I've read about half of the issue of The Nautilus Engine with my story, "The Necromouser," in it. I think they put it up last night. At least, that's when I found it. Anyway, it's pretty exciting to see how the editors have pulled all these very different but thematically connected stories together. They're all about death and resurrection -- but, each story has its own spin on resurrection. I can't wait to read the rest. Hopefully, Elaine will let me read some more tomorrow.

Speaking of Elaine, she's invented her first pretend game. She takes dog-like stuffed animals (her favorite is a fox) and puts them in Trudy's kennel. She knows that's where dogs go, and she finds it endlessly entertaining to put them there.

Well... Not "endlessly," obviously. If she really found it "endlessly" entertaining, I'd have a little more time to read The Nautilus Engine. Ah well. It's cute anyway, even if it's not quite that time-consumingly useful.

It feels very circular for Dr. Who to be my favorite show of late. It's not a show I've watched regularly since before I can remember; however, I'm told it was my favorite show when I was Elaine's age. So, David Tennant will be Elaine's Peter Davison.

I've tried watching some episodes of Dr. Who from way back then. Mostly, my dvr has been picking up Tom Baker episodes, but it recently graduated to Peter Davison. I like Peter Davison better, but I don't think that has to do with a residual fondness from my very early childhood. He simply has a more similar style to David Tennant. Either way -- Tom Baker or Peter Davison -- the 70s/80s Dr. Who's are much slower paced than modern television. Combining that with the general low-budget cheesiness makes them a little hard to watch. I generally leave them playing in the background while I read. That way I can absorb some of the history of the show without my brain ending up too numbed.

One thing that's surprised me in watching the new Dr. Who's is that the episodes I like the very best are the horror ones. Dr. Who does the whole spectrum of flavors -- fantasy, sci-fi, and horror. And, as I would expect, I like the sci-fi, by and large, better than the fantasy. The basic rule is: the farther into the future it's set, the better. However, if it's all strange and suspenseful -- well, those are the ones I just love.

I hadn't realized before what a taste for the horror genre I have. I started to get a hint of it when I read some Lovecraft last year. He wasn't at all what I expected, and I found his stories strangely addictive in addition to merely strange. I think, before that, I equated "horror" with "slasher," which doesn't interest me. Suspense movies, however... I've always been drawn to those. So, the idea of horror as strange and suspenseful is much more intriguing.

Elaine is learning humor from icanhascheezburger.com. Daniel looks at lolcat pictures with her -- he laughs at the captions; she loves all the pictures of animals. It's kind of frightening that this is where her sense of humor is being trained.

Apparently, she likes the pictures of kittens best.

New Brian Wilson album! September 2nd! (It's only been, oh, four years. 'Cause, while I love SMiLE and the X-mas album -- I can't help it -- they really don't count.)

The black birds at Mathews Beach search unwatched strollers for accessible eatables. The squirrels chase each other in circles around the trunks of trees. Loud clattering.

No camellia bushes or rhododendrons in attendance though. I think the squirrels scare them away.

Every weekend should be like this last weekend. On Friday, we went to a graduation party for one of my cousins in Olympia featuring tacos, banana splits, and a bunch of family I don't see all that often. Saturday, we went to a birthday party for one of Elaine's little cohorts. They're all turning a year old around now, and it's fun to watch them play together. Then, yesterday was Daniel's first Father's Day with Elaine. I made him banana bread and served him tea in his new Father's Day mug for breakfast. For lunch, we picnicked in the backyard (which thrilled Trudy) while scheming about what we'll do for Daniel's graduation party next year. Then, we had dinner at the Outback Steakhouse. Elaine allowed us to get through the meal, but only because I broke out the fruit loops. Those things are magical. I try not to overuse them, because I don't want their magic to wear out.

Like I said, a good weekend. Not many weekends sport a party or holiday every day. Though, Daniel was going through and tallying up all the holidays we do celebrate, and -- between birthdays, anniversaries, and conventional, cultural holidays -- we have one or more, pretty much every month. So, now I get to look forward to the July holidays: fireworks, followed by Elaine's birthday.

I'm really taken with one of the variations of "lol" that I recently ran into: "rofloctopus." It's the next step after "roflcopter," which is cute but doesn't really make sense. A helicopter can't roll on the floor very well, let alone laugh. An octopus, however...

Well, think about it. Really try to picture it. The tentacles. The rolling. The writhing. The laughter. It's a wonderful image.