Hecticness abounds

Life has a funny way of ganging up on you and doing weird things. Recent events are such a illustration of the yin-yang principle that it makes me think.

See, I'm moving into a new position at work in a little over two weeks. I'll be doing stuff that I really want to do - working with databases and finding a way to actually do some hands-on journalism with all the computer skills floating around in my brain, rather than just making the journalism that others do look pretty when I put it on a page or proofread it. I don't regret having been a copy editor the last few years at all by any means. It's been fun and enjoyable for the most part (yes, I actually did enjoy most of my time at the Rumorang despite all the crap I dealt with there), but most of all, it's brought me to where I am now and helped me find a way to put all of my interests together. So now, I'm going to be kind of professionally multi-tasking, which is really what I've always wanted to do without knowing precisely how to define it. I've wanted to find a way to harness my computer geekery and combine it with my interest in history, politics, creativity - information, really. And now, here's my chance. So that's the yin.

Meanwhile, the yang is the downer side of life. We've found out in the last day or so that Kim is going to need back surgery to avoid possible paralysis from the spinal disc that is pushing and encroaching on her spine. So, I'll be taking some time off work to take care of her and the kids (until the cavalry shows up in the form of my dad and/or her sister to help out - thanks you guys if you happen to read this!!) right when I'm supposed to be starting my new position. We haven't been able to pin down a date with the doctor's office yet for the surgery, but hopefully Monday or Tuesday will have more answers.

Other than that, things have been good lately. The kiddos have been their own version of this yin-yang dichotomy of life. On one hand, they're some of the sweetest girls. It just makes me melt when the oldest comes up to me with a giant hug and says, "I love you Daddy", just out of the blue. On the other hand, finding they've pulled all the stuffing out of the pillows (again!!) or decided to take their filled potty seat into their room to play with just makes me want to pull my hair out. Kids bring a whole new perspective on "bittersweet".

Speaking of kids, part of why I wanted to do this was to start keeping track of stuff I want to remember about them and stuff they've been doing, so I'm going to start that now.

Kid notes
1. Anisa is growing up so fast. A few days ago, she started to discover the bad things in life all on her own. They love to play with the newspapers in the house, and one night she said she wanted to talk. "What happens when a house is on fire? I saw a picture of this burning house in the newspaper and it burned and then went boom. Why does that happen? Do the people get hurt and die?" It just floored me. What am I supposed to say to that? How am I supposed to tell a 3-year-old what it's like when a house burns down? So I did the best I could and talked about how sometimes bad things happen and we have police and firemen and medics that are there to help us and take care of us; that things like this are why Mom and Dad are always telling the kids to be careful and watch what they're doing because we don't want there to be any bad things like that which happen to them; that as parents we do everything we can to avoid that stuff. And I've been reading the paper with her since then, talking to her about the pictures and the stories in there and trying to be an interpreter to help explain the world until she can read and try to understand for herself what it's saying. But it's obviously had a big impact on her. Several times since then, she's asked me to talk to her about burning houses and people dying... and it's hard to know just what to say.

2. Jasmine is so cute. She's putting together sentences now and has gone from "Ni-ni" for Goodnight to "Goo night, daaad". She won't go to bed or a nap without asking for "Cheek!" so she can give us a kiss on the cheek before she sleeps. She's learning to be quite naughty from her sister - if you ask if she wants to get her butt spanked, she just grins and smacks her own butt and says "'Pank, 'Pank!" and then runs to her room giggling.

3. Anisa is adding her own sense of adventure to things. In the last few days, I've caught her standing on the windowsill in nothing but her underwear doing a full-body press against the window (yeah, both kids are such little nudists - have to almost duct tape clothes on them to keep them from taking them off!); stuck in the top bunk of her bunkbed, which does NOT have a ladder installed yet; standing on the kitchen counter; and standing on the back of the toilet. Not to mention her jumping off of everything imaginable and her "crazy foot things" where she contorts her body while lifting a foot off the ground in some way.

4. She's also starting to grasp the concept of reading. We've got one book/magazine where there's a story that has a few words that are replaced with pictures of the object instead of just the word. So we'll read it together and when I get to the picture, she'll say the word to complete the sentence. And she's always asking, "What's this word say? What's this page say?" One of these days, she's going to shock me and just read what it says.


Gaming notes
Call me weird, but I'm envisioning this blog more in the sense of a journal to look back on and capture my thoughts and experiences of the moment, rather than the repository for rants and raves that I see so many blogs becoming. I'm sure it will evolve and change as time goes by, but this is how I'm approaching it for now. In that interest, I'm going to keep track of my gaming habits on occasion as far as what I'm playing, what I want to play, what I thought of it.

Right now, Hot Shots Golf Fore! has captured my focus. I've kind of gravitated back to console games on the PS2 after spending the last long while playing games on the computer almost exclusively. It doesn't hurt that I'm trying out Gamefly right now, so I'm getting some variety in there for free/cheap instead of having to drop $$ on buying games. Plus, it gives me a chance to try some of the kid-focused games for the girls, since they've both wanted to play whatever Dad is playing. Someday I want to get a Wii so that they can game with me and do it in a way that's at least somewhat physically involved instead of couch potato gaming, as has been the norm throughout gaming history.