Ulrich Schnauss - Between Us And Them

One of my Pandora stations I've tuned to what I call my "Writing Music" (even though I haven't done any significant writing in a while). It's mostly instrumental, atmospheric, mood music. Music that makes me feel a variety of emotions, just listening to it.

Here's something that station has been playing me for a couple of years: "Between Us And Them" by German electronica musician Ulrich Schnauss. This is music that will really take you away.

Three-year-old Movie Critic: Toy Story 3

This time, I only knew she had gone to see a movie, but I didn't know which one.

Becky: What movie did you see?
Holly: I don't know.
B: Well what was the movie about?
H: A bus!
B: A bus? What did it do?
H: It went to a scary place. There was fire.
B: There was fire in the scary place?
H: Yes!
B: (still no idea what movie this was) Were there any kids in the movie? Any girls or boys?
H: There was only one girl. And a cowboy.
B: A cowboy, huh? Was the cowboy's name Woody?
H: Yes!
B: Did you see Toy Story 3?
H: Yes!!!

A bus that went into a scary place with fire? I haven't seen "Toy Story 3" yet so I don't know what actually happened, but apparently this was the main plotline that stood out to Holly.

For the record, Tim Burton's recent "Alice In Wonderland" was described by Holly thusly: "A girl stabbed a dragon. That's all."

Three-year-old Movie Critic: The Karate Kid

Holly went with her dad and sisters to see "The Karate Kid" (the 2010 version obviously) in the theater. Here is her take, in Q and A form.

Becky: What was the movie about?
Holly: The Karate Kid. (duh, Mom)
B: Oh? What did he do in the movie?
H: SHE. It was a SHE.
B: The Karate Kid was a girl?
H: Yes. SHE. (Sorry, Jaden Smith.)
B: All right. What did she do?
H: She kicked! (Kicks her own foot into the air.)
B: Oh yeah? Who did she kick?
H: She kicked the bad guys! They were being mean to her!

And there you have it, plot summary of "The Karate Kid." She kicked the bad guys.

Do the Dew

I tried "Mtn Dew Distortion," one of the three test flavors of Mountain Dew. It's described as "lime blasted." It tasted similar to when I used to squeeze limes into my regular Mountain Dew. Which was super tasty when I did it myself, but strangely not exciting when it was coming from the bottle that way. It tasted a little bit like dish soap smells.

Sorry, I'm still loyal to good old classic Mountain Dew.

Emily

This is Emily, the new member of the cat family. She's a lot of fun. :)

I have been working hard updating the photo albums on Zebranest, so check them out here: http://www.zebranest.net/photos. Lots of stuff up from the beginning of the year up to the end of May. Also, I'm looking to sail past my goal of 15 books read this year, since I'm already working on the 13th -- woohoo! You can see my reading list here. The older girls are supposed to be reading plenty this summer instead of rotting in front of the computer or Wii... you can check out their progress on their blog, Chickpeas.

A US Census worker stopped by my house yesterday to get my census information. But why? I had dutifully mailed in my census form weeks ago, AND I already took a phone call from a census worker who got all the information again. If this continues it'll look like Baltimore City consists mainly of white single moms of a ton of middle-schoolers and preschoolers.

I got a summons for Jury Duty, again. I went 30-some-odd years without anyone wanting me to be a juror, but now that they know I'll actually show up, I'm getting called every year. Unfortunately the date of my summons is right during my vacation in July so I have to call up the court and ask them to change it.

We have a new member of the family -- Emily, a nine-month-old kitten that we took in when a friend couldn't keep her. She's solid dark grey and very impish. I'll put up some pictures when I get my camera working -- it's on the fritz.