A sense of futility

Q: How many specifically prohibited behaviors can Wild Thing engage in sequentially when he's trying to get my goat?

A: I lost count.

Friday Random Ten--Disconnected Edition

So, in the interest of making better headway on my dissertation, I've been spending a lot of time with the network cable unplugged. So that's part of the reason we haven't had many posts up here at Partial View Central. I'll try to rectify that soon. In the interim ...

1. Mr. Bad Example--Warren Zevon
2. Dry Bones--Bascom Lamar Lunsford
3. Hard to Explain--The Strokes
4. Statesboro Blues--Taj Majal
5. It Makes No Difference--The Band
6. In the City--The Jam
7. Hand in Glove--The Smiths
8. Ballroom--Bill Frisell
9. Ohio--Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young
10. Into the Fire--Bruce Springsteen

Don't trip

This morning, Wild Thing engaged in an unusual behavior. Holding a tiny mirror from a travel kit up against his nose, he began to spin round and round in a wildly gyrating circle, emitting odd but enthusiastic groans and wails.

Wild Thing: OoooEEEEEOOOOO! WheeeOOOOOHHHHHEEEEE!

Overworked Spouse: Wild Thing, that's a very silly thing to be doing.

Me: I think it's time to stop giving him LSD right before bedtime.

Updates and such

OK, so I'm falling down on my promise to post a report on the trip to the Midwest and all the cuteness and such that occurred there. My excuse is that, as is so often the case, I picked up a virus or something while there or in transit, and all I've wanted to do since I got back is lie in bed with my eyes closed, occasionally¹ coughing a little. It didn't really help that the weather did that magic 180°-turn it does here from gloomy spring into fairly hot summer, which only serves to intensify the lethargy. Overworked Spouse finally found time to put the hammock back up, which only increases the urge to lie on my back doing nothing, least of all blogging.

Anyway, I'm feeling better now, so I'll try to post a few things in the next few days.


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1. "Occasionally" in this context means every 90 seconds.

The thirst

WT: "Daddy, can I have some water? I'm so drinky!"

Back from the Back of Beyond

We're back. We survived the mosquito swarms, the 70mph winds, the 90F heat, and the cabal of preschoolers who threatened to overthrow parental rule and institute a terrifying triumvirate of toddlers. Many fascinating details and anecdotes will follow, to be sure. But in the interim, here's something for those with an interest in music and/or randomness, or who are really bored.


1. "I'll Believe in Anything"--Wolf Parade
2. "Nothing to You"--Two Gallants
3. "Blues Dream"--Bill Frisell w/ Dave Holland and Elvin Jones
4. "The Marriage"--Billy Bragg
5. "Feel"--Big Star
6. "The Fisherman"--Leo Kotke
7. "The Short Answer"--Billy Bragg
8. "Ojo"--Leo Kotke
9. "Ballad of a Teenage Queen"--Johnny Cash
10. "No Woman No Cry (Live)"--Bob Marley & the Wailers

Friday Random Ten--Pre-Hiatus Edition

This blog thing will probably be mostly on hiatus while Wild Thing and I visit the Midwestern branch of the extended clan. I can't wait to get out of this maritime climate and sit baking in that good ol' 95 F heat.

If anything particularly interesting happens and assuming I can remember my blogger password, perhaps I'll sign in once or twice, but otherwise look for a report on the trip sometime after June 21. This summer promises to offer increased levels of cuteness, and as I enter the final stages of dissertating I'll be looking for new and improved ways to procrastinate, so I should be posting a bit more often once I get back.

In the meanwhile, here's this week's instalation of the love-it-or-hate-it-or-just-don't-care-about-it random ten.

1. "Private Conversation"--Lyle Lovett
2. "The Prayer Wheel"--Bright Light Quartet
3. "O Day"--Bessie Jones, Hobart Smith, &c.
4. "Starving in the Belly of the Whale"--Tom Waits
5. "Hard to Explain"--The Strokes
6. "Nothing in Rambling"--Lucinda Williams
7. "California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade"--The Decemberists
8. "Shakespeare's Sister"--The Smiths
9. "Feel"--Big Star
10. "It Ought to Be Easier"--Lyle Lovett

Sundown report

It's 9:30 p.m. and it's still light enough that you could read outside.

That is all.

Toddler personhood

Me (watching Wild Thing eating breakfast like a barbarian, as usual): Wild Thing, why can't you eat like a civilized person?

WT: I'm not a person! I'm a boy!

Home again, home again

I'm back. Wild Thing was very good while I was gone, though he is obviously quite happy to have me back. Overworked Spouse took much of today to prepare her final exam, so I was on duty most of the day; happily, WT was generally enthusiastic about everything I proposed. He was especially happy with my proposal that we use one of his spare bedsheets as an impromptu tent, strung up between couch and coffee table. Asked by Overworked Spouse what he thought about this activity, he yelled "It's great!"

WT has lately been insisting that OS read him The Cat in the Hat Comes Back in a rather novel way. The book has been retitled: The Cat in the Hat Goes Away. The plot details vary and are sometimes freely improvised, but in general they invert the themes and motifs of the original. WT replicates this peculiar inversion in smaller ways and in other contexts. This book, for example, which originally led to random outburts of "No, Pat, no, don't sit on that!" has now inspired him to pronounce, with some frequency, "Yes, Pat, sit on that!" These words uttered with a grin marked with both delight and mischief. It's the linguistic equivalent of his habit of putting puzzles back together incorrectly, I suppose.