Trying to get a routine
Wednesday, September 29th, 2004Hi all.
Still trying to establish a new routine now that I’m adjusting to the move. It will be easier once I have a formal job of some kind. With any luck, I’ll know about that by this time tomorrow (after interviews).
Things are going well at the house so far. Yesterday, I took my 16-year-old brother Jordan to a bowling night for special needs children and adults. It was very nice finally seeing him in a situation where he was “normal” and not the token handicapped kid. I know he’s been doing this sort of stuff for years, but I’ve only ever seen him interacting with non-handicapped people his age and it’s great to see him with true peers.
He can’t bowl worth shit – but that’s mostly the cerebral palsy getting in the way. Still he has fun and he’s started talking about competing in the special opympics. Yesterday, we did his first ever game without the bumpers on the sides of the lane. He scored 53 and 47 during the two games. Not bad. His score got better (until he tired out) when I showed him how he could turn his entire body to aim instead of just relying on his ability to aim with his arm.
My baby brother Jared (age 12) is a dsicipline problem getting worse as he hits those early stages of puberty. Because he’s “the baby” of the family, he tends to get away with a lot. Well, it’s not flying with me. If he wants to play games on my Playstation 2, read my X-Men books, or watch any of my DVDs, he’s going to have to start going to bed when he’s told (I think 10 p.m. is awfully generous for a 12-year-old), helping out with the chores, and doing his homework right after dinner.
On the other hand, I’m the big brother and I can almost see the hero worship in his eyes. The other day, he started asking me tough questions about why I’m not Mormon, why I smoke and that sort of stuff. I found myself walking a very dangerous line. I don’t want to lie to him or pretend to be anything or anyone I’m not – but I also respect my parent’s wishes in how they choose to raise their children. In the meantime, I’m trying to teach him how to be accountable for his decisions, how to think outside the box, and how to respect different kinds of people.
Speaking of which. My 14-year-old sister Jasmine has a number of homophobic friends (I’m known as “the gay brother” to her social circle). Sometime after I learned this, I casually told her that I’d take her and her buddies out to the movies this weekend. Boy will they be surprised when I “accidentally” slip into diversity educator mode and start discussing respect, language and tolerance. Someone in this white-bred, religious-conservative town needs to shake things up from time to time.
Anyway, my nephew Craig is still the cutest baby in the world! Yesterday when his dad came to pick him up after work (Jasmine babysits during the day), Craig didn’t want his “dada” and kept squirming back into his uncle’s arms. I felt a little guilty about that, but what can I say? I’m the fun uncle who knows all the best places to tickle and makes the funny faces. I’ve been teaching him to sing “Lady Marmalade” this week, since he’s at the babbling stage of language development. He’s got “Giuchie, Giuchie, ya ya dada” down pretty good, but it sounds more like “kachi kachi kachi dadadadadadada” when he does it.
Still on dial-up and a virus infested computer, which means I’ve seen beta-read scripts sitting in my inbox for the Angel: S6 project, but haven’t been able to download them. I promise I’ll figure out a way to get around that soon (I’ll probably have to go to Grandpa’s house and work on it).
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