the boy
13
And just like that, we have two teenagers.
First and Only
Yesterday, E and I went for a short mountain bike ride: one quick loop each around all three paths at our nearest mountain bike path. There’s a new loop, we took it. Naturally. It’s mostly gravel and packed dirt, but there’s one paved section. I picked up the pace; E matched it; I accelerated; he matched my speed — soon, it was an out-and-out race.
When we got home, and I checked the stats on Strava, I saw that we’d gotten the KOM for that new segment. Granted, only four people have ridden it, but still — a King of the Mountain for a Strava segment? That’s what legends do!
So this evening, I did the logical thing: I went back and rode it again, taking almost 45 seconds off the KOM.
It will fall soon enough. A fat man on a cheap bike (my Strava profile tag line) can’t hold a KOM for long. But the point is, I never thought I’d get a KOM…
Closing In
We’re in our final three weeks of school — my final three weeks at Hughes. My testing is over: we had three days — three days — of English testing (two reading, one writing). My grades are almost done: English 8 students have one more grade while English I Honors have three. Everything is winding down.
And those three weeks are hardly full weeks: we have another day of testing (math — poor sixth-grade students have two more days of testing because they also have a science test); we have a field trip next Friday; our last two days are half days; I’m missing one day for L’s graduation. And we’re done with Monday. So that means we have about ten more regular days of school. “Are you excited about next year?” seems to be the common refrain from my colleagues, and I freely admit that I am at such peace with this decision that I don’t think excitement is the emotion I’m feeling: confidence, surety. It will be a good thing.
This Saturday, we had the intake for students at the new school, so I got to meet a lot of students and parents. As I told them the plans I have for this class, parents continually told me, “That sounds like a very valuable class.”
Yet every now and then, it really hits me what I’m about to do. I’ve taught at that school for eighteen years now. Seventeen of those years I’ve been in the same room. I’m comfortable there. I have no surprises there. But surprises can be a good thing. I hope to have many of the next year.
We’re also closing in on L’s graduation (May 20) and her departure for college. We’re ordering things (a new laptop that’s actually more powerful than our desktop), planning things (a graduation party that will last an afternoon and evening), discussing things (upcoming exams, upcoming travel), and getting used to the idea of her being gone (not really).
And then there’s the Boy: he’s got concerts and competitions for band; he’s got his own testing worries to stress about (why do we do this to kids?); he’s got a burgeoning social life for which we provide transportation. All this as he closes in on his final year as a middle schooler.
Saturday
Thursday Badminton
Easter 2025
Good Friday 2025
Outdoor Concert
Can’t embed E’s latest concert. Might not even be able to watch it…
Disney Performance
Sunday
Charleston Spring
We spent yesterday and today in Charleston — a favorite destination when we have a bit of time, a bit of money, and an itch to travel. Only three hours away, it’s a perfect weekend destination.
And even when it’s too cold to go into the water, we have to spend some time on the beach.
We gave the new camera a bit of a workout. It’s a steep learning curve: there are a lot more possibilities than our older cameras (focus modes, for instance), and it’s taking us a while to get used to everything.
Still, the size, the image quality — I think it was a good choice for us as are kids grow up. I won’t be needing to take any more volleyball pictures, and for soccer, I’ll still likely reach for the Nikon given the lens options we have.
Still, for our trip to Greece and Poland this summer, only one camera and one lens.
We took a couple of walks,
I took some pictures of the waves,
and then we headed downtown. The kids wanted to do a little shopping; K and I just split up with them and helped out. Afterward, there was only one place to go before heading back:
Hyman’s — probably the most famous seafood place in Charleston. I almost always order the same thing: there’s only one variant. I’ll always have mussels; I always take the deviled crab; after that, the third is the only variant. Today, I had the salmon croquette. All delicious.
K ate light — too mush sushi the night before.
The Boy, being the Boy, decided to try something new: crawfish. He wasn’t thrilled. He ate them, but decided it was too much work for too little return.
Landscaping Saturday
Monday
Spring Sports Saturday
The Boy
New Camera
The decision to leave my school and take a chance with at a new school teaching a new subject was in some ways difficult and in other ways easy. Seventeen years in a place can do that to you.
Changing camera systems is sort of the same. The first real camera I bought was in Poland: a Zenit I bought at the jarmark. After that, I bought a Nikon. When I returned to the States, I bought my first and last Canon, and a couple of years after that, I bought my first digital camera, a Sony. Finally, when we bought a DSLR, we went back to Nikon. First, a D70s. Then a D300. And seven years ago, almost to the day (6 March 2018), we bought a D500.
It was about time for an upgrade.
But to what? DSLRs are on the way out — it’s all mirrorless these days. And besides, we wanted something small: the D500 with the 2.8 lens weighs over 1600 grams, and it’s huge. Not as big as a D6, but not as professionally expensive, either.
We’d been using our Fuji X100 almost exclusively over the last year or so, and we’d gotten spoiled with its size and simplicity. But it was nearing its end: released in 2011, our lovely little Fuji was 14 years old — ancient by digital camera standards. So, again, it was time for an upgrade.
We wanted something small, but in the end, we wanted a bit more functionality than the X100 series would offer. While we love the camera, it does have its limitations. We thought briefly about the Fuji X-Pro 3, which is similar to the X100 series but with interchangeable lenses. But that price…
In the end, we decided to change camera systems entirely and go with the Sony a6700.
When the battery was charged up, E and I took the dog and the camera for a walk to see its low-light capabilities. The same walk, in fact, that we took with the D500…
The Boy
Landscaping Changes
