Although Aaron doesn't remember when or why he was asked to write the story "Snow Hiking," tonight he received an award for writing it. Each elementary school in the S-K District selected one student from each grade to receive this award; Aaron represented the kindergarten from Lee. He and I attended the awards ceremony tonight, where the guest of honor was writer Eric Kimmel (a writer of childrens books and a resident of Portland). Mr. Kimmel gave a delightful reading of his story, "The Three Cabritos." And he didn't just read his story straight-through; he paused every few pages to relate the history of how he chose the characters, the setting, the plot, and to share various techniques for writing and living a good life. I found the reading fun and educational, but I was surprised that Aaron came away with specific ideas to improve his own writing (e.g., to think about how your own experiences could translate into an interesting piece of writing). After Mr. Kimmel's reading, each student was called onto the stage to receive his or her reward and hear his or her name mangled by the poor hosts of the event.
Like 40 years ago, when I was in the fourth grade at Gubser, I received a similar honor for my first published work, "The Creatures from Saturn," which still sits on my bookshelf in the Literature section. I read this short story to the family during dinner one day this week, and boy did I have them enthralled. By the way, you can purchase a copy of my second published work, which I know is still popular and relevant as I continue to receive royalty checks in the mail every quarter.
The free-spirited, high-flying Edward has reached the golden age of 10. His teasingly-fun birth prompted me to begin this blog , so kudos to him for that. I was happy to spend the evening of his birthday dining on fried fish and mixed fruit at Red Robin and watching the Trail Blazers (his favorite player, Robin Lopez, also shares the same birthday) lose a frustrating game to the Clippers, a team who I hope ends up meeting the Blazers in the playoffs. I marvel at the potential I see in Edward and think he can impact the world in a big, positive way. He remains highly-sensitive to the needs of those around him, and is always free with time and money and sharing his things with others. He started playing the drums in the after-school band, and he continues to be a master video game player. He hopes to translate those skills to designing games some day, and whenever we have moments to walk together he shares all of his ideas for his first game (The Lost Hero), which are not few in numbe...
Aging is a gradual process, so why should I worry when the clock officially tacks on another number to my age? Perhaps I should have realized that, as my peers began turning 40, and I would post half-serious questions about their experience, that I had my own issues brewing steadily in the background. I don't think I've had a birthday party since I was six, but Meg insisted on having one for me--something about 40 being a milestone or something, despite my arguments that I had done nothing significant to warrant anything--I had simply aged another year. But I conceded the point. I offered up the idea of a roller skating party--which is probably what my last party was; see, I haven't changed a bit--but I think she laughed that one out of the rink pretty quickly. I get daily emails from Groupon and LivingSocial, and they had something for a karaoke box rental. My half-Japanese side recognized something that could be fun and probably aligned with my personality. I told Meg...
Ian has reached the age of six. In the past year, he has begun kindergarten, not gotten his hair cut, and transitioned to riding a bike with pedals. Ian had his first birthday party at JJ Jump with half of his kindergarten class, which even included a couple of girls--girls! Ian gets along better with Edward, as demonstrated by Ian always attacking Aaron; he often sits on Aaron's head and never misses the chance to attack whenever Aaron is on the ground. Ian likes to talk. A lot. He enjoys jumping on our neighbor's trampoline, usually with the older kids in the neighborhood. Ian maintains strange eating habits: he will take his breakfast (often chicken nuggets) under the table, while eating extremely slowly, so he can sit near the heater while watching My Little Pony (he's seen every episode about five times) on his little laptop. He may or may not have an Oedipus complex like Edward had, as he says he loves Meg the most and thinks she's cute. Here is a quick interv...
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