Hrm.

I still don't think this is going to come out right.

Batman Begins is a great movie, but I was disappointed. They even used my theory about Batman, that his motive is fear rather than revenge. I was still disappointed.

The movie wasn't mythic. It was a realistic movie explaining how a human being could end up acting like Batman, but I didn't leave the theater feeling like I'd actually seen BATMAN. I haven't figured out whether it was the writing, the acting, the directing, etc., but it wasn't really BATMAN. Too realistic? I don't think so. Lame female lead? She wasn't so much lame as realistic... I don't know how to explain it.

But five minutes of Serenity, for me, was more thrilling than the whole Batman Begins movie.

Oh, that reminds me.

I made creme brulee
for Father's Day.
It turned out OK!

Also, I made barbecued chicken and the Best Beans Ever:

1 lb bacon.
1 large can of baked beans, not institutional-size, but pretty large (we used maple-flavored).
1 red onion, chopped in small but non-dainty chunks.
1/4 c. blackstrap molasses or more to taste.
Worchestershire sauce, salt, and pepper to taste.

Fry bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and drain on paper towels. STOP!!! Do not drain the grease. This recipe is meant for guys. Pour the beans in the pan with the grease and warm gently. Add molasses and stir. Add worchestershire sauce, salt, and pepper to taste. Just before serving, stir in the red onion.

After eating, leave the room.



*If you bitched to yourself that my haiku had the wrong number of syllables, you're a dork.

Amusing and delicious.

Seeing as Ray was asleep on my shoulder, Lee ordered Chinese last night from the Swan Palace. On a whim, I ordered pineapple chicken.

"You ordered pineapple chicken, right?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, you got pineapple chicken."

And then he brought me half a hollowed-out pineapple with stir fry in the middle. It was the same kind of taste on the tongue as good wine. Not the same taste, but the same type of taste, that makes your mouth swim just thinking about it.

Online Writer's Workshop.

I've been checking out the Online Writer's Workshop. I've submitted the first section of the Gray Hill novel, received four reviews, and been very happy with them. Many good suggestions. I'm still on my free month, but I'm going to keep going with it.

This means, mind you, I will have even less time to play on COH, but there you go.

Madagascar.

Did not suck. And did not wuss out on the question, "What do you do when you have a carnivore and an herbavore stuck on a desert island?"

The more kids' movies that don't suck, the better.

Ray.

I'm going to make this brief, because I've told the story and told it:

My daughter learned how to escape the apartment. She ended up at the front office of our apartment complex, naked except for her jacket and the keys to the apartment. We cut off her escape route using chicken wire. She took a different route involving a five-foot drop over a fence. I think we've cut that one off, too.

Here's something I've learned:

She got spanked, talked to, and grounded all day. This did not work. The last time, I sent her to her room for a few minutes and told her all she had to do if she really wanted to go outside was ask. "Please momma, let's go outside." Then she asked me, and we went outside. The next time she asked me, we went outside. I asked her today if she wanted to go outside, but she was too busy cutting up unwanted coupons. "No, thank you."

Punishing her a lot didn't work. Punishing her a little and helping her work out how to do what she wanted to do in a way we could both deal with seems to have worked. And maybe this will help teach her that she doesn't have to wait for us to do the things she wants us to do or do them all alone--she can tell us what she wants to do. She can ask.