Thursday, April 27, 2006
The prognosis for my nephew ranges from bad to worse. His condition is stable, but sustained a broken neck and head injuries, probably leading to unknown extents of paralysis and brain damage.
My heart is very heavy. His life has been marred since he was very small by poor decisions on the part of some adults in his life and, later on, some poor decisions on his own part, but in all that, even though troubled, I never detected any sort of maliciousness in him. He never meant anyone any harm that I knew of.
And now this.
Any and all prayers are welcome.
My heart is very heavy. His life has been marred since he was very small by poor decisions on the part of some adults in his life and, later on, some poor decisions on his own part, but in all that, even though troubled, I never detected any sort of maliciousness in him. He never meant anyone any harm that I knew of.
And now this.
Any and all prayers are welcome.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Got a call at 2:00AM last night from one of my older sisters: The news was that her eldest and only son—she has a daughter as well—had a terrible accident and may not survive.
I prayed for the first time in a while.
I prayed for the first time in a while.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Just finished reading Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem, and I must say I admire Lethem's writing and storytelling abilities. Loved it. I was rolling laughing in the beginning and then the story took on a more serious tone. I was still smiling, just not crying laughing except, I think, in one or two more scenes. All in all, I liked it a lot.
A couple nice events went on this last weekend: My middle daughter's tenth birthday and my eldest daughter's first prom. Both were delightful. The younger one got, among other things, a bike. It was the older sister's. An older 24" 18-speed mountain bike, I got it back into good shape last week and she had a great time on it all weekend. Pictures from the prom are posted on my Entropia Universe Forum diary. Great fun for her and her friends.
I certainly had pleasure of being the proud father the last few days.
A couple nice events went on this last weekend: My middle daughter's tenth birthday and my eldest daughter's first prom. Both were delightful. The younger one got, among other things, a bike. It was the older sister's. An older 24" 18-speed mountain bike, I got it back into good shape last week and she had a great time on it all weekend. Pictures from the prom are posted on my Entropia Universe Forum diary. Great fun for her and her friends.
I certainly had pleasure of being the proud father the last few days.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
I finished a couple more of Samuel R. Delany's older books, from the 60's, in fact: Empire Star and The Ballad of Beta-2, enjoying both quite a lot. They're both short quick reads, the first not even 100 pages, the other around 120 or so.
Over the years, as I have admired Delany's style and imagination, he's become my favorite author. Some of his fantasy writing I've attempted and just not finished. They didn't hook me the way others of his work did. I'm sure I'll have another go at them at some point.
Ran across haiku today, mentioned in Delany's Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. A neat idea. Also ran across semiotics in a reference to some of Delany's work. Just linking them here so I don't forget about it.
Over the years, as I have admired Delany's style and imagination, he's become my favorite author. Some of his fantasy writing I've attempted and just not finished. They didn't hook me the way others of his work did. I'm sure I'll have another go at them at some point.
Ran across haiku today, mentioned in Delany's Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. A neat idea. Also ran across semiotics in a reference to some of Delany's work. Just linking them here so I don't forget about it.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
I love amazing stories from nature like this one on a natural adhesive being far stronger than any manmade glue.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Recovering part of childhood can be a rewarding thing: While taking the kids on a bike ride around the corner on Sunday, I found myself practicing wheelies on my mountian bike. I hadn't done that in something like 35 years and it was as much fun now as it was then.
Silly me!
Silly me!
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Some more good movies from Studio Ghibli, the home of Hayao Miyazaki: Whisper of the Heart and Howl's Moving Castle. Whisper is a sweet coming of age story. Howl's is an interesting story of girl who, early in the story, gets turned into an old woman by a witch.
Mountain bikes caught my interest lately as I've done some maintenance on mine to get it into shape. A local shop carries Specialized bikes, of which, I got a look at the Stumpjumper and the FSR cx. I've found links to other less expensive bikes by Schwinn and Ibex as well. As a teenager, I always dreamed of being able to build a full suspension bike. A new bike may be in my future.
On books, I just finished Delany's Empire Star. I found more interesting ideas in there in its brief 90 pages than in most books five times that long. As always, I love his writing style. I don't know of another writer I admire as much. Dhalgren is possibly his most famous book and the most thought provoking book I've ever read.
In a different vein, I'm about two thirds into Will Eisner's Contract with God trilogy, the books by which Eisner reputedly invented the graphic novel. It's hard to imagine a similar work done any better. I also read the first volume of Akira by Otomo Katsuhiro. Another work of similar quality that I enjoyed. I'll likely pick up the other five volumes that complete the story eventually as well as the movie. Also read volume one of Kaze Hikaru. While not of the caliber of the others I mention here, it's seems representative of manga in general and I enjoyed it. It's targeted at teenage girls, something I vaguely suspected when I bought it, but didn't pay any attention to. Still a fun read.
Mountain bikes caught my interest lately as I've done some maintenance on mine to get it into shape. A local shop carries Specialized bikes, of which, I got a look at the Stumpjumper and the FSR cx. I've found links to other less expensive bikes by Schwinn and Ibex as well. As a teenager, I always dreamed of being able to build a full suspension bike. A new bike may be in my future.
On books, I just finished Delany's Empire Star. I found more interesting ideas in there in its brief 90 pages than in most books five times that long. As always, I love his writing style. I don't know of another writer I admire as much. Dhalgren is possibly his most famous book and the most thought provoking book I've ever read.
In a different vein, I'm about two thirds into Will Eisner's Contract with God trilogy, the books by which Eisner reputedly invented the graphic novel. It's hard to imagine a similar work done any better. I also read the first volume of Akira by Otomo Katsuhiro. Another work of similar quality that I enjoyed. I'll likely pick up the other five volumes that complete the story eventually as well as the movie. Also read volume one of Kaze Hikaru. While not of the caliber of the others I mention here, it's seems representative of manga in general and I enjoyed it. It's targeted at teenage girls, something I vaguely suspected when I bought it, but didn't pay any attention to. Still a fun read.
