It was all fun and games until she summoned the Prince of Darkness to bring her a pony.
July 20th (12:35 a.m.)
It just happened one day out of the blue. Our little girl got this look in her eyes like she was understanding a whole lot more than she used to. She was more engaged, more alert -- in short, she was freaking me slap-out. My mom said it was like being in a room with an adult. It's kind of creepy.
Naturally, since she's just under six months old, this is a little bit of imagination on our part, but tell me this doesn't look like a young Mr. Burns...
"I'll keep it short and sweet. Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business."
Actually, she's very cute and happy. It's just a little alarming to suddenly see the spark of intelligence in someone's eyes. I sure don't see it in myself most mornings<G>.
I'm officially a letter writin' crank!
July 16th (11:28 p.m.)
I just got my first "letter to the editor" published in the local paper. It's about this massive shopping mall that will go up on the interstate, and which, in the process will see the demolition of a gorgeous old house that's acted as kind of an unofficial welcome sign to the hometown for as long as I can remember.
Here's the text of the letter:
Developer Randall Spearman says of the Rosewood Mall project, "The development will be more dressed up and nice looking than anyone around Anderson has ever seen before." That's all very nice, but if history's any indication, it will one day look tattered and neglected in a way that Anderson (especially South Anderson) knows all too well, as development marches, literally, to greener pastures. As a lifelong resident of Anderson County for nearly forty years, I don't oppose growth; cities need to grow and people need places to live, and I certainly don't want to see my hometown wither on the vine. But I've watched Anderson County repeatedly discard its natural and historical resources in a headlong rush to grab the same cookie-cutter template that every other city seems to favor, full of anchor stores, corner steakhouses, and fly-by-night subdivisions. Reportedly, Rosewood Mall will claim the Sally Abney Rose house, one of Anderson's increasingly rare marks of character. In a time when downtown renovation efforts are justly praised and needed, it's ironic that just a few miles away, development continues to claim pieces of Anderson's identity. I commend Dan McKinney's recent guest column on sensible development guidelines, and I applaud Liz Harbin for starting a petition to save the Sally Abney Rose house.
It's not much, but it's a start. My wife and I sometimes sit and talk about how powerless we feel to effect any change, and whether writing to our congressmen or the newspapers makes any difference. The jury's still out on that, even on a local level, since good old boy croneyism is alive and well in every town you look. But you have to try, and maybe I'll get some momentum going and draft that really perturbed letter about one of my congressmen.
Heck, in no time at all, I might be a letter writing machine like Grampa Simpson, writing to complain that Young Bride magazine doesn't include enough senior citizens.
Not a lot going on right now...
July 11, 2007 (10:21 p.m.)
But I do have a new review up, of a DVD called Ever Since the World Ended. I enjoyed it, although I thought it was a little too charitable towards humanity. But that's probably just my misanthropy talkin'...