Indoor Fun

When I took D.D. to the movies last week, we got there early enough to catch the very end of the credits from the earlier showing, and I saw that the band that did the soundtrack is named Bananafishbones. That is the best band name I have ever heard! I am already planning to name any goldfish we get in the future that. It's probably a good thing that there won't be any baby-naming possibilities in my future, because Bananafishbones S. has such a ring to it, don't you think?

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We inherited some kind of tropical tree thing when we moved into our apartment, and it makes me a little nervous. For starters, it leans over the stairs (it's much too heavy to move), and we brush against it every time we go by. I'm not sure why it hasn't died, because we hardly ever remember to water it. And it has these weird things—I think they're some sort of air-roots—that dangle off it between its big, frond-y leaves; some of them are several feet long, and sometimes they stick out over the stairs, too, like long feelers. If we all turn up missing, check the plant.

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In other news, snow.

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Sometimes I don't think D.D. lives in the same world with the rest of us. We were watching a movie, and some characters were talking about the prizes (record albums) for a talent contest they were planning to enter. Out of the blue, D.D. says, "I hope they like bagels." There wasn't anything about bagels in the scene, so I asked her to explain what she meant, and she said, "You know, they're like donuts with little seeds on top." Thanks for clearing that up, honey.

D.D. is forever going on about having a "project" or "experiment", usually involving water, plastic bags, and/or strings. Many of her "projects" are variations on a disco ball, but she still has managed to make some, uh, creative things, and even a few things that work, like a string pulley. She's not scared of math, either, so it occurred to me that if her 7-year-old's plans of becoming a dancer don't pan out, she might end up an engineer. But then my experience of working with engineers sits up and screams in horror, "NOOOOO!" I guess 7 is too young for any of us to be making career plans for her yet, but perhaps I will gently steer her away from the soul-sucking career of engineer anyway.

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I love this site: The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord. It includes classics such as
7. When I've captured my adversary and he says, "Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?" I'll say, "No." and shoot him. No, on second thought I'll shoot him then say "No."
and
53. If the beautiful princess that I capture says "I'll never marry you! Never, do you hear me, NEVER!!!", I will say "Oh well" and kill her.

It has inspired me to start a list of things I have seen in fantasy novels that I will NOT do in my novel:
1. My protagonist will never know something without knowing how he knows it.
2. My protagonist will never instinctually know how to do some horribly complicated task (see number 1).

This is just the beginning. I'll add to the list as I come across other useful items. Feel free to send suggestions.