons whose surges have not yet driven them away from electronic media...</p>
<p>TSFH (The Child Formerly Known As TJFH) called me a few minutes ago to ask a question... from the upstairs hallway where he was sitting... WITH HIS ACCORDIAN FOLDER OF COLLEGE MATERIALS IN FRONT OF HIM. He was -- I kid you not -- GOING THROUGH THEM and FILING the newest material for schools he's interested in, and PULLING OUT APPLICATIONS that need to be attended to.</p>
<p>I'm tellin' ya, I almost had a heart attack when I heard that. This is THE FIRST TIME he has shown ANY INTEREST AT ALL in looking through those neatly organized folders (ahem, ok, so sue me 'cause I am The Queen Of Organization) and actually started to prepare to fill in the apps. I think it finally dawned on him that one of them is a rolling admission school that starts accepting apps on Sept. 1. Or so I can hope, anyway.</p>
<p>This is not to say, by the way, that electronic media do not still enthrall him: far from it. But at least there is room for other things to creep in. (He did spend an hour riding his bike today, and another hour or two playing drums, and he washed the dishes unasked... hmmm, I wonder what he's done that's going to make me mad?) He has not yet completed his summer reading, however, so this may just be another stalling tactic.</p>
<p>Hang in there jym626, we're all sending electrical vibes to the jymson -- the marmots are good running in hamster wheels, he's just got to hook something up in his copious spare time so when the crew arrives they can work the generator. Right? (sigh....)</p>
<p>(PS: Peeps are MUCH better when you poke a hole in their little plastic overwraps at Easter and put the boxes into the pantry for several months: they get a bit crispy and very tasty, ripening almost perfectly by Christmas. I have 4 packages "curing" in my pantry at this very moment... Plus oh yeah, Peep Wars in the microwave are quite entertaining.)</p>
<p>Mootie-
What did you put in his drink?? I cannot believe TSFH initiated this uber-mature behavior. I am sure you spiked his big bottle of Gatorade.
You are a better parent than I. I leave all the college stuff in a pile for jr s. to "put away". That's a euphemism for drop/throw/push it into any out-of-the-way location away from his computer monitor or video game handset/controller. I would venture to say that well over 90% of the mail is unopened. I believe the remaining 10% has served as coasters for beverages and bowls of ice cream.</p>
<p>Alu-
Mallomars are sorta like s'mores-- in a weird kinda way (only cold, not hot). Marshmallows atop graham crackers coated in hard chocolate (note: they taste much better if stored in the fridge, so the chocolate coating is nice and crunchy- and you have to stock up in the winter because, due to melting, they are hard to find on the shelves in the summer). </p>
<p>And mootie is right about peeps. Only good if nice and stale. Peeps come in all sizes, shapes, colors and for all seasons now. Seems sacreligious. I am somehow bothered by "peeps" halloween pumpkins. Not sure why. It just isn't right. [** edit-- after perusing the peeps website, I find the green peeps christmastrees and the halloween black cats even more bothersome than the pumpkins. Some things are an institution and should be left alone..]
Hey, check this out! <a href="http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/flash/index.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/flash/index.php</a>. (look under "recipes and crafts") Peeps fondue. Can't you just imagine the little peeping/screaming coming from these critters as they are dunked into scalding chocolate? Cruel and unusual punishment. Sent the marmots to their rescue!</p>
<p>Chocolate martini for Jym. The glass is big enough for marmots to do the backstroke. </p>
<p>Now, y'all are taunting me with talks of marshmallows and Peeps. Not kosher! (If anyone wants to ship me a box of kosher 'mallows, I will be forever in your debt. Even cyber k-mallows would be lovely.)</p>
<p>Now, here's a story for y'all: a junior who, after years of ignoring anything relating to college, SATs, or school, applied, in secret, to an early-admission programme; got in, and is going. Told the 'rents after the acceptance letter came in the mail that hey, college is a month away, not a year away. Ha!</p>
<p>Yes, teenagers do occaisionally care about the future. Kind of like Schrodinger's cat - there's always that possibility that it's not in the box.</p>
<p>Please don't ask why I have this bookmarked, but you Peeps fans (and LOTR fans) should take a look. <a href="http://lordofthepeeps.com/lotp/fotp.html%5B/url%5D">http://lordofthepeeps.com/lotp/fotp.html</a></p>
<p>Mootmom, whatever your son is doing, could he come infect my son? While he was at camp all summer I did go through the 2 grocery bags of stuff and separate it into "schools he might be interested in" and "schools he won't consider." The 2 piles are still on the floor in his room. He didn't finish his summer work and school already started! </p>
<p>And there have been all sorts of school issues - the wrong classes, no homeroom, a math teacher who not only has never taught this class before, but has never taken it himself! Love those self-study AP courses. This too shall pass; I just hope that when it passes there is a college on the other side.</p>
<p>Dragging SA up from p2 purgatory to say that I am <em>TIRED</em> today. We now have a somewhat dirty engine from a '78 VW van on an old door on some cinderblocks at the top of our driveway. S#1 and brother and father and a friend and an experienced VW van owner pulled it last night; they started around 6:30pm after chowing down on the big dinner I cooked for them. What time did it finally get onto the door on the driveway and everyone got cleaned up and degreased, you may ask?</p>
<p>3:30am.</p>
<p>I hope S#1 learns SO MUCH about the thing this next week that he could pull and replace it in his sleep. At least he's doing it here, now, with experienced help and iced tea and task lighting and a hot shower afterwards, instead of on the side of the road in the dark alone in some National Forest somewhere. </p>
<p>Just thought I'd share. (HA! I walked into the office this morning -- an hour late -- and smiled at a colleague who looked at me crooked and said, "You're stoned, aren't you." ?! )</p>
<p>Bah - Page Two! The indignity. </p>
<p>Mootie, if I had hands, and now that I think about it...legs, I'd be jumping up and down pretend-clapping that TSFH is having a college moment! Booyah, baby! </p>
<p>Be careful, though. It is a well-known fact that Seniors possess extraordinary magnifications of ordinary human abilities (super-hearing and x-ray vision, super moods, super-speed, and the ability to fly into outer space) when it comes to parentally-generated happy vibes relating to college. Oh, and they can make themselves invisible by taking your car keys and moving faster than a speeding bullet. :)</p>
<p>I hope that door in the driveway has coordinated curtains to cover the cinderblocks. Coordinated with the mom-made custom van window curtains, that is.</p>
<p>First...will someone please update status of sluggjr. Last I'd heard he'd done a runner but had already called home for help.</p>
<p>My 2011 guy is a senior. Senior year ends in November. I'd ask you to pour some cyber pity into the Pacific on the off chance that it might some day reach our shores, but don't worry, I learn from my mistakes. Once upon a time I tried to get another senior boy with senioritis to fill out apps. Never going to get into that bun fight again.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, whip out cheers' solution to everything: throw money at the problem. I hired a professional to guide this senior through the app process. It hasn't taken all the agony out of it, but it has shifted quite a bit of pressure. He thinks she has "surreal expectations". Haha. </p>
<p>The good news is that he's written a bunch of essays (!) which she has started editting. He also started the Common app online--but forgot to save it, apparently, and had to start over. In the meantime, he's animating until all hours with programmers from all corners of his brave new world.</p>
<p>I am back from vacation (In Mehico; thinking of you jmmom) and loving these boy stories... </p>
<p>My own personal recent boy story is that my son, TSFS (Sophomore from Space) has a cute and brand-new GF-- of course, he continually insists she is "just a friend." However he is now busted. Today he requested that I get him up at 8:00 am, and it turned out that this was because SHE needed to get a wake up call-- and he decided to do it personally. Due to his extreme aversion to waking up at any time, particularly when it is light out, this may qualify as the single most generous act of SFS's life. So. Heh heh. There is no freaking way this girl is "just a friend." :)</p>
<p>Moot, that coworker sounds like a riot... I have found parenting my teens into the wee hours often does induce hallucinations.</p>
<p>Well.</p>
<p>Any of you guys going to Burning Man? My sister is an annual stalwart there. (She is the wild one in our family.) Every year she invites me to come, and every year I decline. But this year a really nutty and fantastic old friend agreed to come with me-- so we are going. Now I am getting all the preparations lined up. And camping in the desert in August requires quite a bit of prep!... (Compared to Burning Man, I say: College apps, Schmollege apps.) We need to bring our own shower water in-- and then to bring the grey water back out. We need ski goggles for the dust. We need to be ready for +107 as well as freezing cold.</p>
<p>Uh, why am I doing this again?</p>
<p>Oh yeah, to prove to myself that I AM STILL FUN!!!</p>
<p>BURNING MAN?!?! I AM SO JEALOUS!!! We have to wait one more year for TSFH to be OUT of the house at Labor Day and then BOOM we're there! (Too bad S#1 is taking the VW van, would have made the perfect BM vehicle, sigh...) Can I have a rain check for 2007?</p>
<p>I have friends who've gone multiple times and they love it -- be sure to spend some time before you go thinking about your "art" and what you'll be providing to the "gift economy". And take way more water than you think you'll need! I am SO JEALOUS, you have a GREAT TIME for us all, OK??? You go, girl! You are STILL FUN!</p>
<p>(PS: why bother to shower?)</p>
<p>moot, YES, you are on for 2007!!!! :)</p>
<p>mootie-
From the sounds of the progress being made on the VW van, sounds like it may still be up on cinderblocks in your driveway when you are likely to be heading to Burning Man :)</p>
<p>Cheers-
good luck with this yrs college search...</p>
<p>And to all... we are still awaiting news of the scholarship. The suspense is killing me.</p>
<p><em>edit</em>* Please keep feeding the marmots. They have work to do!</p>
<p>SBmom - I remember hearing about Burning Man years ago and tucking it away in the back of mind as something that would be great to do. WOW, You are going!!! - that is so cool (I fear "cool" is not cool, but I'm old & you know what I mean :cool: ...) </p>
<p>Burning Man sounds as magical as if Sinner's Alley could appear once a year in real life (Brigadoon) :rolleyes: ...the costumes, the art, the fire, the survival skills shared in a large community ...wouldn't it be fun if we all met up there one year when the young'ns are away, marmot races in the desert, and face painting with salvaged airport lipsticks/gloss/concealer...Ahhh dream on...
I will be thinking of you... :) :)</p>
<p>Who? Oh, the boarder! The guy who comes and goes like a heat rash in July. At this point, our standard response is, "Sure, when are you leaving?" </p>
<p>"Can I have some money to see the snakes in the airplane movie?"
--Sure, when are you leaving?</p>
<p>"Can I have some money to buy some deodorant and toothpaste?"
--Sure, when are you leaving?</p>
<p>"I'm selling the amp you guys gave me for Christmas, and I'm going to LA for a gig." --Sure, when are you leaving?</p>
<p>"I may or may not be going to college next month."
--Sure, when are you leaving?</p>
<p>We are cautiously optimistic that he'll get there, and we're pretty sure that there is a freshman dorm. He is a slugg, afterall, moving at a slugg's pace toward college, occasionally going off-course to investigate the slime trails of other gastropods.</p>
<p>But, we don't mention there. If we did, he'd change his name to Dylan and head for the nearest bus station. ;)</p>
<p>Maybe SluggS will be at Burning Man....How will SBMom know him? Does he dress in Trekkie gear too? JK. </p>
<p>Mootie and BHappy, I am with you. I AM JEALOUS!!!! I wish I could go to Burning Man. Well, SBMom, will you bring a Burning Marmot to help jymson with his scholarship? I can see it now.</p>
<p>And as a mom, let me reiterate. BRING LOTS OF WATER! You are too young to know but as you get old like me and the dread M word looms on the horizon, the hormonal decline seems to bring a consuming thirst with it. </p>
<p>Gosh. Tell us all about it. Actually, find someone with satellite Internet and post, live, from the spot:). And BTW, we already knew you were fun:).</p>