Saturday.

I spent Saturday in a small whirlwind that started when Kouryou-chan had to attend a friend's birthday party at 12 that ran until about 3:30. I hung out with the other parents and, as usual, felt very alienated. I don't have a lot in common with those people and aside from discussing our kids or the weather, there wasn't much to talk about.

I did get into a discussion with one of the other parents, but it was mostly tricks. "How did you get Kouryou-chan to read so well?" she wanted to know. I said only that we read to her every night, bought books to emphasize that they were gifts to be treasured, and snuck subtitled shows into her viewing habits so that she'd have to be able to read them to understand them.

After we got home, I drove Omaha over to the auction being held by Kouryou-chan's school. Now, I'm a little intimidated by this; we're not wealthy people by any stretch and Kouryou-chan only stays there by dint of some financial help. I stayed home and fed Kouryou-chan until about 8, at which point some blessed friends came and took her away to a sleep over with their daughters, which made it possible for me to also attend the auction. Clean-up was supposed to run from 9:30 to about 10. We didn't get out of there until 11.

I met Kouryou-chan's teacher in a non-school setting. Now, in her kindergarten class she's wide-eyed and energetic and incessantly cheerful and happy and the world is oh-so-cool to her, but now I realize that it's not an act: she's really like that all the time. Some people get the good brains.

After the auction, I helped clean up, which allowed me to score all of the decorative balloons. I took them home and put them into Kouryou-chan's room so she'd find them when she got home the next day. Omaha said, "Hey, we don't have the kid, why don't we go to the 'Spot?" So, we did. Had a good time, but I was really tired and already feeling floaty. I'd already spent two major events that day surrounded by people and my socialization battery was very low. But one beautiful young lady encouraged myself and a friend to put clothespins all over her until she was gasping for air in a nice way and that was fun.

We got home around three. I collapsed into bed. Was woken up at six by an allergy attack and had trouble going back to sleep. My brain said, "Hey, sun's coming up. No going back to bed." I put a mask over my face and eventually passed back out.