Sunrise Surfer

Sunrise surfer. Hoping this happens again. Waiting for the sun to rise. #surfing #California #beach #gopro #surfer #photooftheday

A photo posted by 💜💛🐳🏄🐙🐬🌻🌞🌊🚘🌟🌠 (@wendysurf) on Dec 6, 2015 at 6:32am PST

High School Is The New College

#Repost @surfstefan My cutie! #teenagersrule ・・・

A photo posted by 💜💛🐳🏄 (@wendysurf) on Aug 2, 2015 at 1:27pm PDT

Editor's Note:  I started writing this last school year when Vinny was still and 8th grader.  It took some time to finish it, apparently.  Anyways, he's been a freshman in high school for about a month.  More on that later, hopefully.

Last night we went to Vinny's Pre Registration night for High School, also known as Shit's About to Get Real.

The night was almost as informative as it was terrifying.  High school ain't what it used to be. Yes, sports fans, high school is the new college.  And I'm pretty sure that's a terrible idea for children.

"You should have had kids when you were younger. If you hadn't waited so long high school would have been easier for you," says my Mom in her guilt inducing Catholic voice offering the perfect solution. 

Thank you Baby Jesus, Mary, Mom and Joseph.  
 
If only I had taken the Turn Back Time course in college. It just didn't fit into my schedule though, which is probably all the more reason to have taken it.

But there is comfort in knowing Cher understands what I'm feeling right now.

Song playing in my head:

If I could turn back time
If I could turn back time
If I could turn back time
ooh baby

 
Fortunately and  unfortunately, our teenager has been recommended for some of the most challenging   courses the high school has to offer.  And by challenging, I mean they unleash an hour or more of homework per night.  Some of them are college level classes, where you actually get college credit if you score very high on the test. 

Honors Biology
Honors English
Spanish 1
AP Human Geography ( a course The husband and I both took IN COLLEGE)
Integrated III (used to be called Algebra 2 sort of)
P.E.
Study Hall (I insisted he take this because I'm smart and practical and I love my child)

Calculating......................

5  Classes x 1 hour per night = A crap load of homework!


I'm no mathmetician , but, four to six hours of  homework per night seems impossible.   Plus weekend homework.  Plus homework during school breaks.   And get this Internet, homework during Summer Vacation, which I'm pretty sure is illegal, as well as the work of cute but evil, wet gremlins.

Vinny's response to Summer homework is, "well, I'll probably be bored during Summer Vacation anyways."

Good answer teenager!  Really, I'm not being sarcastic, Vinny. Mommy loves you.

Today's kids lack a proper sense of boredom.

The power ballad of today's teenagers is, "Time management is the key to success, time management is the key to success, time management is the key to success."

And the teenagers are way ahead of me on time management.

As if to prove their theory of more is better, the high school administrators brought in real, live students to testify on the Bible of Busy. 

 "Taking  four or five AP courses is toats (short for totally)  doable," proclaim the students.  "And it's actually easier if you do three sports and take band at the same time, because it forces you to manage your time."

Which I'm sure is fine as long as long as no one commits suicide! And that's no joke, Internet.

What I'm actually beginning to grasp is this.  Having kids never, ever gets easy.  When the fire of one problem is nearly out and barely smoldering, five more new challenges pop up that need to be put out with an ocean's worth of water.

And this Internet is when I realized what was really bothering me.    High school is stealing my baby, without even offering an apology. As if this high school is a helpful transition before Vinny moves out of the house  onto brighter and better things.

Wails loudly. 

Just to be sure to instill terror in me, an AP instructor steps up to the podium and delivers one final sermon from the Busy Bible, "You have to ask yourself if AP classes are right for your student and your family?"  "Are you willing to sacrifice your Sunday evenings, your school vacations, summer break, your first born? Because if you aren't, then AP isn't for you."

I'm certain AP isn't for me.  

But I'm just  as certain AP is  for my teenager because he's intelligent, doesn't procrastinate, takes responsibility for his life, and most importantly he doesn't want to lose his computer and all that precious screen time.

Good luck Vinny! Mommy loves you so much!

I'm A Liar

I'm a liar.  Twelve days ago I said I was too busy to write.

The truth is I'm too lazy to write.  The only reason I'm writing this post is because I'm avoiding non-surfing exercise, any exercise that isn't surfing. Liar and avoider of healthy acitivity, that's what I am.

“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”

― Thomas Mann, Essays of Three Decades  

Where have you been all my life Thomas?

Writing is time consuming, exhausting, and hurtful to my butt (from all the sitting).  Also, writing is painfully repetitive with endless editing, rewriting and revisions.  The main problem with writing is it can ALWAYS be improved.  There are always words to be cut, and new sentences to add to paint a clearer picture to  readers.   

In other words, I'm working on a new blog post about Vinny starting high school, which I started months ago.  Someday I'll publish it, probably.

Anyways, I'm an honest person so I just thought I'd let everyone know I'm a fibber.  Happy THREE day weekend, Internet.  Make good choices.

I've Got The Magic In Me

It's Music Monday, Internet!

Today's song, I've Got The Magic In Me, is from the hilarious movie Pitch Perfect. This song makes me happy, and that's Aca Awesome!

By the way, Gio, the lyrics are "every time I touch that track (not dragon) it turns into gold." Which is good because tracks are a lot easier and safer to find than dragons these days.



I'm sure we can all use a little magic on Monday............... Now go crush it!

How To Age Gracefully

Hello Everyone,

It's been a very long time since I've written anything besides a to-do list, which I probably lost, . Unless I wrote it in Evernote, my new brain.   I've been really busy the last few years, cleaning up after and feeding the roomates.  Taking them to practice, games and doctors appointments.  Doing their laundry.

And repeating myself, A LOT, "Please..........Clean up your mess!"

All of which, is time consuming and unrelaxing.  Unfortunately, writing requires a state of relaxation or the words dam up in the mind.  Words must flow like a river in order to escape the brain and come out through the hands onto The Internet.

Another reason I haven't been blogging is Instagram and  Facebook make it way too easy to share articles and photos than posting on a blog.  In other words, I'm lazy.

Anyways, I really loved this video and I want my kids to watch it so I'm posting it on the blog because my kids, Hubster and Mom actually did read my blog, even if no one else did. I know a few of you did.  Many thanks to you.

Question related to the video (Please leave answer in the comments, Thanks!)

What advice would you give someone younger than you?

My advice would be this.   Life is full of heartache, disappointments and setbacks, so make sure to have fun EVERYDAY, no matter what.  Also, CLEAN UP YOUR MESS!