Comics, Coffee and Catches

Jun. 10, 2008

...And I Blinked and it was Tuesday.

Posted in Chases Work

Well, the flurry of activity never seems to cease in our lives...

Friday was Chase's black belt test. It went very well. I was a bit panicky, but I think he did fine. He does need to work on his sit-ups and push-ups, and he didn't break the brick with his hand, but he did break it with his foot. His bare foot. I was mistaken about the tea ceremony. That will happen in December when he officially receives his black belt. (Yes, more waiting. *sigh* And here I thought I could relax after the test.) My anxiety came during sparring and grappling. Some of the parents were getting a bit rowdy, which I felt missed the point of the exercise. This isn't playground fighting, this is learning to defend yourself. The kids deserve better than parents screaming "Come on! This isn't a dance!" from the sidelines. The test lasted about two hours and then we went out for ice cream to celebrate.

Saturday, Marina and I met up with friends in Central Park. Some we've met before, and others we know from an online discussion group we belong to. We had lots of fun trying to find Belvedere Castle and working our way down toward the Central Park Zoo and then FAO Schwartz. In all, we walked from Broadway and 79th St. to 5 Ave. and 59th St. over the course of about five hours. And then we still needed to walk over to the subway to get to my parents house to meet up with the rest of the family and go home. Another long day.

Sunday I thought I was going to rest. Of course, I forgot the things I needed to do. This was a bittersweet day. After mass we stopped at our church's St. Anthony's Festa. This is the church's annual fundraiser. The kids had a good time playing some games and winning a couple of prizes. That was important to me, because our next stop was to a wake. The wake was for the 8 year old son of one of my husband's co-workers. His son, who was born with a birth defect and was always on a feeding tube, passed away in his sleep last Wednesday. It is heartbreaking to watch a family who loved their child so much have to say goodbye much too soon. My heart goes out to them and I hope you will give your own children a hug for them.

Monday was just busy with catching up on life. The children spent the morning working on their zoo exhibits for my art class. We will have a mini exhibit of our zoos on Friday. The afternoon was spent in and out of the car: library, post office, craft store, pet supplies store...an errand day. And it's been incredibly hot and humid through all of this. The heat is supposed to break tonight. A break would be nice.

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Jun. 5, 2008

Dedication

Posted in Chases Work

Tomorrow is Chase's black belt test. He's been doing a lot of preparation for this. The dojang we use, Exceptional Tae Kwon Do, is much more intensive than your other places. Aside from knowing his poomse (a series of movements) and blocking and kicking combinations, he was required to write an essay about what his Tae Kwon Do training has done for him. He had to make up and write down ten self defense techniques and practice them with a partner to demonstrate. He had to practice basic Bo staff, which is like quarterstaff--remember Robin Hood's fight with Little John? He is learning how to break a brick with his hand. I can barely break a brick with a hammer.

There will also be a tea ceremony before the black belt test. Chase has informed me that drinking tea will be the hardest part of his test.

All of this requires a certain amount of commitment on my part. I'm his transportation to the studio. The children's classes conveniently start and end before my husband leaves work and usually I end up driving at the height of rush hour. At times, I feel very put out and put upon. But I'm pretty proud of Chase's dedication. He's persevered in spite of his asthma, his dislike of writing, and his sensitive nature (there were a lot of tears when he started sparring). I've given him plenty of opportunity to stop, to try something new, but this was what he wanted. And now he's doing it.

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Mar. 5, 2008

I Want My Peanuts - the Sequel

Posted in Chases Work

Here is a second video Chase made. Same window, different squirrel.

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Mar. 4, 2008

I Want My Peanuts!!!

Posted in Chases Work

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Sep. 5, 2007

Logical

Posted in Chases Work

Chase is starting his second year of logic. In the first year, I usually just have them play logic games, like Sudoku and Twenty Questions. The second year, I take a more formalized approach using a book called "Logic for Beginners" by Irving Adler. I love this book, but it is out of print so it is really hard to get a copy. In the first chapter, three forms of logic are introduced-observation, report and reasoning. The example given used three boys, each of them using logic to support the statement, "It is raining." The first boy saw the rain. The second based his statement on the report of the first. The third boy looked out the window and saw people with open umbrellas. He reasoned that people only open their umbrellas when it's raining (which I saw as faulty logic, but that's another story). I tried to discuss these forms a little, explaining how Mr. Spock always used logic to understand situations.
Which led to a new topic. "Who?"
"You know," I said, "the Vulcan on Star Trek." Blank stare. "Star Trek? Remember Star Trek?"
"I know what Star Trek is, and I know what a Vulcan is, I just don't know who Mr. Spock is."

Maybe I should have used Sherlock Holmes as my example. Please just order my rocking chair and sit me in a corner with the cats.

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Apr. 10, 2007

Tinkerbell is Obnoxious

Posted in Chases Work

My son just finished reading Peter Pan and listening to the book on tape of The Wind in the Willows. Being a very sensitive child, he really didn't care for Peter Pan. In particular, he didn't care for Tinkerbell. I don't think he even clapped to bring her back to life. "She's very obnoxious," was his exact phrase. Well, yeah, after all she did try numerous times to get rid of Wendy, so I guess premeditated attempted murder could qualify as obnoxious. The only character he liked to any extent was Slightly.

Just for fun, I had him compare Peter and Mr. Toad. We discussed their recklessness and their self-centered attitudes. Both characters tend to forget their lessons, which serves to keep them in the savage boy state. Both were very good at making up their own rules to justify their behavior and weren't above committing crimes to achieve their goals. It makes you wonder, why did Peter want a mother? I think he had the idea of mother confused with the idea of servant or nursemaid. In the end, my son preferred Mr. Toad, who finally came around, made his restitutions (albeit grudgingly) and decided to grow up.

I guess I should hold off on having him read The Lord of the Flies.

After Dinner Update: Apparently, everything got jumbled from my ear to my brain. Or maybe my son has Peter Pan memory loss. Or I shouldn't have tried to do a book discussion before he ate. At any rate, I've now been told that he likes Peter better because it would be cool live in Never Land (but he would like to grow up.)

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Jan. 4, 2007

Letter Writing

Posted in Chases Work

Chase is walking on air today. Last September he wrote a letter to one of his favorite authors, Bruce Coville. This is the second year I've had them do this project. Last year he wrote to Joanna Cole, but he only received a form letter.
   Today he got a response from the author. It was very nice, I don't think I've ever seen a longer reply to a fan letter. Mr. Coville even included a tip about a new book he's writing in "The Magic Shop" book series, which is my son's favorite. He thanked Chase for the pictures Chase had drawn and for letting him know how much Chase enjoyed "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher," a book that had taken him 13 rewrites! (I know that sentence was awkward. It's late, I'm tired.)
    Last year Marina received a reply from Elizabeth Peters, author of the Amelia Peabody series. I think she answered mainly because Marina was such a young reader of this excellent mystery series.
    Anyway, I encourage everyone to write to your favorite authors. There is a great resource at Kidsreads.com
Websites: The Official Bruce Coville Homepage
                   The Amelia Peabody Series, by Elizabeth Peters

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Dec. 27, 2006

Going North

Posted in Chases Work

We'll be heading north for a few days. Hopefully I will have new comics to post when we return!
Here is a picture of Chase as the innkeeper from the Christmas pageant:

All of the children did a terrific job, even the baby who played Jesus! (It's like he knew he had an important role to play!)