My arms are aching.
I have intensified my workouts to the point that some of them are up to a full hour of doing nothing but free weights. I totally trashed my triceps almost 4 days ago now and they are still sore!  Growing old you can't do nothing about, growing old and fat you can.

I'm sorta in a holding pattern at this point until I get down there, get the interview and find out if I have a job or not. Some of the kids are virtually begging me to pleeeeease get my stuff and move asap.  Yes well that can't happen til I have a job.  They understand this but patience is not necessarily a virtue with juveniles and young kids.  One thing is for certain, long distance relationships are not for the faint of heart, especially if you really fall in love and can't see each other that often.  Facebook, text messaging, Facetime, phone calls simply do not take place of personal contact.  If I were a rich man, I'd just fly out there on weekends and have a couple of days of contact over nothing, but I am not and it is what it is.  It's basically $300 give or take depending on what you end up with to fly to Tyler and back.

That's pretty good chunk of change for me.

Whatever the case, a new experiment landed on my doorstep 2 days ago when we were discussing the 16 year and his infatuation/love/whatever you want to call it for his recently found 14-year old girlfriend.  He wanted to spend yesterday with his gf - they are on Spring Break.  She told him no.  We got to discussing it - she is kinda afraid if she puts the brakes on too much he'll bolt and run.  But I talk to the boy every day, that's not really his mind frame though if she were to shut it down completely he probably would take off to his dad's.  So he is asking her while I am on the phone with her and she told him flat out no.  He texts me all dejected, well she said no.

Then we are talking about it and she just says: You make the decision.  Okay.  Her problem is she (admittedly) has no clue how to deal with teenage boys.  So I asked her what she wants out of it.  Might as well milk the cow.  Work.  Okay.  Back to the boy, 3 days of work, at least 4 hours.  Well what about church on Wednesday, he asks.  No.  Puuuulllllleeeeeeeeaaaaaaassssssseeeeeeee bro?  He asks me. Back to momma.  You make the decision dear. Yes hon, but you are the one that is going to have to drive over there and get the girl, take her to church with you and then drive her home.

Back to boy.  Okay, this time.  But 4 hours of work 3 days in a row no excuses.  Starting today,btw, so I am going to be checking on him on that one.  So yesterday I was texting him, what are you doing over there?  ??? Yes, it's meeeeee. I was given the task of making the decision and checking up on you. Ohhhh.  Yup, and get used to it and more, cause' I know what goes through teenage boys' minds.

So after dragging out the conversation, on purpose, with him, for over an hour, lol, I finally said yes.  But today he gets to pay. Not only does he have to do his work that is already posted on paper, he has to take before and after pics and prove to me that he got it done.

Then it was talking to the 12 year old boy, then it was talking to the 10 year old boy - the 12 year old is pretty much a whiner and that's gonna have to be addressed head on.

Anyway, that's life at the ranch that I'm not even living at yet!

And I'm outta time!

G'day.

ben