He was up at 7:45. We climbed in the couch bed and took twenty minutes. We then headed down and started on Minecraft. He was trying to break it with bees and TNT. We had some breakfast I then did some cleaning (August did the toilet) and got ready for Lauren and Gilad to get here. He did some graphing on the calculator, wanting to figure out some of the calculus stuff. He changed an equation I had downloaded for him, telling me, “I made some tweaks.”
They got here just after 10. They got to work playing with the Legos and magnet blocks. They basically just stayed down there, playing together and separately the whole time. August built a structure out of the magnet blocks and when Gilad’s thing wanted to stay in it August agreed, adding “You’ll have to pay the rent though.” It then turned into a hotel for the cars. August also got tape and taped together markers and other things into a musical instrument.
They left a little before 12. I made us lunch of schnitzel and roasted cauliflower. The piano guy arrived, but despite knowing a fair amount about it before getting here spent a total of two minutes looking at it before saying it wasn’t worth our money to work on it. He also talked about how over dampers are bad and they should be moved. He said he didn’t know if it could be tuned, but didn’t seem to even look at the soundboard, and didn’t try anything. His advice was to get rid of it. I asked how, and he said give it away. Which made me wonder who would take a piano that was supposedly not worth working on. Fool someone into taking it? Or was it actually savable? I was pretty down about it when he left, but then I started to realize that most of the things, like the broken hammers and badly-glued on keycaps were quite fixable. August and I looked at it, and I fixed one hammer with wood glue. I took out the other two, and figured I could get one of Shappell’s students to fabricate parts for them, or maybe Dad could make wood pieces. The real question is tuning it. None of my tools would turn the pegs, so I need to order a cheap set on Amazon.
August asked, “What’s intricate mean?” So a word of the day. I got the bike trailer out of the car and cleaned a bit, but didn’t get to vacuuming. August and I then headed to school to get Eve. We picked her up and said hi to Heather. We headed towards the exit, and I suggested the nature reserve. We walked over there and wandered around the campus. The two of them talked the whole time, and he said, “Ultraviolet is a better color…because butterflies use it to find flowers.” They spent about 15 minutes playing with the big outdoor scales by the high school.
We then headed home, where they played with the magnet blocks and August showed her some graphs. They played out in the Zinnie house, then back inside made a sort of machine that I was supposed to lie on for my doctor visit. I did that, then Heather came and picked her up.
After she left, I then headed over to Jems at the mall for Guys Night. I talked to Tom Marshall about York University, where his daughter might go to college. It is probably that or Durham. And I talked to John Teters about biking trails, and he also told me about how if I log in to Desmos as an adult/teacher there are all sorts of activities. Finally, I talked to Mike Shappell about the piano. I was just thinking that he might have a student that could fabricate parts, but then he told me that he had spent two years restoring a Steinway grand piano.
I had a goose panini and one IPA. Last time we had eaten there I had had the Sloppy Jems, and probably two beers and ended up with a stomach ache. Much better choice this time. Didn’t really have a chance to talk to Jeff.
I got home at 7:45. Substantially earlier than, for example, when we saw The Irishman. They had been painting and he was now doing graphs. Carly went to take a shower. We did a Brother game where he meets a girl who ate a tree and made a no-veggie machine. He brought up absolute zero, which he has done a couple times recently, and said, “I don’t think absolute zero exists…it’s like asymptote-ish” But then he believes in an absolute infinity…the temperature right before a black hole: “I call that absolute infinite”
Carly took him up for a bath, and then he caught a spider in the bedroom, which we then released by dropping it out the bedroom window on to the roof. He then requested the lavender tissues and I brought them and the wet wipes up. He would end up using both, and I would make them talk to him. We read about the sun from a news article: https://apple.news/AkQwCtPKNQ9ivczphbq1XAQ I then read the What If? chapter about speed bumps We listened to the Stories Podcast story “Dog Holiday”. He said, “If I had a podcast I’d call it Quantum Computers.” And he mimicked the host, repeating, “Welcome to stories podcast. I’m your host Amanda Weldon.” We listened to “Beijing Harmony” off of an album with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and he was finally asleep at 10:45.
Playing with Gilad:
Looking in the grass with Eve:
Playing in the Zinnie house:
Practicing his piece from piano lesson:
Funny face:
Grumpy grime song:
Broken robot August:
