The in-laws are in town. I mostly like it when they come. They're good people, and S's mom really helps out with cooking and cleaning. However, when you add two more grown people to a not-humongous house, things start to get a bit crowded no matter how much you like them. Plus, Indian people typically don't put the same value on personal privacy as do people raised in the States -- it's a culture difference -- so they are more okay with staying right on top of one another. I remember when S lived in a tiny condo by herself and her family came to visit and they had five adults and a toddler all staying in a 500-square-foot area. S's family is not hard not up for money, so asked her why they just didn't get a hotel room for a few days, and she said it was not even a possibility -- culturally they just would never do that. It's wasn't even in the question. In a way, it's nice -- you're much less likely to get lonely (I heard a piece on a podcast about a predominantly Indian retirement community, and how the norm was that anybody could stop by anybody else's room at any moment and it wasn't considered rude); in another way, it's like, "Can I just have an hour alone, please?"
But I got some time to myself right now. S and her parents took Lil' S1 with them on some errands, so it's just me, a napping Lil' S2, a cup of coffee, and my laptop. Aaaaah... bliss.
I had a funny episode with S's dad, where he couldn't find the spare key we gave him when he first arrived. The first thing I suggested is that he check the pockets of all the shirts he had worn recently (I frequently see him put the key there when he takes his daily constitutional). But he insisted that he put it in this little box on our mantle like he always does. He thought the kids got into it, which is a perfectly reasonable theory, except everything else in the box was in order. When the kids get into something, it looks like a twister came through. So he starts looking all over the mantle and on the floor near the mantle, and again I'm like, "check your pockets," but he doesn't, so it's just lost for the day, and they don't have a key. (I don't let on how much it bothers me not knowing where this key is.) So then today, I ask if he found it yet, and he said he hadn't and starts looking for it again. Twenty minutes later he says, "Found it! It was in one my shirt pockets." Of course. The funny part is that there is no recognition, no "Hey, you were right along. Should have just looked there first," it's just "found it," moving on. I think he just legit didn't hear me when I was telling him to look in his pockets, or he heard me but it didn't register. I think that's pretty typical human behavior actually -- we get tunnel vision and just can't see anything outside of a narrow scope. My father-in-law was convinced he put the key in the box, and so any initial rejection of that premise just didn't compute.
Anyway...
I've taken up a new mini hobby: Rubik's Cube solving. At first, I was going to figure it out all by myself, from scratch (apparently if you are good with permutations in abstract algebra, which at one point I was, you can figure it out), but this lasted about ten minutes, before it was
So I went online and got the instructions. Once you have the instructions, it's mostly straightforward, but you still have to figure some things out on your own. It's a nice little project. I'm going to get to the point where I can solve it in a few minutes from memory -- that's the only way you can impress people -- nobody thinks it's cool if you're like, "Check this out! If you give me 45 minutes and let me reference the directions on the Internet I'll can solve this puzzle!" -- but it's not easy, because there are a lot of moves to remember, and there's not just one path to take every time. You have to learn all the different scenarios. It takes a lot of practice.
S doesn't really like this new hobby of mine because she says I just zone out and don't pay attention to anybody while I'm doing it, which there is probably some truth to. But the thing is, S doesn't like anything I do. I swear, she just wants me to sit there and stare into space, doing nothing, so that I don't seem distracted when she makes an offhand comment to me every five minutes.
As you can probably tell, this is one of our ongoing "discussions," -- the zoning-out discussion. My general defense is, "Aren't you glad you have a husband who has hobbies he's interested in? Isn't that better than some passionless dolt?" I'm not sure if she totally buys it or not.
In other news, Lil' S2 is really starting to grow up fast. He can talk now, which is fun and cute. He's even learned how to tattle on his brother,"To-to," as he calls him. ("To-to do that! To-to do that!") I think he's still a bit behind verbally, but he's catching up quickly. He's definitely behind where Lil' S1 was at his age. We have video of Lil' S1 counting to ten by myself when he was a few months younger than Lil' S2 is now, and Lil' S2 can't really count at all yet. He can maybe get to three, before he just starts saying the first parts of random numbers ("Waah, do, tree, nigh, si, te!"). But I'm still not worried because Lil' S2 seems to be pretty advanced analytically. From a very early age, he understood most of what we told him, and he's really good with puzzles. He does this US states puzzle by himself without any help. It's pretty impressive. Also, he's already telling us when he has to go poop sometimes ("Poop-butt! Poop-butt!"), which is great. I cannot wait to ditch the diapers. Tossing our stink-ass Diaper Genie will be a major milestone in my parenting career.
Alright, speaking of Lil' S2, I hear him waking up now. Better go. Until next time...
But I got some time to myself right now. S and her parents took Lil' S1 with them on some errands, so it's just me, a napping Lil' S2, a cup of coffee, and my laptop. Aaaaah... bliss.
I had a funny episode with S's dad, where he couldn't find the spare key we gave him when he first arrived. The first thing I suggested is that he check the pockets of all the shirts he had worn recently (I frequently see him put the key there when he takes his daily constitutional). But he insisted that he put it in this little box on our mantle like he always does. He thought the kids got into it, which is a perfectly reasonable theory, except everything else in the box was in order. When the kids get into something, it looks like a twister came through. So he starts looking all over the mantle and on the floor near the mantle, and again I'm like, "check your pockets," but he doesn't, so it's just lost for the day, and they don't have a key. (I don't let on how much it bothers me not knowing where this key is.) So then today, I ask if he found it yet, and he said he hadn't and starts looking for it again. Twenty minutes later he says, "Found it! It was in one my shirt pockets." Of course. The funny part is that there is no recognition, no "Hey, you were right along. Should have just looked there first," it's just "found it," moving on. I think he just legit didn't hear me when I was telling him to look in his pockets, or he heard me but it didn't register. I think that's pretty typical human behavior actually -- we get tunnel vision and just can't see anything outside of a narrow scope. My father-in-law was convinced he put the key in the box, and so any initial rejection of that premise just didn't compute.
Anyway...
I've taken up a new mini hobby: Rubik's Cube solving. At first, I was going to figure it out all by myself, from scratch (apparently if you are good with permutations in abstract algebra, which at one point I was, you can figure it out), but this lasted about ten minutes, before it was
So I went online and got the instructions. Once you have the instructions, it's mostly straightforward, but you still have to figure some things out on your own. It's a nice little project. I'm going to get to the point where I can solve it in a few minutes from memory -- that's the only way you can impress people -- nobody thinks it's cool if you're like, "Check this out! If you give me 45 minutes and let me reference the directions on the Internet I'll can solve this puzzle!" -- but it's not easy, because there are a lot of moves to remember, and there's not just one path to take every time. You have to learn all the different scenarios. It takes a lot of practice.
S doesn't really like this new hobby of mine because she says I just zone out and don't pay attention to anybody while I'm doing it, which there is probably some truth to. But the thing is, S doesn't like anything I do. I swear, she just wants me to sit there and stare into space, doing nothing, so that I don't seem distracted when she makes an offhand comment to me every five minutes.
As you can probably tell, this is one of our ongoing "discussions," -- the zoning-out discussion. My general defense is, "Aren't you glad you have a husband who has hobbies he's interested in? Isn't that better than some passionless dolt?" I'm not sure if she totally buys it or not.
[Rubik's Cube inventor and crossword puzzle favorite ERNO Rubik]
In other news, Lil' S2 is really starting to grow up fast. He can talk now, which is fun and cute. He's even learned how to tattle on his brother,"To-to," as he calls him. ("To-to do that! To-to do that!") I think he's still a bit behind verbally, but he's catching up quickly. He's definitely behind where Lil' S1 was at his age. We have video of Lil' S1 counting to ten by myself when he was a few months younger than Lil' S2 is now, and Lil' S2 can't really count at all yet. He can maybe get to three, before he just starts saying the first parts of random numbers ("Waah, do, tree, nigh, si, te!"). But I'm still not worried because Lil' S2 seems to be pretty advanced analytically. From a very early age, he understood most of what we told him, and he's really good with puzzles. He does this US states puzzle by himself without any help. It's pretty impressive. Also, he's already telling us when he has to go poop sometimes ("Poop-butt! Poop-butt!"), which is great. I cannot wait to ditch the diapers. Tossing our stink-ass Diaper Genie will be a major milestone in my parenting career.
Alright, speaking of Lil' S2, I hear him waking up now. Better go. Until next time...
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