My sister's husband is going to be sent back to Iraq in January. As much as I dislike her, I really feel bad for her. She told me that they want to be pregnant by the time he's deployed. I understand why they want another baby, but I worry that it might just add extra stress to her life.

I have six tattoos. I got them at a time in my life when I thought I would be punk rock forever. I'm older now, and at a very different place in my life. I've become a different person.

Today I went to Portland, to OHSU, and had my first of many tattoo removal treatments. I'll post a pic soon. I was given lidocaine and it still felt like my arm was being repeatedly slapped with a rubber band. Not really painful but definitely not a pleasant sensation.

We'll see how it looks after it blisters, scabs, and then heals. Supposedly, we shouldn't see any fading until after the third treatment but it looks different to me already.

I know, I'm so horribly un-hip. I just discovered Last.fm. On Last.fm, I just discovered Twee. I'm in love.

Zain is currently switching from two naps a day to one. This is a problem because I take my daily shower during nap #1. I now put him in his crib and let him cry/play/cry while I rush to shower. He's really good with his play yard downstairs and though I don't want to drag it upstairs then back downstairs (if he's not watching Thomas, it's how I get dinner made). -m and I decided to buy a cheap play yard for upstairs to be filled with different toys than the one downstairs so it will be exciting and different. While looking for said play yard I came across the following.

I don't think I'd ever buy my child a Three's Company play yard. It seems creepy and wrong. Am I overreacting? Is it my imagination? Who would name a play yard Three's Company (or T-Co as they called it on The Captain).

What? No one likes a good Roots joke? Is it too soon?

What's that you say? You like a good Roots joke. Ah, I see.

Zain loves to sing. He likes to sing along with his musical toys at the top of his lungs. One of his current favorites is Hickory Dickory Dock. He bellows, "The mouse ran up the CLOCK!" Being only 18 months old, he has some trouble with pronunciation. He tends to leave the "L" off of the word "clock." Yep. That's fun when you're in the car, stopped at a stoplight and the windows are rolled down.

We keep buying him these expensive European toys that promise no added lead or other heavy metals. We bought him a German toy that looks like a little stuffed fabric cheese chariot with a mouse that you can sit in it and pull around. Does Zain ever play with it? Nope. Does he pull our old computer mouse around by its cord? Yep. Does he get really upset when he can't find the computer mouse? Yep.

I don't know why we bother.

Zain LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine. Just a hint of the theme song can excite him. He has Thomas and Percy trains that he plays with every day. Letting him watch the show tivo'd from PBS is the only way I can get dinner cooked in the evenings.

Yesterday he was watching the show and the theme song was playing at the end. It talks about how the trains are really useful and which train acts what way. For example:
Thomas- he's the cheeky one! (ooh cheeky monkey!)
James- is vain but lots of fun! (we all know someone like this, don't we?)
Emily- really knows her stuff (You go girl!)

and on and on to Toby. Toby is an engine, but he looks completely different than the others. He still does a good job and works hard. What's Toby's line in the song?

Toby- well, let's say he's square.

What? What the hell? What do they have against poor Toby? They can't say he's got a nice personality? Just- well, he's square.

I think it's discrimination. I bet his name really isn't Toby. I bet it's Kunta Kinte and Sir Topham Hatt is forcing him to conform to the Sodor view of how square engines should behave. Are they going to cut one of Toby's bumpers off in a future episode if he doesn't fulfill his duty as a "really useful engine"?

The other day I was driving over to lairjer's and a guy “dressed” as Jesus was walking down Highway 20 carrying a large wooden cross on casters. I say "dressed" because he was wearing jogging shorts, a tank top, and a curly blond wig. Everyone knows the Good Lord loved his morning jog around Galilee. It was very irritating to me. It was a 90+ degree day and I didn't see a water bottle on the guy. Perhaps the cross had a secret compartment? Will dying of heat exhaustion prove your love for Jesus?


Jerri and I drove past the same guy later and I pointed out that I could tolerate such a thing around Easter, as a Passion Play or whatnot, but in the middle of July? Jerri said that we should offer to participate as Romans. We could pull over and ask, “Can we scourge you?”

It reminded me of a guy from College who argued with me that Jesus was white. He claimed that Jesus' grandmother was a slave from Gaul which "proved" that he was in fact a blond, blue-eyed Jesus. I pointed out Revelations 1:15 states “Jesus had skin like copper and hair like wool” Sounds pretty Semitic to me! All he could do was hem and haw and claim to have read it "in a book." Oh, it was in a book? Then it must be true!

He fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line! And even less well-known: Don’t argue religion with someone raised Southern Baptist and Roman Catholic. You can't win!

Inconceivable!

I saw Jesus and Mary Chain with my buddy Sherry last Thursday at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland. Sherry grew up in Corvallis, went to OSU, and has lots of friends in Portland. She told me at the beginning of the show, "It is a statistical certainty that I know someone at this show." Did we run into any of her friends? No. Did we run into my old roommate from Denton, Texas? Yep.

Did anyone watch The Gong Show on Comedy Central this past week? Isn't Dave Navarro beginning to bear a disturbing resemblance to Michael Jackson? Ick.

I've been reading the book French Women Don't Get Fat and I really like it. I've never been one to diet and I like eating too much to starve myself. It basically covers my personal philosophy (eat fresh, eat well, watch portions, exercise, drink plenty of water and you will like your body).

Zain is addicted to his Trike. He asks to ride it all the time. It's so hot here now (in the 90's) that we won't let him ride it until after dinner. This causes many temper tantrums. On one of the nightly walks pushing Zain on his trike, I told -m about the book. I was raving about it. He asked the title and I told him, "French Women Don't Get Fat." He looked at me, incredulous, and replied, "Really? What else do French women not do? French Women Don't Poop!." The book is now and forever known in our house as French Women Don't Poop.

Yep. We're classy.

R.I.P. George Carlin. I was never the biggest fan of his work but I do recognize the invaluable strides he made for free speech.

I realized how old I've become when watching London Live (again!) and I dislike half the music and think everyone is on drugs. I don't know if I was naive when I was younger, or if I just didn't care but I never realized how loaded everyone one in the entertainment industry is.

I don't know why I'm so obsessed with people's drug use lately.

-m brought a lovely summer cold home from work and now Zain is a snot factory. Earlier this morning he (Z) sneezed and I guess he wiped his hand across his face because when I looked up a minute later his face was covered in a thin sheen of snot. Last night he kept wiping his nose, which we thought was cute. Today, he won't let me get near his face with a kleenex and he won't wipe his nose either. Today is going to be fun!

A couple of years ago I saw My Chemical Romance playing live on some TV show. This was back when the lead singer had shoulder-length black hair and was sporting the whole "Darryl-Hannah-a-la-Bladerunner" make up. He was singing the song (I think it's called) "I'm not OK." The camera came in for a close-up of his face and I was horrified to see that his teeth were GREEN. Eww. Ewww Ewww Ewww.

Cut to last week, I was watching reruns of London Live! on Mojo and My Chemical Romance was playing that Black Parade song. They did a close-up of the lead singer and his teeth were yellow. Which I guess is a step up from the green but really, can no one on his staff or entourage give that man a Crest Whitestrip? He has some major meth teeth action going on. Ewww.

Best name for a fictional dog groomer's owned by a washed up musician?
Atomic Dog
Bark at the Moon
Hair of the Dog
Youth Culture Killed My Dog
or
Diamond Dogs?

Which would be not only the best choice, but the one with the most comedic potential?

In other news, I'm officially a grown-up. In anticipation of katemosey's visit with the little one, we had our downstairs carpet cleaned. That is not a euphemism, BTW.

We decided that after three Oregon winters and one food throwing toddler that it was time to get the carpet in order before a guest with a small child arrived. Look at me! I's all growed up!

I've mentioned before that I've been writing screenplays again. I didn't write anything for a couple of years and then, on a whim, I took an intro to screenwriting class and it recharged my creativity. I'm entering contests where the prize is to have one's screenplay produced, the finished film will make the rounds at the festivals. It would be fun to have a screen credit. That's why I'm doing this, for fun. I know that I more than likely won't win anything but I'm having fun. It amuses me. I know that I will never be some big Hollywood screenwriter and I've made my peace with that. It's more of a hobby now. And as a hobby, I take much more enjoyment from it. Maybe, just maybe, I'll eventually have a short produced. If nothing else, I'd love to win a copy of Final Draft Screenwriting Software. Yep. I've got some lofty goals these days.

-m's dad is visiting this weekend and after that I'm going to get started on the radio play for melusina. It's nice to enjoy writing again.

What we have here is the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish.
( reading is FUNdamental )

The film festival begins tonight. I have to be at the venue at 1 p.m. to set up. Those of you with religious inclinations, pray for me. I feel that it is going to be a great film festival, but personally it is going to suck. I'll go into more detail post-festival.

F-ing bureaucracy.

After all the festival mess is over, I must remember to write about the Frankenstein fish we bought for Zain. We didn't realize that it was a Frankenstein fish at the time, though ignorance is no excuse.

Okay peoples- I need a line of dialogue that must be included with every fast film. Registration is in four hours. I've been putting off thinking about this and now my mind is blank. So far I've thought of, and rejected, the following:
"Look at that."
"Luck dog"
"the shoe is on the other foot"

I'm blank. HELP!!!

The da Vinci + BSide site is up. You can access it at davinci.bside.com/2008

Don't put a www in front of the url or you'll only pull up the bside homepage. You can access film synopsis, the festival schedule, and more.