My wife has had more opportunity to watch the little one at play, especially changing those dreaded WMD filled diapers. The cute little mobile my father bought has these adorable butterflies that Arwen apparently gets excited about. She will babble and coo at them and well... communicate and talk with the butterflies.
Boy it does make me a tad acrophobic though... I'd imagine running back to get a volley, and BAM! This took place the first of the month apparently in the most posh hotel on the planet, in Dubai. It was for exhibition, and there were no safety nets, asside from what they already had in place. My old roomate told me about the hotel, and it is indeed very very very decadent.
Oh man... I tell you, unintentionally hurting your child is a bad bad thing. While TRYING to cut Arwen's nails yesterday, with her wigglin n stuff, I accidently clipped a piece of skin off, enough to draw blood. Needless to say...
*WWWAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!*
I really hate that feeling, makes me sick in all honesty. I cannot even REMOTELY conceive of people who would willingly hurt a newborn. Well she's all better today, with a bit of a scab.
Ahh for all you Star Wars fans.. this is awesome. It's always great when you have some dubious copies of Episode 3 floating around the net. Then you take english translations, possibly either babelfish the sucka, or just invent whatever the fuck you want and stick it in the DVD text subtitles.
Well.. not 1 full year, but one full month! In Chinese traditions, the one month birthday is a big deal. Unfortunately we have very little means, as well as no relatives within 500 miles of us (except a few in Calgary) so we didn't throw any big bash, or any bash at all. We aren't very traditional to start with, so all we did was get some chinese food take out, and some chinese bakery stuff and pigged out for Arwen's sake. How about that for a Bday eh? LOL
ADDENDUM: according to my dad, we're supposed to eat Roast Pork, and red eggs. Hmm.. no ones stickin a red egg in my mouth I can Gaaa ran tee yooo!
Well not exactly Milli or Vanilli, it sure ain't from the 80's. This one's really quite a lot of fun, and it made me laugh. In the tradition of the Star Wars Kid, here's a fun lip syncher. I liked it so much I had to find out what the song was. It's O-Zone's Dragostea Din Tei in case you were trying to find out about it. SING IT BOYEEEE.
Ahh we've all played an RTS game like Age of Empires, Warcaft, or C&C from time to time. Here's how a typical conversation would have gone had world leaders around the 1942 era played a rousing game of Dubya Dubya Too.
RIP. Montgomery Scott, aka actor James Doohan has gone to the great big Star Trek convention in the sky. The gruff but loveable character 'Scotty' that he played on the Star Trek series, as well as several movies will be missed. He was born in 1920 in Vancouver, which I didn't know. As my bro puts it, he finally lived up to the Red Shirt status.
Live Long and Prosper (and whatever Star Trekism you wish to insert here)
Well, for those of you who've been living under a rock for the past 10 or so years, oh and if you're not 14 years old, you probably don't know about this 'Harry Potter' thing. Well making it's author, J.K. Rowling, akin to the Bill Gates of children's books, these series of 7 books are actually quite an enjoyable read. On Book six right now, the release date was on Sunday I believe and apparently Chapters had lineups at around midnight! The cheapest price in Canada apparently was Safeway.. yeah Safe-friggin-way at 19.99 CDN. I for one like reading it electronically on my handy palm, and while my wife is also not able to hold a 10 lb book, as well as a 7lb baby in her hands, also opts for the ebook type version. There is a group of people who love to 'release' books to the internet and beat the street release dates regularly. Kind of an accomplishment to basically scan and correct a 600 page book I guess.. if you're into that. I'm about half way through the 'Half-Blood Prince' right now and enjoying the adventures of one bespectacled kid with a stick.
It's always a pleasure to see familiar faces when you've relocated to a different area, province, country or what have you. My Uncle n Aunt came by early in the year, then we visited Vicki's rellies, following the birth of Arwen my parents came (as you can see from earlier blogs) and finally Vicki's Bro, Finacee and Mom came to town. Most of the time it's a real treat. But as the saying goes, you can choose your friends, but not your relations.
Arwen is beginning to crack smiles now and again. There really is something magical in watching a newlyborn begin to turn their frowns upside down. Nothing beats the joy one gets by seeing a baby smile.
My father being the prolific composer that he is, has been inspired to write several songs. Specifically since the birth of Arwen, here's one that's particularly nice. Have a listen, and if you're interested, you can look further at his other compositions.
I thought it would be funny to compare the size of the old Xbox controller with Arwen. If you look at the gallery of photos, you'll see another one that's not as aggressive an angle, but still looks like she's only double the size of this monstrosity. Reminds me of a Penny Arcade strip.
Just saw War of the Worlds, I believe which is the 4th version, with my Dad. I must say, very nice production values, as befits a Spielburgesque film. It had a very manageable story and yes, it was chock full of special effects. The SFX definitely ended up stealing the show with more CG than you can shake a Jar Jar at. But still quite entertaining, and well worth heading to your local superplex to give it a looksee.
My folks arrived yesterday at 2:30am. They couldn't find a hotel room, so drove straight from Vancouver. Zoiks. First my Uncle n Aunt driving non stop, then my parents. Goodyear and Exxon are reaping the benefits off my relatives that's for sure!
One of the most shocking things you can experience is some sort of illness, injury or anything negative to do with a child. We routinely fall asleep with our loved one in our arms. Natuarally this is a very loving position, but depending on circumstances, not always the most safe. Well it happened. We were sleeping, and cause Princess Poopy Pants is also a wiggler, she managed to fall off while on top of us. *THUMP* *WAAAHHH*. Needless to say, very scary, and it necessitated a trip to the emergency to ensure all was ok. All is ok, clean bill of health, and we'll continue to monitor her in the coming days.
It really makes you think about the vulnerability of a little tyke, as well as the resilience of even a tiny human body though. Mind you the fall was from a very low recliner to carpet (about 1.5 ft).
Happy ID4 to all my fellow american friends, family, expats, and colleagues south of the 49th. May your capitol not be incinerated by a beam of unimaginable power and royally screwed by aliens (no I don't mean illegal aliens). Hmm. that reminds me.. must watch War of the Worlds.
Strange how I find myself just staring at our baby for seemingly hours on end. It's fascinating watching their every expression from pained, to joy. From the piccie on the side you can tell my wife shares the same enthusiasm for my newfound hobby. Waiting for minutes on end for little Arwen's eyes to snap open are suddenly an event of infinite importance, where other tasks take on a lesser mein. Also it allows my eyes to crust over from lack of blinking. mekmek (sound of crusted eyes blinking open).
Well.. now I know how it feels to be neutered. Not really neutered, but sheesh. I tell you I've been reading dooce.com and bloggingbaby.com. Tell me, is this what it feels like to have your balls cut off, and read un-masculine shit? I think I need to down a six pack of Colt 45, do a drive by, and watch a Monday Night Football game or something. Seriously, those blogs are good reads, but I think I better go by my ol standbys and read more Penny Arcade and Engadget.com. Must establish techno manliness... need more strength... fading fast... GAH!
Those of you who are parents know about the terrors of baby bodily functions. I tell you, the stuff that comes out of a tiny baby could be bottled and sent into those VX canisters from the Bruckheimer movie 'the Rock'. Of course, you could also record the sonic assault you call a baby's cry, rip it at 320 bit rate MP3, then blast it out at a few hundred decibels. That would be enough to get 'the Shrub' to invade Edmonton.
Happy Canada Day everyone! Not only are we celebrating our national independance day, but my daughter is one week old! C'mon, you didn't think I'd blog something without mentioning my baby didja? Honestly!