My mind, and the places it goes

that a conversation with mabfan suddenly sends me down the rabbit hole of "Well, maybe Coulson was sent undercover by Colonel Fury to buy CSC to be a cover for the planning around the origins of the Avengers? Having a New York television station in your arsenal is not necessarily a bad thing..."

Scene: On Saturday night, mabfan and gnomi are at the seder with lcmlc and Abba-with-no-LJ. gnomi has just broken the Afikoman for distribution.

gnomi: There are pieces of varying size.

mabfan: Pieces of Varying Size? I don't believe they exist.

This subsequently sparked a conversation about "The Princess Bride," the fact that lcmlc has never read the book, and whether Goldman should do a digital enhancement.

mabfan: It would be like what Lucas did with "Star Wars."

gnomi: Inigo parried first!

(Background: mabfan and I enjoy superhero movies. This should not be a surprise to anyone. So we've been seeing all the Marvel movies and enjoying the various tags at the end when Nick Fury comes to recruit the movie's main character to join the Avengers. And some time this summer, I posited that perhaps *all* media could be improved by the addition of Nick Fury coming to recruit the protagonist, leading to...)

(Scene: mabfan is reading Corduroy to Muffin and Squeaker.)

mabfan: "You must be a friend. I've always wanted a friend." "Me, too," said Lisa. And then Colonel Nick Fury shows up to recruit Corduroy for the Avengers.

gnomi: "I must be a superhero! I think I've always wanted to be a superhero," said Corduroy.

This is what it's been like since Wednesday:

-- Wednesday: Finished my Thanksgiving cooking (I did half and lcmlc did half, and a guest brought a dish): pumpkin bread, crustless pumpkin pie (so more like a pumpkin custard), brisket, stuffing/dressing (it was outside the bird), and cranberry-apricot chutney. Also, saw "Harry Potter and the First Half of the Book Deathly Hallows Part I."

-- Thursday: Thanksgiving dinner at lcmlc and Abba's. Lots of food. Everyone around the table was family. Small crowd: to Muffin and Squeaker, it was Mommy and Daddy, Sabba and Savta, Uncle Bill, and Uncle David. Plus, of course, Muffin and Squeaker. Who loved all the food.

-- Friday: Home with mabfan and Muffin and Squeaker during the day. Cooked Shabbat lunch during girlie nap time. Took advantage of crazy-early licht bentchen (candle lighting at the beginning of Shabbat) (3:58, and that's not the earliest this year) to be able to have dinner out and still be home not too late for girlie bedtime. Also, our next column came out.

-- Saturday: Shabbat. Went to shul after hour-long power outage resolved. Upstairs neighbor had urge to run around our apartment and adjust our timers. Odd impulse that I was glad to take advantage of. ;-) Hosted lunch at our place for aunt_becca and R and B. Much fun was had. Much mac and cheese was consumed.

-- Sunday: Had Lexington-based family visiting for brunch combined with gnomi's Tailoring Services. Security blanket repaired.

-- Today: Up at 3:30 AM with a Muffin who is cutting four new teeth simultaneously. Somehow, Squeaker slept through the hullabaloo but was awake at 6:30. So far I have attended a webinar, made a job-search-related appointment for tomorrow afternoon, and put in a laundry. I am playing the hours that mabfan is at work as a hermit, only socializing with Muffin and Squeaker and their babysitter.

-- While making French toast on Sunday, I ran out of custard half way through the last piece of challah. I therefore created what I am now calling Quebecois Toast: half French toast, half Anglo bread.

-- Entertainment Weekly did a poll recently to see who people think would be the best actor to play the next Superman. The six choices were Matt Bomer, Henry Cavill, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jon Hamm, Brandon Routh, and Tom Welling.

-- Thanks to everyone who voted in my poll yesterday.

-- Anyone looking for a technical writer? Inquiring minds want to know.

-- I think we have successfully gotten Squeaker to sleep through the night (she was doing what the medical professionals consider sleeping through the night -- 6 hours of sleep -- but I don't consider a baby who wakes up at 3 AM to be sleeping through the night). Now her biggest impediment to sleep is Muffin, ready to play, waking her up at 6:45. If Squeaker had only said, "Mommy, Daddy, I want a crib tent" ten months ago, we wouldn't be so underslept.

-- On Monday I discovered that no matter how good the map you're carrying, it is still very possible to get yourself on totally the wrong street in the Beacon Hill/West End section of Boston. While walking from Government Center to the Mass General area, I managed to almost end up on the Suffolk University campus, at the Garden (it will always be the Boston Garden to me), and in an apartment complex behind Charles St.

-- I am watching with interest the increased scrutiny of late hits/helmet-to-helmet hits in football.

-- The combination of more sleep at night and a bit more free time in the evenings is inspiring me to get into writing regularly again. Beside the Patch column, I am hoping to get back into regular fiction writing again.

Scene: mabfan and gnomi are getting dressed for work.

mabfan: I was woken in the middle of REM. In my dream, I had to drive a truck into a hotel elevator.
( Inception Spoilers Within )

I have a vague idea that I have posted on this topic in the past, but I can't find it and I admit that I am working today on a serious Squeaker-induced sleep deficit, so just go with it.

Twice today I have referenced popular culture in conversations with mabfan, and it reminded me just how much of my daily conversation is either taken directly from or in the style of dialogue writers that I admire. Today it was Joss Whedon (mabfan: Did I fall asleep? gnomi-in-Topher-voice: For a little while. mabfan: Shall I go now?) and Aaron Sorkin ("Turns out, I have a rose garden" in reference to a resource I hadn't realized I had at work). But sometimes it's William Goldman ("As you wish," "Who are those guys?") or Marta Kauffman/David Crane ("Could it be any colder?") or some other writer I'm not thinking of right now.

I know mabfan and I aren't the only ones who do this. So... who writes your dialogue?

Scene: mabfan and gnomi are watching WarGames.

mabfan: That's Cheyenne Mountain.

gnomi: Yeah, it is.

mabfan: The Stargate isn't there yet, though.

gnomi: They probably moved the 'Gate in there after they moved the WOPR out.

mabfan: Yeah, probably.

-- Had guests for both meals on Shabbat. Was much fun. People ate lots. We still have lots and lots of baked ziti left (because I made two pans, lest we not have enough food).

-- Am going to make another pot of corn chowder tonight, for eating the rest of the week. No particular reason other than it's tasty and we like it.

-- To ponder: does corn bread go with corn chowder, or is it too much corn all in one place.

-- Note: chocolate carrot cake makes excellent cupcakes. Also note: having folks frost their own (bringing the container of cream cheese frosting to the table) is an excellent idea all around. And it prompts people to randomly eat the frosting. Further note: making the frosting in a Gladware container was good decision.

-- Watched "The Specials" on Saturday night, borrowed from xiphias and cheshyre. Was cute movie. Still liked "Mystery Men" better.

-- Sunday, saw "Iron Man." Highly recommended. If you go, do stay through the credits. It's worth it. Trust me.

-- Sunday afternoon spent mostly editing. Got lots done, still some to finish up.

-- Now back in office. Cannot type "None" without almost typing "Nomi." Fingers clearly trained.

...by gnomi

In handy-dandy bulletpoint format:

Friday

-- Got up at regular time
-- Did lots of Shabbat prep (without the crazy running-around bits, for once)
-- Ran a couple of errands in the neighborhood
-- Brought in Shabbat on time (without even using the 18 minutes at all)
-- Relaxing dinner with mabfan: mac & cheese and homemade challah and homemade pumpkin pie (along with other stuff)
-- Early to bed, early to sleep

Shabbat

-- Shul with not-such-a-surprise kiddush for queendeb
-- Lunch with many people (mabfan, elul_3, joules314, their kids, mbarr, who was visiting, maric23, his parents, and A)
-- Quiet motza"sh at home with mabfan, watching stuff on TV and DVD (lots of SG-1)

Sunday

-- Made pancakes for breakfast (since had milk left over from making mac & cheese for Shabbat dinner)
-- Knit and watched football while mabfan visited with former student
-- Met with lucretia_borgia and other shul friend about stuff
-- Home, dinner with mabfan, more SG-1

Monday

-- Up early.
-- Went with mabfan to Boston Museum of Science for the CSI: The Experience exhibit (closing 1 January). Was quite enjoyable (we did Case #2, the body in the alley).
-- From museum, went to Loews Boston Common theater to see "National Treasure: Book of Secrets." Assessment: Ludicrous but fun.
-- Went home. Ate late lunch. Watched a bit of TV.
-- Went back out to Circle Cinema to see "Charlie Wilson's War." Assessment: enjoyable and thought provoking. Yay for Sorkin script. Boo for Sorkin-script-but-no-Josh-Malina.
-- After film, home to catch up on sleep from getting up early and running around like semi-crazed monkeys.

Tuesday

-- Quiet morning at home. More SG-1, as SciFi channel showing marathon (all of season 9, it seemed).
-- Out to see Juno. Assessment: Funny and sweet, very enjoyable.
-- After movie, late lunch at Ta'am China, thus fulfilling the two mitzvot of the day (for those of us in cities. Those in the arei haprazot are not m'chuyav in both Chinese food and movie if, for them, Chinese food is not available).
-- At TC, ran into mbarr, maric23 and A. After browse in Israel Book Shop, brought them all back to our place briefly. Got to see chanaleh and jessruth when they came to get mbarr.
-- Spent quiet evening at home. Knit more on TARDIS.

Wednesday (AKA today)

-- Slept in slightly while mabfan went workward.
-- Ran various errands, then went to meet mabfan for lunch at Milk St.
-- After lunch, ran other errands, then came home. Knit more TARDIS.
-- Meeting friends (including llennhoff and malkaesther) for dinner