Hm, I did name this appropriately.

It's Olympics time! Once again, my family and I celebrate the spirits of world togetherness and athleticism by sitting on our butts and watching different events at opposite ends of the house. Yay! Well, that is an exaggeration; we are often together watching the same event. But I do find it amusing that as a world, we celebrate our athletes by sitting and staring at them on television. Go irony! As for me, this is the first Olympics that I suddenly realize that I am *way older* than most of the competitors (especially in some highlighted events - I'm looking at you, gymnastics - where the athletes are literally half my age) and super out of shape, so my shoulders and arms are sore from doing extra time with Wii Fit in the mornings.

Ah, Wii Fit. I have a love-hate relationship with my daily routine on the balance board. I haven't seen whether anyone else has a hardware problem with it, but sometimes, my board freaks out in the middle of longer step and boxing sessions, and I have to get off, turn it off and on again, and resume, having now missed several steps, breaking my flow and lowering my score. Yes, I know score doesn't really matter, but I do get a bit miffed. I'm the only one in the house that has this issue, but ever since last month, I'm the only one really using it besides Liam on the balance games. I actually deleted a few family profiles since they hadn't been used. At least I'll be getting my money's worth out of it - even if I just keep losing what seems to be the same five pounds over and over. Whatever. It's better than doing nothing, and even if I weigh the same, I look and feel a bit different. Also taller. Hard to explain.

One of the other things keeping my on my butt is participation in the Ravelympics! During the Olympics, I have taken it upon myself to finish three different knitting and crocheting projects. If they are completed in time, I win. If not, no medal for me! I chase a back-to-school vest for Liam, a Pokemon stuffed toy, and (in the Works-in-Progress Wrestling event) a promise to finally complete that green Megaman backpack I started two years ago and never bothered to sew together. There's time to do this! I'm almost halfway done with the vest already, and I'm feeling confident about the rest.

Another fun treat for me has been my subscription to the Venture Brothers Shirt Club. Oh my god. Awesome. Every week, I get a new, VB-themed t-shirt. My favorite is the Dean! shirt, but they all rock pretty hard. Well, I'm not crazy about the OSI one, but I'm sure it'll grow on me. I've seen the shirts going on eBay for much more than I paid for them, so I'm glad I decided to get in on it when I did. Especially since they only make each design available for one week. Yikes.

Instead of going on a big vacation this year (although I must confess the Disney Weekend in May was rather good), my family has been going on a series of short trips. Camping with our friends at their place in the Poconos. Anime Next (and the kid cosplaying as a Moogle, super cute). Wild West City. The one I'm missing to go to work today, at the Crayola factory. The Butterfly Gardens. One I'm plotting for Saturday to Nintendo World and maybe Jekyll & Hyde's. Many of these are known only to the planner (it's me, mom, Judy, and out friend Donna plotting these) until we arrive at our destination. It's pretty awesome. And I find I can work my weekly assignments for work into four days, so it's easy enough for me to take a day off if needed.

Stuff I need to do: take the Kid back-to-school shopping (ack, first grade!), do my financial aid paperwork, schedule my last six classes. It's too hot to think about school, though. Just. Too. Hot. It's not too bad outside, but somehow my bedroom and living room have become giant easy-bake ovens. Last night I woke up around two because it was so so hot in here. The boy was fine; he managed to get a breeze through his room somehow, but it was stifling in here. I grabbed some iced tea, turned on the house fan (why was it off?!?) and moved the floor fan to the foot of the bed. And fell asleep immediately. I prefer a cool room for sleeping, so summers are not a restful time. Yes, we have air conditioning. No, we're not using it. Unless it goes over ninety-two (or it's horrifically thick and heavy with humidity), it's lower-cost fans.

No fiction lately, although I have been considering some of the early-Thelma ideas. Nothing seems to gel though. I want to get it in gear so I can amuse myself and others. The world needs more humor; I'd be honored to provide it.

Martian Child

Oh, I want to see this.

My bestest best guy, ever (okay, third after the kiddo and Z), John Cusack, has a new movie starting this weekend. It looks like a cutesy-poo thing about accepting a weird kid for his faults BLAH BLAH BLAH but despite that, I want to see this. Hell, I'd pay money to see this man read out loud from a stack of corporate memos.

I could bring up the "Well, Z looks just like him during the 'Better Off Dead'/'Say Anything' era" discussion that this usually goes into, but let's just say that although there is a similarity, (okay, a HUGE similarity. Even the same height, come to think of it. It's just the hair texture and noses that differ) they're different brands of good-lookin'.

Whatever. You can't find me this weekend, I'm likely to be wallowing in Cusack-induced blissfulness.

Corn; it's not just for breakfast anymore!

So let me tell you all about this past Sunday.

Ever since Fall officially arrived, the Kiddo and I have had a bug up our collective butts - we wanted to go to a corn maze! I have enjoyed them since I was a kid, and Kiddo was excited about giving his first one a try. So after checking online, reading reviews, and using the time-honored approach of going to great-Grandma and asking her where to go, we wound up lost in corn on a gorgeous sunny Sunday. It is a huge, fabulous maze, filled with dead ends, spirals, paths that cross over on themselves, and trivia about the towns around the farm, and, of course, corn. Each little signpost also includes a "Corn Hotline" that you can call to get help out of the maze if you get hopelessly lost.

We didn't wuss out, nor did we take the easy way (marked, hilariously enough, with easy Buttons from Staples); the Kid and I (and the Grandma Patrol, who came in hopes of a farmers' market) plugged our way through the maze and made it out on our own, in only half an hour. You should go. It was at Etsch Farm, in Monroe Township. There's a haunted version of the maze on Saturday, the 27th, but my butt will be firmly partying by then.

In other news; who else likes zombies? I am both amused and appalled by them, a sort of a sick fascination. I can't watch zombie movies without getting nightmares, but on the other hand, they are a source of unending sick jokes. New internet pal Max has actually written up an online course - complete with tests! - on Zombie Survival Techniques. Also, noodling about on Facebook has led me, though a series of links, to the Living Dead Girlz dance troupe.

Have fun...

Music Video!

Stop whatever you're doing, and spend a few moments to enjoy some Mesopotamish action, animated by Chris Timmons, directed by David Cowles.

I still need to order myself the t-shirt. Someday....

Speaking of Mr. Pratchett

The first two chapters of Making Money are very good, indeed. It's another Moist von Lipwig story (roguish man leaves past life of thievery, totally makes over civic services!), which is a nice treat. I'm mainly a fan of the Ankh-Morpork Watch stories, but this guy's growing on me.

The best album I forgot I had

I recently blew the dust off of my copy of Common Rotation's "The Big Fear". I first heard this band several years ago when they opened for They Might Be Giants, and then again when they did a show at Vintage Vinyl.

I forgot how good it was. Damn.

If you go to their web site, you can download "Indie Rockin'", the first track. Tell me you don't love it. I'll whup ya.

Also currently rocking my world - the bass line to TMBG's "Withered Hope". Woo!

Crabs and Kindergarten

For Labor Day, we had the family over. Not the whole family, just my aunt, grandparents, and, um, those of us who live here. The plan was crab legs, corn on the cob, and salads. No biggie, right?

Why on earth did we decide it was an awesome idea to get ten pounds of crab legs? (five each of king crab and snow crab) Especially when neither my mother nor I have ever prepared crabs before? Well, we set a pot of broth on the stove (crab flavored, swiped from some ramen packages), mixed in some old-bay seasoning, and after fighting with and cleaning the legs (TEN POUNDS!) we set them in a bamboo steamer on top of the pot. We perhaps should have measured first....

The steamer overhang the edges of the pot by about an inch all around. There was a layer of dried broth around the edges of the burner when we were done. It was a disaster, except for one thing.....

they were delicious. Apparently, you can't wreck crab as easily as I had thought. Hooray! Unfortunately, there were leftovers. Pounds and pounds of leftovers. We foisted them off on the relatives, knowing full well how even the yummiest leftovers go ignored in this house. Also, the bamboo steamer still kind of smells like the bad part of the Shore. Ick. I hope time and repeated washings get that out before we try to use that puppy on vegetables....

Quick, other topic! Today is the kiddo's last day before Kindergarten starts!

But enough about my character.

Last night, I played my first round of Werewolf in, what, ten years? It was shockingly easy to get back into. For those who care, I play a geeky, pudgy Glass Walker named Tommy, who we've nicknamed Choji. What? He likes to eat. It's a quirk. I played it up, but then, it didn't help that our story teller began the story in a diner. Just saying.....

It was fun! I enjoyed finding a way to solve problems in-character (he's a thinker, not a fighter, much to the dismay of some of our pack's warrior-types) and act out a couple of gags. (Yes, it is a bad idea to call your pack leader "Big Momma".) There are some disturbing elements of the game, but when you think about it, we are portraying horror-movie monsters, so it's no surprise when the plots and themes are the stuff that nightmares are made of. Mostly, it's the staying long after the game is over, laughing with the other players, that makes it great.

I also amused people by working on a sock in-game. ("Yeah; Tommy's not doing this.") I haven't turned the heel yet, so some of the boys thought it was a dice bag.

Also, I need to go buy crab legs today. Yum!

New favorite

Yep.... it's official.

I ♥ Nerima Daikon Brothers. As of this point in time, it's edged Saiyuki and Excel Saga out of their tied-for-first position on my "favorite anime programs" list. I even love the theme song - the original and English dub versions.

I'm either incredibly easily impressed, or this show has a little extra special something to it.

special bonus info I dug up!!!!
Shigeru Matsuzaki, who provides the lead character's voice (Hideki, who apparently there is NO FAN LOVE for, except for me, sigh), also performed vocals on the Katamari Damacy soundtracks. Ah, Katamari Damacy strikes again, who knows where it'll pop up next?