The Diary of A Simple Man
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Peter Maranci" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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10:32 pm
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Mr. Doughboy
We went to Mr. Doughboy today. It was weird. Shabby and run-down, but it was also very much like stepping through a portal into the 1950s. We had fun!
Teri and Sebastian liked the food. I thought it was only okay. There was a really cool little train, but it was broken and looked like it will never be fixed. Sebastian rode on a go-kart and loved it. Of course it wasn't his first time, but it had been at least six months since his last time.
He begged for another ride, but we told him we'd come back some time soon. It's really remarkably close to us; less than a twenty-minute drive from our house. I never dreamed there was a go-kart place so near!
I got a moderate sunburn while there, incidentally. My head is all red and hot-feeling.
Current Location: Home
Tags: sebastian, weekend
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10:19 pm
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Sebastian's belt
I'm going to try to get to sleep relatively early tonight - I desperately need the rest. But I wanted to note that Sebastian took the test for his blue belt in karate tonight, and passed.
During the test an annoying woman was walking all over the place, talking loudly to the owner and on the phone about buying some nunchuks. Sebastian ignored her well. We were very proud of him.
Current Location: Home
Current Mood:  tired
Tags: karate, sebastian
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10:09 pm
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Something I'd forgotten: Sammy and Sebastian
I would have sworn that I'd posted this long ago.
Not long after Sam, our old cat, died, I was sitting in front of the computer and looking at photos of him. Sebastian came in the room and watched me; he was just under three years old. As I kept clicking through the pictures, he put his hand on my arm to stop me.
"Wait a minute, Daddy," he said, sounding very determined as he pointed to a picture of Sam on the monitor, "I'm going to go in there and get Sammy back."
Current Location: Home
Current Mood: indescribable
Tags: cats, sebastian
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09:37 am
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Scouts
We had the last Cub Scout meeting of the season last night. Thank goodness! It will be good to get a chance to rest on Tuesday nights. Although I also want to work out something for Sebastian and me to do on those nights, since Teri will still be at a meeting then.
Maybe we'll take a stroll.
Current Mood:  good
Tags: scouts, sebastian, teri
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09:49 am
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Survived
Sebastian and I survived the Cub Scout Chuckwagon event on Saturday.
We got up at around 5:30 AM, and hit the road at around 6:30. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the Feinstein camp where the event was being held. The directions were clear, but we were taking several twisty small roads in a relatively rural part of RI. We didn't have any problem until the very last turn; the sign for that road was blank!
( Read more... )
I was really hoping to sleep late the next day; it was a cool, cloudy but not-too-humid late-spring morning, and with the window and ceiling fans going, the sheets felt unbelievably good against my skin. But Teri had to go to work, and Sebastian needed to be looked after, so I got myself up and on my feet. All in all, Sunday was relatively quiet and peaceful. Not a bad way to end the weekend.
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Sid Vicious - My Way
Tags: food, scouts, sebastian, weekend
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10:19 am
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Infection
Two days ago I was holding our cat, Sarah. Sebastian asked me to pass her to him, so I did - but not carefully enough. She pierced him in the shoulder with one of her hind claws. It was a small deep piercing rather than a scratch.
He screamed. The clawed spot instantly turned black and looked bruised. Teri took him into the bathroom, wiped the spot down with a baby wipe, put antibacterial ointment on the scratch, and put a Spongebob Squarepants band-aid on it.
Last night she took off the band-aid. The entire area where the band-aid had been stuck was bright red and splotchy. The injury itself was clearly infected; he had a perfectly round spot about the size of a dime that had turned darkish and swollen.
After a bit of arguing (Teri sometimes seems to think that I don't know what I'm talking about) I used some hydrogen peroxide on the infection. A small scab had formed, but after several applications the scab dissolved, and the peroxide foamed up quite a bit. Sebastian was very scared, but relieved that the peroxide didn't really hurt. I kept applying peroxide until it stopped foaming.
As far as I could tell, the peroxide had affected the center of the infection; a spot in the center about the size of a large pencil eraser had visibly improved. The swelling basically disappeared. But there's still a circle around the perimeter that's dark and infected. My guess is that the peroxide couldn't penetrate that far under the skin from the central entry point.
We're going to check it again tonight. If it's not visibly better, we'll call his doctor; he may need antibiotics. I'm hoping we can avoid the necessity of having it lanced, since that would scare him very much. But unless it's swollen again, I don't think lancing will be necessary.
As for the band-aid, I checked the packaging. Sure enough, it was a latex bandage. I don't know that Sebastian is allergic to latex, but it seemed a reasonable possibility. So I put on antibacterial ointment, got a sheer latex-free band-aid (without Spongebob, but that's life), and put it on perpendicular to the orientation of the original band-aid. If he has a reaction to this one, he'll end up with a red plus-sign on his shoulder.
Current Mood:  worried
Current Music: Jackson Browne - Lawyers In Love
Tags: sebastian, sebastian's health
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10:28 pm
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Circus
We went to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus in Providence on Saturday. Teri hates the circus; she thinks that they're cruel to their animals. I'm afraid that she might be right. But at the same time, seeing a Russian circus was one of the more memorable moments of my childhood, and I wanted to provide that for Sebastian.
We picked up the cheapest tickets via Ticketmaster; they were $15. Teri decided that she wanted to come along too. Ticketmaster pissed me off royally by charging an additional $3.50 per ticket "convenience charge" (what the hell is convenient about that?) and $5.85 in assorted additional "screw you, we're a monopoly" fees.
That includes charging us a "delivery" fee for letting ME PRINT OUT THE TICKETS!
Ticketmaster is a monopoly and should be broken up. The executives who run it should be executed. Sorry, I might have lost my temper for a minute there. 
Anyway, we went, and even though we were in the cheap seats, we had a good view of the circus. The Dunkin' Donuts Center is quite small, so even the upper-level seats get a closer view of the stage (or ice, during hockey) than you get in larger venues. We all had a lot of fun. It was a long show, close to three hours, but it was really well-done and impressive. Okay, there were some cheesy moments, yes. But circuses are primarily for kids, after all.
The one thing that bothered me and Teri was the tiger part of the show. Teri suspected that the tigers' spirits had been broken, and I could easily imagine that that was true. Sebastian was very excited to see the tigers, though.
There were more acrobatics than Teri and I had expected. Maybe B&B has been influenced by some of the new human-only circuses.
I was stunned to pay FIFTEEN DOLLARS for a snow-cone in a light-up circus cup. Stunned.
But we'll definitely go again. In the meantime, we're looking forward to seeing They Might Be Giants at a family show in Boston in May!
Current Location: Home
Current Mood: accomplished
Tags: fun, sebastian, teri
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08:51 am
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The Stoned Guest
And while I'm at it, here's PROOF that virtually anything can be found on YouTube: PDQ Bach's The Stoned Guest. It's the whole album in four parts. The only thing that's missing is the very funny "Opera Whiz" feature from the intermission.
My father used to play this a lot when I was little, and now I'm playing it for Sebastian (I have the actual album, fortunately). The funny thing is that Sebastian's favorite part is when Don Octave sings "For the first time in my life, I'm going to do something right!", slips, and accidentally stabs himself in the heart with a horrible scream. :D
Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: P.D.Q. Bach - The Stoned Guest
Tags: humor, music, sebastian, video, youtube
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10:48 am
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Sebastian and the stars
Teri read to him last night, but then he wanted me to come in and sing to him. We lay on top of his sheet-canopy (it's up again); he turned off his bedside lamp and nightlight. He told me to lie flat, cross my legs, put my fingertips together, close my eyes, and imagine really hard that I was out in space. Then he told me to open my eyes and we'd count the stars.
We counted 38 glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling. He climbed under his canopy, I sang to him for a while, and he fell asleep.
Later, at around 11:30, I looked in on him. It was an awfully hot night, and Teri refused to let me put in the AC; I'd found some fans to put in his room and ours, though, and they helped a bit.
He was thrashing around quite a bit under the sheet. I ducked under and asked "Are you okay, Sebastian?".
There was a pause, and then he said in a very clear and calm voice, "Where am I?".
"You're at home, big boy. Everything's fine. Do you want me to take the sheet down?"
"...No."
"Okay. Good night!"
The next morning he didn't remember any of that, of course. I knew at the time that he wouldn't; he was basically asleep the whole time.
Current Mood: indescribable
Current Music: Heaven 17 - Geisha Boys and Temple Girls
Tags: sebastian
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09:37 pm
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Home
We're home. It's hot. I don't feel well. It was wonderful to see Sebastian again, though. I just sang him to sleep a little while ago.
Current Mood: tired
Tags: sebastian, vacation
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08:43 pm
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Hit
To sum up: we were rear-ended tonight in Franklin. We were in an intersection, waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear so we could make a left turn. A woman hit us pretty hard from behind. Sebastian started crying.
The woman drove down the street and pulled over. Then she drove about a quarter-mile down the road. After a while, she turned around and pulled over in front of our car. I'd called the police, and they showed up fairly quickly.
Teri had a headache, and my neck hurts quite a bit. Sebastian's okay. The back section of our car is detached from the body on the right-hand side, but it doesn't look too awful. I'll be filing an accident report tomorrow.
I talked to Allstate, our insurer. Lest anyone wonder: Allstate sucks, Allstate sucks, Allstate sucks. We're out a $500 deductible, and then after that they'll see if they can recover the money from the woman's insurance company and reimburse us. The Allstate rep was less than helpful.
Current Mood: tired
Tags: car, commute, sebastian, teri
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01:14 pm
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Short update
Haven't felt like writing here lately.
Everyone's basically fine.
Teri's mother recommended a guy/company to strip, repair, and repaint our fence and front porch for $350+paint. We're doing it.
Sebastian has been making us play "baseball" with him in the back yard lately. He hit the ball and it smashed me in the face. Fortunately it was a beachball. No damage.
I've been thinking about political vs. religious discussion:
http://askville.amazon.com/Christians-atheists-fear-feel-people-side-fence/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=49722175
Really tired. Need to get onto a better sleeping schedule - need to REALLY BADLY.
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: The Dukes of Stratosphear - Have You Seen Jackie
Tags: askville, atheism, home, house, religion, sebastian
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12:13 pm
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GoodReads Review: Doctor Dolittle's Return
 Doctor Dolittle's Return by Hugh Lofting
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
Doctor Dolittle's Return is the ninth book in Hugh Lofting's classic Doctor Dolittle series. Remarkably, it features some of the most memorable and funniest moments of the whole series. That's a rare thing in a long series!
The book directly continues the plot line begun in the preceeding book, Doctor Dolittle in the Moon. It should be noted that Lofting originally intended to end the series with that book, but for some reason changed his mind; five years after the publication of Doctor Dolittle in the Moon, Doctor Dolittle's Return was published.
( Read more... )
I believe I read the entire series when I was young, with the exception of the Gub-Gub book (which is quite rare). But I don't remember anything past the end of Doctor Dolittle's Return. Is that because the later books were depressing? Or is it that I never read them? I'm not sure. I'll admit that I'm a little concerned, because Sebastian very much wants to continue reading the Dolittle series; as described, though, the final books may not be appropriate for him. We'll simply have to try and see. And if for some reason they're not appropriate for a seven-year-old, at least we'll have the pleasure of reading the first nine books all over again - at least one or two more times, before he's too grown-up to listen to stories read by his old Dad.
View all my reviews.
Current Mood:  nostalgic
Tags: books, genre, goodreads, review, reviews, sebastian
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11:17 pm
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A Terrible Screaming II
We had a nice dinner tonight. There was a fundraiser at Chelos, a local family restaurant; 15-20% of the check for anyone coming in tonight with a special ticket would go to Sebastian's cub scout pack.
The place was filled with people we knew. It was a nice feeling.
When we got home, Teri and Sebastian went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. I went back out to the car to get a drawing that Sebastian had made; he wanted it. When I came to the back door, though, I heard a strange sound. What was it? It almost sounded like a cat screaming. Or was it Sebastian, imitating a cat scream? He does imitations sometimes. But if this was him, his skill was reaching new heights.
I opened the door and went in. The screaming became louder. I looked towards the dining room, and saw something terrible.
Widget, our new kitten (well, he's a bit large to be called a kitten now) had somehow gotten trapped between the back slats of one of the dining-room chairs. He was hanging sideways, flailing about in agony. The space between the slats was less than three inches across where he was. It looked like it was cutting him in two, just above his hind legs. Since two thirds of his body was hanging unsupported, he was helpless...and screaming.
I ran over and grabbed him, lifting him. He tried to sink his teeth into my hand; somehow I had expected that, and managed to turn my hand enough to make it a gash rather than a piercing. I tried to gently see if I could move him in either direction - how had he gotten into this fix? - but he was stuck. And still screaming. I thought of the large snips in the back shed that I've used to cut branches and saplings; could it cut through the slats? Would Widget live long enough for someone to get it and let me snip it?
The bathroom door opened. Teri rushed out and grabbed Widget too. She was thinking better than I was; "Lift him!" she said. The space between the slats was wider at the top of the chair, although the in-and-out design didn't make that immediately obvious to me. We lifted, and got him out. He disappeared.
Sebastian was very upset and scared. He said he was going to throw up. He didn't, but Teri and I didn't have much time to console him; we needed to find Widget. It seemed entirely possible that he was dying, although the thought crossed my mind that he was A) young and B) a cat - and therefore doubly hard to kill.
I searched the basement. Teri and Sebastian searched upstairs. When we met in the dining room, Widget was there.
He seemed fine. And he's done some climbing, running, and jumping since then. He still seems fine.
I got Sebastian into bed, and finished reading Doctor Dolittle Returns to him. He calmed down and fell asleep.
And that was our day.
Current Location: Home
Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Yes - It Can Happen
Tags: cats, sebastian, teri
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11:15 pm
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Balloon?
We went to the Rhode Island Home Show on Friday, and Sebastian got a balloon Tigger made for him. I ended up picking up a book on how to make basic balloon animals and shapes, plus a pack of balloons.
The first thing he asked me to make was a sword. It was hard as hell to blow up the balloon - they must be a special kind - but the instructions for making the sword seemed pretty straightforward.
Even so, I was surprised. I folded, pinched, and twisted - and the balloon practically exploded into a perfect sword (well, dagger) shape. Sebastian was totally delighted. He immediately had me make another one so that we could duel. After a short bout, I had a stroke of inspiration: I rubbed his sword on his head and then stuck it, magically, to the ceiling. He couldn't have been happier.
Current Location: Home
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Theme from The Third Man
Tags: fun, sebastian
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09:12 am
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Trouble at school: the aftermath
So we picked Sebastian up at school yesterday, and asked him how his day was. He told us that it was fine.
Now, if you're a parent, you can usually tell when a child is stressed and lying, and when they're totally relaxed. Sebastian was clearly relaxed. We questioned him, and he told us that he hadn't had to miss any recess that day, and that there had been no problems. Teri tried a trick or two on him - "Why did you tell him that you'd kill him again?" - and his instant response was "I didn't!". If he'd done it, we know him well enough to be sure that he would have reflexively tried to justify himself.
We were sure he didn't do it.
So I called his school, and eventually got to speak with his teacher. What she told me was confusing. As far as she could figure it out, the other boy's teacher heard Sebastian and him talking about the incident, and got confused. The original incident happened on Tuesday, and she apparently heard them discussing it on Wednesday or Thursday. The other boy got detention, but not for a second threat - rather, it was for something else he'd done, something totally unconnected with Sebastian. So Sebastian was totally innocent. And the person who called me from the school (I wish I'd gotten her name) and mentioned the possibility of suspension was way out of line.
We're very relieved!
Current Location: Home
Current Mood: relieved
Current Music: The Cure - Caterpillar
Tags: school, sebastian
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03:21 pm
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Sebastian grills
I almost forgot: I barbecued two weeks ago. Sebastian saw me getting ready to make burgers, and asked if he could make three little burgers himself: his first. I got him a pair of disposable food-prep gloves, and gave him three small balls of meat. He made them into little hamburgers.
Of course I couldn't let him grill them himself - he understood - but I cooked them for him. One of them changed shape oddly on the grill as it cooked, ending up as a perfect little Valentine's heart.
Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: George Harrison - Only A Dream Away
Tags: cooking, food, sebastian, weekend
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10:06 am
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Swearing
A couple of weeks ago Sebastian told me that a boy at his school had said the "s" word. "What IS the 's' word?" I asked, to be safe. I figured it was "stupid", but it wouldn't hurt to be sure.
"S-h-i-t" he whispered. I was shocked; he hadn't known that word before.
A couple of days ago he told me that a boy at his school had said something else bad. He whispered it into my ear, spelling it: "s-o-n o-f a b-i-t-c-h". Another new one. I was particularly surprised that he spelled it correctly.
Current Mood: thoughtful
Tags: school, sebastian
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11:33 pm
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Today
Today when we came home Sebastian and I saw our first robin of Spring, although of course it's not technically Spring yet. He was a very big fellow with a very bright red chest, sitting up at the top of a high tree next door and singing his lungs out.
He sat there in the sun and we watched him for a long time. Sebastian ran inside to get his video-binoculars, but unfortunately the batteries were dead. He got a good look at the robin, though.
Eventually the sun went down, and it got very cold very quickly, so we went inside.
Current Location: Home
Current Mood: tired
Tags: sebastian
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03:20 pm
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GoodReads Review: The Wind in the Willows
Fair warning: a substantial portion of this review was taken from my LJ post about it while Sebastian and I were in the middle of the book.
 The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is one of the most lovely, funny, and beautiful books that I have ever read. I've been reading and re-reading it since I was quite young, and it always leaves me wanting more. Mole, Rat, Badger, and especially the ingenious and inimitable Mr. Toad are a perfect fusion of temperaments, quirks, strengths, and weaknesses. An odd shifting of tone from one chapter to the next nonetheless works perfectly, a rare alchemy that would have (and often has) turned leaden in the hands of a lesser author.
But I won't be reviewing the book in great detail here. Instead, here's how Sebastian, my seven-year-old son, reacted to the story.
( Read more... )
I will confess that the reform of Toad is not quite believable (Sebastian confidently told me that Toad would not stay reformed). And the ending comes just a little too quickly. I have always wished as soon as I finished the book that there was more - and so did Sebastian. I know that sequels have been written by some modern-day author; I tried to read one of them, but at the time it didn't quite work for me. Some day, perhaps, I'll try it again...but maybe not. It would be more rewarding to simply re-read The Wind in the Willows once again.
View all my reviews.
Current Mood: accomplished
Tags: books, goodreads, review, reviews, sebastian
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