Life with a 12-year-old

A couple of funny conversations between RL and I of late....

We had a block party last Sunday, and RL paid for a kind of pricey keg of beer for our party-goers (something about "gas" prices up means "transportation costs" are also up, and therefore "everything" is more expensive these days. who knew?) Anyway, RL's not drinking right now, so he wanted some money back on his investment. He decided to make a little sign directing people to send donations his way.

RL: Do you think the sign should say "look for the guy in the neck brace and the red visor"?
Me: Um, I'm pretty sure you can leave off the red visor descriptor.
RL: Really?
Me: Like there's going to be another guy here in a neck brace and a blue visor?
RL: Oh.

+++++
Last night I went upstairs to bed while RL was enjoying his favorite, obsessive past time of Tetris (that's right, on the original NES!). It was almost 11pm, way past his bed time, and I told him he should probably shut it down for the night. After about the tenth "just one more game" exclamation, I gave up.

So I'm upstairs brushing my teeth, and I notice that the jingly Tetris music isn't going anymore, but I don't hear RL moving around or anything. What I do hear is the little squeak of the Nintendo controller, and RL trying to be quiet.

Me, from upstairs: Did you just turn the music off so I would think that you weren't playing anymore?
RL: (suppressing giggles) Ummmm, no?
Me: What are you doing then?
RL: Stuff. (more giggles)
Me: You are like a 12-year-old.
RL: I can't believe you busted me!

RL came upstairs finally, still laughing about his feeble attempt to be sneaky. Ah yes, he is a 12-year-old. And of course, I'm the one that can't get the jingly Tetris music out of my head.

you know you want this pillow

Since RL's had to wear his neck brace at all times for the last few months, the quest for a comfortable sleeping position has been rather elusive for him. Awhile ago he was laying in bed, dreaming of the perfect pillow: it would be low in the middle, for when he was sleeping on his back, and higher on the sides, to support the side-sleeping positions. He even developed a whole As-Seen-On-TV scam, complete with $300 off if you called in the next 30 minutes, and a free pillow for your cat.

It sounded like a great idea. Unfortunately the pillow already exists. Tempur-pedic sells the Millennium Pillow, with RL's exact specifications. (RL was actually convinced that someone at Tempur-Pedic overheard his idea, developed, patented, and began selling the pillow all in the week that it took him to think it up and find it).

Well, needless to say, RL bought the pillow, and it's pretty fricking fantastic. It cups your head just right, offering gentle support. It's like a little cushion of delight. The other night I was wondering out loud if I would ever get to experience the delight myself, and RL offered it up! I was shocked. He said we could share and he happily traded pillows with me.

For about 20 minutes. I'm sinking in, feeling tempur-pedic-riffic, and falling asleep. All of the sudden RL's waking me up, saying he's sorry but on second thought, he can't give it up. He's been laying there all uncomfortable and stressing about the possibility of not being able to sleep. So I wake myself up and hand it over.

No really, I'm fine. No delight needed here.

watch this if you want to get freaked out

as you probably know, RL's been convalescing because of a big ski crash in early March. We've seen the other video of the accident a number of times, but finally got a really good shot from a friend who was recording the competition. mind you, i was watching the other video live as it happened, and couldn't really tell what was going on other than that he was laying there not moving for quite awhile. i am SO GLAD i wasn't watching this video, because i would have thought he was dead for sure.

so, here it is. it's scary, but definitely gives a better picture of why his helmet was banged in two places and he ended up with some minor brain trauma and a few fractured vertebrae.



obviously he's doing much better these days!