The Next Big and Messy Milestone

We’re on the cusp of potty training now. The idea has been introduced, the potty has been personally chosen by Max, and now we’re going to leave the topic alone (more or less) as he thinks about the idea. When he decides he’s ready, he’ll make a pronouncement to that effect and away we’ll go. At least, that’s what I expect, given his normal reaction to these kinds of changes. The harder we push him, the more his stubborn resistance comes into play. For example, if I put my foot down and tell him “no you’re tired and it’s time to sleep” he will wail and howl “But I’m not SLEEPY!”. Instead, I just agree with him that he’s not sleepy, slowly and surreptitiously moving him towards the bed until he slips into Dreamtime all by himself.

Sometimes the boy is like a mule who refuses to go the direction you lead him, no matter how hard you yank on the harness or how delicious the carrot you’re dangling looks to be. Wonder what I’ll do when he’s too big to throw under my arm and carry?

I come To Bury WOXY, and Praise it too.

After years of struggling with the ugly financial reality of running an interesting radio station in the age of musical commodities, my favourite radio station WOXY 97x has gone off the air. They made a transition a few years ago to an entirely online radio station, and they kept me company through countless days at the old miserable job, as well as other happier times. WOXY brought a wonderful mix of songs just short of mainstream, and just ahead of the curve. Every song chosen by Apple for marketing purposes was first revealed to me on WOXY months earlier.

From close to the heart of middle America, this little station brought fresh and interesting music to the listeners, with true music fans as the djs. I grew fond of all of the on air talent, who stayed loyal to WOXY no matter how dire the finances got, and I miss hearing their voices. Mike and Shiv, I salute your work over the years and I hope you can find some happiness from all of this that outweighs the sadness of another artistic voice being silenced.

Patience

One of the most trying element of journalism is waiting for interviewee responses. You can’t push too hard, because you need to maintain a good relationship. You never know when you’ll need to return to particular well. My current assignment is a series of personal profiles for a charity event, so I’m waiting for a lot of people to return my emails. I am learning patience!