Friday, October 31, 2003

 

The Friday Five

1. What was your first Halloween costume?

I think it was a Frankenstein monster costume. At least that's the first picture of me in a costume that I've ever seen.

2. What was your best costume and why?

Probably the time I did my best drag king impression without even knowing it. I put on the suit my dad got married in, slicked back my hair, penciled on a thin mustache and went as a man. I'm told I looked a lot like a young Wayne Newton.

3. Did you ever play a trick on someone who didn't give you a treat?

Ummm...no. Don't recall any tricks.

4. Do you have any Halloween traditions? (ie: Family pumpkin carving, special dinner before trick or treating, etc.)

Well, we carve pumpkins of course. And every year Duncan (and now Cal) goes to Haunt the Zoo at the OKC Zoo with his grandmas.

5. Share your favorite scary story...real or legend!

As a kid, Edgar Alan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart always gave me the willies. When I got older Stephen King's The Stand scared me.

These days I get scared by our government. Religious extremists of any stripe scare me too.

posted by Tamara - 8:42 AM -- Link to this entry
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Halloween Safety Tips

The Keith sent these in e-mail and I thought they were a hoot:

Just in case you have forgotten the rules for a safe and happy Halloween....

When it appears that you have killed the monster, NEVER check to see if it's really dead.

Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a joke.

Do not search the basement, especially if the power has gone out.

If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language which they should not know, shoot them immediately. It will save you a lot of grief in the long run. However, it will probably take several rounds to kill them, so be prepared.

This also applies to kids who speak with somebody else's voice.

When you have the benefit of numbers, NEVER pair off and go it alone.

As a general rule, don't solve puzzles that open portals to Hell.

Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt. This would apply to any other house of the dead as well.

If you're searching for something which caused a loud noise and find out that it's just the cat, GET THE HELL OUT!

If appliances start operating by themselves, do not check for short circuits; just get out!

Do not take ANYTHING from the dead.

If you find a town which looks deserted, there's probably a good reason for it. Don't stop and look around.

Don't fool with recombinant DNA technology unless you're sure you know what you're doing.

If you're running from the monster, expect to trip or fall down at least twice. Also note that, despite the fact that you are running and the monster is merely shambling along, it's still moving fast enough to catch up with you.

If your companions suddenly begin to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior such as hissing, fascination for blood, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness, and so on, kill them immediately.

Stay away from certain geographical locations, some of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, Nilbog (you're in trouble if you recognize this one), the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in Maine (or Alabama).

If your car runs out of gas at night on a lonely road, do not go to the nearby deserted looking house to phone for help. If you think that it is strange because you thought you had half of a tank, shoot yourself instead. You are going to die anyway, and most likely be eaten.

If you find that your house is built upon a cemetery, now is the time to move in with the in-laws.

This applies to houses that had previous inhabitants who went mad or died in some horrible fashion, or had inhabitants who performed satanic practices in your house.

..and MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL...REMEMBER TO FLOSS AFTER EATING ALL THAT CANDY!

posted by Tamara - 7:45 AM -- Link to this entry
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Thursday, October 30, 2003

 

Comics Thursday

This week's comics: Strangers in Paradise Source Book, The Flash #203, Age of Bronze #18, JLA #89, Green Lantern #170, Catwoman #24, The Legion #25, Terra Obscura #5 (of 6), Queen & Country #19 (I have got to get caught up on this series--Carla Speed McNeil is illustrating the current story arc!), The Travelers #24, Jane's World #8 (most eye-catching cover of the week courtesy of Terry Moore), and Previews Vol. XIII #11.

posted by Tamara - 5:38 PM -- Link to this entry
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I’m Such a Good Mom

Well, I didn't end up laying in bed and reading while they were gone last night. Instead, I turned on the Gamecube and proceeded to play Soul Calibur 2 for an hour.

Duncan is on his second run through of the Weaponmaster mode and he's been trying to unlock more special features and, most importantly, the soul edge versions of each character's weapon. So what did I end up doing? I got far enough that I unlocked a few more special features *and* I bought all of the soul edge versions that we didn't already have. Cool.

Duncan was quite happy with me when he came home. I gotta say that those soul edge versions look really guh-ross.

posted by Tamara - 9:11 AM -- Link to this entry
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Wednesday, October 29, 2003

 

Alone At Last

How nice. I've got the house all to myself tonight. Mike, Duncan, Cal and the two grandmas have gone to the Oklahoma City Zoo for Haunt the Zoo. The cost is $6 per kid, adults are free, and they get to wander the zoo in costume and receive goodies from volunteers also dressed up in costume.

I took the opportunity to have a little quiet time at home. Heavenly! Now I just have to decide what I'm gonna do. First I've got to load the dishwasher. Then put the towels in the dryer. After I finish those two tasks though the sky's the limit. Aww, who am I kidding? I'll probably just lay on the bed and read.

posted by Tamara - 7:28 PM -- Link to this entry
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Tuesday, October 28, 2003

 

The Gender Genie

Courtesy of Barbara Davies, bard extraordinaire, it's The Gender Genie! It's supposed to predict your gender based on a sample of your writing. I input random bits from this week's blog entries and was presumed to be male every time. Weird, huh?

posted by Tamara - 8:57 PM -- Link to this entry
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Monday, October 27, 2003

 

Another Calvin Story

Cal loves to hug kids. He'll walk right up to kids he doesn't even know and give 'em a big ol' squeeze. As you may have guessed this usually scares the crap out of the kid he hugs or, in most cases, tries to hug.

Today at McDonald's we were letting him wander around the play area. He gets really excited by all of the other kids and will jabber at them and sometimes just let out with a joyous yell. This one little girl who looked to be a few months younger than Cal was walking around unsteadily and he decided she would be a likely candidate for a hug.

Unfortunately just as he went for her, she slipped away. Persistent little turd that he is, he followed. I followed as well but I wasn't quick enough because as I turned the corner I saw him grab the little girl for a big Cal-sized hug. Being newly bipedal she promptly fell backwards taking Cal with her.

Needless to say, having 25+ pounds of little boy fall on her didn't make her very happy. Nor did the fact that she conked her head on the ground as she fell backwards. I felt kinda bad and Cal was a little mystified I could tell. I could almost hear his little baby thoughts, "Hey, hugs are good. What's the problem?"

posted by Tamara - 7:41 PM -- Link to this entry
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Sunday, October 26, 2003

 

Our Wonderfully Exciting Saturday

I mentioned earlier that I went with my mom to An Affair of the Heart. What the heck is that? Well, if you're too lazy to click on the link and peruse their web site here's the skinny. It's basically a big ol' craft show. It comes to OKC twice a year and the October show takes up seven buildings at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. Usually there's nothing there of interest to me. Once in a while someone will appear with keen, unique items for sale but mostly it's the same old craft crap--cutesie wooden signs, clothes, candles, dried plants, quilts, etc. My mom loves to go and look though so I go with her every time the show comes to OKC.

The doors open at 9 am on Saturday so I got up early (even before Cal) and headed over to mom's house so we could get to the Fairgrounds before 9. Our usual m.o. is to go right when they open, wander through as many buildings as we can before the crowds get too heavy and leave when walking down each aisle becomes impossible. This is why we end up attending all three days but it's possible to get through all seven buildings in two. Mom went Friday with my grandma and Cal. Saturday she went with me and we hit the buildings she didn't go through with grandma.

I ended up buying one thing and it was for mom. She wanted a shadow box to put my grandpa's medals and photo in. She saw some she liked and I bought it as part of her Christmas. Other than that, the booths were full of the same crap as last year and I didn't see anything I couldn't live without. We left around 11 am and headed to my house to pick up Duncan, Mike and Cal for lunch.

After lunch, Cal and mom went to her house and we headed for Norman, Oklahoma and RoninCon. The con was held in Dale Hall on the OU campus. Since RoninCon is put on by the OU Animation Society they get to use campus facilities for free. Dale Hall was a nice venue for the con but it was weird being back there after being away for so long. I actually had quite a few of my classes in Dale Hall since the Anthropology department is located there.

There was a fairly large crowd waiting to pay when we arrived which I thought was a good sign. Since the group running the con consisted of poor college students, publicity for the con was largely done by word-of-mouth and a few flyers at local comic and game shops. But quite a few people still showed up and patiently waited for the con staff to get things set up. It looked like most of the early attendees were fellow college students but toward the end of the day I saw more older attendees and a few kids.

The con was set up with a four large lecture rooms upstairs containing: Shonen Anime (boys anime), Shoujo Anime (girls anime), comedy Anime and console gaming. All of the anime I saw was fansubs so everything was subtitled. I don't mind subtitles one bit but it was difficult for Duncan to read them fast enough sometimes. I watched a few episodes of Groove Adventure Rave in the Shonen Anime room but never made it to the other two to watch a complete episode.

Duncan really liked the console gaming room because they had Soul Calibur 2 for the Xbox and he likes playing Spawn. In fact, he keeps saying he wants an Xbox for Christmas. He's already been told several times that's not gonna happen. He's got a Gamecube and that's the only console he'll have for the foreseeable future. Duncan also played some Tekken 4 (PS2) and a little Mortal Kombat (PS2). But he still likes Soul Calibur 2 best. Duncan has played Soul Calibur 2 enough that he kicked a few of the college kids' butts. hehehee

Downstairs was registration, a lecture room with a few art prints for sale (the Art Show), a room with various events like Cell Painting, Iron Artist, and the Cosplay (Costume Contest), a room with soda pop and snack food for sale (pocky and ramen noodles!), and a room for gaming.

The room with soda pop and snacks was also the Dealer's room but the dealer consisted of Atomic Pop, a local comic store. They did seem to do good business and brought a bunch of manga, anime, anime-related toys, scrolls and various Japanese Animation genre overstock. Duncan bought a Neon Genesis Evangelion action figure because it was super-articulated.

We took a break around 5 pm to get some dinner and visit Atomik Pop. I picked up Skeleton Key TP vol. 2: The Celestial Calendar and Flash #202. Duncan picked up some cute Dragonball Z toys. Mike was good and didn't spend any money.

We ate dinner at New York Pizza on Campus Corner and got back to the con just in time to play a little more Soul Calibur 2. Evidently someone with a Gamecube brought their memory chip with everything in the game unlocked and saved on it. Duncan was in hog heaven. He wanted us to drive home (takes about 40 minutes), get his chip and come back to the con so he could copy the data. We didn't do it of course but it was funny watching him get so excited about being able to play the characters he has yet to unlock. He proceeded to whip up on a few guys with the new characters. I played him next and whipped up on his little butt. I'm such a sweet mama. Duncan was so excited after we left the console gaming room he kept exclaiming "That was every man's dream!" My comment to Mike was that I thought every man's dream was two women.

Duncan was horribly disappointed that the Soul Calibur 2 tournament was scheduled for Sunday. He probably would have done okay but I don't know if he could have defeated the older players who were experienced at playing the game on the Gamecube. It would have been fun to watch though.

The Cosplay was next and it was a hoot. They had over twenty contestants and it was run very loosely. Basically each contestant was given a number. The audience was told to remember their favorite contestant's number because that's how the winner would be determined. As with most costume contests in this part of the country, fun and being goofy was the order of the day. Three winners were chosen although the kid I voted for didn't place. Duncan's favorite (Inu Yasha) took third and Mike ended up voting for that gal as well. My fave was a kid dressed up as Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin.

I'm not well-versed enough in Anime and Manga to tell you who the first and second place winners were dressed as. The first place winners were two cute little girls with very well-made costumes. Second place went to a college student with a so-so costume. He mainly seemed to be popular because of the way he portrayed his character. The Ronincon web site should have pics of everyone up soon.

After the raucous shenanigans of the costume contest it was time for the con's Closing Ceremonies. More goofiness ensued and it was really nice to see those college kids having such a good time throwing the con.

That wasn't the end of the con by any means but it was getting late by that time so we headed home. We stopped at a Braum's in Norman just before hitting the highway to pick up some milk for Sunday. It's lucky we did because Mike discovered he'd left his wallet at Dale Hall. Fortunately he left it in the lower level/basement of Dale Hall by the vending machines and it was still there. Yep, once again he lives up to his childhood nickname of the absent-minded professor.

We picked up Cal from my mom's and got home around 10:00 pm.

After looking at this horribly long blog entry I wish I had the foresight to take my digital camera to the con. But I had my head up my butt on Saturday and didn't think to take it. I also ditzed out and didn't take any STAR OKC or Phoenix APA flyers to the con. Bummer.

posted by Tamara - 6:42 PM -- Link to this entry
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Saturday and Today

Geez, I can't seem to update the blog on Saturday any more. I can only blame it on being busy on that particular day and then by the time I get to the computer to check e-mail and do the Beyond Uber update, I'm too pooped to be coherent in the blog. I'll blog more later about our Saturday and the day at RoninCon.

Right now Mike and Duncan are at church school and Cal and I are waiting for my mom so we can go to the final day of An Affair of the Heart with her. Fun! Sorta. I'm not really a crazy about crafts but I'm a good daughter.

posted by Tamara - 10:20 AM -- Link to this entry
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Friday, October 24, 2003

 

Subbing at Coronado

I subbed for Tracey today at Coronado. It ended up being a supremely easy day. Being Friday about thirty minutes of the morning (9 to 9:30) was taken up with Cougar Celebration. Basically everyone in the school meets in the gym, sings a few songs, does the pledge of allegiance and recognizes various students/teachers for things they've done.

Also at Cougar Celebration, the Students of the Week are announced. Each teacher gets to pick one kid who had a great week. They're the Student of the Week for their class and get to be recognized in front of the school, have their picture taken and receive a packet of freebies from local businesses. Duncan was the Student of the Week for his class so it was nice that I was subbing and could be there. Not that I couldn't have gone anyway and I probably would have but I didn't have to mess with keeping Cal still during all of the pre-Student of the Week stuff.

After that Susie (Tracey's assistant) and I hung around in the gym waiting for the photographers to set up because it was school picture day. Woo! I think the pics of Tracey's kids should all turn out well. Being first we got to the photographers before they were totally jaded and burned out. The kids were awake, free of food stains and other detritus and happy after all the hoopla of Cougar Celebration.

Once pictures were done we headed over to the Library aka Media Center. Then after library time was finished we headed back to the classroom for some table time.

With all of the stuff we had to do in the morning Tracey figured we wouldn't be able to get through the normal four teaching tables so she only set up two. She was right. We probably wouldn't have gotten through four but we did manage two just fine.

Then came lunch time for Susie and a little free time for the kids. I took them to lunch at 11:45 and after Susie came back I went to lunch around 12:20. The routine for the kids is to go to recess after lunch and then they come in and rest a bit. Usually after rest time they have another table time but Tracey figured she'd go easy on all of us and they had a longer rest time.

Today's special was P.E. and the kids had a lot of fun with the student teacher. She had them bap around this really huge ball--I mean the size of a small kid huge. Then they played with smaller balls individually for a while. All in all, a very rewarding, full of exercise stint in PE.

Finally with the school day almost over, we went back to the classroom for a little Blue's Clues watching and a snack. Normally their Fridays aren't this breezy. But once in a while if the day is full of special events you can expect the routine to be disrupted and things can get a little relaxed. And I'm not complaining one bit.

In the end, I had an uneventful, relaxing day. We only had six kids in class today and they were all very well-behaved. I only had to make someone stand once and that was because he was getting a little rowdy during playtime and bashing his truck into people.

posted by Tamara - 8:23 PM -- Link to this entry
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The Friday Five

No Friday Five this week. Bummer. That means I'm going to have to come up with something on my own to post in the blog today. Oh well, I'm subbing at Coronado so maybe something interesting will happen to me.

posted by Tamara - 7:41 AM -- Link to this entry
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Thursday, October 23, 2003

 

Comics Thursday

This week's fix! Superman #198, Planetary #17, Buffy the Vampire Slayer #62, Dark Days #4 (of 6), Dark Days #3 (of 6) (I must have missed this when it first came out), Dead Folks #2 and 3 (of 3) (yep, ordering them a second time worked), Batgirl #45, Birds of Prey #60 (ooh, gotta read this one tonight—Gail Simone is doing such a fantastic job writing this title), Cinnamon El Ciclo #3 (of 5), Green Lantern Ornaments boxed set and the 2004 Strangers in Paradise calendar (Christmas gift for a friend).

posted by Tamara - 3:25 PM -- Link to this entry
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“Close your eyes.”

Well, I finally finished watching Becoming Parts One and Two or the final two episodes of BTVS: Season Two. I tell ya, that ending still gets me.

A few things always bothered me about the episode though. Vampires are dead, right? Then how the heck does Spike incapacitate Dru by choking her? She's not breathing therefore he should be able to squeeze forever and she'd still be awake. Is it a blood flow thing? Would it matter if a vamp's blood flow was blocked to their brain? I dunno.

And if vampires need humans for their blood what kind of sense does it make for Angel to awaken Acathla, a demon whose sole purpose is to suck every living human into hell leaving Earth for the demons and vamps? Really. How smart is that? What will they do for food? Eat other demons? Subsist on livestock? It can probably be blamed on that whole 'we're really evil so it doesn't have to make sense' thing.

Other than those few quibbles I really enjoyed this season of Buffy. I also noticed Sarah Michelle Gellar looks mighty good in Season 2. In Season 1 she still had a little adolescent pudge. It didn't look bad on her but she definitely changed from Season 1 to Season 2. I can't help but notice that today she's far too thin. She should go back to her Season 2 weight. As she is now she's resembling Callista Flockhart a bit too much.

posted by Tamara - 11:07 AM -- Link to this entry
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Tuesday, October 21, 2003

 

I’m the best there is at what I do, Bub!

posted by Tamara - 7:40 PM -- Link to this entry
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Monday, October 20, 2003

 

Oklahoma’s Weird Weather

Geez, October can be freaky in Oklahoma. Last week it was chilly—jacket weather chilly. This week it looks like we're back to shorts wearing weather. I think it got close to 90 today. Not hot enough to turn on the air conditioner in the house but I darn well ran it in the car.

I am certainly glad we haven't carved any pumpkins. With weather like we've been having they'd be moldy in about two days. *shudder*

Oh, this is kinda funny and sorta relates to the weather. Last Spring our heater seemed to give up the ghost in that no hot air was coming out of the vents. We decided to wait until the Fall to see about getting it fixed because we didn't need the heater in the summer and why not put off that expense.

The Jean's Plumbing repair guys came today and guess what was wrong? It's really pretty sad. Our filters in the heater were filthy. heh Can you tell we had a floor furnace for the past six years? We only had to vacuum that puppy out every season.

I'm surprised our air conditioner worked as well as it did considering the layers of grime coating those filters.

posted by Tamara - 7:59 PM -- Link to this entry
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Sunday, October 19, 2003

 

Movie Saturday

I mentioned already that Duncan was out Thursday and Friday for Fall Break and my cousin Kelsey came down for the weekend. We had a fun time this weekend although we didn't do anything terribly exciting.

On Friday Duncan, Kelsey, Calvin and I hung around the house until around lunch time and then went to Cattlemen's for lunch with my mom, grandma and Mike. After lunch we headed back home and Kelsey and Duncan played her Playstation 2 until it was time to take Duncan to Tae Kwon Do. Once Tae Kwon Do was over we went to my mom's and had Indian Tacos for dinner.

Since Kelsey had spent the night at our house Thursday night she and Duncan stayed over at mom's on Friday. Mainly because they were planning on attending a free Halloween carnival at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. It turns out they didn't get to go because mom remembered the date incorrectly. The carnival is Friday the 24th not the 17th.

Saturday morning we went to the Harvest Moon Festival in Bethany. It was a very small festival mainly designed to get foot traffic into the antique shops that populate downtown Bethany. There was a passably good mariachi band there and they did have free pumpkin painting for the kids. Duncan and Kelsey didn't want to paint a pumpkin because all of the kids painting them at the time looked to be under five.

After puttering around there for about an hour we went to McDonald's for lunch then went to my mom's to kill a little time before going to see the 3:30 showing of Kill Bill (The Rundown for Kelsey and Duncan).

Mom was going to watch Duncan but she went with us to the mall to wander a bit before the movies started. While at the mall I picked up Kelsey's Christmas present from us this year, the first four paperbacks in Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series. We also purchased several Magic Treehouse books for Duncan. He's been reading these for the school's AR program but he really likes them and wants to own them all (yes, he's definitely our child).

The movies finally started and we went into our respective theaters. Kill Bill was such fun. Quentin Tarantino's movies are always chock full of violence but I do believe Kill Bill has them all beat. I certainly wasn't ready for it to end. I guess I should be thankful he gave us a satisfying ending for the first part.

The kids thought their movie, The Rundown, was pretty good. Duncan liked the action parts but couldn't tell me what the actual story for the movie was. Figures.

All in all our weekend with Kelsey visiting was very low-key and enjoyable. I hope she had a good time.

posted by Tamara - 3:55 PM -- Link to this entry
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Gotham Central

I'm caught up on another title I read: Gotham Central. I'm not a big fan of Batman but I adore his supporting cast (Batgirl, Nightwing, Oracle, etc.) so when Gotham Central started up I decided to give it a try. Of course, the fact that Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka were going to write it made this series a must-try for me as well. Oh, and Michael Lark is doing the art which is definitely a bonus.

The premise behind this series is following the detectives in Gotham's MCU as they handle the metahuman related crimes that invariably pop up in Batman's town. And who better to give us some gritty, weird crime stories than Brubaker and Rucka? The detectives come across as real people doing a job that most of the other GCPD cops view with disdain. If you're a fan of well-written crime comics you should definitely pick up this series.

posted by Tamara - 9:51 AM -- Link to this entry
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Friday, October 17, 2003

 

The Friday Five

1. Name five things in your refrigerator.

Milk, eggs, cheese, oranges, mustard

2. Name five things in your freezer.

Ice, chicken breasts, hamburger meat, broccoli, corn

3. Name five things under your kitchen sink.

I know most people have their cleaning supplies under their kitchen sink but I don't. Hence, I can only name one thing: travel cups. That's where I keep all of our oddly shaped plastic cups that are good for taking in the car or on a walk or with you to the t-ball game.

4. Name five things around your computer.

Pencils, pens, lots of paper, CDs, stapler

5. Name five things in your medicine cabinet.

Antihistamines, vitamins, ibuprofen, tylenol, band aids

posted by Tamara - 8:06 AM -- Link to this entry
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Thursday, October 16, 2003

 

Kinda Gross But Neat Too

My friend, The Keith, sent this picture today. It's of a hawk eating a pigeon. Here's his e-mail describing the picture.

I was in the back yard when I just missed seeing a hawk grab a pigeon. I did
see the hawk immediately afterwards with feathers falling around it. It
landed on the streetlight in front of our house to feed.

I thought it was a fascinating picture and decided to post it here for everyone's enjoyment.

posted by Tamara - 3:57 PM -- Link to this entry
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Comics Thursday

This week's comics: Aquaman #11, Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #8, Boneyard #12, Gotham Central #12, Green Arrow #31, JSA #53, Lucifer #43, Nightwing #86, Smax #3, Daredevil #53 and Hellboy Weird Tales #5.

Just to break up the monotony of this listing every week I'm gonna try and include the most eye-catching cover in my batch o' comics. This week's is for Nyx #1. The artist obviously did a good job with the cover because I picked this comic up entirely on a whim. The artwork inside looked really lovely and I figured I'd give it a try.

posted by Tamara - 2:54 PM -- Link to this entry
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Fall Break Begins!

Well, Duncan did not have to attend school today thanks to Fall Break. It also meant I didn't have to get up early but I did anyway because Cal was awake.

My cousin Kelsey is coming from Lawton to stay the weekend. It should be fun. She and Duncan get along famously and she loves carting Calvin around. Being around Kelsey (she's eleven) is probably the closest I'll ever come to being an Aunt. I'm really her cousin but I'm so much older she's taken to calling me Aunt Tamara. hehehe Anyway she's a good kid and I'm glad she's able to stay a bit with us.

Not sure what today's schedule will be. Her Grandma (my Aunt Gail, who also has custody of Kelsey) is bringing her down around lunchtime today. I do know until they arrive we're going to tackle Duncan's room. The way it is now Kelsey can't get in it without stepping on all sorts of crap on the floor.

posted by Tamara - 9:26 AM -- Link to this entry
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Wednesday, October 15, 2003

 

A Totally Boring Day

I have absolutely nothing blogworthy to post for today. Then why am I posting? I guess I feel guilty about skipping a day. Sad I know.

Cal and I were homebodies today. We washed and folded clothes, cleaned my room, went to the grocery store and that's about it. Gayle took Duncan to Tae Kwan Do today although I found myself wishing she had stayed at the house with Cal instead. That was why she came over initially but then she seemed like she wanted to take Duncan so I said sure. I guess it turned out okay. I was able to finish dinner in a timely manner rather than leaving Mike instructions. But I do like that hour away from Cal. *sigh*

Now this is really pathetic. The new television season has just started and I'm already behind. I have yet to watch an episode of Angel. I've been taping them but Mike and I haven't found time to sit down and watch them yet. I'm also behind on Judging Amy and Alias. Being behind on Alias is screwing up my mother as well because she wants to watch the season premiere episode I taped (she was out of town).

I am totally caught up on Survivor though. I was quite giddy when Burton was voted off last week. What a weenie he was. Too purty for his own good that's for sure. Mike could probably get a giggle out of people if he taped me watching Survivor. I can be somewhat animated during it.

Well, it's time for me to take over entertaining Cal while Mike and Duncan do the nightly story time thing. Tomorrow is Fall Break but I bet Cal doesn't sleep in. In fact, he'll probably choose tomorrow to wake up at 6:30.

posted by Tamara - 8:17 PM -- Link to this entry
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Tuesday, October 14, 2003

 

Dead in Dixie

I mentioned last month in my blog that I had received some books from the Science Fiction Book Club. Among the bunch was a collection of three novels by Charlaine Harris called Dead in Dixie. The premise for this series sounded fun: Sookie Stackhouse, telepathic barmaid in the small town of Bon Temps, Lousiana, has a vampire boyfriend and solves the occasional mystery. Hey, vampires and mystery in the South. I'm there.

Dead in Dixie collects Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas and Club Dead. All three are so much fun I didn't want the book to end. Sookie is a wonderfully warm-hearted and plucky heroine. Bill, her vampire boyfriend is suitably mysterious and sexy but with a gentlemanly Southern charm befitting his Civil War era roots. Since Charlaine Harris is a mystery writer each book is also a mystery and Sookie proves she's got a brain underneath all that blonde hair by being in the thick of things. Of course, being a telepath doesn't hurt either.

These books are really fun and I highly recommend them.

posted by Tamara - 9:23 AM -- Link to this entry
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Monday, October 13, 2003

 

Today

I got a *lot* of ironing done today. I didn't finish it all because I had to get Duncan from school but I whittled that pile down. I'm not sure why I'm so excited about that because it's just gonna grow huge again as I let the ironing slide. Ah well, always something to look forward to, right?

Oh, I managed to watch two BTVS Season Two episodes while I ironed. Now I just have the final two of that season left and I can move on to BTVS Season Three. Hooray!

posted by Tamara - 7:52 PM -- Link to this entry
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Ahhh, It’s Monday

Not much went on at the Hodge Lodge yesterday. Mike mowed the lawn. Duncan spent the night with my mom so we were big ol' slugs and didn't really get the day started until lunch time. That's what Sundays are good for, right?

This weekend was the Robber's Cave trip for the First Unitarian Church and since most of the members of the church were going to that Mike and Duncan decided to skip church school.

After we picked up Duncan, Mike mowed the lawn and Duncan, Cal and I walked to a park near the school. We stayed there about an an hour and a half and left when Cal decided that wandering away from the big park toys was what he wanted to do. I put Cal down for his nap and then Duncan and I played Soul Calibur 2 for awhile.

I was good and didn't tempt Mike with going to see Kill Bill. I figure we'll go next weekend.

Today I dumped Cal on my mom so I can do a ton of ironing. What fun! Guess I'd better get to being an Ironing Queen.

posted by Tamara - 1:06 PM -- Link to this entry
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Sunday, October 12, 2003

 

American Splendor

Wow. I didn't post anything in the blog yesterday. Not that I was busy doing lots of productive things. Probably the fact that absolutely nothing was going on was the reason I never posted.

I think the only productive thing I got done yesterday was washing and folding some clothes. Mike tidied up the back yard although we still need to mow. Hopefully the last mow of the season.

He also helped his mom figure out why his brother David's new dryer wasn't working. The incorrectly installed (by David) new fusebox was the culprit. Looks like it's electrician time.

But in the evening we went to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and saw American Splendor. This was the first time we'd been to the new location of the Museum and their new theater was quite nice. It certainly had more comfortable seats than the Fountain Theatre in Mesilla, New Mexico which was the last place we regularly used to go and see limited release films. But you can't bring food or drinks in to the theater which was a bummer. The Fountain was always nice because their snack bar was right in the back and you could eat brownies, cake, cookies, popcorn, etc. all while you watched the film. Ah, the good old days.

But back to the movie. American Splendor is about Harvey Pekar, a comic book writer living in Cleveland, Ohio, who has been publishing a comic book about his life called American Splendor (surprise) since 1976. Dark Horse Comics publishes them now but ol' Harvey self-published it for most of its run all while holding down a job as a VA Hospital file clerk.

The movie was filmed in a sort of pseudo-documentary style. Paul Giamatti played the movie Harvey but interspersed throughout the film were little interviews with the real Harvey Pekar. He also did the film's narration.

Paul Giamatti was fantastic as Harvey Pekar. In fact, everyone in the movie was great. I loved it. Definitely go see American Splendor if it's still showing in a theater near you.

posted by Tamara - 9:23 AM -- Link to this entry
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Friday, October 10, 2003

 

Field Trip Friday

Mom, Cal and I went on a field trip today with Tracey's class. I was there in an "official" capacity (I was a kid wrangler) and mom was there to watch Cal.

Tracey and Mrs. Maxwell take the kids to a farm in Newcastle that runs a pumpkin patch every year and they get to be outdoors for several hours, hear a nice talk about pumpkins, squashes and gourds and see live animals. Oh and they get to go on a short hay ride and pick out their very own pumpkin. I would bet it's one of the kids' favorite field trips.

I had an okay time but was plagued with a headache through most of it. I'm not sure why I had a headache. I'm thinking it had something to do with Fall. This is a time of lots of weather changes in Oklahoma—one day it starts out hot and a front can move in the next cooling us off about fifteen degrees. This can play major havoc with my sinuses which causes sinus headaches. Do I really need my sinuses? I'd just as soon not have them if I could avoid all of my irritating sinus related ailments.

Anyway, my two charges were very well-behaved. They're both slow-moving so that was good. It meant I didn't have to chase after anyone who suddenly decided that the pond would be a good place to be. A few people still tease me about the time the student I was in charge of took off from the pumpkin patch at a run, heading toward the pond. Now this student was someone who wouldn't have thought twice about jumping in said pond so I took off like a bat outta hell after him. Now running isn't something I do a lot of but I'm capable of pulling it off and going quite a way before I have to stop and gulp in great lungfuls of air but I guess seeing me suddenly sprint after him was quite funny 'cause no one's ever let me forget it.

My two kids were tough to keep together because both of them enjoy kind of wandering around in their own little world so that wasn't always fun. But I got pretty good at kind of keeping track of both of them. And we got through the day with no major accidents so I was happy.

Calvin seemed to enjoy himself. He was so thrilled at being outdoors and surrounded by kids that he didn't eat much lunch. He really liked looking at the animals and was fascinated by the baby pot-bellied pig they let everyone pet. I was kind of afraid he was going to grip something sensitive on the pig thereby causing it to squeal shrilly and scare the crap out of everyone.

We got back to the school around 3 pm and mom and Cal headed to her house. I was going to get Duncan after school and head to Tae Kwan Do so she would have ended up with Cal anyway. Plus he was asleep and I was hoping he would continue his nap at her house. It turns out he didn't and woke up as she pulled into her driveway. As a result, he's fallen asleep already at 8:00. I sure hope he doesn't decide 6 am would be a good time to be alert and chipper tomorrow.

posted by Tamara - 7:56 PM -- Link to this entry
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The Friday Five

1. Do you watch sports? If so, which ones?

Not really. Well, I guess if you count watching Duncan play soccer or t-ball, then yes. But I don't really make it a point to watch sports on television or go to local sporting events.

Although I did get caught up in watching the last Sweet Sixteen. I only watched the women play and even got Duncan into it.

2. What/who are your favorite sports teams and/or favorite athletes?

Don't have any. How sad, huh?

3. Are there any sports you hate?

Well, I don't guess I really "hate" it but I don't like football.

4. Have you ever been to a sports event?

Certainly. Just baseball and basketball though. The only football games I've attended were in Junior High when I was under the delusion that I wanted to be in Pep club. I might have attended one or two in High School too.

5. Do/did you play any sports (in school or other)? How long did you play?

I didn't play for my school teams (well in elementary school I did) but I played basketball until I was about ten maybe. Then I switched to softball and absolutely loved it. I think I ended up playing softball until the summer of my junior year in high school. Senior year I got a summer job and didn't play.

posted by Tamara - 9:23 AM -- Link to this entry
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