As noted before, Isaac loves the Nintendo DS - and Mario. Last night at Toys R Us, he picked out a set of Mario action figures and spent the evening making jumping sounds with them.
Today, he was looking for the DS, found it, and said "THERE IT IS! How can I ever thank myself?"
I think maybe he needs a little less DS time.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Sunday, May 08, 2011
Counterbalance
Ok - something amusing for you:
Isaac is obsessed with Ages and is amazed and freaked out that until Gesso reaches one year old next January, he will be ZERO YEARS OLD.
So he doesn't refer to Gesso by name. He calls him "The Zero Year Old". As in: "DAD, where's the zero year old? Can I hold the Zero year old?"
Isaac is obsessed with Ages and is amazed and freaked out that until Gesso reaches one year old next January, he will be ZERO YEARS OLD.
So he doesn't refer to Gesso by name. He calls him "The Zero Year Old". As in: "DAD, where's the zero year old? Can I hold the Zero year old?"
Bad Dreams
I don't often let the books I read or the movies I watch filter too deeply into my subconscious: Seeing Alien twice in 1979 at the tender age of 12 (with the ticket agents at the Skyway completely not caring with Rated R means) definitely did me SOME damage back in the day - my dreams had shiny black toothy things in them for many years to come after that. But in general my books are read, mused over, and perhaps serve as some light backdrop for dreams.
Not so with Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace: It's a huge book, in which frankly not a LOT happens, but what DOES happen is drawn in such detail and over and over and over again that you can't help but allow his FULL intent be engraved somewhere in your psyche - he draws his messages lightly but repeatedly, so the remaining outline stays.
And as a result, I've had more than a few bad dreams directly attributable to this work of fiction: There's a lot of stuff in there about addiction and recovery, a lot about tennis, a lot about slowly revealed details of mildly plausible near future, but a thread running through it is a lethal videotape called "The Entertainment" which is supposedly so enthralling that it shuts off every other desire and turns people into drooling goons... and it's something that is instantly captivating, so the imagery in the book involves one person putting it on, succumbing to it, someone finding that person, and succumbing, and eventually a whole room full of people before someone kills the power.
Needless to say this very concept of something so attractive that even glimpsing it is dooming yourself is a metaphor for addictive substances of all kinds (when my friend Mark started down his path years ago, he related that that first taste of the substance was like "well, this is it, this is perfect, and this is all I ever need".) It's compelling in a way that a traditional substance abuse take wouldn't really be, since we have guards up about the dangers of alcohol and drugs already.
In fact, the book is CHOCK FULL of shocking drug anecdotes (a lot of it takes place in AA surroundings), and it's almost numbing, but the idea of "The Entertainment" has seeped pretty deep for me: I have had recurring dreams of finding my family enthralled, and then I turn my head to see what took them...
They're very unsettling dreams... and it speaks well (???) to the Author's ability to really communicate that feeling that I'm processing it with personal worry.
I'm about 2/3 through this massive tome, and I think I may need to take a little break!
Not so with Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace: It's a huge book, in which frankly not a LOT happens, but what DOES happen is drawn in such detail and over and over and over again that you can't help but allow his FULL intent be engraved somewhere in your psyche - he draws his messages lightly but repeatedly, so the remaining outline stays.
And as a result, I've had more than a few bad dreams directly attributable to this work of fiction: There's a lot of stuff in there about addiction and recovery, a lot about tennis, a lot about slowly revealed details of mildly plausible near future, but a thread running through it is a lethal videotape called "The Entertainment" which is supposedly so enthralling that it shuts off every other desire and turns people into drooling goons... and it's something that is instantly captivating, so the imagery in the book involves one person putting it on, succumbing to it, someone finding that person, and succumbing, and eventually a whole room full of people before someone kills the power.
Needless to say this very concept of something so attractive that even glimpsing it is dooming yourself is a metaphor for addictive substances of all kinds (when my friend Mark started down his path years ago, he related that that first taste of the substance was like "well, this is it, this is perfect, and this is all I ever need".) It's compelling in a way that a traditional substance abuse take wouldn't really be, since we have guards up about the dangers of alcohol and drugs already.
In fact, the book is CHOCK FULL of shocking drug anecdotes (a lot of it takes place in AA surroundings), and it's almost numbing, but the idea of "The Entertainment" has seeped pretty deep for me: I have had recurring dreams of finding my family enthralled, and then I turn my head to see what took them...
They're very unsettling dreams... and it speaks well (???) to the Author's ability to really communicate that feeling that I'm processing it with personal worry.
I'm about 2/3 through this massive tome, and I think I may need to take a little break!
Happy Mom's Day!
It's an early morning - Isaac had me come to bed in the middle of the night, and we woke up before 7. Bella was out until 10 last night at her Synchro Meet (and post meet dinner), and she was up before 7 too. The puppies have been up and playing too. Everyone's up but Pamela, and she gets to rest because it's her day.
We have a fun day on tap - headed out to Pinstripes for brunch then bowling with a family who we just love but who are moving out of state in a month, so it's bittersweet, especially considering Isaac and Bella both love love love the kids in their matched ages.
Isaac's addiction to Mario goes unabated - but it's a good thing - we probably wouldn't have made it halfway through the swim meet yesterday if Isaac wasn't buried in his DS playing Super Mario 3. And boy, he's actually getting pretty good. Every single day starts with "Hey Dad, can we go to the chatterBOX?" The Chatterbox is a restaurant nearby with ok food but with Nintendo systems, so you can play Mario with your food. And Isaac thinks it is heaven. And he always stresses the third syllable - chatterBOX.
Isaac's very into discussing "big ideas" these days - If Dad is this tall at 43, imagine how tall he'll be at 100! Why can't we make a car that's Isaac-sized and let him drive it on the road? It could be Isaac sized in the front, and have a big back seat for Dad to sit in. Where would we go? chatterBOX!
Bella has been reading a lot... not 6 months ago, we read the 5 book Spiderwick Chronicles together. She's been checking out the sequel series from the library and is reading them herself. She's also reading the Boxcar Children series too... I'm seeing her curled up with a book quite often now, and it makes me happy.
As for me - work's going aok - my Mpls work is stabilizing and is lightening up appropriately, so that I can take on the work for St Louis and Maryland... Mayo has been slow to act on a proposal we sent last week, but hopefully that'll cook... and there's more in the hopper.
Plus, it's a gorgeous day - time to hit the shower!
We have a fun day on tap - headed out to Pinstripes for brunch then bowling with a family who we just love but who are moving out of state in a month, so it's bittersweet, especially considering Isaac and Bella both love love love the kids in their matched ages.
Isaac's addiction to Mario goes unabated - but it's a good thing - we probably wouldn't have made it halfway through the swim meet yesterday if Isaac wasn't buried in his DS playing Super Mario 3. And boy, he's actually getting pretty good. Every single day starts with "Hey Dad, can we go to the chatterBOX?" The Chatterbox is a restaurant nearby with ok food but with Nintendo systems, so you can play Mario with your food. And Isaac thinks it is heaven. And he always stresses the third syllable - chatterBOX.
Isaac's very into discussing "big ideas" these days - If Dad is this tall at 43, imagine how tall he'll be at 100! Why can't we make a car that's Isaac-sized and let him drive it on the road? It could be Isaac sized in the front, and have a big back seat for Dad to sit in. Where would we go? chatterBOX!
Bella has been reading a lot... not 6 months ago, we read the 5 book Spiderwick Chronicles together. She's been checking out the sequel series from the library and is reading them herself. She's also reading the Boxcar Children series too... I'm seeing her curled up with a book quite often now, and it makes me happy.
As for me - work's going aok - my Mpls work is stabilizing and is lightening up appropriately, so that I can take on the work for St Louis and Maryland... Mayo has been slow to act on a proposal we sent last week, but hopefully that'll cook... and there's more in the hopper.
Plus, it's a gorgeous day - time to hit the shower!
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