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We've been inside since March 13, with me working from home and Nick's school forced to online instruction for the remainder of the year. Nick could not leave the house for months and not care, as long as his laptop works and the cupboards are full of food, we forced him into the yard to plant some grass seed at the point we realized he hadn't walked outside the doors for over a month.
Schoolwork is the biggest struggle, Brandi helps as much as she can, and he stays on it for the most part, but the school hasn't made it easy. Six different teachers on six different platforms, moved him from an 'A' student to nearly failing some classes in only a couple of weeks (assignments we submit but the teachers can't find.) Brandi has been on top of the school to get answers, and in the end, it won't matter, but it's been considerably frustrating.
I spend my days in the office downstairs, while Nick has a space above the garage adjacent to his room to focus on his schoolwork. There's an old table up there, and a TV and beanbags, and of course, a good internet connection. I get to experience his workspace habits when we switch, such as when he has remote piano lessons and needs the piano in the corner of my office. He doesn't keep his desktop as organized as I do, I need to clear space between the cans and planes and books and empty cracker boxes to function.
Inside we fill the time by tossing socks up the staircase and swinging at them like baseballs with a stick, or polishing cars or working at the train table. And lots of cooking. Brandi is trying new recipes all the time, and Nick is heavy into her Chinese run... fried rice and beef-and-broccoli being consumed in mass quantities (when we can find rice in the stores. We do have plenty of TP.) I needed a TV show that I could stream that would last me the entire quarantine, and most new shows are 6-10 episodes per season, so I had to reach back... been watching the original Dallas on Amazon Prime, for free, which should keep my occupied (350+ episodes.)
Nick's best quotes of the month, those random things he says for no reason that fit into no conversation.
"Can you imagine a life without pose-able thumbs?"
"Beavers invented refrigeration."
"I'm going to take a lap." (He says this when he's headed for the bathtub, because he runs enough water to go for a swim.)
"I lost track of time due to daylight savings time." (When we was scolded for being up until near midnight on his laptop... over a month after daylight savings time switched.)
Jason
First major holiday under quarantine, it could have come and gone without being noticed, losing track of time.
Family gatherings were held over FaceTime.
Brandi hid baskets for Nick around the house like he's still age seven, which he awoke unannounced at 4:30 AM, found them all, consumed half the candy, and went back to bed. That didn't go over well when she woke up. But not without a Plan B, Brandi advised there were 36 plastic eggs throughout the house, and some had $20 bills in them. Of course, I engaged happily, and so did Nick.
I still got my turkey dinner, and Nick got Chex Mix, which he walked up to the kitchen island and planted himself in the spread face-down, because, of course, they were meant for him.
This is what a quiet house looks like when there's nowhere to go.
Yes, Brandi's Christmas tree was still up into April.
(Nick's getting to the age where he can write for himself. So this is what you get!)
January was a great month for Garry's Mod and school alike, February wasn’t as shiny, however. What happened in February is that 14 days in, some infection thought, “Oh! This 13 year old will be great!” That 13 year old is me. On Saturday, I got messed up VERY bad. My joints hurt like hell (please don’t kill me Dad, or take away my computer, I apologize about using the H word for that, trust me you would do the same thing) and I couldn’t move for a VERY long period of time, being 5 days. I also had a lot of drainage of snot down my throat and my already sore throat was getting watered on even more. On Sunday through Tuesday, it got progressively worse and I was hacking up HUGE snot balls. I’m sorry for any weak-stomached readers who are about to read this next passage, please forgive me. What happened next is that I went to the doctor for a strep test, the doctor touched the back of my throat and that made me hack up an enormous honker that had some blood in it. On Wednesday I was hacking blood and that was the final straw for my mother, she had some left over antibiotics because she had a stockpile of medicine if fallout happened early. I took some antibiotics with some Dr. Pepper and it tasted HORRIBLE, but I powered through it without any trouble. Friday I was able to go back to school but I was still honkering up blood. Anyway, that day was the kick-off of Funarama week and it was a huge fundraiser of $100,000 for a lot of things. If we reached our goal, out at 1:00 and dress down on Fridays. However, my family and I sold about 1/1000 of that at around $112 dollars, others followed suit and played their part like mine. However, some others decided it would be a brilliant idea if they sold NO TICKETS AT ALL. In the end, we reached over $92,000 and that shattered the previous record the school had. Our principal was nice enough to give the early dismissal to us and that ended up being a pretty good idea.
During this time period, my mom started working again as a dental hygienist. It sounded good on paper, but in practice she regrets it. Every day she has been very tired and moderately grumpy and she apologizes about it. My dad also writes most of these blogs and sometimes he thinks I’m pure insanity, but you would get it if you watched funny War Thunder videos. Well, real life has been a bit of a pain (I need to learn how to build a steam locomotive and do my chores at the same time…), but on my computer, it has been pretty fun. I was able to get three locomotives done in less than a month, those being a CB&Q O5b Northern, a NYCS J3a Hudson, and an SLSF T-54 Mountain Type. All three are done and are rolling around multiple servers due to me giving some of them to friends for private use. Also the airport next to us called Beta Air is up for sale and that for me is a huge belt to the rear. Beta Air is my childhood, I would love how the planes would go over my house and scare the neighbor’s dog sometimes, I have a passion for aviation that I will never get over. I really hope it doesn’t get demolished.
My Mom also had some issues dying her hair, because the hair dye she used wouldn’t come out for a straight 15 minutes of rinsing. She then had to dry her hair and try and sort it out the knots, but there was a slight problem, about 90 of them. Then she had to pick me up from karate and was like, “Okay, so should I wear a towel and cover my mop of a head or just brush it out on the way?” She chose to brush it out on the way, then we needed to go to Walgreens for an inhaler for my asthma, which turned out to have been increased by 100% in money. We had to turn it down and wait for insurance. This February has been a wild ride but I love it (part of it.) Anyway I hope you have enjoyed my 2nd writing for my Dad’s blog, I’ll write more later.
Nick
Nick and I went to the Toledo Auto Show on Friday evening, to pass the time. It was every bit as pathetic as you could imagine. There were so few people attending we almost couldn't find it. We passed some former work colleagues of mine on the way out of the show, and of course, Nick's first words were, "My Dad says the new BMW grill looks like Hitler." Because, that's a normal greeting. Never mind the context that we had been watching and talking about war documentaries. The show handed attendees a photo scavenger hunt upon entry, where you guess the 12 photos of obscure car parts, and return it for some drawing. Of course, he rattles them all off in the first ten seconds and the poor ticket attendant feels bad, so I had to tell him to play along. You can't play '20 Questions' with him, either. His first clue, is 'they are very illegal', so all the while you're guessing drugs and firearms, you'll never figure out the correct answer is 'lawn darts'. Good grief.
With Brandi working a few days this month, he got his first phone, so now he can respond to let us know when he's home alone, that all is OK. Or not... he can text you that he needs you, then set the phone down and walk away for 3 hours and cause a panic.
On a positive note, Brandi has decided we are going to read at the dinner table ever evening (as if eating together isn't enough bonding) so we're reading a book called, "The Summer of Monkeys." Nick is enjoying it, so OK by me. One evening he's reading, it's his turn, and he's really into his, his voice fluctuating with the characters, and he's trying to sound like a young girl, a character in the book. He sounded like Gilbert Gottfried. That in itself was funny, but it cause us to Google the former comedian to show Nick to whom we were referring. For a good laugh, search for 'Gilbert Gottfried reads 50 Shades of Grey' on YouTube. You won't be disappointed.
Jason
I spend my days in the office downstairs, while Nick has a space above the garage adjacent to his room to focus on his schoolwork. There's an old table up there, and a TV and beanbags, and of course, a good internet connection. I get to experience his workspace habits when we switch, such as when he has remote piano lessons and needs the piano in the corner of my office. He doesn't keep his desktop as organized as I do, I need to clear space between the cans and planes and books and empty cracker boxes to function.
