Author: Karel Kerezman

Serial Weirdness Lain

So this viewing was of the 8th episode, “Rumors.” Near as I can tell, all that’s happened is that the writers have added Yet Another Layer Of Mystery And Weirdness.
I still want to see how it turns out. I still have hope that there will at least be a point, if not that it’ll make any sense. Each episode has one or two interesting elements that make for good imaginative seed material.
But is it a good story? I don’t know yet. By the end of the ‘thon, however, I might have an answer. Five episodes to go, and I have at least that many half-hours remaining before I get to sleep, no?

26 July, 2003
Plans For Tomorrow

Here’s my rough plan for tomorrow:
12a to 6a: Finish last leg of Blogathon
6a to (undetermined): Sleep as long as possible
(undetermined) to (bedtime): Stay the hell off the computer
Sounds like a great plan, doesn’t it?
Okay, so I am having fun. Enforced journal writing, however, isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world, even with as lackadaisical an effort as I’ve been putting forth here.
Speaking of effort… Surprise, here’s more bunnies!

26 July, 2003
When in doubt, watch anime.

Well, this episode managed to move things subtly forward and provide a history lesson along with some needed backstory. I’m thankful, very. Who knows, this show may not be so annoying after all.
Mind you that there’s still almost ninety minutes’ worth of material still to get through before I’ll know for sure.
I’m going to spend some time putting the kids to bed and puttering around the house. I need to move around, ya know?

26 July, 2003
The Joys Of Parenting

I get a kick out of my kids.
Alex is so serious, just like his dad, when he’s not being silly, just like his dad. I think he’s doing a better job of things than I was at his age, though he can be stubborn about the darnedest things as well. Gee, I have no idea where he gets that. Recently he’s been working on mastering Sonic Adventure 2 and unlocking characters in Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast, churning through The Elenium by David Eddings, and sussing out the secrets of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I’m hoping to start him on Raymond Feist’s Riftwar books once he’s done with the last of the Elenium trilogy. He just started The Hidden City this evening so there’s a few days yet. Alexander is a perceptive and surprisingly empathic young man who, if we can train him up right, will probably find himself more popular with the girls than he’ll know what to do about. Hey, it has to beat how I stumbled through that aspect of life for so many years.
Erica is such a normal little girl in so many ways, and yet surprisingly deep and mature in several others. Mind you, she’s far and away the more devious of the two. Nothing escapes her notice, and she learns very well just by watching. Case in point: Alex was playing one of the 3D platform-style games a while back, and Erica just sat and watched. She didn’t ask to play until at least a week had gone by. Then, when she did decide to play, she was off and finding things in the game that Alex didn’t even know about! Her current responsibility is that of General Bunny Wrangler (to her mom’s Bunny Wrangler In Charge, of course) and she takes great delight in handling the bunnies and making sure they have clean water and fresh food. She’s our little nature-lover and adventurer, no doubt about it. Not to mention her role as Social Butterfly, which is what makes her parents wonder what set of genes she picked that up from. Erica is a complete natural at social networking, though she has some hard lessons yet to learn about trust and about fairness.

Yeah, I have great kids. No doubt in my mind.

26 July, 2003
A change is as good as a rest.

Attention, attention: We have changed from root beer to orange juice as the beverage of choice.
I love orange juice. Actually I love most citrus juices, but orange juice is the best. Minute Maid makes a darned tasty juice, while Tropicana’s tastes a bit too “raw” for me.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to heat up a corn dog, pour another glass of OJ and watch more Lain.

26 July, 2003
Blogathon Milepost – Two-thirds

We’re now past all of the easy entries, all of the entries I could just knock off without much in the way of effort. From here on out, I have to come up with things, I have to stay awake enough to write them coherently, and I must at least attempt to keep the entries interesting enough not to be a complete waste of electrons.
Well, two out of three will do nicely, wouldn’t you agree?
I’m down to three episodes of Serial Experiments Lain. Huzzah. Dawn wants me to churn through Digicharat when I’m able. Who knows, maybe I’ll be too burned out on anime by then. Then again, what else will I do with my remaining eight hours?
Two thirds of the way through my twenty-four hours. Excellent. Now for the fun part.

26 July, 2003