Halfway to (in) sanity

Day by day I live into my new role as a custodial parent. When I "made my move" to have my son live with me, I did so with the understanding that life as the two of us knew it would change and that there would be challenges, be it academic, behavioral or otherwise.

Those challenges have begun to present themselves as The Boy struggles in Spanish, a class which is the equivalent of a Level I high school course. I don't think it's that much of a stretch to say that L.'s study habits have been nominal at best in year's past (a bone of contention I've had with his mother), so to take on a course this comprehensive is proving to be a challenge. Concurrently, I've been dealing with a teenager with some attitude problems. I should have seen the teenage angst coming, but I imagine there's no way to prepare for it until it happens. We seem to be testing each other now which would be far more entertaining if it wasn't my own son. I don't "do" the hard, disciplinary parent role very well; I do remember what it was like being 13 years old and questioning everything. I am also sympathetic to the fact that he is in a new school making new friends and barely hears from his family in MN. That being said, I am also not that naive as to not see that The Boy may be trying to use my sympathy to his advantage. After all, he is his father's son.

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Earlier this week I met with my band and advised that my increased parental role left me with little time to write, rehearse and perform, certainly not at the level that we started out at and hoped to increase. Rather than take a break, we all agreed it was best for me to walk away. No harm, no foul.

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Apparently I am among the small minority of people who were let down by last night's My Bloody Valentine show at the Aragon. It had been a good 10+ years since I'd been in the venue (my last show there was I believe The Chemical Brothers back in 1997?) and I really hoped the atrocious sound would have improved. WRONG. Known for their ear-splitting live shows, MBV brought their insane volume and dozens upon dozens of effects pedals, only to have it all sucked up in the Aragon's cavernous sound. The band needs to avoid this shithole like the plague their next time around...if there is a next time.

Somewhere between asleep and dreaming

Sleep eludes me. Rather, I currently do not possess the desire to climb into bed even though I promised myself I'd get back to a minimum of 7 hours of sleep per night. I'm getting to that point in my listlessness where the songs end as soon as they begin (what I'm remembering of the new Bloc Party sounded pretty good).

It's difficult for me at times like this not to live in my head at least for a little bit, though rather than worry about shit that hasn't happened yet, I feel more at peace than ever before. The Boy turned 13 over the weekend and we had a nice relaxing day, complete with a trip to Best Buy for some Xbox games. This weekend my mom and stepdad are hosting a small little party for the boyo. This will be the first time the family's seen my wife since we got married so needless to say I'm quite excited. From what I've been told-directly and indirectly-wedded bliss suits me well.

Earlier tonight I attended Curriculum Night at The Boy's school. Talk about surreal-not only am I getting to do things such as this as the custodial parent that I've longed to do, I end up running into people I used to work with in high school (Hi, we used to work together at Jewel...oh my GOD, you used to bag for me!!). I felt this incredible sense of pride walking through the halls of my son's school. I realize we are barely three weeks into the school year, but I already predict big things for him.

Zzz...it appears I have the desire to go to bed now...