"It's a vampire!"
"In a parcel!"
"In our living room!"
"- Hate mail!"
"What do we do?"
"Only pop music can save us now!"

We're pretty sure Bob FM Rickrolled us this morning.

At about seven am, we were eating breakfast and listening to the radio as usual. There was a song on, I don't remember exactly which one- something innocuous, anyway- and it suddenly faded out some time before the end of the song. In faded Rick Astley, about a minute into the classic Rickrolling anthem, and it played for about two minutes before fading out into the end of another song- the last minute or two of Van Halen's "Running With The Devil, " as memory serves.

Bob's a little behind the curve as far as internet memes go, but it was still hilarious.

Watching the Rifftrax of Batman and Robin, and boy howdy, whenever I'm not watching the film, I forget how truly abysmal it really is. I mean, I know it sucks, but I forget the sheer *badness* of it until I'm actually watching the Riff. Amazing.

Bonfire, woo! It was so hot for a while that I was sitting around perfectly comfortably in a sweater and jeans. I also got confused as to why the chocolate on my s'mores wouldn't melt until I realized it was about thirty degrees out. #grins#

Bonfire was awesome; exhausted now though. Pics tomorrow.

We're attending a hot dog roast and bonfire tonight. In January. I'll have to wear about four jackets but I'm very excited. :)

There are worse things to do when one has a cold than to watch the Avengers.

Happy MLK Day!

"Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

- Dr. Martin Luther King, "I Have A Dream, " August 28th, 1963

Things I Am Reading:

"Manx Calendar Customs, " Cyril Ingram Paton
"The Novels of Dashiell Hammett, " Dashiell Hammett


Things I Have Recently Finished:

"Rogue Male, " Geoffrey Household
"Start Where You Are, " Pema Chodron
"The Trolley To Yesterday, " John Bellairs

More from "It Made My Day"

"A friend and I were crossing a very busy street in a crosswalk and some d-bag blew by right in front of us – and immediately following him was a state cop who rolled down his window and yelled, “Here comes justice, ladies!” to us right before he pulled him over. IMMD"

"About a week ago, I wrote “Once Upon A Time…” on the bathroom wall. When a returned to the stall I found the wall had been filled with a story about a dragon and a lamb becoming friends. IMMD"

"Today, I found that my dog had spent the entire night defending my escaped hamster from the two cats who want to eat him. I like to think that they are an adventure team now. IMMD."

"I work in a clothing store and yesterday the manager asked me to write a return tag for a defective T-Shirt. I asked what was wrong and she said “I don’t know, just write anything” so I put “covered in poison.” Five minutes later a girl walked over, inspected the tag, screamed and dropped the shirt. IMMD."

"It Made My Day"

My 5 yr old just called my cat Sean Connery and offered it a “mouse-tini”. IMMD

Yesterday I bought a useful little thing that not only cuts the crust off my sandwich, but it also makes it into two little dinosaurs. today I woke up at noon and came downstairs only to find my brother had set up an entire jungle of bologna and cheese dinos, complete with lettuce trees and little basil leaves in the dino’s mouths. My brother is 18. IMMD.

I was driving to a Gamestop when I noticed a man dressed as Mario advertising for a near-by Walmart. I told the workers at Gamestop, and they quickly got someone dressed as Luigi and sent him to the same corner. IMMD

My friend was searching for a mop bucket earlier. As she stormed around the house, opening every cabinet, she came up to my dad and said “HAZ U SEEN MAH BUKKIT?” IMMD.

Duamuteffe: "So I left Tim a message and told him I'd bribe him with lunch at El Canello's if he took me shopping. I'm sure he'll do it if he's got the time, he's always happy to help, if you can get ahold of him. I mean, if you're in trouble, and you can find him-"
Owlvark: "What, he's the A-Tim?"
#pause#
Duamuteffe and Owlvark, in unison: "Da da da DA, da da DAAAAA!"

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

- Robert Heinlein, gods rest his saintly soul

Since yesterday went south, we went to see Sherlock Holmes again to at least send the day on a good note. And it was. I loved it even more than the first time, since now I know the plot and thus have time to look at all the little details they've added in. I <3 this film the way the Owlvark <3's the Ipcress File, which is saying something.

Since I can't find it anywhere else on the 'net, in the game Opoona, the Tokione Moon Forest Hotel is found as follows: When you get off the pod transport and go out into the main aisle (Tokione B1 Center Aisle, where the entrances to the Great Racetrack is) go to the map in the middle of the aisle. 180 degrees from the map, i.e. right behind it, is a nondescript door. Go through that door, and you'll be on a glass walkway around the museum, which you can't get to from the museum proper. Follow that around, go through the door, and there you are at the hotel.

Took me half the afternoon to find the bloody thing...