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.

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.

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.

Sunset

Yesterday's sunset. I enjoyed it.

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...

90210?!

Hope everybody's having a swell 9/02/10 today...

Jesus H. Christ

Nice to see SLATE catch up with my August 21 post about the J. Crew Hipster Jesus.

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.

Bahah

I saw George Clooney on the cover of today's Chicago Redeye, touting his new movie, "The American." The article title: "Silent, But Deadly." I need to snap a picture of it.


(later)

I did, although shitty iPhoto isn't letting me upload it.

Hats off

I saw a guy come to my work today sporting a trilby. A trilby??! I know headwear is in fashion for guys, but somehow, pairing that with a golf shirt and running shoes, I dunno. Fail.

September

Rainy morning, super-humid and hot. More later, when I'm able (running late).

I did crank out 2,000 words this morning.

Lobby Pizza

Pizza Capri was having a promotional thing in my apartment lobby! Gotta love lobby pizza! Perfect end to a crazy-busy day!