Day 1116: And the beat goes on...
Apr. 27th, 2014 08:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nagi_schwarzThis week I finished my kid tracker! There was one horrible moment when my list on the official database said I had 131 kids and my tracker only had 130 kids, so I had to draft Shelly to read the official list while I followed along on my list, and we figured out pretty quickly who was missing. It's kind of like when I've been staring at a novel or piece of writing for too long, and I cease seeing the errors. The kid who was missing was one of my problem kids, so he's been on my mind and chances are I just assumed he'd be on the list, because he's a priority right now.
Last week was super light on the court. There was no court on Monday, and no one rightly knew why, so I spent some time in the office (finished the kid tracker, have officially read the files on every single one of my kids) and also out in team meetings and doing some home visits. Despite Cristie's well-meaning advice, I think I might try to do as many home visits as possible, especially since some of my kids are getting moved around. One team meeting was cancelled by a mom who called in and sounded like death slightly defrosted, let alone warmed over. I figure since my immune system sucks and we don't all need to be infecting each other, rescheduling the meeting was a good idea. Also, she's hit the ground running and wants to do everything it takes to get this business straightened out, so I am glad. Even as a couple of my cases are hitting the rails, others are getting ready to close out.
I went to another 24-hour staffing (but not for a case that will end up being mine). It's always an interesting mix of horror at the way people can live in filth or be awful to their children and also a steady dash of gallows humor and dry sarcasm. Well, no panhandling with your kids isn't illegal, but it's also not super safe for the kids. Seriously, now every time I drive past a panhandler on a corner with a sign, I squint at them to make sure they aren't one of my parents. I'd think social workers would be more sympathetic to the plight of the poor, but their stance seems to be that if a parent has time to panhandle, that parent also has time to be looking for a job, spending time with their children, and going to drug treatment. If a parent is doing all those things and also panhandling, well, we have concerns for the parent's safety, but we don't come down on them as harshly as the parents who are panhandling but not obeying court orders on the side.
I finished Great Expectations the radio drama while I was driving north for a home visit/team meeting, and the story was way more exciting than I remember the book being. However, hearing some portions of the narration that were obviously lifted from the book itself, I appreciate what a good writer Dickens actually was. They chose the alternate end, where maybe Pip ended up with Estella (ah, the power of fandom), and it left me with the same feeling I had in high school when I first read that version of the end - a little melancholy, but also hopeful. Good job, Dickens. I also started listening to a radio drama about the legend of Jimmy Blue-Eyes (which, naturally, made me think of Jimmy Novak), which wasn't what I expected but has some awesomely good blues music. I also started listening to a radio version of the Magician's Nephew, which is probably my favorite of all the Chronicles of Narnia and the one that, to me, has the most potential for awesomeness. I wondered why no one else had tried to write about the Wood Between Worlds (although there are probably copyright issues, of course), and it turns out only in the last five years has someone even broached the concept again. I think the concept is super fascinating, and I want to know what is in all the other pools.
After last week's massive cleaning and instituting new dog-free zones in the house, our house really has been much cleaner. I've been able to keep up on the laundry and vacuuming and mopping (though a combination of rain, a flooding sprinkler system, and dog paws has ruined the clean state of my kitchen), and I feel better about life in general.
On a totally random note, I am 32 days clean! Clean of what, you ask? (When I first mentioned this to BenTen, she became concerned that I'd been battling some kind of drug addiction unbeknownst to the world). Fanfiction. Yes, I love fandom and fanfic, but I haven't written anything decently original since I took the plunge back into fanfic (after swearing off of it for a good long while there in law school). Fanfiction is fun and I suspect I will always come back to it, but I figure this will be like the time my friends put me on dating probation. I need to clear my head. While I still watch my favorite shows and have plot bunnies for fanfic, I haven't been giving them as much priority as I have been my reading and crafting and listening to books on tape, as it were (yay, Librivox and Old Time Radio Drama podcasts!). And I've been way more inspired about original fiction, so I think my fanfic sobriety is paying off.
Also...my hafla was this week! I was super nervous, especially since work ran late, and I had to dash home in rush hour traffic to grab my dance bag and then race back to the studio (I knew I should have packed my dance bag with me. Grrrrr). But my friends and family came, and it was a wonderful night. There are some awesomely talented ladies in my dance community, and it was so fun to be and also be part of. I think we totally rocked our number, which made me pretty happy. Also, I am super, super pleased that the scarf I crocheted ended up being really good to dance with. Afterwards, we all went out for ice cream, and I got to hang out with my super adorable niece, who is now much better at talking.
This week I played with kids a lot. I hula-hooped with one girl and played ball and catch and chase (which involved waaaaaay more crawling than my knees are good for) with a boy. And of course I played with my niece - held hands and danced and just carried her around. (People often think she's mine, and I don't mind, because she is super adorable.) Yesterday I baked a whole load of cookies, which involved using up jello packets for not-jello, experimenting with food-coloring, and overall having a good time. Angela and Ellen came over to watch the first Hobbit movie (Ellen had never seen it, Angela had, but we wanted to hang out). We ate pizza and drank ginger and apple beer and chatted, and then we watched the movie. Ellen's girl Erika was supposed to come too, but apparently poor Erika was super sick. Ellen is fun to be around. I feel pretty bad for her. By all accounts she was super smart back in the day, but then she had brain cancer and had to have part of her brain removed. She's still whip-smart now, but I can see the moments when she reaches for a word and it's not there. She's got a great attitude about it all, though, despite the difficulties.
I have made pretty good progress on my crocheting, if not my writing, but hey, at least progress was made, right?
This week is pretty heavy on the court, so that's going to be an adventure.
My mom continues to be super awesome about sending pictures and tales of her adventures in the world, and I am always glad to see them.
Last week was super light on the court. There was no court on Monday, and no one rightly knew why, so I spent some time in the office (finished the kid tracker, have officially read the files on every single one of my kids) and also out in team meetings and doing some home visits. Despite Cristie's well-meaning advice, I think I might try to do as many home visits as possible, especially since some of my kids are getting moved around. One team meeting was cancelled by a mom who called in and sounded like death slightly defrosted, let alone warmed over. I figure since my immune system sucks and we don't all need to be infecting each other, rescheduling the meeting was a good idea. Also, she's hit the ground running and wants to do everything it takes to get this business straightened out, so I am glad. Even as a couple of my cases are hitting the rails, others are getting ready to close out.
I went to another 24-hour staffing (but not for a case that will end up being mine). It's always an interesting mix of horror at the way people can live in filth or be awful to their children and also a steady dash of gallows humor and dry sarcasm. Well, no panhandling with your kids isn't illegal, but it's also not super safe for the kids. Seriously, now every time I drive past a panhandler on a corner with a sign, I squint at them to make sure they aren't one of my parents. I'd think social workers would be more sympathetic to the plight of the poor, but their stance seems to be that if a parent has time to panhandle, that parent also has time to be looking for a job, spending time with their children, and going to drug treatment. If a parent is doing all those things and also panhandling, well, we have concerns for the parent's safety, but we don't come down on them as harshly as the parents who are panhandling but not obeying court orders on the side.
I finished Great Expectations the radio drama while I was driving north for a home visit/team meeting, and the story was way more exciting than I remember the book being. However, hearing some portions of the narration that were obviously lifted from the book itself, I appreciate what a good writer Dickens actually was. They chose the alternate end, where maybe Pip ended up with Estella (ah, the power of fandom), and it left me with the same feeling I had in high school when I first read that version of the end - a little melancholy, but also hopeful. Good job, Dickens. I also started listening to a radio drama about the legend of Jimmy Blue-Eyes (which, naturally, made me think of Jimmy Novak), which wasn't what I expected but has some awesomely good blues music. I also started listening to a radio version of the Magician's Nephew, which is probably my favorite of all the Chronicles of Narnia and the one that, to me, has the most potential for awesomeness. I wondered why no one else had tried to write about the Wood Between Worlds (although there are probably copyright issues, of course), and it turns out only in the last five years has someone even broached the concept again. I think the concept is super fascinating, and I want to know what is in all the other pools.
After last week's massive cleaning and instituting new dog-free zones in the house, our house really has been much cleaner. I've been able to keep up on the laundry and vacuuming and mopping (though a combination of rain, a flooding sprinkler system, and dog paws has ruined the clean state of my kitchen), and I feel better about life in general.
On a totally random note, I am 32 days clean! Clean of what, you ask? (When I first mentioned this to BenTen, she became concerned that I'd been battling some kind of drug addiction unbeknownst to the world). Fanfiction. Yes, I love fandom and fanfic, but I haven't written anything decently original since I took the plunge back into fanfic (after swearing off of it for a good long while there in law school). Fanfiction is fun and I suspect I will always come back to it, but I figure this will be like the time my friends put me on dating probation. I need to clear my head. While I still watch my favorite shows and have plot bunnies for fanfic, I haven't been giving them as much priority as I have been my reading and crafting and listening to books on tape, as it were (yay, Librivox and Old Time Radio Drama podcasts!). And I've been way more inspired about original fiction, so I think my fanfic sobriety is paying off.
Also...my hafla was this week! I was super nervous, especially since work ran late, and I had to dash home in rush hour traffic to grab my dance bag and then race back to the studio (I knew I should have packed my dance bag with me. Grrrrr). But my friends and family came, and it was a wonderful night. There are some awesomely talented ladies in my dance community, and it was so fun to be and also be part of. I think we totally rocked our number, which made me pretty happy. Also, I am super, super pleased that the scarf I crocheted ended up being really good to dance with. Afterwards, we all went out for ice cream, and I got to hang out with my super adorable niece, who is now much better at talking.
This week I played with kids a lot. I hula-hooped with one girl and played ball and catch and chase (which involved waaaaaay more crawling than my knees are good for) with a boy. And of course I played with my niece - held hands and danced and just carried her around. (People often think she's mine, and I don't mind, because she is super adorable.) Yesterday I baked a whole load of cookies, which involved using up jello packets for not-jello, experimenting with food-coloring, and overall having a good time. Angela and Ellen came over to watch the first Hobbit movie (Ellen had never seen it, Angela had, but we wanted to hang out). We ate pizza and drank ginger and apple beer and chatted, and then we watched the movie. Ellen's girl Erika was supposed to come too, but apparently poor Erika was super sick. Ellen is fun to be around. I feel pretty bad for her. By all accounts she was super smart back in the day, but then she had brain cancer and had to have part of her brain removed. She's still whip-smart now, but I can see the moments when she reaches for a word and it's not there. She's got a great attitude about it all, though, despite the difficulties.
I have made pretty good progress on my crocheting, if not my writing, but hey, at least progress was made, right?
This week is pretty heavy on the court, so that's going to be an adventure.
My mom continues to be super awesome about sending pictures and tales of her adventures in the world, and I am always glad to see them.
