G'day, folks.
Sharon/WO, go get some exercise and blow away those back to work cobwebs.
Fran, I'm glad difficult child is now doing so much better. it's a positive feedback loop that snowballs, when they begin to do well. When oter people enjoy their company more, it makes out kids feel more confident and this makes their behaviour continue to improve. And so on.
maril, enjoy the game. Fresh air is good for you.
Andy, those practice runs are a great idea. We organised one for difficult child 3 when it looked like he would have to attend the local high school. The school needed the practice run as much as difficult child 3 did! But when it was obvious the school wouldn't cope, we were able to get difficult child 3 enrolled in correspondence instead (a very good thing for everybody!)
TM, Australia is only just getting into cheerleading, it's definitely not a mainstream thing here. Some of our major league football teams have professional cheerleaders who are mainly dancers, but in general we don't do that sort of thing. We do have mascots though. On the news yesterday they talked about a Sydney football team, the Eagles, whose mascot got loose. Yes, a REAL eagle! She flew off and didn't come back when she was supposed to. But they did get her back (much to the relief of owners of small dogs and cats in nearby suburbs). A flamin' big Wedge-Tailed Eagle! Apparently every football game the team has in their home stadium, their mascot does a free flight over the crowd for the length of the stadium.
I've been slaving over a hot computer all day and it will be taking me another week or so to finish this job.
It's a re-do of a job I did about 6 years ago which got taken from me by an over-zealous self-aggrandizing 'publisher' who put me through purgatory over his pernicketty insistence I do things HIS way first. I was trying to protect my client and to no avail - I discover she got ripped off. And now she's asking me to help her re-set her book. It's the third time for me, so I know it well by now!
And I'm finding things this previous idiot of a shonk did badly. I'm using the published book for comparison, against my reproduction of my old files. And as I'm working, I'm remembering all the headaches, all the problems he had reading my PDF files and his extreme rudeness over it all, and the constant tears of the client over the whole mess.
The old publisher is now out of business. The client has asked me to be her publisher. I probably will only get paid a pittance, plus she has a lot more referrals for me (who also probably can't afford to pay me what I should get).
But I'm getting A LOT of practice!
OK, that's my whinge for the day.
difficult child 3 has worked well this week and after lessons today we went to the local tennis courts for another lesson. He's doing really well now. I get my twice-weekly exercise by hanging around on the courts and kicking all the tennis balls back to the teacher. And I am so SORE!
I have a writers meeting tomorrow. I'm taking my laptop with the book file on it so I can keep working on the layout while the meeting is on. I love multitasking! After that I have a friend's party (the family is invited) and she has also asked me to be ready to perform (I do poetry, mainly). Then on Sunday I meet with the client I just mentioned, who is also putting on a dramatic version of "The Little Prince" and wants me in it.
I'm going, because we're meeting in a seaside bistro down south and we should enjoy the company and the chance to relax and discover how much (or how little) French we can recall. I strongly suspect I'll be useless for the project, but it was nice of her to ask me. But sometime before Sunday, I do need to read the book...
I'll be able to give the client good news though - already I've discovered that I can publish the almost exact same book for her, two thirds thinner which will mean a cheaper production, for the same look and quality. Maybe at last she can earn some money from her writing! I'm feeling very smug!
Again tonight difficult child 3's tennis teacher told me I should be putting pen to paper to publish my experiences raising 'Cain'... I feel guilty, because although I have started it and add something now and then, I am a long way from finishing. But then, difficult child 3 is a long way from being a finished product himself...
Marg