On The Field Training

Good for Art Shell! He's keeping Andrew Walters in as QB even though Aaron Brooks has healed up. While Brooks was a much better QB than our last one (at least Brooks knew how to avoid a sack) he's nowhere near the caliber we need. Walter is the future and needs as much experience as he can get. This is the perfect year for him to find his feet (since we don't have much of an O-line) and find his rhythm. It's also time for Moss to remember how to catch something that falls into reach.

Disdainment

Digby, as usual, is as articulate and precise as ever.

If you have to personally experience something before you have compassion for it or understand it you are an immature, shallow person.

This is the disdainment I have for a lot of people, among whom some are neighbors of mine. Having compassion is a sign of maturity, and just plain decency.

This quote was in response to some pundits considering the Michael J. Fox ads about stem cell research as attack ads. Excuse me? How do those qualify as attack ads? The only way, is Digby's analysis that this is somehow unseemly, using a person with obvious disabilities as an advocate.

Bratworse has been bugging me to explain how someone watching those ads could think differently from how she and I think - I guess Digby nailed it. They have a different response because they are immature, shallow and might I add, indecent human beings.

Google Bombing The Republicans

I haven't had much time to do anything else but blog, so here's me trying to help out in this election cycle.

A quick look at some of these links will tell you what kind of sleazebags these Republicans are and what they're doing to this wonderful country of ours:

-AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl
--AZ-01: Rick Renzi
--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth
--CA-04: John Doolittle
--CA-11: Richard Pombo
--CA-50: Brian Bilbray
--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave
--CO-05: Doug Lamborn
--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell
--CT-04: Christopher Shays
--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan
--FL-16: Joe Negron
--FL-22: Clay Shaw
--ID-01: Bill Sali
--IL-06: Peter Roskam
--IL-10: Mark Kirk
--IL-14: Dennis Hastert
--IN-02: Chris Chocola
--IN-08: John Hostettler
--IA-01: Mike Whalen
--KS-02: Jim Ryun
--KY-03: Anne Northup
--KY-04: Geoff Davis
--MD-Sen: Michael Steele
--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht
--MN-06: Michele Bachmann
--MO-Sen: Jim Talent
--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns
--NV-03: Jon Porter
--NH-02: Charlie Bass
--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson
--NM-01: Heather Wilson
--NY-03: Peter King
--NY-20: John Sweeney
--NY-26: Tom Reynolds
--NY-29: Randy Kuhl
--NC-08: Robin Hayes
--NC-11: Charles Taylor
--OH-01: Steve Chabot
--OH-02: Jean Schmidt
--OH-15: Deborah Pryce
--OH-18: Joy Padgett
--PA-04: Melissa Hart
--PA-07: Curt Weldon
--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick
--PA-10: Don Sherwood
--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee
--TN-Sen: Bob Corker
--VA-Sen: George Allen
--VA-10: Frank Wolf
--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick
--WA-08: Dave Reichert

*Warning* You might need a tourniquet for your eyes after, they'll be bleeding that much.

Another Press Release

Found yet another press release today about ABC Family filming a pilot based on Nobody by me, Writerboy and the most wonderful and talented Charlie Adlard.

This one gives out more details about the pilot, guaranteeing more WTF? from fans of the comic book. LOL!

You want to know the irony of all this? I had approached Writerboy about a story similar to the direction of the TV show but Writerboy nixed it, saying it was too girly/emotional something or another. So instead we settled on the dark dark story that is Nobody the comic book.

Anyway, if you hop over to Amazon.com or any local comic book store and get your copy of Nobody, contact me here and I'll sign it for you, for what it's worth lol.

And, if Writerboy, Charlie Adlard and I gather on the set of Nobody, I'll get them to sign your copy too, if you want. I'm sure Charlie's signature is worth 1,000 times mine. Hmm, make that a million times.

A Chance to Read Up on Republicans in '06 Races

A quick look at some of these links will tell you what kind of sleazebags these Republicans are and what they're doing to this wonderful country of ours:

-AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl
--AZ-01: Rick Renzi
--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth
--CA-04: John Doolittle
--CA-11: Richard Pombo
--CA-50: Brian Bilbray
--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave
--CO-05: Doug Lamborn
--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell
--CT-04: Christopher Shays
--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan
--FL-16: Joe Negron
--FL-22: Clay Shaw
--ID-01: Bill Sali
--IL-06: Peter Roskam
--IL-10: Mark Kirk
--IL-14: Dennis Hastert
--IN-02: Chris Chocola
--IN-08: John Hostettler
--IA-01: Mike Whalen
--KS-02: Jim Ryun
--KY-03: Anne Northup
--KY-04: Geoff Davis
--MD-Sen: Michael Steele
--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht
--MN-06: Michele Bachmann
--MO-Sen: Jim Talent
--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns
--NV-03: Jon Porter
--NH-02: Charlie Bass
--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson
--NM-01: Heather Wilson
--NY-03: Peter King
--NY-20: John Sweeney
--NY-26: Tom Reynolds
--NY-29: Randy Kuhl
--NC-08: Robin Hayes
--NC-11: Charles Taylor
--OH-01: Steve Chabot
--OH-02: Jean Schmidt
--OH-15: Deborah Pryce
--OH-18: Joy Padgett
--PA-04: Melissa Hart
--PA-07: Curt Weldon
--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick
--PA-10: Don Sherwood
--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee
--TN-Sen: Bob Corker
--VA-Sen: George Allen
--VA-10: Frank Wolf
--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick
--WA-08: Dave Reichert

*Warning* You might need a tourniquet for your eyes after, they'll be bleeding that much.

Censorship, What Is It Good For?

This is the biggest reason why I didn't want to go back to Singapore to live. Censorship is alive and well there; in addition, I could be locked up for life just for loving Bratworse. And this is why I fight repression here in America, because I see Singapore as a fake, lifeless artificial city where the worker bees just happily hum and do their dronish jobs. America is messy, full of life, and just beautiful.

There Goes the Record Books

Well, the Raiders went and did it - they went and won one game and dashed all my hopes for it being the only 0-16 team ever in the NFL.

It was a decent win - tho I do feel bad for the Arizonal Cardinals. They came close to winning on Monday night and I think that defeat kept the wind from ever filling their sails again yesterday. They just weren't the same team that had shown up on Monday night. Guess they figured playing the Raiders would be an easy game.

As LaMont Jordan said last week, 11-5 is still a possibility and this is the first step in that direction. Forgive me if I'm a realist and think that 3-12 is more likely for this year's incarnation of the Raiders.

Now I Can Talk About It

I guess Variety is pretty much the real deal so now I can talk about it.

This is very exciting news. ABC Family has decided to shoot a pilot based on the comic book that Writerboy and I wrote. And if it's well received, well then there will be a series about it.

Based on the synopsis this little article gives out, even though it's "based" on our comic book, enough details have been tweaked that if you're a fan of the comic, you'll be scratching your head going "huh?"

Writerboy and I were going to write a sequel, with some details correlating to the pilot that ABC Family will shoot but we shall see. Writerboy isn't just a success as a writer; he's successful as well in his secret identity, so much so that he can't devote any time for such frivolous activities such as writing.

I've realized that if I write this Nanowrimo novel just right, it might get picked up as well, following the success of Nobody. But, that's a big if. Writerboy was a large part of Nobody's success. We complement each other well as writers. Believe it or not, I tend to get too terse when I write comics.

Slight Changes

The sidebar now contains word counters for both Bratworse and I. Yes, you read that correctly, Bratworse has decided to share the misery with me. Wheeeeeeee!

Unlike me, she has decided to just write on the computer instead of putting it in blog-form.

November may see a reduced number of entries here - I'm just sayin'.

0-16 anyone?

At this point, I'm actually looking forward to an 0-16 season for the Oakland Raiders. Why? Because as a fan, hitting rock bottom can produce the true words, "It can't get any worse."

Besides, there doesn't seem to be a team in the NFL that's had an 0-16 season.

It's ONE way to get into the record books.

Important Things...

... are taking a day off work without pay, just because your 2 year old friend and her 7 month old sister are going to the zoo.

Gelling

Sometimes, a story just fits together like a well made erector set. I am very happy with how the components of the story, with the characters are seemingly falling into place, without much nudging from me at all.

It is building into a neatly complex story, with two older people and now I think I might throw in a young'un, as the heroes and the others as people who are doing their jobs as they see it. It's paralleling today nicely as well.

This should be fun to write.

I've created the new sports which this story is centered on, created characters, and somewhat of a plot. The main premise of the story is, what will the new owner of the largest Zingball team do in retaliation for an attack on its property against the fanbase?

In answering this question, the story will focus on five characters: an ex-Zingball player, his son who works for the Raydars, the largest Zingball team; his daughter whose live is directly affected by the events of 2/28; a Zingball reporter; and the fan who has season tickets next to the ex-Zingball player.

Come share this ride with me.

How Much You Wanna Bet...

That if they get rid of social security, we're going to see more of this: a 63 year man robs a bank so he can get 3 years in prison because he can't find a job to support himself. The teller hands him FOUR $20 bills while pushing a silent alarm. Instead of walking off, he walks over to the security guard and hands him the moolah, then sits down and waits for the cops to show up.

What does this say about us?

Cursive

A few days ago, the Washington Post had an interesting feature about the decline of cursive writing. And Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo asked people for their own experiences and whether they still use cursive.

Here was my reply:

I am 42 years old with my primary education from Singapore and my secondary and collegiate education from the United States.

I learned cursive writing in Singapore and because paper was scarce during the mid-70’s in Singapore, we learned to write very very small.

When I got to America, my first “shock” was learning that cursive wasn’t called cursive here, at least not colloquially. Everyone around me called it “handwriting” and how that distinguished cursive from block, I have no idea since both are written by hand. I gave up trying to understand Americans and just went with the flow.

In college, I still used cursive for nearly everything but as I entered the workforce and had people complain about the size of my “handwriting”, I developed an almost comic book type of printing, using all caps but making the first letter of every word slightly larger (just in case my printing was so small people couldn’t tell the spaces).

I do not use small letters in my printing because I see my printing as looking childish. I never spent much time practing printing as a child and it shows.

To sum up, I use cursive writing when I write in my journal, or when I’m writing notes for myself and know that no one else needs to “decipher” it. (Honestly, sometimes when writing fast, I have a hard time deciphering my own). When I write and there’s a chance others need to read it, I print all caps.

Good Start

I'm off to a good start on ideas for the new story, all thanks to this great little program Jer's Novel Writer. It's a great way to keep track of all these little ideas that pop up as you're finishing up one idea that led to five others.

I'm getting ambitious for this year. So far I've got 15 characters and not sure which ones will become prominent.

There seems to be two stories emerging from all this - one told from the fans' perspective and one from the corporation's. Hmm, that makes about 8 chars per story and to be honest, that's not really a lot.

I'm thinking that the family that acts as the go-between the two stories will be the main focus.

It's jelling together much better than I thought it would - so much so I'm actually excited about it.

I wonder if I could kick off the 1st at Midnight?

Have to Remember...

that just cause I'm excited about something doesn't mean anyone else would be, nor should I expect them to be supportive. Sheesh! You'd think growing up in a family like mine, I'd have this lesson drilled into me, but no, ever the friggin idealist; I actually want someone to share my enthusiasm.

When oh when will I learn this lesson?

Update: The source of my disappointment just apologized for her lack of support. I'm glad she did; it showed me how much she DOES care about me - but apparently now this post has majorly pissed her off.

I'm sorry this post pissed her off but damnit, I got hurt at the moment.

This wasn't just about this incident. I get excited about promoting other people's ideas, artwork, etc. And I constantly put them here. Do my friends reciprocate? My best friend bought a copy of my story and has he told anyone about it or recommended that they go and get it? No.

I NEED to learn that others will not reciprocate my level of enthusiasm. That is why I was an agent and they weren't. It's not a slam on my friends; it's just what they're capable and incapable of.

Heaven, I'm in Heaven

So I googled for a Mac Outline program to help out with NaNoWriMo and this is what I found.

OMFG!

I am in heaven! This outline tool/word processor is fantastic! (Okay, if I'm using that many exclamation points, I MUST be excited because I think the exclamation point is one of the most overused and overrated punctuation there ever existed. And yes, I AM that weird in that I actually have my favorite punctuation - the semi-colon. Versatile and underused.)

Jer's Novel Writer is a word processor/outliner designed specifically for writing AND the programmer is a participant of NaNoWriMo as well so he knows the importance of not having the momentum gummed up. There's a margin for you to jot notes on, there's a database for you to keep your characters, plot developments, etc in track and there's an outline of course.

Anyone who writes, knows the importance of notes and margins and databases. You introduce a throwaway character in Chapter 2, only to find out in Chapter 15 that he/she would make a great drive-by character again. Only, what was the name you gave that char? And where in the 20 odd pages of Chapter 2 did you insert him/her?

I am taking Bratworse's advice and starting on a whole new story instead of working on a previous one. At first, I thought I didn't have a story, but one's been germinating in my brain for the past year and I am just starting to commit the ideas to paper.

The new story is going to be called Escalation or Descent? (Yes, I know it's a fancy way to say Ups or Downs but I'm a writer for goodness sake) This is going to be an Alternate Earth type story - kinda happening in today's world but different enough that you know it's somewhere else. And it'll be a sports analogy to what's happening in the world today - Iraq, U.S., terrorism, our reactions, etc.

Ambitious eh? Yeah, well, writing is the ONLY place I've actually harbored ambitions.

Dropping the Bomb

Lately, I've been hearing people around me say, "Why don't we just drop the bomb on them?" "We" being Americans and "them" being Koreans, Iraqis, Muslims, etc.

I was incredulous. The person who said it to me, prided herself as being a loving Christian.

To me, the most important reason for not bombing people is the Golden Rule. You don't want to do unto people that which you don't want done to you. Do you want to be bombed because your government is pissing off others? Do you want to be bombed because someone in your neighborhood went crazy and shot someone?

Bombing is indiscriminant. When it goes off, it doesn't check to see if civilians are around, nor little children. The only intent for a bomb is to cause massive destruction with a small device.

This person kept telling me that those people should be killed. I didn't have a chance to ask, but I wanted to know, how can we know who are the ones who want to harm others, and who are innocent bystanders?

I used to be a Christian and I remember that I was taught (not very well for this is the lesson every sunday school teacher glosses over) to judge not less ye be judged yourself. I hated being judged, so I would never judge anyone. Maybe that's why so many people told me about their affairs and such, cause I would never look at such actions with severe judgements.

Anyway, I just don't understand why Americans, supposedly a Christian country, wants blood so badly.

Half a Blast

So, you panicked over the thought of North Korea having nuclear capabilities?

No wonder, if you've been watching the American Media.

Well did you know that the seismologists are saying that the test struck 3.4 on the Richter scale and that translates to a .55 kT (half a kiloton) blast which MEANS that the test was a failure?

Did you also know that the furthest any North Korean missile has been able to fire, has been halfway between it and Japan?

So, go ahead and panic away and give into your fear. That's what the republicans want because they think you'll vote for them if you're scared enough.

Losers yes, But We've Still Got Team Spirit

I wore a Raiders hat to work this morning. It was to show my co-workers that despite our dismal, bleak immediate future (0-4 season so far), we members of the Raider Nation aren't like our fair-weather counterparts across the Bay.

We do not need a winning team to wear team colors.

But as of yesterday, I hung up my hopes, despite not hanging up the hat.

Update: One person at work just walked in, mocking the Raiders but you know, it was precisely this type of attitude that made me a Raider fan to begin with. The disdain and the glee with which people Raider-bashed just made me a more fervent fan.

Yes, I see the same type of people who are Bush fans, but gimme a break. I can afford to be this fanatical over the Raiders because the Raiders DON'T MAKE DECISIONS THAT IMPACT THE EVERY DAY LIVES OF MILLIONS. GWB makes decisions every day that impact my life and therefore, to be a rabid unthinking loyal fan of him just defies reason. Therefore, GWB fans (unrepenting fans) are unreasonable.

Authentic Shanghai Food

There's a little tiny hole in the wall here in Oakland, California that serves up authentic Shanghai food, otherwise known as comfort food for me.

It's called The Shanghai Restaurant located at 930 Webster Street in the Oakland Chinatown district. (510) 465-6878

Man, is the food good there. You won't find the standard fare that you get at other hole in the wall places, simply because Shanghai food was never really imported to the U.S. until fairly recently.

In L.A. my family frequented the Mandarin Shanghai restaurant now named the Mandarin something or another, since 1976 simply because it was one of the few successful Shanghai restaurants there. I've often run into distant relatives dining there.

If you go to The Shanghai Restaurant, try out their little dragon dumplings. It's an explosion of heaven in your mouth, when you bite into one. Also try out their braised pork leg. It's a huge hunk of meat that's falling off the bone and it's oh so wonderful. Only $8.95 for such a large hunk of meat that will last at least 3 meals (if there's two of you).

Also, if you want to discover one of the sources for Spaghetti, ask for their Tsah Tsiang noodles. We call it Chinese spaghetti in this household.

You will love their food.

To Kill a Mockingbird in Long Beach

Our friend Alison Frazier is one of the most amazing women I have ever met.

Not only is she incredibly beautiful, but she is just talented beyond belief. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the U.C. Berkeley Theatre Department. Following that, she managed to secure a job as a sculptor for Disney's Imagineering and created a lot of the tools and objects for Roger Rabbit's Toon Ride at Disneyland. During her many years at Disney, she also did a number of plays in small community productions, homing her comedic timing.

Disney laid off a number of Imagineers in recent times and she was among the casualties. So, she decided to take the plunge in her mid-30's and try to eke out a living as an actress. We missed the first play she was in, but we caught her on the Cingular commercial she was in as well as when she had one line in Chris Rock's Everybody Hate Chris.

We just got word from her that she will be appearing in Long Beach's To Kill a Mockingbird, playing at the Long Beach Convention Center between October 17th through November 12th. This will mark the first time that I'll be seeing Alison in a serious role.

I'm hoping we can fit in a trip down south before November and the launch of NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo Time Again

I need to sign up for NaNoWriMo again. Ugh.

I was about to write that the good news is, I have no plans for November this year, but I think I'm wrong. My best friend and his husband will be showing up to spend Thanksgiving with me and that's in November.

For those of you who weren't reading from last year, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. It's an organization that encourages people to sign up, and then attempt to write 50,000 words of a novel within the month. It's crazy especially if you have a life or need to be inspired to write (like me) but its great excercise.

Two years now, I've participated and the results so far are The Three H Foundation, a work in progress but may soon be morphed into another tale and An Act of Balance another work in progress.

Instead of starting yet another novel (I've actually got another on the shelves, just never used it for NaNoWriMo), I think I'm going to go back to Act of Balance. It's a work of love and tribute to my mother and my family. The thing is, I need to be not pissed at them. Last year, my mother pissed me off so much on my birthday that I couldn't even think of her without ugly thoughts for months. But recently, my mother is different. It may be because of my sister's hospitalization; it may be other things. I think I can write generously of her again; I'll leave my grumblings of her to this blog.

The first year, I was able to achieve about 20,000 words before I gave up. Last year, only 7,000, partially because I had no idea where the story was going since I literally remembered NaNoWriMo on November 1st. The year before, I signed up around October 20th. This year, I have enough time, AND I have an outline program that I can use to organize thoughts. The next few days will be spent in organizing each chapter and the character/plot developments within.

It's so strange. I can easily write over 50,000 words on this blog in a month. But these are all separate thoughts, tied together by literally nothing. A novel however, you have to focus on characters, settings, tone, voice, rhythm, believability, development, conflicts, sub-plots, loose strings, etc.

Hokay then! Time to roll up the sleeves and get the mental fires going. With any luck, I won't get angry at my family during the month and will actually have a workable first draft by the end of the month.

Invention Needed

Desperately needed:

A voice activated translator that translates all PMS'ing language into nice soothing non-judgemental words.

Examples: A shrill voice: "Why do you HAVE to leave clothes all over the house?" translates to "Honey, please pick up your clothing."

A shrill voice: "Why does the alarm have to be on YOUR side of the bed when you don't set it?" translates to "Baby, I know you have a problem with me hitting the snooze button too many times, but if you forget to set the alarm, perhaps it'd be better if the alarm was on my side of the bed?"

Will pay good money for such a device.

Bad Moods

Both Bratworse and I woke up in bad moods. Who wants to create a pool to see how many times we yell at each other today? So far the count is: one by her and three by me. Guess which of us has a better grip on her temper? Sure isn't the idealistic one.

Goodbye Pretty Cat

Yesterday, I took my cat of 16-17 years to be put down. (The picture isn't of Ashley but it's the closest I could find to how beautiful she was)

Ashley was a very beautiful cat, with siamese type markings and a bit of tortoiseshell in her. She had the softest fur and the meanest attitude. I loved her to bits.

She had certain rules on how to deal with her. Break those rules and get scratched. Most of my friends have been scratched by her, and they call her devil cat from hell.

Rule #1: Never scratch behind the shoulders. She hated being scratched below the shoulders.
Rule #2: Never pet her near her private parts. I think she had a hard time after being neutered so the slightest move towards her lower body resulted in a scratch.
Rule #3: Never pay her attention for too long. She could only stand attention for about half an hour, maybe 45 minutes, but any longer, she'd scratch you.
Rule #4: Never ever forget that she's a lady.

Rule #4 was the one I broke constantly. But she had a long memory. If I laughed at her in the morning because she fell off the bed, sometime later, I'd get scratched, a little bit as if to say I didn't forget.

Nonetheless, she had the most wonderful fur and the loveliest face of all cats I've ever known. She'd lie on my chest on weekends, purring away in my face, and sniffing my lips when I'd make kissy sounds.

How I got her was kinda weird. At the time, I had a cat named Apollo and Apollo and I didn't get along at all. However, my then-roommate LOVED Apollo and since we had one cat already, when my roommate's sister had to get rid of Ashley, we took her in. Well, that roommate HATED Ashley from the start but I loved her. So, when we broke up the household, I asked if I could keep Ash and she keep Apollo. The rest is history. Ashley lived through four moves with me.

Goodbye my old friend. Keep a spot warm for me when I arrive in Hell, okay?

Gay Does Not Equal Pedophile!

Being away from the internets, I had known about the Mark Foley emails before the weekend but had missed all the hoopla and developments.

As in, umm Mr. Speaker of the House, Denny Hastert? Please note that it is political suicide to lie about the knowledge of icky emails 5 weeks before an election. Feel all your colleagues and fellow Republicans throwing you under the bus? Welcome to the minority sir. We minority folk get this sort of behavior from you politicians all the time.

But there's a disturbing trend now happening among Republicans as they heap excuse upon excuse as to why no one did anything when the emails were first reported.

This trend? They're saying that they didn't want to report Mark Foley because they were respectful of gay rights.

Wait... stop laughing. Yes, you heard that right. Do I need to repeat it? Yes, it's the SAME DAMN EXCUSE they used for Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert.

Okay - for the record. Being gay doesn't mean you're attracted to CHILDREN/TEENS of the same sex; it means you're attracted to ADULTS of the same sex.

Also, - for the record. Being gay doesn't mean you take money for sex. That defines a PROSTITUTE, which Jeff Gannon was.

Sheesh folks. Next you'll think being gay means you're attracted to animals of the same sex. Get a grip will ya? And make sure it's not some teen's penis.

UPDATE: This is the mentality we're dealing with folks - courtesy of Paul Farhi of the Washington Post

Foley's creepy behavior might have done him in even if he'd been the most liberal of Democrats. But that's not assured.

WTF?!? Seriously, WTF?!?

AGAIN, I REITERATE: Being Gay or Liberal doesn't mean we are PEDOPHILES. We do not agree with going after children. Nor does it mean that we are open to NON-CONSENSUAL sex. If one person says no, THAT'S IT! We respect the No! Sheesh folks.

Just cause YOUR fantasy image of Gays/Liberals is that we allow ANYTHING, doesn't mean that's reality. I know some gays who are SOOOOO prudish, they need the lights out in their bathrooms to change into clothes!

Weekend Without Internet

A friend needed some company and help looking after the two above, so I took Friday off to be with them. Oh man, how can two kids, one that only sits there like a grinning statue and the other a 20 lb adorable munchkin, wear two adults out like that?

This was the PERFECT weekend to be accidentally without internet for we were both extremely busy on Friday, then had a "White" party to attend on Saturday. Of course, Sunday was taken up by watching both Bay Area football teams lose, but all in all, we had a great weekend.

The two kids are unbelievably wonderful. The younger one just catches your eye and grins. Occasionally, she'd break out in adorable giggles. The older one is also fantastic. She does, on occasion, get jealous and that's when you see her sidle up to the baby and she does just enough of a push to knock the other over (in slow motion). Aside from that, she's wonderfully articulate and well behaved. She does love pushing the limits but given her parents, that was a given. *smirk*

The following evening, we again joined the kids' parents for a night out with our other friend who turned 40 last week. That friend told his lover he wanted a "White" party and so of course, his lover threw him a GIGANTIC party. Bratworse and I had bought new outfits for the occasion; our friends, the parents of the two above, showed up in white painter overalls.

BTW, if you're ever throwing a party in Atherton, CA, be aware that on a Saturday Night, cops will be called at 10:30 pm. Can you believe that?!? 10:30!

Of course, this was also the weekend that another friend had a signing over at Comic Relief in Berkeley. Why oh why, do people plan outings all in the same weekend? We couldn't attend of course, but here's the Entertainment Weekly review for his book, Stagger Lee: Go buy it right now - There's already rumors of this being picked up to be a movie.