Thursday, September 9, 2010
Maggie Q & A
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Autumn Angst
Chilly morning; Autumn officially hasn't begun, yet, but it's here. No Indian Summer, it seems. Just a dive into Fall.
I cranked out 3000 words yesterday, marching on toward my goal. Only 50,000 more to go, give or take. I've got new ideas in line behind the piece I'm working, vying for attention, but I'm being a trooper and getting this one done, first. That always happens -- a new idea is like "Look at me! Look at me!" But I stick it out, give'em a number, and make'em wait in line. Have to do that, to get anything done.
I'm a little angsty going into the Fall -- just trying to juggle a lot of plates, wondering what's going to happen in the elections, whether the country will opt for Republican Lite (the Democrats) or Republican Extreme (the Tea Party cadres). That's the truth of the choices we have -- today's Democrats are like yesterday's Republicans (seriously, their patron saint, Reagan, would have been drummed out of today's GOP for being a raging liberal and a traitor, since he actually worked with Democrats). And today's Democrats would have FDR, Truman, LBJ (and, hell, even JFK) spinning in their graves with the weak tea they offer. The Democrats actually did have a mandate for change, and wouldn't run on it. Obama's feckless pursuit of "bipartisanship" bought him exactly nothing, since the Tea Party hate him because he's black, and the GOP lined up against him because they wanted to deny him any victories at all. Sigh.
We need more political parties, truly. That's the real fix for the stalemate. Competition. But it's not coming in this election.
I cranked out 3000 words yesterday, marching on toward my goal. Only 50,000 more to go, give or take. I've got new ideas in line behind the piece I'm working, vying for attention, but I'm being a trooper and getting this one done, first. That always happens -- a new idea is like "Look at me! Look at me!" But I stick it out, give'em a number, and make'em wait in line. Have to do that, to get anything done.
I'm a little angsty going into the Fall -- just trying to juggle a lot of plates, wondering what's going to happen in the elections, whether the country will opt for Republican Lite (the Democrats) or Republican Extreme (the Tea Party cadres). That's the truth of the choices we have -- today's Democrats are like yesterday's Republicans (seriously, their patron saint, Reagan, would have been drummed out of today's GOP for being a raging liberal and a traitor, since he actually worked with Democrats). And today's Democrats would have FDR, Truman, LBJ (and, hell, even JFK) spinning in their graves with the weak tea they offer. The Democrats actually did have a mandate for change, and wouldn't run on it. Obama's feckless pursuit of "bipartisanship" bought him exactly nothing, since the Tea Party hate him because he's black, and the GOP lined up against him because they wanted to deny him any victories at all. Sigh.
We need more political parties, truly. That's the real fix for the stalemate. Competition. But it's not coming in this election.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Blown Away
Wow, windy day today! 15-30 mph winds! A gusty start to the school year! I took B1 to school, which was a bit hectic -- they hadn't assigned teachers to the students, yet; rather, they had classroom assignments without explicit teachers. Made for a kind of chaotic start of the year, with parents jockeying to find out where their kids were were supposed to go.
Lovely day, wonderful weather.
The long weekend shot by. Amazing that it's fall already.
B2 has such a facility with language; it's quite cool -- he speaks well ahead of his peers. The words he uses, how he speaks, his understanding of syntax, etc. Love it. B1 wasn't particularly looking forward to going to school, but I'm sure he'll have fun once he gets into the groove.
Lovely day, wonderful weather.
The long weekend shot by. Amazing that it's fall already.
B2 has such a facility with language; it's quite cool -- he speaks well ahead of his peers. The words he uses, how he speaks, his understanding of syntax, etc. Love it. B1 wasn't particularly looking forward to going to school, but I'm sure he'll have fun once he gets into the groove.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Trebuchet happens
This morning, I was called upon to make a Lego trebuchet by the boys, no mean feat, given that the Legos we have are a mish-mash of various sorts, not sets explicitly trebuchet-intended. But I came up with a workable one that the boys began using to fling Lego projectiles around. B2 was miffed that I put wheels on it, so I took those off, trading mobility for stability. B2 is busy setting up targets and launching things at them. Gotta love Legos!
Today
Last day of Summer for the boys. B1 starts school tomorrow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_6
Long weekend was pretty good, overall. The boys had a lot of fun, primarily with me, naturally! Today is autumn-chilly.
I climbed a tree in the park with the boys yesterday, which was amusing, since people would walk by and see us in the tree and react to it -- bland smiles, or, with kids around, they'd climb the tree (or its neighbors) for awhile, too. B1 calls the tree we were on "The Fun Tree."
Nothing fancy planned today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_6
Long weekend was pretty good, overall. The boys had a lot of fun, primarily with me, naturally! Today is autumn-chilly.
I climbed a tree in the park with the boys yesterday, which was amusing, since people would walk by and see us in the tree and react to it -- bland smiles, or, with kids around, they'd climb the tree (or its neighbors) for awhile, too. B1 calls the tree we were on "The Fun Tree."
Nothing fancy planned today.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Light
Lovely light day, already the autumn sun seems so in evidence, fall temps. Had the boys at one of the playgrounds, they had a good time, their playful chaos. Played with Legos aplenty until I was almost dizzy with construction visions. I made tortellini for dinner, a Sicilian tomato sauce with various olives. B1 pleased me by digging into it and giving it a literal thumbs up. Good boy!
Transitioning to Fall, school starts for B1 next week. He's not looking forward to it, although I'm trying to have him read each day, get him back in that spirit.
Sleepy.
Transitioning to Fall, school starts for B1 next week. He's not looking forward to it, although I'm trying to have him read each day, get him back in that spirit.
Sleepy.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Bus Trackers
I meant to write about this awhile ago, but kept forgetting. Ever since the CTA started its Bus Tracker, there's kind of a funny thing that's evolved at the bus stops -- CTA flash mobs! I'm a CTA empiricist; there are either buses coming or not. But lots of people rely on the Bus Tracker to get an estimate of a bus's arrival. And the result of this is that you'll often have a sense of a bus's imminent arrival because, out of nowhere, people will congregate. I mean, people do that, anyway, but the Bus Tracker folks will appear on less-trafficked stops, and that's how you'll know. You'll go from nobody there to suddenly a dozen people there. It's amusing to me, and it's entirely a result of the Bus Tracker.
Finally
Finally got iFucko to work. Here's that amusing Clooney shot. I'm sure they were high-fiving themselves at the Redeye over this headline, or else doing some Beavis & Butthead cackles...
Circadian, Cyclopean, Chthonic
My internal chronometer got me up right at 5:00. I haven't needed an alarm clock in at least a decade. Kinda funny, how circadian rhythms work like that. I just wake up instantly.
Had a dreadful dream about giant centipedes -- like those spindly-legged ones, only these were as big as my hand, with legs about as thick as pencils. They were in Grant Park, skulking about. I kept squishing them, but they kept appearing. Yucko! Frickin' giant centipedes! *SQUISH*
I've been reading Peter Straub's "Ghost Story," although it's been slow-going for me. Something about his style of writing, it's just heavy, ponderous. I mean, a 23-page prologue, for god's sake. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm about 123 pages into it, and I'm still not particularly into it, so I feel like he's failed me as a writer (I don't think I've failed him as a reader because I've persisted, despite not being moved by the story or the characters). I've tried to read Straub before, and there's just something about the way he writes that drags on me. I'm reading it because it's been touted as an exemplary ghost story (I remember the dreadful movie made from it), so it's sort of a reconnaissance read for me.
Had a dreadful dream about giant centipedes -- like those spindly-legged ones, only these were as big as my hand, with legs about as thick as pencils. They were in Grant Park, skulking about. I kept squishing them, but they kept appearing. Yucko! Frickin' giant centipedes! *SQUISH*
I've been reading Peter Straub's "Ghost Story," although it's been slow-going for me. Something about his style of writing, it's just heavy, ponderous. I mean, a 23-page prologue, for god's sake. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm about 123 pages into it, and I'm still not particularly into it, so I feel like he's failed me as a writer (I don't think I've failed him as a reader because I've persisted, despite not being moved by the story or the characters). I've tried to read Straub before, and there's just something about the way he writes that drags on me. I'm reading it because it's been touted as an exemplary ghost story (I remember the dreadful movie made from it), so it's sort of a reconnaissance read for me.
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