Jon started high school today. As I dropped him off I asked if he wanted me to come in with him to help him find stuff, his response was 'don't worry Dad, I got this" which made me pretty damned proud.
So, on the way home (it was a half day today) we recorded some. Jon is, to say the least, rather nonchalant about the whole deal. I wish to hell I could have had that attitude when I started high school....
Last night our whole family went to the Convocation Gala. So, we all got dressed up and ate mediocre food! That said, we had a good time. Now and then Jon had had just about enough of all of the movers and shakers of the Sault and had to go for a walk, so I went with him and this is the result.
Congrats Maddie!
Jon spent the day at his high school for next year today. He went to a biology class, a cooking class and a construction class. I think it was much more interesting to me than it was to him, as you will no doubt hear....
So today Jon started a cooking class. It was pretty cool and he met a couple of other kids.
They learned how to make lasagna roll ups, which were, well, I shouldn't have to explain this to you so I won't. Anyway, there were two kinds of those, one with spinach and ricotta, which Jon liked ok, though he removed most of the spinach in his, and one with chicken and bacon. He had two of those....
It is a great thing that autism Ontario put on, thanks to them. The guy doing the instruction was really great as well.
Jon had a couple of interesting school trips recently, one to Algoma University and one to Sault College. At Sault College he got to fly a flight simulator and, of course, attempted to crash the plane.
So, while I was away at a conference Jon went to see The Longest Ride.
Jon describes it as a 'romantic drama' which sounds quite devoid of explosions. Nonetheless, Jonathan gave it his standard score.
We talked a bit about his movie ideas as well of course.
As is often the case, Jon went to see a movie over the weekend. Jon is sort of a the Leonard Maltin of Sault Ste. Marie, without the beard, though, he now shaves, so you know, I mean he could get a beard, but I digress.....
He rated it highly, out of five.
It is finally spring, and we got to walk to school today in 8 degree weather, rather than -10.
So, over the weekend Jon went to see 'Get Hard', the Will Ferrel, Kevin Hart vehicle, with Isabelle. Fine by me as I am not a big fan.
Jon of course quite liked it. I think he thinks it is the pinnacle of filmmaking. Hey, its taste, you can't really argue taste, even if he is wrong.....
We also talked about the trailers he saw of course, and some of his new movie ideas. He seems stuck on this 'Mission Failed' idea with Liam Neeson.
Anyway, happy Easter from us.
So Jon had a big day today, it was science fair day at his school.
All of the grade 8 kids presented their experiments/demonstrations, and Jon's was on Salt Flats. He made his own salt flats out of salt and dirt and baking soda. He did some really nice observations in his microscope of the salt flats as well.
He doesn't seem to care much, but says he got an A, which is pretty damned fine as far as I am concerned.
We then talked about some of the other projects, including one that was basically a 2 x 3 factorial design. I think the kid should have used a factorial ANOVA to analyze his data, which illustrates why I am not an elementary school teacher.
Jon then regaled us with some of his movie ideas.
Way to go son, I am very proud of you.
Our first walkinghomecast in a while.
You may have heard on Broken Area that we went to Sudbury for Jon's birthday. Well, this messed with his, and everyone else's, sleep. So, Jon was a bit tired on Monday. They watched a film about drunk driving and Jon slept. A wise move I say.
Jon's class has been reading the classic SE Hinton book, 'The Outsiders'. Recently they watched the movie as well. Jon liked the movie but believes he has a great remake idea, his casting ideas are brilliant, if eccentric.
Finally, Jon graduates from elementary school this year, and we got his pictures!
Enjoy.
Jon and I took in a Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds game this evening. The 'Hounds look really strong this year.
Anyway, they won, and we recorded a podcast after the game.
Jon came with me to the grocery store. In between recording our typical Broken Area episode on the way there and back Jon and I recorded a little something at the store.
As is often the case, Jon went to a movie this weekend. This time it was 'Sponge Out of Water', which apparently is a Spongebob vehicle....
Jon liked it, and liked the trailers.
We also went out to dinner on Sunday, and, we had a relaxing Family Day.
As he often does on weekends, Jon went to see a movie.
This time it was 'Taken 3', a movie in which nobody is actually taken apparently. Nonetheless Jon liked it. You will have to listen in to hear his rating out of five. Keep in mind that while it is not getting stellar reviews, Jonathan, being a 13 year old boy, is right in their target demo....
We then talked a bit about what Jon is doing at school lately.
We hope you like it.
As the Christmas holidays wind down Jon is having his last present. Jon loves hotels and elevators as you know, so, one of his Christmas gifts is a night in a local hotel.
Earlier in the day Jon went to see The Gambler. Not the old made for TV movie with Kenny Rogers, no no, the new movie with Mark Wahlberg and John Goodman.
John liked it, and rated it accordingly.
We hope you like the episode.
So over the holidays Jonathan and I decided to go to a Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds game. The 'Hounds are really good this year, which makes it more fun. Plus, there is popcorn.
In the end it was a pretty good game, well good if you like the Greyhounds. They beat the Saginaw Spirit 7-2.
Wow, it is amazing to me that Jon and I have recorded a hundred of these things.
Today is Jon's last day of school until the New Year, so it seemed a good place for an episode.
We talked about our upcoming Christmas plans, and it revolved around, predictably for Jon, movies, hockey games and food. Oh and presents. Jon gave out his detailed Christmas list, which he texted to me earlier in the month.
Merry Christmas to everyone. Oh Jon hates Christmas music, except for the song at the end. He is his father's son....
Wow, Jon has done 99 of these things!
Of course Jon right away knew it was CNDOP so we had to record. We were going to record on the way in to school, while walking as usual. However, there were nast snow squalls, so Isabelle drove us.
We got up today and there was about 5 cm of snow on the ground, so a good time for podcasting.
We talked about a lot of stuff including Halloween, Jon's recent history test and there is even a cameo by Jon's teacher at the end.
On Friday Jon and the rest of his grade 7/8 classmates went to see the movie The Maze Runner. (Credit to Jon's teacher Ms. Fawcett on this one, well done!)
We would have recorded this on Friday but we had a really big rain storm. So we decided to do it today.
Jon really liked the movie and gave it his standard score. I attempted to get him to compare it to his most recent perfect movie, The Expendables 3, and he said it was not as good. We then got to the point where he told me about a movie he did not like as much, which he gave 1 our of 5 to, so it IS possible for Jon to not love a movie!
Broken Area Podcast
A podcast by two people who like to talk about stuff.....