My Father, the Witch Doctor

So everybody in the family has the crud. Christy and John just getting over it, thanks to the intervention by Dr. Mike, who prescribed some heavy duty antibiotics (I suspect there might have been an ulterior motive there, as the directive came from his wife, the director of the little production you see in the post below).

By the way, for those of you who totally missed it because of your incredibly weak powers of observation, the midget impersonating Sonny Bono is none other than John. I hope to have some truly mortifying pictures soon. Unfortunately, I was across town at Jonathan's drama production and missed the beginning of the karaoke Killer, but rumor has it there's a full video, and I know there were some cast pictures taken. I just have to get my grubby paws on them.

Anyway, as I was saying, everybody has the crud. Those goobers are sucking down Triaminic and all those over the counter chemicals that don't do anything anymore because they took out all the good drugs due to the meth labs. They are just drinking flavored syrup.

In the spirit of my father, the witch doctor, I opted to get the grossest, nastiest-looking natural remedy available--some orange-flavored zinc tablets that I'm supposed to suck on. Let me just say, it's like sucking on a stick of chalk. Bleh. I can't begin to describe the texture, let alone the awful aftertaste.

Only. Get this. I'm almost over it. I promise the crud lasted three days tops. I shot saline up my nose, and sucked on these brown pellets that look and taste like something unmentionable, and I'm all better.

Hmmmm.

Superman vs. Batman

Well, it's a Spiderman house around here, but Luis Escobar has a hysterical cartoon with a bickering Superman and Batman. They are snarky and bitchy to each other, and poor Spidey gets it, too.

Check it out: it's a clever little exchange. You might want to read some of his other stuff, too.

karaoke at the Pink Flamingo

I lost Thursday and I'll never get it back

So, at first I thought it was Wednesday, except I realized that it couldn't be. And then, I had the feeling it was Friday. Only, tomorrow is Friday. So, Wednesday. Friday.

Friday. Wednesday.

What the heck happened to Thursday. I'll never get it back.

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In other news, had an opportunity to pimp the composition book. I need for that to move move move. The instructors I showed it to liked it and took the flyer with the info, but I'll have to follow up with an email.

I hate sales.

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I have to work tomorrow. Again.

Happy Birthday Pop!

It's only fair to say Mom improves the picture! I love you!

Thank me lucky stars

He makes a rather large leprechaun.

for the record, THIS is snow

click on the picture to make bigger

I thought this was interesting

The other day, Vic and I were talking about art, specifically, music and experimental things. Years ago, John gave me season tickets to the New World Symphony. He went to about half of the performances before he finally suggested that I could invite my friends (and let him off the hook for the rest of the season, LOL, I love the big lug). Anyway, I invited my mother-in-law one evening, because she had expressed an interest in music, but also confessed that she didn't have much of a critical ear. Instead of selecting a performance that she would enjoy, we went with the day she had available.

Teehee. Bad call. The first half of the evening was great. She recognized some Mozart...and then...it went into some 20th century dissonant experimental stuff. I could see out of the corner of my eye that she cringed a bit in her seat before playing it off and being all cool about it. She didn't relax until I leaned over and confessed that I thought it was awful. Luckily, we got a cleansing with some lovely Haydn.

Anyway, Vic and I were discussing a piece called 4'33". You should go listen to it now.

All of this backstory is here to illustrate that I enjoy quirky and unusual things. This short film here fits into that category. Enjoy.

Snow. What?

Yeah, so for the second time in the same week, Atlanta has shut down because of snow. Hey, where's Al Gore now?
Christy took off to document the adventure. Too bad more didn't stick. It snowed, hard, for like 5 hours.

It confused the dog, which was pretty funny. She just watched the snow.

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In a totally unrelated event, Vic and I looked at a prom catalog that came in for Christy. This picture doesn't capture the freakishness of the model's toes. Honestly, it looks like a cartoon toe that was hammered and is throbbing. Bonus, the other toe is grotesquely long and hanging off the shoe. Really, we spent an inordinate amount of time obsessing over the feet in the pictures. I feel a need for therapy now.

week in review

Every time I sit down to make a new post, I get distracted.

Sleep, too, is something that I generally enjoy, so let's just say that in the world of priorities, stroking my ego here was not at the top of the list.

Nevertheless, there were some interesting highlights this week. In no particular order, I bring you for your perusal, my week:

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On the coldest day this year, some poor schmuck was dressed like the Statue of Liberty in one of those really thin Party City costumes with the foam crown, and he danced on the corner of a very busy and not terribly safe intersection. He shared the corner with some ladies of ill-repute, and inexplicably, he seemed to be holding a light saber. Please. I can't even begin to unravel the mystery, but for once, the long red light didn't annoy me.

***
I have a student who sounds like Betty Boop. At first, I thought she was just pulling my leg, but no one can sustain that unless it is legit. Now, I just avoid calling on her unless I have to. I almost have an automatic response to raise my leg like the cartoon. And she's a very fine student, too.

***
In the world of insane questions asked by students, one guy wanted to know if he had a TWO or THREE week grace period to get the book for the course. I was flabbergasted. We are still on quarters; this is the second week of classes, and the term is only 10 weeks. Um, that puts him past midterms. I smiled and said "No." Any bets that he isn't getting the textbook at all?

***
The dog ate John's wallet. That was the funniest thing in the world. There is a hole in the middle of John's license picture. Ha. Right between the eyes. There is no hole in the dog's head. Yet. But she's on thin ice. This morning she ate all of January right out of Vic's agenda. To date, the other casualties include my computer power cord, a pair of ugly black shoes that really, looked improved after she ate the heel, some socks, and generally, any kind of box left unattended.

***
Cats is under way and Jonathan has opted out of the unitard after all. This, after claims that he is secure in his sexuality. Instead, he is going to be backstage blowing up stuff. It sounds more like him anyway.

***
Christy and John acting in a dinner theater murder mystery. Pics were taken yesterday by the local paper, so hopefully I'll have some pictures up soon for full mockery.

***
Currently editing a literary journal for school. The journalism certificate got squashed. Again. We are proceeding as if we didn't get the bad news. Hopefully, we'll put out something that looks professional and they'll change their minds.

***
Played Texas Hold'Em in some mickeymouse internet game site. Pop organized a tournament, and I came in 297th place! It was impressive (until I reveal only 300 in the field). Mary kicked some booty, and I was suprememly disappointed that I was not at her table, ideally, sitting to her right.

Realism in the movies?

I was watching the 1952 film, Ivanhoe, a fantastic adventure story set in 12th century England. If you like the Robin Hood type stories, this one is great. Only, read the book.

I couldn't get past the awful costumes. Really. Besides the glaring fact that the clothes worn by these knights are pristine, colorful, pressed, and brand new-looking, they have random patches placed in strange places where it is unlikely that the clothes would require a neatly placed patch.

It has driven me to distraction. That, and the odd choice by the costume designers to place Stars of David all over the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor.

And Wamba is like the Dudley Moore character, Arthur.

Still off the air

Continued camera probs. Alas, no 12 of 12 again.

Hey! Any writers out there?

I am putting together an anthology of tributes to mothers to support the local pregnancy center.

I want to send the completed book off to the printer by February, so we can have it back in time for the big launch at the local coffeehouse. I am short about three personal narratives, and invite all of you to consider submitting a tribute to your mother to this endeavor.

I am very excited about this project because of several factors. First of all, I like that it is a charitable project. Sales from the book, less production costs, will go directly to support the educational and other support services provided by the Refuge Pregnancy Center. To that end, all the contributors waive royalties, but retain full rights on their work. In other words, you're not going to get a penny for contributing to the book, but you can turn around and sell your essay to anyone you want and you don't even have to ask. Second, the writers aren't all professional writers. It is regular people writing about their mothers. The stories are filled with love and admiration, as it should be. I am less interested in polish, and more interested in sincerity. I even have an 8 year-old's contribution. Priceless!

So, if you'd like to play along, here are the rules. Shoot me an email at bluemantle[at]mindspring.com so I know you are interested, write an essay about your mom, 1,500-3,000 words (I'll take less, but don't want much more than 3,000), and get it to me as soon as possible (see above need to get it to the printer in February).

I hope you want to play with me. It has been great fun so far!

It's election year! Time to play.

I think this new ad will replace my former favorite Snickers ad.

Gabriel to the rescue!

Who said revisionist history is a bad thing?

I just vomited in my mouth a little bit

The word disingenuous comes to mind when thinking of Hillary Clinton. Read her tearful plea to the voters here. I think she's crying because she didn't get to Oprah first.

It's kind of like when you pass an accident on the freeway. I know you're going to look. I warned you.

I am adopting Fox Mulder's mantra this election year: Trust No One.

when the internet is useful

You know, besides posting pictures of the kids and playing Scrabulous, the internet is a rather useful little tool when I actually have work to do.

In the glorious community that makes up this wonderland, Lisa, at Franciscan Focus posted a link to LifeHacker's assessment of Google as such a delightful little tool.

I know most of you run circles around my limited googling abilities, but for those of you who are in the same novice boat as I, check out the different ways you can use it, and maximize your googling.

Consider this a PSA. Tomorrow I go back to my regularly scheduled random uselessness.

Special Request

Unable to say "No" to my little brother who never asks me for anything, I've decided to honor his email request, see below. The kiddoes were cute then, and they are cute now. I just gotta figure out how to use photoshop to fix an obvious error. For the record, that was her school of choice in middle school. Then again, she was going to be a marine biologist, too.

Now this picture MUST go on the blog. Pretty please?
Love that hat... HA!

For Luly

No haircut in sight. The play is February 5th. Check back on February 8th for an Achi look-alike.

And this is the culprit...

I gotta admit, if anybody in the family is going to master that thing, it's Daniel. All I gotta say is...look at the kid in the ad, Daniel--he's wearing a helmet.

This Public Service Announcement brought to you by a Proud/Concerned Tia.

My Favorite Daniel

My. My. My. What were you doing, silly? Are you getting your injuries out of the way early for 2008?

16 degrees

Did Mother Nature make a mistake?

I'm off to work--the kids are off to school. And it's cold. It's mornings like this I'm thankful for the garage.

And for the record, the dog is a lousy guard dog. For the win!

Happy New Year 2008

Wow, another year has come and gone! I wish you all many blessings this year. I'm glad to have 2007 behind us, and looking for better things in '08. That's not to say last year totally sucked, but we are ready for some good things to start happening. Soon, I hope. Very soon.

Meanwhile, I was trying to put together a little slide show of the year in review, and my camera/Vista/time issues have evidently continued to plague me. I'm going to give it one more shot, and if it doesn't happen, then the pictures from 2007 will stay where they belong, in the past! LOL.

We've had a very delightful holiday--quiet and uncomplicated, and that's nice every once in a while. Last night we went over to RA/SQPN central for a while and got to participate in the historic marathon. Unbelievable what a nice couple and a dutch priest have been able to create. Together, with a small group of supporting players and outstanding podcasters in their own right, these folks managed to collect an astronomical amount of money. I say astronomical because it's in my little perspective, but actually, the organizations' budgets could easily be 3 0r 4 times that, and still be growing. Anyway, it's a joy to be able to play a small role in the gigantic game.

We made it home in time for the traditional gulping of the grapes (this year without champagne) and enjoyed a midnight movie: To Catch a Thief (Grace Kelly was so beautiful) and then slept in this morning. A little trip to the park with the poochie rounded out our afternoon, and then we settled in for a tasty dinner of pork chops, and Vicky's stories from the Humanitarian Bowl. Generally, no one was there for football, but a great time was had by all.

And now, we are enjoying more movies...and eating oatmeal cookies made by Jonathan. Nice.