Frenzied Daddy

I missed the Watchmen boat the first time around.

Sure, sure, I heard that it’s a complex story. A rich story. And my favorite superheroes have problems (my favorite superhero is Spiderman, my least, Superman) ; these Watchmen heroes have problems. And I enjoy discussing good, evil, and the variations in between. Just somehow, missed the boat. I think I avoided the Watchmen because it was fairly popular, and I try to avoid stuff that’s popular. Sometimes. I’ve mellowed about that as I’ve gotten older.

So I asked Ms B to reserve it at the library. And now I’m reading it. And oooh boy, I see why people rave about it. It’s got that quality in a good book where I’m thinking about some of the themes presented in the book. Some of the artwork has been outstanding, but the real star is the story. I don’t recommend it for kids or for other people sensitive to violence in their stories. There’s a lot of violence; even more than most comic books.

However, as our world has increasing violence, the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, the generations-long war in the Middle East, North Korea announcing they have nuclear grade plutonium, you know the stories. The questions raised in the Watchmen about how to bring peace to our world and if it’s worth it still apply, even though it’s set in 1985 with the cold war.

Some spoilers below:
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I’m just getting used to the changes in the whitehouse website, when recovery.gov has been sprung on me. So far, I’m really happy with what I’m hearing from and seeing in the Obama administration.

But enough about those heavy politics Let’s talk about my kids.

The DQ had “a date” last weekend. Sunday, she went to the movies with her friend. A guy friend. Both Gramma P and I refuse to call it “a real date” for similar but different reasons. Her stance is that “sixth graders do not date,” while mine is “my sixth grader doesn’t date until she’s thirty.” At any rate, the mothers (Ms B and the young man’s mother) dropped them off at the theater in the mall, he bought her a soda-pop and they enjoyed Bedtime Stories. She came back all flushed and happy for the rest of the day.

Of course, that was wrecked when we learned how behind she was in school. But she has been summarily chastized and we are in direct contact with her teacher as she picks herself back up. I hope she manages to keep her solid 4.0, but I’m not seeing any band practice forms. She’s smart enough that the added homework is just an extra speedbump, though.

This weekend, I lifted the grounding because she sprained her ankle. I admit that I was a little skeptical when she called me from school at about 4 and claimed to have “kinda sprained my ankle,” but I went and collected her anyway. Yup, it’s sprained. She missed some classes on Friday and she’s been on the couch all weekend with an ice pack and the television controller. She’s nursing it for all she can get; limping around the house and whining for someone to get her some milk.

Too bad for her the cable’s off But Netflix to the rescue, I guess. I made her sit through Underdog.

The TT’s got some great updates too, but I have to go catch her and make her watch The Muppets Take Manhattan. Talk atcha later!

Miss B got a big enough giftcard from her grandparents that she was able to buy, basically, the world. She could buy almost any xbox or wii game, or some packs for sim 2 … but what she chose, what she’s been asking about for months … was Spore.

Cute game. I’ve played through the cell stage and the creature stage a few times. Have just barely cracked the tribal stage and entered “civilization.” Both of the girls play it and like it.

The TT was playing it last night. She’s great at the cell stage where she has to drive around eating stuff (generally she plays herbivores). She’s good at the critter stage. However, she has a real problem with the tribal stage. It’s just past her ability to grasp tactics. She’ll be doing something, and some other tribe will annoy her so she’ll go to their town to beat them up and get slaughtered and have to start all over again.

She did that for about three hours last night until I put her to bed (late, cuz I was up working). Build up her tribe, maybe kill off one tribe, go attack another, get slain, start over, build up her tribe… She was very determined.

So determined that when I finally took her upstairs and away from the computer, she screamed at me for twenty minutes, kicking and clawing at the door to the basement. Yeah, she’s lost privileges for the day, but I’m in total awe of her dedication.

One sunny day in January 2009 (slightly in the future), an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he’d been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the US Marine standing guard and said “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The marine looked at the man and said “Sir, Mr Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.” The old man said “Okay” and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine again told the man, “Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.” The man thanked him, and again, just walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same US Marine, saying “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.” The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said “Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been asking to speak to Mr Bush. I’ve told you every day that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don’t you understand?”

The old man looked at the Marine and said “Oh, I do understand, sir. I just love hearing it.”

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted and said “See you tomorrow, sir.”

Reminds me of the joke about that old concentration camp prisoner who found a genie in a bottle, doesn’t it? Although I can’t find a source for that joke, so I must be misremembering it.

ETA: I was misremembering it. A quick google for “joke three wishes poland” brought it back.

About thirty years ago, an old man was walking home through the streets of Warsaw. He cut through an alley and was kicking garbage out of his way when he uncovered a lamp. He figured, “what the heck” and picked it up, then began rubbing it.

A genie appeared. “My thanks, master. For freeing me from my lamp, I will grant you three wishes.”

The old man thought for a moment, then spoke. “I wish for Genghis Khan and his entire Horde to live again, to ride all the way from Mongolia to the Polish border, then to stop, turn around, go home, and be dead again.”

The genie looked at him oddly, then spoke. “Very well, Master, it is done. And for your second wish?”

The old man spoke again. “I wish for Genghis Khan and his entire Horde to live again, to ride all the way from Mongolia to the Polish border, then to stop, turn around, go home, and be dead again.”

The genie looked at him oddly again, hesitated, then spoke. “Very well, Master it is done. And for your third wish?”

“I wish for Genghis Khan…”

“Yes, yes, it is done! Now, Master, before I leave, I have to ask you this question. Even trapped in my lamp for lo these centuries, I heard the jokes about your people, and always thought they were mean-spirited and cruel and slanderous. But here you had three wishes, and you wasted them on that? What was that all about?”

The old man chuckled. “Because Genghis Khan and his entire Horde just went through the length of Russia six times.”

src

Some random thoughts … not everything in my head gets twittered.

I’m amazed that this auction for an extra joke from an Onion writer is going so high. It started at $0.57 to cover postage.

I’m putting “focus” on my calendar as my word-for-the-year.

I’m writing down that next year (this year) I need to request time off during this Christmas Break. I’m not sure yet if I should use half of my vacation during March and half during December or just all during December, but these last two weeks have been embarassing and work-constipated. And the snow days didn’t help any either.

I’m writing a nastygram to Jack Frost for yet another day of snow and ice. Drove the Missus to work this morning and called my moms to see if they needed their walk shoveled.

I guess that covers it. Talk at y’all soon.