Crop circles and nine-day weeks

Today has been full of weirdnesses (and no, the creation of the word “weirdnesses” is not one of them):

1. Dead-heading rhododendrons feels kind of like plucking large, long-legged, sticky insects off  branches. I do not like it, Sam-I-Am.

   

2. Son#1 pointed out a newspaper ad for a local restaurant that said “Authentic Mexican Food 7 Days a Week” across the top, and “Closed Saturday and Sunday” on the bottom. Is there a 9-day week that I don’t know about?
3. I saw a young woman this afternoon who reminded me of someone I used to know – someone who died years ago. I did that rubber-neck second-glance thing anyway, as if checking to see if it actually was the person I knew, back from the dead.  That’s the kind of thing that lands a person in the middle of a Twilight Zone episode.
4. I watched a YouTube video of Michael Jackson’s Thriller the other day because I wanted to remember how to do that weird zombie dance for some reason. Today, well… RIP M.J.
   
5. Wallabies that are high on opium have been walking in circles, creating crop circles. So that’s what causes them! (And here I was thinking they were caused by giant peant butter cups landing in the fields….)
6. My laptop keeps freezing up today. It’s never done that before. The screen suddenly goes black and the only way to bring it back to life is to restart the computer. It makes me very nervous. I fear for my computer’s life.

The day’s almost over, so maybe that’s it for weirdnesses. Maybe….

The next kindle?

Check out the kindle 9XXXD. There’s seriously no limit to where e-reader technology can take us.

(With thanks to Jennifer Jackson.)

Twibes

Okay, I just don’t think I can bring myself to join a twibe over on twitter. Sure there are some great groups popping up, but just reading the word “twibe” has Elmer Fudd creeping around in my head, shotgun poised as he searches for that wascally wabbit.

Nope, can’t do it.

Two things (and a bonus)

1. No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth.

2. Yes, I will resume blogging soon. I’m thinking it’ll be Friday or Saturday, though. Hope to catch up with y’all then!

And the bonus? (There has to be a bonus. I mean, I can’t let you show up here and find nothing more than a “hey I’m not blogging today” post. How rude would that be!) How about a Carlton dance filled with happy?

Peace….

Into the Wild

I watched this movie last night, and now Eddie Vedder’s incredible voice is haunting me. Oh wait, no. My hubby is watching the movie again to find a couple quotes he liked, and the soundtrack is drifting upstairs to where I’m supposed to be working on revisions. But that voice. Wow.

I actually have made decent progress on revisions today, despite the haunting. But soon my writing time is up: kidlets shall arrive home, and chauffeur duty will commence. But perhaps I can swing by the bookstore and pick up Jon Krakauer’s book. (When there’s a movie based on a book, I like reading the book first. Too late this time, but I still want to read this one.) Might have to watch the movie again, too. And buy the soundtrack. And the haunting will continue….

Nerdfighters and holidays

How cool is it that hordes of young people are absolute fans of a YA writer and an eco-geek? Let me tell you, it’s very cool! Check out this news clip about “nerdfighter” brothers John and Hank Green:

Reading, education, saving our planet. Yup, teenagers care about this stuff, which only goes to show that teenagers are made of awesome. (By the way, a nerdfighter is a self-professed nerd who fights against world suck, who fights for awesomeness… or something like that. And another btw, if you haven’t seen the Brotherhood 2.0 vlog, you can check it out here.)

In other news… I’m now on holiday from my “day job” for two and a half weeks — w00t! And life is good.

• running in the a.m. before it gets too hot
• working on revisions to my WIP
• heading to the lake or the ocean when the house hits the completely-oppressive-heat level
• hanging out in the basement in the evenings, watching the Olympics and working on my youngest son’s baby book (he’s so not a baby anymore… this task is just a tad overdue).

So it’s been very pleasant, I gotta say. In a couple days, we’re heading out of town and will be visiting relatives in the Cariboo and Okanagan areas of BC for a week. Then it’ll be time to get ready for **gasp** back-to-school. Yikes. I don’t even want to think about that yet. I think we need another month of summer. Show of hands, people? Yes? The ayes have it. More summer, here we come.

Crazy Bendy Fun

Have you seen this crazy bendy guy? Amazing! Thanks to strugglingwriter for finding this one (and right when I was needing a happy diversion, too).

Retro TV and re-visiting childhood

In case you think I’m all grown up – gasp! – this is the movie I’m most looking forward to seeing:

So I’m not exactly highly cultured or fancy-schmancy. Actually, though, my excitement over this movie is indeed normal and, dare I say, mature, because it’s based completely on nostalgia. Well, that and a warped sense of humour. But I digress…. Nostalgia is part of normal adult behaviour. Yes? And if you’re anywhere near my age, you probably did exactly what I did after school when you were little — watched this:

So it’s all about re-visiting my childhood. Which I didn’t exactly leave, but that’s beside the point. Nostalgia is good. And this movie’s going to be great!

By the way, I also watched The Partridge Family…

and The Brady Bunch…

but I have no desire to re-visit those childhood memories on the big screen. ::shudders:: Sometimes it’s good to leave the past behind.

So what childhood TV show would you most like to see revived?

Mindless entertainment

It was still dark when I came home from work this morning at 6:20 a.m., and that made me sad. See, it felt all the more like summer was ending. Shorter days. And it’s raining today, too. So not summery. I’m hoping September will still be summer, like it often is here. I definitely need more beach weather before settling into the wet months ahead!

I watched Premonition the other night, and it was pretty good. I’ve realized, though, that I don’t like to have to think when I watch movies. I kept thinking about which day it must be (in the movie, I mean — I’m not THAT disconnected with reality) (okay, sometimes I am), and kept trying to figure out what was really happening and what was the “alternate reality” or whatever. And that sucked some of the enjoyment out of it. I don’t mind having to really think to figure out interesting books, or to work out real-life problems, but I’ve decided that movies should be straight entertainment. Mindless. But fun.

OTOH, it’s kinda cool that I’m still thinking about that movie. The themes, the message (what’s worth fighting for in your life?), and how the message managed to be conveyed in the story. And that’s a little like what I enjoy in books — how the writer manages to tell the story, weave in the themes, make a lasting impression, make me think. Maybe my need for mindless entertainment was more about my mood or energy level at the time, and maybe I actually do like using my brain. Go figure.

So… got any movie suggestions for me?

H.P. Spoilers

Or, “R.A.H.P.S. — Readers Against Harry Potter Spoilers”

Why oh why do people want to spoil the ending for those of us waiting to read HP and the Deathly Hallows? Just let me enjoy the book, for goodness’ sake! I’m starting to wonder if I’ll have to stay off-line until I read it. Maybe everything out there is just speculation or hoaxes (probably), but still, I just want to find out for myself how it all turns out. Don’t you? Or maybe you were hoping I was offering spoilers? No, I’m raging against them. Hence, my imaginary organization: RAHPS. (Oh, that’s so dumb… I think I’m sleep deprived.)

Partly Rowling and the publisher bring on the spoiler problem themselves, with all the hype and marketing, and maybe it’s all part of the big plan. Actually, it probably is part of the marketing plan, even though Rowling begs people not to leak spoilers. Anything that gets people talking about the book contributes to sales, right? But even though I love the Harry Potter books and movies, honestly I’m pretty sick of the hype. So I will stop right here and not contribute any more to the hype.

In other news… I worked at the “day job” (which is more accurately called a night job) like crazy this week and so got no writing done at all. Hopefully next week will be different. I’m anxious to get back into my story, even though I’m not sure what’s going to happen next in it (and I’ll never find out if I don’t sit down and WRITE it!).

And finally, happy summer everyone! As I write this, it is absolutely pouring outside. So not summery, yet I’m wearing capris and a tank-top — forever the optimist (either that, or I’m in complete denial). Wishing you some lazy, hazy, crazy days this summer, with plenty of time to create silly acronyms for imaginary organizations.

Peace….