Vacation Notes

Right at this very moment, I am on vacation. And I had been hoping that said vacation would mean that I'd have time to catch up on the posts I wanted to make here (reviewing 8 books and covering 2 movies) and for ComicMix (7 books that should turn into 4-6 reviews). Sadly, it looks like that won't be the case; I'm busy.

Yesterday was the big Cub Scout camp-out and picnic, so I had to drag my two sons (the elder of whom has graduated from Cub Scouts and has no intention of becoming a Boy Scout, but he's stuck) out into the woods for an afternoon of barbecue, hearty outdoor games, and repeated questions of when it would be over. Eventually, The Wife arrived for the sleepover portion of the event -- I'll be damned if I'm sleeping in the woods on purpose as long as I have a perfectly good roof and bed -- and stayed there with the still dewey-eyed and camp-happy younger son, Thing 2.

Thing 1 and I decamped to my mother's house for a dinner with my brother -- visiting from Oregon for the weekend -- and then finally got home about nine. I then watched about two-thirds of Watchmen (how am I liking it so far? Well, the fact that I could stop in the middle should be a clue) and then went to bed.

Today Thing 1 and I ran back up to the campsite, fresh bagels in hand, to help with pack-out. We brought everything home, spread it all out to dry in the yard, and had a short pause before I took the two boys back to my mother's for another meal with my brother (so Thing 2 could get some uncle time in). And then, around 3:30, I drove said brother to JFK for his flight back to Portland. Coming back, I got caught in a nasty, hail-filled downpour -- and also ended up going twenty or thirty miles out of my way, trying a different way back from the airport -- and finally got back here around 7:30.

So I've already lost two days that I could have been blogging, or lazing on a couch, or something.

Tomorrow we head off to Hershey Park, land of rollercoasters and chocolate-coded rides, which will eat up another two and a half days. More activities are planned for the back half of the week...and then next Monday will see me, bright and early, on a hotel function room floor in a Wiley booth at the awe-inspiring American Accounting Association show. Luckily, it's in New York this year, so I can do it from home, but it's still going to be a tough week to come back.

And then I'm off to Worldcon that weekend. (And the week after Worldcon is the company's thrice-yearly Sales Meeting -- luckily, this is one of the ones in New Jersey.)

It's beginning to look like I have the vacation at the wrong end of the month.

Anyway, I still do hope to catch up on all that typing stuff this week, but I'm less clear on when I'll have time to do it. Content may be light here for a week or three, and my reviews at ComicMix may become less dependable again. But, as always, We'll See what really happens.

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Listening to: Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
via FoxyTunes