Skeleton Coast

Greetings. Looks like I'm going to have time to write every other week or so. Things have been hectic, school-wise lately. Parents are split between sending their kids back, or keeping them home for another year of virtual learning. It's a difficult call. A lot of parents work and when everything hit the fan last March, we all had to adjust how we'd work and teach the diva following the instructions given by her teacher. I totally get the parents that feel like they have no choice but to send their kids back, but the slightest hint of a school-wide spread of Covid, and we'll see everything hit the fan again. We don't want to take that chance and are hoping to get her into a virtual learning at her school. I'm hoping they have a re-entry come 2021 if things improve but who knows. Things are so in the dark and it's pretty frustrating to see that our school district isn't really doing anything to protect the kids. Mainly, the "suggestion to wear masks". Not sure how we think we can end this, but sending kids mask-less to an indoor place where they could be interacting with other children that could be carrying it certainly won't help.

The guests I meet on a daily basis that tell me how happy they are that we don't enforce a mandatory mask rule" annoys me. We wear them for 8 hours a day so we can protect us and them. Why is wearing a mask inside a store briefly so difficult? A few weeks ago, Mia had a practice with her team. Her coach got the finalized roster completing the team last week so we'll see who will be added to the Jaguars and when we'll get our Fall schedule. Scarlett is already showing signs of improvement with speed and ball control. Mia's developing strong control of the ball while running and will continue getting better. Both will be great as attackers this season and I hope I can develop some strong goalies. Maybe the new additions? We have practice this week so hopefully we can meet the new kids soon.

We got Mia her own phone recently. Mainly so that when she's out with friends, she has a way of contacting us when she's ready to come home.

Most importantly, one of my all-time favorite bands released their new record last week. The Lawrence Arms released Skeleton Coast which is their first full length album in 6 years. Their bassist/singer BK has been participating in a weekly podcast on a retrospect on their 20 years of albums they've put out. It's been fascinating to listen to it which lead to the release of the new record. It's very good and I'm slowly trying to navigate all the different references and characters they've manifested. They've always been a band that puts a lot of effort into creating stories in their albums and songs. In interviews, they mention that recording at a pecan ranch in Texas inspired some of the overall feels of the album.

Over the weekend, we had a small get together for my birthday. Sad my twin sis had to work and couldn't come, but we'll see her soon hopefully. Jill and Mia picked out a caramel praline Spidey cake and some great new art supplies for me. Always a good choice getting me art stuff. Jill's aunt Gail got me a very unique gift. She ordered me a bracelet made entirely out of glass bottles pulled out of the ocean by 4Ocean. I've always had an interest in ocean conservation and protecting our waters so this is a pretty great gift. Mia and I watched Chelsea's last league match against the Wolves. Great win securing our UCL spot for 2021. We've got an FA cup final still to play for and a UCL match against Munich come August.

Lastly, I've took some time to come up with some more concept shirts/jerseys for some of the youth clubs. The last week or so, I worked on Polonia and PSU. I'm overall pretty happy with the latest PSU away shirt that is actually getting presented at the club board so maybe it'll become something?

This week, we've got soccer and honestly, that's about it. Just trying to enjoy the Summer that seems to be moving insanely fast. Maybe some art lessons? Who knows. Thanks for reading!

And...we're back

Greetings everyone. Time keeps getting away from me and I haven't had time to write here. Been a lot of different things going on both good and bad, so let's get right to it. I'm going to hit some of the highlights of the last few weeks so prepare for some random jumping around here. Mia had a really great charity lemonade sale. We had a couple days where she set up in New Berlin to sell some extra treats and lemonade. She actually did pretty well and the good people of New Berlin really showed their support and bought plenty of art as well. Mia made a total of $777.00 which is way more than she's ever made before. Totally proud of the diva and look forward to her dropping off the cash. HAWS will be so shocked and excited. We just need to book a time for a visit.

Mia's been able to hang with some friends lately including a lengthy pool and chill day with long time friend, Noelle. Just trying to give her a semi-enjoyable Summer. The kids played for a long time and Mia watched the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. All in all, awesome time.

Another friend day, was a beach and chill day with friends Scarlett her sister Angie and myself. Their Mom was studying for tests so I agreed to take the girlies to the beach for a few hours. They had the best time and even got Mia to jump off a semi-shallow pier. Kids loved it and of course, their awesome Mom was grateful they could hang together.

A few weeks ago, Mia had her first soccer practice with her new club rec team; The Jaguars. I've joined the ranks as an assistant coach for this established team. She's reunited with pre-school BFF Irianna and indoor teammates Olivia and Jessica. She also is bringing sister from another mister Scarlett to the team. She said it was weird not having Cecilia with her (due to her age).  Her first practice saw her scoring the 1st and later a 2nd goal in a scrimmage proving she's got the chops to hang with this team. 2nd practice, she introduced the team to Scarlett on a hot Wednesday with some post-practice s'mores, pizza and fun. She had a nice chip over the defenders head to make a couple other goals.  I'm hoping as the season gets closer and closer, Mia and Scarlett feel closer to the team and all become friends. One of Mia's new teammates already wants to hang out outside of soccer, which is pretty awesome.

I started art lessons again. This week was my first group lesson. Started with watercolor flamingos with the younger group and did some waves in pen with the older group. Overall, it was pretty fun. I have to figure out what I'll do next session. It still amazes me that kids want to learn from me. I'm still learning every day and really need to get some art accomplished.

I've been working a lot of random day shifts lately (including today) which is both weird but nice for a change. It always throws off co-workers and regulars when I show up in the morning. Speaking of jobs, I applied for a trio of positions that I'd be perfect for at a company I've always supported. We'll see if anything comes from it.

Last but not least, Saturday I watched Chelsea take on Watford. Great 3-0 win. Later, Mia hung out with some friends at dusk for the 4th of July celebration.  I assisted with blowing stuff up with their Mom and the kids had an awesome time. I'm really grateful that Mia's such good friends with the girls and we can all hang out. The children are so sweet and fun. This week, I've got a Spidey visit on Thursday. Saturday was the first time I had literally nothing going on and it was the first time since the end of March we didn't have a thing booked. I've also got lessons as well and hope to create a new football kit in whatever spare time I think I have. That's all for now, thanks for reading!