My 12-year-old daughter has a friend who's about a year older than she is, named S. S lives about 3 blocks from my ex & my daughter, and will frequently walk home with Lex.

Tonight, my daughter asks her dad if she can go over to S's; he agrees, but says she has to do her homework first. So, she does her homework, and heads over. He lets her know that he'll pick her up, since it gets dark early.

A little before 7, he calls her and lets her know that he's on his way. When he gets there, she informs him that they'd just started watching a movie.

Ex: What movie?
Lex: A Musical. I don't remember the name of it.
Ex: What was it about?
Lex: It had a wedding in it ... or a funeral ... or both. And the guy kept running around singing "Janet, I love you ... "

He laughed the entire time he was pulling up IMDB ratings, and trying to explain to her exactly why he didn't think she should be watching that movie quite yet ...

Finally saw "V" last night.

( Some Spoilers, so I'll put it Behind a Cut )

You know, it really was the luck of the draw that put me in my current location. My name was submitted by my former manager to her manager for approval, then up to corporate for them to decide whether or not I would get to be a conversion partner.

From there, I could have ended up in one of 4 states: California, Arizona, Nevada, or Colorado. Something like 850 places I could have ended up.

And the placed me in Southern California.

I haven't been back in SoCal in over 13 years.

"If you have to be in Orange County ..."





Mind you, I spend most of my time inside, working; I might be able to get a few more pics tomorrow & Sunday, which will make me much happy.

from this site, translated by Google:

"Day after day, year after year making your tireless chewing Flanagan allowed people a change of pattern on cucumber?"

I think that has to be my favorite.

My eyes! They Bleed!

I'm vaguely amused by what different stores print on their receipts as product descriptions.

For example, from 3 different trips to Ross I've purchased:

1) Olive elbow vnk la
2) Ins dk stn 5p
3) St asst nk
4) brn htr 3q baby cb
5) grn/brwn ireland p
6) AVOCADO

I think tonight, I go home, close all the blinds, lock my door, and lose myself in a hot bath. It's either that, or collapse in a corner somewhere and bawl my eyes out from stress and exhaustion.

So not wanting to go back to work and deal with people yelling at us because we ask for ID, don't refund fees because they made mistakes somewhere, or things not happening instantaneously. I'm done with people. I've had enough. And I'm starting to really not care.

Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com

From an interview posted here



iF: Are you going to push for the political tone in this film as we’ve seen in your other films?

SHYAMALAN: Well, there is a lot in the mythology. What I did was remove anything that was too slap-sticky and cheesy -- the stuff that was there for the very little kids, but wouldn’t work in a live action feature like the fart jokes. I grounded the thing a little more. I grounded Katara’s brother for example [played by Nicola Peltz] and it brought a great new overall tone to the whole movie. But the political tone is for sure intact and the one about a culture who is in an industrial revolution and use their way in their belief system and then decide “we don’t need to follow the old way of thinking, the old way of seeing God”. And the movie focuses on a higher power and the spirit world. And so this culture decides that we can make our own machine and be our own God -- it was there in the cartoon, but more affirmed in our movie.


Okay, so he clearly has no idea that the slapstick & cheesy stuff was in there to help lessen how serious and dark their situation really was; a lot of parents are going to take their kids to this movie - they don't want something that's all-dark, all-the-time.

Sokka's comic relief served a purpose, and became considerably more grounded as the show went on. By grounding him right at the start, he's effectively taken away Sokka's chance to grow.

The more I keep hearing about this movie, the less I am inclined to go see it.

They both did remarkably well. There was a little hissing, in the beginning, and one tail-frizz moment (DOG was in the kitchen, CAT came up and started sniffing at DOG, who was being VERY submissive. DOG kept trying to get lower and lower to the ground, and CAT was getting confused).

For the most part, they kept their distance from each other. DOG would wander the condo, CAT would follow. Nobody got bit or clawed (including the respective owners).

Remarkable progress. DOG may make periodic visits now, mostly, because this will help acclimate CAT to dogs, in general, for when I do finally decide to get a DOG. Granted, I realize a lot will depend on the dog's personality, but it's a good start.

Nothing new to say, but I did get out more in the last few days than I have all year - and believe me I feel it.

Today, I got to watch peacocks dance:



(click on photo for today's pix)

( Yesterday, I rested. )

I guess I've been busier than I thought, but not as busy as I was last year ... Anyway, enjoy.

Overall, I think I was disappointed in the Wildflower Center - I guess I expected more. Don't get me wrong - it was very pretty, but there was very little there I hadn't seen elsewhere (ie: in the wild). There were a lot of spots I found myself thinking: "man, I would have enjoyed this as a kid."

I found myself wandering around and mentally checking off the plants: "blue bonnets, indian blankets, foxglove, pink evening primrose ... damn it, I should have never dated a landscaper who's company specializes in Texas native plants!"

Of course, I did find some pretty things:



(click on photo for more pictures)


While I'm at it ... it's been a while since I've posted photos (1 Feb), so ....

• 15 Feb 09
  
• 16 Feb 09
  
• 21 Feb 09
  
• 8 Mar 09
  
• 21 Mar 09
  
• 24 Mar 09
  
• 29 Mar 09
  

Enjoy.

1) The number of people who lick the top part of a self-sealing envelope

2) The number of people with iPhones, Blackberries, and other Smart Phones, who have their ring tone set to an old-fashioned telephone ring (and yes, I am included in that number)

3) Listening to my 11-year-old child sing, verbatim, the lyrics to Bowling for Soup's '1985.'

. . . More to come, I'm sure.

More weather like today, kplsthx.

Heroes Change the World, Not Diapers. - Hiro, "Heroes"

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! If he only knew ...

Robot Model hits the Japan Runway.

Now all we need is the miniature version to run around and yell, "Pantsu! Pantsu! Pantsu!"

There's something VERY wrong with listening to my 11-year-old daughter singing along to Bowling for Soup's '1985'.