Nobody Knows Anything

In 2000, I put Sophia in her costume as Supergirl, and she thought it was great. Probably went to sleep around 6, as per usual.

In 2001, I bought her a princess-fairy costume, and she wouldn’t look at it.

In 2002, she wanted the Thomas costume. Which she wore all of about 3 seconds at her preschool’s Halloween party. She proceeded to fall asleep on the way home (around 4pm) and sleep the night through (something she was doing a lot at that time, which is why I cut way back on her activities for a while). So she didn’t trick-or-treat last year.

This year, things were different.

Oh yeah. She was all over the trick-or-treating thing. She’s been wearing the Tinkerbell costume for days now. She wore it to school today. She wanted to wear it all day, but it was too cold (and rainy!) for that.

After she napped a bit this afternoon, we rehearsed how to trick-or-treat, with each of us taking turns as the trick-or-treater and the lady answering the door. That helped, actually, because she started out holding her hand over her mouth while saying it, and by the time she set off on her adventure she was singing it clearly. Darin told me by the end of their rounds, she was telling him to stay back and she went up to the door by herself to do it.

Simon went with. Now he’s figured out the whole candy-extortion thing.

My kids went trick-or-treating. Another milestone passed. (Sob.)

Speaking of the kids (were we?), Sophia said the funniest thing today.

Darin stayed home today because he felt sick. Anyone who knows him knows how often that’s happened. So we’re all in various places in the house and Sophia told me she wanted something to eat. I said, “We’re going to have lunch with Daddy.”

She ran over to Darin and said, “Daddy, it’s the weekend!”

Because on weekends, you see, we have lunch with Daddy.

Darin explained to her about “sick days” and how he’d be going to work tomorrow (he hopes—now that he’s seen the house in full chaos mode during the day).

You know what they’re saying in this photo?

“Our parents bought us this big house…and all we get to use is this tiny corner of the playroom! Don’t you feel sorry for us? Don’t you want to adopt us and give us everything we want? You know you do. Call soon.”

Sure, my husband’s home sick, and he’s grumpy because the kids are all over him.

Me, I got a good thing going on. Look what arrived today!

Diane’s crack supply arrives

Inks in both bottles and cartridges! Pen porn in the form of a calendar (from the crack supplier, Fountain Pen Hospital)! A new pen! (Hey, you try going shopping for fountain pen ink and resist buying a new pen! I double dare you!)

Simon is covered in chocolate and Darin is covered in Sophia. I’m going to go get covered in some ink.

Mark Morford has a column in today’s SF Chronicle about the new “Secret Spells Barbie,” a toy I hadn’t heard of because Sophia doesn’t watch shows where it would be advertised (yet) and we don’t watch commercials anyhow (gratuitous TiVo plug).

That’s right, it’s Mattel’s latest Wiccan-flavored mutation of the famous and famously obnoxious pneumatic blond dingbat, joining the likes of Barbie Loves Spongebob Squarepants and the Barbie Romance Novel Giftset and Princess of the Portuguese Empire Barbie and Spirit of the Earth Barbie (all genuine items, alas).

(Princess of the Portuguese Empire Barbie?)

When I read this entry I found myself thinking, Man, this is shooting fish in a barrel, but I had to say that I’m kind of happy that Mattel even came up with this idea. Why? Because it means the Fundies don’t control everything yet.

I would, however, recommend running out and buying this doll before the inevitable loud wailing starts and cries for boycotts and Mattel regretfully pulls the product from their shelves.

Man, I love this movie. I loved it the first time Darin showed it to me (via laserdisc he’d brought back from Japan in 1992, no English subtitles or translation), and I love it every time Sophia watches it. She loves it too.

It’s the story of two young girls, Mei and Satsuke, who move to the countryside so that they can live nearer to the hospital where their mother is staying. Their new house is creaky and dusty—and filled with “dust bunnies,” which are little spirits. They soon discover there are a lot more spirits than that around, including the gigantic teddy-bearish Totoro! Sophia’s favorite is the Cat Bus, of course. Mei and Satsuke’s adventures with the spirits, while at the same time trying to cope with their mother’s illness (never stated, but I think it’s tuberculosis), is charming and fun.

Highly recommended.

Question: The first time I heard the American DVD, I was sure the father was played by Phil Hartman. I haven’t been able to find a cast list, but I have found that one of the voices is Kenneth Hartman. Anyone know if he’s Phil’s brother? (I haven’t found anything on the Web one way or the other, which is why I ask.)

Apparent answer: According to Julia’s stellar info, the Dad isn’t played by Kenneth Hartman, so I am clearly wrong and will now cease and desist.

Man, I so did not even know wine allergies existed.

I had a glass of wine last night—McManis Cabernet Sauvignon to be exact—and not even a whole glass of wine but one of my wimpy half-a-glass deals. And when Simon woke me up at 4 in themorning I thought: I must be coming down with the flu or something. Stuffed nose, itchy eyes, sore throat, and generally feeling as though a steamroller had done its best to flatten me a couple hundred times during the night.

Darin let me sleep in today, and when I was finally conscious I said, Either I am coming down with the worst cold in the world, or there was something about that wine. So I clicked around a bit (the modern answer to every problem!) and discovered wine allergies.

From allergies.about.com:

The common question is “Can I be allergic to alcohol?” Although alcohol can be the culprit, it usually is not. The culprits are usually the additives used in the manufacturing process. Some of the possible culprits include:

    Brewers yeast

    Corn

    Eggs

    Grapes

    Molds

    Sulfites

    Pesticides

I am: bereft. It took me a while to prefer red wine over white wine (that is, to become a wine snob). And now this!

I assume that if any of those ingredients could cause this allergy then it’s not necessarily the wine that’s caused this head cold. But it’s not the kind of testing I want to do a lot of, you know?

While searching my referrer logs, I discovered a link from an Interface Design Class, Spring 2001.

The sites in this list were nominated as either best or worst interfaces by students in the Interface Design Class, Spring 2001. Teams of students ranked sites as best/worst overall and best/worst in categories corresponding to the 8 Golden Rules of Interface Design presented in (Shneiderman,1998).

So what did NKA get? A best? A worst? (This was in Spring 2001, so pre-Movable Type site. I don’t even remember what the page looked like, frankly.)

The site’s #46: What is it?

Now, that just hurts. What is it? Ouch.

I got spam-hit again last night. I think I’ve deleted 30 so far, and with the way MT is set up, it takes forever to delete lots of spam comments. The frustrating thing is that the spammers’ IP is 206.184.208.20, which reportedly is the same IP I’m posting from, so I can’t block that IP.

I am really frustrated by this.

One of the reasons I was excited by blogging software is the commenting feature. I have become bad about responding to mail—comments were a way of hearing readers’ reactions.

But deleting this spam shit and then rebuilding my site is unwieldly and unfun.

Later: At least 150. (I’m not sure what the original count was.) Is there nothing about the web that spammers and pornographers can’t ruin?

All I want is some fountain pen ink for my fountain pens.

I have discovered that is way, way easier said than done in these here parts. I’ve been to 6 or 7 stores so far—including OfficeMax, Office Depot, Staples, and University Art Supply (San Jose)—and called several others, and all I have found is one package of Waterman cartridges with black ink.

Short of driving all the way to Palo Alto—which it’s looking like I’m going to have to do, which is nuts, given that it’s 20 miles each way and I have two kids with me and we’ve already done our day-in-Palo-Alto for this month—I’m going to have to make an order online to buy ink.

All the stationers have closed, it seems. At least, around here. No more McWhorter’s. No independents like A&B Stationers (which was on Ventura in Studio City).

Anybody have any suggestions for where I can find some damn fountain pen ink?