I’m writing, in the dining room, everyone asleep. Tonight M took T and S to an ice skating function sponsored by the boys’ school. M is good at making sure they always hit events of that nature. By the way, just reading through that sentence’s structure, don’t be surprised if I’m overtly formal with the new few months’ journal entries. I’m trying to finish my goddamn dissertation, so every sentence will probably sound like I’m writing research.
The last few days have been fine. Yesterday I worked through the morning, cleaning up some paperwork and walking through a meeting, before driving home near lunch. I felt an unexpected sense of relief leaving work. I’m not sure why. I had that “this is the first time I can breathe in a long time” feeling. I stopped at Pick and Save on the way home and picked up two frozen pizzas. After a quick lunch (not the pizzas, saving those for later), M and I took the boys to Cabela’s, that huge hunting, fishing, camping, you know, all that kind of store a bit west of here. I was surprised at how quickly we reached the store, actually. We drove less than a half-hour, door to door, and we even missed our exit near the store’s entrance. We also passed through Jackson, Wisconsin, one of the more depressing towns I’ve seen in recent memory. The city looks like a museum for ugly houses. Anyway, as a vegetarian, I was out of my element among the manly men who frequent Cabela’s, but apparently I passed their screening test at the door so they let me enter. They did have a place, near the entrance, where one was supposed to check firearms “for your own safety”. I didn’t see any guns checked while waiting, so I can only assume someone in the building was packing. The boys checked out the stuffed (not like little baby toys, like taxidermy) animals and aquarium. N found a “robot fish” that served as an underwater camera. I also shot a few rounds of light at a shooting gallery upstairs. I was feeling it, I tell you. The “sportsmen” make some good arguments about culling the herd and keeping animal populations healthy (except for the ones they shoot, of course). Also, the store had cool camping gear that made me think of walking the Appalachian trail again. I’d have to lose fifty pounds to pull off the hike, I think. I’m a fat ass lately. Here’s the store link:

http://cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/community/aboutus/retail-detail.jsp?detailedInformationURL=/cabelas/en/content/community/aboutus/retail/retail_stores/richfield/richfield.html&cm_re=retail*left*richfield

We stopped and picked up a huge Papa Murphy’s pizza on the way home. There would be no denying me pizza this day, I tell you. We ate while watching the local high school basketball team win its semifinal game on a local access channel. After dinner we watched some NCAA hoops (I’m kicking ass in both pools, either at the top or near the top) before I fell asleep early on the couch. Tonight I should sleep in my normal bed.
I woke by seven this morning, thank you, children, and started working on my dissertation before I even ate breakfast or showered. I summarized a couple articles (the “vision” section of my second chapter is a bit dicey, but I hope no one but me notices), took a shower, ate breakfast, and, except for a couple computer pinball games, stuck with the paper through the early afternoon. All three boys had friends over, and I worked at the table while they played around me. I wasn’t bothered except for the fact the kids kept leaving the doors open and it’s still winter, or at least cold spring, in mid-March. Oh, I almost forgot, I did take all three boys down to Half-Priced Books for approximately an hour so M could run errands and catch up on sleep. I picked up Ha Jin’s “The Bridegroom” (I think that’s the title) and the boys picked up Backyard Baseball for the PC. I wanted to get Klosterman’s “Killing Yourself to Live” as well, which I saw on the shelves last week, but someone bought the copy in the interim, goddamn it. That’s what I get for making careful money decisions. Oh well. I only wanted to re-read the book because I wasn’t that impressed the first read through and I wanted to see if I had missed anything, as I normally enjoy Klosterman’s work. N and I had fun while M and the boys were at their ice skating thing. We watched an episode of “Blues Clues” before going upstairs, where N proceeded to surf on my back until a huge wave (my arching my back) knocked him off, resulting in uncontrollable laughter on his part. We repeated this process approximately 4,000 times. I may need a back specialist. After my back couldn’t handle the mirth further we moved downstairs, watched “Kim Possible”, and waited for the rest of the family to return home.
Three quick bullet points:

1) “Ned’s Declassified Guide to School” is the best show my older kids watch. I’m tempted to check it out when they’re not around. I’m reminded of “The Office” except set in middle school and generally happier in tone.

http://www.nick.com/all_nick/tv_supersites/display_show.jhtml?show_id=ned

2) I haven’t watched any movies this week, although I still have “Stranger Than Fiction” and a new Joseph Campbell thing on myths from Netflix. Maybe tomorrow. NCAA basketball is on the television more often than not this week.

3) I should finish Gatsby tomorrow. I’m not sure what to say just yet. My friend Lisa, an English teacher, said there’s really no deep meaning there (I’m paraphrasing) other than a gossipy look at yesterday’s rich and fabulous (barf). Is the book like a fancy version of People? I don’t know. Actually, I do like a few passages. More on Gatsby later.