I can't believe the news today

One of Brad's friends found a hilarious little movie clip of Bush singing "Sunday Bloody Sunday" -- made entirely out of snippets from State of the Union addresses. The Web site it's from confuses me (how sad), but you can see the whole thing on here.

Word of the day

Brad has a wonderful tear-off calendar called "Forgotten English." Today's word: tyromancy -- divining by the coagulation of cheese. Yummy.

Welcome to the jungle

Some of you may remember my scenic, swamp-side abode from college. Perfectly decent townhouse, other than the pesky tendancy toward water leakage. Do you also remember our neighbors, the charming fellows with the 5-foot long iguana and beat up old Ranger with Danzig sticker? And the really bad cover band? (as Angela wraps her arms protectively around her unborn child just at the thought) Okay, living next to a band sucked in college. Living next to a band NOW is really not cool. For the past two days, my nice, quiet naptimes have been interrupted by a bass next door. He sounds like a decent musician, but it's a bass. It's repetitive. It's annoying. And it's amped right next to my bedroom. Grrr.

This is why I'm nervous at the idea of buying a townhouse.

Gee, thanks

I love broadcast journalists. They're so amusing. From the local phenomenon of chins that is Bob Pearse right on up to Brian Williams on NBC. Last night, while reporting on Warren Buffet's decision to give away the GDP of a small country -- heck, a mid-sized country, even -- there were some very interesting word choices. Like "beloved Omaha." I'm not sure even hometown boy Buffet would have put that phrase together, unless he followed it up with "steaks." I mean, it's Omaha. I'm sure it's a decent place to live, but it even sounds funny.

Then came the discussion of what impact such philanthropy might have. NBC's number crunchers were obviously having a wonderful time. First came "enough to buy cervical cancer vaccine for every woman in Bangladesh." Hmm, unusual choice of country, but I'm sure Bangladeshis will be delighted not to get that cancer. Then came "enough to buy a computer for every person in the Congo." This statement juxtaposed with pictures of barefoot Congolese in straw huts. Now, call me crazy, but I think the Congolese might like some of those vaccines before a computer. Or mosquito nets to keep their children from dying of malaria. Or even electricity might be nice. But I'm sure until then they could make lovely planters out of their PCs.

Disclaimer: The author is not criticizing philanthropy. It's wonderful. I'm just criticizing NBC's attempt to put that much money into absurd perspective.

Downtime

Ah, the sweetness that is vacation bible school has begun. A whole week of mornings to myself, all while my child has a blast, so no guilt! Hooray! Of course, this means VBS music will become the soundtrack to our lives for a while, but oh well. At least Abigail will have fond memories of silly songs that theoretically translate into faith. I remember one about the devil sitting on a tack and the accompanying hilarity at getting to leap out of my chair and shout "NO!" I don't remember anything else about the song, barely even the tune, but ah, VBS was fun.

Once more with feeling

To return to an evidently popular theme, Abigail's new Ariel bath toy arrived today. She's thrilled, and we're doomed to at least one solid evening of "Part of Your World" over and over again. But, for the sake of Sea Wees fans everywhere (and aparently they are everywhere, I've never had so many comments!), this toy is no where near as cool. Hmm, I may have to play with eBay some more and try to luck out on a deal. Or for those who may be in search of gift ideas, a certain small someone does turn 4 pretty soon ...

If I had a million dollars

Can I be this guy when I grow up? I've always said my dream job would be a travel writer for the New York Times, but this is the ultimate: travel around the world on the cheap, with your articles and pictures published once a week in the Times. Wow.

I know, I know, I have a child and husband that I love and lofty goals of buying a house in a year, so travel isn't high on my agenda (other than mooching off my sister). The mystique of wandering around Europe with a travel guide and a rail pass is still powerful, though. Travel would be no where near as cheap as the good ol' days before hitting 26, but at least I'd have a small scattering of people to stay with for free. Sigh, that old idea of returning to the States, learning Spanish, then cavorting off for another year teaching English abroad is so distant. Damn the reality of growing up!

Oh, and we wouldn't have to eat Kraft dinner -- but we would!

Superficial tourism

Sadly, Madeline in London doesn't quite live up to the standards set by the original and Madeline and the Bad Hat and Madeline's Rescue. Perhaps dear old Ludwig Bemelmans wasn't as familiar with London or was just getting old, but the rhyme and meter aren't nearly as tight, he filches a couple lines from Mother Goose, and the drawings are much less indicative of London. I had hoped to use the book as a mini-travel guide for Abigail, but he doesn't depict many landmarks, and when he does, they are so sketchy they're hard to identify.

The others, especially the original, are full of fabulous little snapshots of Paris. All the major landmarks, the famous parks, even recongnizable markets. The other day, I was watching a few minutes of a France travel show, and Abigail perked up at the sight of the Eiffel Tower. She asked what it was, and after I told her, said, "That's near the old house in Paris that was covered with vines!" Look, my darlings, what bliss, what joy! Azyzair has a little francophile! She then said, "When I'm bigger, I'll get to go to Paris." Damn straight. Hopefully when she's about seven, we'll take off, a few key phrases and "Madeline" in hand, touring around Paris, no doubt at half past nine.

Overthrow the monarchy!

Down with the Disney princesses!

Okay, okay, I don't really have anything against them personally. I was quite the Disney movie watcher as a kid, especially "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin." But honestly, if I never have to see/reinact anything with Ariel or Cinderella again, I'll die happy.

Abigail, at not-quite-four, has practically memorized "Cinderella" and the part of "The Little Mermaid" we'll let her watch (through "Under the Sea" -- that movie is a lot scarier and more violent that I remember at 10!). Yesterday, I think we had to play out evil stepsisters ripping up Cinderella's dress, "Bippity Boppity Boo," the ball, the loss of the slipper, and the fitting of said slipper about 10 times consecutively. And you can't deviate from the script. One false word, you get "Noooo! Do it right!" And trips to the pool and baths and playing in her kiddie pool all result in recreating Ariel singing "Part of Your World" -- including the destruction of Eric's ship and his rescue. I've got some truly hilarious home movies of this if anyone knows how to blog those.

I confess, it's fun singing "Bippity Boppity Boo." I've also bought an Ariel bath toy, if only to stop making my child play out the scenes with her washcloth. I shouldn't be that stingy! Plus I adored my Sea Wees when I was little, so I won't begrudge her mermaid bath fun. But really, it's just too much! I learned those movies verbatim as a child, I don't need to prove the fact to myself again!

And my mother-in-law wants to indoctrinate her in ALL the movies in order to take her to Disney World! Lord help me! I'd actually have to WATCH most of them repeatedly to have my lines correct for the later playtime ...

Of course, in my search for a general princess link, I came across this quiz: I'm Pocahontas. Not a bad princess to be, really. Independent, intelligent, in touch with nature, not wearing a big ball gown. I could've handled being Mulan, too, she can kick some butt.

And ladies, follow that Sea Wees link. This woman collects all the main '80s toys, and it was amazing to see some I'd totally forgotten about and feel that strange wave of recognition come over me. Remember Poochie? And I think a Fluppy Pup was my first independent toy purchase. Look at the pictures and enjoy the bizarre trip through associations with childhood memory.

My state is insane

I've always joked about the politics of my adopted state, but recent moves by my Legislature now make me want to cry. They have gotten rid of property taxes for homeowners. Woo-hoo! Great! But wait, 60 percent of that went to public schools. That's okay, they say, we'll make it up with a one-cent increase in state sales tax. All right! That's smart! But wait, I live in a border county. People already flock here from Charlotte for lower property taxes, but they still work and do all their shopping in Charlotte. Think that will change? Whoops, there goes all the revenue for schools! And they were already so stellar! And what if people actually STOP spending on credit and the economy adjusts downward? Do we really need to entrust our education system to consumer apetites?

Now, I'm not great at finding links, and for some reason this issue is being more fickle than it should be, but here's one related story from my local paper. And there was a pretty decent editorial Sunday, but of course the link doesn't work. Oh well, I'm sure the tech savvy can find out more!