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I haven’t posted again for the past few days. It’s not that I’m avoiding it, it’s just been a busy time.

I went to work to find out I'd been scheduled to have the day off. My leave request said "mother-in-laws birthday." I headed home. The Superwife informed me she’s in Colorado. What to do, what to do? The wife knew what to do. We spent the morning watching a movie she’d checked out from the library. I don’t even remember what the movie was, or particularly liking it. But I do remember thinking, “this is the best use of my vacation time?” Not that it mattered.

Then she said we were going swimming because it was going to be 95 degrees outside. All the better reason to stay inside thinks I. We have air conditioning for a reason, right? The answer apparently is, “Wrong.” So off to the beach we went at 2:00. Hot. Real hot. Can people boil in the water? Hot.

The Superwife and the kids went into the water with a couple of rafts. They later reported to me they’d had fun. As is immediately apparent, I did not join them. I stayed in the van and took a nap. Why? Well, firstly, I was tired. Secondly, I’m too self-conscious to do it. Born shy, gotten worse, can’t get over it. I’ve tried rationalizing my way out of it, but have never been able to. It always comes down to feeling too embarrassed.

You’ll never see me in a swimsuit. You’ll never hear me sing. You’ll never see me talk in a group. Other people certainly do those things just fine. The wife and kids have no problems. The best I can figure is that I’m just wired that way. It’s just an extreme aversion to doing anything that could cause negative comments. Even if with my hearing I’d never hear them. Just the suspicion is more than I can bear. So it was nap-time for the Serf.

They played for a few hours, nap-time was over, and away we went. “Anybody hungry?” Yes’s came back. Um, how about the IHOP over there? We’ve never eaten there. Trainboy says no, he wants Burger King. Apparently kids don’t develop an aversion to constantly eating out of bags until they’re old enough to say, “Don’t trust anyone under 30.” So to Burger King we go.

Trainboy pulls the toy out of his freshly bagged meal and declares, “This is the one I’ve wanted!” You have to wonder how much food is sold at fast-food places just for the kids’ toys. Kids don’t care about nutrition. Kids don’t care about variety. Kids don’t care about taste. Parents just care about peace and quiet. So we reach into our bags and eat.

Then we went grocery shopping. Groceries and groceries and groceries. Don’t worry about a famine, you know somebody with food. Every kid seems to have their favorites that run in streaks. Right now Trainboy’s home cooking is fish sticks with lots of tartar sauce. It cannot be just any tartar sauce either. Fat-free profanes his mouth. Regular just won’t do either. By the Prince’s command it must be Kraft Tartar Sauce with Lemon. Nothing else is deserving of his attention. I’ll buy two or three bottles at a time just to make sure we don’t run out. That can save you a trip late at night. For fast food he’s strictly chicken nuggets and fries.

Ms. Pikachu’s fast-food of choice is a cheesburger and fries. While she was eating her fries she used them to scrape the cheese off her cheeseburger wrapper, then she reached over and scraped the cheese off my wrapper. She shared that she thinks fries and cheese are wonderful, but it would be even better if you put chocolate on them too. There’s an idea that could put your food back into the bag, after you’ve put the bag to your mouth.

She’s a chocoholic. She takes great pride in it. Just hand over the chocolate and nobody gets hurt. She claims all chocolate as though it's rightfully hers.

Oddly enough, her current favorite home food is cup-a-soup stuff. Add water, nuke to boiling, wait a couple minutes, and she thinks it’s just the best. At least it’s easy. What is probably the best about it is that she can do it herself anytime she wants some. A little chocoholic who wants some control.

Anyway, it seems that Ms. Pikachu is just like her mother. She looks like a copy with blond hair. Very bright, very personable, very fun to have around.

On the other hand, Trainboy also looks like his mother, but has a personality like mine. He's very quiet, thoughtful, and affectionate. We try to get him to speak up for himself, which is why if he wants to go to Burger King, we go. He needs to know his opinions matter.

You can't help but look at the two kids and think their personalities are so different they just have to be wired that way. People can make decisions to change, but there are limits. It just doesn't seem probable that an introvert can will themselves to be an extrovert. On the other hand, maybe it's just being willing to practice. I dunno.

I’ve been doing some computer-taught HTML stuff. One of these days this blog will start looking a little different.

Publicserf