The Ides

Abbie is having a crying day. It's a good thing Josh ran off with the super sharp knives before I was tempted to use one on myself. If there is anything that gets under my skin around here, it's Abbie's drama for drama's sake, and being sad or angry just to be sad and angry. I've told her, "Abbie, if you want a hug, you can just ask. You don't have to cry first." No dice. And Grant seems to find this an opportunity of annoying Abbie (since he knows I'm already mad at her, not him), causing her to be angry or sad or both, and then sneaking away to avoid the consequences. So they both get in trouble, and then we're ALL miserable.

Is it bedtime yet?

Well, Saturday's performance at the anime con is over, and I'm thinking my yearly quota for Adults In Costume has been more than achieved. Yikes. And I had vague feelings or recognition for many costumes, but very few real mental connections were made. And the few conversations I happened to hear made me shake my head. Childish. Well, we all are, at times. But they don't seem to notice how obviously their true intentions come seeping through their pre-rehearsed dialogues. Not my mating call of choice, to be perfectly honest.

As for the actual performing part....I think I got pretty much all the hits right, with a brief exception on Zoku (one that was virtually undetectable), and my movements were occasionally sloppy, but never "wrong". They could always use improvement. I saw some minor mistakes during the performance, and I have a short video clip that a nice friend of the group's made with my camera that showed me a few more. Big picture, though, we did fine.

One funny thing: The first song I played on was Ashura, and in the intro of the song, on the VERY FIRST "close" style hit, my bacci nearly got stuck in my costume. I was in serious danger of giggling.

The workshops were what got to me, though. Whew! So exhausting! I was doing the Oodaiko, and got tired and wanted to switch, but it never quite happened. And I was a little sore from them later. And my wrist....still isn't good. I wrote my doctor friend about it....even though she's in New Zealand now.

Sunday I stayed with the kids. Josh left at dawn and came home just in time for us all to get ready to go to his mom's house. We had a birthday celebration for Austin, Sarah and Eric all at the same time, and then Josh did his knife presentation. The sales pitch is obvious, as are the company's strategies to sway me. If he showed up at my door and spewed that crap at me, my intelligence would be insulted, and I would show him the door. Oh, well. At least the knives really are that cool. And dishwasher safe. Anyway, not a restful day. I had been told that I could have today in exchange, but here I am, watching the kids. Again. Alone.

And it's quite a day. Grant fell and hit his head. No blood, but it was not great. There are puzzle pieces on the floor to my right that I asked Grant to pick up 4 hours ago. Abbie, as you've heard, has been extremely contrary in a whiny way. Josh's grandmother gave him some food from her pantry, and I was happily about to start making cookies, but on closer inspection, we don't have the correct ingredients. (Or, rather, enough of them.) Very disappointing. They were the Heath Bar morsels, too.

Anyway, Life in general is fine, but today is not on my list. I'm worn out. I'm the other tired. I know I only have to make it until July....but how many times have I done this? "If we can make it a few more months, everything will change." Well, after all of that, this is where we've ended up. A crappy little job-lette that might bring in hundreds when we need thousands, and me not qualified to tutor online. Well, not at the place I applied. But I am going to try another site that Michelle tutors through. And when Abbie goes to school...well, then it will be my turn to swoop in and fix things. And I will, too, damn it.

Okay, so I'm a little negative today. Maybe I can make some cider or something, and think positive. It's overcast. And I am, too.

Did I ever tell you that I finished my second Jasper Fforde book? I'm enjoying the series. I will continue with it, if I ever am able to.

Michelle and I were talking about Alice in Wonderland the other day. Actually, because of the movie, it has been a very popular topic lately, and I was laughing because some of the characters happened to have cameos in my Jasper Fforde book. She was asking, though, if I'd ever read the original Alice. I have, but it was a long, long, time ago. I do know a little about the author, though, for a more recent exploration that he was vaguely connected with. Lewis Carrol was kind of a lonely guy with a stutter. He was uncomfortable around adults, but liked the company of children. Some sources say it was connected with the speech impediment. He became very close with a family whose name escapes me at the moment, and primarily with the daughters, the second of whom was named Alice. He told the stories of Alice and the imaginary world to them as entertainment, and has said directly that he named the character Alice after his little friend, but they were not the same character. I'm not sure how much was changed in the transition from tale to book. The book, if memory serves, was bordering on the nightmarish. But maybe if you are laughing with a group of children in the country sunshine somewhere, these things take on a lighter character. I can see how kids would think a baby turning into a pig would be funny, whereas I would think it disturbing. Except....I was a kid when I thought that.

Lewis Carrol had a falling out with that family. No one knows the details. The corresponding pages of the family journals and all written communication pertaining to that day have been removed and destroyed. However, some have speculated that Carrol asked for the hand in marriage of the eldest daughter, despite the fact that she was not even close to legal age. His reputation of a pedophile persisted after that, and I'm not so sure it isn't so. It was not a term that was thrown around back then.

Did you know that The Lord of the Rings was originally sold as a children's' book? It seems that the concept of the fantastic was not always considered adult reading material. I, on the other hand, have a hard time reading books that are too submerged in realism. Unless they are extremely funny. I read for entertainment, and the imaginary entertains me. Sadly, this exposes my literary collection to comment. I was part of an online readers group for a while, and then a girl from New York commented on one of my book recommendations by saying that the books I read are for adolescents.

I own the Harry Potter series, and the Chronicles of Narnia, and Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events. It's true. And I'm the first to admit that they are juvenile, despite any of their more worthy qualities. I also own Pride and Prejudice, Bleak House, Rebecca, All Creatures Great and Small, and Wise Children. I dare you to read any of those to a child. Oh, wait. I read Pride and Prejudice in middle school. Uh...moving on. The ones I was being ridiculed for were Little Women, Daddy Long Legs, and The Three Musketeers. Not even fantasy lit! Well, I'm sure she wouldn't approve of my more recent purchases, either.

I quit the group not long after that. You can't please everyone. You can't recommend books to someone you don't know and expect positive results. I am about to start N-Space by Larry Niven. It was recommended to me by someone who ought to do a good job. Let's see, shall we? I haven't really read any straight science fiction in years.

I want to feel happy tomorrow. Maybe I'll just plan on that, and see if it works. Tomorrow shall be a good day, folks. It's on the schedule.

My wrist hurts. :(