Archives: zum!

Been falling behind on putting this journal thing up on the Internet… Oh well. There are only so many hrs. I’ve been working on getting ZUM! more up to date & all that… Nothing spectacular, just documenting what I should already have done, but not managed to.
Been prattling about on Ebay as well… Got me some Bionicle bits for Jack. He seems to like them, but have to confess that I also rather like them. Sad little me, but then, being a dad gives you a chance to play with your children’s toys (ahem).

Aware that I’ve been writing a lot & not finding the time to do the website. Have been doing a little rejigging with the ZUM! Catalogue, & I only have limited time. I was trying to get a ‘Box Hack’ to work, as although it’s nicely HTML4 transitional compliant, Internet Explorer 5/5.5/6 on a PC is not in the way the page is rendered… The Box Hack is supposed to work round this & does allegedly work. My problem is that I don’t actually understand how it works & could find no proper explanation as to how it works, thus …well, I couldn’t get it to work. Seems fair enough. I opted to remove the code rather than sit with untidiness.

The paddling pool was out when I staggered home in the heat of yesterday. Louise said it took over an hour to inflate & fill. Sounds like a lot of effort with the accompanying chants from Amber of
“Where’s the pool?” and, “Where’s the water?”
“In the tap” (Louise manages)
“I’ve got a tap at home.”
They all enjoyed the water.
Jack crashed his bike in the evening. Nasty scrape on his shoulder. I would have gone to investigate which van he claimed he ran into, but I reasoned I’d rather not know & concentrate on Jack. I’m not aware there’s a red van that usually parks around our way. He was off again in 5 minutes with instruction to be more careful. I don’t know if he was as I didn’t have to go & collect him at bath time. Hamish must have gone in – so Jack came in. He’d been playing with Hamish constantly since about noon (Louise says). They must have come to an accommodation between themselves where they know how far to demand from each other in the direction of play. Eve & Amber have not quite managed it yet. Eve is accommodating to bending over backwards, but when she starts to take the initiative or go in a direction that Amber does not Amber goes from a scale of huffy to bealing. It’ll come – I remember Jack & Hamish used to have similar.

Joy – bank holidays! A little extra time at home.
We (Louise & I) made progress in the attic Sunday night. We both did some painting. I’m getting on quite well with the skirting boards & she did a little wall painting where the underside of the arch where the chimney flues meet. Can’t really continue on that wall now, as we have to wait for the plaster to dry out. On the plus side – it does – very gradually – seem to be drying out. We had some bad rain last week & there seems to be no darkening in tone of the plaster – so we rather hope that leaks have been sealed. As Louise has had a taste of painting now, I think that she’ll be more up for helping me on an evening. Having said that we did no work. I wanted to got to bed early as I was irritable at some points yesterday, which is a sure sign that I’m fraying my edges too much.
We went to Leeds on Sunday & bought some clothes for the kids & Louise got some wool & I got some comics (our ‘habits’ satiated). We then discovered that we did not have as much money in the bank as anticipated… bum… Wishing our ‘habits’ were still craving. I got a whole bunch of small press comics to remind myself how badly I am progressing with ZUM!. Very nice to see a comic shop bothering to stock them though. I also got James Kochalka’s ‘comic book diary #2. Delightful & trying not to read it too fast.

Nightime – watching telly – there’s a novelty.
Shagged today – up late last night prattling about getting a bit of ZUM! sorted out that no one will look at anyway – but that’s not the point.
Up early as Eve wanted to see me (I had been shuffled out of our bed by the numbers therein, & retired to Jack’s bed. Woke too early to “Want Daddy” shouting down the hall holding Louise’s hand. Really unwilling to rouse, but did. Tried to leave Louise & Eve in Jack’s bed & sneak back to our own, but no, it won’t really do – just a delay – a respite before giving in to waking up.

Started the shower & it broke. The fascia literally broke off in my hand. So, I’m left holding the control cover. ARSE! This is a disaster; it really is – I mean – I rely on my shower for non-committal waking up before breakfast. Let it all run over me. After reporting the catastrophe to Louise she advises my confused morning time brain to have a bath. Oh yes – we do have a bath. We at least have a combi-boiler, so that we can have a bath full, not a piddling puddle from the time when it was in a tank.
Anyway – although Louise & I were both grumpy, we managed to break the cycle of grumpy & get out to Hebden Bridge. Jack & Eve had a good play in the playground & had a picnic & some ice cream. We dragged them away & had a little charity shop trawl. A first – we got videos from a charity shop. Louise found the weddingpresent video collection *punk & I found the ‘Absolutely Vido’ . A bizarre ‘Letterland’ tape measure thing on wheels, a tape & a couple of books for the kids. Ah, charity shop booty…
Jack has been uncommonly good today. He has been helpful & listened to us. Guided Eve as well.
Right – it’s too late again – I’m off to bad. My brain has suffered all day from a lack of sleep. Left hand sinuses ache. I whine when I’m tired.

Mild frisson of joy still pervades. I managed to tidy up the html a little & officially announce the ZUM!#10 archive open. Mailed it round the bugpowder mailing list as this is the best I can do for jumping up & down excitedly in font of my peers. With any luck they will tell me of all the mistakes I have made with out of date details. I managed to trawl through a good portion of the alphabetical listing, but its not really possible to do everything.
The kids were actually asleep when I left this morning. It’s been a while since both of them were asleep (& Louise awake) on my leaving. Another night of bed hopping as Eve was in our bed before I had even retired for the night. She woke up crying out for us, & I went upstairs to find her kneeling in her bed. She was not up for being comforted by me – she was in ‘offended’ mode & pulled away from my touch. She was also, basically, still asleep. Louise picked her up (as mentioned before – sometimes only mum will do) & it took a little while, but she was eventually asleep again. She did a similar thing this morning – woke up wailing, but she stopped again after a short while. I assumed that Louise had comforted her again – but Louise was with Jack in their bedroom (our bed may be big, but 4 in a bed gets uncomfortable). Heh – Jack when Jack & Louise stirred (while all in our bed) she asked him if it was a good idea to move to his room again – to which he seemed keen. Sweet. Anyway – it makes us think that perhaps we should be slightly more stand-offish when Eve stirs & shouts… maybe she will just flop back to sleep?
Also – all this running about in the night worries Louise as to what the dickens we do when the new baby arrives? We have not the room & we fret about the knocking of a moses basket… I really must try to get some more attic room work sorted. Since resolving to do more earlier I have not actually thought – let alone done anything further. Time jumps at you round corners when you’re tying to relax.

Not been feeling chipper of late. Went to bed early with a headache last night & was displeased to find it was still with me in the morning. I hate it when that happens. – bah
Missed my initial train home today – so stayed a little longer doing some website work & I think I’ve now got the ZUM! #10 archive ready for general opening at last. Not perfect, by any means – but more presentable, certainly. Phew.
I feel slightly closer to catching up with my ambitions – I know I’ll never truly meet them, but I like to feel I’m getting closer sometimes.

One of those odd night sleep where you wake up to the alarm, convinced it must be wrong as you’ve only been asleep 5 minutes… but no… that was a night sleep.

Jill (builder/carpenter Jill) arrived yesterday to look at the roof again. It has been leaking (again) by the chimney (again). Bit worse this time, but they think they’ve cracked it this time. We have been cautioned that they think that a hole in the lead flushing may remain – so to keep an eye on it (would we do less?). Happy to have had it looked at & hopefully rectified! Got my arse into gear a little last night & varnished one of the plaster walls up there. The one that will have a radiator on it (so we can now call the plumber to get a radiator fixed up there now – heh. The varnish went on quite well – the porous nature of it sucked the moisture from the varnish quite quickly – leaving a brush-stroked finish that was quite pleasant. However, I am going to put on a second coat to see how that feels.

All this delays me getting my comics online – which naturally stalls me doing work on ZUM! – so… how far am I behind on personal projects? Who gives a damn! Actually – ZUM! does plague me a little with guilt… but I have learnt to live with that :)

Well – I finished off the wallpapering in the bedroom the other day. As it was just a bit above the door, It was a bit ‘is that it?’ – an anticlimax. I now have to varnish the paper. Joy. Still, that should not take too long, &then it’s protected. I guess we now have to plan an expedition to Ikea to get the kids new beds.

Jack takes a keen interest in Louise’s tum (growing babe). He likes to listen to it, & feel the baby kick. The other night Louise woke up & Jack had fallen asleep on her tum. Whether he’d moved in the night or what it’s difficult to tell, but it’s right sweet.

I’ve been trying to ensure I get to bed early. Well, when I say early, it essentially means, not late. But I have been falling behind on getting what I want sorted done. ZUM! is progressing annoyingly slowly again & My own reviews have slipped again. I am not meeting my exacting demands… thankfully I don’t work for me, or I might get annoyed with me. I remain frustratingly nearly focussed.

We went to a ‘parent’s evening’ at school last night. The 1st of many in this parental duty thing I guess. Jack’s teacher seems overall pleased with him. There were a few interesting insights. It seems he is more serious than we thought he might be. Studious. He was also not that keen at playtimes to start with. They were in the same playground as the rest of the school, & he must have found it intimidating. He would stay near the adult helper/teacher. It’s reported that he is now seen less near the adult, so must be getting used to this. It seems a little odd, as he is such a social creature, but then a playground full of screaming kids intimidates me. Also got an insight into the structure of their learning at this stage, which was interesting. He understands to look at the whole word when reading a word, that sort of thing… so I guess you could say he is doing well. Nothing ill to report at all, really. Louise & I were relieved that the teacher was not strict with us.

Naaah

It doesn’t look like I’ll polish off that room this week. I took a night off & did no decorating last night. I decided that I wanted to put up a ZUM!& review… so I did. We also have Caroline coming up from London to visit us – which will be good! It would be a bit rude of me to do the decorating while she is here tho…

Eve woke at about 10:20 late night – rather upset. She has not woke at this time for quite some time (she sleeps rather well for at least the first 4 hours of the night, as does Jack). She would not settle either, so Louise took over comforting, & still she would not settle. It’s a bit distressing when this happens, as there is plainly something amiss. She was not comfortable… Stomach ache – possibly just trapped wind though as she did a few class farts. It did take her just over an hour to settle down again. She went off to sleep in our bed, me already drifting off & Louise trapped in her daytime clothes as she was not going to let her go. There was no recurrence in the night, so we can but hope that it was wind, & she is over that. She has got some ‘bug’ at the moment as she threw up her tea again last night. It would have stayed down save for the fact that Jack upset her again, & her upset spiralled into distress & puke. This has happened a few times of recent… & Jack has been warned about such foolish behaviour at teatime. Teatime is not going as smoothly as we would like at the moment. It did not help that I was very late home yesterday… the trains going a bit pooh on me, & all that.

Write a comics review? Write the diary? Write a comics review? Write the diary? Write a comics review? Write the diary?

…..

Well, as there are details that I would like to say about what Jack’s been doing at school, & as my memory is feeling scorched by tiredness (detail eludes me) – reviews it is. Maybe I’ll be back writing more diary in a minute…