Fresh, Hot Wastes of Time

The dog’s been sick lately and he’s on a bunch of meds that make him have to pee. A lot. All the time.

So tonight he went outside to do his business and he was rushed by an angry doe. She came up to him, about 4 feet away from where hub was standing, and snorted at him. Dog didn’t care; he had to pee. The doe got agitated and started kicking him. The dog came inside covered in muddy hoofprints. The big pussy didn’t even bark at her.

I went out just now to see if I could spot what she was protecting, and bedded down in the flowerbed in the front yard is a teeny tiny little doe, the size of a kitten. I bet there’s another one up there, too.

Freaked the dog out some – he’s a little jumpy now. Freaked the kids out, too – they kept telling daddy to shoot it for kicking the dog. My little bloodthirsty princesses.

They’re making a movie out of one of my favorite books EVAR. I absolutely lived off the Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper when I was a kid. I’m so excited!

I blogged about the Stardust Hotel implosion a few months ago. Thinking back on it, it’s amazing what Las Vegas can get away with. To implode a building with fireworks and spotlights would be completely unheard of anywhere but there. It’s a completely unique American city, full of glitz and neon and sequins and money. And its character is slowly – or maybe not-so-slowly – changing from the hip, cool Rat Pack and Elvis getaway to a “family” vacation destination. What does that mean, in terms of American society? Why is Sin City now being pushed as a place to take the kids over Spring Break? Would parents of the 1950s have been scandalized to think that today’s kids would meet up with free drinks, gambling, and legalized prostitution? Of course. Am I stuck in the 1950s to think that anyone who takes their children to Vegas for a family vacation at the casino is delusional? Perhaps. In general, I think we’ve seen a drift from “wholesomeness” to “anything goes,” and I’m not so sure it’s an improvement. Not that I think it would have been an improvement going the other way either, exactly. It’s a lot easier to pretend you know what the answers are if you’re not responsible for actually enacting the solutions, right?

We’re planning the big Family Vacation this summer and I’m trying to absorb everything there is to know about Disney World. I came across this video of the Kiss Goodnight they play after the park closes and I got a little teary at the beginning, then just about lost it when they started singing, “Like a bolt out of the blue…”

I choked up last time we were there, and I’m sure that seeing the kids have a good time is going to make it just that much worse this time. Oh lord, I’m weepy just anticipating it. This is not good.

Dear Student,

Congratulations! You have been selected to receive a New College Merit Scholarship for the 2007-2008 scholastic year!

Woo!

I live in a little suburb of Austin that’s in the middle of a nasty, nasty election campaign for city council. On one side are the people who’ve been on the council for a while. On the other side are newcomers who want to see a change. We get daily junk in the mailbox from each side, denigrating the other, but this is really beyond the pale. I can’t figure out if this is on the level or whether it was sent by the opposing side. Neither scenario would surprise me.

The “Amy” referenced is Amy Simmons, of Amy’s Ice Cream fame. She lives a couple of blocks away.

Flabbergasted.

Got my grades today, just in time to start the summer semester.