I have to go teach in a few minutes, but I really would prefer to go somewhere quiet and lay down. It’s cold and dreary here — perfect nap weather. More than that, though, is I am worn out from our daughter’s unkind sleep patterns lately. She needs lots of help to get to sleep, has woken up in the middle of the night several times (and then requires lots of help to get back to sleep), and routinely wakes up before 6:00 AM. 4:55 AM this morning, to be exact. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I hope it stops soon.
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My daughter has been a fairly healthy child, thank God. We took her in for her two year appointment in April and haven’t been back since. Well, until ten days ago. Now we’ve visited three times in that short span. Hopefully, that’s it!
The first time was what turned out to be a (routine) ear infection. She had been stuffy and slightly feverish, then complained one day about her ear hurting, so my wife took her in the next day. A few doses of cherry flavored Amoxicilin later and she was back to normal. Until. . .
Last Wednesday she fell out of her chair at school and gashed her chin. The school called my wife, my wife went to pick her up and whisked her to the doctor. Some Dermabond and TLC fixed her right up. She even went back to school that day. All was well until. . .
Sometime on Friday, she got bitten on her foot by something or another. By Saturday night she was running a 102 fever and throwing up. This scared my wife and I to the point where I was looking up spider bites on Wikipedia and calling poison control at 3:00 AM. Both poison control and the overnight nurse were helpful, telling us to take our daughter to the doctor as soon as we could, but that unless there were breathing problems, we didn’t need to take her to the emergency room. Thankfully, our doctor is open for a few hours on Sunday, so we took her there instead of church. Whatever kind of bite it was on her foot, it was infected. Another antibiotic prescription! That, some Tylenol for the fever, and some snuggle time on the couch resulted in a daughter who was able to go to her Thanksgiving feast today at school.
That’s three. I hope that’s it!
Here’s a general “what’s going on” post to keep everyone updated and get me back on track writing this thing.
Friday night was, as usual, game night (or “nerd night” as Dustin’s wife likes to call it). We were run out of our local game store due to a Magic the Gathering tournament crowd that had grown significantly over the summer, so everyone came to our house. Hosting a game makes it fun and easy, which resulted in a great session. This was session two of my 4th Edition game; I will post more of my 4E thoughts soon.
Saturday morning was spent cleaning up around the house after Sarah and I both got in a run. She went to Winthrop Lake, while I completed week 2 of Couch to 5K in the neighborhood near our house that wraps around the country club. That afternoon — more gaming! My former DM for a Friday night game won Paizo’s RPG Superstar contest and is putting the finishing touches on his module. We playtested a few encounters for him at his house in Weddington. The game was great fun and the finished adventure (“The Fellnight Queen”) looks to be awesome.
That night was Sarah’s night out, so I rushed home so she could leave. Eleanor went to bed and I popped in The Clone Wars animated movie. I won’t waste a full entry on a review — it was average. I think Star Wars has just lost its luster to me, which is rather sad.
Sunday we didn’t make it to church (I know, I know. . .). We did do a little shopping, trying to find a speaker/radio set to hook to the iPhone and scope out a TV. No luck with either, but I did get a new shirt. Exciting!
Yesterday afternoon (post nap) was spent at my cousin’s pool. Eleanor had a good time, even though she is still a little timid in the water. We’re lucky to have some great family here in Rock Hill who’ve extended us an open invitation to use the pool. Dinner, bath, bed for E afterwards, then bed shortly after that for me. I needed the rest, as I am watching three kids today while Sarah works a 12 hour shift!
First, I’d like to give a “thank you” to everyone who has served in the U.S. military, especially those who have sacrificed their lives or their health in that service.
Yes, it’s Memorial Day, but I’m at work. No rest for the Maymester teacher. This weekend seemed very short for some reason. Maybe because I knew I wasn’t getting a three-day weekend like most folks.
The daughter and I spent a lot of time together this weekend, as my wife had a book club night on Friday and had to work on Saturday. The daughter is very TWO, alternating fits of obstinate screaming with unbelievable curiosity and love. We’re also beginning to potty train, which is another whole set of challenges. I did get to introduce her to Loony Toons this weekend, though, as we watched some of the cartoons I have on DVD. She really likes Bugs Bunny and Sylvester. I’m so proud.
Last night we were invited to dinner at a friend and colleagues house. It was a fairly late night for a Sunday (we didn’t get Eleanor to bed until almost 10:00), but the company and the food were well worth it. Other than that, a fairly routine weekend, with lawn mowing, church, and other home/family stuff.
A gloomy Sunday has turned into a rainy Sunday. I am sitting at the desk with the window open, watching in rain and ripping CD’s to the hard drive. I did manage to cut the grass today, which made me feel instantly better. For some reason, having a yard that’s a bit out of control disturbs me in a completely irrational manner. Actually, I know the reason. It’s my father and all the grass I cut in my youth.
The daughter is taking a long, much needed nap. She’s fully in her two’s now, and part of that is not wanting to sleep, ever. She’s always been difficult to get to bed; that hasn’t gone away as she’s gotten older.
The wife is in the kitchen, cooking sweet potatoes and broccoli. We’re headed over to a gamer friend’s house in a bit for a cookout, which I hope isn’t spoiled by the weather. Said friend buys organic, grass-fed beef by the cow from some farm in Tennessee; the burgers are supposed to be awesome, which makes me excited. We’ll eat, the daughter will play with his four kids, and he and I will talk gaming, no doubt. I’ve got some ideas for a pirate adventure, he’s running an Pathfinder game set in the Known World, and we both play in a Curse of the Crimson Throne game.
Looking forward to a restful evening. My Maymester class starts tomorrow, so we will see how a semester crammed into three weeks works, pedagogically speaking.
I could make up some excuse like “I’ve been busy” to explain my blog neglect. While I have been busy, I know that’s just a lame excuse. It’s really just a matter of priorities, of writing instead of watching TV or random internet surfing. It’s so hard to get into the habit of writing and so easy to get out of it.
The past week has been busy. Classes ended Monday, with my last class coming last Friday. I can honestly say that, for various reasons, this has been the hardest semester I’ve had since my first semester of teaching. Now, though, it’s over with only a small mountain of grading standing between me and summer. This summer is still a bit of a question mark. I’m scheduled to teach two summer classes (one in May and one in July), but only the Maymester class has made so far. I certainly hope both make, as we definitely could use the extra money. On a pure credit hour basis, Winthrop’s summer school is actually cheaper than regular tuition, so there is incentive to take summer classes.
This past weekend I drove to Raleigh for NC Game Day, a mini-convention of sorts. By this point, though, it’s more a gathering of friends who happen to game. I’ve met most of the regular attendees before; most of them I know through the ENWorld and CircvsMaximus. I think it’s great that a messageboard can be the springboard for some great friendships and some great gaming. I played in two very fun games — Savage Worlds Pirates of the Caribbean and the new Song of Ice and Fire game from Green Ronin. For the second time ever, I ran a game at NC Game Day. I’ve been tinkering with a setting that’s a mismash of Conan, The Dark Tower, The Road Warrior, and Westerns. I ran a game in that setting using the Savage Worlds system. It went very well, I thought, considering it was the first time I’ve ever run a Savage Worlds game. Hopefully, I’ll be able to devote an entire entry to that soon.
The other big thing going on is that my daughter has been sick. She woke up from her nap last week with a red, swollen eye. At first we thought it was just allergies, but a fever developed over the weekend, so we took her to the doctor on Monday. She had a serious eye infection, to the point where the doctor immediately gave her an antibiotic shot and told us to come back today. The eye was a little better and the fever was gone, so we got an oral antibiotic prescription and a Friday appointment. My daughter is already doing better this afternoon, so hopefully she’s getting over this thing and will be back to normal soon. The doctor told us that eye infections can be serious because they can easily spread back to the brain, which is why she treated it so aggressively. I am glad she did!
That’s a brief update. There’s a new Lost this week (100th episode!), so there will be another letter, plus other entries this week. I need something to do besides grade papers! I also need to work on getting back into the habit.
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