Crisis Mode

Every blogger I know has the same fear, a feeling of dread in the pit of the stomach, a sense of doom and helplessness should the unthinkable, the unmentionable ever occur. This past week I've been dealing with the very Hell hinted at above....the "spate of work"!!! Actual work, hard work where they pay you for doing stuff. Difficult, time consuming work that keeps me from Blobbing; my one true yet non-paying passion.
I've warned you readers in the past that one day this could happen here at The Blob but never really expected that it would come to pass. Lo and behold it's Spring break during my week with the kids, I'm involved in concerts that require tons of personal practice, there are instrument rentals with their respective deliveries and pick-ups, family matters and other logistical concerns.....all merged into a kind of perfect storm of personal responsibilities and The Blob had to take a back seat. I apologize but until each of my 5 regular readers pony up a solid 15 to 20 thousand that's just the way it's gonna have to be for the next little while.
In the meantime here's a little Spring break story, a 100% true story that happened just yesterday. Benjamin, my 14 year old is a clever, strapping young lad given to monosyllabicism and Nintendo. He had no plans for the break but my ex-wife MC found this teen activity program at the local YMCA that sounded cool. Day 1: pizza making at Domino's followed by a movie. Day2: winter sports....what could be bad. We approached him with this option and even though he had no friends that would be enrolling and it was completely outside his comfort zone he agreed with very little hesitation. I was quite proud of him to say the least. I dropped him off early yesterday morning and picked him up at 4. "How was your day?" I asked. "OK, not great" he replied...."They gave us this tiny ball of dough and we just put a bit of sauce and cheese on it...that was all I had for lunch. The movie was pretty good (Wild Hogs) and there were only 4 other kids there.....I didn't know any of them from school." Later on he told the same thing to his Mother only to have the phone grabbed away by Lara, my daughter, who told her "the rest of the story"! The 4 kids there: 1 hyperactive with Tourette's Syndrome, 1 blind kid with retardation and 2 with Down's syndrome. Benjamin had spent his day in a group activity for the mentally challenged or disabled. In MC's defence there was no way of knowing that the organizers had planned for this to be a mixed group. They didn't tell her when she signed the boy up nor was there any real advertising that indicated the true nature of the project. He was OK and knows that it was a good eye opener and learning experience, not to mention a good story to tell about his well-intentioned but unfortunate Mom. She told him that if he felt out of place there at least he knows how those kids feel every day and that his presence there probably made them happy. He felt that they really didn't notice he was there and were more concerned with, as he put it " staying on the sidewalk". Here's hoping you have a better Spring break.