August Recap

Well, Hopper’s been gainfully employed for the past three months. Feels good to get up and go somewhere every day, do something and get paid to do it, even if it’s not my first choice as to how I’d spend my waking hours. But I’m contributing to the family finances and still have time to help out, and that’s a good feeling.

My tax class starts in two weeks. So far I’ve logged 115 hours of self-study (yes, I keep track). Feel confident I won’t be seeing anything for the first time my first day. Or most of the semester, for that matter. I have a good grasp on the tax code, tax preparation, tax avoidance (avoidance is legal, evasion isn’t), and my right brain hasn’t run screaming for the hills.

Last week I wasted nearly five days battling bronchitis. Started last Tuesday when I woke up and found swallowing painful. By afternoon my nasal passages were fully flowing. Wednesday it migrated south and I began serial coughing. By Thursday it was unbearable. Dizzy, hot and sweaty alternating with the chills, my torso in actual pain from the constant hacking. I went to the doctor – something I never do – and she got me on special antibiotics (“and take some Alleve for your muscle pain!”). Turns out I had a 100.5 degree fever, though blood pressure and pulse rate were normal. By Friday afternoon the fever broke and I was on my way to recovery.

During all that, I kept picking up new books to read. Now I got four I’m snailpacing through, breaking my unofficial personal rule of TWO BOOKS AT A TIME, MAX (one fiction, one non-fiction). Right now I alternate between –

1,001 Things Everyone Should Know About the Civil War, by Frank Vandiver

Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire, by Michael Kaufman

How the Stock Market Works, by John M. Dalton

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, by Philip K. Dick

Spent the last week, week-and-a-half watching Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. God, that’s an awful piece of cinema. But the girls, to my utter chagrin and heartfelt disappointment, have no desire to stroll the pages of Professor Tolkien’s literary masterpiece. So in a gambit to stoke some interest I’m letting them see the movies. My takeaway of the whole thing was that I need to write an epic, 10,000 word take down entitled “Everything Wrong with Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy,” for the dozen or so readers online who might find it an interesting speak-truth-to-power. The girls’ takeaway was a fascination with Gollum and Orlando Bloom as “Legs” Legolas.

Looking forward to heading down to the Jersey shore and visit with my father-in-law for the Labor Day weekend. We’ll leave Saturday morning and return Monday evening. He and the girls will spend hours and hours on the beach while I will remain back in the air-conditioned apartment (or our hotel room, depends), reading, studying, and relaxing. Oh – and Tuesday is the first day of school for Little One and Patch, my seventh- and third-graders. Very exciting times, especially as Patch is firing up on the soccer field again.

As always, itching to read / learn / experience something weird. Borrowed a couple of unusual fringe-y stuff from the library, but not ready to reveal them yet. In line with the Peebles – Hynek – Sanderson books I’ve recently put away (at about a one-book-a-month pace). We’ll see.

Can’t believe how quickly the summer has flown by. This time a year ago, after an initial hypersonic burst of excitement and enthusiasm, I found myself lost and adrift at the border of August and September. Now, not so much so, and for that I’m grateful, happy, and hopeful.

Okay, then – bring it on, Fall!