The cubs handle sickness in different ways. One will just lie there quietly, while the other will - loudly - tell me how sick he's feeling. This is the same cub who flung himself face down onto the couch in the busy lounge room and declared he 'wanted to be left alone'. <g>
Yes, they're both still home. The cub who got sick first will probly be able to go back to school tomorrow - the other cub may have to have another day at home. Am I getting much of anything done? No.
We did watch Flash Gordon though. First time the cubs have seen it and they had a ball. I'd forgotten how cheesy it was, but damn good fun. Some of those costumes are intriguing, and Flash/Barin? Poor Dale, she'll never know the truth... <smirk> Ah, she's better off with Aura anyway. Especially once she admits to her BDSM kink. Hee.

Cubs have been playing Cluedo, but not as its makers intended. They're using the house-plan on the board as a battlefield, chasing each other all over the place - roll the dice! Apparently the characters can buy weapons (knife, rope, lead pipe etc:) and use them to inflict damage. I wasn't listening too closely to the rules - it sounded... complicated. >g>

Joules! Crystal Power has turned up in a bookclub catalogue here!

And finally the Snupin's been posted! Hoorah!

Rated R, cos it's a bit rude (but not overly so.)

Lord Rakehell
(Link goes to the archive page where I'm currently top of the list.)

Thank you, Joules, for the beta!

My local library has a small but intersting range of DVDs. I picked up Fritz Lang's 'M' (1931). Even with the overstated performances common to the era (and let's face it, Peter Lorre was never subtle) this is a superb bit of cinema, chilling and powerful.
Lang is described as an 'innovative' director and there's plenty of evidence of that here in one of his first 'talkies'. He plays with camera angles - to great comic effect at times - and deftly swings between the different story threads, allowing them to contrast and highlight each other. Below the suspense there's a sympathetic, wry sort of humour. This humanising humour is absent in the nasty bits though, which just makes them that little bit more skin-crawling, even though the violence is only implied, never seen. (Heh and that's a pet peeve. The introduction of the 'gore fest' in movies - that loss of subtlety - in my opinion has done more to lessen the artform of cinema in recent years than anything else. Except perhaps Star Wars, but that's another rant.)
Yes, so, 'M'. Bloody marvellous!

Both the cubs stayed home on Friday - one was actually sick, and the other insisted that he wanted to look after his brother. <g> If I was being conscientious I should have made the healthy cub go to school but honestly, I couldn't be arsed. It's been a long term, with a few weeks left yet, and we're all tired.
They'll probly be home again on Monday. The sick cub still has a nasty cough, and the healthy cub is now complaining about a sore throat. Of course, that's not stopping either of them playing on the Xbox, but they've both been getting to sleep earlier. Something that only happens when they're unwell...

So, using as a template an earlier fic Joules had coded for me, I coded the Snupin I'd just finished. 25 pages - couple of hours - no problem. Except when I went looking for the file later I could only find the first incomplete and buggy version. Voluble swearing ensued; no idea why the blasted thing hadn't saved properly.
So, I coded it again - another couple of hours. When I'd done I whapped it over to Joules to check. Everything looked fine, so I sent the file over to Master and the Wolf. All sorted, everything fine - except the site mod emailed me back to say he'd fixed a couple of coding glitches, glitches that I knew were only in the first version.
Checked the link - more swearing - yes, my 'puter had apparently reverted to the original file. Again. I don't think my gremlins are technically minded, I can see them both staring as dumbfounded as me! None of us know what's going on...
Fortunately this time the html version was intact so I've sent that over instead. I've asked the mod to check it first before posting, just to be on the safe side.
Tch. Did I simply not save the file correctly? Was the goat the wrong colour? Sheesh. <grump>

Tch, been very difficult to shift the cubs these past few mornings. Not that I blame them, it's been jolly cold.

<smirk> Saw this on someone's icon the other day:
"One thing fanfiction has taught me is that everything is a hot bed of madsex."
Oh, how true...

Ah, and I forgot to mention that the 'fashion parade' at the Japan Festival on Sunday also included a young Japanese man hamming it up in very bad drag. Hee.

Hm, The Breakers is the second Minette Walters novel I've read and again, while I've enjoyed her skill in building the story I found the denoument rushed and unconvincing. Third time lucky? I'll try another one and see how that goes.

A few mornings ago, as I was walking back to the bus after dropping the cubs off at school, I noticed that the scenery - for want of a better word - had the same pinky, lilac haziness that I've seen in some old European paintings. It was caused, probably, by the morning's thick mist being almost dispersed by the sun, but to actually see that effect, to know it's real, was oddly thrilling.
There was a time - long ago, thankfully - when I thought there was nothing left that could surprise or move me. I'm continually grateful to be proved wrong. <g>

And finally: I wrote a angsty Snupin drabble today. Really ought to get 'round to getting my lj ready for posting stuff...

Awww. KittenKong will leave the warmth of the fire to come and sit on me. It must be love...

Yay! Finished the Snupin! And at 24 pages I think that's the longest bit of fan fic I've ever written. Excepting, perhaps, some of those mammoth chapters I contributed to Joules' AC. But anyway, reasonably pleased with it.

The cubs and I went with their Dad on Sunday to the annual Japan Festival in Box Hill; our third year in a row. Blimey, where to start? Ah yes, the Trader's Hall. Lots of stalls, lots of lovely stuff. The cubs bought themselves some toys; I didn't get myself another vinyl figurine of an uber-perky bishojo as I have in previous years. There were several there but none that I really wanted. Instead I bought a book of Hiroshige prints postcards. Just gorgeous!
Next, the cubs and I trooped over to the adjoining building for the flea market and activities. One of the cubs spotted a huge gourd melon and proclaimed it was the biggest pear he'd ever seen! I don't think he believed me when I said it was something like a pumpkin. The stall-holders all thought he was very cute, though. <g>. We found the origami room and I was made a purple frog and a pink boat.
In another room were model trains! Much to the cubs delight. N gauge models of Japanese trains. So woodgie and wee!
Food! We didn't tackle the food hall cos the crush of people was frightening, but there were some traders inside the main building so I got myself some pickled fish sushi ('kin' yum!) and some herb and red bean paste daifuku. There was lots and lots of other foodstuffs to choose from and with an unlimited budget I could've quite easily eaten myself into a stupor. We couldn't see any fairy-floss this year, not that that bothered me. Keeping an eye on two young boys is hard enough without sugar being a factor.
We had an hour or so to wait for the cubs' father's 'performance' so we wandered over to the hall to see if we could get seats. Unfortunately the place was packed but I managed to find one seat at the edge and the cubs sat on the floor beside me - when they weren't down the front of the hall, peering over the stage etc. We arrived just at the beginning of 'youth' section and, I must be getting old, but I was floundering for understanding in places. Two bands performed, a local amateur (I think) and a Japanese professional. Didn't catch the name of either. The local band was of the grungy persuasion and wasn't too bad, what I could hear despite the dodgy sound-system. The Japanese band made me giggle. Four thin and angular young men with spikey hair. Cute, if you like that sort of thing. I gathered they were somewhat known here; they had fans in the audience who knew their songs and squealed enthusiastically throughout the performance. Now, while the bands took it in turns to play, projected behind them was a bizarre multi-media display incorporating modern and traditional symbols of Japan. Plus, we were treated to a sort of fashion show of - I presume - currently popular street wear in Japan. And then, in the middle of all this two girls in school uniforms did an energetic dance to Tatu's "All the things she said". <blink> Which was... interesting.
Overall, that section was loud but entertaining. The next part of the programme was listed as 'Live Calligraphy'. Didn't sound especially dynamic, but it was. 3 people stretched a looong piece of calico out across the stage and, to the accompaniment of a few drums, the artist scribed something that covered the material from end to end - in about five minutes. Then he tore the cloth in half, scrunching up a piece to make a double fistful of impromptu brush. He dipped the lot in a bowl of ink and used it to complete his next piece on four big boards at the back of the stage. Very cool!
And then at last the cubs' father was there introducing his naginata group and talking the audience through the display. Cubs were thrilled.
I needed a break after that so I nipped out for some fresh air and the loo. Got back in time to see 'Action Dance' a Japanese dance group that incorporated martial arts in the moves. ...Right. Athletic people leaping about the stage looking fierce and brandishing (plastic, I have it on good authority) weapons at each other. And then Mr Shiny Purple Pants entered the fray with Mr Shiny Silver pants. An epic battle ensued with nearly everyone dying. Hong Kong cinema, live on stage, without the fountaining blood. It appears I have completely lost all capacity to take dance seriously. <g>
The programme wound to an end. The raffle prizes were drawn and then... the drums! The drums always make everything worthwhile. <happy sigh> They're the main reason I go to the festival. That and the food... :)

It's always nice to know your children are actually listening to your random outbursts what you say. One of the cubs was watching telly when an ad for a 'revolutionary' banish-the-blemishes skin-care product was shown. He said - in a 'Sheesh, are you stupid?' tone of voice - 'You don't need that! Eat more fruit; drink more water and don't smoke!'
<fuge grin> So proud...

A couple of the grades at school have incubated chicken eggs recently. The chicks are awfully cute! And free to good homes, as well. I was very tempted but resisted the wee bundles of yellow fluff cos I have a: a cat, and b: nowhere to keep a chicken. One day, perhaps, when I've got my biodynamic garden.

Erk. School photos tomorrow. Still haven't managed to get any of the <cough> required logo'd uniforms so the cubs'll just have to trot up in their cheaparse supermarket stuff. Eh well, it's all clean and I really don't care anymore.

The Snupin is almost finished! Woohoo! Should be up at Master and the Wolf well before the deadline.
And speaking of fanfic; GoodTwin has recently revamped the Prosfanfic archive. I was having a browse through my stuff there and, dagnabbit, for all that it's some of the first fic I wrote it's not that bad. My favourite is still "Heartless Bodie", followed closely by "668: The Neighbour of the Beast". Hm, you know, for a DoyleDoll I wrote an awful lot of Bodie-centric stories.

I think I may be in trouble. Over the recent man-on-a-stick celebrations there were scrummy Lindor eggs available and I indulged whenever I could afford them. I mourned their inevitable removal from the shelves but they've turned up in the lolly clearance shops at less than half-price. I can afford twice as much!
Oh dear... : )

Yes, as the previous - bright yellow - entry proclaims (thanks, Joules!), it was Mother's Day here in the Antipodes.
I didn't get breakfast in bed but as my stomach doesn't wake up for an hour or so after I do, that wasn't something to lament. The cubs had some gifts waiting for me in the lounge room: two frog-shaped plastic back massagers and a copy of the Goblet of Fire DVD. Woohoo! <g>
I didn't immediately turf the cubs off the xbox so I could watch it, however, I had other plans. I got myself organised and out of the house just after 8 a.m. (that's just masochistic on a weekend) so I could get down to the Camberwell Antiques Market nice and early. The place is huge but I was only there for an hour cos I didn't need to peruse every stall. Was lots of fun though, wandering about in the drizzle. : ) I picked up some little odds and sods but my best find was one of those Japanese split-curtain thingies decorated with maneki neko! So cool!
This afternoon the cubs and I sat down to watch GoF. It definitely does lose something on the small screen but is still entertaining. Had a poke around in the extra features but wasn't overwhelmed. Most of the additional scenes were of the Golden Trio, with only one extra featuring Snape on Chaperone duty at the Yule Ball. <eg> That made me giggle; the 'great bat' gleefully swooping down on canoodling teenagers.
Oh, and there was the full version of 'Do the Hippogriff' which was also amusing...

So, that was my Mother's Day. Not the worst I've experienced by any means. : )

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Blimey, it's Friday already? Sheesh. And Mum told me today there's only 5 weeks 'til the next school holidays. That threw me. This term is very, very long - cos of the Commonwealth Games - but there I was thinking there was, oh, at least 8 weeks to go.
I am unprepared for the middle of the year...

I've been adding to my collection of Alan Rickman movies.
Found this one recently - An Awfully Big Adventure - nice and cheap. I vaguely remembered seeing a promo for it years and years ago and while I remembered that Hugh Grant was in the cast it hadn't twigged that Mr Rickman was as well. Naturally when I discovered that I leapt upon it and cackling, bore it home clutched to my bosom.
Damn there are times I love British Cinema. This isn't a comfortable movie, or a comedy, though there were some wonderful moments of wry humour. Ultimately it was quite sad and a little confronting. The cast is understated but strong, with Mr Grant playing a thoroughly unlikeable bastard. The highlight, naturally, was Mr Rickman. I don't think I've ever seen him in a sex scene... <wibble>
There's a lot going on in this movie despite the gentle pace. It's all there, however, in the character asides and banter. Wonderful stuff. Very glad I've got a copy that's mine, all mine, that I can peruse at my leisure. Mwahahahah.

Aaaand I'm about 2/3rds of the way through the rewrite. I think I'm pleased...

Soulsis et al came 'round for a visit yesterday. The cubs were very happy to see their cousins and the sprogs all more or less played happily together all afternoon. Soulsis brought me some presents! A beautifully tacky devilled-egg set (chicken-shaped dish with egg-shaped depressions and matching chicken-shaped salt/pepper shakers) and a very pretty Wedgewood sandwich plate! (That link's just to show an example of the plate, by the way.) She also brought a big batch of fresh Anzac biccies, and let me use her car to do some shopping. <g> Thanks!
And then Niki showed up bearing chocolate cake! Then she amused herself hacking a path through the vegetation obscuring the path to the front door - something I've kind of thought about perhaps getting 'round to one day. Hee, I have the best friends.

There's a Latin translation of Philosopher's Stone - how cool is that?
Was there a Klingon version as well? Or did I imagine that? Hm...

I took a week off to play with a Snupin. It's not quite finished yet - I estimate it's about 2/3 through - but 12 pages isn't too shabby. But, it's back to SFSG now, during the day at least.

I borrowed an Eddie Izzard DVD from the library. Laugh? Oh gods, yes! I really enjoy his stuff. In this show he was talking about poking stoics with sticks, and drawing comparisons between cows and dancers, and how he subscribes to the Chaos theory cos what else explains why seals are so good with balls when they're not part of their natural environment. What would happen if you gave banjos to tigers...? <g> I've been giggling for days...

Oops. Been a while...

Heh, well, the SFSG rewrite's ground to a halt cos I'm having too much fun with a Snupin at the moment. I'll get back to it soonish though...

Today was one of those days when I'm very glad I don't drive. There'd been an accident in the city in the morning which closed the nearby freeway. Consequently all the roads that fed into that freeway - including the one my bus tootles along - were stupidly slow. Fortunately the cubs and I managed to get the early bus this morning, but even that was 15 mins late. We still got to school before the bell rang so it wasn't too bad, I suppose.
I was almost late picking the cubs up this afternoon cos the traffic was still chaotic and the bus had to take a looong detour to avoid standing still for half an hour. Fortunately this sort of thing doesn't happen very often.

Some of the phishing mails are quite funny.
This one came yesterday:

Due to last days hack attacks to our database we decided to review
our customers account information to prevent security problems . If you could take 3-5 minutes out of your online experience to verify your account status , you will not run into any further problems .

<snigger> My online experience?
And today's phish had this at the top, well before the 'official' content:

Â? a week after she brought those oogy sundaes? boyish bowl "He said.

The riding mower was a small tractor-like vehicle meant for keeping larger-than-average lawns neat and clipped. Just remember, a little pain and it will be over. I hope she will be tried again on one of the other counts. His dreams were confused and unpleasant. What's that? It was summer vacation, his father working, his mother gone to spend the day in Boston with Mrs Kaspbrak from across the street. If I start out on the bike at first light, I might even be able to make it back before noon. countenance

Riiight. Are they even trying?

We've been having some lovely Autumn mornings recently. Nice and crisp, clear blue sky and no frost yet. I like this time of year.