Isaac is Five

Isaac had a birthday party this afternoon at Foss Swim School, where he had 8 of his buddies and his big sister along too.  They played games in the pool for 45 minutes (led by some very patient and energetic swim instructors), and then it was time for cupcakes and presents.  What we saw were some of the most amazingly well behaved kids - they all are in school together and are very used to paying attention to teachers.

Isaac was also a very gracious host - after opening presents, he would say things like "what a wonderful gift" and give hugs to his friends.  I was pretty darn proud, and was just astonished at how nice they all were to each other - somehow this preschool stuff is working...?

Tonight, as we got ready for bed, Isaac told me "my butt hurts, it's tired of being in clothing".  After stripping down for PJs, he fled and dove into bed with an impish grin, and asked "can I just sleep like this?"   I replied "Sure, if you want to."

"But you're the boss of me, you could tell me to wear pajamas if you wanted to"

Dad:  "Yes, but you're really good at using the potty, and so I'm ok if you want to make this choice.  But you WILL be wearing clothes to school tomorrow".

Isaac:  "Well yeah, because who would want to look at my BUTT all day?" (prolonged laughter)

So he's sleeping in the buff tonight, ad he thinks it's pretty much the most grown up thing in the world.  I'm just banking on this not ending with a lot of laundry to do in the AM.

In other news:  Bella and I have passed the halfway mark in Harry Potter 7 (the book), and decided to reward our progress by watching Deathly Hallows Part 1...  and it was just amazing.  I had seen it earlier in the summer, and it was even better...  and to confess, I hadn't read Book 7 for a year or more before the movie, so some of this wasn't as fresh as it could have been.  But with the book fresh in mind, it was even stronger.

Of course I'm a big sissy and was crying within 5 minutes, with the scene of Hermione wiping herself out of her parents minds.  Bella and Pamela both rolled their eyes.  That's how I roll.

I'm pleased to report

The kids made their way through Jedi today - they have now seen the full original trilogy.  And they loved it.  Isaac was very happy that "Dark Fader" died, but respected that he sacrificed himself.  They LOVED the Ewoks - Isaac was marching around making Ewok noises all evening...  

I am willing to give George a pass on the Ewoks - they were cheesy, but the kids do love them.  And since the "Special Edition" did away with the YubYub song...

One thing I was a bit embarrassed about - I caught myself muttering every line the Emperor said, just as he was saying it.  Isaac noticed and asked politely "Dad, can you never ever do that again?".

Isaac has a terrible cold, so I've been loading up the videos and keeping him comfortable.  One thing I thought he'd like are the Clone Wars shows - they're 20 minute episodes of pure action set in the time between "Clones" and "Sith" in the Prequels.  They have a lot of Light Saber Yoda action in there.  What's interesting is that the exposition is about 2 sentences at the beginning of each episode, and then you're right into it.

After two shows, which he did enjoy, Isaac insisted on Episode IV A New Hope again.  And he sat and just enjoyed the full "real" Star Wars experience.  While blowing his nose non-stop.

Bella is doing well with her guitar lessons - she's taking it seriously, and played her practice songs for us several times today.  She gets this faraway smile when she does so.

And that's the update for today.

A strange biography

Ok I like to share my dreams when I can remember them. Here's one from last night - just a fragment:
I'm sorting through a stack of books, trying to decide which to keep and which to chuck. I linger on one book.

An 800 page hardcover tome with a weathered slipcover. The picture on the cover is of a man wearing a Mario style overall set - red overalls, white shirt, red baseball hat. He's reclining on a white leather sofa looking at a copy of the same book I'm reading.

Two women flank him wearing futuristic jumpsuits looking out at the viewer, one brunette, one blonde. The couch is in a stark white room, and a huge window is behind them through which you can see the curve of the earth and a wheel shaped space station. They're clearly on some sort of space cruiser.

The man in the Mario outfit is David Cross (Tobias Funke from Arrested Development). This is his autobiography and it is titled "That was some shit, it was".

Zooming back out to me holding the book, I remember thinking it was a pretty good read, but not worth keeping. I chuck it on the toss pile.

Then I woke up.

Media Update

Three (or so) Media things for today:

1) Isaac has been insisting for a few days that "he is ready to watch STAR WARS", so I agreed to watch it with him today. I turned out that yes, there's a lot of guns and shooting and yes an entire planet gets blown up, but there's not much SCARY stuff in there. If anything, the "action" on Tattooine was a bit draggy for him, but once we hit the Millennium Falcon things moved at a decent clip. And he loved Darth Vader.

I do have to say that my DVDs are the "Special Edition" ones from about 10 years ago, and its really quite jarring to see all of the digital effects that Lucas had crammed into there - all of the fakey storm troopers riding lizards, the lamentable "conversation with Jabba" that makes no sense since Jabba is literally HALF the size he is in Jedi - even Bella commented "there's a bigger one of those in another movie". I am OK with the new improved "explosion rings" for Alderaan and the Death Star, but a lot of the rest of it was just painful. I am not looking forward to the further tweaks he put into the Blu-Ray releases.

Anyway, the kids loved Star Wars, and have demanded we do "The one with the SNOW" on Sunday. So we're doing that.

2) Torchwood Miracle Day ended last night, and it was just hard to gauge my feelings - I felt a bit like at the end of Falling Skies - "well that was interesting - not sure we needed 10 episodes to get there". It had a cool premise - one day humans turn immortal - just life, not healing, so people who are dead are still alive, but still suffering. And one guy who is immortal (Captain Jack) turns Mortal. But they just sort of dinked around with it and quite honestly it would have fit in a well written two episode story, or been stretched to a 5 episode series like Children of Earth was (which is still amazing - do yourself a favor and netflix that). But at 10 episodes, they just flailed around.

Let me just say that it's been very stark - I get to the end of a Torchwood, and I go "hmmm, interesting". Then I load up a Doctor Who and I'm on the edge of my seat completely enthralled (in no small part due to Matt Smith's amazing work).

I'm not sure what will happen with Torchwood - I hope if they go high-concept again that they'll do more with it than they did this time. But that's done.

3) On the recommendation of friends who know I love my Dr Who with Matt Smith, I've started watching from the 2005 beginning, with Christopher Eccelston. And I love it, and can't believe I wasn't watching this years ago! Eccelston has an impish gawkiness with great self assurance that leads very often to a very puzzled look when things aren't working out. Anyway, I'm very happy to have another 50 episodes to enjoy (just 5 more with Eccelston, then I get into the David Tennant years, and I've seen a few of his episodes and can't wait to get to know him.)

4) Alphas was renewed for next year! More David Strathairn! More "sorta-mutants"! It's all great fun.

And that's my media news, what I'm enjoying. Posts about my life will return soon enough.

Isaac quotes today

When I grow up I want to jump from a giant cliff. Because I want to be a PROFESSIONAL.

(wondering why urinals are out in the open but toilets have doors)
Why do people want to see other people pee?

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