Didn't see that nightmare coming...

The nightmare: There's a monster, probably an alien, that's been creeping around eating people. I am on a train trying to get away from it, or trying to get to help. There is some reason to suspect that it might be following us or on the train with us.

The creepy part: I am in some sort of dining car on the train and talking to my friend. I ask him if he's planning to eat all of the rather large steak on the plate in front of him. He says, "Yeah, that would be tragic, wouldn't it, if I ate my whole steak?" At this point the lights go out, for about the duration of his sentence - we've passed through a tunnel or something.

When the lights come back on, I am staring at his head and the head of another of our friends. Their bodies are gone. Their heads are mounted on the wall, looking down in my general direction. They are part of a large, fleshy mass that is suspended across the ceiling and hanging down partway onto the walls.

This freaks me out sufficiently that my brain insists on ducking down under the table, scooting it over to the door of the train, and jumping off the moving train - complete with tuck, roll, and hope-nothing-breaks landing sequence. I am actually picking myself up and checking myself for injuries in the grass beside the train tracks before my brain will let me wake up.

The REALLY creepy part: I wake up and realize that out here in the real world, something soft and gentle is touching my face. Apparently I am sleeping in Firstborn's bed, and he has rolled over and put a hand out.

Despite the fact that it's only 11:30 or so at night, and I have spent the entire day - and, as a matter of fact, most of this week - so completely exhausted that I could barely see straight... Despite that, I am now wide awake.

Yeah. Thanks, kid. I needed that.

Deconstruction: Night of the Living Dead Christian 3

In which the werewolf first takes over narration...

Welcome to the detailed (and, unfortunately, spoiler-rich) review of Night of the Living Dead Christian. For a briefer review that doesn't give anything away, read the main review. If you're curious, here's a discussion of why I'm doing this.

This is a rather long bit of reaction, so I'm breaking it up into sections. Hopefully that will allow for more bite-sized discussions. So, now that you've all been fairly warned, we'll pick up the deconstruction after the jump:

Real Work Conversations: Not Enough Logins

Me: "So, wait. If you're you, and James is me, who am I???"

My Boss: "Muwahahaha!"

(For anyone who's confused: we're working on a particular piece of software that only came with a certain number of licenses, because we've been too cheap to upgrade to something sensible. So I have an account, and my boss has an account. Our minion James also uses my account. However, we can't be logged in on two different machines at the same time, so if James is using my login I have to log in as a my boss. This morning, they were both logged in, so I was feeling all left out.

Deconstruction: Night of the Living Dead Christian 2

In which we introduce the monsters...

Welcome to the detailed (and, unfortunately, spoiler-rich) review of Night of the Living Dead Christian. For a briefer review that doesn't give anything away, read the main review. If you're curious, here's a discussion of why I'm doing this.

This is a rather long bit of reaction, so I'm breaking it up into sections. Hopefully that will allow for more bite-sized discussions. So, now that you've all been fairly warned, we'll pick up the deconstruction after the jump:

Reflections on Difficult Questions Part 2

This is Claire... which I guess makes me the Deranged Girlfriend? Or maybe not. Anyway, since my boyfriend is still under the weather, I thought I’d kind of fill in. I mean, I don’t know too much about what he’s been doing at work, and here at home he’s mostly been resting, but there’s some other stuff I can tell you about.

Anne, for instance. She’s come by twice since her first visit. She wants to talk, and I guess she doesn’t have that many people she can talk to anymore. And she’s been asking a lot more questions, and I’ve been answering them as best I can... because they’re not questions about things she shouldn’t know.

She’s asking questions about being a Catholic. Which, you know, I can mostly answer. I’m not sure the Church would approve of everything I have to say, but that’s how it goes. And it’s interesting to look at something that I’ve done my whole life, and try to explain it to someone who’s completely new to it.

I haven't asked her many questions. I don't know if she's thinking about joining the church. I don't know if she's thinking about working with Father Peter, or if she's asked him about anything of the sort. I don't know why she's talking to me and not my boyfriend. Maybe - and whatever else she's considering, I think this is part of it - she just wants to talk to someone who knows about what happened and won't think she's crazy.

Father Peter is treating us with the same unfocused fondness that he always has. If he's learned anything new about us, it hasn't affected his opinions. Well, that or he's an insanely good actor. He's nice to us, but not any nicer or more... familiar? than before.

I know my boyfriend's watching someone in particular at work, but he hasn't said who (and I probably wouldn't know them anyway) or why. I suppose for another couple that might be a problem, but for us... no, I trust him. I think he's hoping that it doesn't turn into another situation like the one we just cleaned up.

And that's really all I have to add for the moment.

Deconstruction: Night of the Living Dead Christian 1

In which we get started...

Welcome to the detailed (and, unfortunately, spoiler-rich) review of Night of the Living Dead Christian. For a briefer review that doesn't give anything away, read the main review. If you're curious, here's a discussion of why I'm doing this.

This is a rather long bit of reaction, so I'm breaking it up into sections. Hopefully that will allow for more bite-sized discussions. I'm also tempted to create a cast list, just to avoid confusion; we'll see if that's needed or not. Meanwhile, if you're ready and willing to proceed, join us below the cut:

True Parenting Conversations

This is what it's like to have me for a Dad. Before I explain, though, I have to offer some background, so:

Firstborn owns a pair of plastic statues of transformers. They don't move, and they don't transform. Originally, they were toppers on a birthday cake. Firstborn also owns a great number of Imaginext toys, including several from their Outer Space setting. The little Imaginext space-guys have helmets that fit down over their heads and shoulders. One of these wound up in the shower, somehow, with the Transformer statues. So, in a fit of whimsy, I stuck it on Bumblebee's head.

This led to the following conversation:

Firstborn: "Why does Bumblebee have a mask?"
Me: "So nobody will know that he's a ninja."
Firstborn: "Bumblebee isn't a ninja."
Me: "No?"
Firstborn: "He's a Transformer. He's not a ninja."
Me: "Then why does he have a mask?"
Firstborn. "I do not know."