Tuesday, December 27, 2005
I’ve made note of this before, but Luc Besson is a ridiculously busy man. And somehow, amid all his big, flashy projects, he seems to have snuck in a smaller, quieter gem. Turns out he got back in the director’s chair for a film called Angel-A. It was released in France last week, but there’s no word when it will be shown stateside (looks like it hasn’t been picked up for distribution yet).
Bonus: In other movie news, the National Film Registry has revealed their list of the next 25 films to be preserved by the U.S. Library of Congress. The little man will be happy to hear that his beloved Toy Story made the cut.
Plus: In other media news, NPR annoyed the crap out of me this morning, with a very negative piece about pirate radio. It was heavily in favor of FCC rules, which are more concerned with protecting big broadcasting interests and advertisers than the needs or wishes of the people. Not at all surprising, just frustrating.
And: I’d intended to stay up and watch more of BtVS season five tonight, but getting back into the workday routine has thoroughly kicked my ass. It’s high time for nigh nigh.
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Monday, December 26, 2005
Finally, a quiet day. We don’t have to go anywhere, or do anything…aside from the dishes, perhaps. Those seem to have piled up again, and I’d like to make something savory soon. I’m actually sick to death of sweets. And I’ve learned the hard way that pregnant vegan women shouldn’t spend too much time looking at this blog. Tends to make me drool uncontrollably. In slightly less drool-inducing news, I’ve just discovered that the fabulous Jessica Stevenson (Daisy from Spaced) has a movie coming out in Spring that looks promising. Co-starring Martin Freeman, Confetti is a mockumentary that follows three couples as they battle it out to win the coveted title of ‘Most Original Wedding of the Year’. Wonder if the soundtrack will include the Lemonheads love song of the same name.
Bonus: Our festivus photos. The little man made quite the haul, as usual.
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Saturday, December 24, 2005
Yesterday was pretty productive. In the morning I ran errands and took the little man to an indoor playground we used to frequent, back when I was blissfully underemployed. He happily burned off some excess energy, we enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch in an atrium, and then we headed home…where I wrapped and readied our holiday gifts and cleaned the kitchen. I was beginning to prepare the evening meal when the husband dropped a bombshell, about someone I had considered a long-time friend, but no longer consider a friend at all. The news was so upsetting I lost my appetite and had to leave the house for a bit. Thankfully someone else, someone who really is a friend, was able to join me for some mindless ape against dinosaur action. But I still find myself incensed. Considering how spectacularly craptacular things have been going lately, I, like LaLa, am in need of friends who won’t judge me unfairly for my failures, but will instead lend a hand when I need help. I am also hoping for “less stress and more creativity in 2006” - that makes for a nifty sort of slogan. But I’m not sure what my odds are, as 2006 will see me entering the last trimester of this high risk and highly uncomfortable pregnancy, only to deliver a newborn in need of heart surgery. For now, I’ll just have to focus on getting through the remainder of this year.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2005
I hadn’t intended for this to turn into the doom and gloom blog, or the blog of bitchiness, but every day seems to bring with it some fresh hell. The husband complains of my extreme pessimism, and yes, dear, I know things could be worse…but things still pretty much suck and my brain is ready to explode from stress. Yesterday I had planned to go into work, but Monday afternoon I was called away early because the little man was ill. So we had a stay home day yesterday. And it’s a good thing, too. When I was in the kitchen I heard some sound from the basement. Initially I assumed the husband had thrown in a load of laundry (it could happen) but later in the day, when I heard the same sound, I went down to investigate. The hot water heater wasn’t just leaking, hot water was pouring from its bottom. The husband got some plumbers over here late in the afternoon, and, $1500 later, we have a new hot water heater. At least it didn’t happen last year, I guess, when we were pulling in much less income, but still.
Bonus: In better news, the next Studio Ghibli film will be an adaptation of Ursula K. LeGuin’s A Wizard of Earthsea. I hope this version will have her blessing (and not suck) unlike the dreadful looking Sci Fi channel miniseries.
Plus: So…turns out I wasn’t such an odd child, what with my torturing of Barbie and all.
And: Recently mopsa encountered the Reverend Billy’s Shopacolypse at the Mall of America. City Pages has just posted an article about his anti-cosumerism theater. I have such an internet crush on the good reverend. Sigh.
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Monday, December 19, 2005
Well, that ranked among the worst weekends in recent memory. The husband is home from the hospital and it’s safe to say we have adequately covered the “for worse” and “in sickness” aspects of our marriage. Some day it might be nice to explore “for better” and “in health” but I’m not holding my breath. I’m actually quite looking forward to going in to work today, but the little man isn’t on board with that plan. His school is closed, but the on-site childcare program is open. Normally he looks forward to such days, as it means play time all the time, but one of the more aggressive boys has been bullying and hitting him. My crazed mama bear instinct is to break that little punk’s arms, but my rational grown-up voice is telling me to have a chat with the staff about the situation instead. Sigh. At least he managed to have some fun over the weekend, at another classmate’s birthday party out in the ‘burbs. And afterwards we partook of the Punch pizza together, which was nice.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2005
What a difference a day makes. Or a couple of hours. This morning started off badly. I was worried about the husband, naturally, and also about the buttload of snow that fell overnight. Then, on the way out the front door, I pulled a Meghan and fell down my front steps. I’m ok, and the baby is fine. The snow cushioned my fall…and so did the little man. When I went down I inadvertently took him with me. I felt just awful about it. He was walking ahead of me, and so he didn’t see me as I tripped and slipped and stumbled. But he did ask “hey, why did you knock me down?” Sigh. After brushing the snow off of us, it was time for the grueling task of brushing off the car, and begging it to drive uphill through the unplowed streets. Things were looking up a bit once we got on the freeway. After I handed the little man off to his shuttle bus driver I headed into the office, my office, for the first time, for real. As of last Friday I am no longer exiled off-site, working for one of our clients. Instead I get to join my peeps in our gorgeous new office space. I spent the morning unpacking my things and getting used to my new desk. And a little while after I’d arrived the husband called with some great news. He’d been working with a physical therapist and had managed to stand up, with some assistance. And his doctor over-ruled the dietician and said he could quit with the clear liquids and eat whatever he felt up to eating (not that there is anything vegan-friendly available in the hospital cafeteria). ‘Round lunchtime I headed back to St. Paul and made a pit stop at Babani’s, for takeout orders of Niskena (delicious lentil soup) and Kurdish bread. Brought that down to the hospital and was quite happy to see the husband consume a good portion of his. It was the first time he’d had real food since Sunday. Afterwards we watched Run Lola Run, which must have been inspiring, because the husband called the nurses down to help him get out of bed, to use the walker that had been ordered. He shuffled all the way from the bed out to the hallway and back. That may not seem like much but, compared to yesterday, when he could barely lift his legs off the bed, it was HUGE. If he continues to improve at this pace, he’ll be home before long. And maybe they’ll take the “Fall Risk” magnet off of his doorframe.
Bonus: You know what perks me up when I’m feeling down? Some good old-fashioned cattiness. Life wouldn’t be nearly as colorful without Go Fug Yourself.
Plus: Not sure how I missed this on BoingBoing but Pop Astronaut has come to the rescue…pointing out these amazing knitted minions, inspired by Shaun of the Dead (one of my all-time favorite movies ever).
And: Speaking of movies, the Lord of the Rings trilogy will be shown, in its entirety, on January 2nd…at my favorite movie theater. I am tempted…
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Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Well, that could have gone a bit more smoothly. Monday morning we were told the husband’s surgery would take about one and a half hours. Maybe two, tops. It took four and a half hours. These things happen. But after his stint in the recovery room it was discovered that he was unable to move his legs…much. These things happen to us. We were seen by a parade of perplexed specialists that first evening. And the poor husband, in a great deal of pain and discomfort from his fresh incision, was wheeled down in his bed for an MRI. In the imaging room he played musical beds and was trapped in the MRI tube for an hour. Thankfully the results showed there is nothing wrong with his spine or his back. The theory the docs are going with is neurapraxia of the femoral nerve, a temporary sort of paralysis. But they do keep stressing that they aren’t really sure, and have no idea why this would have happened. The neurologist said he’d never seen anything like it. That’s always reassuring. So it’s just wait and see now. And the husband won’t be released until he is able to walk.
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Sunday, December 11, 2005
Pardon my silence. I am officially feeling overwhelmed. There’s just too much to post about (the good, the bad and the ugly) so I haven’t posted at all. Updates tomorrow, possibly, after the husband’s surgery.
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Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Yesterday morning my eyeballs froze over on the walk from the parking lot into work. According to the weatherman it was “the coldest slap since January 17th” but, at -6 with a -22 windchill, it was more like a bitchslap. At least my car started. Umm, why do I live in Minnesota? Speaking of which, I found this MN Speak thread on Minnesotans and motion to be terribly amusing.
With the emotional rollercoaster revolving around the baby last month, I haven’t said much about the husband’s impending surgery. I love him dearly, but that poor man is so defective. At just 30 years of age he’s already had a cornea transplant, has pretty awful asthma, allergies and carpal tunnel, and now he’s having an extra organ removed. Monday morning he’s going into the hospital to have his evil twin bladder taken out. The surgery will be pretty invasive, much like a c-section, so recovery time will be substantial. To that end he just bought We Love Katamari, the sequel to the much-beloved Katamari Damacy, to keep himself occupied. But I don’t know if he’s seen this Katamari/Indiana Jones sight gag (via BoingBoing). Before he heads in on Monday, we’ll try to squeeze in a date night. The babysitter is coming this weekend and we’re going out, prolly for dinner and a movie. Typical, I know, but we’d both like to see Syriana. Not exactly a little man-friendly flick. Speaking of which, he’s not yet old enough for the X-Men movies. But I am. Got all giddy Monday night, downloading a high definition version of the X3 teaser…until the DSL went down. Wtf? Had to finish downloading it bright and early yesterday morning. Here’s a link to some photos from the film (Dr. Frasier Krane as the Beast!), and some on flickr from the film set in Vancouver (not super great, but sort of interesting).
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Saturday, December 3, 2005
The weekend didn’t exactly start with a bang. Last night the little man and I fell asleep, in my bed, by 8pm. We were both beat. But then he was wide awake at 3am, wanting to watch movie trailers on my laptop. Oy. Thankfully we got back to sleep, so I was well rested for my early morning trip to NE Minneapolis. It was snowing and the roads were crappy, but that didn’t keep hordes of determined shoppers from turning out for the first annual No Coast Craft-o-Rama. I guess the write-up in the Strib and the ad in the City Pages really did the trick (in addition to the word of mouth, the web site, flyering, etc.). I arrived right around the opening time, at 9am, and the place was already packed. Managed to meet up with my friend Meghan and her mom but it was impossible to stay together. Bumped into a few other folks I know too, while I was in the middle of my shopping spree. I blew my wad on some ridiculously cute stuff for the new baby, the little man, my step-nieces, and, umm, myself. Oops. But at least a good chunk of my holiday shopping is taken care of, and my money went to local artisans. Photos of my purchases are here, or click on the picture below. Been taking it easy since I returned home, just catching up on some laundry and such. The husband gave the little man a haircut (rather than spending $18 at the Kids’ Hair salon) which the little man was initially in favor of, but it ended in tears. Thankfully he’s gotten over it (it looks fine, honest) and we’re heading out to dinner soon, with friends. As for tomorrow…who knows.
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