-=> Quoting Damon A. Getsman to Nancy Backus on 06-May-2015 08:47 <=-   
      
    DAG>> More of just a day to be a beach bum, maybe cook some hotfrogs,   
    DAG>> throw some recreational spheres around, all of that jazz.  ;)   
    NB>> That sounds like fun... did you get to, and did he enjoy it...?   
    DAG> Alas, plans got pre-empted last weekend.  Not sure if we'll get a   
    DAG> chance to try again this weekend.  I'd like to do something nice for   
    DAG> him, because there was a carnival around that we were going to try to   
    DAG> hit early this week, and that fell through, too.  At least he didn't   
    DAG> know about it; I learned from a fellow parent friend not so long ago to   
    DAG> not really inform the little guy about what may be planned until it's   
    DAG> actually going down, just in case something like that comes up.  Saves   
    DAG> on the shattered dreams for the day kind of scenerios.   
      
   How old is he, again...?  At some point, he ought to be able to learn how   
   to take disappointment in stride... but that does take some maturity. :)   
   It does, though, help if one wasn't setting one's heart on it... ;)     
      
    DAG> A few fires   
    DAG> got set on the contract work that I was doing that made keeping up with   
    DAG> the beach bumming impossible.  I ended up having to do a work crunch   
    DAG> on Sunday that blew it out of the water.  Should've tried harder to get   
    DAG> out on Saturday, I suppose, but I was busy catching up on chores most   
    DAG> of that day. Anyhoo, it will definitely be happening soon here.   
      
   That sounds a bit of a "good news, bad news" situation... :)  Good that   
   the work is picking up, bad that you didn't have the time available for   
   the fun things...   
      
    NB>> Something one just can't see ahead of time... and sometimes one just   
    NB>> doesn't have a lot of choice in circumstances until things get more   
    NB>> under control...  Hopefully you'll be able to find a better location   
    NB>> for your and your son's needs and wellbeing...  :)   
    DAG> Well, with the hours cap on my contract just having been quadrupled,   
    DAG> it looks like I'll be able to start getting a savings account ready for   
    DAG> a scenerio like this fairly soon here.  Needless to say I'm pretty   
    DAG> pumped about the whole issue.  This paycheck to paycheck crap gets old   
    DAG> rapidly, especially when one has a charge to look after.  It may   
    DAG> actually be time to stop just looking at general neighborhoods and   
    DAG> start looking for rentals somewhat soon here.  I'll keep my fingers   
    DAG> crossed on that.  They're only lifting the hours limit for a few weeks   
    DAG> while more fires are being put out, but I believe that after a few   
    DAG> weeks of that there may be more contracts that need some work done on   
    DAG> them.    
      
   Sounds quite promising...  paycheck to paycheck is better than no   
   paycheck at all... but it certainly is nicer to have a reasonable amount   
   coming in regularly...  :)   
      
    NB>> That's a shame... so the stress was mostly just on the way there...?   
    NB>> and relieved by the camping itself...?   
    DAG> Well it was on the way there and back.  So approximately 5 hours of   
    DAG> shite were mixed in with 3/4 of a day out in the woods, half of which   
    DAG> was sleeping. It was relieved by the camping, but then the way back was   
    DAG> worse than the way there, so it almost negated everything.  After I got   
    DAG> back and was able to chill out for awhile I think it was still a net   
    DAG> positive, though.  If not for me, at least for my son, who had a couple   
    DAG> of other kids to play with.  They had a great time, when they weren't   
    DAG> in the van.  It was great to see him playing hard nonstop with the   
    DAG> other kids the whole time there.  Definitely something that he needed.    
      
   So, if I understand correctly, you went with some others in a van to go   
   camping...?  A couple of families with kids...?  Was this some sort of   
   organized program, or something that people just got together to do...?    
   Sounds like a long trip... hard for kids to be cooped up that long...   
      
    DAG> Heck, I'd deal with a net negative as long as he was getting something   
    DAG> like that.  My old bones can take some aggravation to make sure that   
    DAG> his childhood gets as much suckiness pulled out of it as possible.  ;)   
      
   Yes, at least he and the other kids had a chance to run and play... and   
   sleep outside for the night...  ;)  Too bad it wasn't a little longer in   
   the camping phase, for the long trip there and back...     
      
    NB>> Sounds like you just have to learn not to let your imagination run away   
    NB>> with you...    Or move to someplace where the danger is less (or you   
    NB>> don't know about the dangers [g])...   
    DAG> Oh definitely.  I haven't mentioned that one of my hobbies is   
    DAG> writing fiction, which normally devolves into horror sometime by the   
    DAG> tenth page or so. I've got a great imagination for that stuff and it   
    DAG> does, definitely, get out of hand sometimes.  ;)    
      
   Just gotta remember that fictional isn't necessarily reality...  ;)   
      
    DAG> Here is real great for the imagination, being nestled cozily in   
    DAG> between two active volcanos and on a fault like that's quite a ways   
    DAG> overdue for a magnitude 8+ quake in a city that isn't prepared for   
    DAG> that sort of tumbler what so ever.  The chances are either 30 percent   
    DAG> for it in the next 50 years or 50 percent in the next 30 years.    
    DAG> Can't remember for sure, the dyslexia is getting me.  ;)    
      
   That still gives at least 50% chance that it WON'T happen...  :)  Maybe   
   not even in your lifetime...  ;)   
      
    DAG> Either way, for that magnitude of a quake it's scary as hell for   
    DAG> someone with an imagination like my own.  I just hope I'm not in any   
    DAG> sort of brick structure when that goes down, if I'm still here.    
      
   Sometimes you just have to curb the imagination and not let it run away   
   with you...    
      
    NB>> It doesn't hurt to have similar threads happening in different echoes...   
    NB>> there's at least a potential that way of engaging different people in   
    NB>> the conversation(s)... eg Maurice is here and in Asian_Link, but not in   
    NB>> Memories... and some are only in Memories...  :)   
    DAG> That's very true.  Didn't think about it like that.  It's nice to   
    DAG> have different people jumping in from time to time.  :)   
      
   Quite..  :)   
      
    NB>> I made a habit a long time ago of saving messages to and from me (and a   
    NB>> few others, on occasion) for any echo I was active in.  It just makes   
    NB>> finding the information a little easier.  :)  I also save my Reply   
    NB>> packets, just in case I need to re-send something... that saved me a   
    NB>> number of times when I'd written out an involved genealogy message...   
    NB>> no re-typing needed, just an extract and insert into a new message.  :)   
    DAG> I used to do that quite awhile ago, but I definitely got out of the   
    DAG> habit. The interface that I use to get on my BBS is a little bit   
    DAG> difficult for cutting 'n pasting, so I think if I were to do that I'd   
    DAG> probably try coding something right into the interface that would help   
    DAG> me deal with it a little bit easier. Then again, using a QWK method   
    DAG> like you're talking about would probably make that quick 'n easy, too.   
      
   Offline readers are quite the godsend at times, to be sure... :)    
   Especially since I'm in DOS, not exactly what you'd call a multi-tasking   
   environment...  ;)    
      
   ttyl        neb   
      
   ... Actually, cats are quite good at domesticating humans.   
      
   --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F   
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS - Oshawa, ON, CA http://tinysbbs.com (1:229/452)