January 29, 2009
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Great Day of the Eight Consecutive Sneezes
Dear Folks,
Well, that was nice. My Flagship and My Shining Knight just came in with a present for My Dandelion, as it will be her birthday next week. They can be nice and sweet when you least expect it.
I am plugging my way through computer programming studies. I am taking a course from a university in my home state of North Carolina. They have a distance learning program, and it works fairly well for me. I watch each lecture twice, and read each assignment twice or more. So far so good. I get a big kick out of it when the computer works for me on my lab assignments. The programs are very easy, but for me, they present a challenge. Good.
Ah, I just had a grand sneeze. Nothing like that. You know a good sneeze echoes all the way about your being, leaving ripples all over your body and a case of the chicken skin that suggests it won't quit any time soon.
Ooh, there was another. Two in a row. We're off to a good start today. The most I ever did in a row was eight, when I was sitting in the front seat of a large SUV, owned by a student's mother, as we went to an English church service together. That was about two years ago. I'll never forget that enchanted day. Let's call it "The Day of the Eight Consecutive Sneezes." No?
Well, classes are finished for today. I taught only one class. I don't know how we keep making money, because I taught less this past year, but we made about as much money, or so it seems now that I am calculating taxes. Of course, I taught at camps last January and August. They paid fairly well, but I do not expect I will do them again this summer.
I may study more computer science. Though, I find it daunting to think I would attempt a course similar to my current course (Introduction to C++ Programming Language) in a 10-week intensive course session. I just could not handle it, what with all the child care duties I inherit.
Funny thing about that, my wife and I sat together for about three minutes, eating apple slices after my class, while the student went in the TV room in the back of the house to watch some of The Simpsons in English with my brood, everyone docile at night. It was a good atmosphere.
My wife noted that when we move to the U.S., we will have a dishwashing machine, as well as a drier. We have only a washer for our clothes, and I hang them up to dry. That's my job. We never made formal duty assignments.
In fact, when my wife gets pregnant, which has been pretty often of late, I just take on more tasks. Too, the more children we got, the more domestic duties I have assumed. Another of "my duties," or ones I normally do, is washing dishes.
My children have a distorted sense of the value of money. They will work rather hard for "peg won," which means 100 units of the Korean currency, the "won." If I merely call out, "Peg Won Duh Lee Get Seo Yo!" (I'll give 100 won!) [... to whomever helps me out with this task here], then one or more children will come running.
I give special effort to instigate them to learn and eventually acquire, or inherit, my especial tasks. But if we're going to the U.S. soon, and those particular tasks are greatly simplified, am I shooting myself in the foot? Should I not rather be doing all I can to keep them in my name, and take credit for them? Wouldn't that more closely resemble the life of a Renaissance Man of Letters? Should I buy a Meerschaum Pipe, if only for the sake of pretense and appearances?
Love, Padooker
Comments (2)
I love your picture. that's one to be framed, for sure! The time to teach kids to help with chores is NOW. Mine have been spoiled because at times I just felt it easier to do it myself than to wait for them to dilly dally through a task or to have to go and redo it afterwards anyway (too much of a perfectionist at that time, but not in a good way) plus I didn't feel like fighting with them about chores. Basically I shot myself in the foot. And right now, neither of my kids really know the value of money or make the connection that you have to work to get it. My daughter is not too bad but my son.... also, I am a pushover and because I genuinely do want my kids to have fun, I often have given and give them money when they have not done their work which has made them just take advantage of me and not feel any commitment to doing chores that benefit everyone in the household.
Right now, when you don't have the conveniences is perfect for them because then maybe they will appreciate it when instead of washing and drying dishes, they can just load and unload the dishwasher, put away and wash pots and pans. By the sounds of it you guys don't use a lot of dishes anyway.
I agree. It's just hard, to get them peeled away from whatever else they were doing, if you want them to match your schedule, or do it when you suddenly get some time. Marshaling them along takes a lot of effort, more than just doing it yourself. But, you're right; it's worth it. It just takes a lot more out of me to do it. My oldest son does not put much care into hanging up clothes. He just slings them across the wire rack. That method does not leave enough room to get all the clothes up. To that, he merely throws one wet piece of a apparel on top of another. They are not going to dry very well like that, but he does not care.
My second son washes dishes sometimes, and he gets the kitchen floor wet within about 50 centimeters about the sink. He slings water. He has to stand on a chair or stool to get high enough to wash dishes, and his hands are still reaching upwards, which means water is going to run down his arms, coming off at his elbows. Too, when he is finished, he needs to change his shirt and pants.
My daughter helps out some, with hanging up clothes, and occasionally, with washing dishes. Dishwashing is called "Seol Geo Jee" in Korean. I suppose Korean will be a dead language within 300 hundred years. Or, that's what the experts here predict.
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