Friday was the Boy Scout Fish Fry. As a veteran of Troop 8's Epic Turkey Dinner fundraiser, I was actually looking forward to a much shorter time of work. Wasn't prepared for how badly organized this event was with the new troop. Part of the problem is that it's a Church function, with different groups manning each night during Lent and taking the proceeds. So they do it "the way we've always done it." Probably works when the nearest competing Church Fish Fry doesn't take the week off. The overflow crowd was a mess.

Anyway, long afternoon. Saturday was much better, as my Beloved and I went for a hike in the local arboretum. It's been neat to go the past few weeks and see the changes. Can't believe we're getting this kind of weather and plant growth in mid March.

Today was a hike in the hilltop cemetery a few blocks away. It contains one of the batteries that were built to defend Cincinnati in the Civil War, along with several graves from the early 1800s. Lots of flowering trees all over.

And tonight after mass, I was listening to Krista Tippet's "On Being" on my way home. Her guest, Kevin Kilng, made a statement about there being two trips "The one we plan, and the one we take," but I heard it differently. With regard to the end of things, the afterlife (which he was also talking about earlier, hence the connection) it occurred to me that for that trip, the trip you plan, is the trip you take. How you live now affects how that ending goes. Or maybe planning your life to appreciate things now affects the quality of your current life/ trip. It seemed very profound when I was thinking it.

I need to download the podcast version and listen to the whole thing. I did that a few weeks ago with the John O'Donohue interview, and it was lovely. If you haven't read his Anam Cara or other stuff, well, some of it sounds like nonsense at times, but it's beautiful nonsense. And some of it is quite sensible as well as poetic. Here's a link to a slideshow featuring O'Donohue reciting a lovely poem written for his mother: http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2012/inner-landscape-of-beauty/ss_beannacht/ss-beannacht.shtml#slideshow

And in a few minutes, Wee Hob should be home from scouts, and we shall see if he earned his next rank. I'll update with that, I guess.

Edit: He made Star Scout. He's been stuck at 1st Class for about 4 years now, so this is cool. Still has only a year to get to Life, then Eagle, so unlikely he will make it before he ages out. Still, many adult leaders encouraged him (or threatened to kick his butt if he didn't try.)

For those who care, a revised Chapter 3 and a new Chapter 4 of "No Malicious Haunting," my sequel to "Lost Boys" is up. Ch 3 makes some corrections I got after I posted it. I didn't remember that deleting and reposting a corrected version would make it see the installment as a "new" posting. Ch 4 is new to everyone, though.

Also, anyone who uses Scrivener, have you noticed that it does not catch a lot of spelling errors? I'm seeing them only when I post to FF net, which is kind of sad. I admit, I do use the red underline/ squiggles to alert me to spelling problems. Scrivener gives me some, but by no means all. Any idea why?

Wee Hob is coming back today from a SAREX with his Civil Air Patrol buddies. We are so awash in acronyms these days in the hobgoblinn household. Stands for "Search and Rescue Exercise." He's doing well. There's some drama in the scout troop, but I don't want to go there now.

Happy weekend to all.

( New School Term Update )
( Wee Hob Update )
( General Writing and Doubts Update )

More on Doubt:

Most people on my f-list have already seen it on sahiya's journal, but if you missed it, she recently posted a link to a very helpful article: Too Much Self Doubt? Try Thinking Like a Creator. I posted a link on my school blog. Some students assume they're the only ones who have ever been paralyzed by self doubt and feelings of inadequacy when they are trying to write. I hope they are helped to know the feelings are normal and that I've been there, too.

Sitting by the lake tonight with my Beloved gave me an idea of something I might be able to write. He teasingly told me I loved the green growing things because I am a wood elf. It struck me that I have always felt an outsider, a changeling in my world. That's a theme I think I could explore in fiction. A lot of what passes for modern "literature" leaves me cold-- even if well written, why do I really want to read about 2 couples having dinner where the husband of one and the wife of the other are having an affair and they all know it? Bleh. I hope never to have anything in common with that.

The foregoing example came from Francine Prose's How to Read as a Writer, which is excellent, even if her examples make me despair a bit of having anything literary to say. Ever. Also of knowing enough to say anything not stupid, which is why the other article was so timely for me.

Thus ends the State of the Hobgoblinn Address for this week. Stay cool, everyone.

Wee Hob just got back from the Great Lakes Region South Basic Encampment (Civil Air Patrol). He spent a week in a highly militarized and structured environment, and not only did he do okay, his flight (cadets in his little company of 10) was selected as the honor flight - best at the encampment. He has been regaling us nonstop since his return with tales of the great week he had and all the cool things he did. We can only hope he will begin to apply all the organizational skills to his own bedroom. (He did just cut his shower time from over 30 minutes to less than 2-- cool.)

He is not a little boy anymore, and while I am proud of him, it also makes me sad. I had the past brought home to me a little yesterday when one of my students had her little granddaughters with her, and the 2 year old decided she loved me. She and I conversed very gravely about matters of import to her, and at the end, she gave me a hug, and I remembered what it was like when I used to see my little birth daughter, or what it was like when Wee Hob was small. I don't know what it will do to me, honestly, when I am a grandmother myself. I missed so much. And those small kids I hold in memory now, are nothing like that now. And I won't ever get that back, even if they come looking for me.

I bought this Joseph Curiale CD last night; I heard "Wind River (I am)" on WGUC Cincinnati, and the only way to get it was to download the whole album, which is wonderful. It's not on iTunes: I had to buy it from CDBaby. Great writing music, and Wind River itself is reminiscent of both Copland and some of the Star Trek music (DS9 especially)-- the trumpet solo is reflective of that ideal of the West and of the Star Trek universe, of beings, human or not, who rise above. Who overcome with dignity and grace. I don't know if I can explain it.

But I will issue, not a fic rec, but a short story rec: James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," which I love even more every time I teach it. This time I realized: the Blues is born of sadness, but people who are defeated do not sing them. The Blues is a type of music for survivors-- for people who are going on. I pointed out to students, when I asked them to describe the blues for me, how many of them were smiling as they remembered some blues music they knew. The Blues is not about wallowing in the depression, but about living through the pain and rising up again in spite of it. They got it. Some of them.

I need to start writing again now. I have the week off, my grades are all in but one class (where some irregularities require input by the Powers that Be), and I don't set foot in a classroom again until July 6.

Have a good night, everyone.

I’m working on an original novel this year, newly composed for the occasion. I’m finding it very instructive in a lot of ways. One thing I’m noticing is how it really helps to know who you’re writing about and to have something like a plot. Fanfic helps, but does not guarantee either one. I have neither for this tale.

I’m going to outline what I do have here and what I think is blocking me, and hope folks on the flist can suggest anything at all.

But first, proud mama hobgoblinn wishes to report Wee Hob’s wordcount: 1572 as of yesterday and 139 more today so far, with another write in scheduled for the afternoon after lunch and a hike in a local park. Knights, witches, King Arthur, the French Foreign Legion— what more could you want in a novel? I’ll post some excerpts if he gives me permission later in the month.

( Hob's ghost story problems. )

Ideas, prompts, observations welcome.

( Monsignor Update First )
( But the main news is-- Nano has started, and Wee Hob got 642 words in the first two days. )
And-- I voted today. So did Wee Hob. I'm off in a minute to go home, await my Beloved, and watch returns together (maybe both of us writing on stuff to pass the time, too.) Good night to all.

Long time readers of this journal know that Wee Hob is a source of considerable distress to his poor mother at times. But not today. I just came back from parent teacher conferences. His grades:



Early US History - 92 - B+
Reading 8 - 88 - B
Writing 8 - 85 - B
Intro Chemistry - 91 - B
Math 8 Basic - 88 - B
Art - 85 - B

Friends, this is Huge. Straight B's I have never seen from him. Ever.

He's also doing better socially, hanging with good kids (even has a girl friend, or so his Assistant Principal thinks), not letting the bullies wind him up so much. He's matured a lot, and seems happier and calmer. I asked him just now if it might have something to do with this new life we're starting to work towards here, my Beloved and I and Wee Hob. He says no. I then asked if it might have anything to do with said girlfriend and he replied, "I will not answer on the on grounds that it might incriminate me."

Strangely, at the moment, I can't bring myself to be distressed about this.

And my Beloved will be here tomorrow night, about an hour from now.

Anyone remember Wee Hob and the lost backpack? I tried to find the old entry, probably from 2006, but those were not tagged correctly (or at all). Short version is, he decided if he hid his backpack in the bushes outside school, he might get out of doing his homework. Sadly, two years later, he still has not learned the lesson-- mom will check. Mom will drive his little butt back to school and walk him into the building even. Suffice it to say, he outdid himself yesterday.

The little darling told me his special ed teacher borrowed his math book and didn't give it back to him. So, tragically, he would be unable to do his homework that evening.

After a discussion of how he might have handled this situation a little more resourcefully-- I told him to go see her when he called after school and get everything he needed then-- we went to the school, where, tragically, one of the doors was still unlocked. More tragic still, the principal was still in her office, working on the adjusted schedule for the next day-- they were coming in at 7:30 instead of 8:15 and dismissing at 12:30 because of the heat. She heard the tale of woe and gave me her keys. The book was not in the special ed teacher's room, but there was a copy we could borrow in the math teacher's room.

And thus was the math homework accomplished.

In other news, there's still time to comment if you'd like a groovy piece of hobgoblinn's obscureness. Send a PM with your mailing address. I'm a little too busy at the moment to be stalking anyone, if that's what concerns you. And post the meme on your own journal and do some fall cleaning, or not, as you like.

Thanks, first, to everyone who offered support and sympathy over Wee Hob. He's finished his 5th and final draft of his letter, and I am proud of him. For that, anyway.

Thanks also to everyone who responded to my obscure comic book heroine question-- most of the same people as before, I think. Behind the first cut is the sentence I came up with-- does it work for those of you who know what Andrew is talking about? (It works for me and Willow, as we have no idea what he's talking about. But in the interests of verisimilitude....)

( Sentence Beta )

And, just for the heck of it, I'll post the meme making the rounds:

( Who comments the most on this journal? )

Better get back to it if this bit is to be in shape for a Saturday post. Thanks to anyone who wants to help out. You'll be credited appropriately, of course. And thanks to all those who leave me comments and let me know I'm not alone.

I think this is a slightly different list than the one currently making the rounds, but I cannot make myself do the formatting required manually just now. But if anyone wants to see it, there it is. Maybe next year.

( Wasn't a terrible day at work.... )
( tnl_awards pimpage )
( 'This could be mathier.' Wee Hob and the Mathematics Experiments. )