Okay, so here we are at the beginning of another fortnight of holidays. Personal goals? Finish chapter 5, clean my room, make some clothes for myself.
The cubs and I are going to the Museum tomorrow to see the Chinese Dinosaur exhibition before it closes (better remember to check ticket prices online before we go - and bus timetables).

Bit annoyed with the cubs, actually. They saw these Aquapets on the telly and as so often happens, what they see is what they want. We nipped into a toy store after school, just so they could have a look. The shop only had 2 and they were discounted, and I'd just got paid (you can see where this is leading) so in a moment of weakness I offered to get them one if they could agree to share it.
They opened the box the moment we stepped out of the store, not surprising, but 2 minutes later there was tears as they realised the thing was interactive ie: you can't just play with it, you've got to look after it or it will grizzle at you.
<rolls eyes> Can't wait to see them with kids of their own. "Make it stop crying! Turn it off! Take the batteries out!" <sigh>
They wanted to take the thing back to the shop and I lost my temper at them. Long story short I made them grub through the rubbish bin to find the thing's instruction manual they'd thrown away without looking at, worked out how to send the critter to 'sleep', then claimed the thing for myself.
His name's Fanga and he's kind of cute. There's a sense of accomplishment when you finally work out what it is he wants to make him happy. His little 'happy dance' is good to see...

The cubs' father and I had our interview with S's teacher the other day. The first thing she said was how different he was without his brother around, the second was how imaginative he is...
This cub's also doing well and his teacher is pleased with his progress. Like his brother his reading level is way above average and he's finding the class work interesting. I'm so glad: last year was a horrible year for them both, brought about mainly by a teacher who scared them and who didn't, apparently, believe in giving encouragment to anyone who wasn't keeping up. He's gone now.

The definitions, and differences, between Mary Sue's and self-insertions is something I keep coming back to in my own mind, trying for clarification. There was a discussion about it recently on the Prosfanfic list and with Sue's permission I'll quote a snippet of one of her posts that says it all, really.

"...I often hear the terms MS and author insertion used indiscriminately.
The two are not the same, in my opinion. MS is, as we've said, a poorly written character by dint of being too good to be true.. Author insertion seems to me, to be more a way of drawing on life's experiences so as to make your characters more believable."

Yeah, what she said! <g>

Here's an interesting word:
intagliated - carved on the surface. (Oxford Concise: 1974)

Oooh! Just found out that UK TV over here will be running the Sharpe's Rifles series! YAY! I've wanted to see these again for ages! (Still can't get the DVDs in Aus - not without a credit card anyway.)
Oh dear <tongue in cheek> They'll be screening at the same time as The Bill - whichever shall I choose?
<snort> Like there's a contest...? I've missed the past few eps of that and I'm not in any hurry to catch up...