Quick Takes

The "I must post something or there'll be no entry for July in the Archives" edition.

Happy 33rd Birthday, Harry Potter!

In honor of his 33rd birthday, we present some titles from the forthcoming series Harry Potter and the Midlife Crisis:

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Gallstone
• Harry Potter and the Bedchamber of his Secretary
• Harry Potter and the Tax Auditor of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Urination of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Cholesterol Panel
• Harry Potter and the Rancorous Credit Card Debt
• Harry Potter and the Reliving of the Glory Days
• Harry Potter and the Ex-wife's New Husband
• Harry Potter and the Rising Hogwarts Tuition
• Harry Potter and the Bright Red Sports Car
• Harry Potter and the Speeding Ticket

Quicker Takes

So, following on his ability to burp at will, Damien can now toot on command.

...which, we realized, means that he has total control over those muscles down there and he has no reason not to be potty trained.

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I discovered recently that I'd been unknowingly been buying vegan chili for the last month. Did not notice it was meatless, even after eating it numerous times.

It's good chili.

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More Damien adventures in Minecraft: I made his game public on our LAN, so Anne Marie could join. She tried to start building a farm, and building in a Minecraft game run by a three-year-old is about as effective as cleaning a house lived in by a three-year-old. Anyways, I pointed out Rie's character to Damien, and he ran to her said "Hi, mommy!" dropped TNT at her feet, and lit the fuse. He spent the next 30 minutes following her around doing this.

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I've been growing my moustache out. It's now long enough to twirl. It's great, because now I have something to do with my hands while I think up evil schemes.

Actually, it's always assumed that supervillains grow evil facial hair because they're evil. But has anyone investigated whether the correlation goes the other way? Maybe facial hair just makes one evil. Maybe the hairs implant evil thoughts into one's head. Like, here comes one now: "I shall shave all the bunnies, kittens, and puppies in the world, depriving it of cuteness! Muahahaha!"

Hey, I never claimed they were good evil schemes.

But on the plus side, if we ever find my long-lost twin, we'll know which of us is the evil one.

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When did "totes" become a word, and can I hate everyone who uses it?

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What's the difference between a terrorist and a three-year-old? You can negotiate with a terrorist.

Quick Takes: Nobody Cares Edition

Wherein I write about things that are only of interest to me.

I had plans for several posts on diverse topics, but seeing as how none of the thoughts were congealing into structured, rounded, complete articles, I have decided to write partially formed, abrupt, unfinished tidbits on things none of you care about.

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OK, that last picture of Redemptrix was mean. Here's one of the ship in broad daylight, as an apology.

Redemptrix, as seen by a space-bug about to get gooshed all over the bow.

Quick Takes - Denver Edition

Snow!

Quick Takes Addendum

Forgot some quick takes yesterday

What do you get when you have a cumulative 9.75% off at Target and a tax return? Everything, apparently. We are proud new owners of everything Target sells.

In our defense, I had been making a list for about two months of the things we needed, in hopes that one day  the gods of crass commercialism would look upon us with favor and bestow the means and opportunity to spend our fleeting wealth. Among the items purchased were:

New dress clothes for Damien. He had no dress pants that fit him. Well, I suppose technically they did fit, but they would have been better-classified as dress shorts at this point. Conveniently, Anthony automagically has a whole wardrobe that suddenly, mysteriously fits him.

A new belt for me. I should take pictures of my old one. It had run the gamut from hilarious, to sad, to hilariously sad.

New undershirts for me. I still occasionally wear undershirts that me dear mother bought for me in high school. You know, the ones I used to wear to dance?

New pillows. I can't remember if the ones we have now were bought new when we got married, 9 years ago, or moved into this condo, 7 ½ years ago.

Whiskey and rum, to end the torment and misery felt when looking up at the liquor shelf, sighing loudly, and muttering forlornly, "why is the rum gone?"

The Murloc also purchased sundries and miscellany. I have learned not to look too closely at the things she purchases. They might bite.

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And Anthony is sick again. Fever of 102°-103° running for the last couple days. He just finished a dose of antibiotics for his last illness/ear infection on Monday. This marks the fourth consecutive Sunday that he's missed Sunday Mass due to illness.

The Murloc went into full panic/remorse mode, wondering why her baby gets sick so often, and questioning, among other things, if he's sick because of her cooking or because she doesn't clean the house enough. Discussing this with a family friend, it was remarked that nobody can beat oneself up quite like a mother. It was also mentioned by said friend that "if not cleaning caused illness, then we'd [her family] all be dead."

Pope Takes

Pope Francis Covers Women with Blankets!

(I wonder if that's a substitute for binders full of women in Argentina?)

According to a new item posted by Fr. Z about the Latin Mass in Argentina, "Regresó la misa en latín, con mujeres cubiertas por mantillas," which plugged into Google Translate means "he returned the Latin Mass, with women covered by blankets." This is obviously oppression, suppression, impression, and linear regression of women! This just goes to show that the eeeeeevil Church patriarchy isn't happy unless all of the fairer sex is smothered under layers of covers!

All kidding aside, remember my wish list for the new pope? Someone encouraging of the Latin Mass? Well, Fr. Z posted this article. Apparently, within 48 hours of B16 (bingo!) signing Summorum Pontificum, then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio arranged for a regular Latin Mass in Buenos Aires.

From other reports, it doesn't sound like he, personally, will be pushing hard for the EF Mass. However, I don't think that's really even his duty, at this point. So long as he allows it to continue and grow, it's really the job of the people to promote and further it. In SP, B16 (bingo!) said that priests everywhere had permission to celebrate the Latin Mass wherever the people demanded it. The onus is on the people to demand it.

Brick by brick, as Fr. Z says.

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