crossrhodes

It’s a fact - THERE IS NO DELI LIKE A NEW YORK DELI. Where in south Jersey can I find an apple, brie, and mustard panini? Sounds yummy but I was in the mood for prosciutto and pesto on a kaiser roll. It was delicious! We took our friends, Steve and Julie, to NYC last weekend to see the tree… and to give Julie her first taste of Manhattan.

Rockefeller Plaza was a mob scene! We pushed through the crowd in a chain gang, one tugging behind the other. We managed to stick together fine until Julie saw the tree. She was like a bug to a bright light and the rest of us had to keep up. Next year we’re going on a Monday night when most people are (hopefully) home from a long day’s work.

I crave snails whenever I’m in the city. There’s this basement dive on Mott St my family used to frequent for snails. But Julie wasn’t quite ready for that yet so we dined in neighboring Little Italy, in a historical clam house on Mulberry & Broome.

We nearly left James behind the subway turnstile. He had difficulty swiping his Metro card to open the gate. And like a teenager, he was trying to play it cool as if he could get around the city by himself.

Anyway, I recently purchased a new toy… a Minolta DiMage Z10 w/ telephoto zoom. I haven’t figured out all the auto settings yet but the megazoom is awesome! I took this picture of Lady Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry.

This was the size from the viewfinder:

This is what was captured at 100%. You can even see the line of people getting on and off the ferry.

It’s not the greatest resolution but it’s sufficient for my needs. It’s enough to take closer pics of James from the bleachers at band competitions. Fortunately, the bleachers are much closer to the field than the SI Ferry is to the Statue of Liberty.

I took James to what we thought was an informational meeting for kids interested in joining a state-level marching band (the high school band season is over for the year). The organization is technically called a Drum & Bugle Corps. We expected to be at the meeting for a half hour or so and leave w/ a stack of brochures to read through. But as soon as we arrived, James was given an instrument and told to join the lower brass section. It turned out to be more of an audition than a parent info session. Two hours later, I came back to pick him up and heard them play entire arrangements they just learned that day. LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING — these kids are pros!!! They were awesome for a first time ensemble!

I think I’m more excited for James than he is. It’s a little expensive to join but the fee goes to food, transportation, insurance, etc. It’s well worth the money. I want him to have the time of his life! And it’s better than killing time on video games (it sucks being an only child). In the summer, they travel to weekend competitions and close the season with a 16-day tour of the Midwest and New England.

They’re a division of an international drum corps (click on the link to see the website) competing in world championships, not just local high schools anymore. We’re playing with the big boys now! All-day Saturday practices begin in January, which means Lani’s back to driving Miss Daisy again and hounding him to make sure the school work remains a priority. That’s alright… a mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do. I only wish I was a teenager again… having fun in ways my parents would approve of :)

James has a habit of disappearing for hours to the basketball court or a friend’s house without telling anyone. The last time he did so, he was grounded. Not a week later, he disappeared again knowing he was grounded from going out (as if I wouldn’t notice he was gone for an hour getting the mail from outside). After a guilty verdict, his sentence was hands off his precious Xbox until further notice. The Xbox was just purchased online and had not even arrived yet. James is so anxious for it, he leaves notes on the front door for the UPS guy! Needless to say, his punishment hit him like a brick. He was so stunned that he didn’t even bother to argue. He just sat there space-eyed like his cat just died. I felt so bad, it was like my ribs phsyically caved in. But this is what they call tough love! Besides, he understood what happened. Once while we were watching a Dr. Phil show on parenting 101, James himself suggested that proper disciplining sometimes means taking away something of value to teach the child a lesson. Maybe he shouldn’t have shown so much value for his video game!

I was out shopping yesterday when the Xbox arrived after school. When I got home, it was out of the box and packed away in his portable case, supposedly to make it easier for Don to take it away. LOL!!! He insisted he didn’t play it and even gave us an almost sincere routine about not trusting him. When I told him it has a Windows OS and that I could check the RAM for what and how long it had been played, the confession came pouring out like vomit! Thank God I was born with a great sense of humor. Instead of getting mad, I can’t help but laugh at all the slick moves I tried to pull on my parents. Do kids really think their parents are that stupid?!?!

Ok, I have 3 papers to write by Monday. That’s enough warm up.