asato_muraki: (Default)
2012-04-17 07:54 pm
Entry tags:

The Woman in Black, and the boy in a morph suit

Friday night, I watched The Woman in Black with my boys and my youngest's friend Jake, who was over for a sleepover.

That is an extremely atmospheric film, and a fairly scary one. Not scary, maybe, to people who require/expect monsters or Saw levels of gore, but for an old coot like me, pretty tense. My Beloved refused to go to the theater to see it, because the trailer scared him so much.

In any case, the boys and i had plans to watch it, and we had been under the impression that Jake had several other offers for the night and would not be coming. But, he came over anyway. Robert and I told both him and William not to talk during the movie, but you might as well tell water not to be wet. Jake's a talker.

"There should be monsters. Monsters are scarier than ghosts. Ghosts aren't scary..."

Robert and I, together: Shhhhhh!

And so on. Eventually, he excused himself to William's room. I figured he'd just get his laptop out and wait for William to join him. But no.

A few minutes later, this black thing jumps out from behind the couch onto William, making a strange, blood-curdling noise. It's Jake, who had excused himself to change into a black morphsuit. He then sat down and watched the rest of the film through te mesh of his morphsuit.

Jake is a bit of a character. He is a very good actor - he's very expressive and loud, and also makes some amazingly ...um, atmospheric noises. He and William get on very very well, partly because William is just socially impaired enough not to exclude Jake for his obvious eccentricities. Not that there is anything wrong with Jake. He's actually amazing enough that if he were a grown man, he'd probably already have his own TV show. Part of his amazingness is how little he cares about fitting in, when most twelve-year-olds think that is their full time job.

What amazed me was that, when packing for a sleepover, he brought a black morphsuit, just in case.

He got us all, good.

***

The movie was creepy enough that my creepy old house -- to which I am largely accustomed -- once again became old and creepy. I hung a dress over my mirror just to sleep. (It is positioned such that when trains go by a lot of the light that makes it in the window gets cast about by it, making my bedroom full of writhing black shadows.)

Also, Dan Radcliffe grew up kind of hot. I feel a tad dirty-old-woman-ish just saying that, but... yeah.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2012-04-03 07:56 pm

Big Boy's Graveyard Book Project and some Profanity

So, Big Boy had a different idea for his "book trailer" but they said it should have a cliffhanger and make people want to read the book, so he went for the ultra-creepy Man-Jack-coming-to-kill-Bod-as-a-toddler intro. I think it's effective.

My friend Anne provided the vocals. The song is from the book, and serves as an outline for the plot. She sang it for me twice, once to All the Pretty Little Horses and once to Fear a Bhata. My son liked the first half of one and the second half of the other, so I cut them together for him, but he did all the editing. (I consulted occasionally, when he needed help figuring out how to do something, or find a particular clip.)


asato_muraki: (Default)
2012-02-02 08:52 pm
Entry tags:

I am the action, I am the deed

Today I polished up the chapter I wrote last week, and made up the hours I was short at work. Didn't really make much progress on the next chapter, but my Beloved is leaving Saturday and it was just better to spend some family time. We went out together to get William's hair cut, then to dinner and shopping for sundries.

Big Boy has joined the Freshman Literary Magazine. Said he was one of three boys in the group and the rest were girls. Also, he ended up being called upon to place posters around the school in higher places, because he was by far the tallest. ("My Tallest!" Honk if you get the reference. :P )

***

Writing. There are about 100 pages left of my first draft that need to be assimilated into the second draft, just from looking at it, I'd say it could probably be cut in half by the time I'm done with it. Then I get to go back and hack and slash at my second and third Kane chapters. I think I can begin to work on queries and such while I'm doing the third draft, because the heavy lifting should be done by then.

I've gotten to the place where my revisions are making things shorter with every pass. I think this is a good thing.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2011-10-01 03:04 pm

This whole "Day Off" thing didn't work out so well

I had a horrible headache and crippling angst on my day off. I made some notes for my chapter, but really couldn't much stand to look at a computer. My Beloved fed me and petted my head and generally did his darnedest to help, but not writing on my day off filled me with angst and FAIL.

I think I'm over it now. Once I realized I just couldn't open my eyes and let go of my preconceived idea of what was supposed to happen, it was better. I mean, it still sucked, but it sucked less once I accepted that I am not always going to be in control of every little thing. *sigh*

***

My littlest Big Guy has a friend over now, and one on the way. They are both going to sleep over. Tomorrow I take them home and we all get to see Jack for teh first time in several weeks (for me) or nearly two months, depending.

I miss my cat.

It's really frustrating that I'm not any closer to getting him back than I was in August. Well, that's not true, but it feels true.

***

I got up with the hubby, who had to take the bigger Big Guy to ROTC orienteering this morning. I worked my four hours in my dressing gown. The hubby brought me my smoothie up, and one of the party guests arrived before I had my shower, but it didn't seem to bother anybody. (This is one plus of having a son with a slight social impairment -- he gets on with other kids with slight social impairments, and they don't seem to think twice about seeing a grown up in a bath robe at noon. LOL)

I made cupcakes, and the hubby watched a bit of Luther with me. He really enjoyed the first episode, but felt the second was full of plot holes. (He was right, but I was hoping he hadn't noticed on account of I like watching something with him.) He will watch the third episode, he says. The entire show is six episodes, but I don't think he'll watch it all with me. :P He's such a perfectionist when it comes to media. Everything, really, except for me. He's apparently convinced himself that I'm perfect. (I do not mean to sound like I'm complaining, mind. It's just... odd.)
asato_muraki: (Default)
2011-09-08 05:17 pm
Entry tags:

Modern Life is Weird

I know that my shampoo is in Seattle and my son's music stand and violin book are in Texas, because i have the tracking numbers.You probably shouldn't ask why my shampoo is being shipped from Canada. Just FYI.

***

My hours are still short for the week, but I'm actually getting a feel for this quality control thing. I suspect that I'm uniquely suited to the work by temperament and inclination. However, this X hours in the morning, X hours in the afternoon, X hours in the evening, plus X hours on teh weekend thing? Getting really old. Gives the impression that I'm always at work, or about to work. Or thinking about work.

But I think that will be better when I start just coming in on two days a week. It will remove the hour and half to two hour commute (45 min on a good day, one way). Though it has been nice to hear my radio plays and things on the trip, especially these last few days with the weather cool enough that I don't have to change and roll down the windows for the drive home.

Fun Boss was in today, and she will be coming back every so often and after her Current Project is over. She's training people for Inquiry, because the Inquiry department is empty and swamped.

***

So, this one Amazon Marketplace store refuses to give us a refund or replacement for something they sold us that we never got. It was just a thumb drive, but it's annoying. It's in arbitration with Amazon now. *sigh* I gave my thumb drive to the Big Boy because he needed one for school, and I needed one back up my writing. I also use Dropbox, but I'm old and I like to have something tangible to point at and say, "My work is there." Just give my thumb drive I paid for or give me my money back. Is that so hard?

***

The automated attendance at Big Boy's school has sent us two attendance alerts today. One said he'd missed seven days and one said he missed ten. He registered three days in, because they wouldn't see us before school started, but he has been there every day since then. The hubby will take care of it, but Oi.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2011-08-13 11:12 am

I am safe and reasonably sane in Atlanta once again

My vehicle blew a hose on the trip, before we had even made it out of Louisiana. Seriously, the border with Mississippi is less than an hour away from New Orleans, and it broke down before I got there. Popped hose, lost water, overheated. BUT I pulled over right away so no major damage was done.Cut for the disinterested. May include details of the move, plans for the weekend and my putting-the-kids-in-new-schools angst. )

In other news, my friend Andrina had convinced me to join youwriteon.com and enter an opening chapters contest, so I I did. Your piece has to have 8 reviews to qualify for the contest. You earn reviews by reviewing other people's stuff. I've done six or seven so far, and gotten two reviews in return. (So far they are quite positive.) It's a spot of work, and I'm somewhat pressed for time at the moment, but I'm going to get 8 reviews by the end of the month if it kills me.

So, if anybody would like to read the first two chapters of my second draft, you can find them here:

http://www.youwriteon.com/books/samplechapters.aspx?bookguid=e9d5c639-1dd3-40b8-ac67-b77b426011de

The site makes you register, but it is free. If the direct link doesn't work, you can find it by a title search for "Form and Void." If you see fit to review it, I would appreciate it a lot. :)
asato_muraki: (Default)
2011-05-22 03:06 pm

Things Twenty and Twenty-One

My Thing on Friday was taking a walk with the whole family down Magazine street. We stopped off in the Radio Shack to ogle electronics. The weather is still quite pleasant. Either I have acclimated to New Orleans, or we are really having a mild spring. Can't tell yet.

Either way, it was lurvely.

***

Last night, I watched Repo! The Genetic Opera with the hubby. As lame as it is, that was my Thing for the 21st. It was something I'd meaning to do since Pearce wrote about it on GC ages ago. It was strange and stunning, and actually a bit wonderful, in the way that strange and stunning things often are.

***

Today, I took the Big Boy to a House Elf meeting, just to see if he wants to volunteer at the Hogwarts summer camp. He still hasn't decided, but hopefully he will soon. Also, Wee Boy wants to attend as a camper, now. I hope we can scrape up the money for it. Last year on the opening day, they actually had fire eaters in Diagon Alley. All the performers were volunteers. And the church (First United Universalist Church of New Orleans) is this big stone thing with a courtyard and vaulted ceilings and such. SO BELIEVABLE as Hogwarts. They only have three houses, and those are made-up. Because the first year (years ago) everyone wanted to be Gryffindor or Slytherin -- and the Slytherin kids got a bit method in their commitment to the role, if you take my meaning. *chuckle*
asato_muraki: (Default)
2011-05-18 05:48 pm

Things Seventeen and Eighteen

Yesterday, I fed a week-old kitten. Abandoned by its mother and eventually coming into the care of my friend Meredith, this kitten was incredibly tiny. Meredith is the lady who gave us the caterpillars, so as soon as she was settled in with the kitty, she suggested I bring the fellas over for a look at her "newest science experiment."

Large pictures of a tiny cat under the cut. )

So cute!

Today, I finally posted my interview with "James S.A. Corey" (the writing team of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), which I had been attempting to transcribe for-freaking-ever. (I really suck at transcription, and I kept having to stop because it gave me migraines. :P )

In any case, the interview itself was tremendous fun. You can read it yourself at GeekaChicas - Leviathan Wakes: A Chat with the Authors.

It was fun to see how they work together, and how easily they could razz each other. Daniel Abraham's entire body of work has landed right in my To Be Read list. He was very charming, and his list of favorite authors made me very happy. His rants about Urban Fantasy and "weaponized" female characters also had me thinking. His take on the phenomenon I used to call The Buffy Effect helped me clarify my thinking about it.

It also put my protagonist in perspective, too. Lethe is a reaction to the whole "female power through violence" thing, but in a different way. I'm anxious to get back to her.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2011-05-11 12:53 pm

Things Nine, Ten and Eleven

I have been doing stuff, and not really feeling up to posting.

One of the things I have been doing is transcribing a mondo interview with Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who write as James S. A. Corey. The first book of their new trilogy, LeviathanWakes, is coming out this month from Orbit.

I interviewed them, like, months ago. I had intended to record it via Skype, but they didn't want to be on video. So I recorded the audio and had to transcribe it. I suck at transcription. That is part of why I didn't post for a few days. I was a) transcribing and b)trying to sleep off transcription-induced migraines. :P

So, finishing the transcription of the interview is Thing Eleven. WOOT!

***

Thing Ten was a lovely trip to the Hong Kong Market. It is an Asian grocery and collection of Asian food places that bought out the old Wall-Mart building on the West Bank. If you live in New Orleans, the West Bank is like Siberia -- stray too far and you might end up eating your dogs. But really, my oldest's orthodontist is over there. He had an appointment, so we packed everyone up with the intention of going to the Asian market after the appointment.

Pictures and such below the cut )

Thing Nine wasn't really anything. I was proud of myself for going to gym and for opening up the file to start the transcription, but I ended up with a headache with nausea (which [livejournal.com profile] narniadear informs me is a migraine -- I had thought I'd had migraines before, when I was on the pill. Horrible light sensitivity and sort of ripples in my vision, couldn't do anything but lie there and twitch. Those went away when I gave up hormonal birth control for good, but I guess all migraines are not created equal.)

In any case, just getting to spend a little quiet time with my family was so delicious after all that. I couldn't do my bedtime reading with the boys (we're reading LOTR), but the hubby read. I got to sit in the dark and listen, and it was very good. :)
asato_muraki: (Default)
2011-04-28 03:14 pm
Entry tags:

In other news...

Forward motion on teh re-write has begun again. I've almost worked my way over the sticking place. The work is much stronger than it was, and I am pleased.

***

The hubby has a line on a permanent job that could have been written for him. The company contacted him, which is always a good sign. It would be local, too, unlike some of the contract work he's been getting.

This is very exciting for us - no relocation! If you're the praying type, please do. If you aren't, good vibes would be appreciated.

***

So, I went across the river and picked up some friends of the boys yesterday, and we went to the Cool Zoo, which is a water park type of place at the Zoo. Then we walked around the Zoo, came back here and they played video games. Fun was had by all. The back seat was full of tween and teen boys talking in fake British accents and generally being awesome. They were very polite and flattering, though. My vehicle was awash in glottal stops and blarney. :P

However, one of teh boys left his swimsuit here. They are leaving tomorrow morning for a camp, so I need to take it to him. It's maybe six or seven miles away, but it feels like a great inconvenience to do this. Weird. Ron used to have to drive that far to work in Atlanta, and it felt like *nothing.* It might be the fact that it's across the river. People treat the west bank like it's a huge deal to go there, and I begin to see why.

I can walk most anywhere I want to go from here. Eight miles is like trekking to Mongolia.

I have become a city dweller. O_O
asato_muraki: (Default)
2011-04-19 02:48 pm

I just spent all day at Children's Hospital...

...and will likely have to go back at least once more in the near future. :P

Turns out the stretch marks on my son's spine may just be a weird quirk of genetics and growing fast, or it could be an axillary manifestation of a truly horrible genetic disorder that could result in what's called an "aortic dissection." That's when some part of your aorta just randomly rips open. People survive this, but the only way to really improve your odds of surviving it above 5% is to be in the same room with a skilled surgeon when it happens. Give or take

So the endocrinologist we went there to see walked us over to the cardiologist, who worked us in for an electro-cardiogram and an echo-cardiogram. Both looked fine. He has a mild mitral valve prolapse, but otherwise seems fine. The cardiologist said he wouldn't do an MRI on his descending aorta unless he actually gets a formal diagnosis of Marfans from either a geneticist or an orthopedist, or if the orthopedist orders one, he will ask that they look at the aorta while they're at it. So.

My honest feeling is that, while my Big Boy and I share some of the characteristics of Marfans (stretch marks along joints in early adolescence despite being extremely thin, long fingers and toes, pectus excavatum/mitral valve prolapse, certain irregularities in the eye and unusual joint flexibility), it is probably unlikely that we have any of the major issues related to that disease. I mean, statistically speaking, if I had a weak aorta, it should have blown by now, and I have no serious cardiac or pulmonary issues or orthopedic issues that I know of. Well, I do have a tricky hip, but hardly the easy dislocations that go with Marfans.

On the other hand, I couldn't blow off the evaluation, because if I did and his aorta blew out I'd just have to throw myself in front of a train for incurably bad parenting.

I do feel that we have been blessed with extraordinarily competent and caring doctors. I love them all. But I'm exhausted.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2011-04-08 08:22 am

My life is pleasantly surreal

First, today's xkcd is like a peek inside my head meats:

http://xkcd.com/883/

Second, here's the Doctor Who panel at ... WonderCon? In any case, cool beans.



***

Yesterday, we took our guest to the French Quarter. It was its usual awesomely weird self (I will post pics when I have some time). On the way we passed some movie crew guide signs. Those are colored signs with the production initials and arrows printed on them. They are put up as guides to help the cast and crew find the filming locations that day. These were bright yellow, with ALVH printed on them. My Beloved pointed them out to our guest, explaining what they were.

My Beloved: I don't know what movie ALVH is, though.

Me: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter

Everyone: ...

My Beloved: Is that a real thing?

Yes. Yes it is. They filmed a scene in the park I run in, the other day.

I LOVE this city. I really, really do.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2011-02-03 11:23 am

Things rumbling around in my head

Here are a couple of Korean cable channel trailers for Sherlock (the first is my favorite, the second is just too cheesy). However, this is a cable channel, I think this a bromance gimmick and not an indicator that Koreans are slash-obsessed.





***

In honor of my eldest son's surrealist short story "The Floor is Lava" being up fro publication in his school's literary mag, I give you this:

http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_162_if-everything-was-designed-by-5-year-olds_p2

***

I watched Jekyll this week, and thoroughly enjoyed it. (Well, until the something-jumps-out-at-you coda, and the painfully snigger-worthy American accents, but it's still better than 90% of American television.)



***

I also posted some Some Awesome Videos by Geek Femmes over at GC.

I missed pimping it by a few days, but there is also Nightsky's 25 years after Challenger which is more than worth a look.

***

Still trying to work myself up to making something myself. I want a personality transplant.

***

Also, if you haven't friended [livejournal.com profile] angrybeige, I sincerely suggest that you do. Her Sherlock comics are totally cracked.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2010-11-19 05:05 pm
Entry tags:

Meme time

[livejournal.com profile] motetus gave me five words. If you ask, I'll give you five words I associate with you, to pass the meme along. :)

Geekachicas That's my website, which you can see here. I blather on about it, sometimes a bit too much. I always post links to articles, and often whinge about how it's not going well, or about how ell it's going and how I really don't know how I'm going to top the content next week. But the truth is, it's a labor of love, and a huge blessing in my life. I collect cool people the way a magpie collects shiny things, and this website is my chance to show off my friends' work. It's awesome. Not only is it awesome because of that, but also because of the new cool women whom I've had the opportunity to get to know because of it.


Bruck Chun He's a minor character in the first few Jedi Apprentice novels that I totally co-opted for my fanfic/smut epic, Help Me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, You're My Only Ho (which re-imagines a popular Jedi character as a sex worker - I slay myself. Narf!). Anyway, Bruck is a major part of the subplot. This is probably because I have a thing for the blonds, and this one is actually described as white-haired, and fannon has amended to be dark-skinned, making him something of an anime hero in my head. This is how I drew him for HMOWK:

Bruck


Writing This is a thing I do, that I can't NOT do. I consider it part of my father's OCD genetic legacy. When I discovered his stash of somewhat cryptic, obsessive journals after his death, I went back and took stock of my own growing stash of filled-up blank books. That's when I decided that, if I was going to be doing it anyway (can't stop) then I might as well try to get good at it. I've taken classes and joined workshops and slaved away trying to produce something that didn't make me want to hurl. While I might not be the best writer ever (or even the best writer I'll ever be), I've recently stopped gagging when I read my output. So that's a start.

Angry Cat My cat always looks pissed off in pictures, possibly because sitting for pictures pisses him off. So I made a Birthday Greeting that has become a tradition here on my LJ. Here is the original Angry Cat photo:

Photobucket

Parenting I'm a parent, but unaccustomed to thinking of it being a verb.;) Most of my parenting involves exposing my kids to great masterpieces of geekdom, ranging from Firefly to Speaker for the Dead. I'm also homeschooling. Last year I used curriculum, but this year I've been making my own as we go. This usually involves letting my son exhaust his interests/pursue his obsessions with some forced learning thrown in around the sides just to keep the subjects that don't interest him as much from falling by the way. So far, so good.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2010-09-30 11:26 am

Have you seen the news? *snork*

Almost every child will be kidnapped and murdered at some point in their lives. NOT. )
***

And at GC, we have Pearce's review of Devil, Toast Landing Jam Side Down Now Valid Scientific Test for Demonic Presence. That girl SLAYS me.

And an awesome article from Nightsky on Sally Ride Science, written after attending a talk by Dr. Sally Ride. We should totally do a Sally Ride profile, because femme astronauts are the shizat.

Then Jesse shared a trailer for Indie Spotlight: Carl The Movie, an upcoming indie flick.

Dang, I need to get more stuff up there soon. I'm falling behind! But that is probably a topic for another post.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2010-08-03 02:41 pm

Drive-by Update

In GC news, so far this week we've had Pearce's ....okay, Predators?, in which she comes to the whole Predator thing fresh and contemplates a ripped Adrian Brody.

AND! Nightsky's exciting breakdown of Comic-Con! which was evidently Femme-Geek rich in content, so much so that there are hopes of more next year. WOOT!

****

I'm finally back from der hinterland, and boy, was that a trip. It was great to see friends and family, but in my absence the hubby, who had insisted that he would 'cherish the silence' got all weird and grumpy and isolated. I came home earlier than planned.

Then Big Boy got homesick, and the in-laws brought him back earlier than planned, and spent the weekend. It was fun. We got to go to the WWII Museum, which was great. It was also very traumatic for me, because going through the part of the place and the film that dealt with the Pacific, I couldn't help but think of my Grampa Robert, who was on Iwo Jima and other places, and traumatized to the point that we were forbidden to ever ask him about the war. Once he got lost in Atlanta, and forgotten who and where he was. In his mind, he was back in the war. I don't know what happened, whether a mugging or something set it off.

The only time he ever mentioned the war was in the 80s, when the famine in Ethiopia was all the news. He said there were children starving, everywhere they went in the Pacific, and he got in trouble for giving them his food.

So, yeah. I was affected by what I saw at the museum, but I could not help but think about how the same media that helped me understand what he went through could have been very destructive to him had he seen it.

***

In other news, I got nothing accomplished on my novel while traveling -- too many people to see and too much to do. I did not escape several calls from writing group people wanting to talk about stuff. Seems they have staged a sort of revolution to set up new rules and not listen so much to the organizer. At least I was out of town for the fireworks.

I like the group, but I suspect they are all too kind to me when it comes to critiques. I suppose I have some decisions to make.

***

Soon my oldest will be going to school, and I'm all tense about it. He's not. I know he'll be fine, it's just... being a parent is tough. I mean, we all have our defenses - people strike out at us, and we can take it. Our kids can take it, too.

What they don't tell you (or maybe they try, and you just don't get it) is that having a child is like having your tender bits hanging out there, defenseless. When Big Boy was six weeks old, I realized that I would be capable of killing to defend him, and not even think about it until afterward.

He's a teen now, and I'm trying to keep the Mother Bear on a short leash, but it isn't easy.

***

So now I'm back and I'm feeling behind on everything, like nothing is getting done. But that's not true. I have stuff going forward. My novel is still almost complete, though no closer than when I left. I'm in a better place to tackle it.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2010-06-29 11:14 am
Entry tags:

Comic-Con and other stuff

Today at GC we have an article by Nightsky, The Chicas' Guide to Comic-Con Part 2: The Sequelling. I wish I could hit a Comic-Con just once, because that looks like fun. Have not had much of a budget for travel here lately, though. Maybe soon.

***

On my plate today is a some critiquing for the writing group. We have a meeting this Friday, but my plans are still so iffy that I can't be sure I can make it. It is a holiday weekend.

Most of my time has been taken up this week with kidstuffs. Boy the Elder had testing for math placement yesterday morning. I dropped him off and too Boy the Younger with me to get our Louisiana inspection tag and a few bits of groceries we missed on our last visit. Then the hubby called to say that Big Boy's dentist had called to say they had an appointment open up if he could come in that afternoon instead of Wednesday. So, we did it, and scheduled his orthodontic lab for Thursday. Whee! That ate up most of Monday, minus some serious cleaning and the next chapter in our read-aloud of The Hobbit.

Today the hubby, thinking we had another gallon of milk in the fridge, put it all in his morning smoothie. He apologized, but I still ended up walking to the store in the rain to get milk. Oh, well.

This afternoon, if the rain goes away, we are scheduled for the Park Day swim at teh Whitney-Young pool. I kind of hope the rain holds out, even though it would be unusual for it to rain all day. It rains almost every day, sometimes twice, but it never rains for long.

Tomorrow, laser tag with the Janowskys. Thursday, an early-morning orthodontist appointment for Big Boy. Friday is another meeting for the writing group. Though I'd rather be on the road to visit friends and family, it doesn't seem to be happening.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2010-06-27 02:00 pm

Going to the Circus!

Of course, yesterday we were going to go on a bike ride and didn't, but the heat index was well over a hundred, so, yeah. Also, my biking clothes did not fit properly. (I may well have over-indulged in the good food this past week, what with my birthday and all, though I did eat a lot more salad than usual, too.)

So, instead of biking, we finally sat down and made William's flip book from a couple of years ago into a short video. He was very pleased:



It wasn't bad for a barely 8 year old, and of course putting it together as a video was fun.

***

I've been holding at 80,000 words on my novel, even writing like mad. It's because I keep re-writing sections I've deleted. I believe the story will be better for it, but still. It's kind of like being in one of those rodent wheels right now.

***

ETA: OMG! Almost forgot to mention that I finally got to see Hamlet with the hunny bunny last night. (I'd been holding off to watch it with him, and he's been working late a lot in the past several weeks.) It was great! Sort of makes me wonder, though, if there will ever be a performance of Ophelia that *doesn't* make me want to slap her silly. Also, Laertes' teeth gave me nightmares. *Chomp, chomp* They're coming for me!

That said, it really was wonderful. Tennant was awesome, Stewart was amazing, and it probably had my favorite Horatio ever. Just lovely.

***

My no-spoiler impression of the Doctor Who finale? *SQUEEE* It was lovely. I think I may even be getting past Mat Smith's giant, distracting, head. He really did some fine acting, there, and I admit I have a soft spot in my heart for Doctor Owies.

Also, I want to build a Pandorica in my basement. No particular reason. *whistles innocently*

Why are you looking at me like that?
asato_muraki: (Default)
2010-06-25 12:16 pm
Entry tags:

Thanks so much for all the sweet birfday wishes!

Yesterday was easily one of my best birthdays ever, despite being pretty normal in most respcts.

The hubby made me a special smoothie for breakfast, and the kids were most solicitous. I think this may have been my first birthday ever on Facebook, because WOW. Folks popped up with felicitations all over there.

An old friend from college even posted this for me:



That cracked me up, so much. This guy is one of two of my Beloved's friends from college who was also a full-fledged friend of mine as well. (Oh, the stories I could tell on him!) Anyway, that was a laugh.

Then there was LJ, which also seemed to be over-flowing with birthday wishes (and one super-cool virtual gift from the incomparable [livejournal.com profile] lotusice WOOT!)

Add to that phone calls from my buddies Teresa, Ben, [livejournal.com profile] hominysnark, my sister and a singing birthday message from my Papa and I just felt swathed in love from head to toe. My sons sang and danced , followed by their famous amoeba hug (it absorbs all in its path)They even refused to let me do anything around the house. They swept and made their own food and snuggled with me to watch some X-Files during the usual afternoon thunderstorms (got to keep up their geek education).

Then I got to wear one of my new sun dresses to Crazy Johnny's Steakhouse, a restaurant I requested for my birthday dinner, even though I hadn't eaten there before. The menu is limited, but they get the same cuts of meat as Brennan's at a much more reasonable price. Plus it was noisy and dress-code-less, so the boys could enjoy their meal without an etiquette refresher. The food was SO GOOD and carried no sticker shock.

So. Much. Fun.

I don't talk about it much, but my kids are amazingly funny and smart. They never fail to make me laugh. I totally lucked up in the family department. My friend department is none too shabby as well.

You guys rock.
asato_muraki: (Default)
2010-06-17 03:53 pm

Mississippi, Moanings, and other stuff

I have now crossed the Mississippi River more this week than in my whole life before. *sigh* But hanging out on the West Bank has helped me focus, as it has a dearth of things to distract me. Unlike my New Orleans neighborhood.

Speaking of which, two of our nearest home school friends are moving this month. One is not going that far, but out of easy walking distance. The other will soon be on the far side of the French Quarter, just barely within the non-dodgy confines of Bywater. The latter is my older son's best friend in town, so this kind of sucks.

Still, it's New Orleans, which means *no part of it* is all that far away. *sigh*

I still love my neighborhood, though, and intend to stay put until the path to other lodgings is made clear and unavoidable.

***

Up at GC today, we have our first article by new addition Peta Jinnath Andersen, Geek up your kids with this Superhero A-Z. Let's hear it for the next generation of geekdom!

***

In somewhat less uplifting news, CBS has apparently decided to severely reduce the female characters of their hit show, Criminal Minds. One of the best things about the ensemble cast, for me, has always been the presence of competent women getting the job done. Now, they are planning to cut the character of JJ, a wonderful exemplar of a working mother who is competent, focused and successfully juggling motherhood and her career. Wonder how they'll write her out. (Yes, that's sarcasm.) The other female character looking at a drastically reduced role is Prentiss, which pisses me off even more because she's my hero. She's tough without being played mannish, smart and accomplished. Oy.

[livejournal.com profile] agirlnamedluna probably says it best in this post, which also has a list of places to make our ire known.

In addition to those listed by Luna, there is a campaign to send CBS lipstick as a means of protest. Since I have a bunch of old lipstick that I hate with a passion, I'm all over it. The address is listed in the link.

I'm genuinely annoyed that they think only men -- or even mostly men -- watch this show. Or maybe they just don't care, because the advertisers are not as interested in the female viewers. Whatever. F*ck you CBS. In the nostrils. With a baseball bat. Wrapped in rusty barbed wire.

Okay, maybe I'm more than annoyed.