MWNews 126

Now where was I. Talking about something important I am sure. Then again, probably not. I just start new from here.

I would talk about some more of the bad stuff but I don't want to do that as much as I do.  Maybe it would help me to talk about it but this is about the kids and I want it to be something they will enjoy reading later, if they ever get around to reading it.  Lots of good stuff in here and maybe they will remember some of it with fond memories.

I think I mentioned that Maeghan is going to college next year, or the equivalent of the 11th grade.  I think we go to sign up for her classes next week, or I think I am taking her to that.  Not sure if that is the case but I am going to try to do that.  She says she has picked most of her classes.  She did say she was going to take Spanish for some reason.  I have no idea why.  Haven't talked to her about what she is actually going to take.  The school is supposed to help her and give her advice.  We have been to a couple of meet the school nights and she talked to a lot of people.  I think she has a pretty good handle on what she is going to do but I probably need to go over it with her to make sure.

She is going to have to take the bus to school everyday.  The city bus although I think she can still get a student bus pass.  It is almost all the way in town and I am not sure when the busses run.  I think they have a direct bus from here to there but I don't know if she has had a look at when they run yet. She takes the bus to school now and most days she takes it home but that is an official school bus and only has school kids on it.  I don't think the new bus is that way although I have been told the direct bus has mostly kids on it.

William has gotten a lot better at school or he seems to have.  He gets in a lot more trouble at school but I think that is mostly being a growing boy.  What I mean by getting better is he actually reads things now.  He's not very fast at it but he can read almost everything he sees so that is much better than before.  Used to, he didn't even try, he just asked someone else to read it for him.  Now, he will read things and then ask what it means so that is much better.  He still does not do his school work very well.  He can when he tries but he always says he never has any work and I don't find out about it until later.  His report cards still put him at the bottom of the class each time.

Some of his problem, and I don't really have much evidence of this but have witnessed it in action a couple of times, if that the teacher really does not like him.  I know all kids say that but I have seen it and been called in to witness it on a few occasions.  It got to the point that I was going to talk to the vice principal about it.  I did have a little talk with him and with William and there has been no other incidents since then that I know of but I didn't report my thoughts on why I think the teacher has it in for him.  It just that on a couple of occasions, she came up to me and reported a problem and made some accusations that turned out later to not be true.  Don't know if it was on purpose or not but if that is happening, her reporting things that are not true, then I should be talking to someone about it.  But, we will just wait and see.

Sunday is Father's Day here.  The kids are coming over to spend the day and night with me. I think I am going to take them to the swimming pool in town.  It is heated and they have been asking me to go for some time I just did not want to take them over to their and house and ask for their swimming suits.  I told them to bring them with them this weekend so I guess now I have to go.  It's cheap and easy, if it is not too crowded, so I am sure they will enjoy it.  Not sure if I will swim or not but I think they might make me even though I don't really enjoy it.  Last time I was there, some lady tried to pick me up or that is what Juanita said.  All I know is she kept talking to me and I couldn't really understand her so I just nodded my head and agreed with her.  It was strange but I don't think that will happen again.

Since the last time I posted, several years ago, I have grown a beard.  A full beard not the goatee that I have had in the past.  I cut most of it off a few days ago, only because I could not get it straight and ended up trimming too much. I am still not sure if I want to keep it but I have had it for almost two years now.

I am still looking for work and the prospects are not looking good for getting work in Tasmania, which means I will have to move to the mainland away from the kids and that will be very, very hard but I still have a couple of months before it becomes a think I am forced to do.  I am hoping something comes up before then that will keep me here.  As I type this, I got a reply from someplace that is rejecting me so it gets worse.

Guess I should be going now.  Not sure what I have to do but I am sure there is something.  Hope to have better news next time and everything begins to work itself out.

Until next time

MWNews 125

I thought I had entered something in this a while back but it would seem that I have not in a long while. Lot of changes in our lives, most of them bad or should I say not-good.

I lost my job.  Way back in November of last year. They gave me a lot of money to go away but that is coming to an end soon. Still looking for work. They do not do what I do in Tasmania and no one will hire me for anything other than what I do because I do not have an experience in anything other than IT work. I'll go into it more a bit later but I should say what the kids have been up to since this is supposed to be about them.

Juanita and I have split up, again.  May be permanent may not be but for now, we are barely civil.  The kids come over to my house at least three days a week.  The stay one or two nights on the weekends. I take them home otherwise. We live near each other now, about a kilometre away on the same main road.  Its not hard to go back and forth when I need to but with me not having a job, I might have to move soon, either back to the mainland or to another part of the state.

Let's see, there is so much to say and so much to catch up on and I do not remember what I have said in the past or have any idea where to begin. Angie, Juanita's daughter, was living with Juanita for the past few months.  A major contributor to our problems.  She was here with two of her kids, the other two stayed in Queensland. Angie also has a new partner. Won't go into it too much but he is here also. He is basically paralysed and has a lot of other medical problems and has to be pushed around and maintained on a constant basis. But that is a tale not for this blog. They were supposed to leave this past week and were all set to get on the boat and move back to Queensland but he got sick while they were waiting on the boat and is now in a hospital somewhere in Launceston. No idea what the plans are at this point. I though the two kids would be coming back to stay with Juanita but they are still there staying with another relative and where is goes from there depends on how he recovers.

Natalie is also back in Tasmania. I don't think we know the full story but she said she could no longer afford to live in NSW because she has been out of work for almost two years now.  She came home to try to get a job here while her husband continued to work at his job. This was planned before Angie showed up and at one point, they were all living in Juanita's house. That has since changed but to describe that I have to go into another bit of news about Juanita's parents.

They are both really ill now.  Her father had a stroke about a year, maybe two years ago.  He has gotten steadily worse over time.  Frequent visits and stays in the hospital and each time is a bit worse than the last. He has become disoriented and forgetful and can no longer take care of Beverly, his wife. She is not better either and has continued to get worse. With his problems, he now has a nurse come in everyday to check on and help him with different things. He has what they call a package, some type of health care program that provides him with different things and services. I do not know if that includes care of Beverly but mostly what they do is clean the house, wash the clothes and general upkeep for the house. When the nurse is there, she also provides health care for him but I do not think they do the same for her. Once a week, they take them shopping and stuff.  All the other appointments they have to go to handled by Juanita, her sister and her brother. This is where Nat comes in.

Nat now lives with them or I think she does. I think officially, she does not because that would lower their healthcare package but I don't really know what the arrangement is. Nat stays there and watches out for them.  I think if they made it official, Nat could get paid for it but as I said, I do not know what the arrangements are, I just know she is there all the time, with no car and no way to leave the house. Doesn't seem like a good arrangement for her but it does allow her to live rent free with no real expenses. I have no idea how her husband sees all this. Not being in that loop anymore, I don't know what goes on or what does not. They don't speak to me anymore.  I don't know if Juanita has said something or what the issue is but I have been on my own for a while with no contact with anyone other than the kids.

Which I should get back to. I am pretty sure I said Sydney was gone from Juanita's care.  It's been over a year now.  She is in that picture but I don't really have any new pictures anymore. Haven't taken any in a while.

Maeghan is in year ten. What that means in Australia is this is her last year of school. Years eleven and twelve are considered University or College or something else. She has to go to a different school next year and pick all her courses and make all the arrangements herself.  It is a bit weird to me but they seem to understand it.  Basically, she has to decide now what she wants to do with her life and take courses that will help her do that.  She's fifteen.  How is she supposed to know what she wants to do with her life. But that is the way it is here. Depending on what courses she takes, she can get certificates in different things, like child management, hospitality, IT and dozens of other subjects.  If she wants to go to a real college after year twelve, she has to take classes that will allow her to do that and she has to be in the top of the class in order to qualify. It is still hard for me to understand what exactly she is supposed to do. The easiest way for me to explain it to myself is to say she is starting college next year, at fifteen. A bit strange for me.

She could just drop out at this point. No compulsive reason for her to go, other than she would have to find work but there is no requirement that she attend school beyond the tenth grade.

I just looked at the clock and it is 5:30.  I need to make the kids dinner before I take them back home so I need to end this right now.  Maybe I will get back to it maybe I won't.  Still lots of things to say but it will have to be another time. So ta-ta for now.

Until next time