Monsoon Season?

Today was a day of wonders. We got hit by what I'd call a monsoon this morning -- 50 mph winds and driving rain. I was taking the boys to their sitter, and we had rain gear on and still got soaked! I went back home, got changed, brought clothes for the boys, returned to their sitter's with the dry gear after the front wave of it had passed.

I found a 1955 dime among some change I had in my desk. Silver! Nice! I could tell from the look of it, the clink it made with the others. I put it in my wallet for safekeeping.

Saw a gal on the bus who looked like a cross between Kelly Bundy and Lita Ford or the singer for Warlock -- she was in all black, with either leather or faux leather black leggings, black ankle booties, a black leather jacket, and some skull rings. 

The wind is kicking up something fierce tonight -- really, really strong. I saw this ivory scarf get yanked skyward by the wind, and wrapped in the branches of a tree -- wish I'd had a camcorder to capture that moment!

Also, on the way home, I saw something kind of surreal -- the skies were lovely, storm-clouded, with swathes of slate-blue clouds and white and gray, and, looking downtown, I saw a couple of skyscrapers that were catching the distant sunlight around the margins of the horizon, so they were these reflective pillars of silver and blue that were embedded in this mass of gray, and for a moment, gazing in that direction, I had this impression of gazing into another place -- figure and ground reversed and the buildings looked like gateways, just because they were reflecting that distant light, not the stormclouds near them, and it was disorienting for a split second, before I reassembled the image mentally. It was beautiful and uncanny.

The sunset was absolutely beautiful. I tried to snap some shots of it with my camera, which wasn't being cooperative, kept autofocusing, so I didn't get the clear shot I wanted, but the colors were amazing...

Sleepless

Urg. I woke up too early. Gonna try to go to sleep again in a few. I rarely ever get insomnia. The wind is howling some outside, so I'm guessing our interlude of unseasonable warmth is fast fading.

Got an interview Friday. Can't get my hopes up, but I'm certainly going to try my best. In this dire economy, it's all one can do!

The boys are in a treehouse kind of frame of mind lately -- they're all about treehouses. Obviously, with an apartment, I can't do that, but then I thought I could craft a kind of set piece treehouse using their bunk beds -- I'm going to deck out their bunks and make it look like a treehouse kind of fort (including season-appropriate construction paper leaves). They loved that idea, were enthusiastic about it. I told them I'd do it if they cleaned their room. It should be cool, if I do it right. Not a treehouse proper, but not a bad compromise, given the circumstances. I might sneak glow in the dark paint on some of the cardboard tree branches I affix to the bunk, so they'll coolly glow. They won't expect that. Muahah!

Alright, gonna try to crash again in a few....

What's the Story, Morning Glory?

Mamma Mia!

This is an outrage, I tellya! What the hell?! What are they thinking?! The Times of India reports...

Italy going prude? Town to fine women over skimpy outfits
IANS, Oct 23, 2010, 06.17am IST

LONDON: In a move that appears to be an act of moral policing , authorities in a small Italian town have decided to fine women who wear miniskirts or show too much cleavage , a media report said.

The fair sex will face fines of up to $695 under new rules to be introduced in an Italian town, the Daily Telegraph reported . In a move sharply at odds with a country which produced the likes of Monica Bellucci and Sophia Loren, the town of Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples, intends to prohibit women from wearing provocative clothing.

The town's council also wants to ban men and women from wearing low-slung jeans as part of a list of 41 new rules that "every good citizen must respect" , the report said. Luigi Bobbio, the mayor, said it was all part of an effort to "restore urban decorum and improve coexistence" by targeting people who were "rowdy, unruly or simply badly behaved" .

Playing football in parks and gardens and swearing in public will also be banned under new laws which will be put forward for approval at a council meeting on Monday. Italy has become entangled in a web of petty rules and regulations in the last two years after the government of Silvio Berlusconi gave councils extra powers to tailor laws to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.

Across the nation, towns have banned a range of seemingly innocuous activities such as building sandcastles on the beach, kissing in cars and feeding stray cats.

Read more: Italy going prude? Town to fine women over skimpy outfits - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6796687.cms?prtpage=1#ixzz13BhskGmH

The article didn't include a picture, btw. I just did that for fun, googling "Italian woman" with "miniskirt."

Ahoy, Mateys!

So, B2's birthday went without a hitch. He loved his volcano cake and the pirate presents I got for him; he's allll about pirates lately. I made him (by request) a fake hook (using an old plastic clothes hanger I modified), since he wanted to be like Captain Hook. It was cute, watching him run around and say "Arrr, Matey!" Although he's quick to point out that he's a good-guy pirate.

Exene has the boys all day (and night) today; she's taking them to some friends who have an annual pumpkin-carving party. I wonder how that'll go. Hopefully without incident.

I'm going to take advantage of the peace-n-quiet to get a ton of writing done today. Beyond that, nothing more exciting than folding laundry and getting some groceries, as needed.

Shot

There's a plastic surgery business downtown that has these prominent window displays that amuse me, particularly these two windows...

The scale of those props in the display windows are particularly amusing -- that liposuction one (and what's with that, anyway? That looks like a syringe, not one of those ghastly liposuction wands) -- anyway, that thing is huge, looks like the kind of thing you'd stick King Kong with, so having that in the window is just surreal.

And the neoclassical/fascist bust in the other window is also amusing -- "You can look like someone Wagner would write an opera about!"

Bahaha...

This picture and headline had me laughing. It's somehow ONION-worthy, just this dreadfully abject photograph of this guy paired with that headline...

Well Blow Me Down!

Wow, it's way windy in Chicago today! Feels like 40 mph winds blowing through the city tonight. I wonder if it's about to get either cold or warm. No idea, but sheesh, it's frickin' windy. Hard to believe October's nearly over.

I've got the boys tonight; they're stoked. B2 told me he gets sad at Mommy's place because he wants to be with me. Tomorrow's his 5th birthday! My little guy! I'm making him a cake shaped like a volcano (his request), and have a couple of cute gifts for him that he should enjoy. No party this year -- next year I'll do a proper party for him, since he'll be in kindergarten, then, and'll have school friends (versus preschool buddies).

Magnetic

I was amused the other day -- B2 accidentally learned about mag-lev the other day. The boys have some Magnetix toys, and B2 had put a couple of the little pieces into a plastic tube (really, a kind of plastic flask from one of B1's science kits -- the kind that can stand and you can put a cap on the other end)...

Anyway, the boys were delighted by the discovery, so I explained magnetic attraction and repulsion to them. It's fun, because it seems like magic, and I loved that B2 was the one who stumbled upon it.

Yesterday, I saw a guy on the bus traveling with an upright bass! I was really surprised to see that -- both from a perspective of it being unwieldy, but also, super-expensive -- why risk traveling with that on public transit? Ah, well.

The GIF that keeps on giving

The Christina Hendricks GIF is...hmmm....good.

Monkeyboy

Alright, so I'm watching "Monkey Shines" tonight, and I'm reminded of the trailer for it...

Monkey Shines Trailer

Which masterfully chooses that cymbal-banging chimp as an image for it....

Who in their right mind ever thought those were fun? Was it some wicked toymaker who crafted them? Was it simply the novelty of the automaton ape banging the cymbals that sold it? Or were kids so fun-starved back then that they'd take any toy, even one as creepy as this. I remember a cousin having one of those, and he skinned it, which made it look even creepier. But seriously, who would give that to their kid?

"Here ya go, Scout!" (tousles hair) "Have FUN! Daddy's going out drinking tonight!"

Kid sits in room, gazing in terror at the cymbal chimp...

Jolly Chimp

This & That

I woke up too early. Couldn't go back to sleep. Gonna be one of those lonnnng days.

On the bright side, I've had a handful of great short story ideas that I'm going to write once I'm done with the book draft. That's kind of my "reward" for finishing a book -- I'll dive into some short stories. That's always my private joke about that: the reward for writing is more writing! That's how it goes. The four short stories just jumped into my head, two days in a row. I liked the ideas well enough to commit to them.

I grabbed the Cronenberg "The Fly" (1986) and Romero's "Monkey Shines" (1988) on DVD -- those are movies I hadn't seen in a long time, and with Halloween coming, I wanted to indulge in some Horror-type movies. I enjoyed "The Fly" -- it really is very old-school Horror, in many ways. Funny to see Geena Davis in it, too -- she dresses SO 80s in it, it's very amusing. I can actually remember classmates in high school dressing just like that. Jeff Goldblum did a good job in that role as Seth Brundle. I read that he's an accomplished jazz pianist, which doesn't surprise me, since he plays the piano a bit in "The Fly" and I thought "Wow, he can actually play." I'm sure it's one of those actorly details he wanted to include, just to fill out his character a bit. I'm gonna watch "Monkey Shines" tonight. I haven't seen that one since it first came out, but I remembered liking it back then.

A coworker of mine didn't get the job he was hoping to get, and it really rattled him. It was kind of rattling to see him so rattled -- I mean, he's a fretful type, anyway, but seeing him visibly unsettled by that failure was kind of alarming. What's he got to worry about? His wife works full-time, so even losing his job, he'll still have that. Sure, they'll take a financial hit, but he's got her as a partner to help him out. I should be stressed out about the job situation, but I'm just not. Maybe it's just because of the stressload I've had to deal with for the past three+ years, I just take this stuff in stride, anymore, and don't get upset about it. I don't know. The coworker is 10 years younger than me, has a PhD -- he's got nothing to worry about, truly. He'll find something. As I said, I should be the one worrying, but I'm just not, and it's hard to really explain why. Something'll work out. I'll just make it happen.

Dance

Interesting piece, "Is Ballet Over?" I've kind of wondered. Relative to other forms of dance, it sort of seems to be, unfortunately for it.