Peter, pool, and poison ivy
Jul. 12th, 2014 06:36 pm[I wrote this as a letter initially, figured I'd adapt this into an LJ entry. Some of this is a bit out of date as this is originally from July 2nd. Oh well.]
So this year most of the ICPSR people are from China and also most of them don't speak much English. Among these people is Chaoqun Mei (using Western name order) -- she says we can just call her by her last name since it's easier for us to say -- who is here studying some sort of math or statistics thing? Communication is difficult. But the main reason I am pointing her out is not because of her as such but rather because, uh, she brought a kid with her.
"Peter", we call him in English. He's 8 years old (and doesn't speak much English). It's kind of a weird situation -- how do we have a contract with an 8-year-old? I mean, OK, his mom signed for him, and is paying for him, but...? And, like, are we going to make him do chores? He can't wash the dishes, he isn't tall enough! Not sure he can operate a vacuum cleaner either. I think the current plan is that Beatrix (who is work manager at the moment) will talk to Mei and try to work something out. (Though obviously Peter doesn't eat as much as we do!)
Anyway, Peter is adorable. Though unsurprisingly he is also kind of a pain in the ass. But I play with him a bunch and he likes me a lot. He likes to play pool (he cheats). Mostly though I've been playing with him outside -- often in that tiny backyard of ours. Often just tossing a frisbee or a softball back and forth. The other day we were playing a game where we would take turns tossing the softball onto the chair-swing and trying to get it to stay.
...then he threw the softball onto the roof. Guess he's not getting that back!
Also yesterday we were playing hide and seek. At one point I hid in a pretty obvious spot because he gave me very little time, but he missed me anyway... and then seemed to forget about it and started throwing gravel at a birds' nest instead.
Also yesterday: Me being constantly worried I was going to get poison ivy. There was a bunch of poison ivy growing on the back of the house -- not nearly so much as there used to be, thankfully. Shane has been going and killing it by spraying soap-salt-vinegar on it. But I was constantly worried that playing with Peter in the back I was going to get poison ivy still somehow (you can still get it from dead plants, apparently). Especially when he went and hid in the wooded area behind Triangle (which is on their property, not ours -- Shane would have been doing nothing about that).
I mean it takes several days to show up so I could still have gotten it and not realize! Gods, what a terrible plant. I don't think I did; my worries are probably unfounded. But, ugh. I mean it's pretty easy to recognize in vine form, because the hairy vines are a giveaway, but when it's just on the ground? Sure, sure, "leaves of three, let it be", but *so many* plants have leaves of three. Goddamn usesless rhyme. I found it useless as a kid and I find it useless now. Well, Peter seems to be fine too.
[Since it's now over a week later, I can verify that neither of us ended up getting poison ivy.]
-Harry
So this year most of the ICPSR people are from China and also most of them don't speak much English. Among these people is Chaoqun Mei (using Western name order) -- she says we can just call her by her last name since it's easier for us to say -- who is here studying some sort of math or statistics thing? Communication is difficult. But the main reason I am pointing her out is not because of her as such but rather because, uh, she brought a kid with her.
"Peter", we call him in English. He's 8 years old (and doesn't speak much English). It's kind of a weird situation -- how do we have a contract with an 8-year-old? I mean, OK, his mom signed for him, and is paying for him, but...? And, like, are we going to make him do chores? He can't wash the dishes, he isn't tall enough! Not sure he can operate a vacuum cleaner either. I think the current plan is that Beatrix (who is work manager at the moment) will talk to Mei and try to work something out. (Though obviously Peter doesn't eat as much as we do!)
Anyway, Peter is adorable. Though unsurprisingly he is also kind of a pain in the ass. But I play with him a bunch and he likes me a lot. He likes to play pool (he cheats). Mostly though I've been playing with him outside -- often in that tiny backyard of ours. Often just tossing a frisbee or a softball back and forth. The other day we were playing a game where we would take turns tossing the softball onto the chair-swing and trying to get it to stay.
...then he threw the softball onto the roof. Guess he's not getting that back!
Also yesterday we were playing hide and seek. At one point I hid in a pretty obvious spot because he gave me very little time, but he missed me anyway... and then seemed to forget about it and started throwing gravel at a birds' nest instead.
Also yesterday: Me being constantly worried I was going to get poison ivy. There was a bunch of poison ivy growing on the back of the house -- not nearly so much as there used to be, thankfully. Shane has been going and killing it by spraying soap-salt-vinegar on it. But I was constantly worried that playing with Peter in the back I was going to get poison ivy still somehow (you can still get it from dead plants, apparently). Especially when he went and hid in the wooded area behind Triangle (which is on their property, not ours -- Shane would have been doing nothing about that).
I mean it takes several days to show up so I could still have gotten it and not realize! Gods, what a terrible plant. I don't think I did; my worries are probably unfounded. But, ugh. I mean it's pretty easy to recognize in vine form, because the hairy vines are a giveaway, but when it's just on the ground? Sure, sure, "leaves of three, let it be", but *so many* plants have leaves of three. Goddamn usesless rhyme. I found it useless as a kid and I find it useless now. Well, Peter seems to be fine too.
[Since it's now over a week later, I can verify that neither of us ended up getting poison ivy.]
-Harry
