6 minute stance and meditation warm up

music review

Actually while doing this I realized it was a good way to practice Dai Dai's reading. Like they say in all the commercials, every moment can be a learning moment.

Butterfly Garden

I got an e-mail from a parent about planting a "Butterfly garden" I didn't quite know what that was but it sounded like a lot of work. But I realized I could just go help out a little and blog about it. 

At first I didn't see anyone, just the equipment and I didn't want to just start digging holes by myself. 

Then when picking up the kids I bumped into Alice, who was the main person behind this. 

I also helped her hemmer in this "sandbox" which is not going to be a sandbox after all but a raised flat bed or dirt box. That was another occasion and while I helped, Dai Dai fell on his face on a rock. He still has a shadow of a bruise. So basiccally I am slightly averse to doing anything any sort of good deed. I always notice my kids get hurt like doing good is actually bad Karma. Accidentally doing good while promoting myself through blogging however, seems to work out fine Karmically.

Well this is the finished butterfly garden. 

"We'll see if it survives the winter." Said Alice. 

"Oh yeah were you here last winter with all the snow?"

"Actually no, we were in Rwanda for a couple years."

Wait What?

So apparently Alice and her husband are Doctors who lived in Rwanda. Their child went to a nice Montessori school there. Basically all I know about Rwanda is from Hotel Rwanda. Hutu's, Tutsi's, genocide. 

"It's actually pretty safe right now in a dictatorship type of way." Alice said, "What everyone is worried about now is Burundi."

"And that's another country?" I asked. Hey I'm ignorant. Why front? But my main point is, I met some pretty interesting people around JP and here some pretty cool stories. So I'm going to start writing them down.

On to my kids.

The kids have created this super hero called Super baby. They will jump around in their imaginary world which is pretty cool. I remember jumping around by myself. Having a sibling seems to be much better. 

"Baba! Super Baby's number is 922. It's like 911 but it's 922. 922! Hello? Super Baby? Can you come save us?"

I don't know, I just thought that was hilarious and felt I had to write it down somewhere before I forgot it.

Well off to JP Soccer.

Use Your body as a lever

The Masticating Monkey: Eating Boston, Part I: Chinatown

The Masticating Monkey: Eating Boston, Part I: Chinatown: It's been impossible not to have the city of Boston and its people on the mind the past couple weeks.  I don't need to rehash eve...

Violin and Pumpkin

On Tuesday in addition to voting I also volunteered for Curley's little bake sale for a couple of hours.

Above is Ann De George, the mom who often gets these things done, and manages to recruit me (sometimes)To tell the truth, for this kind of stuff. I'm really not the type. But I'll do a little bit. Just like my street sweeping is a little bit.

I met Annissa Esaibi-George. Unfortunately I had already voted and I had voted for myself twice in protest. Had I heard what she stands for on the way in. I would have voted for her. (Like I said I voted for myself twice.) But she won anyway.  

Let's move on to Shao's violin lesson

Shao learns Suzuki Violin from Lisa Goddard. (Click on her name and it will go to her webiste if you are interested in Violin lessons in JP.) She had a neck injury. But still manages to play and teach.

Shao kept talking about the neck brace and how it looks like "something Star Wars." He was also fascinated by the tuning device. Red means sharp? or Flat? What's sharp and flat? What's that? He said pointing to the intercom. I know your procrastination game Shao. Play your songs. But Lisa answered his questions and directed him toward the lesson gently. I'm more patient with other people's children too. 

He actually listens to her a lot more than he listens to me.

Here is Lisa playing using a scarf that enables her to play the violin.  Pretty cool huh? Shao has a Group lesson/performance coming up next week. So they played a little duet. Lisa played Harmony. "It's like two sounds." Said Noah. He had trouble playing his "sounds." She also played and introduction, or "insterduction" as he would call it. It threw him off a little.

Where is Dai Dai in all this? Right there. Humming along.

Shao needes to learn to play closer to the bridge. Dai Dai takes note. He also takes off his socks and throws them at me.

And then tucks his feet under the blanket.

And kicks them up and down to amuse himself. 

This week Shao has to work on "Go tell Aunt Rhody"  and "Oh Come Little Children" specifically the Up bows. Then he is to work on the A arpegio. a, c#, e, high a, and then back down again.

We took the bus because I don't want the kids biking with me at night. Plus I've noticd Shao gets sick when ever we bike. It's too much of a physical strain for him.

Look it's Dark already because of the time change.

That's Il Panino behind us by the way. Maybe I'll do a little post about them. I always hear the moms at the playground talking about it. I actually don't care, but obviously people do. I'll just ask what they think and maybe go there like a food blogger. 

The reward for good violin practice is Shao can touch the Tomohawk I bought. It was cheap and made in China. I couldn't resist buying it. It's a sickness I know. Oh why are we holding the Tomohawk near an innocent Jack O' Lantern?

Well the first pumpkin we carved rotted. I wanted to eat this one before that happened. To eat it, one must cut it. Why cut it by myself when...

Shao can help. 

Dai Dai too. Sorry Dai Dai, no sharp objects for you yet. I don't trust your motor skills, (or lack thereof.)

A few hits. Okay it's Shao's turn again. 

Right in there. 

Oooo Mommy's not going to like this. Good thing she's coming home late... ding dong. Oh shit. 

Well that was yesterday. Today I biked through Dorchester. One of my little back back burner projects is trying to set up a middle school in Chinatown. A private school that would be Mandarin or at least Chinese Immersion. I can't do it myself. But the goal of the school would be to create a more cohesive community. The gentrifiers, the new immigrants, the old timers... if they are all part of the same school, Chinatown can still be Chinatown... culturally... even if it is diverse racially and economically. But more on that later.

A physical school is a lot harder to set up than a blog. But... I sort of did help set up the CCBA library. I didn't do much. I just sent an e-mail with some suggestions for .. actually I blogged about it. Books and Libraries. I didn't do any of the leg work. All I'm saying is, there wasn't a library. Then I blogged about it and e-mailed certain people... and now there is a library. (click on that link to see a post on the Chinatown Blog I did. Actually I have to update it with some better pictures.) Not a lot of people know about it. 

Oh yeah I was going to do something about that. Events or something. 

Voting Day

Did you vote today? I did.
For City Councilor at large I voted for Michelle Wu. I think she was even there in person. But I wasn't sure because her hair was pulled back and she looked so young.
I could vote for up to four though, so I voted for Ayanna Presley, because I heard she was smart, and she's black, and I saw some people holding signs in Roxbury when I biked passed. But I almost didn't vote for her because I haven't seen her around. For everyone else, even though I may have seen them a long time ago, I haven't seen them recently. So I used my last two votes for write-ins, for myself. That's right I voted for myself twice. You could say it makes no sense. But hey I haven't seen these other guys around.  Am I  supposed to vote for you just because you are on the ballot?
I'm letting you know you could have had my vote, my one vote.
But if everyone did what I did you would actually have to campaign and do stuff.
 I wouldn't let my own kids get complacent, so why should I let those who I hand over power to?

Matt O'Malley, ran unopposed and I did see him three times, at stuff in JP and in Chinatown. So I gave him my vote. Not because he ran unopposed, but because despite being the only name on the ballot that I saw, he did put forth  effort in my community. Both of my communities, which  I guess are in the same voting district.

Go vote.

It doesn't matter who you vote for.

It does matter that you vote.