Harry just left for his father’s house. He will be there for five days before coming back here on Wednesday.
He’s here on Wednesday and Thursday, and then he moves into his dorm on Friday.
There are only two days left.
Sad face because he’s going away. Excited face because I can’t wait for him to take on college and frankly make it his bitch.
I have nothing to write about at this particular lunch break.
With two whole days at my parents, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I started watching The Orville again last week and last night I finished the first season. If things go bad I could make a dent in season two. I started watching The White Lotus on HBO when it premiered but I haven’t watched the latest episode. Why? Because the show kinda sucks. Is it a comedy? Because it’s not funny. Is it a drama? Because most of the characters are beyond annoying. It’s just not good. I know it’s only something like six episodes, so I am half way through, I think, but it’s just not good. Oh well.
Music! I can do music! I have two songs to mix. There are six songs that need lyrics, I can handle all of that. Maybe I can start some new songs as well. I wanted to be further along than this before my 48 hour sentence started, but what can you do?
Mostly what I will do while I am stuck over there is miss Jen and Harry. I should be home with them, but I won’t be. That sucks more than I am capable to put into words.
I have 99 minutes left in my shortened work day. I just wanted to mention that because I could.
Looking forward to watching What If? with Harry and Jen tonight.
I’m feeling a little blue today. Fathers Day often has that effect on me. I always feel like an imposter. It’s not right or wrong and I don’t want to debate it, it’s just the way it is. It’s okay.
Harry cleaned his room today and Jen shuffled around some computer equipment. Harry’s back at his father’s now, given the day I believe that’s the right thing to do even though I always want him here with us, and Jen was wrapping up her desk set up. She asked me to carry something into Bellana’s room for safe keeping, and she also said something about a mouse. She was referring to the personal computer peripheral input device but it instantly put a completely unrelated song into my head.
Patches was curled up in a ball on Bellana’s bed. I performed a dramatic poetry reading of the song lyrics in the hopes that it would cheer both me and her up a little…
I know a mouse, and he hasn’t got a house,
I don’t know why I call him Gerald.
He’s getting rather old, but he’s a good mouse.
Patches just sat there looking at me. No response at all. I don’t think she really gets Syd Barrett.
Friday morning… at last.
I don’t think we have any plans this weekend. We’ll get to spend some time with Harry, but it’s Father’s day weekend and he should spend Sunday with his dad.
Other than that? No clue. I need a haircut and I need to have my eyes checked but neither will happen this weekend. Maybe next weekend, but not this weekend. The grass could use a mowing and we have a lot of leaves in the back yard still. I could work on that some. The forecast looks agreeable.
I just need to get through one more work day. Just one more. Here’s hoping all of our customers have full blown summer fever and they all go for long weekends and leave us alone for today. Wouldn’t that be nice (there’s zero chance)?
Okay. Time to punch in. Happy Friday, everyone. May your work day be quiet and easy and may your weekend arrive quickly.
Toodles.
We are about two hours away from the start of the graduation ceremony. Can you feel the excitement building? I can!
Harry is already there, of course. Bellana is on her way. We only have two parking passes between the two houses and I think the plan is to pile about 30 people into the two cars. It’s going to be a drive in movie in the 50’s where they hide people in the trunk.
We’re making a quick dinner right now. We’ll maybe have something more substantial when we get home. For now though let it be stated that I just used an Air Fryer for the first time. Look at me, all hipster like.
One hour and forty minutes to go!
WOOHOO!!
Harry graduates from high school tonight. Expect tons of pictures from the ceremony. Also, expect tons of pictures from all over time and space because he’s one of my favorite people on Earth and he’s graduating and I am so happy for him that I am positive I will spontaneously combust before the day is over.
Harry just came home from graduation practice. I made him try on his cap for me. I told him how proud I am of him and embarrassed the shit out of him. So that’s one thing that has gone right today. He’s decorating his cap now.
I need to get my good camera out of the closet in the office. I think I have used it twice during the pandemic. Tomorrow it has a lot of work to do. I’m going to need the long lens, but it’s going to be so worth it. I don’t even care if the pictures come out or not, I just want him to have those 2.5 seconds on the stage in front of everyone.
He has worked so hard for so long. I am crazy proud!
We have had two consecutive days with temperatures topping 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The forecast calls for the same for two more days. My step son’s last days of high school are going to fall right into the heat wave. In fact, because of the predicted heat his school has actually announced an early release tomorrow and possibly Tuesday too. So his last days… the days after your finals are over that you still have to go in… the most useless days of your high school career… will be short days.
I ask this of all who have ever graduated from an American high school… how jealous are you? I seem to remember having to go in for one day after my senior finals were over, and I also seem to remember it being the longest day ever. My memory tells me that happened, but it seems like such a silly and useless thing that I wonder if it actually happened? Was my last day actually the day of my last final exam? Now I am confused. Old and confused. What else is new?
Whatever, Harry’s done with finals. All he has to do is go back and sign out of his classes. You know, turn in his books, pick up his cap and gown and the parking passes for his parental units… good stuff like that.
I am so proud of him. I can’t put it into words. I’m too proud to explain. I hope he has the time of his life this week. His last days, then all the senior week stuff, then the actual graduation, then they have one final post-ceremony senior week activity, and then he’s done with high school. Then he is a college kid. No, a college man.
I will say it again, I am so proud of him.
Yesterday we went to Harry’s final band concert. There were four ensembles and he played with all of them. It was 90 degrees out and the concert took place in the school parking lot. The band director sent out an email with the details last week and somehow Jen and I both failed to read the part about bringing your own chairs. We were there a little early and Jen raced home in record time to get us a couple of chairs. She missed the first couple of Jazz Band songs, but she did not miss Harry’s keyboard solo. There were two keyboard players. On this particular song the other guy used a synthy sound that made things sound like the 70’s. It was a little rough, but he’s an excellent player and he made up for the less than quality patch choice. Harry’s solo was with an electric piano sound and it made me want to run out and buy a vintage Fender Rhodes piano because awesome. Now I understand that a Rhodes is also a very 70’s centric sound, but some 70’s sounds are better than others. Dig?
For the other three ensembles, Harry was in the percussion section. He played almost everything. Mallets, hand percussion, cymbals, and on a couple of pieces he played tympani. He played the shit out of those kettle drums. Let’s just say his step father was very impressed, and insanely proud.
The show closed with the concert band. They had a couple of different teachers/student teachers conducting different pieces. On the second to last song, the band director was inside the building while someone else was conducting. Those of us who were still outside saw the sky getting very ominous. Dark, angry looking clouds. It seemed like we were going to get rained on and it was going to be bad. The band director came outside, looked up, and even though were were on the other side of the parking lot we could see him visibly freak a little. We could almost hear the “oh shit” he was thinking. The song ended and he grabbed the mic and said there was one more piece and it’s about five minutes long and we can probably squeeze it in before the sky falls. The DarkSky app had just told me the rain was about eight minutes out. Go for it, dude! They finished the number before the rain hit and had just enough time for the kids to get their stuff back inside and for the audience to scatter. It was almost as if they planned it that way.
I loved every second of the whole thing, and Harry was totally beat when he got home. Not only did he play in all four ensembles, but prior to the high school concert there was a middle school concert and he filled in for a missing kid for part of that as well. The dude worked his ass off in the scorching heat. If anyone had earned themselves a good night’s sleep, it was Harry.
As with most things right now I am conflicted. On the one hand I am proud and happy and impressed at Harry’s hard work and excellent performance. On the other I am sad that it’s the last one. I’m going to say this a lot in the coming weeks, but Covid-19 seriously screwed him out of so many things. I am glad the school was able to sneak this one in at the last minute so that his final band concert didn’t turn out to be a Christmas concert in his Junior year. He’s missed out on a lot of things in the last year and a half. We have to find a way to make it up to him.
I have not played the guitar in a while now. It’s the weekend so you’d think I would be in the clear, but there’s a lot of stuff to do.
The grass in front of the house is getting long. The grass in the back and on the side have yet to be mowed at all this year. I’m super tall, six and a half feet tall or so, and I am literally scared to go into the back yard because the grass is so tall I am afraid I’ll get lost*. Seriously. That’s how badly it needs to be mowed. The weather looks clear, though slightly on the scorching hot, inferno, hell fire side of the temperature gauge.
More important, in the afternoon we have a high school band concert. The final high school band concert. I didn’t think we were going to get one, thanks covid, but we are. It’s going to be outside in the parking lot and my step son is playing with every single ensemble. Piano in some parts, and percussion in others. He’s awesome, the concert is going to be awesome, it is also going to be held in the parking lot because of covid in the scorching inferno hell fire temps, but it’s all kinds of awesome.
If I can sneak some guitar time in, I will. I’m not holding my breath though.
On an unrelated note, I got a notification on my laptop to reboot for a Mac OS update. I cancelled the notification because it was in the way of a window I was trying to use, but once I was done I rebooted my computer. When the computer came back up I was prompted to take a Mac OS update. What is this, Windows?
*When I said I was literally afraid to go into the back yard because I would get lost in the tall grass, I was not being literally. Allow me to stand here and watch your brain explode. Boom, babie.
Another unrelated note, I think the V key on my ancient apple keyboard is dying. Uh oh.
Inside the Red Head's Head 