The Brick House

Saturday 17th

• Dan: worked in the courtyard with me and Eric

Sunday 18th

• Dan: kept working in courtyard with Eric, between rain showers

Monday 19th

• Family: Beth arrived (staying til next Wednesday)
• Dan: sent me a video from a chemistry-focused educational YouTube Channel they have been watching a lot of lately, NileRed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfjoU1_9GQ8&feature=youtu.be

Tuesday 20th

• Hugh: swimming lesson

Wednesday 21st

• Dan: singing lesson – working on song for TNV/HVT variety concert in September
• Dan: CCYP youth ambassador meeting

Thursday 22nd

• Hugh: cooked delicious burritos for lunch (another recipe from Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking)
• Dan: Headspace youth drop in; OUTspace/Link art collaboration for Artfully Queer (clashes with roller derby) – caught the bus there and back because it’s just in the CBD
• Hugh: was going to try a new after school activity at PHSAC, except they got the day wrong when advertising it on FB yesterday and it is actually on Wednesdays *rolls eyes* Will try next week…

Friday 23rd

• Dan: watching a Les Mis modern AU web-series; drew fan-art
• Dan and Hugh: I saw that Project X was advertising for kids interested in being inducted as Children of the Aftermath for the Project X installation of the Aftermath Dislocation Principle in Geeveston; I sent them a link to an article about the Aftermath Dislocation Principle and the Children of the Aftermath: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jun/17/riot-squad-how-the-klf-cofounder-and-his-child-army-took-over-dark-mofo
• Hugh: made Massaman curry for dinner

Saturday 10th

• Hugh: looking through Minimalist Baker cookbook (from the library), decided he would rather cook Thai Baked Sweet Potatoes than the ricepaper rolls on the menu plan for tonight; I was happy to encourage him in this conviction
• Dan: writing their long, long fanfic – currently at 9500 words
• Hugh: cooked dinner with Eric; decided it was a keeper for Mum’s Saturday night off cooking (with a few tweaks to the sauce)

Sunday 11th

• Hugh: cooked Chicken Scallopini; watched Angel with Eric
• Dan: story is up to 10500 words; has spent hours researching the differences between modern weddings and what would have been current in France in 1832 (including C18th traditions) in order to write a wedding scene

Monday 12th

• Hugh: helped me with menu planning, picked a meat meal for Thursday as well as his usual chicken dish for Sunday
• Dan: finished the first (of four) chapters last night and is having a day off writing; instead has been reading fanfic and researching Orestes and Pylades and their use as a metaphor for homosexuality in C18th and C19th literature (canonical Les Mis reference for Enjolras)
• D&H: discussing with the rapier crew whether we can move youth rapier to Sunday afternoons instead of Monday nights
• D&H: played a game called Heads Up! where you have to guess the item on the card you are holding up, from the other players’ clues

Tuesday 13th

• Hugh: made himself another batch of the sauteed chickpeas from Saturday’s meal and finished the last sweet potato boat for lunch
• Hugh: swimming teacher sick so no lesson, but he went swimming for fun anyway, then had chips at the Trading Post with Daddy
• Hugh: doing the latest chemistry kit with Eric

Wednesday 14th

• Dan: headspace appointment
• Hugh: cooked Thai Peanut Burgers for lunch – is loving the Minimalist Baker Everyday Cooking recipe book, we may have to buy a copy
• Dan: singing lesson – Eleanor wants them to sing in a joint concert between TNV students and Huon Valley Theatre in September; also their AMEB certificate arrived!
• Hugh: learning more about pixel art and animating sprites for a game he is working on with an online friend
• Hugh: sent him link to a Kingborough Youth Services Cooking Masterclasses program starting at the end of August – he was interested so I have made further inquiries

Thursday 15th

• Dan: is feeling worse again, did not make it to derby this afternoon, but still wanted to go to the slam poetry heats in the evening(did not compete but enjoyed themselves in the audience)
• Dan: I sent them a link to a Guardian series on 400 Years of Slavery: https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/400-years-of-slavery
• Hugh: continued learning about pixel art and animation, using online tutorials and Discord advice channel
• Hugh: cooked Mince Stroganoff for dinner for him and Eric

Friday 16th

• Hugh:
• Dan:

Saturday 3rd

• Dan: bussed up to town; spent the day working on poetry and practising to record their Artfully Queer entry with Andi and friends; staying with Amelia overnight
• Hugh: helped me in the garden (cutting down unwanted broom shrubs by the driveway)

Sunday 4th

• Dan: recording Artfully Queer entry; bussed home in the afternoon
• Hugh: play date with Philip (here); helped with the bonfire to remove woody weeds/pruning waste

Monday 5th

• Hugh: haircut
• Dan: bussed up to town for another day of filming for the Artfully Queer entry
• Hugh: helped with menu planning; picked a chicken recipe for the weekend

Tuesday 6th

• Hugh: swimming lesson
• Dan: Headspace appointment was postponed until next Wednesday; Dan didn’t feel up to going to town just for OUTspace given that they’d been there for the last three days
• Dan: no Boxing for fitness (not well enough, and preserving lung function for singing)

Wednesday 7th

• Dan: too sick for singing lesson; stayed in bed most of the day

Thursday 8th

• Dan: too sick for roller derby

Friday 9th

Saturday 20th

• Dan: slept in after a MCU movie marathon (Black Panther, Captain Marvel); got up and kept watching (Infinity War, Endgame)
• Hugh: watched videos on neural networks
• Hugh: decided he wanted to make a clay oven so I pointed him in the direction of researching cob ovens, he went outside and started digging around until he found a patch of clay
• H&D: family pizza night
• Hugh: made another batch of kompot, experimenting with the recipe (forgot to take notes)

Sunday 21st

• Dan: is now equipped to partake of long nerdy conversations about the MCU with Daddy, Ultimate Comic Book Nerd
• Dan: learning how to add elastic to a long poufy sleeve; watching YouTube videos on refashioning, was able to redo the elastic in the wrists of a favourite shirt by themselves
• H&D: made themselves pizzas for lunch with the leftover bases from last night
• Hugh: worked on his camp oven/pit oven/cob oven thing; I found him our copy of The Ten Bushcraft Books by Richard Graves and he started reading and got very enthused by all the possibilities
• Hugh: cooked Chicken in Parmesan Gravy for dinner; Eric suggested he publish his favourite recipes on one of his blogs so they’re easier to keep track of, and he was quite enthusiastic about the idea
• Hugh: Suzanne sent through the local judges’ feedback for the A&S comp and we read through it and discussed how he can keep it in mind when designing his next project; we started a folder to keep track of all his A&S activities

Monday 22nd

• Hugh: reading through the Bushcraft books and coming up with lots of plans for what he wants to do in the gully
• Hugh: helped me with the menu planning by choosing (omnivorous) meals to cook on Thursday and Sunday

Tuesday 23rd

• Hugh: beta-testing his Minecraft server
• Dan: went op shopping for clothes to refashion, and watched various refashioning/upcycling videos on YouTube
• Dan: applied online for a Hobart busker’s licence: will pick up on Thursday before Silver Words
• Dan: went to boxing for fitness class
• Hugh: no swimming due to instructor not being available this week

Wednesday 24th

• Dan: started refashioning some of their new clothes to fit better
• Dan: singing lesson
• H&D: went up to town with Eric to watch the new Spiderman movie

Thursday 25th

• Dan: appointment at Headspace
• Dan: pick up busker’s licence
• Dan: poetry workshop with Andi et al for the Artfully Queer group entry; Silver Words open mic (did not perform)
• Hugh: cooked lamb koftas and butter bean salad from new recipes, they were both great
• Hugh: tried beta testing his fantasy RP Minecraft server twice (not enough people/people being difficult)

Friday 26th

• Hugh: working on getting his Minecraft server to go live
• Hugh: working on cookbook
• Hugh: new borrowings from the library: “Gluten-free and Vegan Pies” and “Gluten-free and Vegan Artisanal Breads”
• H&D: played Pocket Minecraft together for ages

Saturday 13^th

• Hugh: interested in doing an entry about Viking food for November Crown A&S competition so I wrote down some questions to think about and found him some resources to start with. I will be encouraging him to come up with more of the ideas, building on the skills and experience gained from his last entry.
• Dan: went up to Hobart on bus for a creative writing workshop with Andi (need more info)
• Hugh: Canton box making day #2 with Eric

Sunday 14th

Monday 15th

• Dan: Headspace follow-up appointment
• no rapier – decided Monday nights don’t work for us during winter

Tuesday 16th

• Hugh: no swimming (school holidays)
• Dan: started Boxing for Fitness class at Port Huon Sports and Aquatic Centre

Wednesday 17th

• Dan: no singing (school holidays)
• Hugh: made kompot, loosely following a YouTube video and redacting his own recipe

Thursday 18th

• Dan: doctor’s appointment
• Dan: no roller derby because they’re still in pain after the boxing class

Friday 19th

• Dan: made ANZAC biscuits with Hugh
• High: wants to do another complicated meal, we discussed options (next shopping week is a small shop; the week after that we’ll be having Imbolc as a family/friends meal); he started looking through Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course which I had borrowed from the library
• Hugh: started reading Good Omens

Saturday 6th

• Dan: cleaned their room
• Hugh: has been watching YouTube (Extra Credits) playlist on WWII; he and Dan discussed how much they’d both enjoyed the series, especially on The Resource Wars. Hugh has also been watching Extra Credits: The Punic Wars and some videos in the Extra Credits: Mythology playlist
• Dan: tried a new recipe to make pasta with cheese sauce; learned how to make bread in the bread machine
• Hugh: worked on Mongolian documentation

Sunday 7th

• Hugh: today was the local judging for the Kingdom A&S competitions, although we won’t get the feedback and results until after the final judging at the event (next weekend)
• Dan: having a rough time with a friendship and feeling very emotional, so hasn’t really done much today other than be miserable and huddle in front of the fire with the cat
• Hugh: cooked a new chicken dish for dinner

Monday 8th

• Dan: headed up to town on the bus to hang out with Pippa
• Hugh: watched Extra History playlist on Korean history and told me about the badass exploits of C16th Admiral Yi
• Hugh: spent some time renovating his ? server to be able to readvertise it and get more players
• D&H: no rapier. Investigating whether it’s possible to move youth rapier to Sundays, at least in winter
• Hugh: helped me with menu planning for the week
• Hugh: now watching Extra History videos on Ching Shih, C19th Chinese female pirate who was incredibly successful

Tuesday 9th

• Hugh: no swimming (school hols)
• Dan: optometrist appointment
• Hugh: cooked dinner
• Dan:

Wednesday 10th

• Hugh: helped cook dinner with Eric
• Dan: headed up to town to hang out with Eli and Tahlia at the Link

Thursday 11th

• Dan: roller derby – had to leave early because of sensory overload

Friday 12th

• Dan: creative writing workshop – ended up not going because of reaching introvert overload
• Dan: one of Eric’s clients is wanting to learn more about using gender-inclusive language and has asked to talk to Dan to get their experiences and insight, we met with her to find out more about what she wanted

Saturday 15

• Dan: Beth hooked them up with two friends of hers who are statisticians and sciencey types with a focus on the environmental impact of animal agriculture, as resources for their planned Youth Ambassador project on environment and climate change
• Hugh: shared some information with me about a mythological creature he was reading about, the adaro (from the Solomon Islands)
• Hugh: Winter Warmer Potluck Feast with the Canton. Hugh made a GF mushroom, cheese and spinach pie (he made the pastry, I made the filling). They sang, played games, and generally had a relaxed good time.

Sunday 16

Monday 17

• Dan: extra hour-long lesson with Eleanor for AMEB exam prep
• Dan: had lunch in Huonville with dylen and Beth in between various appointments we had
• Hugh: youth rapier

Tuesday 18

• Hugh: menu planning for his cooking nights
• Hugh: swimming

Wednesday 19

• Dan: hour-long lesson with Eleanor for AMEB exam prep
• D&H: earned some money stacking wood

Thursday 20

• Dan decided not to go to roller derby because they want to take care of their voice ahead of their AMEB exam on Sunday

Friday 21

• Dan: accompanist rehearsal

Saturday 8th

• Hugh: made another cupcake recipe, this time pecan pie flavoured. Still trying to figure out the piping bag.
• Dan: needed to know the practicalities of how leases work and how to get out of one early, for their role play. Discussed with reference to Beth’s recent situation with the Primrose Sands house.
• Hugh: made a GF pizza base for dinner

Sunday 9th

• Hugh: told me about working out how to do a double self-opening door using Redstone blocks for his latest build; I asked him to do an Instructable-type tutorial for his portfolio, and to include references he used when learning how to use the plug-in
• Hugh: did the menu planning for his Cook For a Day (planned for Wednesday) and picked meals for Thursday (all the vegos will be out so he’s making sausage curry) and Sunday
• Dan: learned more about their ambition of fostering cats/kittens via the Kitten Lady YouTube channel
• Hugh: cooked Chicken in Parmesan Gravy for dinner
• Hugh: shared some songs he’s been enjoying lately, including a hilariously wonderful remake of the silly Minecraft meme Diggy Diggy Hole given a LotR-themed metal makeover

Monday 10th

• D&H: no youth rapier this week – trainer unavailable
• Hugh: we talked about him entering Midwinter A&S competition category “Tribal Nomads” with Mongolian food (possibly yoghurt or cheese). Looked for recipes/info online and sent him an article. Other applicable category includes “Baked/Fired”.
• Hugh: a discussion on the transmission of the Black Death by traditional Mongolian eating of marmots turned into a conversation about pikas. Looked at images, read some articles.
• Dan: binge-watched the anime adaptation of Les Mis. Did a flowchart about how to approach Les Mis depending on your preferred media

Tuesday 11th

• Beth arrived: whole family helped Beth with last packing and end of lease clean at Primrose Sands. Beth paid the kids to help with the cleaning and they worked hard for several hours.

Wednesday 12th

• Dan: 1-hour AMEB prep singing lesson rescheduled to Monday
• Hugh: Cook For A Day #2 – less organised than last time due to everything else which was happening, but Hugh produced a delicious cooked breakfast, and several Chinese-style dishes for dinner, using online recipes and Gordon Ramsay’s World Kitchen.

Thursday 13th

• Dan: roller derby
• Dan: Wham Bam Silver Slam (did not perform)
• Hugh: cooked sausage curry for dinner because all the vegos were out
• Hugh: bought Subnautica: Below Zero – DLC frozen version of regular Subnautica with his money earned helping Beth

Friday 14th

• Dan: Beth shaved the sides of their head and neatened their fringe
• Dan: first Youth Ambassador meeting – they were very inspired and excited about how much they were able to contribute, and felt that it was a great forum for expressing the knowledge and leadership that they’ve learned in their other fields of activism
• Hugh: played Subnautica: Below Zero, Ancient Warfare, etc. Watched Veratasium videos on shade balls on a Los Angeles reservoir (for water purification, reducing evaporation, etc)
• Dan: watched Cowspiracy with Beth for (not very harrowing) vegan arguments for the environmental benefits of veganism

Saturday 1 June

• Dan: reported that they’ve almost taught themselves how to play Empty Chairs at Empty Tables on the keyboard, but they hate reading sheet music
• Hugh: made gluten-free chickpea peanut butter cookies
• Hugh: he was reading about magma and vulcanism in Violent Volcanoes (Horrible Geography), and we started talking about the way cinematic representations of people dying by falling into lava are usually wrong. We found a blog post which discussed the science behind it, and confirmed that Gollum would not have sunk but would have burst into flames instead.

Sunday 2 June

• Dan: currently staying up late role-playing as Enjolras in a modern AU of Les Miserables on Discord and playing the keyboard (with headphones in). 
• Hugh: still reading Violent Volcanoes, we talked about Mount St Helens, Yellowstone, Krakatoa and the unpronounceable, recently-erupted Icelandic volcano
• Dan: RSVPed for the June Youth Ambassador meeting on Friday this week, but we still need to fill in and return the consent forms (by Thursday).
• Hugh: cooked Chicken in Red Chile Sauce for dinner. Still needs to work on planning ahead for optimal efficiency with multi-part dishes, especially ones which need marinating.

Monday 3 June

• Dan: still role-playing and needing to stay up late because most of the other role-players are in the UK
• Hugh: youth rapier (Dan still felt sick and hurt their knee a couple of days ago)
• Hugh: in the car on the way up we talked about units of measurement and the relationships between kilolitres and kilograms etc (then extending that to eg. megalitres, gigalitres etc, with reference to units he’s more familiar with like megabytes and gigabytes). On the way back we were talking about octopuses and got onto the subject of social octopuses building cities together, so we looked it up and he read an article about it

Tuesday 4 June

• Hugh: 1-on-1 swimming class, then went up to Huonville with Eric and spent all his accumulated pocket money on lollies. He’s been discussing various ways to portion them out so he doesn’t eat them all at once.
• Hugh: wants to set up some kind of way of gamifying exercise by assigning point values to sedentary activities, then tracking the points and completing a certain amount of exercise accordingly. Talked to Eric about writing a program but Eric thinks he could do it in a spreadsheet – to pursue at a time when Eric is less brain-burned. I showed him my weekly dashboard on Trello and he was enthusiastic about starting to use this program to track his projects.
• Dan: had a dream about a Mad Scientist who moved to Geeveston to do experiments with human-animal hybrids, and wrote down the storyline because they thought it would make a good plot for a children’s book

Wednesday 5 June

• Dan: it’s Barricade Day, the first day of the June Rebellion during which Les Miserables is set (The June Rebellion or the Paris Uprising of 1832 was an anti-monarchist insurrection of Parisian republicans on 5 and 6 June 1832). Dan is deeply emotionally engaged
• Hugh: sent me a deeply weird video, a cover of Bohemian Rhapsody performed on the otamatone. This sparked research into what an otamatone is and how it is played
• Dan: singing lesson; planning for AMEB and last minute repertoire change
• Family: we had a blackout just before dusk, Hugh was very helpful in setting up all the candles, learning how to use kerosene lanterns, etc

Thursday 6 June

• Hugh: his computer malfunctioned just after Eric left for the day, so he’s had to occupy the day without it. He made red velvet cupcakes from his Gluten-Free Cupcakes library book (which we rediscovered this morning when I was collecting library books to return), and iced it using his icing kit. I borrowed Gordon Ramsay’s World Kitchen, which he is now reading and planning his next Cook For The Day experience.
• Dan: roller derby/AYCC? – got Dan off to roller derby on the bus but Eric is picking them up and will probably be too tired to stay out for AYCC meeting (he’s moving stuff out of Beth’s house today).
• Hugh: made GF TVP vegan sausages with me (he did most of the work, I just did the rolling step because he hates that bit)
• Hugh: now reading Earth-Shattering Earthquakes; talked about the San Francisco Earthquake and the Great Fire (1906), we looked up some figures for the death toll and also found some photos of the damage
• I browsed FB local events and found a bunch of things to pass on to Dan; they are interested in the Climate Justice workshop day

Friday 7 June

• Hugh: cooked a big breakfast fry-up for me, Eric and himself with the TVP sausages.
• Dan: sleeping patterns are screwed-up again due to Les Mis online role-playing with people in the UK, which means they’re sleeping in really late
• Hugh: made the sweet and sour sauce to have with tempeh meatballs
• Hugh: asked how to pronounce “sepulchre” (which he’d come across in Skyrim), and we discussed etymology and the Biblical phrase “whited sepulchre” (Matthew 23:27-28)
• Hugh: still reading Earth-Shattering Earthquakes, talked about the 2004 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami. I found an article which talked about the science in a bit more detail and had photos
• Dad and Hugh were playing Uno, and Dan and Hugh were arguing with Dad about the rules. Dan looked them up on line and became the arbiter.