Casanova Frankenstein

It is aliiiiiiiiiiiive!

Life has been really busy, as you've probably guessed by my absence. Big changes are afoot. We're still waiting to find out about Germany, but the decision is supposed to be made at the end of this month.

I'm still stunned by what a glorious summer we're having, and enjoying every minute, though (to the children's minor chagrin) we are still doing some schooling (Homeschool Lite ^_^ ) so they don't turn into puddingheads.

We watched Mystery Men this weekend, which was a riot and, IMO one of those heretofore unappreciated gems in manner of The Princess Bride (as Bridget Jones might put it.) I mean seriously, a guy who can only go invisible when no one's looking? And a guy who can shovel better than anyone else? Too funny! The title of this post is a reference to the villain in the film, who I was sure was James Woods, but turned out to be Geoffrey Rush. Be forewarned, though, you have to be able to deal with fart humour to appreciate this one. (You already knew I never claimed to be sophisticated.)

I'm reading the second book of the Thursday Next series - VERY funny - and listening to Atonement - great so far! I was listening to Atlas Shrugged, too, but the digital download expired (well it's a little over 52 hours long and you only get it for 2 weeks) and I had to go back on the waiting list. I've read that book so many times that my original copy fell apart, yet it's always even better than I remember it. Maybe it's better just to return to the hard copy anyway, since I have another audiobook to listen to. The reader of Atlas drove me slightly batty. I looked him up and he's "the Golden Voice" of audiobooks or something like that, but he reads (this one at least) like he's preaching a sermon and it makes me a little crazy. I figured out, though, that if I put him on 1.5 speed, it's less crazy-making, PLUS it goes faster, so I can fit more in. ^_^

I'm also working on a new book while finishing up rewrites of the first. This one's completely and utterly different, so it's a refreshing change for me.

To top it off, I wanted to share this amazing vid. It gives me goosebumps every time. Especially when the whale sharks come looming out of the gloom to glide silently by. Here's a link to the creator's other Youtubes.

Write On

I am still alive, but I've become unblocked in my novel, so I've been hammering away at that. Hooray!

Gogofishy turned NINE yesterday! We did balloonorama again, went swimming at the Milford pool with BG and her kids and then came home for a curry lunch (Fishy's favourite food in the world - he's definitely his Mama's boy!) Some dear friends came over for dinner, cake and presents later on. We've known this family since CA, and fate brought us together again here in MI. Fate rocks. They have celebrated birthdays with us for about the last 7 yrs or so.

Prawn's scuba suit is the bomb. I think everyone wants one now. It's great to be able to go to the deep pool, which is on the other side of the wall from the fun pool, and swim and dive and use the diving board. (The deep pool is colder.) Prawn is getting pretty good at diving off the side, and Fishy figured it out yesterday, too. I've showed them how to do a "watermelon" but no one's brave enough to try that, yet. I got a huge reaction from a bunch of day camp kids that were there yesterday, though. ^_^ It occurs to me that everyone I have ever talked to about the "watermelon" trick has no idea what it is, so I'll explain that it's basically a headfirst cannonball. You jump as high as you can (preferably off the diving board) and tip so that you'll enter headfirst in a tight tuck, arms wrapped around your knees. If you do it just right, it makes a BIG splash. I suppose I am the only mom at the pool who is insane enough to do this (or perhaps the only one with so little dignity.) Come to think of it, I'm sure I make a spectacle of myself at the lake, too. Tough rocks; I'll play if I feel like it. ^_^

On a completely unrelated tangent, I found this fascinating. It's so hard for me not to think of Big Dog as having a mind of its own. I'm especially impressed by how it rights itself after being shoved, and when slipping on the ice:

Wheeeeee!

It really looks like the orca is having a great time. ^_^



So my Q is: orca toy or llama spittee?

Lizard Gizzard

I've got tickets to go see Eddie Izzard. Huzzah!

Boy With a Coin

Thanks to my sis for sharing this:

Christmas Candy

I have stuff to post, but I'm too worn out. I did class tonight in case I don't get to tomorrow (Prawn was sick last night, but unless she spikes another fever tonight, I think she's going to be fine for me to go tomorrow) and I just finished my review for a Beowulf audio CD as well as a last-minute order for MuNKi. So it's eye and ear candy for you all (provided you like these actors and actresses and Nickleback. . .)

How many of these flicks can you name without looking at the info? I got all but 4 or 5, but I think some of those are from the same films. :)

Widdlyweep

Monday nights I teach a kid class that just happens to have a high number of attending parents (as opposed to drop-offs), and they just happen to be nearly all dads, who just happen to all have shaven heads or super short hair. It really is a lovely view from where I stand.

Now that I've admitted that, I'll cross my fingers and hope that none of them stumble across my blog. Or else that they don't mind finding out how much I enjoy perving at them. ^_^

I have nothing further to say, being in my happy place and all. So you get Widdlyweep, one of my all-time favourite Eddie Izzard bits. I say bit, but it's just over 9 minutes. Kudos to those of you brave enough to click. For my ADHD readers, my sincere condolences. The only one I can find starts out with dull-ish sound, but it gets better. And how cool is it that it starts and ends with Danger Mouse music?? ^_^

Pictures of You

Perfect, considering I was just going through pics yesterday and still have a sore shoulder from so doing. (Better not to ask, probably, as it's a boring explanation involving desk, mouse and chair placement.)



I just heard this for the first time today, which means that Egan will likely inform me that it's been playing for at least 3 years.

But there's also this, so you can pick your poison:

'Tis the Season. . .

. . .for 6,000 catalogues to arrive daily. Scary. I think my mailbox is part TARDIS.

Speaking of TARDIS and words that sound like that, what's wrong with this picture?



I guess that's their way of making sure they never have to send anything out. Ever. I don't know why I bother teaching the kids proper English. It's not like anyone else out there is going to care by they time they're employable. Or even know what proper English is. (No, that's not a proper sentence. But you can do that on blogs. For emphasis. Like that. Also in books. Like the one I'm listening to now. By Dan Brown. Which has quite a bit of improper grammar. But. In dialogue. So maybe it's. Forgivable. Even though the people speaking are supposed to be. Really smart. Whoa. This is turning out like the opposite of a James Joyce piece. ^_^)

BG and I did have plenty of fun on Wednesday, much of it spent laughing ourselves silly over Eddie Izzard bits on YouTube. I want to share the love. And this one seems particularly appropriate considering that A) BG and I were also laughing over a woman my SIL knew who asked her "what language they speak in England" and B) how much I could have used the Scrabble word Eddie mentions in the game I'm just finishing losing. ^_^




And finally, Autumn Zephyr had this on her blog a few days ago. Fun! Funny, too, LOL!

Beaver

Today I learned that it takes about 2 Nickelback albums to scrub my kitchen floor on my hands and knees. Don't worry, I'm not crazy enough to do it on my hands and knees more than about twice a year. The floor I mean.

It takes significantly fewer songs to clean out the icky leftovers from the fridge, but the volume must be turned up at least twice as high. If the volume is loud enough, it will interfere with your sense of smell. Try it. But when you're done, don't be surprised to find that at least 2 of your kids have pulled the cushions off the couch and constructed an obstacle course involving running 'round the living room, bouncing off the cushions and twirling through the air, landing (hopefully on their feet) and skirling (yes, I do mean skirling) off through the office, only to reappear for another lap. Nickleback does that to me kids.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving (aka Turkey Day) here in the States. Even though it might seem like Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the same day since the Beginning of Time (Existential-americanically speaking) it wasn't until 1941 that our current date was set in stone ink. I find that kind of shocking.

I'm not a big fan of turkey (the meat, not the country,) nor are the kids, so MuNKi is is making something much more delicious tomorrow. And I, of course, will be constructing Potato Thing.

And now, for those of you who embrace the 2nd Amendment (the right to arm bears ;-) ) to its fullest, a recipe or 2:

Interconnectedness and All That

A Very Dirk Gently Sort of Life

I don't mean that I bill people for trips to Jamaica when I'm supposed to be looking for their cats, or that I routinely find disembodied heads slowly revolving on turntables. I just mean that my life is always filled with odd little coincidences that are all interrelated.

And now, some completely unrelated random moments:

My children want to write a fan letter to Sean Bean that says "Dear Mr. Bean (even at this they cackle wildly),

Please have lots of children and name them Green, String, Kidney, Wax, Scarlet Runner, and Garbanzo."

This slays them.

They can't decide whether it's funnier to refer to him as Shon Bon or Seen Been.

* * *

I love the film Tomb Raider and am embarrassed to admit it.

* * *

I wrote a scene in my novel only to find that I had already written the exact same scene about 40 pages back and somehow forgotten about it. At least I'm consistent.

* * *

My slimy politician's name has been changed to Leon Sphecter.

* * *

Did you know that there was a Battle of Sphacteria? I bet they could have ended it with a huge antibiotic suppository.

* * *

The Island of Lesbos is said to be covered with over 11 million olive trees. That seems like a lot of trees to me.

I can never hear of the Isle of Lesbos without thinking of Jeff.

* * *

Mollusc has had a major motion picture character named after her.

* * *

Did I post this already?

Typical

I get up with great intentions of writing before the kids awaken, but the scale shows me that I really should do some exercise first (and possibly never eat again) so I go down to the basement and jump rope to "21 Things", stagger upstairs to the bathroom, fall back down the stairs and then do feet-ups on the kicking bag.

After dragging myself to the top of the steps again and switching laundry from washer to dryer, I sit my great intentions (and somewhat leaden legs) down at the laptop. Inexplicably, I feel compelled to check my mail. MuNKi is on, which reminds me that I was supposed to look for energy gel thinggies online. I surf, chat MuNKi about it a bit, and finally find a decent bargain.

The children awaken and (shock) expect food. We do the food thing and I finish reading "Pure Dead Trouble" aloud to them. (Well, duh, aloud. I guess I didn't need that qualifier. It's not like I'm telepathic or something and can broadcast my thoughts into their heads, though that would be really convenient at times. Though also possibly disastrous.)

The phone rings, and a child answers it before I can tell them not to.

The children launch on chores and schoolwork. I do more laundry, sweep and mop the floor to the strains of Genticorum and find stuff to put away. Quite possibly the entire basement could use a cleaning. I fight the urge.

The phone rings again. Again a child answers. (Note to self: must implement non-answering protocol.) MuNKi is reminding me that the kids and I were going to clean out the car today. I spot my art quilt lying over the back of the rocking chair and decide to hang it up before it gets trashed.

More stuff begs to be put away and the phone rings again. No, please NOOOOooooo! For some reason, more laundry wants doing as well. I check my history book bids on eBay and accept my niece's Facebook invite. I troll and play a bit on Facebook. Bloody Facebook. I really mean to open up that document and keep writing, but my notebook is in the other room while Facebook is conveniently in my lap.

I get my notebook and finally sit to write, but first I need to blog about it all. . .

Is it any wonder?

PS: IN DESPERATE NEED OF NAME SUGGESTIONS FOR SLIMY YET DEBONAIR POLITICIAN!

Bookie

Random updates:

I finished Last Rituals for review, and now I'm reading The Queen's Fool, which is great!

I'm looking for the next history book for the kids. Not sure what I'll pick, but it's fun looking.

We did a slew of postcards for family today. I looked up postcard postage and it's 26 cents. I remember when postage for real letters to my penpals was 13 cents. :-P

We watched Millions with the kids and it was very touching and sweet and fun.

I think tomorow I'll be a Pirate Who Doesn't Do Anything:




After all, I've never been to Boston in the Fall. . . ^_^

Friday Fun Day

I ♥ Eddie Izzard, and I ♥ Star Wars, so what better thing could there be than a YouTube that combines the two? Nothing, I say. There are a couple of F-bombs (it's Eddie, remember) so careful where you play it. ^_^

I Thought She Threw the Trough Through the Rough Slough, Though

Isn't English fun? At least it is if you don't have to learn it.


Blame Egan. He's the one who brought up YouTube.

Hum Hum Hum

So Saturday night's 3 little words were "tae kwon do" and the activity that made me so very sore was jump-round-kicking little plastic water bottles off of the top of a target like this:



MuNKi informs me that I was engaged thusly for about 2 hours. There was a town party sort of thing with the street by the gym closed off in order for (mostly crap-ass) bands to play on a stage, and the gym was open for PR purposes. Some of us went down to play and I ended up practicing a kick we had been doing in red belt class on Friday. Sans the chair to jump off of, though. My legs are so sore! MuNKi says I drew several crowds. I was trying not to notice.

In other news, I owe a blogger friend the reward of his choice for his Hot Tip on the BBC Dirk Gently Radio Series. How timely! Especially in light of my continuing failure to get any of those library digibooks working.

PS: Happy Columbo Day



I love Screamy Lee. :)

Otto Means Eight

This one goes out to my favourite sister, who could probably use a laugh about now. We originally heard of Otto Waalkes from a penpal of hers way back when we were teenagers. She sent my sis a tape and I think we wore it out. ^_^ Sadly, I had no idea what his last name was, and internet searches were fruitless until YouTube came along. You have no idea how thrilled I was to find him on Saturday. Hansel and Gretel was one of the songs we listened to ad infinitum. There was another that vaguely remember about a Taxi, and a version of 99 Luftballons as well, but I haven't found them yet.

For non German speakers (or listeners) this is a medley of Hansel and Gretel songs done in different styles. He starts out by "translating" the song for Scandanavian listeners, and then for Americans. I think you'll enjoy at least that part if nothing else. And if you remember the VW ad with the "da da da" song, stick around until he goes to the drum set. ^_^

Erstwhile Canadian

Apparently in order for a new band to appeal to me, it must hail from Canada. Besides, who could say no to a band called "Enter the Haggis"? Not me. Don't look now, but I think that guy's playing an electric bagpipe.





And a longer one with a cool guitar/drum amalgam at the end.

Join the ASPCM

Just one of many reasons why, no matter how creepy they are (especially, in fact, because they are creepy) you should always be kind to mannequins.



I really wanted to put up "In my Room," but I couldn't find it.