Future Poltergeist

For those who are friends with me on Facebook or have been following me on Twitter, you know that I've been listing rejected story ideas before Nanowrimo starts tomorrow. I got this idea last year after I failed to get my story done. I kept thinking that I'm so much better at coming up with story ideas than I am with actually writing something that I'm happy with. It made me want to challenge myself to see if I could actually come up with one good story idea every day for an entire month. (You might quibble with how good some of these are and I'll admit that some of them are joke entries.) Anyway, I put one of them up each day. They are out in the world and free for anyone to take. (If you do use them, use your own judgment on what you owe.) I wanted to consolidate them in one place. So here they are! 1) A story about a vampire hunter. Or actually a story about someone who hunts authors who are writing about vampires. 2) A story about a long distance bicycle ri...

Months ago we asked Relia what she wanted to be for Halloween. She told us she wanted to be an elephant. She wanted Felix to be an elephant too. We asked again and again and she told us the same thing. Elephants. So that's what we did. We went to the zoo yesterday and the FP Gal put up photos here . Both of them are adorable (natch) but I'd like to talk about Felix. He could hardly have looked more like Dumbo. I don't know if it's the innocent smile but I suspect that it is. And the outsize ears. I wanted to booze him up and see if he could fly but the FP Gal said no. Relia has been cute in her own way. She has enjoyed trumpteting. Not the big shrill elephant size noises. More like little girl hooting. She did it at the zoo yesterday and we could keep track of her easily. I don't know what they'll dress as next year but they'll have to work awfully hard to beat the cuteness of 2010.

That's all of the degrees that the thermometer could find this morning. I am seriously not ready for winter this year.

This is today's earworm. After I dropped Relia off at pre-school, I took Felix off to the grocery store so we could restock and get ready for tonight's hot dish. He was his usual pleasant self while I shopped. He smiled at the nice lady who rang up the stuff. While I was bagging I could hear the overhead music and this is what they were playing. The lady at the next register noticed Felix and told me that he had a great smile. Then she complimented me on my singing. Whoops! Didn't realize that I was . . .

This was the winner of the 1976 Hugo Award. One of the themes of 70's entertainment was that the apocalypse was nigh and we were all doomed. This was especially true in science fiction, where doomsday movies were all the rage until 'Star Wars' arrived in '77. The book side didn't escape it either. The book starts out in a secluded West Virginia valley where a well off extended family is trying to make some kind of preparation for the coming end of the world. They're scientifically inclined and their efforts go into an extensive cloning operation. Sure enough, some kind of disease arrives and sterilizes all vertebrates. In a last ditch effort, the family begins to clone humans in hopes that they can survive long enough to regain mating. The second part of the book takes place a few generations of clones later. Each clone group has a near telepathic affinity with each other, to the point where physical separation is difficult for them. Breeding is done thro...

Very cool map here with each US state represented by a movie. I'd make some different choices, as the movies chosen are a bit too current (seriously, 'Jesus Camp' for two different movies?). But I love the idea behind it.

One of my other fears with the flights was the bathroom situation. You know, strange settings and periods of time when we can't get up. Seemed like a recipe for disaster, or at least changes of clothes. But not to worry, she did fine there too. Used the 'loo' on three of the four flights. Not sure if it had more to do with an opportunity to get up and move than it was bladder pressure. Anyway, the first time we went back I hung around outside the door. As she went in I said, "Let me know if you need help, ok?" She said, "You let me know if you need help, ok daddy?" I solemnly agreed that I would. After she was done she opened up the door. I helped her wash her hands and asked her if she flushed. She told me she didn't know how to, which is totally understandable. I looked around for the button, finally found it and pushed. It made that strange whooshing noise that airplane toilets do. Then she said, "Well that's new." How Mi...

This morning we went out into a damp, cool atmosphere. There were touches of fog still in the air. The streets and sidewalks were still wet with rain. Most of the trees still have some leaves, mostly in the classic fall colors of red, brown and yellow. Temps were in the 50s. And I loved it. Seriously, you could give me another month of this exact combo and I'd be happy with it. Two months. Six months.

The most challenging part of our trip, or at least the one I was most afraid of, was taking Relia on the planes. And when I say 'planes', please focus on the plural form as we had connections each way. Yep, we had to get out of one plane, cross an airport and get in a different one. With all of the potential problems that entails. So how did it go? (Let's break out the bullet points!) Relia wasn't scared by at all by the flights. Which probably makes sense as the motion isn't that much different than a car. Except for the thrusting and taking off part. (That's only similar to Hans's car.) No motion sickness. We've been lucky here as she really doesn't seem that prone to it. We used the kit the FP Gal made to lug the car seat through the airports. It worked very well. I understand that future models will feature beefed up D-rings. Our luggage content was six items (three suitcases, two backpacks and the car seat) so being able to strap ...

To tired to really post tonight. Just know that we're home, safe and sound. It was great to see the family, especially Relia playing with her cousins.

Hope you've had a nice week!

Usually I go with beautiful, if subdued, landscapes. Sometimes with ornate and gothic buildings. But this black and white of the staircase has a beauty that's easy to appreciate.

I didn't think that I'd check in but I've got a few minutes, so what the heck. Got in late Monday night. The flights were fine, Relia was an angel and the FP Gal's wonderous contraption worked fine. Did have some trouble getting the car seat unhooked on the last flight. They nearly turned the lights off and left us on the runway. It was foggy on the drive to Hans and Rachel's house. Relia said, "Maybe somebody is taking a shower and left the window open." By the way, she is loving playing with her cousins. There is lots of running around the spacious backyard and jumping on the trampoline. It makes my heart happy to see them have so much fun. Last night Josiah was quizzing Rachel on which countries she'd been to. He has a whole list of them and she was putting a star next to her appropriate ones. She asked where Bermuda was and he looked at her and simply said, "Look under 'United Kingdom'." He also drew a freehand map of th...

You have to appreciate this here. It's in Brazil, by the way.

And I like this one too.

Ok, we need a pretty picture to look at.

For a week or so. Tomorrow, Relia and I are heading off to see Hans and Rachel and their kids. I won't be blogging from the road. Take care of yourselves!

While brushing teeth this morning, Relia: And then the tooth paste just fell out of the pantry and said 'I want to brush little teeth'! Sometimes she's so cute that I suspect it's all a put on.