Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

I strongly suspect Bassy is going into the family biz.

My mother long ago gave up on my prospects of becoming a musician. To be quite honest, she never really tried. And my father never pushed me. Though I like music, have had guitar lessons, and like playing, there were other things I liked more, namely painting, astronomy, writing, and chess, among others. And of course there were my secret forays to the cemetery at night.

So I'm not surprised that she is now fiercely overseeing Bassy's musical development. Of course, it helps her that he has more talent in his pinky than I have in my whole body. And he seems to have an interest in it, if only because she is pushing so damn hard. What he doesn't seem to have, though, is the 24-7 obsession with music that dad does. He has other interests, like computers and cartoons and cooking.

I think Bassy should do whatever he wants to do with his life, not because mom wants him to do it. Sometimes I wonder if one of these days, he is going to rebel. So far, though, he hasn't, and mostly it's because of his demeanor. He isn't like me at all, and about that I'm actually glad. I think if mom were doing that to me, I would have rebelled already.

Mom and dad go to Egypt!

So, I'm checkin' my email and Vanna's blog post, and I find out that she's filled out papers to try to adopt these 2 Egyptian kids.

Personally, I think she's crazy.

Not that the kids aren't cute, from the pix she posted they're adorable... but I'm not sure about this.

Apparently mom has found out about Vanna's plan, too. Of course she's found out. It was in the paper! If mom wasn't already teed off at Vanna, if they hadn't already had this big blowup over her book, then this latest thing has really set her off. So much so, that she and dad booked a flight and headed to Egypt themselves! Since I still have school, I plan to stay at Noah and Neil's while they're gone. I can't see myself in this house by myself.
I'd only been to Noah's place once before, when I was still little and Neil's parents were getting married.

Sebastian's Birthday

Today was Sebastian's first birthday. Boy does time fly. I was curious to see whether he had mom's skintone or if he had dad's complexion like me. Mom (who still hasn't quite lost her pre-pregnancy weight) led him to his birthday cake.

There he is, just below mom's feet. He's gonna be a total heartbreaker, I see that already.
BTW I also think Aunt Margaret's on her last legs. I haven't quite mentioned it to dad but the specter (pardon my pun) of her death is looming. I also think she's older than she says. She says she's 95 days old but the combination of birth certificate from England and my dad's stories put her age at more like 105 days. As grandpa lived to 101 days, long life is in our genes I think. Dad says she's entitled to have that one tiny little fib. We don't know when the Reaper is coming but we know we'll be totally sad when he does.




After Sebastian blew out his cake, mom, dad, and I went into the dining room and we talked about quite a few things -- mom's elder birthday party (which she either wants to have here at the house or at the park), the guest list, the music, all of that. And then I finally said I wanted my own birthday party at the beach.
"What's the sense in having a beach party, Vanna?" mom asked. "They can't swim in the water yet."
"I still think a beach party would be fun. Could have music and dancing and even a fire..."
"C'mon, Shan," dad said, "let her have her beach party. Even though we can't swim in the ocean yet there could still be a great time."


Here's one last pic of Dad & Bastian.