<p>egads, I took your advice and looked up lip piercing complications. Not a good thing to do, it just increased my overall stress level. Mica kid is going to find a barrage of emails from me with all the articles I found about chipped tooth enamel (and celiacs already have weakened dental enamel to begin with – and a few years ago she participated in a research study of celiacs and dental enamel and we know for a fact that she does have dental enamel defects), receding gums, bone loss… infections, including hepatitis. sigh. I was so proud of myself for keeping my cool when I talked to her on the phone yesterday too.</p>
<p>FAMMOM, look at this website [Fruit</a> Basket Reviews, Fruit Baskets Comparison Chart, 20% Coupon Code](<a href=“http://www.fruitbasketreview.com%5DFruit”>http://www.fruitbasketreview.com) – they have discount codes and coupons and other deals besides Harry & David. I might even be tempted to send MICA kid some fruit but A) I don’t think she would eat it if she could and B) she probably can’t eat it with the dang swollen lip.</p>
<p>Hopefully common sense will prevail…well, I can hope, can’t I?</p>
<p>Oh how very interesting…CC offspring that are now classmates…others are at the same concert…the kids still at home present their special challenges to keep life interesting and all of the launchees have made us think about our limits related to piercings… wow! talk about “you’re not alone” ! </p>
<p>Thanks for the link greenwitch…these were some of the milder outfits at the concert but I was waiting on the “bad” side of the verizon center on 9th street (in order to take the tunnel straight out to VA)…</p>
<p>OK…fill me in on how tarpaper is used in a sculpture class…really? thank goodness S is doing metal sculpture. Don’t you hope that the creations stay at college?</p>
<p>Switters and Loveblue…neat that the kids know each other! Very cool…The dad of my S’s room mate stopped by to get a package that his son sent with mine…we swapped stories of poor diets and hints of life at CMU gleaned from the short texts and phone calls home. Having a bit of news from another parent provides a little more color to life at CMU.</p>
<p>Switters…perhaps this is our shared secret strategy to keep Ss fed, housed and clothed. Yes support them following their dreams of art…but at a school which has brilliant engineers so they can find love (and financial security) while they strive for art nirvana…of course, it never works that way. When I got engaged to my husband who was earning a pittance my mother, in frustration and worry, said “it’s as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor man if you just put some effort into it” …but young people never listen…</p>
<p>Thanks for all the ideas about food. Yes he will eat the mac and cheese, ramen, cookies but he says they get boring fast…I think those packets of indian food are a potential solution along with some microwave rice. I am sending the ecuadorian equivalent of tabasco sauce with the hope that he can keep it in his backpack and just sprinkle it on stuff. The emergency stock that I sent with him yesterday included a raid on the pantry-- Honey bunches of oats, nuts and dried mangos along with the last of the thin mints and samoas from the freezer. A family sacrifice to provide him with calories…I told him to ration the girl scout cookies --no more until February. </p>
<p>OK…f inally DD has finished algebra II homework and I am off duty…to sleep.</p>
<p>famom- i knew we were wonder twins. My mother, although she denies it now, also told me it is just as easy to love a rich man. I married a poor philosophy major. But he is doing ok now. </p>
<p>About skinny boys and blandness. Im guessing that if your S is like mine, if the food isnt interesting, he just wont eat it. Which is how he manages to stay thin, whereas I will eat almost anything, which is why I dont stay thin…Im going to send some hot sauce too. Great idea…</p>
<p>Gmom- sorry about the visceral response to lip piercing. Here is a happy anecdote. I was stalking a friend’s daughter on fb. I knew her well as a little girl, and I was looking through her fb photos. She went from cute teenager, to very facially pierced older teenager (think eyebrows, nose, tongue, the works) to lovely young woman with a nursing degree, and not a trace of piercing. The hole will close up when she gets sick of it, or needs to get a job…</p>
<p>OK…D woke me to tell me that she thinks she has a fever and no, nothing to do with first algebra II quiz of the year, she went back to sleep after being reassured that she could take the quarterly “bye” if needed. I started this in middle school…if you just don’t want to go to school–either to avoid a test, avoid a person (ms drama), or you just want to vegetate–you can do this once a quarter…but only one bye a quarter unless really sick. Usually, she holds onto the bye until the very end of the quarter and sometimes doesn’t use it…she must be really stressed if she wants it the first week! Of course now I can’t sleep so back to cc to vent… </p>
<p>So …i looked at the links (thanks g-mom) and harry and david and now I am hungry. I am definitely going to try a small order of fruit as a test…too bad no one has papayas or passion fruit…there may be an untapped market there for first and second generation immigrants that Harry and David have missed with their waspy apples and pears. I also discovered Wolfermanns with lots of english muffins and breakfast stuff. God the pictures with the melting butter and preserves…food porn…</p>
<p>BandD…I often think when I look at all those mail order magazines that there is a style and product in the US for any possible combinations of taste, tastefullness and not. My mother-in-law had found on one of her trips to the states a Fredrick’s of Hollywood catalog but it took her several years to muster up the courage to ask me to order some items with the strict agreement never to tell my H. I told her that my lips are sealed until she passes on to the other world and I have to explain the frilly items in her bureau. They make Victoria’s secret look chaste. As you know, order something once and you are on their mailing list for life! H just wonders why we get the Fredricks catalogue and is worried my D has ordered something! I countered…maybe it was me? keep 'm guessing is my motto!</p>
<p>Another option for avoiding those mouth piercings…both my kids have a mild heart problem and the pediatric cardiologist hands out little brochures about the extra risks heart patients take with mouth piercings (actually with dental work in general–but at least when they have teeth pulled they get antibiotics immediately). So…even if D has a perfect heart you may want to pay the copay for a visit to a heart specialist…unfortunately, risk to heart does not apply to cartilage (noses and ears) and belly buttons…oh yeah BTW before someone on the thread picks up that skinny, tall and bad heart=Marfan’s and sends me a frantic PM…the family skininess is somewhat related to the heart issue…on the marfan’s spectrum but much much milder version.</p>
<p>Gmom - I’m so sorry to have added to your stress! At least, it can be removed if she chooses to and won’t leave a permanent mark like a tattoo or those ear lobe stretching things (((shudder))). No one seems to grow into middle age and keep their lip piercing.</p>
<p>For fattening up a picky eater, I’ve been trying to think of the most calorie dense food that is really flavorful. Maybe those roasted, salted, sugared, and heavily flavored nuts that always seem to show up in winter. I try to stay far, far away from them but it might be just the thing if he likes nuts. They can sit in a bowl next to his computer, no need for utensils or napkins, no prep time and you can find very decadent versions in catalogs. I’m sure there are spicy ones too. H and I had some spicy cashews the other day that were hard to stop eating even though they were a bit painful. Yum!</p>
<p>Speaking of catalogs… Because of gifts we have ordered for family members, we now receive catalogs from an exercise video company (boring), a medical scrub company (really boring) and from the Barbie Collector. Oh, the Barbie catalog is a riot. Giant and glossy and full of such gems as the “Athena Barbie” - part of the Goddess collection - and the entire cast of Mad Men (Barbies all) and Twilight (more Barbies, one with a bare chest). It goes on and on. I bring them to my friends who sometimes fight over who gets to keep them.</p>
<p>dear G
that’s required reading for us toy making people we like it or not.
I love Barbie and have one in my office drawer (secret) that I bought for " reference" at company’s cost.
same as Disney videos, something I respect as good big America thing, thou my liberal educated boss coworkers despise all glitz and plastic.
we have to think as consumer! the suckers! trailer park people!!
same reason or simply I could relate better than those NYer NYT reading snobs, I rooted on Britney Spears, 90210, Tonya Harding. I adore adore this country.</p>
<p>I had dinner with friend whose S started Pratt arch
kid wanted Cornell, missed parents relieved ($$$) missed Cooper parents upset (-$$$)
Pratt gave max $ but still less than half tuition. what can you do?</p>
<p>Pratt arch took 60 or so extra kids this year knowing they won’t survive.
survive what?
kid is pulling all nighters. left with sleeping bad and never to be seen, even weekends ( he is a commuter)
cost of supply mounted 5K plus for req. laptop with must have software, green cutting mat had to be specific size- no mommy’s hand him down would do, 50 cents each model making wood pieces X 30-50 mounts 30 bucks every week or so.
gawk
getting in and paying partial tuition is just that, start.
arch might be costly but so is oil paints, metal cray etc etc
how do I think even remotely that
" hey, I can do this, somehow" (with no loan)
I know I have no right to worry but wonder how little Trin is doing…
and that Bacon kid</p>
<p>I worry about Trin and awbacon too. Cutting it close with tuition is bad enough but adding $$$$ for a constant stream of art supplies is downright scary.</p>
<p>I went to the postoffice in little suburban pocket and full of mom’s sending care packages (I was sending quarterly tax payment) and venting about the extra expenditures (not even art parents). I am oblivious for now since S is supposed to pay all extras out of his starbucks earnings…I suspect I will get a call for help very soon. Not sure what is included at CMU but I do know there were supply fees that weren’t in the tuition bill…hmm…now I am worried about the silence. S was saying that 60% of arch students drop out or change to another major but they sometimes lose a semester or a year which is some serious money. Why is this suffering considered a good thing? some sort of trial by fire to become an architect.</p>
<p>I wonder about the architecture/torture too. It used to be a “gentleman’s profession” with no formal schooling. I can’t imagine Thomas Jefferson putting up with that kind of treatment! </p>
<p>Then came the Ecole des Beaux Arts and I’ve heard they were quite abusive to the students. The standards of the time were different and I’m sure many apprentices of different types didn’t have happy or well fed lives. Still, to become a tradesman today has evolved considerably since then while becoming an architect still puts students at the risk of the almighty ego of their professors far too often. </p>
<p>Architects have enough to deal with considering how the fluctuations in the economy hit their profession so hard. Maybe all the pressure is because we have to look at buildings and live in them for so long. So many are so damn ugly that I doubt this “suffering” methodology is working.</p>
<p>my take on the issue was that
there are two different kind of arch, fun and art-y and no fun and grinding. I did not dig far because my kid is no math kid.
I asked once here and gotten no answer what difference there is if you go to some hi mighty general UG, then hi gradschool arch
or
go nowhere artschool arch 5 year plus and that’s that
CMU is certainly not, and I am not saying Pratt is nowhere arch, but bit different from this poster named momrath’s S, did highest LAC and now at Cornell. how do you get in without “grind” to named arch gradschool? will there be harder grind awaits or it become academic design art-y thing?
then these torture are saved for trade-school route/ blue color children?
so this day, no more Frank Gehry thing? yet all them kids are dreaming being bending silver paper here there and " yeah. that’s like it"
and thing is built by bunch of people who knew what to do with it so the thing will stands and work ( sort of).
If anyone know there are indeed, academic arch and physical arch, please post.
My friends ( interior mom, photo dad) are psyched that Pratt boost 100 percent job placement after survival.
I have no heart to ask “what kind of job” that will be? someone have to write up mental hospitals, prison cells, public bathrooms, gray water or trash processing plants. you might or might not do anything art-y fun or exciting if ever.
Thou, your skill with exacto knife stay with your life long, and few unavoidable scars from midnight slips, as some guys I knew doing something else than arch for living and yes, with few hair left.</p>
<p>I just spend hours to read through all the post in this thread (my reading speed is slow). It is hard to know all that happening around them through phone call and the distance is very hard to adjust. We are facing different kids, different situation. Hoping they all can get adjusted well and have a good year!
switters:<br>
D’s class is all C and D. I called her in the morning today and looks like they don’t have class together. I am sure they will see each other and say Hi … She likes all the classes and the teachers also.
Hope you are right about: “all the art kids end up mostly as friends”. Friendship is very important and college classmates can be life long friends. Hope they can keep friendship and be a resource to each other. Your S is outstanding and handsome.
One thing we are the same: Don’t have much trust on art major to make a living :–) I told her to find a guy (any major other than art) … fall in love … but who know what will happen.
I booked ticket to have her fly back at thanksgiving time and asking her is that ok If I fly over to see her in Oct. and looks like she didn’t seem like the idea. Maybe later if I feel she miss home I will propose an Oct. visit again.
I loke BandD’s idea: “you mom two can swap news without ever telling your own kid what you heard about each other’s kid,”</p>
<p>Got in a fight with S last night because I was cranky about catching him on the fly all the time and hearing bits of info, mostly between what appeared to be social events, but not one whole conversation. I said could he please call me when he has time and we could have a real talk. He is a nice kid, so after letting me know how much I was getting on his nerves, he said he understood my frustration about piecemeal conversations, and he would call me the next day. He called me and we talked for a while. He is adjusting well. He made breakfast for roommate and roommates sister who was visiting. He made a list, which was hilarious. It involved shopping for ketchup and art supplies (for what seems to be the third time, thankfully he got utrecht gift cards as graduation gifts), some school work, and he actually put on the list “stop thinking about bed bugs”. I told him that was like saying to someone “dont think about pink elephants”. He is obsessing about bed bugs because of NY and all the media about them.</p>
<p>I am desperately trying not to helicopter around time management, which has been an ongoing theme in our lives. Also I miss him way too much.</p>
<p>now that is too easy, what this sis of roommate rate scale of 1 to 10?( 10 being highest)
do not mess with my plan (drama! drama!)
loveblue, there this cute art-y eng. straight boy ( thou approached more often by boys than girls which he hate hate) lives there, brain seal of approval. really sweet, wanna save the world by becoming civil eng, good family, got money.
it might happen, but NOOO
I want switters/ loveblue unison starving struggling Yale grad then some more starving and struggling.</p>
<p>switters: You may need to give him more space on his time management. This was so hard for me but it really hurt our relationship in the past, and I finally step away from D’s detail … found out she really can handle all right. I think your S has a good list, even with “stop thinking about bed bugs” in the list, which mean he must covered all he need to do in his list, which is cool. I am so jealous that your S is so kind to share that detail with you actually.
D told me she saw one of the twin sister (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen). not sure which one. She saw her in a dance party with friends last Friday. I am happy she can have friends to do some fun things but start worry about drinking …
I stooped to call her but every other day text her that I miss her and ask her to call me when she has time. Feel this can make every call more valuable since the conversation can be longer. Still feel it is hard to get to know what she is doing. She said no much homework at all. Her art supplies is all done and she get her locker. didn’t cook much, only made sandwiches, bought a small hot pepper plant and a aloe plant …
BandD: you are so cute. Actually if she can get in Yale Grad that will be awesome. That must be very hard to get in.</p>
<p>yes I get lots of details. The time management thing is funny. I kind of stopped micromanaging more then a year ago, but somehow I think that my presence in his life (i.e. I work from home) and his two teachers that he admired kind of acted as his work ethic compass. Also the constant theme of “give yourself enough time”. I suppose that is true of all of us, the people around us keep us honest in our daily grind. He gets what he needs to done, but I am guessing that he will do what we all did, wait til the last minute one too many times and have some sleepless nights. </p>
<p>Your D is seeing celebrities and going to dance parties! Excellent. I wouldnt worry about the drinking. I think kids drink more when they are bored, and these kids are not bored. They arent in Kansas anymore, if you get the reference.</p>
<p>I vowed to myself that I wouldnt call him for two days.</p>
<p>Bears, the roommates sister is a much older woman.</p>
<p>We dropped S off at RISD yesterday. My husband had a good cry when we went to park the car after drop off. So much that he got a bloody nose and we had no tissues. The evidence was all over his shirt the rest of the day.</p>
<p>S was pleased that his room had more space than he imagined. He asked me to help him make his bed His roommate was already there with his mom. They came all the way from Malaysia! Right away the boys were bonding over Starcraft, Scott Pilgrim and that new Facebook movie. All seemed right in the world. </p>
<p>For some reason my son did not want to eat lunch in the cafeteria and we went in search of food, on foot. Mistake. We got kind of lost and wandered through residential neighborhoods until everyone got hot and had low blood sugar. We almost had one of those classic family melt down moments when luckily our younger son, with whom we hadn’t spoken with in two weeks because he was on a work/learning trip in the countryside of Poland, called on the cell phone. Tension broke and we finally found panninis.</p>
<p>Back at the school I decided S did not have the right reading lamp for the room set up and went on a wild goose chase to find a Target while S and H had some time for just the two of them. I came back to the room with the boys chilling out and Dad on the bed. Outside the window, on a lawn, was the gathering for final goodbyes. Students were announcing on megaphones that is was time for the parents to leave (with some humor luckily). We hugged and my son said don’t worry, he would call us. </p>
<p>More tears on the way to the President’s and Dean’s welcome . Once there we heard the “you are sending your child to the best art school speech”. For some reason the mama bear in me kept a critical eye and felt inside that they better not be all talk and show. After the speeches there was a reception and a line to go up and shake Maeda’s hand. He stayed until every last person got to meet him. He is like an energizer bunny.</p>
<p>All the way home I resisted the temptation to call my son. When I got home I wrote him an email about the adventures we had in Providence after we left him. (explored some neighborhoods and found a great bookstore and good food). My husband said to give him some space. Blahh. If he can cry, I can write. </p>
<p>Oh drae, congratulations and thank you for this wonderful story! You’re right, you can write all you want and even if S doesn’t write back often be sure that he is reading your e-mails and loving them. Adventures in Providence can give him helpful info too and I’m sure he’ll love hearing about ordinary adventures at home. Maybe end your e-mails occasionally with a specific question and he’ll be more inclined to write back.</p>
<p>so what did “the best artschool in universe” fed you guys who supporting their best everything ness $$$$ at the reception? generic caterer?
wonder Maeda likes an pan ( sweet bean paste filled bread) he is more like curry pan kinda guy(plain spicy curry filled then breaded, fried dough)</p>
<p>now all are gone. launched. awwww</p>
<p>^ hey switters, how old is old? I don’t call 30s old. and how cute little switters and all, never ever too old !!! do something! call! write!! now!!!</p>
His roommate was already there with his mom. They came all the way from Malaysia! Right away the boys were bonding over Starcraft, Scott Pilgrim and that new Facebook movie. All seemed right in the world. </p>