Something bad happened today. Daddy O told OSFO and Zeb when he got home. "I got laid off from my job," he said.
"Not again," Zeb shouted. He put his arms on DO's shoulders and tried to comfort him. They're just about the same height right now.
OSFO wasn't sure what laid off means. It sounded like he was fired but her mom said it wasn't the same. "It's not because they don't like him it's because they don't have enough money to pay him."
Whatever.
Zeb looked nervous. Probably because he goes to private school and that costs a lot of money. Maybe he's worried that he won't be able to go there anymore. If he continues to get lousy grades he won't be able to go there anyway.
OSFO wishes Zeb did better in school. She doesn't understand why he doesn't try. He's super smart and seems to know everything about everything.
SM didn't seem that upset by the news. It didn't surprise OSFO that she started blogging about it right away.
OSFO wondered if it would be embarassing to DO that she was blogging about him. They even asked her to take a picture of DO with her new digital camera. That was kind of scary because she knew that her dad would try to teach her how to take a good portrait and it's a lot harder than holding the camera and saying cheese.
They went out into the hallway landing. "That's where the light is great," DO told OSFO. And he made her snap and snap and snap until they had more than 50 shots.
Then they went inside and looked at them on the computer. DO was really fussy about which one he liked best.
Next to the picture SM wrote something like "Would You Hire this Man?"
For such a bad day, everyone seemed pretty happy. At least everyone was working together.
"Maybe someone who reads the blog will know about a job in computers for DO."
That seemed kind of weird to OSFO. But she hoped that something good would come of it. DO not having a job would mean that he'd be around a lot more, which was a good but also a bad thing.
He'd probably yell a lot because he has a hard time working when there are kids around. SM put up a wall in the living room so that DO has a little bit of privacy for his office. He spends most of his time back there.
DO and SM will probably have stupid arguments because DO always makes a mess when he's around a lot.
DO and Zeb would get into arguments because DO picks on Zeb all the time -- to do his homework, to clean up, to take a shower, to come to dinner, to come home.
It should be an interesting time.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
BIRTHDAY BOOTY
You're probably wondering what OSFO got for her birthday. It's funny, she looks forward to the presents so much but it's always so disapointing once they're opened. Not because she didn't get great stuff.
It's just that the thinking about getting presents is so much better than what they turn out to be.
She knew exactly where her friends got her presents from because of the gift wrap. Purple tissue with a black bow. It's Tiny Stuff Toys on Seventh Avenue. Everyone knows that.
Once the gifts were opened they kind of blended in with things she's already has. She barely remembers what she got.
You only have to say, "Thanks for your gift" on the card, you know.
OSFO's grandpa got her a microscope kit, which she really loves. He always gets her exactly what she wants. Already she has put all kinds of things under there: a bread crumb, a piece of her hair, water.
OSFO calls her grandpa ATM (not to his face) because she thinks he must have a lot of money. OSFO thinks Groovy Grandpa is really funny and fun but she feels super shy around him, like she can't even look him in the eye. She's afraid she won't have anything to say.
So, she just giggles a lot.
OSFO's grandmother, Manhattan Granny, isn't married to Groovy Grandpa anymore. They're divorced and now Groovy Grandpa is married to MiMa Cat.
Manhattan Granny got OSFO the Nikki doll (from the US People Store) which she really wanted, too. But she didn't really want it from MG. OSFO is still mad at her for yelling at her a few years ago. She pulled her by the arm really hard and told her "to stop acting like a baby." Then there was the time OSFO slept over at her apartment, and MG turned off the lights and wouldn't let OSFO sleep with the lights on.
OSFO has never forgiven her for that. She was never more homesick in her life.
It's strange to have grandparents who are divorced. OSFO is always wondering why they didn't get a long. Maybe she pulled GG by the arm really hard or wouldn't let him sleep with the lights on.
Maybe the best gift of all came from Daddy-O, who gave OSFO a real grown up camera. He's a photographer himself and spent a lot of time picking out the perfect camera for OSFO. OSFO felt excited and scared when she saw the camera. It's a lot of pressure. Daddy-O is always saying that OSFO is just like him mechanical, artistic, good with her hands.
So now she feels like she has to prove herself to him. Zeb isn't mechanical at all and doesn't like to fix things or put things together.
Daddy-O favors OSFO for that reason. It's so obvious. And OSFO hates it. She wants Daddy-O to love Zeb as much as he loves her. It just doesn't seem fair to like one child more because they're a little more like you.
It's just that the thinking about getting presents is so much better than what they turn out to be.
She knew exactly where her friends got her presents from because of the gift wrap. Purple tissue with a black bow. It's Tiny Stuff Toys on Seventh Avenue. Everyone knows that.
Once the gifts were opened they kind of blended in with things she's already has. She barely remembers what she got.
You only have to say, "Thanks for your gift" on the card, you know.
OSFO's grandpa got her a microscope kit, which she really loves. He always gets her exactly what she wants. Already she has put all kinds of things under there: a bread crumb, a piece of her hair, water.
OSFO calls her grandpa ATM (not to his face) because she thinks he must have a lot of money. OSFO thinks Groovy Grandpa is really funny and fun but she feels super shy around him, like she can't even look him in the eye. She's afraid she won't have anything to say.
So, she just giggles a lot.
OSFO's grandmother, Manhattan Granny, isn't married to Groovy Grandpa anymore. They're divorced and now Groovy Grandpa is married to MiMa Cat.
Manhattan Granny got OSFO the Nikki doll (from the US People Store) which she really wanted, too. But she didn't really want it from MG. OSFO is still mad at her for yelling at her a few years ago. She pulled her by the arm really hard and told her "to stop acting like a baby." Then there was the time OSFO slept over at her apartment, and MG turned off the lights and wouldn't let OSFO sleep with the lights on.
OSFO has never forgiven her for that. She was never more homesick in her life.
It's strange to have grandparents who are divorced. OSFO is always wondering why they didn't get a long. Maybe she pulled GG by the arm really hard or wouldn't let him sleep with the lights on.
Maybe the best gift of all came from Daddy-O, who gave OSFO a real grown up camera. He's a photographer himself and spent a lot of time picking out the perfect camera for OSFO. OSFO felt excited and scared when she saw the camera. It's a lot of pressure. Daddy-O is always saying that OSFO is just like him mechanical, artistic, good with her hands.
So now she feels like she has to prove herself to him. Zeb isn't mechanical at all and doesn't like to fix things or put things together.
Daddy-O favors OSFO for that reason. It's so obvious. And OSFO hates it. She wants Daddy-O to love Zeb as much as he loves her. It just doesn't seem fair to like one child more because they're a little more like you.
Friday, March 30, 2007
DOUBLE DIGITS
Yesterday was OSFO's tenth birthday. OSFO is the kind of person who looks forward to her birthday for months and months. In fact, she starts looking forward to her next birthday as soon as the last one is over.
She just really love birthdays. Especially her own.
Maybe everyone does. At least most kids. It's the only day in the whole year when your family has to do something really special for you.
And this was a special, special birthday because OSFO is in the double digits now. Boy, was OSFO relieved that her mom didn't write a blog post about her birthday (OSFO turns ten, OSFO turns ten) that would have been so embarassing -- because she usually gets everything so wrong.
(Last year she wrote about bringing cup cakes to my class and her teachers read it out loud).
Ten years old. That's kind of a big deal. To OSFO, anyway. And she actually feels a little different. Two numbers intead of one.
OSFO is almost a teenager.
But when she's a teenager, she won't be a bit like Zeb, who lies on the couch all the time playing his unplugged electric guitar, running out of the house every time his cell phone, which has this weird cackling kind of ring, rings.
All he cares about are his friends. And he said he was going to get OSFO a birthday present but he didn't.
Obviously he wasn't invited to OSFO's party because he thinks Fluffy Bear parties are stupid. OSFO only invited three girls from school: Crystal, Kate and Ani. She didn't invite Rasa because she goes to a different school and she's in a different grade. She's the same age but she was held back after kindergarten.
OSFO did not want a third grader at her party.
Rasa is OSFO's best friend sort of -- she lives on the first floor of their apartment building. She has the most annoying little brother in the world but she and OSFO are really good friends anyway.
OSFO's mom was all weird about the fact that OSFO didn't invite Rasa. That's another example of her mom's bad listening. OSFO told her that she didn't want to invite Rasa but she kept saying: why don't you invite Rasa, why don't you invite Rasa?
Truth is, OSFO didn' t invite Rasa because it makes her uncomfortable to be with her around my school friends.
She's just different from them and it stresses OSFO out to have to worry about her. But that's too much information to tell her mom. She'd want to fix the problem. "Don't worry about Rasa. She can take care of herself," she might say.
OSFO thinks she was mostly worried about hurting Mrs. K's feelings.
SM worries way to much about what other people think. Even at the party she kept saying "We should we get a Fluffy Bear for Rasa. And OSFO kept saying no.
Come on. OSFO didn't want to make a big deal about the fact that Rasa wasn't nvited. Okay?
The party was at Fluffy Bear the most magical store in the whole wide world (DO's thinks it's stupid, too). You pick out a bear or a dog, or a monkey and they stuff it full of filling, put a heart inside, you name it, and create a birth certificate, pick out clothing for it.
OSFO could spend all her time at Fluffy Bear. Her most favorite animals in the world, Spot, TK, Dimples and my monkey, Cubby, are from that store.
At least stuffed animals they listen, they don't get anything wrong. They don't have to be shusshed all the time.
The trouble with looking forward to your birthday for so long is that it's very disappointing when it's over. It's even a little bit disappointng while it's going on. During the party, OSFO kept thinking: everything is happening so fast. It was like watching a movie of my party -- like I'm not really here.
OSFO almost felt sick from not wanting her party to end. She wanted time to stand still so she couls be the birthday girl forever. Last night, OSFO couldn't help but thinkthat's it's going to be a whole year until her birthday again. Everything happened so quickly.
It's over now. And it's such a long wait for the next one.
She just really love birthdays. Especially her own.
Maybe everyone does. At least most kids. It's the only day in the whole year when your family has to do something really special for you.
And this was a special, special birthday because OSFO is in the double digits now. Boy, was OSFO relieved that her mom didn't write a blog post about her birthday (OSFO turns ten, OSFO turns ten) that would have been so embarassing -- because she usually gets everything so wrong.
(Last year she wrote about bringing cup cakes to my class and her teachers read it out loud).
Ten years old. That's kind of a big deal. To OSFO, anyway. And she actually feels a little different. Two numbers intead of one.
OSFO is almost a teenager.
But when she's a teenager, she won't be a bit like Zeb, who lies on the couch all the time playing his unplugged electric guitar, running out of the house every time his cell phone, which has this weird cackling kind of ring, rings.
All he cares about are his friends. And he said he was going to get OSFO a birthday present but he didn't.
Obviously he wasn't invited to OSFO's party because he thinks Fluffy Bear parties are stupid. OSFO only invited three girls from school: Crystal, Kate and Ani. She didn't invite Rasa because she goes to a different school and she's in a different grade. She's the same age but she was held back after kindergarten.
OSFO did not want a third grader at her party.
Rasa is OSFO's best friend sort of -- she lives on the first floor of their apartment building. She has the most annoying little brother in the world but she and OSFO are really good friends anyway.
OSFO's mom was all weird about the fact that OSFO didn't invite Rasa. That's another example of her mom's bad listening. OSFO told her that she didn't want to invite Rasa but she kept saying: why don't you invite Rasa, why don't you invite Rasa?
Truth is, OSFO didn' t invite Rasa because it makes her uncomfortable to be with her around my school friends.
She's just different from them and it stresses OSFO out to have to worry about her. But that's too much information to tell her mom. She'd want to fix the problem. "Don't worry about Rasa. She can take care of herself," she might say.
OSFO thinks she was mostly worried about hurting Mrs. K's feelings.
SM worries way to much about what other people think. Even at the party she kept saying "We should we get a Fluffy Bear for Rasa. And OSFO kept saying no.
Come on. OSFO didn't want to make a big deal about the fact that Rasa wasn't nvited. Okay?
The party was at Fluffy Bear the most magical store in the whole wide world (DO's thinks it's stupid, too). You pick out a bear or a dog, or a monkey and they stuff it full of filling, put a heart inside, you name it, and create a birth certificate, pick out clothing for it.
OSFO could spend all her time at Fluffy Bear. Her most favorite animals in the world, Spot, TK, Dimples and my monkey, Cubby, are from that store.
At least stuffed animals they listen, they don't get anything wrong. They don't have to be shusshed all the time.
The trouble with looking forward to your birthday for so long is that it's very disappointing when it's over. It's even a little bit disappointng while it's going on. During the party, OSFO kept thinking: everything is happening so fast. It was like watching a movie of my party -- like I'm not really here.
OSFO almost felt sick from not wanting her party to end. She wanted time to stand still so she couls be the birthday girl forever. Last night, OSFO couldn't help but thinkthat's it's going to be a whole year until her birthday again. Everything happened so quickly.
It's over now. And it's such a long wait for the next one.
I LOVE DUCKY
Yesterday when Zeb was in his room with the door closed playing his electric guitar and my mom was downstairs talking to Mrs. K. and DO was walking around the neighborhood taking photographs, OSFO "borrowed" her mother's laptop to start this blog.
OSFO doesn't get a lot of time alone in the apartment. And that's mostly a good thing because she hate to be alone at home -- it's creepy.
But OSFO was glad to have the time to figure out how to start a blog. It turned out to be pretty easy, actually. You don't need a credit card or anything.
OSFO decided to start this blog because she's really angry at her mom for having a blog, She spends way too much time writing on her computer and no time listening to OSFO. Oh she'll tell you that she really listens. But she hears what she thinks OSFO is saying and not what OSFO is really saying.
Like when OSFO tells her how much she hates Taylor who sits at her table at school. She wants her mom to talk to her teacher about moving him or me somewhere else. He is such an idiot and he never shuts up.
OSFO hates annoying people.
Also, some days, OSFO doesn't feel like going to school and wishes her mom would let her have a mental health day like she does with Zeb. What is a mental health day, anyway?
But the real thing OSFO is upset about: She doesn't want to go to the sleep-away camp she signed me up for. It's for two weeks starting on July 8th. She'll tell you that OSFO told her she wanted to go to camp. But OSFO didn't really mean it.
That's why OSFO doens't like to say too much around her mom. If OSFO says that she likes someone's shoes SM will say, 'Do you want a pair of those?' If OSFO says, I like the Read-Aloud book my teacher Gaby is reading, she'll say 'Should I get more books like that?' So maybe OSFO said something about sleepaway camp and BOOM: 'I signed you up for sleepaway camp.'
Great.
OSFO prayed they wouldn't have enough room but they did. She didn't want to tell her mom that she didn't want to go. She'd make a big thing about that, too.
That's the trouble. She makes EVERYTHING a BIG DEAL and OSFO hates that.
So, going to sleep-away is like a giant balloon filled with lead weights hanging in the sky above OSFO. She just can't get it out of her mind. Being without her family for two weeks (even if they are annoying). What if she gets really, really, really, really, really homesick? What if she feels like crying?
OSFO still sleep in the big bed with her parents sometims..
OSFO hopes that that day in July never comes. Maybe that day will be eliminated from the calendar: July 8th has been cancelled this year. Maybe it'll snow or there will be a hurricane or a tsunami.
Sure.
Most of all, OSFO is going to miss her 2-year-old cousin, Ducky from Russia. She lives a few blocks away in Brooklyn but she was born in Russia and was adopted by OSFO's beautiful wonderful special perfect Aunt DD.
Ducky is the best thing that ever happened to OSFO because she is so, so, so very cute with her red hair. She loves the way she smells. And the way that she giggles hysterically when we play Hide-and-Seek. She loves rubbing baby lotion on her tiny bottom after her bath. Oh and she loves to give her a bath.
She loves to put her to sleep by reading "Good Night Moon" when she points at the moon and says moon in her cute little voice.
And she hates it when she goes to sleep. She can't keep myself from going in and checking on her, "Stay out of there," Aunt DD will scream. "Ducky's going to sleep."
Sometimes she accidentally wake her up.
OSFO has a picture of Ducky naked at the beach on my Writer's Notebook that she looks at all the time. Taylor, that annoying boy who sits next to OSFO said, "Is that you?"
She stared him down and said, "No, like, I don't have red hair. That's my cousin, STUPID."
So OSFO is going to miss Ducky so, so, so, much when she goes to that stupid sleep away camp.
Two weeks without Ducky sounds yucky. Like her poem. OSFO wishes she could come with her Maybe Aunt DD will let OSFO take DUCKY away.
Yeah, right.
OSFO would spend all her time with Groovy Aunt and Ducky excpet for the Grumpster. That's Aunt DD's husband. He's so grumpy all the time, he doesn't like noise, he doesn't like mess, he doesn't like anything that kids do.
OSFO doesn't now why she ever married him. SM gets mad when I say that but it's true. OSFO remembers Groovy Aunt before she got married. She lived in a tiny apartment near where they set up the ballons for the Thanksgiving Day Parade. One time they stayed over and saw the Elmo and Teletubbie balloon.
OSFO isn't sure if she really remembers that of if she's seen the pictures a lot of times. Either way, it was really cool.
Life was better before Aunt DD got married to The Grumpster. She used to sleep over on the cot that we call the colorful bed because it has a striped mattress.
But OSFO knows that if she hadn't gotten married then she wouldn't have found out that she couldn't have her own baby then she wouldn't have decided to adopt and she wouldn't have gone to Russia to get DUCKY.
And now OSFO is just so so so so so lucky to have Ducky. Like the poem?
OSFO doesn't get a lot of time alone in the apartment. And that's mostly a good thing because she hate to be alone at home -- it's creepy.
But OSFO was glad to have the time to figure out how to start a blog. It turned out to be pretty easy, actually. You don't need a credit card or anything.
OSFO decided to start this blog because she's really angry at her mom for having a blog, She spends way too much time writing on her computer and no time listening to OSFO. Oh she'll tell you that she really listens. But she hears what she thinks OSFO is saying and not what OSFO is really saying.
Like when OSFO tells her how much she hates Taylor who sits at her table at school. She wants her mom to talk to her teacher about moving him or me somewhere else. He is such an idiot and he never shuts up.
OSFO hates annoying people.
Also, some days, OSFO doesn't feel like going to school and wishes her mom would let her have a mental health day like she does with Zeb. What is a mental health day, anyway?
But the real thing OSFO is upset about: She doesn't want to go to the sleep-away camp she signed me up for. It's for two weeks starting on July 8th. She'll tell you that OSFO told her she wanted to go to camp. But OSFO didn't really mean it.
That's why OSFO doens't like to say too much around her mom. If OSFO says that she likes someone's shoes SM will say, 'Do you want a pair of those?' If OSFO says, I like the Read-Aloud book my teacher Gaby is reading, she'll say 'Should I get more books like that?' So maybe OSFO said something about sleepaway camp and BOOM: 'I signed you up for sleepaway camp.'
Great.
OSFO prayed they wouldn't have enough room but they did. She didn't want to tell her mom that she didn't want to go. She'd make a big thing about that, too.
That's the trouble. She makes EVERYTHING a BIG DEAL and OSFO hates that.
So, going to sleep-away is like a giant balloon filled with lead weights hanging in the sky above OSFO. She just can't get it out of her mind. Being without her family for two weeks (even if they are annoying). What if she gets really, really, really, really, really homesick? What if she feels like crying?
OSFO still sleep in the big bed with her parents sometims..
OSFO hopes that that day in July never comes. Maybe that day will be eliminated from the calendar: July 8th has been cancelled this year. Maybe it'll snow or there will be a hurricane or a tsunami.
Sure.
Most of all, OSFO is going to miss her 2-year-old cousin, Ducky from Russia. She lives a few blocks away in Brooklyn but she was born in Russia and was adopted by OSFO's beautiful wonderful special perfect Aunt DD.
Ducky is the best thing that ever happened to OSFO because she is so, so, so very cute with her red hair. She loves the way she smells. And the way that she giggles hysterically when we play Hide-and-Seek. She loves rubbing baby lotion on her tiny bottom after her bath. Oh and she loves to give her a bath.
She loves to put her to sleep by reading "Good Night Moon" when she points at the moon and says moon in her cute little voice.
And she hates it when she goes to sleep. She can't keep myself from going in and checking on her, "Stay out of there," Aunt DD will scream. "Ducky's going to sleep."
Sometimes she accidentally wake her up.
OSFO has a picture of Ducky naked at the beach on my Writer's Notebook that she looks at all the time. Taylor, that annoying boy who sits next to OSFO said, "Is that you?"
She stared him down and said, "No, like, I don't have red hair. That's my cousin, STUPID."
So OSFO is going to miss Ducky so, so, so, much when she goes to that stupid sleep away camp.
Two weeks without Ducky sounds yucky. Like her poem. OSFO wishes she could come with her Maybe Aunt DD will let OSFO take DUCKY away.
Yeah, right.
OSFO would spend all her time with Groovy Aunt and Ducky excpet for the Grumpster. That's Aunt DD's husband. He's so grumpy all the time, he doesn't like noise, he doesn't like mess, he doesn't like anything that kids do.
OSFO doesn't now why she ever married him. SM gets mad when I say that but it's true. OSFO remembers Groovy Aunt before she got married. She lived in a tiny apartment near where they set up the ballons for the Thanksgiving Day Parade. One time they stayed over and saw the Elmo and Teletubbie balloon.
OSFO isn't sure if she really remembers that of if she's seen the pictures a lot of times. Either way, it was really cool.
Life was better before Aunt DD got married to The Grumpster. She used to sleep over on the cot that we call the colorful bed because it has a striped mattress.
But OSFO knows that if she hadn't gotten married then she wouldn't have found out that she couldn't have her own baby then she wouldn't have decided to adopt and she wouldn't have gone to Russia to get DUCKY.
And now OSFO is just so so so so so lucky to have Ducky. Like the poem?
MY MOM DOESN'T EVEN KNOW I'M DOING THIS
OSFO's mom doesn't even know that she's doing this. But how mad could she be? She's a blogger, too. Isn't that crazy? She writes about their lives are a TV show or something and they don't even have a TV.
Oh, they had one once. But then Zeb never did his homework becuase he couldn't get his eyeballs off The Simpsons. (OSFO loves the Simpsons, too.). SM used to say that everything Zeb knows about the world he learned on The Simpsons's. He's 15 now, a sophmore in high school. But he hates school. Mostly, he likes to write songs and sing them in the living room when we're trying to eat dinner.
OSFO thinks he has a terrible voice. But no one else seems to agree with her.
SM and Daddy-O get so excited every time his band plays the Teen Showcase at Van Brunt Bar. OSFO thinks her parents are just happy that he's doing something other than getting lousy grades.
They always make OSFO go, too. Usually, she stands by the pool table and not near the stage. She drinks Sprite and watches the teenagers play pool. When no one is playing, she loves to roll the pool balls from one end of the green felt table to the other. They make the neatest sound when they crash into each other.
OSFO actually likes Zeb's band. But she thinks the other bands sound awful. Just awful. And they're so loud. She has to cover her ears even when she's over by the pool table.
So Zeb's the reason her parents got rid of the TV when she was only 3. Daddy O got sick and tired of screaming at Zeb to turn it off. The apartment isn't that big and DO is really sensitive to noise—he got the poultry scissor from the kitchen and cut the cord. The television's cord.
Really.
It must have been pretty crazy. OSFO doesn't remember a thing about it because she was only 3 but her parents tell stories over and over to their friends about the time they did this and the time they did that. And that was the end of the television. It went down in the basement, where it still lives on a shelf near the green plastic Little Typkes swimming pool and the car seats they don't use anymore.
On 9/11, because they didn't have a TV, OSFO and her mom went to the neighbor's apartment on the first floor so they could watch what was going on.
OSFO thought the world was coming to an end. None of the grown-ups were paying any attention to the kids.
Still, OSFO remembers that day pretty well even though she was only four. The grown-ups were all standing around The Kravitz's big screen TV watching clouds of smoke. OSFO and Pretty Girl played with Barbies. Everyone was acting very strangely. A friend of SM's died that day. She spent most of that week at their apartment waiting around to see if he was really dead.
Either you're dead or you're not, OSFO remembers thinking. But apparently there was a chance that he was wandering around with amnesia, in a hospital in New Jersey, or living in an underground hole.
OSFO wishes she had more to say about that week but she doesn't. Sometimes she wishes she better memories of these things everyone talks about like when she was a flower girl at her Aunt DD's wedding, the time Groovy Grandpa took her and Zeb ishing on the lake near his country house, or the cross-country trip to Colorado to visit Kane and Luca.
SO OSFO's mom has a blog and a lot of people read it. In it she calls OSFO, The Oh So Feisty One. Until recently, OSFO didn't even know what the word feisty meant. Then she googled it and saw on an online dictionary what it mean: Spunky. Spirited. Lively.
Her mom says it's a big compliment but she would have liked something like, I don't know, the Oh So Pretty One or or The Oh So Artistic One because when she grows up she is definitely going to design clothes, paint pictures, and design cool sports cars.
In the blog, Zeb is Teen Spirit, probably because he's a teenager. Maybe she calls him that because his room smells when the doors been closed and he's been hanging out with this friends. PU.
Or maybe there's another reason.
OSFO doesn't mind mom's blog that much but she hates the fact that she'd rather type on her laptop computer than do something with her. If you asked her she'd say it wasn't true, that she and OSFO spend so much time together. She might even get all sad and remind OSFO of their trips to Fluffy Bear Workshop or the hotel in New Jersey with the seven inter-connecting swimming pools.
But OSFO liks unplanned time together and just hanging out at home. And when they're home it seems that she'd rather be writing her stupid blog. Ditto for OSFO's dad, who spends his time re-touching the digital photos he takes, and Zeb is either playing his guitar or IMing his friends.
For OSFO, it feels funny to be the subject of the blog. It's like being a character in a book or a movie or something when you never really wanted to be. OSFO isn't sure who reads her blog but sometimes she catches people looking at her funny and she wonders what they're thinking: Oh, there's the Oh So Feisty One.
OSFO is definitely way more private than her mom, who'll say just about anything. And loudly whether they're walking down Third Street, in Met Food, in the school lobby. OSFO is always shushing her or saying, "Never mind. Never mind."
SM likes to talk and blog about her life and OSFO likes to keep her thoughts and feelings close to home. That's a big difference between them. But there really are a whole lot more. Differences, that is. It's funny to be someone's kid for your whole life and then you get to a point when you realize that you maybe don't have as much in common as you thought.
It's kind of strange. Maybe that's why OSFO wants to be with her all the time. She's really afraid that they're growing apart. And frankly, she doesn't know how she feels about that.
Oh, they had one once. But then Zeb never did his homework becuase he couldn't get his eyeballs off The Simpsons. (OSFO loves the Simpsons, too.). SM used to say that everything Zeb knows about the world he learned on The Simpsons's. He's 15 now, a sophmore in high school. But he hates school. Mostly, he likes to write songs and sing them in the living room when we're trying to eat dinner.
OSFO thinks he has a terrible voice. But no one else seems to agree with her.
SM and Daddy-O get so excited every time his band plays the Teen Showcase at Van Brunt Bar. OSFO thinks her parents are just happy that he's doing something other than getting lousy grades.
They always make OSFO go, too. Usually, she stands by the pool table and not near the stage. She drinks Sprite and watches the teenagers play pool. When no one is playing, she loves to roll the pool balls from one end of the green felt table to the other. They make the neatest sound when they crash into each other.
OSFO actually likes Zeb's band. But she thinks the other bands sound awful. Just awful. And they're so loud. She has to cover her ears even when she's over by the pool table.
So Zeb's the reason her parents got rid of the TV when she was only 3. Daddy O got sick and tired of screaming at Zeb to turn it off. The apartment isn't that big and DO is really sensitive to noise—he got the poultry scissor from the kitchen and cut the cord. The television's cord.
Really.
It must have been pretty crazy. OSFO doesn't remember a thing about it because she was only 3 but her parents tell stories over and over to their friends about the time they did this and the time they did that. And that was the end of the television. It went down in the basement, where it still lives on a shelf near the green plastic Little Typkes swimming pool and the car seats they don't use anymore.
On 9/11, because they didn't have a TV, OSFO and her mom went to the neighbor's apartment on the first floor so they could watch what was going on.
OSFO thought the world was coming to an end. None of the grown-ups were paying any attention to the kids.
Still, OSFO remembers that day pretty well even though she was only four. The grown-ups were all standing around The Kravitz's big screen TV watching clouds of smoke. OSFO and Pretty Girl played with Barbies. Everyone was acting very strangely. A friend of SM's died that day. She spent most of that week at their apartment waiting around to see if he was really dead.
Either you're dead or you're not, OSFO remembers thinking. But apparently there was a chance that he was wandering around with amnesia, in a hospital in New Jersey, or living in an underground hole.
OSFO wishes she had more to say about that week but she doesn't. Sometimes she wishes she better memories of these things everyone talks about like when she was a flower girl at her Aunt DD's wedding, the time Groovy Grandpa took her and Zeb ishing on the lake near his country house, or the cross-country trip to Colorado to visit Kane and Luca.
SO OSFO's mom has a blog and a lot of people read it. In it she calls OSFO, The Oh So Feisty One. Until recently, OSFO didn't even know what the word feisty meant. Then she googled it and saw on an online dictionary what it mean: Spunky. Spirited. Lively.
Her mom says it's a big compliment but she would have liked something like, I don't know, the Oh So Pretty One or or The Oh So Artistic One because when she grows up she is definitely going to design clothes, paint pictures, and design cool sports cars.
In the blog, Zeb is Teen Spirit, probably because he's a teenager. Maybe she calls him that because his room smells when the doors been closed and he's been hanging out with this friends. PU.
Or maybe there's another reason.
OSFO doesn't mind mom's blog that much but she hates the fact that she'd rather type on her laptop computer than do something with her. If you asked her she'd say it wasn't true, that she and OSFO spend so much time together. She might even get all sad and remind OSFO of their trips to Fluffy Bear Workshop or the hotel in New Jersey with the seven inter-connecting swimming pools.
But OSFO liks unplanned time together and just hanging out at home. And when they're home it seems that she'd rather be writing her stupid blog. Ditto for OSFO's dad, who spends his time re-touching the digital photos he takes, and Zeb is either playing his guitar or IMing his friends.
For OSFO, it feels funny to be the subject of the blog. It's like being a character in a book or a movie or something when you never really wanted to be. OSFO isn't sure who reads her blog but sometimes she catches people looking at her funny and she wonders what they're thinking: Oh, there's the Oh So Feisty One.
OSFO is definitely way more private than her mom, who'll say just about anything. And loudly whether they're walking down Third Street, in Met Food, in the school lobby. OSFO is always shushing her or saying, "Never mind. Never mind."
SM likes to talk and blog about her life and OSFO likes to keep her thoughts and feelings close to home. That's a big difference between them. But there really are a whole lot more. Differences, that is. It's funny to be someone's kid for your whole life and then you get to a point when you realize that you maybe don't have as much in common as you thought.
It's kind of strange. Maybe that's why OSFO wants to be with her all the time. She's really afraid that they're growing apart. And frankly, she doesn't know how she feels about that.
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