Gametes In Love

Griffin is 18. It’s a little surreal to say that. 1) I don’t feel old/qualified? enough to have an adult child; 2) how can this have happened so fast?

He’s ready though, even though I’m not. He’s calm, and getting ready for the next chapter in his life: college. Applications are around the corner. I’m not sure I’m ready for that either!

Our annual interview. This will be our last. I can’t imagine asking him these questions when he’s 40… though maybe…. some of them…

Me: I’m gonna ask you this question a little bit differently: Your middle name is simply V… If you had the opportunity to pick yourself a full name that goes with V, what would it be?
G: Victor

Me: Okay. How old are you now?
G: 21
Me: Try again
G: 22.
Me: Ok — good one!

Me: What is your favorite color?
G: Blue

Me: Who is your best friend? Or who are your best friends, if you have more than one?
G: Carston, Ryan, Julian, Thiago.

Me: What do you like to do with your friends?
G: Play video games.
Me: Which video games?
G: A lot,
Me: A lot? Okay.

Me: What is your favorite book?
G: Like, most recently or overall?
Me: Most recently.
G: Uh… Great Gatsby
Me: What do you like about it?
G: It’s all right. It’s just interesting.

Me: What is your favorite movie or TV show?
G: I don’t know.

Me: What is your favorite animal?
G: I don’t know.

Me: What is your favorite food to eat?
G: Pasta.
Me: Any particular type of pasta?
G: No

Me: What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
G: Cookies and cream.

Me: What is your favorite outfit to wear?
G: Pajamas.

Me: What song do you love right now?
G: Uh… I don’t have a song, but more like an artist: Zach Bryan.

Me: Who is your biggest hero?
G: Myself.
Me: Why?
G: I don’t know. Just myself. Egotistical.

Me: Which actually brings me to my next question. What are you really good at?
G: Like, overall?
Me: Yeah. Like…. hey, I really excell at this thing.
G: Organization… schoolwork… coding…

Me: Where do you wish you could go on vacation?
G: I’m still deciding on that
Me: Well, not your graduation trip. That’s different. If you can go on vacation anywhere.
G: Yeah, I’d be one of those places
Me: Okay. For the record or for this recording, rather, what are these places?
G: The record knows.
Me: For the record, it’s Swenland (i.e. more Nordic countries)

Me: If you had $1,000 right now, what would you get?
G: A Star Tracker

Me: What do you want to do when you grow up?
G: Some form of engineering.

Me: What is… something that you want to do before you turn 19? Or, I’m sorry, 23.
G: I don’t know.
Me: There’s no achievements or, “Man, I really want to do this thing!”?
G: No

Me: Give me a piece of advice.
G: Don’t do drugs.
Me: Noted. Thank you!

This past week we’ve had some rain. It’s been acompanied by some rather impressive winds. The knock-at-the-side-of-the-house kind of strong winds!

Yesterday morning, S asked G if he heard the storm the prior night.

Non-ironically he responds:

Of course! I hear him yelling every night!

Ah, yeeees! S2 does have a reputation for yelling while gaming.

This box contains S gift to his brother this year. Guesses what it contains?

Yeeees! He knows his brother well! Maybe now we’ll get to eat some chips too.

I ordered the Family Pack… but S demanded the original, so… here’s how we spent Sat eve w/ my sister.

This was one of the questions I had to ask.

S wanted to get ghost roots. It’s def. a hair dye skill above my level, and if bleach is going on my kids’ head, then it’s getting done by Bobby. So, for his birthday, kid leveld up his hair game.

It looks pretty great! Won’t lie — these pics don’t do it justice.

Now… we get home, and I’m showing G pics of the process. He looks at Bobby and says “Who’se this?” I answer: Bobby.

That can’t be Bobby! This is Bobby!

(and he pulls up a pic of Bobbi the hair-dresser from Phinneas & Ferb)

Weighing in at 106lb, at 5’6″, here’s Storm in his own words:

How old are you now?

15?

What is your favorite color?

Red.

Changed since last year.

Okay.

I like it. Who’s your best friend? Or who are your best friends?

Alex.

What do you like to do with your friends?

Talk.

Do you have a favorite book?

No.

Do you have a favorite movie or TV show?

Uh, like, The Spider-Verse series, and Avatar the Last Airbender.

What is your favorite animal?

Uh, the crow.

What is your favorite food to eat?

I don’t know. Chips or something like that?

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

I have no clue. You get the ice cream.

You like cookies and cream a lot.

Yeah. Sure, then that. Sure.

Okay. What is your favorite outfit to wear?

I don’t have a single outfit that I wear. Also, that’s a really random question.

Okay, what is your favorite article of clothing, then?

Um, I like this jacket. It’s, like, corderoy. It’s comfy.

Okay. What song do you love right now?

Let’s see, what’s my top song on Spotify wrapped. This is a good time for this. Hmm. Let’s look through playlist. Maybe. Let’s see. Uh, it’s a, this is one of them. It’s white noise by Cyber trash. Okay. Um, but just a ton more.

Okay. Who’s your biggest hero?

I don’t know.

Okay. What are you really good at?

Okay, um, sitting in a chair all day.

What do you wish you could be better at?

Sleeping.

I thought you were already really good sleeping.

Not on time.

Where do you wish you could go on vacation?

Uh, uh, I want to visit New York eventually.

Which part of New York?

All of it. I don’t know.

New York City?

Yes, mainly that.

What would you buy if you had $1,000?

I don’t know, clothes.

If you could have a wish, what would it be?

Dear Santa, 100 weed.

Not this year! Okay, next…

Um, money.

How much money?

Um, a lot.

What’s a lot?

Enough to live comfortably. More than comfortably.

In which country?

Um, the best.

What do you consider to be the best country?

I cannot further disclose that.

Okay. What kind of job do you want to do when you grow up?

I want to be an architect.

Okay. What do you hope to do before you turn 16?

Uh, uh, get like the driving permit before Griffin.

Okay. And now, lastly, give me a piece of advice.

I don’t know.

Storm complained that he’s getting points docked off turning his work in because he wasn’t including his last name on his paper.

His reasoning: How many other Storm’s are there in the class?

You’re not wrong, child!

But… you’re not Madonna, yet, kid!

Excelling at one-word answers, I present you, our 17-year old!!!

What is your favorite color?

Blue

What flavor of blue? There’s just a lot of shades of blue.

Blue.

All right. Who’s your best friend?

Ryan, Julian & Tiago

What do you like to do with them?

Play games

What kind of games?

Video games.

Any one in particular?

No.

What are you guys playing right now?

Uh, depends.

On?

How much time we have?

Let’s say you have 15 minutes.

We do nothing.

You have half an hour..

The Finals.

The finals of what?

That’s the game.

Oh. What if you have three hours?

Depends.

On?

If we switch games.

Okay, so you don’t want to play any one game for too long.

Yeah.

What is your favorite book?

Uh, none of them.

What is your favorite movie or TV show?

Phineas and Ferb.

Who is your favorite YouTube content creator?

I don’t know.

Top three?

I don’t know.

What is your favorite animal?

A human.

A human?

A human’s an animal

That is true! Any particular human?

Myself.

Wow! So… so… you know…

What is your favorite food to eat?

Pasta.

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Cookies and cream.

What’s your favorite activity?

Sleeping.

What’s your favorite outfit to wear?

Pajamas.

But not your cozy socks?

No.

So just your pajamas? Okay.

What song do you like a lot right now?

I don’t know.

Is there a particular song that just makes you happy and you listen to it again and again?

Not really.

Who is your biggest hero?

Myself

So modest…

What are you really good at?

Sleeping

I disagree.

Uh bullshit, nuh huh

Where do you wish you can go on vacation next?

Sweden

Hmm. Why Sweden?

I’ve already been to Norway.

You’re just trying to cover the Nordic countries?

Yeah.

If you’re gonna have $1,000, what would you buy?

If you were in California, that gets you nothing.

It actually gets you a fair amount, but..

Nice job. You get like, nothing.

Okay, what would you want to buy that clearly is way more than $1,000.?

A thousand It’s Its

A thousand it’s its?

Yeah.

They would melt or go bad before you eat ’em

All right, then: 9,000 It’s Its. And one refrigerator.

If you could have a wish, what would it be?

Huh, I don’t know.

Think about it. If a gennie was standing right here in front of you, I’d be like, “I grad species, what you want?” You would say.. “

Another genie?

What would you do with another gene?

Ask for more wishes.

Well, sure, but at some point in time, you’re actually going to have to make the wishes.

Figure that when we get there

How many gennies would you need?

I don’t know.

What do you want to do after high school?

Go to college

And then?

I don’t know.

Do you have any particular career in mind?

Not really

What do you hope to achieve before you turn 18?

Nothing… I think I’m dying to achieve.

Okay. Anything you want to accomplish before you turn 18?

No, not really.

I got one for you.

Okay, what?

Got a driver’s license.

Why? You didn’t like driving me around?

I like driving you around.

Ok; but also problem solved.

But I also want you to have the flexibility to, you know, not have to rely on me.

Well, yeah, and there’s Dad.

But when we’re traveling and the other person can’t help you, what do you do? Like, Dad was out of town the other week; I had a meeting, and I was like “Oh, you’re gonna have to walk!” .. And then it got canceled last minute.

Walking to school is not bad. Walking back sucks.

Okay. But also, yesterday, I because I had other stuff, I stayed home, but I would have gone to work otherwise, and then would have had to walk home.

Yeah, I but I didn’t have any plans afterward.

It only matters if you have plans?

Yeah.

All right. Give me a piece of advice.

Don’t do drugs.

Okay, that’s a good one.