We celebrated my birthday with a three-way phone call (Florida/Pittsburgh/Basel), good wishes from family and friends, and a dinner at the Kobé Japanese Steakhouse. We'd been to the Kobé before, but that was probably 15 years ago. Their teppanyaki service doesn't remind me in the least of our experiences in Japan, but that doesn't mean the food wasn't good. We didn't even spring for the $80 Wagyu beef; the $18 sirloin was quite delicious enough. And the $15 birthday bribe was worth a bit of mild embarrassment.
Today was a bigger birthday, with a slightly bigger celebration. For our part, we once again joined the Greater Geneva Grande Award Marching Band for Geneva, Florida's genuine, old-fashioned, small-town Independence Day celebration, the only Independence Day parade in Central Florida to occur on July 4th. I love Geneva's celebration—I hope that it is not a bad sign that the cow-chip toss game used plastic "chips" this year—and I love the band even more. It was 15 years ago that we first marched with some of those great folks!As usual, I made loud crashing noises with cymbals, and Porter kept the band members well hydrated. He's had that job ever since our first gig, Atlanta's Independence Day parade in 1993. Geneva lacks the television coverage, the long parade route, the melting tar in the pavement under our feet, and the real, desperate need for frequent hydration—in Atlanta we were the only band not to have someone faint—but his efforts and antics are no less appreciated.
Geneva's Master of Ceremonies challenged us to take this patriotic quiz in today's Orlando Sentinel, claiming that he only missed two questions. I was more than pleased that I missed none at all, though on one question I used my multiple-choice test taking skills more than my real knowledge. (Porter, of course, easily got them all right.) The pride was somewhat short-lived, however, since I found the full version of the test and only scored 90%. That would still be a respectable score if I did not have the nagging feeling that I've seen that test somewhere before, so it doesn't really count.
I hope you all had a great day, however you celebrated!Take heart, I only scored 76.67%!
I didn't take the long test, but I did as well as Geneva's master of ceremonies on the quiz. Obviously my history knowledge is better than most if that score is something to be proud of, but I've always had my Dad's knowledge to compare my history knowledge to so the only logical conclusion from that is: I know nothing about history. Same problem with going to Eastman and thinking I'm a low-end musician. I just need to start hanging around less talented and educated people, I guess!
66% and it would have been worse if I hadn't read Stephanie's 7/4 blog post. I should have had more history from Dad and not taken AP Braveheart instead of AP American Government.
Plato got me again - only 95%. Also, I am not used to counting social security as an "on-budget" item.
I wasn't going to take it since it would probably be depressing, but since Heather's mention about AP Braveheart got me to take it. I think Porter's influence far outweighs any high school classes. I scored 25%, though my second guess was correct in maybe half the wrong answers.
And, if you hadn't realized it before, this is why I wonder about teaching history to our children.
It certainly outweighs my history classes. The questions I missed were ones Porter missed...plus a few more, of course.
Memo to Jon and Heather: people with respect for neither the law nor their neighbors who are trying to sleep are not limited to the city of Pittsburgh. I was grateful to awaken this morning and find the house not burned down around me. With every incredibly loud bang that roused me just as I was falling asleep, I found myself hoping Et tu?" will find the "long-hidden secret message in one of Paul's letters" that she is searching for—the one explaining the "fireworks exception" to that pesky "Love thy neighbor" command. It helped to remember that, unlike many people in this world, and all auditory evidence to the contrary, we do not live in a war zone, and—barring a fire caused by some careless reveler—I could expect to wake up safe and sound.
Jon, one of the joys of homeschooling is learning along with your children. And it will no doubt give them great pleasure to find they know something Daddy doesn't. :)
