It's Friday!
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone in IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news! IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime!
Ok, we do have a diary schedule. But, when you are ready to write that diary, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMOM a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FloridaSNMOM is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.
I love my son very much, and I'm already having pangs about him growing up and moving out on his own in the next year or two. He has one more year of high school, so I don't really have to worry about it until next summer at the earliest.
However, when I was a kid I used to have a book of monster poems, and in that book was a poem about a laughing monster that was "As loud as a boy and a half." I've looked for it, but I can't find it anywhere to share with you, even online. My son has been developing his sense of humor over the past few years, studying it, and trying to figure out why it's funny. Sometimes he manages it, sometimes he does not. But when he does, he laughs.. and I swear, it echoes through the whole house. At all times of the day and night. Even with his bedroom door shut, it out screams the TV in the living room.
We're trying to teach him volume control, and when he's in a room with us, where I can remind him, he gets it. But when he's in his room, and especially with his headphones on, he drowns out everything else in the house. And if you're asleep, you're quickly not any longer. I'm afraid my son is the laughing monster, he's as loud as a boy and a half.
I'm not sure how to get him to keep the volume down while everyone is asleep at night and he is awake. Or when someone isn't feeling well and taking a nap. And he has one of those voices that carries even at a whisper. He'd be excellent as an actor, if he wasn't terrified of crowds, very camera shy, and didn't like to be in front of a bunch of people. Once upon a time I'd send him to heraldry school and he could become a town crier. I'm not sure how to harness that ability in the present day.
So while I don't want him to move out, and I'm going to miss him a LOT, I'm looking forward to maybe, perhaps, getting a full night's sleep once in a while. Though I'll probably be up anyway, worrying about him, and going to check on him when I don't hear him laughing.
10:50 AM PT: The name of the poem is Please, Johnny! by John Ciardi I still haven't been able to find it, but I found the original book of poems on amazon and it had the table of contents listed.