Thursday, December 4, 2008
My son’s teacher called. They are having a hard time getting him to attend to certain tasks. If he is presented with two options for a-thing-he-doesn’t-want-to-do he declares them both to be stupid. Sounds like a truth attack to me, but that’s not helping. Aside from learning academically a lot of these tasks are geared toward social learning. But often his autistic mind cannot fathom such abstractions. Either it’s something he wants to do or it isn’t. Yes/no. Black/white. In much more promising news, he has been picking up on body language and facial expression, at home and at school, in ways he never has before. He will actually stop to ask “why did you make that face?” or to say what a gesture means, like “when you move your fist like that it means you are frustrated” (said to me after I was caught pounding my fist slightly on my laptop). After years of over exaggerating, like a bad actor pantomiming on stage, I may actually need to tone it down a notch. The other news? I was looking into a reading tutor but I don’t really have the funds. But the school is offering some extra assistance at no cost. The lad has a long commute and one of the paraprofessionals would like to tutor him on the school bus, beginning with more Dolch sight words. I think this is a great idea. Though there’s something to be said for having some time to oneself, to sit and think (though the school bus isn’t always the quietest place). We’ll see how that plays itself out. And I’ve ordered some Mad Libs, which I think he’ll find more engaging.
Bonus: Stupid holidays. I keep finding all sorts of things that catch my fancy, but I don’t need. Like this bubble calendar and the I am not a paper cup travel mug or the pet’s eye view digital camera.
Plus: The lad and I were both tickled by these decorated trains in Japan.
And: Attention local yokels, get your chocolate fix, this week in cupcakes! Also, Dr. Wicked - the local creator of the Write or Die! web app - was interviewed on the nanowrimo site.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Thankfully my son doesn’t need all the bells and whistles of the movies all the time. He has a great imagination and started seeing plays early on, which he enjoys, and is able to suspend his disbelief most willingly. So when we saw the stage production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe last night he seemed better equipped to accept Aslan’s character than I was. Not a lion, but a large man strutting around in a body stocking with a silly straw mane. Hmmm. The bad guys had the better costumes, as always. I was especially taken with the dark gray leathers of the wolf captain, Maugrim. It’s the goth girl in me. As an added bonus, we were sitting next to the family of the actor who was playing Edmund. It was endearing, to see how excited they were for him. Especially as he was tasked with playing the most unlikeable character, and did a bang up job of it. Thankfully I refrained from saying “hey, your kid really knows how to act like a dick!”
My boy keeps urging me to get that octopus tattoo I’ve wanted for so long, but I don’t have a design fleshed out, or the location (on my person) nailed down. Possibly right shoulder? Or right forearm. And now I want a jellyfish tattoo too, after looking at my friend Ericka’s lovely photos. But it could be tricky to do a jellyfish well, to really capture the beauty of these Cnidarians. But I’m thinking something less realistic (like my squid tattoo). Found a couple candidates that could be modified to my liking. But who knows when I’ll be able to budget the time and money to do it.
Bonus: The annual No Coast Craft-O-Rama is happening Friday and Saturday, and the Handmaidens Craftsmas on Sunday but I haven’t got any money to spend. Boo hiss. At least I still get to see Bruce Campbell Saturday night. Even if that conflicts with the Charles de Gaulle show at Eclipse. I want it all but, of course, I can’t have it.
Plus: Merlin Mann’s piece on courageous sucking struck a chord.
And: Another Octopus t-shirt I covet but will not purchase, as it is time to engage belt-tightening mode. After a visit to the credit union yesterday I realized no, we will not be going anywhere for spring break after all. Now I have to break the news to the kid.
Our long holiday weekend was so wonderful that I went into this Monday morning with a spring in my step. But I grew progressively less bouncy as the day wore on. Particularly in the afternoon, after school bus pick up time. The boy was uncooperative and cranky. Had to scrap my errand-running plans. At home he was in hysterics because I interrupted him, but I was just asking him to lower his voice as he was SHOUTING at me. We retreated into our separate corners to sulk and while there I received an email from his teacher. Informing me he’d been selected to be the student of the week, an honor which comes with a homework assignment, but: “he says that being student of the week is stupid, and he tells us he doesn’t want to do the poster. I hope that you will be able to coax him into doing it.” I did get him to complete his regularly scheduled spelling homework, but nothing more. And since he went to bed my busy brain has been all over the place, unable to focus on a damned thing. Realizing it’s December has me in a panic. There are projects I need to get cranking on before the new year. And don’t get me started about National Novel Writing Month. It is over now, but my novel isn’t. Thankfully I still have ideas/energy to put into it. Just not tonight. Tonight I am angsty and antsy and should probably just get unconscious.
Bonus: Rare squid with elbows, caught on camera. Totally looks fake.
Plus: Just discovered the Octopus Pie comic. And I like it.
And: I’ve now seen all six episodes of No Heroics, but it seems like that’s all there will be. It was an enjoyable run at least.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Home is where I want to be, even if my son is overtired from staying up too late last night, and prone to outbursts of crankiness today. It was worth it. We visited three different homes for Thanksgiving. First, out to the burbs to see my totally adorable Dad. Then on to my friend’s swank bachelor pad, for Thanksgiving with 3/5 of Charles de Gaulle. It was hard to tear ourselves away from such pleasantness, especially with Meatballs playing on a 50″ screen teevee. But we had to be with our people. The vegans. At the most anticipated potluck of the year (every year). The spread yesterday did not disappoint. Two kinds of homemade tofurky, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberries, my mini mock chicken pot pies, veggie stir fry, mac’n'cheeze, and more. Then the desserts! Homemade ice creams, three kinds of cupcakes, pumpkin pie, ginger cake with orange glaze, apple-strawberry tarts, cookies, and these utterly amazing creamy coconut concoctions in phyllo dough. Le sigh.
I’ve been a proponent of Buy Nothing Day since the beginning, but even more so this year. Today’s news headlines seem like Idiocracy in action. A Wal-Mart employee trampled to death by “out of control” shoppers and two shot and killed at Toys R Us over a shopping dispute? Really? These assholes clearly value things more than human life. It’s disgusting and pathetic and only makes me want to hole up at home indefinitely.
Bonus: One bright spot: We’re In Your Thanksgiving Parade, Rolling Your Rick
Plus: Speaking of the parade…these Vintage Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade photos are amazing!
And: So glad the Children’s Theatre sends out email reminders. I nearly forgot the boy and I have tickets to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe next week.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
The little man and I were home most of the day. In the morning I managed to crank through a pile of work. In the afternoon we went out for a productive session with the boy’s psychologist, but then it was right back home. Where I made the house smell awesome by baking two pumpkin pies while the lad had himself a Hayao Miyazaki movie marathon. We also got in a few games of Cranium’s Cariboo before I switched to making savory pies, little ones, thrown together from a recipe I posted here. My Thanksgiving cooking has now come to an end. Tomorrow there will be a bit of Thanksgiving reheating, and some cleanup, and lots and lots of eating and hanging out.
Five random things:
Once again we’ll be opting out of Black Friday, and on board for Buy Nothing Day. I look forward to spending even more quality time at home.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Thank you Facebook. My compulsive status updates have finally worked in my favor. An old friend saw me waxing on about foosball and has offered me a free foosball table. Yes! I just need to get that sucker moved from there to here. Hmmm.
Five other good things:
- Not sure where I got the heads up on this, but I am intrigued by The Action Heroine’s Handbook. The contents of which include: How to Win a Catfight, Drink Someone Under the Table, Choke a Man with Your Bare Thighs, and Dozens of Other TV and Movie Skills
- Tomorrow season two of The Guild begins. More about it here.
- It’s been a Super Furry Animals sort of day. ALL DAY LONG. But Friday I’m hoping it’ll be a Boris sort of day, if I can get to the Triple Rock to see them.
- A co-worker sent out a link to graphjam.com, a site of user-submitted graphs. The first one I saw? The friend zone. It seemed custom made for me (but is, of course, universal). Take a look at it. My interactions with males over the last year or two haven’t strayed far from “The Zone of PAIN” or “Awkwardness” zones. My goal for 2009 is to avoid those areas entirely. Though that might mean taking a radical sabbatical, for real.
- Another co-worker walked in the door today and pelted me, from behind, with a douchebag (pictured below). It’s a locally made “mean bag” from Etsy user MaybeYouShouldDie.
And now back to my neverending end-of-the-evening dilemma. Create or consume? I should work on the novel, but I just want to watch the season finale of True Blood. Rich man’s problems.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
I was strangely moved while watching the trailer for The Wrestler, with Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei. After a couple of junk food films I guess I’m in the mood for a little less magic and a bit more realism. That said, I think the Spike Jonze adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are will be amazingly well done. From an interview with Mr. Jonze:
I wanted this movie to take it as seriously as kids take their imagination and not, like, fantasy it up. So I think it just started from that feeling, that it could feel like you were there with them, like Max was there with them, and not just in some fantasy movie.
Release is nearly a year away. In the here and now…well, in the yesterday, it turned out to be a damned fine day. I was nervous about my Choose Your Own Adventure path. When I’m faced with too many options it makes me want to retreat and curl up into a ball like an armadillo. But I’m not quite that flexible so out I went. The highlight of my evening was having fun with friends at Big V’s. Usually I don’t like photos of me taken by others, but I love this shot, where I’m handily defeating yet another member of Charles de Gaulle at foosball. We may have to rematch when they’re all sober.
Bonus: I don’t shoot film anymore, but sometimes I wish I did. Especially when I see things like this new twin-lens reflex camera called the Blackbird, fly. Gadget girl lust, engaged!
Plus: It was so good to visit with our former neighbors yesterday. I miss them already. Sigh.
And: The original plan was to attend the Annual Twin Cities Turkey-Free Thanksgiving Potluck today. But I don’t feel like leaving the house. Instead I’m making a Tofurky at home. But the little man won’t eat any of it, so I’ve invited friends over to eat with me. Yay for lazy Sundays!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
My movie-going experiences yesterday couldn’t have been more different, even though both were at the same theater. I met up with a friend early in the morning and had a Twilight ticket in hand by 9:30am. There were no hordes of squealing teens and tweens. Just a quiet, wide open lobby. And a nearly empty theater with a handful of other women like us. I’m often interested in the adaptations of books I’ve read, even when they’re painfully bad. This movie wasn’t. But it wasn’t great either. Just about what I expected. The thing that threw me off the most wasn’t the film, but one of the damned previews. For a horror flick called The Unborn. I’m not a huge fan of horror to begin with, but what the fuck Hollywood? I carried one son who was “incompatible with life” and then my other son Felix was stillborn, after I miscarried his twin. I think that’s enough real life horror. I don’t need to imagine their unborn spirits becoming malevolent and haunting anyone.
Later I returned with my surviving son (who I continually thank my lucky stars for) to see Bolt in 3-D. Holy wow. Walking in to that cacophony set of warning bells for both of us. I nearly bolted out the door. But I shelled out for tickets and pushed our way through and around the overenthusiastic young women. Many of whom were cordoned off in different areas to wait for their appointed showtimes of Twilight. For their safety or ours, I couldn’t say. But our kid-packed auditorium seemed like a sea of tranquility by comparison. We settled in with our popcorn and special glasses and got to see some trailers in 3-D (I was treated to the Coraline trailer twice in one day, but it was definitely better in 3-D). And thankfully Bolt was enjoyable enough I won’t mind seeing it with the lad again.
Five other things.
The lad is staying over with grandma tonight, for the first time in a while, and after I dropped him off I had a hard time narrowing down my options for the evening. I ran some errands instead of attending a friend’s housewarming party. And instantly regretted it. Then I went to dinner alone at Midori’s, with a book. Both were excellent. Now I’m at a NaNoWriMo write-in instead of the Roller Derby (regret!) and writing for the blog instead of the novel. For shame! I’d better get back to my unreality now.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
I do fear the worst for the film adaptation of Twilight, and a little voice is telling me I should skip it altogether. And maybe save myself for a quality vampire flick instead. Like the critically acclaimed Let the Right One In from Sweden. But I never listen so Twilight it is! But not at 12:01am. I’m no vampire. I’ll be seeing it sometime during daylight hours tomorrow instead.
Last night the boy told me what he wants for Xmas. A Mexican wrestling mask. A blue one. That is all. Little does he know there’s a Nintendo Wii waiting for him. But will he care? He regularly uses my ex’s. I’m hoping the boy doesn’t associate the Wii exclusively with guy time over there. This could be one of those big ticket gifts that backfires on me. If that’s the case, at least I’ll be kicking the new year off with Wii Fit. And I’ll need to get in better shape if I plan on avoiding my little luchador’s piledriver attempts.
Speaking of things to come, I’ve been kicking around a few ideas. My year of self-portraits is coming to an end on New Year’s Eve. I’m considering a new daily photo challenge to start January 1st, but I’ll be pointing the camera away from myself (most of the time). I’ll make it a year’s worth of food photos. I already enjoy food photography. But I’d like to launch a redesign of this site at the same time, and include a separate (but equal) vegan food blog. So it would be a year’s worth of vegan food porn shots, posts and recipes. What do yawl think?
Bonus: The Making Fiends Thanksgiving episode is back up and our plans are on for our annual Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck. Though it’s not really the 25th Annual as the smartass email suggested (though we are 10+ years into it, to be sure).
Plus: Found another enjoyable blog to check up on. Melanie’s Six Impossible Things
(via Giyen).
And: Anyone remember V: The Original Miniseries? I sure do. Who could forget the delivery room scene? Poor alien twin baby. Last night I found out that a V: The Second Generation TV movie is in the works. With the tagline “Twenty years ago, the Earth was taken. Now it’s time to take it back.” I can’t wait! But I’ll have to re-watch the original first. I posted some badass pix of Jane Badler/Diana to posterous.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Yesterday I was overtired and felt like my creative juices had run dry. I tried to force it last night, but all my efforts were unsatisfying. My self-portrait attempts were totally meh. Even had a nip slip in one (but I sure didn’t post that). I did manage to advance my story somewhat, thanks to the Write or Die! tool, but only under duress. It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep can do. This morning I feel recharged and new ideas are whirling around in my brain. Naturally these gems come to me at inopportune moments. In the shower and during the commute, when it’s harder to grab them before they flutter away. Using Jott does help to an extent. It’s definitely handy in the car (just call and leave myself a voice message that is transcribed and sent to me) but not so much in the shower.
Update: The caffeine has since worn off and life will likely wear me down by the end of the day. Especially after the one-two punch of a workout at the gym + the kid working me over during homework time. But I’m going to try to keep the momentum going anyhow.
Bonus: One of my favorite local bands, Dark Dark Dark, is having fun in France right now. Wish I were there.
Plus: Thanks to a flickr contact in Australia my curiousity is now piqued, about The Chaser’s War on Everything. I shall have to investigate this evening.
And: More cupcake news! Sheela is everywhere you want to be. And with new flavors for Fall, like sweet potato with cranberry filling and marshmallow meringue. Hmmm.
