The Pity Blog

A number of weeks ago, I wrote an article about how fun it was to work with my son. He's a geek (like his old man) and for his birthday, asked for a copy of Photoshop. Over the past number of months he learned the program and put it to use designing T-Shirts, Posters and helping a local company design Websites.

After writing about how fun it was working with him, my daughter demanded equal time. She calls it the "Pity Blog".

Jessie is a junior in High School. Like every girl her age, has a MySpace page and can IM at light speed. In fact as we speak, she's with her mother in Toronto, visiting relatives. While Jessie would NEVER describe herself as a geek (she's way too cool for that) she did bring along her laptop to stay connected with friends. In fact she's keeping tabs on Dad and her brother who are busy being bachelors while they're gone. Just yesterday we made dinner and exchanged photos by phone - including a mandatory picture of a clean kitchen after dinner was done!

A social animal (just like her mother), she can enter a room and take over a party. Perhaps her most amazing talent is being able to conduct a conversation over the phone while IMing 4 friends, listening to music and watching television - all while doing her homework.

She's a whirlwind. When not taking one (of her three) dance classes, or working at a local clothing outlet, she's bombing around the neighborhood in her (slightly dented and scratched) Corolla.

We can always count on Jessie for some excitement. While only driving for about 18 months, Jessie's claim to fame as a driver are her five (very minor) accidents she's had so far, including backing down our driveway (into "the forest"), scraping her car while parking in our garage, backing into a light pole at the local gas station, and being rear ended by a neighbour. Even nature is working against her. Last fall she suffered hail damage to her car! The local repair guys love her.

I have to admit that while she's been in Toronto, its been very quiet around here. I can't wait till she returns and the chaos resumes!

Love ya sweetie.