I knew it was going to be a weird day when Miss Cleo came in from her morning business dragging a torn sleeve. I threw it away, assuming one of the neighbor-kids had torn a shirt and tossed the evidence over the fence. But then the thumping started. At first I didn’t think much of it, because those kids are ALWAYS playing basketball in the street that goes along the side of our house, and usually I smile and think how cool it is that our neighborhood is safe enough for kids to DO that.

Except, whatever was thumping didn’t have that hollow basketball sound, but seemed more solid. And the shrieking doesn’t sound all that playful.

Fuzzy just got back a few minutes ago from his pre-trip haircut, and he’s bleeding, and he ran into the house faster than you’d ever think a geek could run.

“What happened?” I asked. “Did they cut you with the razor?”

“She tried to kill me,” he said.

“Fuzz, I know you hate hair cuts, but…”

“No,” he said. “They’re all pale. You know, like goths or something. And they smell weird. And she did this with the blade of the scissors, on purpose.”

“Um, right…”

“No, really,” he’s dabbing his head and frantic – and stoic!boy is never frantic. “She said I probably have a nice brain. I think she wanted to eat it.”

I put together the sounds from this morning, and my husband’s tale, and I nod. “But you made it home, right? So we’re good, and you’re safe.” I pause, then add, “Please tell me you didn’t tip her?”

But he doesn’t answer. He’s busy with his nose buried in the fur on top of Miss Cleo’s head.

Continue reading →

Raspy is how I sound, now that I have a small part of my voice back. Oh, my flu has flown but it’s left its good friends to settle in my lungs. I have a great doctor, who complimented my hair, and good drugs, including pineapple flavored cough syrup with codeine that not only stops the scary phlegm-y coughing fits, but ALSO knocks me out. I’ve had more sleep in the last two days than I have all week, with weird vivid dreams, and Fuzzy is taking care to keep me in salads and juice and water, and the dogs are extra snuggly, which actually is a bit annoying.

I’ll write something real tomorrow or Tuesday.

Thirteen Things about MissMeliss13 things that begin with I Ice: Whether it’s a frozen pond just waiting to be skated upon, icicles hanging from eaves, or cubes tumbling into a glass, ice fascinates me. Ichthyology: I’ve been in love with the ocean since birth. When I was ten or so I went through a stage where I wanted to be a marine biologist, then, I just wanted to study fish and sharks. I still love nature programs about sea life. Ideas: A seed of thought blooms into an idea, which either expands into a bouquet of many ideas interacting to form a story, or stands alone as a single moment in time. Imagination: Albert Einstein said: Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. and Anais Nin said: There are many ways to be free. One of them is to transcend reality by imagination, as I try to do. Improvisation: I stop and think too much, still, but I like the freedom of improve, the notion that we’ve agreed to accept whatever happens, and add to it rather than try to fix it, and then, the writer in me enjoys just making stuff up. Inspiration: I find inspiration in odd places. A spoon in an empty mug can conjur a paragraph about an entire family eating breakfast, or about one person sipping coffee and reflecting. Part of the definition of “inspire” is “to fill with exalted influence,” but you have allow yourself to be filled. iPod Shuffle: I prefer my Creative Zen Vision: M for the most part, as I like to use Napster-to-Go as a music source, but after winning a new shuffle on Blingo, I’m quite attached to it. It’s cute and small and I like the novelty of music being stored on something the size of a binder clip. Iridescence: I like shiny things, sometimes. My favorite hat is tone on tone iridescent velvet, and I love that the shiny part is just this subtle pattern that you don’t even see unless the light hits it the right way. Grackles, for all that they’re kind of pesky birds, share this quality. They look black, but when the sun hits them you realize they’re this gorgeous blue/purple. Irises: One of my favorite flowers, I love the vibrant color of the blossom in contrast with the elegant green stems, arranged simply in a clear vase. They’re such sensible flowers. Unfussy. But wonderful. Isis: I am a child of the ‘70s, which means I grew up on Sid and Marty Kroft and cheesy things like the Shazam/Isis hour. Watching Andrea Thomas spin around and say “Oh Mighty Isis” and then becoming the Goddess was great fun for my seven and eight-year-old self. Islands: I love the sea, and while I like big cities, I’d prefer to be near one rather than in one. I also sort of like contained environments – small villages that have everything at an easy reach. My fantasy is to live on an island – not a tropical one, as I like cooler weather – that has a café, a bookstore, and internet access. I want to wear fishermen’s sweaters and sip strong tea on the porch watching the tide go in and out. Istanbul: I like the cover of this song that They Might Be Giants did a few years back, but the place itself intrigues me, and I’d love to visit someday. Italian: Both the language and the food are special to me. The food, of course, is my family’s tradition. My great-grandfather owned the food concession at Fort Hancock, and it’s his tomato sauce and meatball recipes we all use. The language thrills me, because it’s artful and flow-y, tumbling from the tongue like rich wine. I wish I spoke it fluently.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Dear Blogfriends,

Please excuse MissMeliss from posting today, and retroactively back to Friday, June 1st. She has contracted a nasty flu, and is unable to even feign coherence.

In addition, please accept MissMeliss’s sincere apologies to certain IM buddies for her rather delirious sanity break babble over the past several days.

MissMeliss plans to spend the day in the pursuit of fluid ingestion, sleep accrual, and the intermittent viewing of Stephen King’s The Stand which, while possibly ill-advised due to the subject matter (decimation from super-flu), involves several hours of Gary Sinise, which, she says, would make anyone feel better.

Proof of MissMeliss’s illness lies in the fact that she begged off performing at CSz on Friday, and cancelled a mani/pedi appointment on Saturday.

Love and Kisses,

MissMeliss’s Fevered Brain

P.S. Did you know it is possible to “call in” sick when you work from home? Well, it is, and MissMeliss has done so today.

Malnurtured Snay turned me onto the story, from the BBC news website, and I’m still rubbing my eyes in horrified disbelief. What is it? Well, apparently Universal Orlando is opening The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in 2009.

Okay, I admit, my first reaction was something like, “Oh, cool. I wanna go!” But then my brain engaged and I realized it’s DISNEY. Disney who ruined Winnie the Pooh, and edited one of the funniest lines out of Beetlejuice, which is fine for tv, but not so fine for re-released videos. One of the things I like about Rowling’s world is that it isn’t all shiny and clean and, well, Disnified. I’m cringing inwardly at the thought of humidity-drenched folks dressed up like witches and wizards, frolicking in the Florida sunshine. Or worse, cartoon-ized versions of the characters. I mean, can something like the “Hogwarts Quidditch All-Stars” animated series be far behind?

Okay, Okay, I know that Universal isn’t REALLY a Disney park, but can you honestly believe it’s going to be any better just because it’s Universal Studios and not Disneyworld? I mean, okay, I remember liking the backlot tour at Universal in California, but that was before Universal was into attractions. I mean, when we went, they hadn’t even opened their ET exhibit (it was in the very early 80’s if you must know).

And still, I’m leery about this, because while the movies are fun, and it’s the movie-verse that will likely be given the most weight in the design of this park/attraction/whatever, I still believe that Diagon Alley and Hogwarts are best served by existing in our imaginations, and not in plaster and paint with an all-day pass.

Link to the actual BBC News article is here.
Link to the Universal Studios Harry Potter World page is here.

Thirteen Things about MissMeliss 13 things that begin with H Haiku: The first non-rhyming poetry form I remember encountering. I don’t write much of it, but it’s distilled emotion appeals to me. Hail: Ice from the sky is just amazing…and it can be beautiful, when viewed from within shelter. Hair Coloring: Like this is a surprise? I haven’t seen much more than an inch of my “real” hair color since I was fifteen, and I’ve been through some really scary colors, including once dying it gothic black. (It was TOO dark for me.) Now? I’m really loving the Special Effects Atomic Pink and Cherry Bomb woven through my Aveda Chocolate hair. Halloween: Even if I don’t dress up, I love Halloween. I love decorating the house, carving pumpkins, and being known as one of the houses on my street where kids can get the good candy. Harpsichords: I like the kind of buzzy, reedy sound they have, and I love the way they blend with a gut-stringed cello. Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh: I don’t remember when I first read this book, but I loved it from the first, and I totally identified with Harriet. I still have a box of notebooks, and I still make observations about people and places. Also, like her, I have a special fondness for using my middle initial. Hats: I’ve been a “hat person” ever since my grandmother first uttered the words, “Put a hat on that baby!” as my mother was taking me to the beach one day. My collection now includes fedoras in three colors, newsboy caps in plaid velvet, and a bouquet of berets, among others. Haunted Houses: I’m okay with the carnival version of these, but I really mean old, forlorn, unloved houses – and even warehouses – because somehow they speak to me. I used to ride my bike to a cafe job I had one summer, and I’d always leave early enough to have the time to stop by a house in Willow Glen with an overrun front garden, complete with reflecting pool and cherub fountain. As well, the Maxwell House in Georgetown, CO, holds a special fascination for me, though my former teacher who still owns property in that city assures me it’s owned by a perfectly normal, nice family. Herbals: An herbal is a sort of almanac of herbs, but it contains notes and lore as well as fact. I love my herbal, both as a resource, when writing, and just as a bathroom book. It’s the kind of thing you turn to when there isn’t a net connection available, and you desperately need to know why wormwood is toxic, or what hyssop really does. Hiding Places: Big enough for a person, like the wardrobe in the middle room at my grandmother’s house was when I was five, or small enough for just a letter or a piece of jewelry, like the hidden drawers in our headboard, I like hiding places. I like the natural version, too, those special sunny rocks at the perfect bend in a creek, or that little hollow in the cliff just past the tide pool on a favorite beach, or even just a corner of the back yard, where there’s honeysuckle and a tall tree – hiding places are amazing. Home: I tend to be a nesting-type person, so while home isn’t a specific geographic location, it’s definitely a place I need to be as often as possible. Home isn’t just a house, either, it’s a house that has life and love inside its walls, and acts as a personal haven to those who dwell within. Honey: Drizzled over hot cornbread, stirred into steaming tea, or just sucked from a spoon, honey is sweet without being cloying, and carries with it the essence of flowers, and something a little dark as well. Sugar is convenient. Honey is magic. Hula Hoops: I’ve never been particularly good at using them, but I’ve always loved trying. As a child, my friends and I all went through hula hoop phases, either trying to spin them on our hips, or using them in place of jump ropes. More recently, a hula hoop became a training tool when I took Cleo through a basic agility class – she’ll jump through hoops for the right reward.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

…any of the games we regularly play, but I seriously think we should retire Dinner at Joe’s for a while. Oh, sometimes it’s amazing, but mostly it’s sort of annoying. I think there are ways we could be better at it. I think the refs could ask for descriptions differently and lead the audience toward better endowments, for example, but mostly, I think we over-play it, and it needs a rest.

I was in both the Friday and Saturday night shows this weekend, and I was a bit nervous on Friday because we’d been yelled at for not bringing enough energy to our matches the previous week. We played Dinner at Joe’s and it did get big laughs, mostly because Craig was given the character of the volunteer’s dog. We also played Foreign Movie, and the other team played Five Things, and Blind Line, and Forward/Reverse, but I cannot for the life of me remember what else we played. It wasn’t a bad show, either, I’m just blanking on it. Oh! Stunt Double.

Last night was fun for me because I got to try something new. My team played Dinner and Joe’s and we also played Slo-Mo, and Lil J and I did the commentary for it, which we’ve never done before (either of us), but it wound up being really funny, with no dead time, and I think using an English accent for it was a good choice. We played five things – only got to three, but the audience loved it. The other team played Arms Expert and Blind Line and Stunt Double.

Went out for a late dinner after the show, and then was talking with a troupemate in the garage, afterward, and there was this massive spider crawling up one of the posts, and he and Fuzzy want to play with it. Rather, he went to play with it and Fuzzy snapped pictures. It was about an inch long, not including legs, tapered body, white spots on abdomen, big fangs, and turned and hissed when troupemate poked it with his umbrella.

I stayed in the car and watched.
I don’t DO spiders.

No idea what we’re doing today. Maybe a movie. Maybe just hanging around the house.

It’s a rainy afternoon, and rainy afternoons are good for being quiet and puttery.

I have two shows of notes to type up, a new hairstyle, and something about a spider to blog about, but I’m tired and really not feeling writey tonight.

Consider this a teaser, I guess.

Will blog in the morning.
(By morning I mean, sometime after the sun has risen on Sunday, not necessarily actually before noon.)

As some of my friends know, I’m all about silly holidays like the random ones BlueMountain used to have in their list. Because, who DOESN’T want to celebrate International Hat Day, really?

This morning, someone on the ComedySportz forum had posted a link to Towel Day, an annual event commemorating the life and works of author Douglas Adams.

As The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was one of the first non-Trek science fiction works that captured my attention (largely because my 12-year-old self responded to the cheerful irreverence of the book), I find it fitting to remember the guy who wrote it.

So, my towel is in my CSz bag, and yes, I will have it nearby all day.

So where’s YOUR towel today?
C’mon tell me.
All the hoopiest froods are doing it.