Now It's Just Patronizing Me

I ran the Jon Wins Poker Tournament post through the readability test, and got Genius again. Now I think it knows how neurotic I am, and doesn't want to upset me.

Jon Wins Poker Tournament

So, Jon plays poker with the same bunch of guys about every two weeks. A year or two ago, they started a poker "season," where they keep track of points over time, and the people with the most points get into a final tournament. Jon did not have enough points for the tournament, having tweaked his strategy all year and not won a single event, but two guys couldn't make it so he got a seat anyway.

And he won. The whole thing. They even have a lovely trophy:

There's cash, too. But that meat grinder sure looks good on our mantel...

Five Years

...at the same school! Sophie started Kindergarten today at Highline Academy, the DPS charter Madeline attended as part of the inaugural Kindergarten class. Now Madeilne's in fourth grade, Baxter's in second, and Sophie is a Kindergartener.

Actually, SOPHIA is a Kindergartener. She decided she wanted to change her name, and this seemed like the perfect time. Sophia is her legal name since Jon figured we might as well give her a "resume-ready" name in case she wanted it later. Little did we know she'd be ready to shed "Sophie" at age 5. We'll see if it sticks... a lot of the teachers and some students already know her as Sophie.

A parent was expected to attend with her today, so Sophie and I headed off to Kindergarten. Four years ago, when I took Madeline to her first day, I dropped her off and that was it. Two years ago I attended a half-day with Baxter, and then he jumped into a full day the next day. Sophie has a half day tomorrow, a half day Friday, and Dad has to come eat lunch with her on her first time in the cafeteria! Oy. She was uncharacteristically clingy and pouty today (see below); I think she'd have done better if I'd just dropped her off. Maybe it's just me, but I think there's too much influence from helicopter parents going on here. Few of the children this morning looked like they were benefitting from their parents' presence.



She wouldn't stop making silly faces for a photo of us together...

She had a great time using a purple glue stick to glue down the photo of her family, though (forgot to photograph it; I'll get that tomorrow):


And I have no idea what this expression was all about, but she was excited to show me she could slide down the pole on the playground:


And now for my favorite photos of the entire year (every year). I think the First Day of School photos in front of our door, and the Christmas Morning photos at the top of the stairs are the only ones I remember to take every year. I've made a cute little mini book (I was inspired by some school product we had last fall) that has the photos from each year-- I think it's my favorite mini ever.

A Touch of Irony

So, if you know me, you know that I have an idiosyncratic way of speaking. See? There, I just did it. I use words that are sometimes considered bigger, more complex, than they need to be.

This was a source of much teasing and derision when I was younger. I think other kids assumed that I was talking that way to seem smarter than they were; that I was doing it on purpose.

I wasn't.

So it was incredibly cruel irony when, prompted by a blog post by my friend Emily, I ran my blog through a "readability test" and received a rating of...

...wait for it...

Elementary School.

Yes, that's right. The girl who's been teased since she was seven about her overlarge vocabulary couldn't even write her way out of fifth grade.

Irrationally bothered by this, I decided that the reason it was so poorly rated was that I had recently posted a stupid rumination on band names, and that was dragging my score down. So today I was inspired to point the readability test to a specific blog post; I entered this post, and was given the rating of...

That's better. I'm just sayin'.

***disclaimer: No words were intentionally chosen to inflate my vocabulary for this post. No college professors were held hostage and forced to write this. I really talk like this. Except, apparently, when I'm talking about band names.***