Tales from the Steppes

2005-04-04

10:36 a.m.
Nothing's true and nothing's right

Yesterday was the YM's birthday party. Fortunately, this was the last birthday party I have to plan and execute until December. It went well, even though most of his friends from school did not come. Very strange. Their parents did not even bother to RSVP. The only excuse that comes to mind is that these are their first children and they do not understand the protocol with kids' birthday parties. Fortunately, the YM did not notice and had a fine time. He was very happy with the train shaped cake I made for him. And we had yet another defective pinata.

The whole defective pinata thing is starting to become a tradition. Sometimes they won't break open and require the use of excessive force. This one was a pull string type, as I thought arming the children might be a tad dangerous. Unfortunately, the string that was supposed to open the pinata broke, requiring emergency surgery. Sort of like a pinata c-section.

The other tradition that is beginning to emerge is the MM taking the pinata home and duct taping it back together. Rearranged. This pinata was a SpongeBob Squarepants. That has now been Frankensteined into something else. Definitely not the proper placement for his arms and legs. I guess everyone has to have a hobby.

Tomorrow my application to the Internal Review Board is due. So I have been busily working on it - writing consent forms, instructions, letters asking for participation, etc. Of course I still have not recieved any comments from David, my first, on the reworked research but I am still moving forward with it. I spoke with Paul, my second, about the situation and he had a few thoughts for me on how to get David to focus. So I will give those a try but it is too late for the stuff I need to submit.

Bummer about the Pope's death. But you know, he was over 80 and had a pretty good life. And I thought Christians were supposed to believe that this life is just a warm-up for the Hereafter. It confuses why they would then mourn his passing. He was old and in pain and if anyone wanted to be with God, one would think it would have been the Pope. But maybe I missed something.

I nearly choked when I read the Bush quote about building a "culture of life." I am sure that the Iraquis and Afghanis would believe that is his top priority. Oh, but wait. It appears that it's only for Americans that he wants a culture of life. Snort.