Birthday

After I'd gotten back from presbytery meeting and errands and Stephanie had gotten back from tutoring, Culture Club, and a training in a new system, Stephanie, Vincent, and I went to Sakura, a Japanese restaurant in a nearby shopping center that our friends the Hardys had recommended. You might recall that for my birthday and for our Danish exchange student Jon's birthday we had gone to Kobe, a similar Japanese restaurant over the 2nd Street bridge in Jefferonsville, Indiana. Sakura was closer and had a broader menu, though our chef (cooking - as at Kobe - right in front of us) wasn't the same kind of showman and some of our food wasn't as good as at Kobe. We ordered sushi and Stephanie and I shared grilled chicken and scallops, and Vincent had something not on the menu at Kobe - grilled calamari.

We'd also gone out to Japanese for Vincent's 17th birthday - a more sushi-specializing place on Frankfort Avenue, with two of his friends (Aaron and what's his name) (this was instead of the 30 plus kids who were at Vincent's 16th birthday birthday party at Laser Blaze during Thunder two years ago). But a year ago Vincent wasn't on house arrest and was able to see his friends. Half a dozen friends from school and Vincent's father did call today to wish Vincent Happy Birthday. After dinner we went for a walk around the shopping center, bought worms for the turtles, and in the process essentially got Vincent job applications from two businesses we frequent: Feeder Supply (the pet store) and Borders Books and Music (Vincent frequents two different Borders locations, just as we used to frequent the Borders down the street from them in Columbus).

At home an ice cream pie from another prospective employer that we also frequented in Ohio - Graeters - and presents awaited Vincent. Apparently this was all a little of a surprise even though I feared that Vincent had figured out one of the presents. Stephanie put candles on Vincent's ice cream pie, that the Graeters manager had decorated, and Vincent had no trouble blowing them out.

In fact, I had a lot more trouble cutting the pie than Vincent had blowing out the candles. I ate too much, but it was good - cookies and cream with three oreo cookies on the top.

Vincent opened cards/notes from Aunt Penny and her family and from Grandma Martha - plus a box, card, and gifts from Meemaw Nancy and Papa Bob.

The pants and three shirts/sweaters that Meemaw sent seemed to fit (while a shirt I had bought Vincent in Guatemala was unfortunately too small - and I had really agonized about the size).

But a top gift was something Vincent had wanted for a couple of years and he had asked to get several weeks ago at the Target in Clarksville, IN (partly because a couple of years after being released they're stil very hard to find anywhere). I had said - correctly - that we couldn't afford it. But later that evening I had went and gotten the next to last Nintendo Wii gaming system as a birthday present for Vincent.

You'll recall that Vincent was essentially not allowed to play video games for most of his time in high school. He's had a series of Nintendo game systems, and most of the games he has can move up from the Nintendo Gameboy systems to this Wii system. Two recent games, however - Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and a generic Dance Dance Revolution - both Christmas presents - we got in versions that only work with his old Sony Playstation gaming system. Already, Vincent wants new games, but he may have to get a job to pay for that (he has gotten one check for his birthday - plus payment of legal fees). The basic Wii comes with the five-sport Wii Sports and uses a moveable controller to mimick sports actions. Vincent and we first tried Wii bowling which I have to confess I wasn't bad at.

Vincent then set up an "identity' with a name (Vince) and facial features (see below).

Vincent and I then tried Wii Tennis, which I liked. Lastly before going to bed, Vincent tried Wii baseball, which seemed OK.

Then Vincent went to bed and I started blogging. Stephanie was already asleep on the couch. Tomorrow is a big day. Stephanie goes to the endodontist at 7:45 a.m. and will probably have her first root canal (which will then probably be followed by our dentist drilling off half her tooth - which has bothered her for more than six months - and replacing it with first a temporary crown and then a permanent one - perhaps with the root canal coming against the advice of our dentist). Then Vincent goes for his big court appearance, at 1 p.m., immediately before which his lawyer will attempt to negotiate a plea agreement for Vincent with the prosecutors which the lawyers and we hope will not lead to Vincent having to plead guilty to anything. After that, Vincent hopes to be off house arrest and be able to visit/pal around with friends like those who called him (including a friend of his who's a bit of a delinquent like him - who also exited Brown this year, like Vincent - but who nevertheless has apparently managed to finish all of his on-line classes (unlike Vincent who's just about to finish his first of eight he's slated to take this year)). Later this week, we hope, Vincent will take and pass his Western Civilization final exam and will start job-hunting - even in this difficult job market - in earnest. We've enjoyed this 3 1/2-week period in which Vincent was not gallavanting around instead of working on school work (instead he was sleeping, watching TV and videos, and playing video games at home instead of doing school work) and we got to see him more and he was willing to do some stuff with us (and he was in a better mood - perhaps due to medication and counseling). (It was a bit like when Vincent was five, Stephanie said - or, as I put it, we got Vincent back for a little while.) We'll see if this all comes to a screeching halt after tomorrow - if the house arrest ends. As I mentioned, I've reminded Vincent that just because the house arrest doesn't mean that he can't still hang out with us some times. Either way, it doesn't seem that - even with his 18th birthday and even if the house arrest is lifted - that Vincent still seems gung ho about quickly moving out. (he tried to get our endorsement of him spending the night at someone's house Tuesday night - I told him we don't really know what will happen with the house arrest and - besides - it's a school night for almost all of friends - although Vincent implied that he'd at least let us know what he was doing rather than simply doing it and us finding out after the fact. ) (It also remains to be seen whether he and his friend will revert to the pattern of the last 3-4 months before the house arrest - of him hanging out at her house all of the time except for the few times she visited us.) We'll see if Vincent stays somewhat civil and cooperative whether we've dropped our dream of kicking him out (even if he doesn't get a job and make a monthly utilities contribution and even if he makes only very slow academic progress). (Either way, I can now figure out how to recycle an Ohio domestic law book I ordered about five months ago when I thought we might try shifting custody of Vincent to his father.)

Let's hope for appropriate, safe, and relatively pain-free dental procedures for Stephanie and a successful, not too too stressful court appearance by Vincent and his lawyer (and I guess let's hope for the end of the house arrest even though I kind of enjoyed it).

-- Perry