And so summer begins...

This week was Sylvain's last week of middle school...I guess calling it a week of school is being a bit generous with some of the week dedicated to class parties and a trip to Cedar Point. He played his last orchestra concert earlier in the week; after which we decided that he'll take the summer off from lessons. I just hope that he'll pick up his bass on his own during the break, even if it's just to strum along to nothing in particular.

I haven't done much knitting this week. Still working on Chuck's socks and started a sweater, but am having gauge issues. Unlike last week, I've been struggling with a book I'm supposed to be reading for tomorrow's book club meeting. It's "Street of a Thousand Blossoms" by Gail Tsukiyama and I just can't get into it. I'm so bad to the point where I've taken to listening to it on CD while at the office, but am only paying cursory attention to it. If I can't get through it over the course of today and tomorrow morning, I'm just going to have to skip book club this month. I'm having better luck with H.P. Lovecraft's "Tales", and had picked that up based on a friend's recommendation.

I watched a few movies this week:
• multiple viewings of "Twilight" (and Jessie's right that it gets better each time);

• "Up": which was great; definitely take the kids to this one, but be prepared for a very heart-breaking 20 minutes of animation that brings saps like me to sniffles;

• "Drag me to Hell": okay, so don't think of this as a horror movie; think of it as a fun, fast-paced adventure where girl gets cursed, and girl tries to break curse; simple as that; sure, fluids of all kinds abound, but once you get over the ick-factor, you'll realize that it was actually enjoyable to watch.

As for TV watching: made it halfway thru the season 1 DVDs of "The Tudors" , saw the season premiere of "Burn Notice" and series premiere of "Royal Pains". I enjoyed them all, and only need for July to get here soon enough for "The Closer" to begin, then my summer TV schedule will be complete.

And as for crazies: I guess I shouldn't necessarily call it crazy, but certainly unexpected: I received a letter at my office from a guy I met at the Great Lakes Homeland Security conference. He had lended me a hand in dismantling my exhibit booth on the last day of the conference, and I helped him by shipping his booth boxes from my office (so he didn't have to schlep them himself). The letter was a Thank You note with a $20 gift card inside. Don't get me wrong, we have very clear ethics requirements at work, but since he was also a Fed, I'm sure that he knew that $20 was the monetary limit we're set to. I think that Chuck thought that it was weird, but funny too. If receiving random gifts of cash is the extent of odd happenings coming my way, then maybe that's just the sort of out-of-the-blue craziness I can get used to...