Letters to Myself

Daycare called this morning, about half an hour after I'd gotten to work. A call from daycare is never a good thing. It always means your child is running a fever and needs to come home. Well, not this time! This time he had tripped and cut his chin on a table!

Didn't see that coming, did you? I sure didn't.

(Raise your head up slightly. Right on the underside of your chin, where it stops being bone and becomes much fleshier, that's where he cut it. Touch your thumbnail there. That's about the length of the cut, give or take. If you want the full effect, use said thumbnail to gouge out a divot.)

It went well enough. He was in a good mood, for the most part, only slightly subdued at the beginning. After we'd been there an hour and the anesthetic goop they applied to his wound had kicked in, he ran around with enthusiasm. Then they strapped him down (using actual restraints, which made perfect sense but were disconcerting to see him in) and fixed him up. Three stitches for him, and a few emotional scars for us.

Oy.

Posted by jon at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Most of my spam commenters with real names (as opposed to say, product names or random gibberish) seem to be Greek or faux-Greek: Spyros, Nikos, Odysseus, and so forth. Haven't come across any Gyros yet, but you never know.

Mmm, gyro.

Posted by jon at 07:00 PM | Permalink

Did you have a nice holiday? Ours was lovely, although I did make the mistake of revealing to my six-year-old nephew that I knew who Spider-Man was and then proved my bona fides with knowledge of his powers, love interest, and villains. As a result, I became tagged for wrestling partner. Add in his two-and-a-half-year-old brother and the irrepressible Ian, and I found myself taking all comers.

Fezzik was right; you do use different moves against groups. Mine was mostly lying on the floor, willing my ribcage not to collapse.

But otherwise, it was a delightful holiday. Now to get ready for Christmas...

* * *

In other news, I've heard lovely things about Singapore. Art, culture, food, lifestyle, plus enlightened attitudes towards little things like public health care. The esteemed Jason Lundberg lives there. All well and good.

But then there's this:

Oh, no no no. I'm going to have to put this down as a black mark on their permanent record.

Reading: Maskerade, by Terry Pratchett.

Posted by jon at 02:52 PM | Permalink

The Mail Deities have seen fit to grant me my contributor's copies (and sweet, sweet monies) of Electric Velocipede #13, which doth contain my poem "Under the Garden in Dreams," a title which sounds vaguely like a Dave Matthews tune, but it is not! Or if it is, it's totally subconscious, so there.

* * *

Thanksgiving Day is approaching fast. It's one of those holidays where, if you're not paying attention, will attack and overrun you like a pitiless Mongol horde sweeping across Eurasia. But you do get turkey and mashed potatoes out of it, so it's not as bad.

We're looking forward to a more enjoyable holiday this year for Ian. Last year we walked into his Nana's house, and everyone in the room (about fifteen people, give or take) promptly turned to look at him. Naturally, he burst into tears. Hey, give him a break, he wasn't even six months old then.

Reading: Some Alan Moore stuff: From Hell and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier. Did you see him on the last Simpsons episode? He's pretty funny.

Posted by jon at 03:53 PM | Permalink

Here's every child's fantasy come true: Five-year-old Boy Dressed As Spider-Man Saves Baby From Blaze. Here's the telling (read: alarming) particular:

While playing in his back garden with a friend, Riquelme Maciel spotted smoke coming out of the wooden house’s windows and ran to tell the baby’s mother, Lucilene dos Santos.

But Ms Santos was too afraid to enter the blaze, so it was down to young Maciel to step in and save the day - he rushed into the burning house and grabbed baby Andrieli from her cradle.

This story also reminds me of Jon Morris's Little Batman comics:

Yes. Yes, he does.

(Actually, all of Little Batman's adventures are just adorable and touching as all get-out, so I'm linking them here:)

• No. 1
• No. 2
• No. 3
• No. 4
• No. 5
• No. 6
• No. 7
• No. 8

Posted by jon at 07:13 PM | Permalink

And now it's the Jaspers' freshly newborn! Beware, you out there! You too could have a baby at any moment! Aahh!

Ahem.

In other local news, got a 161 day rejection from Aberrant Dreams. Boo, rejection & failure.

Posted by jon at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's true! Now with photographic evidence! Cute little fella, ain't he?

In local news, got monies from Ideomancer today: my short short/prose poem/whatever you care to call it titled "How to Draw the Dark Lord" will appear in their December ish. Yay, etc.

Reading: Lords and Ladies, by Terry Pratchett.

Posted by jon at 08:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Got my contributor's copies of Flytrap 8, which whot contains my tale, "Breathe." Tim and Heather hustled it out right before their baby arrived, and good for them I say. God knows, once the little guy arrives, they'll most likely be quite distracted for months to come.

* * *

Came across this video earlier:

My first thought is, in the world of indy filmmaking, it seems the easiest way to show someone is crippled is to give him thighs like Torgo.

My second thought is, the geekness is strong within me.

Reading: Had been Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters, now Witches Abroad. Had you heard he'd had a mini-stroke?

Posted by jon at 07:51 PM | Permalink