Why do I do it?

Can't sleep, so OF COURSE I go to YouTube and start watching Ghost Videos.

Then I spend half an hour watching The Amazing Randi debunk them.

Meanwhile, I SHOULD BE IN BED!!!

The Revolution has BEGUN!

Molly decided we needed to be up at 5:30 this morning (started at 5, became a full-fledged "No we ARE awake Daddy" by 5:30), and my body is revolting against me. Headache, nausea, dizziness... it reminds me of the "Flu" I used to get whenever I didn't want to go to work! I used to wonder what part of my illness was mental and what pat of it was physical, and now I think I know EXACTLY what it is:

I'm allergic to hours smaller than 8am.

That's all there is to it. The ONLY scientifically sound explanation.

Of course it doesn't help that I didn't get to sleep till just after 1am, either.

Geek Camp

We have my youngest niece, Hannah, coming to stay with us from Friday till Friday (7 days). She's like... what, maybe 8 or 9 years old? No matter. The big problem is that she feels like an outcast. With my OTHER two nieces (one of which is her older sister) I have created a Geek Bond over Comic Books, Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Oh, an Gilmore Girls. But poor Hannah... she just doesn't have that "Spark" for Geekdom!

Only interest in Comic Books is when she forces herself to try and read an Archie Digest that's been left behind by her sister. She doesn't read for enjoyment, she reads because she's looking for The Secret in there.

No interest in Sci-Fi, it's al too scary for her.

No interest in Fantasy, only goes to the Harry Potter movies because her Sister goes and she can't let her sister get away with doing something that she doesn't get to do.

But she SO VERY DESPERATELY wants to e a geek! She wants that special bond! She wants to have secret conversations with me and her aunt that her sister won't have any clue about!

And so this week we'll be doing an intensive 5-day "Geek Camp", designed to find exactly what genre of geekdom Hannah belongs in.

Camp starts on Sunday with An Introduction to Collectible Miniature & Trading Card Games. Hopefully i can find my Magic: The Gathering "Portal" edition boxed set that can help her master the basics of a mathematically-based card game, as well as play a few rounds of Marvel Legends and, depending on how confortable she is with either of those gaming systems, Mage Knight, Hero Clix and/or standard Magic: The Gathering.

Monday will be Female Empowerment Through Swords & Sorcery. A viewing of select episodes from "Xena: Warrior Princess" followed by and Arts & Crafts period where we make paper-bag armor and cardboard weapons.

Tuesday will be Role Playing 101. I'll take her through Dungeons & Dragons Character Creation during the day (including writing-up a back story), and a small-scale Dungeon Crawl that night once khristle gets home.

Wednesday is TV Potpourri. A mix of Classic TV to try and find some angle she might be interested in. Justice League, Super Friends, Star Trek, Star Trek: Next Generation and anything else I can think of to inspire the girl will be ready and available.

Thursday will be a recap of everything we've done.

Friday is Graduation.

Any input? Ideas? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Too young to dream?

Molly just woke up from her nap EXTREMELY happy! She was excited to point at the window in our bedroom an say "POP", which is her word for Mary Poppins (her favorite movie of al time). She had to say it 4 or 5 times before I caught on.

I asked her "Oh, I see... did you have a dream aout Mary Poppins coming in your window?"

She replied "WOOF!", which is how she always responds when the little dog (Andrew) comes on the screen during Mary Poppins.

I was SO FRIGGIN' CUTE!!!

PS: She also did her sign language for "More". She would like more dreams about Mary Poppins and Andrew, please :)

House of 1000 Muppets