3,720 to 1

Somewhere there's an actual statistic that's 3,720 to 1, but until then Madison has those odds memorized, fully aware of the probability of successfully navigating through an asteroid field.  It's one of those quotes that Madison happens to know, amongst many others.  Occasionally, it pops up, and today's one of those perfect applications of it, because she's studying probability this week in math.  In fact, odds are there's a quiz coming up.  See what I did there?

I told her I'd get her a C-3PO action figure for her nightstand to inspire her to study more.  Are the odds in favor of me remembering this?  We'll see...

She's been studying maps of Asia today, and odds in math, and getting ready for a little field trip in social studies that involves getting a job!  More details on that later, as we get closer to that time.  Madison is learning Photoshop too, and working on her perspective drawing as well, something she's been working on for a few days now.  It's coming out well, she said.

Tonight was Madison's piano class, which is short and sweet - the class is only a half-hour long, but it's just her and an instructor, so there's hopefully a lot of focus in there.  I may have to ask some more in depth questions for this blog as to quirky things or regular things that go on in class.  But she's doing her piano lessons in there, while Daddy sits in the car outside on this computer, or maybe playing Smash Brothers on the Nintendo Switch.  The class is just not long enough to actually go anywhere else, especially with traffic in Gainesville at that time.  Even a trip to one of the fast-food restaurants less than a mile away is just pushing it as far as time goes.

Anyway, we got home after that, and it appears as if this week is going to be more relaxed with homework and various assignments, so we're making good use of that time by not doing much with it.  Which I know seems contrary to "making good use of time," but in fact, rest is an important thing to do, and with that in mind, we're letting Madison chill a bit this week after a longer week last week with so many high-profile assignments and major tests.  One thing we did tonight was watch a few episodes of "Kickin' It," which has been Madison's latest binge-watching.

All in all, it seems some time since we did a speck of honest pirating, so we were playing that game "Pirates" tonight, the completely amazing epic pirate game that goes back to 1987.  This game is so epic that it is allowed to keep the title "Pirates!"  This is because it is clearly the greatest pirate video game ever.  I remember playing this in 1988 or so on the Commodore 64, and it was super addictive.  Tonight's adventures featured a rescue attempt of the Governor's daughter from Nassau, having been taken captive by a jerk sailing down by Venezuela.  We plundered heavily up and down the Central American coast, fended off pirate hunters, and returned back to the Bahamas with enough plunder to leave the crew quite content.  Arrrr!

Speaking of "plunder," today Mommy and Daddy were over at Goodwill to find some possible costuming for our upcoming series.  We found a lot of our Mikasa plate ware, the same exact fruit pattern we chose years ago before we got married.  It was in great condition, and just sitting there on a shelf, something like fifty to ninety cents a piece.  We picked up a lot of back-up plate ware today, and even looked up the value of this online afterwards:  we saved hundreds of dollars!  Beyond that, Daddy found some CDs and a new book that will be fun to read at Christmas time.

We were over there to visit the chiropractor, as Mommy has been having some back issues this week. Nothing too serious, but it's been uncomfortable enough that we've been using the jacuzzi, and also those things that you put on your back that send a small electric pulse, relaxing the muscles.  Also, a lot of various creams - I have no idea what I'm putting on Mommy's back, but I'm assuming it's helping!  Anyway, we were at the chiropractor for that today, and we'll be back again next week too.

Madison was reading "Lost in the Stars" today, which is nothing new.  She's been reading that book a lot, quite proud of herself for how much she's reading daily.  She loves that book, and Daddy will have to read it next, I think.  We're also reading "Thrawn" at night, so there's a good deal of Star Wars going on lately, and that's about to increase again with the new season of Clone Wars coming out soon.  That's a show that predates Madison, actually.  I remember looking forward to that first Clone Wars animated movie, and the first appearance of Ahsoka.  We just saw pictures and thought it might be a pretty cool show.  And here we are, so many years later, still watching this same show again.  Madison is super hyped to see it, and of course so are we.  We're Star Wars nerds.

Today's big stories are in the same arena that the next two days will be:  politics.  In one case, there was sudden and shocking news about a radio host and author of books that Madison has read, and how he found out he has stage four lung cancer.  Madison's taekwondo instructor, Mr. Edge, just found out his mother has lung cancer.  And of course Ba-Ba has been battling stage four cancer as well.  Mommy beat cancer over a decade ago, and therefore, we know a lot about the battle.  We speak the language.  Our hearts are heavy for these people, and we continue to pray for them.

The other thing that happened in the political world were the first votes of the 2020 election season.  They were cast today - sort of.  Iowa does things quite a bit differently with caucuses, and yes, that's a funny word.  I immediately think of the Walrus in "Alice in Wonderland," this complete nonsense song "Caucus Race," with everyone running around in circles and going nowhere.

Perhaps this caucus race in Iowa was about as chaotic tonight.  They had a complete breakdown in the statewide system, and the end result is that no one will know the official results of the voting for days.  Obviously, we know which Republican candidate won.  But the other side is a complete disaster.  And even worse, there's an appearance as if one particular candidate is being snubbed again, just as he was in 2016.  That does not bode well at all for the system.

You can hear C-3PO's warnings now, can't you?  He's telling the Democrat party the odds of success, and that party is like Han Solo, saying, "Never tell me the odds!"  And so once again, they're going full throttle into this asteroid field of an election season, and already, they're hitting their first big rock.  Because this party is not Han Solo.

It's hard to believe that an entire election was rigged to block out one candidate who a lot of people were voting for.  And it's hard to believe they're trying to do that again, but here we are.  I'm not sure what the odds of all of this actually working are - we'll leave that up to C-3PO.