Jedi Mind (Game) Tricks

I survived the second day of music and art camp. The kids did, too, but a few of them barely squeaked by. I may have to ask a friend just how attached she is to her son because he may not make it. He's already pretty close to not being able to go from session to session without holding my hand because he starts goofing off in the halls and slamming other kids into the walls. Every single teacher has had to call his name multiple times. I will probably have a chat with his mom tonight at ballet. I'm not sure if he's seeking attention, hyper or possibly both. I may ask if she has some behavior strategies she uses to calm him down. I've just about lost my voice from shouting. I had to resort to my drill sergeant voice that comes from way down in the belly.

However, I did gain some credibility with some of the boys by being able to discuss Star Wars, and that led to the idea to stop all the puppy brawling that seems to go on when you get a group of boys together. I told them that if they want to fight, they have to be Jedis and use their lightsabers. Only the blades (which are imaginary) touch the other people. So they wave their hands and make "bzzz" noises and leap around, and they get the fighting out of their systems, but no one gets hurt. However, I've discovered that I automatically go into the fencer's crouch even when pretending to do a lightsaber fight with a group of kids. I wouldn't have thought that one semester back in college would so ingrain a behavior, but if I even think about holding a sword, I instinctively go into position.

Sometimes I think about getting back into fencing, but I'd have to learn to fight left-handed because my right knee can't handle all the lunging. Plus, I'd get the chance to say "I'm not really left-handed!" during a bout.

Meanwhile, during the singing class, the choir director made me help demonstrate one of the parts that required a soprano, and because I'm losing my voice, I had to use the full-on classical voice (it's less straining to use the really proper technique), and the kids were all "ooh, opera." I'm pretty sure I'll be mocked some by the kids tomorrow.

The book comes out tomorrow! I've seen that Barnes & Noble is offering pre-orders of a paperback version for release August 31, but I don't know what that's about as we don't yet have a paperback in process that B&N would have access to. What seems to have happened is that they've pulled from the ISBN registration, where August 31 was put in as a placeholder. When I know about paperback availability, I'll announce it.

Now I have to do some promo work and try to get some writing done even though what I want most of all is to crawl in bed for a while. Morning came very early this morning.