Storybook Land was a Bust/Easter/Hamlet will Save the World

So much to cover! First I wanna plug the Stockpot reading tomorrow night: 7PM, TRLC, Stockton campus. I'll be there. : ) The editor emailed me and asked if I had anything current I could submit. I did, and got one poem accepted, so I get to read tomorrow evening at the launch party. From what I've seen, the cover art is quite amazing, and I can't wait to read what the creative writers are up to these days. I've been kinda a slacker this National Poetry Month, but I have managed to keep up with my poem-a-week goal, even though some have been silly frivoulous poems for sheer laughs that I won't pursue further. But hey, I'm writing and I'm thinking. Last night, though, was a poetry win! I FINALLY wrote a poem that had been rattling in my head for months. You know when you get an opening or closing line that pops in there in a flash of sheer inspiration? Then you know how you have to sit and wait for the poem to form around it? Yeh, that had been me for a looooong time. I'm excited to have a new piece with which to be consumed. And I'm sure being among fellow writers tomorrow will help fan the fire of the writer in me. I'm sure I'll have a post about the reading later this week!

And sadly, Becky, Lisa, and I trekked to the faraway kingdom of Storybook Land, only to find it was closed. I mean, it WAS pouring, so we wouldn't have enjoyed ourselves anyway, but still. Bummer! We're gonna plan a redeux for some weekend next month. For I shall ride and conquer Bubbles the Dragon once again! Instead, we went to the mall, the played with bubbles in the parking lot of Stockton.

Easter was nice. John and I colored eggs and made up little baskets of goodies (aka tooth-rotting candy! : ) ) for each other. We also got Hammy some cat grass as his edible basket, but he was mainly confused by the mixed message it conveyed: wait, you tells me I can't eat your plants, then you shove this in my mouth? What is going ON? Needless to say, the grass died, uneaten, and we threw it away.

Lastly, tonight as I was folding laundry, Hammy, as is his custom, followed me into the bedroom, hopped up on the bed and started sniffing my clothes. I grabbed a nice, warm tee shirt and wrapped it around him. He purred so happily and lay down. Then I decided to make him a cape. What followed was Super Hamlet! Behold the newest super hero, with the power to heal the most broken of hearts, and to defeat his greatest foe, the bad mood.

Why I am a (Geek) kid at heart...

So, I was parusing the Preston & Steve website (those awesome morning show guys from 93.3 WMMR) and I found this cool sleeping bag.

I mean, if I were a kid, I'd want to buy this. If I had money to burn and could fit into it, I'd buy this. When I have kids, I will buy this for them. The only thing more cool would be a Yoda pop-up tent, an X-wing fighter bed or a Millenium Falcon sled. I mean, c'mon. Great toy ideas like this need to be nurtured and developed, more so than those awful Bratz dolls or any of the effluent that sits on the store shelves of American.

Well, that's all for now.

Catch you on the flipside.

I mean, wouldn't you be comfortable sleeping in this?

Insight into Life with Hamlet: First Ear Infection

So after a week or so of watching Hammy fixate on his right ear, I decided it was time to visit the vet to see if my suspicion of an ear infection was founded. Alas it was, and not only an ear infection, but a double ear infection. Delightful. So $160, a cleaner, medicine, and some flea and tick meds later, we came home to attempt to get the cleaner (twice a week) and meds (twice daily) into my sick little kitten. Luckily John and I kinda got a routine down after we needed to give him oral antibiotics and pain meds after his declaw surgery. Basically, we chase him around and then wrap him in a towel like a little purrito, as below. Tara inspired me to take a pic when she said he must just look adorable all bundled up. Adorable? Yes. Defeated and now publicly humiliated? Also yes. But hey, he's a cat, and can't read, and doesn't care about the internet. So here you go. Dr. Maureen presents:

In Sad Infomercial News...

What's more annoying than the ShamWow guy?



The ShamWow guy selling a veggie chopper. That's right. The Slap Chop. Now they're giving him sharp objects? Hm...



I just don't see the necessity of the Britney Spears microphone. And please visit the SlapChop website (linked above) for a picture sure to give you nightmares until after you're dead.

If that's irritating, what's next is terrifying. Piggybacking on my last blog on the ridiculousness of modern reality TV, how can we neglect our favorite pitch man, Billy Mayes? Ah, where would we be without being screamed at about Oxi Clean, Mighty Putty, the Hercules Hook, and whatever other dog and pony crap is being peddled? Well, the Discovery Channel asked just that. "Hey, executives. How can we bring down the value of our usually awesome programming? I mean, we're kinda big on reality. There's that guy we drop in the middle of nowhere then laugh while he almost dies, the guys who blow stuff up, and that guy who's always covered in poo. What's the next step?" Well, apparently that step is jumping on the craze started by elimination shows because coming soon to a Discovery Channel near you is...Pitch Men, hosted by none other than Billy Mayes. The resident laryngitis' dream will attempt to find someone to out-shout and out-irritate television viewers. Think I'm making this up? Behold:



What is happening?!