Day: August 16, 2021

First day of the new school year with all three girls in class, which I guess makes this the first day of “fall” for me. Seems like I should get into a better groove about posting here than I did most of the summer. I have a few works in progress, but I think I need to do a better job of translating thoughts in my head to text on the screen.

Every now and then I’ll go back and read some old blog posts. I find it funny how much more I posted back in the old days of nearly 20 years ago. Any half-formed thought often got its own post. Some of that was simply because the first year of the site’s life, I was also working from home. In a position I did not love. With no coworkers within 500 miles of me. So there was a lot of dicking around on the Internet to avoid doing actual work, which translated into blog posts when something amused or outraged me.

There were also The Kid Years, when each day of parenthood brought something new and exciting that I felt like I had to share with the world. Those taper off as your kids hit double digits, and again when they hit high school. Thus I have less material from the girls’ lives these days, too.[1]

I’ve wasted plenty of space over the years talking about sports, current events, etc. Lately it feels like I’m more focused on pop culture, though, between music, books, and what I’m watching posts. Which is fine. It’s obviously how I spend my free time.

Recently I’ve realized some of those blogging gears that used to turn so freely in my mind now grind and fight against each other just a little. Ten years ago I couldn’t wait to write 2000 words about some KU-Iowa State game in January. Now it feels like a chore to do so, and I find myself less eager to get to the keyboard to bang them out even though I have more time than ever to do so.

My joints also ache a lot, I can’t run as fast as I once could, and even a minor change in my regular workouts can cause days of pain as my muscles revolt. It’s all part of getting older, I guess, including having a different passion for sharing thoughts with my friends.

This isn’t some grand announcement. Trust me, the blog will live on! It’s more an acknowledgement of the blogging version of low testosterone, I guess. Sometimes actions that came easily in your 30s and 40s just require a little more effort in your 50s. In this case, it’s purely mental effort, thankfully. And I hope by sharing this realization with you, it will help me find some techniques to get beyond this little mental lull I’m having.

The girls all had fine starts to their school years. Today was the first day that M and C rode to school together. I was going to sit them down and give them some ground rules. Like, “M, don’t be bossy. C, don’t distract your sister while she’s driving. Communicate in advance if you need to be at school early or stay late.” Etc, etc, etc.

But S told me last night that C suggested to M that they make a shared playlist to listen to. They would both put an equal number of songs in and alternate them so it was even. M thought it was a great idea. So did I. Thus I decided to save the lecture. I’m sure it will be needed at some point, though.

It is really freaking weird for two of my kids to be riding to school together in a car neither S nor I are driving.

L said their homeroom teacher, who is new to St P’s, let them pick their own seats. So she ended up with two of her best male buddies in one desk pod, with her three closest female friends in the pod next to them. We’ll see how long that lasts. She said they almost got kicked out of Spanish on the first day because her one buddy would not stop talking the entire time. Cracks us up that he talks so much because everyone else in his family is very quiet. He must do the talking for them all!

She also had tryouts for St P’s basketball Saturday, because CYO sports schedules are dumb. She said she played pretty well. She’s hoping to make the 7th–8th grade A team. She’s worked hard on her game all summer, but it’s all been drills and shooting. It is a totally different thing when you’re on a court with other players. She should find out what team she’s on in a week or so.