Apologia

It occurred to me, after I turned a simple email exchange with David into a scorched earth polemic on disciplinary boundaries, that my online persona has gotten a little belligerent. So I offer this return to basics, using the "nice words" I insist on for OlderKid. (Careful readers will note this is a straight copy of Asalad'sSisterGirl's blog, with different terms. I can only hope that my weak imitation encourages AsSG to start things back up again.)

Yes, Please

• Kiki's Delivery Service: Miyazaki, a 13-year-old witch, and a talking black cat for a sidekick. What's not to love?
• Threadless T-Shirts, especially the (sadly sold out) "Nothing Rhymes with Orange" design.
• Ask Metafilter, which has allowed me to spend countless minutes pondering the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and the tragedy's sole fatality, a dog named Tubby.
• Jill Scott, and the Columbia Public Library for sharing her with me so kindly.
• The local Memorial Day Parade. Bring on the jingoism, as long as it involves marching bands and parachuters.
• The Man Who Wore All His Clothes. Though it's ridiculously long (who chooses an 11 chapter book for a three year old? Me, I guess), it's from the hilarious brain of Allan Ahlberg and involves a frequently confused car radio, a foiled bank robbery, a substitute teacher fond of impossible commands, and (no surprise here) a talking orange cat for a sidekick.
  

No, Thank You

• feverish babies and cats who don't talk but do puke in hidden spots.
  
• Sin City. Yes, I know I brought it on myself. But did I really deserve to have the image of Carla Gugino brandishing her just-cannibalized arm stump and screaming "He made me watch [him eat it]!" imprinted on my mind for the rest of my life?
• The A's 6 game losing streak.
• 90+ degree days in May and
• Raking leaves at noon on a 90+ degree day in May because some kind of fungal spores messed with our sycamore's head and made it drop all its leaves 5 months ahead of time.

Excuse Me?

• The Bus Uncle phenomenon.