i have not written about kids’ awesome days in a while. They take so much work, i’m behind at work, and i don’t have time to write about kids’ awesome days.

Genevieve rocks soccer and doesn’t throw a fit, Alana rides hills! Everyone enjoys ice cream and the dog is furminated! #kids#monsters#fml

if only life was tweeted, time-management would be so much easier.

We were recently at the pool, me still so amped about work bullshit it’d be better i’m not there at all. I’m stressing about no signal, hurting their feelings, parading my resentment at their fun, ruining childhood. I’m on the trainer now, no surprise. I’m working, no surprise. Its not enough i facilitated from 4 to 11:27pm. If I don’t remember special moments, eventually they didn’t happen. all that is left is the sludge and detritus of the next under-scheduled flashflood, bowling balls falling from the sky. Finding myself in the crack between work stress and life stress, i remember the reason for the moment. If i can dig it out like a splinter in my fingernail, it sustains me through the next deluge. Its worth the time taken tenfold…

Genevieve’s first soccer practice with a league coach. $15 a session, but dayum those guys coach well. I never saw kids run so hard and so happily for 90 min. I took Alana to the playground where she climbed and explored with independence rarely seen. She demanded attention too. I scoped the practice from afar, getting a tingle to run with the tight pace while G streaked in and out of view.

I think my coaching pushed G’s buttons the wrong way. It wouldn’t be the first time i brought a woman to tantrums, where ‘sorry‘ is simply too late. But dayum those guys coach well. I have a talent for making the simple complex.

G dominated. Watching her 1-on-1 is like episodes of Spartacus. mebbe a slight eggsagerration, but its the same high as enjoying a righteous ass-whooping in bloody 3d.   Eventually other kids will catch her fitness and aggression.   Having the best kid on the field right now is bliss. The coach was asking all about her. It made me tickle.   She was engaged without noticing to run stronger than ever before, and she rose up. G’s lack of skill and balance were exposed immediately, but the practice was game-like enough she found her strengths enough to feel good about herself. G is all about positive reinforcement.

We talked about thirst, and hunger, and stopping to refresh in the AZ inferno. How feeling tired halfway through practice is normal, how tuning into yourself is essential, how getting the most out of yourself is reverential. How fitness and thin are not the same. Complex topics for a tinyAthlete, but simple enough.

We got home, ate, recharged. We got Kila out, and Alana pedaling. She is getting antsy watching from the back of the pack, opts out of her seatbelt in the Chariot, but is still shy of pack-paced adventures. A trip to the Eagle fired Alana up. G didn’t need gear or notice, she cooled down to lazy circles & pleasant conversation. She gave Alana someone to chase, out of joy and jealousy.   Alana charged 1 degree up, Alana shredded 1 degree down. She is hard to coach, but sometimes all that makes her high maintenance makes her so easy, the fixativeness fixating on the reason for the moment. Sometimes I think G got the best of me, and Alana the worst of me. I have a talent for making the simple complex.

A few boosts aside Alana rode up up up to the front door of Bashas where she understood positively reinforced ice cream. I do not remember G riding anything at that pitch at that age. G rode to the Pink Park, a long gradual descent, and a climb that understandably broke her, but no slope that grabbed her butt or lifted her stomach even for an instant. Alana stood up on the cranks of her 12 inch pink princess bike. I’ve never seen her do that. She completely controlled the roll down. She wrecked on the flats in front of our home, when she didn’t listen to my instructions. She said she understood her mistake. G explained to heed the tutelage of Chollaball. Alana said she understood her mistake. It took her 1 ride to finally understand braking, we’ll see how long to understand curbs.

3 hrs later I’m still spinning and working, and enjoying my comfy full belly from good coffee and Bagel Day. Software is fun, and addicting. And so is money. They are still addictions.

I found a horizontal move at work that would have saved me 10 hrs a week.   My dooshbag egomaniacal Indian manager torpedoed my move. I called HR, I may get   shot out the back of the company. Work can be better than aimless wandering and disingenuity, if i find the cracks between work stress and life stress.   The bureaucracy of workaholics and climbers and feigned smiles I can tolerate when my workload abides and there is Bagel Day. Software is fun, i show up in big games, i aint worried.   Check out the new turbo checkout on ebay when you Buy It Now.

I may move on. I may stay. I will make a point of not thinking about work when I’m not at work, which will make it seem like I am working less. There is noise between my paycheck and my kids, and i will find a way to detach it.