potentialities

( My ickle brother turns 18 )

I am very proud of my Nintendo cake. And my little brother. But mostly my Nintendo cake. ;)

Today, one of the squid entered the classroom with a frown on her face and a hot pink cast on her ankle. During meeting, the Squidmistress explained to everyone how she had sprained it when she tripped at the park and she would have to wear the cast for three weeks, and then asked if anyone had any questions.

One hand shot up--the bright and articulate young gentleman who was, as per usual, sitting with his fiancée. "What can we do to make you feel better?" he asked.

The lady stopped pouting as she considered this question. "A kiss," she replied cunningly.

"Er, all right, you can give her a nice kiss on the cheek," the Squidmistress interposed, as the gentleman got up and smooched her prettily. The wounded one beamed triumphantly.

The gentleman returned to his seat and kissed his lady friend, who was as happy and unruffled as always -- evidently they have an open relationship.

~~~

In other news, my mom is in town with me for a week and a half. We are watching the X-Files, or, as she calls it, "Mulder and Scully". She's deep in denial about the existence of seasons eight and nine.

My computer is BACK! He even has brand-new rubber feet to match the new optical drive, and all is well! Yay!

Also, my little brother's graphing calculator was turned in at the middle school where he took the SAT. We figure that some middle schooler took it home, and some middle school parent took it right back. Even more yay!

Also, I got to moderate for my old high school scholar bowl team's districts, saving the day as the teacher who was supposed to be moderating wasn't there. I was the all-powerful reader of questions and determiner of correct answers! Muahahahahaha!

Er. Not that the power went to my head, or anything.

All the scholar bowl kids nowadays play games on their networked Gameboy SPs. Back in my day, we played Tetris on our graphing calculators and compared our high scores and we liked it! And what are these kids doing on my yard? Get off!

I woke up and there was snow! Snow for my birthday!

Missouri is clearly trying to get back into my good graces. Too late, Missouri. Especially since the snow is already melting. And it never actually covered the ground in the first place. But still! Snow!

I am rather fond of snow.

My mom and I picked up my brother from school and we went to Cocoa and Beans for coffee. Now, I know none of my readers live in Liberty, Missouri, and you're all right, too, because Liberty sucks. But I hope that enough people patronize this place to keep them in business, because they have comfy couches and chairs and magazines and paperback books and board games and pretty good coffee, too, and everyone should hang out there.

My little brother taught my mom and I to play Texas hold-'em with Scrabble tiles. (We also proposed a hybrid poker-Scrabble game where you spelled out words with the letters that were in the pot, but we haven't worked out the rules yet.) My mom cleaned us both out in our first game owing to her supreme confidence in whatever she held and experience in watching poker on TV. Yes. Go figure. However, she subsequently went down in flames in the next two games owing to the absence of the word "fold" in her vocabulary.

After that we went out for Italian food. My parents were totally going to let my 21st birthday pass without there being any alcohol involved, but our waitress was having none of that. Actually, I can hardly imagine what dinnertime conversations would be like if the rest of my family were drinking. As it was, we discoursed extensively on what part of his body my brother should pierce, and what kind of pimp cup my mother should have.

Also, my mom made me pose with my brother's watch at 7:53, the time at which I was born. Yes. We are so cool.

John Grisham was on the Daily Show. He and Jon Stewart bonded over the whole #1 bestseller/books getting banned thing. My mom loved it, as she is a huge John Grisham fangirl. Apparently he uses his wife as a beta reader, and she's highly critical. She once pitched a 500-page manuscript at him! Hee.