Athleticism, and it's high and low points yesterday

Guess what! I successfully did all the twirls in Omiyage TWICE last night! I'm so excited and relieved. It seemed to be taking such a long time for my arms to cooperate with what my brian told them they needed to do. It felt great, and now all I need to do is keep practicing until it also looks good. I am no longer worried about performing Omiyage. I am a little concerned about my contribution to Hachijou. I didn't do as well as I should have last night. I will practice. During Matsuri Taiko, I dropped my bachi twice....in the exact same part of the song. Guess I need to be more than usually careful playing that part! That song, also, I am not particularly worried by. I suppose you could say that things are starting to come together.

Andrew's wife might have some work for me. So far, though, I have not received an email. I am curious. I don't know what kind of work it is.

The kids...are not here. I feel odd without them. Even Jake has abandoned me. Josh is sleeping downstairs right now, but last night was creepy.

I will tell this story in order now.

We will gloss over Monday, by saying that I had an unsatisfactory phone call, and spent much of the afternoon very cranky.

It was sort of a rush at the house that afternoon. I had to get showered and made up, and I even straightened my hair. We were having group pictures before taiko practice. I hope they came out....it was a lot of effort for a lot of people.

After practice, we tried for the first time to switch the kids on Josh's way to work/my way home from practice. It went better than I expected in terms of the kids, but I am not sure what Michelle thought of the inconvenience of having to stop and switch cars half way to her destination. Well, it was the only way, really. In the winter, though, I'm not going to like doing that to the kids. I'm considering leaving practices early like Jason does. It would only be Tuesdays, as Josh is going to be off on Thursdays in the near future. My other option would be to only do taiko on Thursdays and Sundays. I'd rather leave early, I think.

Wednesday morning, I got the kids ready for swimming lessons and drove to the park. We were a little early, so the kids played while we waited for the pool to open. We said hi to their swimming teacher, Kristin, on the way past. She had a small and very angry dog with her. It was only a coincidence that we saw her leave. We were at the park still, and Kristin and her dog got into a van and left. I assumed she was taking the dog home, and would be right back. However, time passed, we went and changed into swimming attire, went through to the pool, the whistle blew, and still no sign of Kristin. I could hear the other lifeguards in the office calling her, and once I had to actually tell someone that she and the dog had left. Another lifeguard named Ryan came out and took the class, instead. The other mother and I watched with wide eyes as our children complied easily to his requests, and within 20 minutes had completed all requirements of the class. I laughed out loud. The other mother pulled me aside and told me what she thought of Kristin as a teacher, and I must say that my complaints were nothing to hers. She had even gone so far as to call the city to complain.

The lesson was better than good. It was incredible. Grant even jumped off the diving board (he did take a long time, and ended up holding the flotation device...but he did it). Abbie didn't always do what she was asked the first time...but she did do it. If I wasn't moderately sure it would seem creepy, I would have bought a cake for that Ryan guy. Fantastic.

Thursday was the last day of swim lessons. Is it unkind to admit that I was sorry to see that Kristin was there? I sort of gave up on the whole thing. Kristin informed me that even though she had been told that the kids had done everything the day before, she hadn't passed them. I don't mind for Abbie's sake, she could stand to take the class again. Grant, though, has already taken that class. In fact, he was closer to passing last year. For him, I am a little annoyed. When the other mother learned that my kids hadn't passed, she was shocked. "She passed mine!" she said. She was horrified, and said that she didn't know which of the kids were capable, but none of them, even hers, had displayed the required tasks except for the previous day with the other instructor. She kept insisting that I call the city and complain. It occurred to me, later, that this could be a key element in her son's passing the class.

The kids got ice cream for completing the class, and I was given a comment sheet to fill out. I was very flustered. I don't like having to report negative things. Especially when the teacher was actually trying to do her job. She was just young and inept. I can complain easily enough about rudeness and laziness, but this made me very uncomfortable. I felt like a horrible person, despite my right to be unsatisfied, and slunk away from the pool in extreme discomfort.

Mom came later, and we played for a while before she whisked them away to Rolla. Jake insisted on joining them, too. The notice was short, and I didn't really have a chance to decide what I thought of the whole thing, but I could easily see that it was out of my hands.

And then, on to taiko practice and my great achievements in twirling. There was construction on the way home, and it took a long time. I took Michelle all the way home, and then returned to my empty house.

Today, Josh and I are going to watch The Lord of the Rings - the whole thing!

And as he is awake and holding the remote control in his hand....I leave you. Happy Friday the 13th, everyone!