The kids had their Finding Nemo Jr. musical this weekend. Emma was Bubbles, one of the main fish in the tank. She had a plastic chicken head that blew bubbles. It originally made some crazy clucking sound too, but we disassembled it and clipped the speaker wire. I was proud of that fix because I can’t remember the last time I successfully took something apart, fixed it, and put it back together correctly. It seems like I always run into some issue, whether it’s fixing someone’s computer or doing something mechanical.

Elsa a moonfish and Jack was a shark. Jack still doesn’t like being in chorus class, and at this point I can’t blame him. He did what we wanted, which was to try it out for a semester and be in a musical. He’s done all of that, gotten a good grade, and only complained a little. He wants to spend more time in band class, like he was before he was in chorus. That sounds like an excellent idea to me.

Elsa had an extra part as a moonfish that carries the “blood” trail through the water, up to the main shark. I’m glad she got this extra part because I think she’s uber talented and could be a leading lady in her high school musicals. She such a naturally talented singer, actress and dancer.

The assembly of the 3D printer is coming along slowly but surely. There’s only a few moments here and there where I can get out all the tools, clear a spot on the table, and dedicate time to putting it together. But I have my first assignment, which is to create tiger-themed pieces for the chess club. I’m getting eager to start printing stuff and testing everything, then trying to create my own models.

Summer and Wyatt stayed with us this weekend. We don’t have a lot of visitors at our house so it’s always nice when someone comes by. This Wednesday the wife, Emma and myself will join the high school band/chorus trip to Chicago to see Hamilton. Then next Tuesday I’m picking up Ted in St Louis. He’s staying for four days. That will be a blast. The kids love having Ted around. Laina will be getting back soon from her Hartford/Manchester/Boston work trip. Thanksgiving will be awesome this year.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I’m wondering if I should track all I eat in the WW app, or just ignore it for a day. I don’t plan on watching what I eat. Like last night I ate all the pizza I wanted, but I like to track everything now that goes in my body just as a habit. The wife informed me that women (i.e. herself) don’t like skinny men; they like muscle definition. On that note I changed my target weight from 165 lbs to a more realistic 170 lbs. Since I weighed 174.0 yesterday, I’m practically at my target. I don’t plan on stopping my daily workout routine, so I should be on the road to muscle definition soon. I think if I keep tracking my intake, stay away from soda, and eat reasonable portions, I can more or less eat what I want and stay around 170. I like my routine of eating apples and bananas throughout the day. It fills me up for the most part. Because of this I’ve become something of an apple connoisseur – Juici and Sweet Tangos are just the best, all the other types are a chore to eat now.

The wife is watching White Christmas now and had to show me the unbelievably racist blackface part. I watched and agreed – it’s horrible racist, in today’s culture. Back then it is probably what passed for liberal, left-wing feel-goodism. The conservatives of that day would probably have been aghast that a movie would even show negroes at all.

Someday I want to write about a big philosophical debate that plays out in my head, which is this: People today think that the main struggle is between good and evil, or black and white, or conservative vs liberal. I think the main conflict is between the Absolute and the Relative. Some day I’ll put my thoughts down on paper about this, but I’m still thinking it out, usually when I’m doing some chore like mowing the lawn or folding laundry or washing dishes. If my ear isn’t bothering me then I get a chance to think. I love to think. I love to ponder philosophy, to try to integrate and unify all the great ideas in life and come up with some grand idea on how to live properly as a human.