Distractions and Prevarications, Part 6

Well, duh.

Actually I’ve only read the first five of these – trying in vain to keep up with my eight year-old, who ripped through the entire series in two months.  The last one was something like 870 pages long.  Oh, the relief when it was over.

What Being a Dad is All About

Some people scoffed when I put up this post about building a lego Star Destroyer with my eight year-old son, Hallam.  ”How hard can it be?” more than one person wondered.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I present video evidence of exactly what is involved.  There’s several hours of my life I’m never going to get back…

(By the way, I suggest you watch this WITH THE SOUND ON MUTE.  The music is terrible.)

Diversions and Prevarications, Part 5

I’ll be honest, I have no idea what this even is.

Distractions and Prevarications, Part 4

One of my greatest regrets is that I cannot write while I listen to music.  I need my quiet.  There is no such thing as background noise for me.  The music rushes to the forefront of my consciousness, demanding attention, and I can no longer hear the words I’m forever trying to grasp.  Sentences swim in front of me but I am unable to read them or hear them in my head.  (The clamor of my children is not so bad.  Over time I have learned to tune that out.)

Here’s a great post about why silence really may be golden.

Anyway, this picture seemed like an appropriate candidate for the distractions and prevarications series.  While I am writing there is a perpetual conflict between the need to write and the desire to listen to music.  The CDs are like sirens, crooning their beguiling song.  I keep tapping away and do my best to ignore them.  Usually I succeed.  Sometimes I don’t.

Distractions and Prevarications, Part 2

Ah, the joys of LEGO Star Wars.  The painful stats:

Number of pieces: 1,328 (approx.)

Number of hours wasted in construction: about 7

Number of hours wasted in rebuilding after it fell apart: 2

Number of hours spent explaining that although, yes, OK, this is a toy, it’s not really designed to be played with: 612

Number of 8-year-old tantrums: 2

Number of 39-year-old tantrums: 17

Number of pithy sentences I might have written instead of building this: prefer not to think about this one

Distractions and Prevarications

One of the many ways I have found to avoid doing any writing: indulge your children in utterly worthless and time-consuming (but fun) projects like this one:

Catherine’s Birthday Present

The most terrifying words in the English language: SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.