A Day In the Life of MV--10/30/2013 Wednesday

11:00 a.m.: Get up. I was up past 1:00 a.m. writing notes for my NaNo novel. The only reason I stopped was because my parents kept coming in and asking me, "Are you going to bed soon?" like it was the chorus of a "The Might Be Giants" song. (Ever heard of THIS song)?

11:00-11:30 a.m.: All five of us (my mom, my dad, Maxim, Scout, and me) are in the same bed, cuddling and talking while Scout slurps on my hand like it's a doggy ice cream cone. Maxim won't stop moving (or making noise), but that's completely normal, expected even. Even in his sleep he wiggles.

12:00 pm.: In the kitchen, I'm writing notes from the day so far when my mom calls out, "Mark, tell the kids I will pay whoever finds the Vera Deitz book, two dollars. I am serious!"
Daddy: "Kate, did you hear that?"
Me: "Yes." *Scribbles* "It's going into my post."
Mommy laughs, but she doesn't deny that she's obsessive about finding lost objects. Even objects that aren't hers.

12:05-12:25 p.m.: Did a lesson in my school workbook. I breezed through the grammar (re-writing run-on sentences--something I do all the time in my writing anyways) and the multiple choice section. Math is trickier (finding the surface area of 3D objects--when am I ever going to use this?). Math is my least favorite subject. I hate it. It takes me forever to grasp a concept, and by the next day, I've forgotten it! Then I have to relearn it. Again. Addition to division is piece of cake (if it weren't, I'd be worried myself), but decimals, fractions, and geometry? Forget about it. (Okay, geometry's a little easier).

12:25-12:35 p.m.: Practice piano. I played the piano version of "Safe and Sound" (which is really just the guitar part of the song adapted for the piano) and a couple of other parts of Taylor Swift songs. I've practically memorized them all, so it's not really a challenge anymore, but I'm thinking about getting some "Hunger Games" film scores for the piano. That would be challenging. (And fun)!

12:40 p.m.: Max is playing "Mario Kart" on the Wii while I go to check e-mails and blogs. My BFF Kirsten has finally gotten into writing (squee!) and is going to do NaNoWriMo this year!!! :D I've helped her create characters and come up with a plot, and she sent me two book covers for me to decide between. Which one do you like best? I like the first one.

12:45 p.m.: Maxim complains out loud that he can't pop-a-wheelie with a car on "Mario Kart," then two seconds later says, "Whoa! Cars are awesome for manual! ... They still suck, though." Then he asks me if I can do a Google search for how to unlock the "Tiny Titan" on "Mario Kart" (my favorite car) so he can have things I like for when we play on his license. He's so sweet.

12:50 p.m.: Kirsten's birthday present from me just came in the mail. But I know she'll read this, so I'm not telling what it is!

1:15 p.m.: Finished looking at e-mails and blogs (for a little while). I'm off to take a shower and get ready for the day.

1:55 p.m.: I come downstairs and am greeted by a, "Kate!!! You'll never beat my ghost!" from Maxim who is currently standing on the table while playing "Mario Kart," and a happy, adorable puppy who is currently jumping on me and licking my earlobes while I write this. I play "Mario Kart" with Maxim.

2:35 p.m.: Finished playing "Mario Kart" with Maxim (and Mommy, who joined us about halfway through). I watch this "Catching Fire" trailer, which is by far the most exciting (and my favorite). Feeling inspired, I decide to write. I'm not sure which book yet, but I'm going to write something.



3:15 p.m.: It turns out the book I was going to work on wasn't one that already existed. Nope, it's a
new one. A fantasy/dystopian one that will satisfy my hunger until November 1st. I go to get a snack, but nothing too huge because our family is going with another family to an all-you-can-eat Brazilian Steakhouse (yum!).

3:25 p.m.: I play with Scout for a little bit. She's insane and bites my finger so hard, there's an indent from her teeth. I watch some behind-the-scenes "Catching Fire" and "Hunger Games" videos. (I am so excited. Could you tell?)

3:35 p.m.: I get on Minecraft to play with Maxim for a little while.

4:00 p.m.: I read my mom and dad's "Day In the Life" posts from Tuesday. They're both hilarious and considerably different, seeing as they've both experienced the same day together for most of the time.

4:25-4:40 p.m.: Mommy reads a book out loud to Maxim and me while Scout licks my hand like there's no tomorrow. I took a couple videos so you could see how frantic she is. And how freakishly long her super-pink tongue is.

4:50 p.m.: In the car and on the way to pick up the Johnsons (Dave, Christie, Rich, and Brennan) and go to the Brazilian Steakhouse. Maxim tries to tell Mommy and Daddy something while they repeatedly interrupt him with jokes about what he's saying, laugh like crazy, and say, "Sorry! Sorry! Continue," then crack a joke again. They're like toddlers. They can't help themselves.

5:00 p.m.: We're at the Johnson's house. Blitzy--their medium-sized mutt--leaps onto us and sniffs our faces. Even as I'm writing this she's digging her nose into my stomach, forcing me back on the couch. The boys (Rich, Brennan, and Maxim) run straight for the computers to look at some Minecraft thing. We leave.

5:05-6:05 p.m.: We play "Rubberneckers" in the car on the way the Steakhouse. It's sooooo much fun. I also work on writing some notes for my NaNoWriMo novel and play games on my iPod. We arrive.

7:10 p.m.: Feeling disgusting at how much meat I've eaten, I sit and I listen to Rich, Brennan, and Maxim's role-playing game adventure. It's so loud, I can only catch snippets of their conversations, but that makes it funnier somehow:

Brennan: "Ugh! Richard, can I see more than just a stupid foot now?!
Me: "Uh . . ."
Rich: "Don't ask."

Rich: "Screeeeeeech! Boom!" *Makes exploding noises and waves his hands in the air for effect, nearly hitting Brennan in the face.*
Mommy: "Shh! Guys!"
Dave: "Boys, boys, other humans."

You should see Rich's face at the mention of bacon. You'd think that someone's told him he's just won the lottery. Actually, now that I think about it, he's more like a dog at the mention of a squirrel.

And Brennan, my God. He gets into a zone when he eats fish. He hears and sees nothing. Everything sems to be going in slow motion for him and he slowly transitions from using a fork to eating it--sauce and all--with his bare hands. By the time he's finished, there's fish all over his face and he starts to lick it off. And he doesn't even care.

Later a waiter comes by with a big stack of meat. The grownups are all trying to get the boys' attention, but to no avail. So I cover Maxim's eyes to get his attention, and then say, "BACON!" so Rich will look up. It works, but Brennan's still in la la land. "Fish!" I say, to which he looks up and say, "Oh, no thank you."

7:25 p.m.: Five people in the restaurant have gotten free flan and had the Portuguese version of "Happy Birthday" sung to them, complete with bongo drums and a tambourine. The regular, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you . . ." sounds like a funeral march, while the Portuguese version sounds like a huge party. Americans are so boring and reserved compared to the rest of the world.

7:30 p.m.: The adults are beginning to groan. Even the boys are calming down . . . slightly. I'm full, but not stuffed. Better stop now before I end up like the adults (who are still eating, by the way, despite their complaints that the waiters don't serve tums or second stomachs).

7:40 p.m.: My mom is now attempting to sneak the remains of the meat into some paper towels to take home to Scout. She sings and looks around nervously.

Christie: "None of that is slick."

My mom starts to laugh and both Daddy and Dave quote "Friends" by saying, "Dude, none of this is cool."

(Remember Ross and the pinecones?) Skip to 3:50 if you want to refresh your memory.

7:45 p.m.: Rich, Brennan, and Maxim have now left the table to go to the bathroom. All at the same exact time. They do this every time we go to a restaurant. I'm not convinced it's planned. The funniest part is when they come back, still talking, as if they'd never left.

7:50 p.m.: And now we've all ordered dessert. As soon as the waitress leaves, the adults put their heads in their hands, groan, and ask themselves, "Why? Why did we have to order dessert? Why?"

7:55 p.m.: Dessert arrives.

8:25 p.m.: We've left. We're all moaning by this point, even me.

10:05 p.m.; After a quick stop at the Johnsons to drop them off (where the kids play freeze tag in an almost pitch-black front yard) we come home. My mom turns on the world series baseball game, then we go up to bed. Maxim and I come back down just to see the last out of the game. Then I go back upstairs, finish rereading Catching Fire (I'd started it just a couple days ago so I could finish it before the movie came out) then go to bed.