<p>Oh, I love the idea of a game design house. Geek chic!</p>
<p>A friend of mine’s daughter is at Brown, and I got the description of this month’s events at Tech House. Firecream: Ice cream by the fire. Bubble Wrap Day: a room covered in bubble wrap that you can pop. Legos and board games. Games Night: Ticket to Ride, Settlers, Unexploded Cow. RPG Day. Valentines Day with fighting games, chocolate and the Princess Bride. Spam Poetry: they read spam emails as poetry. Bill Nye Marathon. And more.</p>
<p>I’d be ready to move in tomorrow.</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang - Sounds great!!</p>
<p>ShawSon visited last weekend and when he was here, he said, my birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. ShawWife said, Oh, “What do you want us to send you?” He first said nothing material, but “if I take the trip to Europe this summer that I didn’t get to take last summer, can you help with the cost?” [He’s on the list for the Birthright Israel trip, which may pay his way to Israel this summer and from there, it would make sense to visit a friend in Europe and travel around]. Then he said, “I was wondering if I could invite a couple of my friends from college and a couple who go to college in the Boston area and you could make a birthday dinner for me at home.” ShawWife was ecstatic. She used to make the world’s most elaborate birthday parties – three store cakes carved out to be castles with moats, parents dressed up as dragons, huge mazes (1/8 of an acre) made up of cardboard boxes, treasure hunts all over the neighborhood. ShawWife was thinking, yippee my enormous little boy still wants Mom-made birthday parties [he calls me but he never calls her, so like bblfraser, I think it feels great to be needed for a Mom thing – and birthdays are really a Mom thing in our house].</p>
<p>He asked over dinner when he was here. We were eating a very fancy dinner that she had cooked (more foie gras as another butcher got his in and osso bucco, which is her favorite meat dish) when ShawSon was here (we pretty much only eat red meat when ShawSon is eating with us). She asked if he wanted a casual dinner or a fancy one. He said, fancy. What would you like? Rack of lamb, which we get at Costco and used to have for fancy family dinners. Well, Costco, here I come.</p>
<p>ffscout
How great for ffson! I know #ts was hoping for something like that to materialize for a Glee house. Somehow I think it was a long shot. I sure hope he got his name in on the lottery or he could be in big trouble next year.</p>
<p>Shaw - watch out, you may get a bunch of US there for Shawson BD dinner. Sounds fab</p>
<p>Shawbridge – you’ve got me hungry for dinner and I just finished lunch! Isn’t it nice when the kids what to bring their college friends home for a meal?</p>
<p>S actually talked (!) on the phone last night. I learned that he dislikes his classes and prof. this term and is trying to decide on a major. He and his roomate are no longer that close (the roomy was rude when I saw him last) and roomy will move to another dorm with his new friends. S still wants to live with a female friend but there are many hoops including the GF wants to meet her and since the GF never gets to campus that is not going to happen. I did not think to suggest a single but think S would not like that as he is so quiet to start with and he told me the last time we talk that if he just gets assigned to someone he doesn’t know that it is “part of the college experience”. He agreed last night that, just like HS, he has more female friends than guy friends. Well, not worried worried yet as he sounded fine and will be home this weekend. I am just a little jealous of those of you whose kiddos have their housing set though!</p>
<p>Son doesn’t have classes between 2 pm today and 10 am tomorrow due to SNOW. It’s pretty amazing because he’s just north of Austin, Texas and there are several inches on the ground. It’s been an interesting winter in Texas.</p>
<p>Oregon101 I can relate. This year my son is sharing an apt. with 3 girls. It’s a 4 bedroom. His girlfriend is fine with it. He’s happier with living with all girls.</p>
<p>I wish MY S lived with girls. They would teach him a thing or two right quick</p>
<p>I suspect my S would like very much to live with 3 girls. I know he has enjoyed coed dorm life. A lot.</p>
<p>I just found out that he has applied to be an RA next year. I have no idea about his chances for the job, but I’m optimistic. I think it would pay a small amouunt…perhaps enough to cover the tuition increase for next year.</p>
<p>It would appear that another bus trip should be planned to attend dinner at Shaw’s home. Are we up for it folks?</p>
<p>oregon 101 did you see the Bowdoin to offer co-ed dorms, or whatever it is called thread? I told them about WU but if you wanted to chime in you know more than I. So is oregonS easily able to make that call to live in co-ed housing or are there hoops to jump through? </p>
<p>Nice that he is talking for a change. Do you think it may be a permanent step in the communicative direction? Our friend and a fellow member of the 13 cohort, TiredofSnow’s S has become positively polysyllabic since leavng home. Quite a change according to her.</p>
<p>I still hold out hope for poly - still mono around here</p>
<p>Eddieodessa, I am with you re: missing my d. 2 weeks ago my sister and I met in San Francisco for the week-end but wound up spending a good deal of time with my daughter in Berkeley. She really wanted to show us her favorite places on campus and meet her friends. We took 9 of them out to dinner! I really felt like she was welcoming me into her world, a world where she is really comfortable and happy. I’m jealous — I want to be in college too!!!</p>
<h1>theory. my ds (almost 15) has descended into the realm of the monosyllable too. I remembered that your S was accepted to College of Idaho and I was curious if you would share a bit about it in a PM?</h1>
<p>Sirgruntsalot surprisingly is a bit of a writer. Just acted as clerical assistant while he was finishing up his research paper and I was a little impressed. He may not talk much but he knows how to use words.</p>
<p>ShawSon would probably be really unexcited about having girls for roommates. As it is, he seems to sense them as a potential threat to a stable equilibrium of work, debate (although perhaps the best debater on his team is a girl whose skill he admires), and fun guy games like Dungeons & Dragons, Settlers of Catan, poker and basketball. He’s not big at volunteering information but when engaged on topics such as the constitutionality of laws requiring closed union shops (or Roe v. Wade) or what makes people happy or what the Yankees have done to improve themselves in the off-season, he can be surprisingly talkative.</p>
<p>hi all–no --I think I just happened to call S (maybe 3rd time in all this year) and he felt ok talking–but not something I would gamble on. WU makes you go through hoops to show that you are not a “couple” and there is paperwork and maybe an interview. I do not actually see the “need” for coed rooms but then I belong to AARP and make sure we do get those discounts–$4 buys some milk or even a cheap bottle of wine–but S just is not a talker and REFUSES to drink (which actually can be a different kind of issue than the kid who drinks too much. Yes, all in family drink for our health). So he has a small group of friends, mainly females, to be with on Saturday night. But, I hated undergrad as much as I loved grad school so I know there are many variations to life.</p>
<p>Hi all - just had a nice 15 minute call with DS who is truly thriving at college! He thinks he has all A’s in the classes where he has had assignments (says Theo prof is totally keeping them in the dark as far as grading and expections), is still planning to double major, has roommates lined up for next year, is thinking about going back a week early this summer to help with freshman orientation, and admits to really liking where he is. Can’t believe this is the same surly HS kid who was resentful that his college was so obviously the best choice and where he absolutely was resistant to attending. Am envious of all the parents with regular and in-depth communication with your kids, but am grateful for the bones my son does throw me.</p>
<p>Nice to see Crzy- and History- moms back.</p>