Friday Night Freedom
We should clarify that we've both ingested three margaritas at the creation of this first...uh, monumental post. Also, there will be two individuals contributing to this blog on a regular basis - and when we contribute simultaneously, as we are tonight, we will use different font colors and a written warning to delineate between our entries. When we post individually, we'll state our identities upfront. Hopefully this won't be too confusing. If it is, well, then...welcome to our freakin' world.
Quick background (although this may be somewhat difficult to understand given our mildly intoxicated and distracted state, since we are posting from a hip "cafe bar" which we've NEVER been to before this night, and we should at least attempt to fit in by stopping to, say, talk to the waiter, given our chronic state on the fringes of society...hence the name of this blog):
I am Kristen, the chronically frustrated mom/stepmom listed in the blog subtitle above. I was chronically frustrated before I was ever married or had stepkids or biological kids, so don't get the wrong idea - I love the fam, even with all the ridiculous chaos they bring into my life. The out-of-place aspect of my personality was ALWAYS present. I currently work for an engineering firm writing/designing proposals...but that just means I deal with toddlers at work just as I deal with them at home (the engineers I work with are a lot like toddlers, especially "gifted" toddlers...which I know a lot about, as you'll learn here). But I digress.
And this is John (as promised, different color text):
Even though I have a sense of self, I am nothing without my wife, I am nothing without my children, and I am nothing without a camera in front of my face.
*I just told John he was being too sappy. Watch his attempt to lighten things up now.*
At least it feels that way. Because those three components (wife, kids, pics) constitute 99.9% of my waking hours. This blog was my idea. Mine and mine alone. Remember that always. Unless Kristen gets dooced for this blog, in which case, it was all HER idea. Okay, on to introductions...
The whole "May-December" thing: Well, I'm not really December. I'm more like...late September/early October. You know, the first smell of fall is in the air, the tips of the leaves are beginning to turn red and yellow, the oppressive heat of summer has been lifted, this is PRIME TIME, people! December implies an end, one foot in the grave. Sorry - that's not me. However, our 17-year age difference heavily contributes to our Fringe Factor.
Kids: I brought two from a previous marriage. (LOL - just wait for future posts on these two.) And we have two together. This advantageous position of having two children earlier in my life and two children later in my life allows me some unique perspectives. Perspective #1: Nature vs. Nurture - Nature Kicks Nurture's BUTT Every Time. Perspective #2: The feelings of love, joy, pain, and anger are unlimited at all stages of your children's lives. Perspective #3: There will always be crap to deal with. The crap is more tangible and smells worse when they're younger (ironically, it's also easier to dispose of).
Photography: I'm finally doing something that I WANT to do, like to do, am good at doing, and it's more work than I've ever done in my life. My entrance into this field will be chronicled at a later date, but I only wish I'd pursued this sooner.
I'm turning this over to Kristen to wrap up for the night:
The pressure is always on me to wrap things up - including all birthday presents for all family members. SIGH.
I don't know where this blog will go or who will read it, but considering we've been bemoaning our pathetic lack of experience records other than photographs (of which we probably have way too many), this is at least a start. Our lives have truly been a roller coaster of unknown proportions, and we thought this would be a good method of keeping track of some of it, if we ever reach a point where things calm down enough to actually go back and look at it all. This blog will chronicle our unique, almost freakish experience on the edge of chaos, madness, society, normalcy, acceptedness, and...life. Welcome to The Fringe.
Quick background (although this may be somewhat difficult to understand given our mildly intoxicated and distracted state, since we are posting from a hip "cafe bar" which we've NEVER been to before this night, and we should at least attempt to fit in by stopping to, say, talk to the waiter, given our chronic state on the fringes of society...hence the name of this blog):
I am Kristen, the chronically frustrated mom/stepmom listed in the blog subtitle above. I was chronically frustrated before I was ever married or had stepkids or biological kids, so don't get the wrong idea - I love the fam, even with all the ridiculous chaos they bring into my life. The out-of-place aspect of my personality was ALWAYS present. I currently work for an engineering firm writing/designing proposals...but that just means I deal with toddlers at work just as I deal with them at home (the engineers I work with are a lot like toddlers, especially "gifted" toddlers...which I know a lot about, as you'll learn here). But I digress.
And this is John (as promised, different color text):
Even though I have a sense of self, I am nothing without my wife, I am nothing without my children, and I am nothing without a camera in front of my face.
*I just told John he was being too sappy. Watch his attempt to lighten things up now.*
At least it feels that way. Because those three components (wife, kids, pics) constitute 99.9% of my waking hours. This blog was my idea. Mine and mine alone. Remember that always. Unless Kristen gets dooced for this blog, in which case, it was all HER idea. Okay, on to introductions...
The whole "May-December" thing: Well, I'm not really December. I'm more like...late September/early October. You know, the first smell of fall is in the air, the tips of the leaves are beginning to turn red and yellow, the oppressive heat of summer has been lifted, this is PRIME TIME, people! December implies an end, one foot in the grave. Sorry - that's not me. However, our 17-year age difference heavily contributes to our Fringe Factor.
Kids: I brought two from a previous marriage. (LOL - just wait for future posts on these two.) And we have two together. This advantageous position of having two children earlier in my life and two children later in my life allows me some unique perspectives. Perspective #1: Nature vs. Nurture - Nature Kicks Nurture's BUTT Every Time. Perspective #2: The feelings of love, joy, pain, and anger are unlimited at all stages of your children's lives. Perspective #3: There will always be crap to deal with. The crap is more tangible and smells worse when they're younger (ironically, it's also easier to dispose of).
Photography: I'm finally doing something that I WANT to do, like to do, am good at doing, and it's more work than I've ever done in my life. My entrance into this field will be chronicled at a later date, but I only wish I'd pursued this sooner.
I'm turning this over to Kristen to wrap up for the night:
The pressure is always on me to wrap things up - including all birthday presents for all family members. SIGH.
I don't know where this blog will go or who will read it, but considering we've been bemoaning our pathetic lack of experience records other than photographs (of which we probably have way too many), this is at least a start. Our lives have truly been a roller coaster of unknown proportions, and we thought this would be a good method of keeping track of some of it, if we ever reach a point where things calm down enough to actually go back and look at it all. This blog will chronicle our unique, almost freakish experience on the edge of chaos, madness, society, normalcy, acceptedness, and...life. Welcome to The Fringe.
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