Posted 10:08 AM by Tim
I sometimes wonder what the world of my daughter's is like.

Here's the deal. My oldest daughter is a lot like me. Lately, we've been thinking that I've got Asperger's Syndrome. Which is basically an autism variant. There's a lot of the symptomology that matches up with me. Talking early, difficulty in social situations, poor eye contact (too much or too little), good math and science, etc, etc.

We haven't had me tested (too expensive if you ask me for very little gain), but we're getting her assessed. The earlier you start with helping, the more effective it'll be in the end. So, we can't say for sure if I am or if I'm not. In a way, I like that. What I do know, is that I'm different.

I don't mean "I'm different just like everyone else." I mean, I'm not the same as most people. There are 'normal' limits of behaviours that you see in people. Everyone has some fear of meeting people. You put yourself out there risking rejection - a little fear is normal. Normal people don't have to think about how long they're supposed to look at someone before it's polite to, say, blink. Yeah, not all of my blinking is natural. Some of it I do out of courtesy - you're welcome :)

Anyway, I know that she sees the world differently than her sister. I see it differently too, so I'm supposed to be the expert on just what her world is like. The trouble is, her world isn't necessarily mine. There's gonna be some overlap, but there's going to be differences. I hope thtat I'm able to help her understand that other people are different than she is (which, if you ask me is a funny reversal), but I know that I'm not going to be able to understand everything.

Posted 1:11 PM by Tim
I'm finding that doing one load of laundry and dishes (we got a dishwasher, very nice!) is able to maintain a slight deline in both the laundry and dirty dish states. That is, we're slowly building up a backlog of both. The dishes is truly minor. It'll be a frying pan, or a few glasses or such that just didn't make it in, or couldn't fit. The laundry is a bigger issue. We go through a lot of clothes for the girls every day. More if there's any accidents or messes. A load of laundry seems to handle most of our stuff, but there's always a few towels, or pants, or bedsheets that haven't quite made it into the wash yet.

Even if they do all make it in, there's inevitably the issue of putting the clothes away again. Nobody in the house likes doing that - especially when you couple it with the folding. I'd have to say that laundry is our biggest issue with keeping the house clean. If I can get through the laundry, I can get started on everything else.

Posted 9:29 AM by Tim
Ahh. Housedad. That's my word for me. Its like housemom, but, I'm not a mom, now am I? I have to say that it's fulfilling. But not rewarding. I don't know how Brenda managed to do it all this time. Maybe you get into a routine?

Posted 2:04 PM by Tim
I'm both liking and hating the unemployment thing. I like the fact that I have time to contribute to the house. I hate the fact that there just isn't enough time for me to do everything. I've got some time to myself, and I'm finding the house a little lonely. Not that I don't appreciate the time alone. I've got a lot of things to do, and it's a lot easier to get some of them done when there's nobody else around.

The home life isn't all that easy. I get the girls to school, and then pick them up for lunch, and again at the end of the day. Seems simple enough, but it really doesn't give you a lot of time between the pickups. Four times up the stairs a day is a lot. Not that they're bothering me that much. I find that I can take the first 6 flights alright, the 7th is the one that causes my muscles to start to lock up. I'm glad I didn't try taking on the CN Tower. It's good to know your limits.

In other news, I've got 2,000 or more words to do today, and I'm not sure when I'm going to get to them. I hate to use one of my "emergency" days, so I'll try to get them in today.

Posted 5:42 PM by Tim
Well, there hasnt' been a lot to write about lately. Not in my personal life, and not elsewhere. I played in a tournament this weekend, and made third place. Usually, this would make me happy. For some reason, it hasn't. I've been hoping for a little more. A little better placing and better overall gaming. I'm just not feeling fulfilled by Magic right now. Either I have to change decks or I have to spend a little bit of time coming up with something that works for me.

I've been working pretty heavily on the crafts. That's taken up a bit of my time. The lack of work really has just left me doing crafts all day. It's not exactly what I want to do with my time, but it's not terrible. Maybe I'll finally get some of that sewing done.

Posted 4:07 PM by Tim
I've been reading about Lojban. A structured language with absolutely regular syntax and no ambiguity. Great stuff. I'm a language nut really. I just wish that I had someone about willing to learn a language with me.

This is a frustrating habit of mine for Brenda. A friend of mine and I would commonly break into coded speech while goofing off, and she would have no idea what we were talking about. It wasn't too difficult to work out if you knew the trick, could spell and managed to keep everything in your head all at once. My friend and I had this worked out pretty well, but we still misunderstood now and then. :)

I've been a language nut for a long time. That's part of the explanation of my vocabulary (and it's usage). I've always been concerned with the precise usage of words and their meanings. I'll often use a word that someone around me doesn't know, just because it's the correct one for the concept I'm trying to express. Lojban seems perfect for me, since it allows a very precise usage of language.

Of course, I've also been interested in learning things like Klingon, Esperanto, Sign, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Japanese, and of course Spanish, French, German, Italian, Hindi and Dutch. Basically any language that I can get my ears on. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe I just like to understand everything I hear.

Always, the trouble is that I don't have anyone to learn the language with me. Conversation (especially correct usage of words) is important. If you can find someone to talk with, you're going to be motivated to increase the vocabulary. Without that, you're learning just the semantics and syntax. A dry study in any language. It's the expression that makes a language come alive.

So.... anyone interested in learning something with me?

Posted 2:24 PM by Tim
My newest net game is "What's on OpalCam?" For some reason I just keep checking her page to see the new look of frustration on her face. I never catch her "live" so I suppose it's alright.

And now... Monkeys! Ok. Not really. They're expensive, and they make a big mess. We offer you a convenient replacement act. Silence: The Motion Picture.

Posted 8:13 AM by Tim
First thing to happen in a while worth blogging about and I don't even get to it on the day it happened. Ok, here's the situation. I was brining the girls back from a doctor's appointment. On the ride home, both of the fell asleep. I pulled into the parking lot of a pizza joint so that I could call Bren and find out what time she was coming home. I figured that with my day I might as well order a pizza and delay delilvery so that it would arrive just after we did. Well, with the girls asleep, I didn't want to bother getting out of the car, waking them up, carrying them in and ordering. So I"m thinking about how to solve this.

I could leave them in the car, and just go order it, but that's not a good idea at all. Then I notice that they have a number on the marquee. I call them up and order the pizza from the cell phone. I'm like 10 steps from the door and I'm calling them on the phone. Crazy. I drive home and wake the girls to get them into the house. The pizza arrives when it's supposed to. Happy, happy.

Posted 1:15 PM by Tim
This isn't my primary blog right now. It's Storylines right now. It's just what's focusing me right now. Just about every moment of my free time has been taken up by this novel. And now, I have to split my attentions between writing and crochet. There's a craft show coming up, and it'd be nice to have something to add to the display. Yeah. I've got a lot of freaking time. Sleep in? What's that? Wake at 5 AM?? Yeah, I can do that.

So, my hobbies are starting to stress. Fortunatly, I've got a built in release. It's called unemployment. You know, theres a patch for stress now? Yeah, it's called a 45 slug. You apply it to the base of the skull.

You gotta forgive me. I'm in an interesting place right now.

I got a friend who's all down over his girl and her "extra curricular" activities. Yeah, it's not a good idea to mention them here, but I'm not going to go into specifics, so nobody gets offended, eh? Anyway, that's got him all in a tizz. Which sucks.

Me, I'm fine, but I'm in transition to house dad mode. I'm really looking forward to a break from this day to day. Gah. A little bit of time every morning just for me? Great! Woo. Maybe I"ll finally be able to exercise again. Or clean the house, or write, or paint, or draw, or just get a few minutes of "me time," if you catch my meaning. Etc, etc, etc.

Gah. I don't think I realilzed where my head was today. Time to stop the dumping, eh?

Posted 12:21 PM by Tim
Whenever I meet people in real life from the internet, I always worry about writing about the experience on my blog. I want to write about it, of course, but the trouble comes in writing frankly about impressions. I don't want to offend anyone, and I don't want to freak anyone out. I'm talking about the meeting with the NaNoWriMo people today (see Storylines). Apparently they had read the bit of my story blog where I was writing from the viewpoint of a first person psychotic. What a great impression!

I've been reading their blogs as well (well, those for whom I've found the blogs). I expect them to read my blog for today, and I wanna be frank about the meeting, but I'm concerned about being seen as, well, a freak. I mean, that's probably the truth. But I don't wanna scare people too soon. :)

Posted 1:32 PM by Tim
The relocation has been done. I'm back in a cube again. I'm not sure if it's an improvement or not. It's pretty small in here. There's no pop machine on this floor, and, well, I don't know anyone here. No matter, I didn't really know anyone on the old floor either.

Posted 2:58 PM by Tim
I've got one week of work left and I'm being relocated to another office. Woo. I'll have to reroute my phone to another persons phone because it'll take 2 weeks to set up a phone at a new location. Obstensibly, this move is so that I can train the other people more effectively. I'm cool with that.

Posted 9:16 AM by Tim
Hmm. There hasn't been much to post since I started on NaNoWriMo. I suppose that's because I've been doing very little other than work, sleep and write. Even gaming has gone to the wayside for now.

I'll leave the novel rambling in Storylines, and try to focus on something to say here.

Brenda is starting work next week, so that's a pretty exciting development. I'm going to be unemployed, so I get to be house-dad until I can find a new job. I hope it doesn't take me too long.

Posted 11:13 AM by Tim
I did alright at the tournament this weekend. I've been working dutifully on my novel too. It's going well.

Brenda had an interview this weekend. She was offered a job (at the same time I was offered one this weekend). We've decided to have her work for a little while, and I will stay home and take care of the children and home. At least for now.

Posted 8:53 AM by Tim
NaNoWriMo starts today. Check the progress of my novel. Hey, it's the first day, do be so critical!

Hallowe'en was last night (yes, it has an apostrophe in it!). I went to see the girls school party. More spidermen, princesses and animals than you usually find in a school. Overall fun, but also highly frustrating on a low level. Why, oh why does every girl have to be a princess?

We did the trick-or-treating thing too. We didn't get to very many houses because it was cold and raining. That's fine. The girls liked it, and they got enough candy to keep them happy for a day or two.

I'm off my diet now, so I can eat anything again. I'm starting slow with the food though, because I want to try to keep off the weight I've lost already.

Provincials this weekend. I might not go.