It’s hard to believe that it’s been eighteen years since we brought this little tater tot home from the hospital. It’s been a confusing mixture of rewarding, challenging, maddening and invigorating, but the amount of love I have for this goofy nerd I made with Jen knows no bounds.
From a link on Metafilter, I found a webcomic called Strong Female Protagonist, which was published online from 2012 to 2018. It’s a standard superhero setup but completely upends the standard genre by investigating what happens when superheroes realize that punching bad guys doesn’t actually solve anything, while navigating friendships and romance after revealing their secret identities. There are some very interesting (and, at points, navel-gazing) discussions about right and wrong, free will (in the context of a superhero who can read minds), and other moral and ethical questions about what it might mean to have extraordinary abilities. The creators went on hiatus and have not finished the series, sadly, but have gone on to bigger things. I shared the link with Finn and she devoured the entire series in a day, which is the best recommendation I can give.
Finn’s recollection of her time at camp typically begins with “I didn’t like it and I wanted to come home,” which makes me feel really good about the whole experience. She’ll go into exhaustive detail about what she didn’t like, starting with two annoying girls she was stuck with the whole week, and then list the mosquitoes, the food, the lousy mattresses, the snoring, and the cold.
Writing for the weekly mailbag at Defector, Albert Burnenko answered a reader question about this phenomena which put it into better perspective for me:
The funny thing here, Pete, is that the kids are enjoying themselves. Your daughter and nephew had a great time. They will remember that trip to Michigan for the rest of their lives. In their adulthood they will spend money and time trying to organize vacations that they will hope can replicate the simple and unspoiled joy that will be all they remember of that trip to Michigan. If you are lucky, you will hear them talking about it, and you will smile a private little smile at your memory of how they complained the entire time, and if you are wise and merciful you will know not to spoil their memory by reminding them of this.
Happy 4th, everyone. Let’s try to remember why this country was founded and what we’re actually supposed to stand for.
We had our first real snowfall in something like 700 days, so naturally we had to get out there and get some sledding in. I sanded and waxed the rails on our wooden sled, dug out the car, and we headed over to the local community college to meet up with the Geblers and get some runs in.
Greased Lightning did not disappoint. I had an envious kid ask me if our fast wooden sled steered; I told him to hit an antique store and get one for cheap.
On my third run or so I ran into a jump someone made, and the sled stopped while I kept on going. Laughing, I picked myself back up and walked back up the hill. Later I realized that landing on the snow had broken the zipper on my jacket and shredded several of the down pockets at the bottom, as well as popped one of the lenses out of my glasses that were in the pocket.
A few runs later, Finn drove our plastic sled directly into a tree and gave herself some mild abrasions on her chin. We returned home to get some hot chocolate and attend to the patient. I went online and found The North Face Renewed, where they repair and re-home used gear. I got a replacement jacket for $100, which is half of what a new Patagonia is going for (and from what I’ve read those don’t hold up very well). I’ve had this jacket for (5? 6?) seasons and it’s been great, so I figure it will be the new work jacket.
We went out for brunch the day before Christmas and had a wonderful time at a new restaurant.
Today we went to Annapolis to have tea. It’s pretty amazing how full you can be from a tray of sweet and savory treats.