Word up it’s WordGirl! We don’t have the monkey, whose name is Captain Huggyface (or his mild mannered alter ego, Bob), but the rest isn’t bad. I bought the red jacket at Goodwill for about two bucks and was going to cut the hood off for the costume, but Em liked it with the whole jacket, so fine. Less work for me. It’s about her having fun, not my obsessive need for a perfect costume. I’ve been interested in trying silkscreening, so that’s what I did with the yellow star on the shirt. Needs work before I’m ready to sell anything or give any gifts, but it was fun to try and I see how I can improve.
For those of you wondering who the heck WordGirl is, I have provided this instructive clip. It’s from Soup2Nuts, the same production house that did Home Movies and Dr. Katz, and you can really see the same sense of humor.
GM Vaschon: Alright, when last we left, the group had surprisingly defeated the hill giant envoy and captured his documents. We left the chamber where the giant was and proceeded onward. Soon…
Your party continues west 30′ and up ahead you see a large stone slab in the center of the passage.
It’s the same freakin’ slab that sliced us to ribbons before. And it’s in a different place. This is one weird area. The slab is eight feet high and we fall all over ourselves trying to get to the top of it. (Unfortunately, these reports keep running longer and longer and something’s got to get cut, so us acting like morons trying to get to the top of the slab gets the axe.) We are finally all together, able to cross the top of the slab to avoid the whirring blades of death. Then we all roll spot checks which we all fail, so whatever’s coming for us will have a nice easy shot at us. Wait, wait… Aleanghi didn’t fail!
What does Aleanghi see? Click to find out!
This week, Veracity got a familiar. She considered a weasel or a toad (Bentein: ALL BOW TO THE HYPNO TOAD), but went with a raven. Which craps on me. Of course.
With that settled, after much confusion about dead ends and moving hallways, we go down a previously unexplored corridor. We come to a large stone door…
GM Vaschon: Val looks at the door. The door waits expectantly.
Bentein: It eats us, in revenge for its brother the gazebo.
GM Vaschon: wrong story
Your party budges the stone door revealing a large wooded cavern. A lonely figure stares back at you hefting a rather large tree.
Torkal: THIS SEEMS LEGIT
Val: Andre was friendly
GM Vaschon: Not during his heel days.
GM Vaschon: The hill giant grunts some words in a language evidently no one understands and waits a response.
Bentein: “Uhh… anybody speak hill giant?”
Torkal: “As a matter of fact…” Torkal DOES know Giant. So tell me what he said!
Find out after the cut!
I just realized that I haven’t updated on the situation at Children’s Theater. Props to the teacher, who although he has no experience whatsoever with teaching autistic kids, is being very active in finding out what works to keep Em engaged. He’s asked me for advice on several occasions, shared what’s worked for him, and generally stayed very on the ball. This week we decided that it might be helpful to have a copy of the script (a little three page Shel Silverstein poem with people reciting bits) so that I could run lines with her. And he did have it for me by the end of class, with her parts highlighted.
She had a great week last week, but today was, according to her, “not perfect.” The teacher said that at one point she burst out crying for no apparent reason. The word “apparent” is key there, as of course there’s always a reason. It’s just a reason with a subtle trigger, and she may not tell you in the heat of the moment. The reason, she told me in the car, was “these lines are too hard.”
The teacher, however, immediately said, “raise your hand if you think Emily’s a good actor” and all the hands shot up. “Raise your hand if you want Emily to be your best friend” and all the hands shot up. He relayed this to me, rightly proud of himself and the kids. Em did recover.
Em seems to like going to class, and doesn’t ask “when can I stop going?” as she sometimes has with other activities. So a bad situation was turned around nicely.
Thanks for your support, folks. I’ll let you all know when she wins her first Tony so you can say you knew her when.
Em got dressed up today and told me, “You should take some pictures of me, for when I’m famous.” All poses were hers, and she directed me on the camera.
Afterward, she graciously gave me her autograph. When she hits it big, I’ll sell it on eBay for millions.
I mentioned back in aught-five that I like Kage Baker. It’s hit or miss finding her on the library and bookstore shelves, though. For this reason, I put her stuff on my wishlist and grab it when I get the chance. I’ve had Kage Baker’s Rude Mechanicals on my Wish List for nearly a year. Somehow I just haven’t gotten around to buying it or adding it to an order to push it over the limit for free shipping. I don’t know why I haven’t splurged. I guess I’m trying to be a bit more frugal with the online purchases.
When I spotted Rude Mechnicals on my “you might like” suggestion list, I kept looking at the cover curiously. The guy in the illustration looked familiar, but I knew I hadn’t seen him in anything in the mass media. I’ve got a good eye for “hey, it’s that guy” actors. I just filed it away as him having one of those faces.
Yesterday a voice from the past friended me on Facebook. Looking through his photos, it turns out he’s the guy on the cover. It’s the first guy I dated in high school. Now that I know that, I can see it very clearly. Obviously, it’s him. He looks exactly the same.
The internet is amazing – it’s just kept me from having that niggling feeling of can’t-quite-place-it recognition in the back of my mind for the next 20 years. Whew.
Probably I shouldn’t refer to him just as “that guy.” He’s got some irons in the fire online, including some bits which might interest the horror/fantasy types among you. C’mon, the guy dated me, you knew he’d have to be off-kilter somehow.
Back in 2006 our beloved persimmon tree was cut down. I was quite torn up about it. Well for a while now, as pictured at right, there’s been bushy growth around the rotting stump. We let it grow, because I was curious. Could it be that the persimmon tree was rising from the ashes?
A couple of weeks ago I caught a flash of something orange out of the corner of my eye as I pulled into the driveway. I went out to inspect it and saw fruit. Yes! Three years after Duke Energy mowed it down, the persimmon tree is back, baby!
After taking some pictures, I set aside my camera and pulled off the honeysuckle vines that were wrapped around the boughs. It was a spur of the moment action, so I didn’t put on any gloves. I worked for about five minutes and felt a prick on my hand. I figured I’d hit a thorn on another vine, so although it really stung, I didn’t think much more of it. A minute later in a different part of the tree, I felt another sting. This one hurt more, and it got stronger. Turns out it wasn’t a thorn, it was a saddleback caterpillar hiding under a leaf. Please note: if you see one of these, don’t touch it. Trust me on this one. I went inside and iced my hand, and eventually the sting faded.
It wasn’t great getting stung, but I’ll take it as a good omen that the tree is already sheltering new life. I look forward to seeing more wildlife, hopefully of the non-attacking-me variety, soon.
