Hump day at last. That means Change Control (Yawn), Star Trek Enterprise (maybe) and a bottle of Merlot (probably) tonight.

Step-son (J) had TAKS test last week, and got a B-, which ain't bad. He moved down here about 3 months ago, shortly after we moved into our new house, and seems to be adapting quite well and doing better, although he did manage to lose his science book sometime in the last few days. Teenagers fall into two categories: Those that know everything, and those that forget everything. J is in the latter category, so we spend an hour a night going over the previous day with him and then preparing him for the following day.

He's gone from Ds and Fs across the board to As,Bs, and Cs in the last few months so I guess its working.

J is a good kid, just doesn't have any direction, but then what the hell, neither do I and I'm pushing 40!

Had an interesting problem come up last night. The computers at home are all networked, and I copied a file onto his machine for him. I noticed his Grokster directory was packed full of porn! Not just the standard stuff, but some highly dodgy stuff too. I guess when you're 15, you would probably want to look at other teens, but either way, that's a big No-No. So I deleted all the files, then had to have a conversation with him. Well I talked, he listened.

I explained that there was nothing wrong with porn per se, but you absolutely could not and should not be looking at pictures of anyone who even appears to be under 18.

I explained about the consequences of such actions, how one of us could go to jail if that type of filth was ever found on any of the computers.

He is restricted from the computer until he finds his science book, and I will be monitoring what he downloads for a while also.

So last night, instead of TV, we prepared for the class I'm teaching this weekend. We practiced drawing symbols in the air behind someone's back and having them try and guess what it was. J got 6/6, R got 4/5, I think I got 2/5.

Then we tried to move this paper cone with channelled energy, and it seemed to work, but we do need to watch for air movement and compensate for it.

I'm starting a new tradition, since I refuse to be part of any other one (except Correllian, see below). Its going to be called the Circle of Divine Pleasure, or something like that.

I'm using four deities for the elements: