I am still hungover from Tylenol PM. Took some last night and slept from 9pm-7am, but somehow I don’t feel well rested. Also? Those meth lab jerks have ruined it for the rest of us. Phenylephrine is far inferior to pseudoephedrine when it comes to the act, nay, the art of decongesting. At least I can breathe through my nose now. And my creative juices are trickling again. In a fit of anger - inspired by creepy people and irritating events - I took this self-portrait. Which would’ve been more effective if I hadn’t been wearing the respirator upside-down. Oh wells. Today I will complete my first full month of the 365days project, and I’m pretty stoked about that.

Five more good things:

• The artwork of Trish Grantham is so adorable. I would love to purchase many of her lovely paintings. Sadly her domain seems to have expired. Doh.
• Geeking out! The final issue of Y: The Last Man was just released, but I’m with Eve on comics…I prefer to collect ‘em all in a trade paperback, rather than single issue. But it’s going to be soooooooo hard to wait until June 3rd to find out how it all ends. At least we should know more about the movie adaptation(s) by then.
• Lately I’ve been playing analog Scrabble with friends, along with online Scrabulous. Both are improving the quality of my life. But Scrabble doesn’t give me more health points. I wonder if this proximity t-shirt would help?
• I’ve been a long-time Adrian Tomine (of Optic Nerve) fan, but somehow I completely missed the relase of Shortcomings last Fall.
• Thao Nguyen’s We Brave Bee Stings and All was released on Tuesday. She’ll be touring to support it, and even stopping back in Minneapolis, despite the abysmal turnout for her last show here (J and I comprised fully half of the audience).

Bonus: Apologies to my RSS readers (who likely aren’t even seeing this). I hope to have the RSS issues sorted soon, including a redirect from the old to the new.
Plus: There will be no cupcakes this Saturday (resuming on the 9th) but there will be the 11th Annual Stupor Bowl - an alleycat race organized by the Minneapolis Bicycle Messengers. Some friends are racing. I’ll stick with spectating.
And: My friend Adam just picked up a Fisher Price PXL-2000 camcorder. The possibilities are endless.

In broken record mode here, but I’m really getting sick of this sickness thing. The little man’s illness morphed into an ear/sinus infection. At least he has antibiotics now and that should be that. But after a week of him sharing his germs with me? Yes, of course I am coming down with something too. Again. Because I have an immune system weaker than a newborn kitten’s.

After dude’s doc appointment I promised to make pizza. So we were home, eating our pizza on homemade crust (I forgot to take photos!) instead of partaking of the half-off event at Punch. Oh wells. I’m sure someone documented that, being as it was promoting the photography contest and all. I’ll likely stop in another day this week. Unless I’m on a spontaneous sojourn in Nantes, France. Riiiiiight.

Bonus: Remember the Stan Lee Tribute, with the super cute spidey-toast? Today I realized the toast is from The World of Mr. Toast. Pretty fantastic stuff.
Plus: Thanks to Bre’s tweets, I’ve been enjoying the blog of one of his new co-workers. All things girls can tell is good reading.
And: I’m a sucker for Victorian/Steam Punk type stuff to begin with, but the Squid Attack Game Room - and cephalopod desks - really pushed it over the top for me. Sigh. More photos here. Also? It doesn’t really fit in with the aesthetic, but the Villain chair is super cool too.

p.s. Just noticed that my feeds have gone wonky since moving the site to Dreamhost. You may need to resubscribe. Sorry!

A lunchtime conversation reconfirmed just how susceptible I am…to images implanted in my brain from the media I’ve consumed over the years. Particularly when powerful women with guns and stuff are involved. Yes, I do enjoy watching badass women blowing shit up, kicking ass and taking names. When I was younger it was Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor. Later it was all about Buffy (the Vampire Slayer) and Michelle Yeoh (the actress - in just about any role). More recent standouts have been River Tam and The Bride. Who am I leaving out? My memory ain’t what it used to be.

So. The little man. He is still sick. He’ll perk up and seem all right for a while, and then cough and cough and crash and look ever so pitiful. Poor kid. Maybe I shouldn’t have dragged him out for cupcakes today, but our whole crew was there. And this afternoon was our only opportunity to see Maria, before she flew back to the Bay Area. Just a few hours of visiting wiped the boy right out. He was asleep by 7pm. I should likely follow suit.

Bonus: I finally watched an episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Unsurprisingly it wasn’t all that - but I did enjoy Summer Glau in it. So yeah, I’ll prolly watch some more.
Plus: I’d really like to finish reading Mouse Guard, but the kid fell asleep in my bed. I’m afraid to turn on the light or leave the room, for fear of waking him.
And: Seems that no one’s around to play their Scrabulous turns, so I’ve been zoning out while playing with the online Lite Brite. A clear indication I should power down the powerbook.

Five you-make-the-judgment-call things:

• My passport expires this year. Can’t believe I’ve had it nearly a decade now. I should leave the country again before I need to renew it. We’ll see if that happens.
• An article popped up in the paper’s Home & Garden section about…Punk Houses.
  It’s definitely not a “new” trend, especially in this town. But it had some of us old-timers reminiscing about the great house shows we’d been to (thankfully there are still decent ones happening). Curious to see the coffee table book.
• Lately I’ve been nursing something of a James McAvoy crush.
• Kent Rogowski / Bears: “ordinary teddy bears that have been turned inside out and restuffed” - amazing and somewhat terrifying.
• There have been no more phone calls from Wichita.

The end.

These are the times when single parenting sucks the most. When the little man is sick. And I am the only who can comfort him. Which means everything else comes to a halt. He has pretty much been glued to my side since Sunday night. And to my powerbook. The DVD player died and he doesn’t want to be downstairs anyhow. He wants to be in my bed, watching movies on my laptop, cuddled up next to me. When I’ve attempted to get up to take care of other things, like, oh, my own personal hygiene, he’s croaked pitifully and coughed and cried…which stops me in my tracks.

This afternoon I couldn’t take it anymore. I just felt so icky. I hadn’t showered in two days. I’d considered cleaning myself up after he’d gone to bed, but didn’t want the shower to wake him. Or have him wake up and need me while I was in the shower. Can’t win. Anyhow, I finally decided enough was enough and hopped in the shower while he was watching Castle in the Sky. As soon as my shampoo was all lathered up the doorbell rang. I tried to shout to the lad to ignore it, but no, with more energy than I’d seen from him in days he raced downstairs to answer it. When he came back up he reported that it had been some stranger, a man, asking to speak to his mom. Ack. (Still no idea who that was). He then crawled back into bed. I did manage to get some dinner into him, which he kept down (breakfast had come back up). But I didn’t get any work done today. And it’s looking like I might not tomorrow either. It’s turning into a disappointingly wasted week.

Bonus: This weekend’s weather is supposed to be milder, so I’m really hoping the lad feels well enough to hit up the Art Shanties at Medicine Lake on Saturday, when there’s a free afternoon show. Though Dark Dark Dark is also playing a free show around the same time, indoors, at Hosmer Library.
Plus: Speaking of icy art projects, Norway’s annual Geilo Ice Festival, with all musical instruments made out of ice, has just wrapped up.
And: Is it wrong that I love these socks so?

The weekend was a blurry blur involving lots of high quality hanging out. That Saturday brunch I mentioned? It went on for 9 1/2 hours! Longer, really. But eventually I left to hit up the Midwestern Dandies show at Fox Tax, which was fabulous, with the added bonus of seeing Amy Rice in her studio upstairs. Then I went on to the Turf Club to see STNNNG, Haunted House, Child Bite and Sarah Johnson and to hang out with friends. Yesterday the lad and I did some more lounging at J’s place, which mostly involved the boy playing video games while J and I transferred my site from a VM to Dreamhost (still getting used to this newer version of WordPress). And last night I made dinner for a friend. Busy busy.

Five more good things:

• The little man is sick, again, which is not good. But he’s coping well. He made the cutest board game. Roll the dice to advance around the board. The first pass you receive a slice of bread. Second time peanut butter. Third time jelly. And lastly another slice of bread to top off the sammich, that you then have to pretend to eat to win.
• Came across the work of Corky somewhere or other. The octopus necklace is great, but the carry monster has stolen my heart (not literally, but I bet he could).
• Natalie Portman has made a line of vegan shoes. They’re too fancy and expensive for me but it’s neat that she’s doing it.
• Punch Pizza has launched this “Capture Our Fire” Photo Contest. I do love Punch Pizza, and love taking photos of food, so I’m all over this. Props to Aaron for inspiring it.
• Another nod to Aaron, who made it out to Cupcake Saturday when I didn’t. I was too cozy and warm at the all-day brunch. But I did partake, when some intrepid brunch-mates were sent off to retrieve cupcakes.

Trying to fight my own personal winter doldrums. This crazy cold snap sure isn’t going to help, but five good things might. Well, a teensy little bit. Maybe.

• Superheroes in Real Life
• Audience of One: “A documentary following a Pentecostal minister who receives a vision from God to create an epic science fiction movie.” Wowza.
• The Library of Congress Pilot Project on flickr, The Commons. Most awesome.
• Monsters Need Love Too - I’m a sucker for cute, and for stop-motion.
• The weekend! So much going on, despite the brutally cold weather. My dear friend Maria returns for her family’s annual “Christmas in January” gathering. And Persepolis opens. And we’re having a brunch gathering at the home of some friends. And there will be cupcakes, of course. And there’s the Midwestern Dandies art opening thingie at Fox Tax. And more.

The little man automagically wakes up between 6am - 7am daily. Yesterday I was surprised to open my eyes and see that the giant red digital numbers were at 7:20. Doh! I actually went into his room to wake him up. A rarity. And he was still peeved at me about it after school. This morning he went the other way, waking up at 5:20am, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and raring to go. For a time I laid in bed, baffled, listening to him shout “FIRE IN THE HOLE!” downstairs.

Thankfully I went to bed early last night. Not so Monday. Then I procured the services of the new babysitter, and met up with co-workers for the Cloverfield screening. I won’t give anything away, other than it was a trifecta of awful for me. I’d knocked back an ill-advised serving of soda, and was sitting next to a man wearing some seriously overpowering stinkyass cologne. Those two elements, combined with the SHAKY CAM style from start to finish? Yes, I threw up. About halfway through the movie. At least I made it to the restroom, unlike someone else in the theater. On the plus side, the movie was co-written by Drew Goddard who I do adore. (Note: if you simply must have a spoiler, try searching for Blair Witch Monster.)

Afterwards I considered going home to crawl into bed, but a friend’s text prompted me to continue on to the Triple Rock, to see other friends’ bands play. And I’m glad I did. Even though there is no photographic evidence of the show (I was in hanging-out-with-friends mode more than documenting-the-show mode).

Five good things:

• Distortion by Magnetic Fields came out yesterday. Not sure how I feel about it yet. Need to give it a few more listens.
• Yesterday a co-worker brought in Mouse Guard Volume 1: Fall 1152 for me to read. Basically it’s “mice with capes and swords defending themselves against their predators as if they were the Knights of the Round Table.” I’m intrigued.
• Stan Lee Tribute Artwork. The toast’s heroic dreams piece is particularly cute.
• Came across the fabulous artwork of Isabel Samaras via Drawn. She has a lovely blog too.
• I totally want a Fatboy, or two. But I already have enough furniture.

The other day, when I was having such a rough time of it, I grabbed a book at random for the little man’s bedtime story. It just so happened to be Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. That bit of serendipity made me smile.

Five other good things:

• I love it when people see strange things that make them think of me, and go on to send me messages about ‘em. From Valerie? The love story of Louis the Octopus and his Mr. Potato Head toy. Made my day.
• From Mathew, a movie suggestion. Why yes, Six-String Samurai does look like my sort of thing! Can’t believe I’d never seen/heard of it until now.
• My fave web cartoon, Making Fiends, is getting closer to being a bona fide teevee show. Some behind the scenes type stuff here and here. Lately the little man has been getting more interested in the voices behind characters in cartoons. But I think he was weirded out by seeing the voice actors for Vendetta and Charlotte in real life.
• Too bad I’m too lazy for photogamer. Many of my flickr friends are involved, and I love these sorts of collaborative projects, but lately I’ve felt like I’m already overextending myself.
• Persepolis opens in Minneapolis on Friday!

My return to the gym wasn’t exactly triumphant. When I started stretching my tailbone sent out a few sparks of shooting pain. I worked out anyhow, because I’m kind of dumb like that, and it mostly felt good. Though I predict a telephonic conversation with a triage nurse in my near future. The gym visit was prompted in equal parts by an angry exchange with an ex yesterday (such a shitty shitty week) and also by this Nick Cave workout video - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! That man is so much fun to watch. Seriously, seeing him live? That’s at the top of my all-time best shows list.

This weekend we’re back to the usual cleaning, Cupcake Saturday (vegan flavors this week are cookies and cream and mocha hazelnut!) and sledding, if there’s still enough snow for it. If not the backup plan is to hit up the leisure pool at the YWCA. Ooh, and the hot tub. Yeah.

Bonus: Deleted scenes! Additional footage! Commentary! Battlestar Galactica season 3 comes out on DVD March 25th.
Plus: This afternoon I went back to Look + See Eyecare, the place that hooked me up with my current eyeglasses. But that was nearly two years ago. It was high time for a check-up, and a new pair of specs. I went with the same local brand - eyebobs - but this time selected the “barely lucid” frame in brown/aqua. Seven to ten business days and those suckers will be mine.
And: Human flying squirrels. I can only imagine how exhilarating that must be but those dudes are freaking crazy.
Lastly: A quick thanks for all the kind words last post. It helps more than you know.