Second Nature

This is for Annie...


Read Cada Dia Mas lyrics

Cada Día Más

Si me preguntas
Si te quiero de verdad
Si en la distancia
Necesito tu cariño
Si me preguntas
Yo te quiero contestar
Que para mi
Tú eres el sueño más querido.

Cada día más
Necesito saber de ti
Cada día más
Necesito tenerte aquí
Cada día más
A tu lado quiero vivir
Y luchar los dos
Por el mismo amor
Cada día más, y más.
Y luchar los dos
Por el mismo amor
Cada día más, y más.

Si me preguntas
Si te quiero de verdad
Desde el instante
Que llagaste tú a mi vida
Si me preguntas
Yo te quiero contestar
Que tú me diste la razón
Para vivirla.

Cada día más
Necesito saber de ti
Cada día más
Necesito tenerte aquí
Cada día más
A tu lado quiero vivir
Y luchar los dos
Por el mismo amor
Cada día más, y más.
Y luchar los dos
Por el mismo amor
Cada día más, y más.

While tripping through some old songs in my collection, I happened to discover an online media file of "Si Tu Te Vas", by Julio Iglesias, that is actually good enough to listen to, if you like mp3-quality music. Keep in mind that this cut is from somewhere around 1978-1979, and is probably digitized from the original, vinyl, LP; so, clicks and pops may be detectable to you, despite the limitations inherent to the mp3 format.



Julio Iglesias formed a major portion of my music collection in the mid-to-late-70's ("Back when they had those really big, black CD's, Dad!), and I'm doing a bit of the "nostalgia thing" lately; which is why you get to do a bit of the sing-along with me today.

Abrázame
Y no me digas nada, sólo abrázame
Me basta tu mirada para comprender
Que tú te iras.

Abrázame
Como si fuera ahora la primera vez
Como si me quisieras hoy igual que ayer
Abrázame.

Si tú te vas
Te olvidarás que un día hace tiempo ya
Cuando éramos aun niños me empezaste a amar
Y yo te dí mi vida, si te vas.

Si tú te vas
Ya nada será nuestros tú te llevarás
En un solo momento un' eternidad
Me quedaré sin nada, si te vas.

Abrázame
Y no me digas nada, sólo abrázame
No quiero que te vayas pero sé muy bien
Que tú te irás

Abrázame
Como si fuera ahora la primera vez,
Como si me quisieras hoy igual que ayer
Abrázame...

Si tú te vas
Me quedará el silencio para conversar,
La sombra de tu cuerpo y la soledad
Serán mis compañeros, si te vas.

Si tú te vas
Se irá contigo el tiempo y mi mejor edad
Te seguiré queriendo cada día más
Esperaré a que vuelvas, si te vas.

If you could just smell these--just once--you'd move Heaven and Earth to get a-hold of a B. Aurea for your yard.



This is what our Brugmansia looked like yesterday morning. It's in the midst of an award-winning flush, right now.



The fragrance is indescribable.

The B. Arborea is right on the heels of the Aurea, and will be in full flush by the weekend.

Katie graduated, with her class, from the California Academy of Mathematics and Science this evening.
Our sincerest congratulations to the CAMS class of 2008.


The MIB were there.


So was Senator Lowenthall


This wasn't quite a MIB...let's call him an MIP.


Katie fit right in with a bit more cool-factor than the rest.

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The girls, Anya and Lia, have been done with the bulk of their school work since "late-mid" May; which puts them way ahead of the CAliVA/K12 game.

Anya still has some work to finish-up with her high school Literary Arts / Composition course, and her brother, Phillip has finals week to do next week; but, at this stage of the game, this is inconsequential stuff, really. They now have the freedom to properly enjoy Pre-Doctor-Sister's and Doctor-Sister's current visit; of which there are all too few of these days.

I love homeschooling with CAliVA/K12! (For those of you in the other Disney state, you call what we do, "District 71". You might want to look into it for your own children.)

###################

It's always customary to stop at a logical point and take stock of where you started, where you are now, and the path between the two states. The end of an Academic Year always seems to prompt musings within my mind of how very far we've come with CAliVA/K12.

Let me tell you about a bit of a problem we had recently, and let you guess where things went. Use your brick-n-mortar, public school, experiences to guide you in your predictions.

I had been informed that Anya (our 12 year-old) would not receive full credit for the high school Literary Arts / Composition classes she had been taking for the past two years. It was, supposedly, a matter of policy that all children taking high school courses in a dual-enrollment scenario would only receive elective credit for any course they took.

I had never heard of this before and, if true, it would represent a breaking point between our family and CAliVA/K12; so, a less than rejoicing father called the Simi Valley office and had a chat with one of their folks in an attempt to clear this mess up.

Decision makers were not in the office.

My number was taken and somebody would get back to me.

Nobody called back.

I called the Simi Valley office and checked on what might have happened to make this the (very unusual) case. It seems that I misspoke in giving my cell phone number, and the landline has been iffy with all the work Verizon has been doing in installing fiber in our area.

I shortly received a call from former California CAliVA Head of Schools, Jim Konantz.

Jim's handling things for the K12 Western region, these days, and is a great guy to talk with. I reminded him of the conversation Annie, I , himself and Bror Saxberg had at the California Science Center, in May of 2006; where the context of our discussion was that of early college entrance for Anya. (It's a bit surprising to get recognition from people you've never met before, accompanied by the phrase, "Oh! You are THE family." whereupon said phrase is delivered with clear acceptance and a smile. A very nice change of pace from the way we were treated by LBUSD.)

We had a relaxed conversation for some time; and, not only did Jim make it clear that what was relayed to me was the exact opposite of their practices, he went on to convey the happy news that CAliVA would be paying for Anya's AP/early entrance college courses, buying the books needed and loaning them to her.

This includes wet lab courses required to meet the U of California a-g entrance requirements. (Cathy B., I hope you're reading this.)

FAPE: Free, Adequate, Public Education.

An education is inadequate if it does not completely facilitate the entrance of the student into at least the State University system.

An education is not free if the parents must pay to compensate for the inadequacies of the local school districts.

An education is no longer public if I have to put my child into a non-publicly funded solution to compensate for the inadequacies of the local school districts.

An education is not an education if it cannot meet the minimum standards set forth within the doctrine of FAPE.

We get all that, and more.

Sherry is soon to start her Associate Professorship in Indiana.

Janette is finished with her 2nd year at Florida Tech, and has overcome so much to stay there.

Katie is starting at CSULB this Fall.

Phillip graduates next year, and will be off to college, also.

Anya and Lia.....soon-enough. Probably too soon, now that I think about it; and, as I think about it, they certainly would not have had a snowflakes chance in Hell, if we had trusted the lies we were told in LBUSD.

When I look at the children in this neighborhood, I see the education they are NOT getting. I also see their parents pretending that they are getting a good education for their children. When I see all of that, I heave a sigh of relief that things worked-out well for our eldest children; and that we saw the light in time to save the three youngest children.