Weekend blitz - take no prisoners

[geoviki]

Okay, in the past 3 days I saw one Collegiate Festival Concert (my daughter's college choir came to town), one soccer game (my son's), and 5 - five - complete basketball games (my son - again). I'm in the running for parent of the month, I'm sure. Now I'm doing a batholith of laundry. We've declared my son's socks a biohazard.

I discovered that there are a vast quantity of choral pieces about shepherds and their lady loves.

I also discovered that the combination of testosterone and adrenalin is somewhat explosive under pressure.

The tiny bit of writing that I managed to hack out was as productive as molding steel with my tongue. Write one sentence, delete two.

Mr. Geoviki and I managed to take two long walks around a previously undiscovered lake - between games - and we had perfect Colorado weather. Indian summer, they call it here, for all my non-American readers.

I should be determining what sessions to attend at tomorrow's meeting of the Geological Society of America, but no matter which one I chose, I'll decide I should have gone to another. It's somewhat traumatic to see speakers try to cram their life's work into 7 minutes. And I have to navigate the city bus system, something that always makes me feel like a grown-up.

Sounds like a poll topic: what makes you feel like a bona-fide adult? Number one on the list for me is renting a car. Big-time adult process. Renting a hotel room ranks right up there, too.

Comments

[dementordelta.livejournal.com]

Being a bona fide adult? For me it was the realization that no one was going to clean the kitchen in my house unless I did it! But again, no one was going to tell me I couldn't eat off paper plates if I wanted to, either!

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

no one was going to clean the kitchen in my house unless I did it

Ha! That just makes me feel like a house elf!

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Hey, did you catch that "batholith of laundry" comment? That was for you! No one else (presumably) will understand it.

GSA is insanely large - over 6,000 attendees. My first day today was spent in a haze.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

You reminded me to look for the Subaru keychains, but alas - they had no freebies. Just cars. I ended up with a little bear from some college whose mascot was a bear. And I brazenly stole things from my own employer's booth, but generously gave them away to a retired college prof who came without paper.

They did have a silent auction, though, which was great fun. I bought the National Geographic collection of Colorado topos on CD. Yeah, I know I can get them for free, but the download time at home is too long...and it's for my husband anyway.

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

Parent of the month for sure. That's a whole lotta basketball games. And yeah, shepherds and their lady loves; where were all the gay shepherds? Their odes might have made a nice change from all the alabaster-browed, ebon-haired Lauras and Leonoras.

What makes me feel like a gen-yoo-wine grownup is attending parent-teacher conferences. Or, more depressingly, contemplating my first mammogram in another few months. Feh.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Mammograms, yeah. That's very adult. I read a cute article on how to prepare oneself for the actual experience by practicing: simply lay down on a cold garage floor and have someone drive a van over your breast.

We heard no fewer than 3 shepherd songs in one concert. Although one was a warning to the shepherdesses that the shepherds are likely to promise you anything to get into your frocks.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Yes, renting a hotel room! By myself. Not with my husband. By myself. That makes me feel grown-up.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

That's my ultimate grown-up experience. Nothing says "big girl" like knocking off the desk-routine looking confident, waving the plastic credit card, filling in the form, navigating the building, knowing how the electronic key works, and especially being the first one to break the paper seal off the toilet!

[lomedet.livejournal.com]

hmmm - I generally associate feeling like a grown-up with kind of icky things: dealing with insurance companies and doctor's offices in the knowledge that i'm the only one to do it, no parents to come riding to the rescue.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

There are plenty of unpleasant grown-up things. Health care is a big one - even telling yourself to make the stupid appointments is a grown-up hassle.

[snottygrrl.livejournal.com]

paperwork.

i mean the long ugly paperwork like taxes done by the accountant, or signing for a house.

that and skivving off because i can. acting like a kid makes me feel v. adultish sometimes...

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot signing for a house. Yeah - we've bought 3 houses and refinanced each one once, so that makes 6 closings I've been to. Big-time grown-up event.

[riibu.livejournal.com]

A bona-fide adult? Being economically independent, I think.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Economic independence kind of crept up on me gradually. I guess I knew that if push came to shove, my parents would have bailed me out (they had to do it for my sister enough times).

We just bought some expensive furniture; that made me feel pretty adult right there. Just to get over that barrier of, "Oh, I don't really deserve anything this nice."

[ravurian]

I am freed from groan-up-ness [sic] by returning to education. As a kid, I don't think running away to school ever occurred to me... Now, though...

[tipgardner.livejournal.com]

I love this poll! All of those things that everyone else mentioned make me feel adult. I run my own business, and that, I suppose is sort of adult. But to be honest, I often just feel like all of it is dress up. Perhaps, because my parents shipped me off to public school, perhaps because they weren't around much anyway *shrugs* there were certain adult things I had to deal with early on and others that I still feel that I ignore. So it always has a bit of a fascade feeling to me. As though, one day I'll wake up with drool on my cheek and realise I'm still in sixth form maths...

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

So it always has a bit of a fascade feeling to me

Oh, that's exactly it for me - I feel as if I'm an actress in some movie, and I hope I can get through the scene without someone yelling, "Cut!" It's such a conscious thing, in the moment: "I'm grown-up; look how well I'm doing this!"

[tipgardner.livejournal.com]

I hope I can get through the scene without someone yelling, "Cut!" It's such a conscious thing, in the moment: "I'm grown-up; look how well I'm doing this!"

Oh, exactly! You wouldn't write so well if you weren't that way, I'd hazard a guess. That sense of displacement from one's environment is what allows one to observe and then produce art based on the observations, right?

[kattiya.livejournal.com]

Adulthood? Hmm, when I didn't have to tell my mom what time I would be home? ;D

And I tried to email you but it bounced! Wah Viki!! How can I pimp to the biggest Boyd pimp if I can't get in touch with you? So it’s finally up – woooo!!!

If you’re at all inclined to pimp, that would be fabulous and much appreciated.

Site link and thanks to everyone who made the site possible here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/kattiya/40708.html

YAY!