school days

Well, kate has school days and last night i had mine, in a manner of speaking. We went to a photo exhibition and then had
dinner with 3 women and their husbands that I've known since first grade. Amazing to me that we are all still speaking and have stuff in common....Of course some of them live in LA now and so we had to get beyond the political correctness issue....It probably speaks to some deepseated issue for me but I can always remember everybody's mother and what they were like....

The contract

swearing is punishable by a $1 fine in our house which has to be paid immediately. No, I'm not going to list the words because everybody knows them. If it's the F word, then the fine goes up to $5. I pay this fine because it helps me not be so much of a trash mouth and it also makes it clear to kate that this kind of language in not accceptable. But Arnie doesn't pay and doesn't like to pay because as he said to kate last night, it's your fault that I swear. you provoke me. She wasn't buying it and just kept on message asking for her $1. The conversation went on for some time with me just watching this tennis match of words until they seem to have come to some resolution which is that Arnie would try not to swear and he would pay his fine. kate would try not to be in the grip of teenage hormones and behave like a wretch. And if she was a wretch three times during the week then she would pay Arnie $3.

My role: Arbitor of bad behavior and foul language.

But these two went to contract on these issues. And this morning they were still revising the contract with a termination clause that required them to keep talking and to negotiate a new agreement.

I'm saving money now for law school.

I touch and i spend

Arnie gave me an i touch as an anniversary present and Kate has practically bonded it to her skin. Lots of games, music, she can get e-mail OMG and suddently the other night she bounced into the living room shouting because she had discovered how to use the i touch like a kindle. Who knew? Well, now I know for sure. She ordered a book from Amazon, billed to me of course, and has spent the last several days glued to this small lit screen reading her new book. I also ordered a book for the i touch which I plan to read on our next flight to somewhere far, far away. Very kool.

My Hobby of the Moment

So...I'm taking a basic photography course on Saturdays, and loving it! Be prepared to be bored with arsty shots from time to time. My 9-week long course ends with an exhibit of my project in 3 weeks..the subject being Kate in Bryant Park. It's unfortunate (not!) I've landed a job, so will have to pursue photography a bit less vociferously, and marketing my CFO services enthusiastically. Life is good!

Is it June 8th yet?

Final concerts, school fairs, science projects. Almost the end...And then this weekend we've decided to kick off a family reading club and so our first pick for the season is to Kill a Mockingbird which I've never read. Clearly neither Arnie nor Kate have read it either.

It will be interesting to see if Arnie can kick the kindle habit and go back to just reading a book!

Double Triumph

Kate found her Metro card. The concert was great and next year she will be playing the trumpet in a jazz band at the school. I do have to check to make sure that she is still doing some other academic stuff.

And this morning she was able to use her wii board to get to school. It's like a skateboard but has only 2 wheels and she is really good at it. I was still lounging at home enjoying a solitary breakfast while she and her dad were hoofing and rolling toward school.

Then i discovered that a photograph taken of her at the Museum by the New York Times photog ran today in the paper as part of the review of the Museum's new exhibition on Extreme Mammals. Good pitcha. Also good review

Next Chapter

New Job. Definite. So we're moving on to a new chapter with different challenges and opportunities. oh, it's not me. It's himself. And we're all simultaneously thrilled and exhausted. Looking for a job, sensing that you need to look for a job,
and then biting the bullet about actually "doing it" is mind numbing, terrifying and electric all at the same time.

Now we can chat with certainty about the new job with the attendant conversations about stuff including new rugs, vacations and school. Yowsah.

Kate lost her 4th Metro card and I've decided that her preferred way to get to school will be walking. Or she will take her allowance money for the next 3 months and use it to buy another metro card. Of course if she walks, then we walk. So let's see how the drama will play out. She might find it at school today. And then tonight's school concert will be a joint triumph: great music and a metro card. Or it will be a single triumph....

M others day

I had carefully arranged for a shipment of croissant to be cooked on Mother's Day morning. So I had Kate haul out the package out of the freezer and read the directions as I laid out a baking sheet and turned on the oven.

"Lay the croissant on a piece of parchment paper 9 hours before you want to coook
them..."

Ok, so we had toast for breakfast.

Time off

It's tough when your job begins to interfere with your personal life. Shocking what employers require of you these days and these days have been super hectic in the office but I managed to capot off with a road trip to Miami that was everything that I hoped. Beautiful warm weather, unending sun, tacky tacky tourists, the beach and Spook and Sue. Everyone was in fine fettle. Collins avenue is full of aging hotels that saw their better days in the 1950's, fell into disrepair and were suddenly resusitated in the late 90's. I found a cheap and funky hotel with a large airy room in South Beach that gave us a very central base. The hotel also had a 30's type pool and a very mixed cross section of people. One night we threatened to call the cops because of a loud and thumping bachelorette party next doors. Living the high life. We basically did nothing but drift around, go to the beach, have lunch, talk, lauhg and do that all ovr again. I got excited thinking that maybe we should buy a condo in Miami and then thought Yuck maybe I'll have to live here. Not so fast. I could fly down for a weekend...But it always seems more important to have an apartment in Rome or paris than anywhere stateside. Perhaps thats the reason I have only one residence.

Flew out on Friday and missed all the excitement of a donald trump shoot and then flew back in on monday just in time to deal with a huge crew for a Bank of America commercial. I'm finally feeling relaxed enough to do this....

Kate in Bryant Park - I'm taking a 9-week photography course on Saturday afternoons, and enjoying it. Didn't realize what all the gee-whiz features on our camera could do when shooting in manual mode. Lots more interesting than automatic point-and-shoot. Took this shot yesterday. There is no more willing model than Kate!