Today is an important day, friends–for today is the day I break my silence on The Lesbian Closet Incident.  While its image has remained vividly in my mind for the last 20 years, I have spoken of its existence to no one.  Interestingly, though, the LCI (as it shall henceforth be called) was not witnessed by me alone: in fact, it was clearly staged–yes, staged–for no less than 5-7 other girls…who, I can only assume, likewise told no one, or moved in rather different circles than I, such that I never again heard it discussed.

Before coming to this, however, let me prolong the mystery awhile and return to Sharon’s story.  What was so fascinating to me about it (besides the fact that it spoke to the all-encompassing disciplinary rules of our elementary school experience) is how clearly I remember it.  As Sharon describes it–running down the corridor and into the stall, hearing the sound of the approaching 5th-graders, jumping onto the toilet in complete terror, emerging later only to be shamed semi-publicly–I have the sense that this is too real, too first-hand-feeling for the experience of reading. I have the sense that I was there, or in some situation nearly identical; I have the bizarre sense that this is my memory.

I could not tell you what happened for sure.  It might be that it was me in the stall with Sharon and not Alex; it might be that I am conflating this narrative with another experience I recall that involved being similarly shamed by an older girl for smacking one of my girlfriends on the rear end.  Or it might be that, as with so many of our more striking memories, Sharon’s detailed reiterations of the story over the years of our friendship have created for me stories that seem to be mine, but which have become so only through the proxy of narrative.  In any case, I find this story to be oddly (queerly?) close to me, even though I would not have been able to articulate it without Sharon’s written memories.

The part of her story that brings the entire thing full-circle for me, though, is the seemingly-innocuous detail about the girls who taunted her (me? us?) being 5th-graders.  I believe that one of them–the one, in fact, who questioned her presence in the stall with another girl–was a girl named Chrissy*, and she figures prominently in (you guessed it!) The Lesbian Closet Incident.

I had a friend in fourth grade named Joy, who was over a year older than me as a result of having been held back a grade.  She was a sweet person and lived in the neighborhood behind my family’s main-road house, so when I wasn’t spending time at Sharon’s, I would ride my bike to see her.  There were moments I can recall in which our age difference struck me as significant–she used to beat the crap out of me at basketball, and seemed much more knowledgeable about the ways of the world than I was, as the youngest kid in our class.  For the most part, though, she was just a nice person, and never made me feel weird about wanting to spend time with her.

I was invited to her birthday party…either that year, or in fifth grade, when I’d left the Unnamed Private Christian School for the unknown world of Public School.  The party was a slumber party, full of older girls, and it was Popple-themed.  I spent most of the evening quietly turning a purple Popple inside and out again, trying to be cool, attempting to disguise the fact that I was intimidated by these (probably) 5th graders.

At some point in the evening, Chrissy suggested that we play a game.  I don’t recall now what the game actually was, but it seems that it must have incorporated elements of truth-or-dare and putting on a play, because when she decided that she would take her turn first, Chrissy informed us that she would need to practice with a partner, and would be ready very soon.  She and another girl–I’ll call her Rachel, since I don’t remember her name–then disappeared into the closet, from which the rest of us, confused, heard nothing but giggling for the next 5 minutes.

When they emerged, it was apparently for the purpose of demonstrating their completed work: a slightly unorthodox, and rather abbreviated version of that classic work, Romeo and Juliet.

Standing on a chair, Rachel gushed: “Oh Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?!”

Coming from behind the closet door, Chrissy-as-Romeo appeared, leaped atop the chair, and took Rachel somewhat awkwardly in her arms.  She then, in front of a room of at least 6 conservative Christian girls, kissed  Rachel.  With lots of tongue.  Then, unsatisfied that this performance had been adequately carried out–I believe because it failed to elicit the proper audience reaction, which, weirdly, was supposed to be laughter–they repeated it, closet-entrance and all, no less than three times.  Eventually, Chrissy suggested that it wasn’t working because a different Juliet was needed…though, perhaps sadly for her, this was met with a declaration by several of the girls that they didn’t think this was funny, and that we should play another game entirely.

Now, I know that all manner of so-called “adult” videos portray slumber parties as breeding grounds for exactly this sort of sexually transgressive behavior, but this is hardly the case.  Every other slumber party I’ve ever been to has been dominated almost entirely by cookies, dancing, fart jokes and (later in high school, when we got really cool) Trivial Pursuit.  How ironic, then, that the Lesbian Closet Incident should come out of one–and that this should happen just as our blog’s hit-count soars, in no small part because viewers in search of just such material come across our (undoubtedly disappointing!) sex- and bra-related tags!  It’s interesting, of course, to tell the story here and now: as a discrete incident, with a hindsight view, as a person whose academic work is interested (among other things) in sexual transgression.  Even labeling the LCI as I have makes it something other than what it was then…and “what it was,” is, as with Sharon’s bathroom stall memory, unclear to me.  I doubt that I knew what a “Lesbian” was then, and I had only vaguely begun to understand myself as having “crushes.”  All I knew was that I felt weird, that I didn’t want anyone to know that I did, and that some of the older girls had begun to act like something was terribly wrong.

From my perspective now, though, I wonder what’s happened to Chrissy.  I hope that she’s ok, and that somewhere along the way she learned to stop overcompensating.

Sometimes, so it is said, a closet–or a stall–is just what it is, and nothing more.  But today, if you asked me (or, perhaps Chrissy), I’d say that “what it is” is a little more than you might think.

*After some thought about the smallness of the Internet world and the relative uncommonness of her real name, I’ve decided to refer to her by a pseudonym.

Our Popples Must Be Local and Sustainable – Sam Adams appeared today on KBOO show Locus Focus to talk about issues of local, sustainable food production. However, because we’re 12, we thought the most important part of the entire program happened when he made a flub and said, “Popples.” when attempting to say that  “things’ll be popping up.” (He was talking about local farms, you perv.)

Does the Mayor of Portland have a secret thing for 80’s plush toys that can hide in their back-mounted pouches?

local, sustainable food that Mayor Sam Adams has no interest in

Melissa Lion Wants Your Vagina To Smell Good – Also talking about local and sustainable food today is Melissa Lion. It’s right here on Recovering Californian! You’d better get those vaginas all smelling nice before you head out to BackFencePDX this Wednesday. If you’re wearing nylon panties, she can smell you from a mile away.

I’ve got a much shorter version of this hygienic primer for males. I call it, Wash Yo’ Dick and the entire content of the guide is right there in the title.

Casper and Fox

This is the eighth post in this series. DC versus Marvel superhero posts have been done to death on the internet and I wanted to do something different. This series looks at what happens when you pit the non superheroes of these two companies. This series also gives me an excuse to revisit some of the obscure comic book characters of my past. The dominance of the superhero genre in American comic books has meant that characters of other comic book genres have been ignored for decades and this series to some extent is an attempt to rectify this unfortunate state of affairs.

The first post looked at Westerns and Western heroes. http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/dc-vs-marvel-western-heroes/

The second post looked at war comics and war heroes. http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/dc-vs-marvel-war-heroes/

The third post looked at women’s comics and working women. http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/dc-vs-marvel-working-women

The fourth post looked at space operas and spacemen http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/dc-vs-marvel-spacemen/

The fifth post analyzed funny animals.
http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/dc-vs-marvel-funny-animals/

The sixth post looked at the teenagers of teenage humor comic books. http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/dc-vs-marvel-teenagers/

The seventh post looked at horror comics and horror hosts. http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/dc-vs-marvel-horror-hosts/

I am inventing a comic book genre name for this series. Women’s comics are defined as comic books that appeal to women. I would like to propose there is a genre of comic books that appeals to very young children as opposed to children in general and I would like to name this genre kids comic’s. The ultimate example of this genre would be the children’s Harvey Comics line that included such characters as Baby Huey, Casper, Hot Stuff, Little Audrey, Little Dot, Little Lotta, Spooky, Richie Rich and Wendy the Good Little Witch. Harvey Comics also published comics with superheroes but is best remembered for its kid’s comics. I see similarities between Harvey Comics and Archie Comics.

Faced with hopeless competition with DC and Marvel in the superhero arena, these two comic book companies found success in non superhero genres, an example of niche marketing in the comic book marketplace. Archie Comics has dominated teenage humor for decades, right up until the present and squashed attempts by DC and Marvel to make titles that compete in this genre. Harvey Comics was also able to survive in a similar manner with kids comic books. Interestingly, both Archie Comics and Harvey Comics tried superheroes but eventually gave up these titles probably because of competition from DC and Marvel. Both Archie Comics and Harvey Comics had to learn hard lessons about their core business which turned out to be genres other than the superhero one.

There is tremendous overlap between the funny animal genre, dealt with in the post about funny animals (http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/dc-vs-marvel-funny-animals/) and kid’s comics and many comics fit both genres. Still, characters such as Casper are obviously not funny animals. I would propose that funny animals are a subgenre of kid’s comics logically but the funny animal subgenre is so big it must be treated as a genre. In a similar manner, logically superheroes are a subgenre of science fiction but are such a dominant subgenre in terms of the comic book marketplace that superheroes are best dealt with as a separate genre. This post will only deal with kid comics that are not funny animals.

This genre is characterized by a simplified cartoon style, very G rated material, even by comic code approved standards, and very simple plots. The defining characteristic is that the comic book is aimed at a very young readership. I would say the comic books should be able to appeal to preschoolers and they should be able to handle the material without the aid of an adult. Older readers may like the simplicity of the comic books in the same way that even adults can appreciate a children’s book but the reverse is not true. A relatively G-rated comic book like Superman, especially a more recent Superman comic book, will not be appreciated by preschoolers unless their literacy is especially high.

DC kids include the Brat Finks, Stanley and his Monster, as well as, Sugar and Spike. Stanley and his Monster replaced the Fox and Crow in issue #109 but the retitled comic book only lasted until issue #112. Stanley is a six year old with a lisp that mistakes a monster for a dog and lets him secretly live with him. The monster is covered with pink hair, has enormous fangs and is gigantic, maybe nine feet? The parents never catch onto the existence of the monster. In the innocent comic book logic of that era, hiding a nine foot monster in a typical suburban house is considered totally possible. The comic book was printed in the sixties. In the nineties, DC decided to add some back story to the series and include Stanley and his Monster in some DC crossovers. I still prefer the more innocent less sophisticated Stanley and his Monster of the sixties.

Sugar and Spike was created by comic book legend Sheldon Mayer and is one of the best comic books lines ever! Somehow DC forgot to reprint this comic book in their current reprint Showcase series. This is extremely unfortunate and I urge DC to add Sugar and Spike to the Showcase reprint line. Sugar and Spike are two preschoolers that talk to each other in baby talk that adults can’t understand.

Sugar and Spike are constantly trying to figure out adult logic and the adult world and come up with outlandish explanations that nevertheless are totally logical. Mayer was able to capture kid’s logic in a way few cartoonists ever have. The closest any cartoonist has ever come is Calvin and Hobbes but I actually think Mayer does a better job and he is dealing with much younger children that are harder for adults to understand. Sugar is a blonde haired kid. Spike is a red haired kid. Other characters came and went in the strip such as Little Arthur, Uncle Charley and Bernie the Brain and even the secondary characters of this great strip were better than the primary characters of most cartoons. The strip lasted 98 issues, from the seventies into the nineties, and I am sure would have gone on even longer except for his death in 1992.

Marvel Kids include all the characters of their Star imprint that lasted from 1984-88. The characters of the Star imprint included Air Raiders, ALF, Animax, Bullwinkle and Rocky, Care Bears, Chuck Norris and his Karate Kommandos, Defenders of the Earth, The Flinstone Kids, Foofur, Fraggle Rock, The Get-Along Gang, Heathcliff, Heathcliffs Funhouse, Hugga Bunch, Inhumanoids, Madballs, Masters of the Universe, Masters of the Universe Motion Picture, Misty, Muppet Babies, The Muppets take Manhattan, Peter Porker The Spectacular Spider Ham, Planet Terry, Popples, Royal Roy, Silverhawks, Star Wars Digest, Star Wars Droids, Star Wars Ewoks, Strawberry Shortcake, ThunderCats, Top Dog, and Wally the Wizard. Marvel did publish a couple of Casper comic books in 1997.

Most of the Star comic books are not Marvel properties and will not be looked at given the topic of this post. Spider Ham, Planet Terry, Royal Roy, Top Dog and Wally the Wizard are the only true Marvel properties of the Star comic’s line. Spider Ham was already dealt with in the funny animals post so we are down to Planet Terry, Royal Roy, Top Dog and Wally the Wizard.

Planet Terry, Royal Roy and Top Dog were all written by Lennie Herman. Planet Terry was a space saga. Planet Terry was looking for his parents in space with his sidekicks a robot named Robota and a green-scaled muscular alien named Omnus. I swear that Planet Terry’s facial features are very similar to those of Casper. He flew around in a jet pack and many of his flying poses seem directly lifted from Casper comic books. Top Dog is a talking dog and therefore a funny animal and the subject of another post. Royal Roy is Marvels version of Richie Rich of Harvey Comics. Prince Roy lives in Cashelot (Camelot plus Cash) and only
lasted six issues. Wally the Wizard was an apprentice wizard to Marlin the Wizard, Merlin the Wizards older brother.  Wally the Wizard was created by Bob Bolling who had also created Little Archie.

Sugar and Spike team up with Stanley and his monster for a day at the sandbox and run into these two weird kids in weird costumes. One is dressed like a prince, one is dressed like a spaceman and one is dressed like a wizard. Sugar and Spike know all about Halloween and love that day and know darn well this day isn’t that day. They start laughing at the costumed kids and soon a fight ensues. Stanley’s Monster sits on the Marvel kids until they agree to behave. DC wins this round.

5 videos from the past.

Lite-Brite?

Glo-Worm?

Teddy Ruxpin?

Popples?

Guess Who?

I dominated the Lite-Brite, my sister had a Glo-Worm, Teddy Ruxpin was too expensive, Popples were flat out awesome (remember the sports ones?), and the Guess Who was a big part of TGIF (yes I said TGIF).

What do you remember as a kid?

-jordan

http://me11owdrama.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/more-childhood-memories/

popples over paris, omg!

]]> http://truevineherbs.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/bunny-update/ Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:01:30 +0000 truevineherbs http://truevineherbs.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/bunny-update/

Well, I don’t know if I can give the colony the credit or not, but we have another successful litter!  For those keeping score that’s 0/3 successful litters and 0/10 live babies out of our previous hutch system vs. 2/2 – 14/16 babies still alive in our colony system.

It’s getting pretty exciting here.  Chocolate Fudge a.k.a Fluffy a.k.a whatever name they call her on any given day gave birth on Sunday morning.  She attempted to bury a dead kit on Tuesday and successfully buried her entire litter.  We dug them out and all were fine except the dead kit and one other that was squished in the burial process.  We removed the dead kits and she resumed caring for them.  They are all adorable, although I’m a bit sad that it was the two chocolate buns that died.

Tiramisu gave birth this morning to seven healthy kits.  It appears we have a white, two solid blacks, one solid brown, and three broken (speckled) babies.   She is doing a WONDERFUL job of caring for them and the nest is really beautiful.  I’ll post pictures of it soon.

I went out there late this morning only to find Opal making a grand nest for her babies.  We expect them today or tomorrow.  Butterscotch is also expecting today or tomorrow.  Unfortunately, she’s young and seems to be pulling hair randomly all over the colony pen.  Hopefully she’ll find a special spot for her little ones as well.

The young does are incredibly curious about the nests.  Opal and Tira are very defensive of their area, while Fluffy is definitely not.  But she’s such a space cadet anyway.  I barely hold on hope that she’ll raise all seven of them.   I’ll try to post pictures today or tomorrow.  It’s been incredibly exciting around here with 16 new buns and expecting more.  We found a few Monarch eggs yesterday plus one teeny tiny catepillar… How fun!  Incubator hatching is expected to take place on Sunday and I’ll try to post pictures of that as well.  So far it appears 34/37 eggs have survived to Day 17.

New update:  We caught Butterscotch giving birth in Opal’s nest.  There are two separate bundles of buns in the nest – one group of 6 and one group of 4.  The question is – same Mama or different Mama?  Opal and Butterscotch are NOT happy at having the same nest and are fighting.  I don’t know if Opal gave birth in there before Butterscotch or if she just wants her nest back.  Butterscotch we literally SAW giving birth to babies, so we know at least some of them are hers.

Pictures of the colony and rabbit teepees.

Colony eating greens.

Junior does checking out the new digs.

Tiramisu's Burrow

Above you can see how Tira enclosed her teepee.  She has filled in the front and left the back open.  Inside her burrow the entire front is filled in.  But within the middle is a bundle of fur, and if you notice, there is a lot of BROWN fur.  She doesn’t have brown hair so she’s been stealing fur from other mamas.

Inside - There are 7 babies in there!

Fluffy's Nest 'O Buns

Fluffy's Mini Me

Things I don’t think to search on Google: “glow in the dark puppies”. As this post’s title suggests, I can’t help but wonder exactly how someone thought to mix a fluorescent gene with dogs. I understand from an article I read that scientists have their reasoning for experimenting on dogs, studies on cloning and transgenesis and all that, but I like to imagine that a scientist was getting nostalgic about his two favorite toys from the eighties and decided to fuse them together in a real life glo puppy. Some people might call glow in the dark puppies unnatural, but those people should just be grateful that the nostalgic scientist’s favourite toys were Glo Worms and Pound Puppies, and not Popples and Gremlins.

Something to think about: what two eighties’ toys would you choose to create into a real life… thing?

I have decided to do an homage to my late 80’s early 90’s childhood… [Remember in the movie The Sweetest Thing when Christina Applegate and Cameron Diaz visit a dress shop and the one looks at the other and says: “Movie montage!” and then they do just that? Well, this is similar to that…]

 The other day I was thinking about Barbapapa. It seems like Barbapapa is an anomalous little item of good fortune in my childhood memory… scarcely anybody else knew the dude. Well, in South Africa that is. I did some research and it turns out that Barbapapa and Barbamama and all the lil shapeshifting chillun were a French-fangled concept. Guess my parents were somewhat Eurocentric in the late 80’s. Cool. Anyway, Barbapapa was a pink shapeshifting creature that bumbled his way into the world. One day he met Barbamama (black with a little floral-ringed bun atop her head and seductive curvy lips) and fell in love. This love, we could see, because his very entity transformed into a heart. Too cool. Barba P and Barba M then had a brace of little Barbas, each a different colour and with a different penchant that corresponds to their cool names; Barbazoo (yellow, male, lover of animals), Barbalala (green, female, lover of music), Barbalib (orange, female, lover of books), Barbabeau (black and furry, male, lover of art), Barbabelle (purple, female, lover of beauty), Barbabright (blue, male, lover of science), Barbabravo (red, male, lover of strength and heroism). How adorably simple? Evidently, Barbapapa has achieved cult status the world over, everywhere except in South Africa. This brings to mind the story of how Rodriguez was only ever big in SA and a total nobody everywhere else. What is it with us? Anyways… as a child I owned several toys in the Barbapapa family and I feel really cool about it. They were rather large and made of rubber (well, doesn’t that sound suspect…) I am currently in talks to secure some Barbapapa merchandise from a friend residing in France.

Another childhood relic that seems peculiar to my own is the Popple dynasty. I have asked other kids my age if they, too, had Popples growing up and no one knows what the fark I am talking about. Popples were little bear-like creatures in all sorts of cool colours that had long tails capped in pom poms. They had a little pouch sewn onto their backs into which their entire forms could be stuffed, whereupon they then resembled fuzzy little balls. They also had bitchin (I’m trying out my Clueless 90’s lingo, just for the duration of this post) names (like Barbafamilia) such as PC Popple, Party Popple, Punkity and Potato Chip. After some research it seems that, like most things, the Popple dynasty has been degraded by the passing of time, with the new range of Popples being called unimaginative shite like KissyPopp, PrettyPopp and HappyPopp.

For the sake of giving a more rounded picture of this period of time I must mention that our family car at the time was a white VW Fox (seldom seen on streets these days). The lessser-used family wagon was a chocolate brown VW Combi or KOM-bi as some stubborn dutch folk like to call it. I was a firm roll-down sock devotee and could often be seen sporting them in pastel George Jetson-esque tiers on each ankle. Although I was about 5, I recall a white mix tape favoured by my parents which featured Seal’s hit song “Crazy” and a Wilson Phillips medley. Birthday parties were a real 80’s affair, with jumping castles, boudoir biscuits and chocolate buttons (remember those?) in pride of place. Scrunchies were commonplace.

Those were the halcyon days.

Vintage Popples! Plush, pillow, glasses, soap holder, & plastic figurine

Popples are from a show that ran 42 episodes between 1986-87. They live with their human Brother and Sister and help them, but first they cause more trouble. It always works out for the better in the end though.

Party: Large pink Popple who is literally a party animal. She’ll try to find a reason to party no matter what time it is. She serves as the primary Popple, as she appears in most episodes and on the Popples logo.(some staining on face-could bleach out if brave enough) $5.

It all started with Party Popple. I had a stuffed Party Popple when I was young [see below]. Party Popple is the large pink Popple with one purple ear. She was awesome! Not only was she soft,cuddly and brightly colored, but she could roll up into her own pouch! Amazing. Well, the search for info about the 80s Popples cartoon and toys quickly led to a general cartoon goldmine.

Check out this link and bask in the flood of memories: Old Cartoon Intros

I think that the cartoons that I used to watch are more fun than the garbage kids watch today. Sure some of the classics, like Care Bears, are back in vogue. Yet, I am hard pressed to find any new, current day cartoon that is nearly as awesome as the 90s show Animaniacs.

Ah, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. I learned so much from you—I even like to assume that you influenced the development of my sense of humor. Hey, you even taught me the Nations of the World [my sister and I shared a cassette filled with all of the crazy songs used on Animaniacs].

The Animaniacs duo Pinky and the Brain was my favorite. Brain was always ready to take over the world and Pinky was there to make bizarre comments. Narf! This duo was so popular that they eventually had their own cartoon series.

Now that my post is drawing to a close, my praise for Animaniacs would not be complete without a turn of the Wheel of Morality: Early to rise and early to bed, makes a man healthy, but socially dead.

This one is for Bear and the fact that “you used to pretend you could freeze time and secretly wished your dad was an alien” didn’t make the list:

You grew up in the 80s if . . .

1. You’ve ever ended a sentence with the word SIKE
2. You watched the Pound Puppies
3. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton Dance
4. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy
5. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own.
6. You owned those lil’ Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls
7. You know that “WOAH” comes from Joey on Blossom
8. Two words: Hammer Pants
9. If you ever watched “Fraggle Rock”
10. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars… and spokey-dokes or playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect
11. You can sing the entire theme song to “Duck Tales” (Woo ooh!)
12. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons
13. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head
14. You saw the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the big screen…and still know the turtles names
15. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school
16. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side
17. You played the game “MASH” (Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)
18. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it
19. L.A. Gear….need I say more?
20. You wanted to change your name to “JEM” in Kindergarten. (She’s Truly Outrageous.)
21. You remember reading Tales of a fourth grade nothing and all The Ramona books
22. You know the profound meaning of “WAX ON, WAX OFF”
23. You wanted to be a Goonie
24. You ever wore fluorescent neon clothing (some of us…head-to-toe)
25. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted
26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf
27. You took lunch boxes to school…and traded Garbage Pailkids in the schoolyard
28. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets
29. You still get the urge to say “NOT” after every sentence
30. You remember Hypercolor t-shirts
31. Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band
32. You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should hook up.
33. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.
34. You ever owned a pair of Jelly shoes.
35. After you saw Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure you kept saying “I know you are, but what am I?”
36. You remember “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”
37. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.
38. You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide.
39. You have ever played with a Skip-It.
40. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds.
41. You’ve gone through this nodding your head in agreement.
42. You remember Popples
43. Don’t worry, be happy
44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks.
45. You wore socks scrunched down (and sometimes still do..getting yelled at by younger hip members of the family)
46. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.
47. You remember watching both Gremlins movies.
48. You know what it meant to say “Care Bear Stare!!”
49. You remember watching Rainbow Bright and & My Little Pony Tales
50. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot
51. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac
52. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool…and don’t even flinch when people refer to them as “NKOTB”
53. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on “Saved By The Bell,” The ORIGINAL class
54. You know all the words to Bon Jovi – > YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME
55. You just sang those words to yourself
56. You remember watching Magic vs. Bird
57. Homemade Levi shorts.. (the shorter the better)
58. You remember when mullets were cool!
59. You had a mullet!
60. You still sing “We are the World”
61. You tight rolled (pegged) your jeans
62. You owned a banana clip
63. You remember “Where’s the Beef?”
64. You used to (and probably still do) say “What you talkin’ ’bout Willis?
65. You had big hair and you knew how to use it
66. You’re still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren’t you!

Genre: Cartoon animation
Country of Origin: US
Languages: English,
No. of Seasons: 2
No. of Episodes: 42
Running Time: 30 minutes
Channel: -
Broadcast: Sept 13 1986 – Jun 27 1987

Popples was a Saturday morning cartoon, based on the Popples toys, that aired in the United States from 1986 to 1987.

Nine of the Popples live with a human brother and sister, Billy and Bonnie Wagner. Billy and Bonnie think they are the only kids who have Popples until a neighbor family moves in and they have their own Popples — the Rock Stars, Pufflings, and Babies. The Popples tend to come around and mess up whatever the kids are trying to do; e.g., if the kids are trying to brush their teeth, the Popples end up spilling water, toothpaste and soap all over the bathroom. If the kids are trying to clean their rooms, the Popples come along, mess up the room even worse and then help them get everything back to normal just in the nick of time. The plot revolved around the children’s efforts to hide the existence of the Popples from the adults around them.

Intro:

Clip:

I watched a few movies recently that I want to tell you about.

Today I went to see Babylon, A.D. with BF. The commercials were completely awesome, making it look like Blade Runner with explosions and Vin Diesel. It was not. It was quite bad, incredibly disappointing. It’s actually not even worth much more discussion here – that bad. I thought the first 2/3 of the movie was pretty okay, or at least watchable, but after the Big City Scene it became incomprehensible. Also, the action scenes were SO poorly done, they were just exasperating. Vin Diesel AND Michelle Yeoh kicking ass in the future dystopia, and the camera seemed like it was attached to an insect buzzing around the fights, recording nothing of use.

Last night we watched Fracture. I thought it was pretty average for the first half or so, sort of slow going, but Gosling’s character arc was so gentle and effective, and the scenes between him and Hopkins were so compelling, that it turned into a real nail-biter after all. Tacked-on love parts notwithstanding. Note: Rosamund Pike is very beautiful.

On Friday I watched Moulin Rouge…from 1952. It’s a movie about the artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, and the movie was depressing, very poorly organized, and acted with a strange, plywood-like indifference by its star (who was the very talented Jose Ferrer). There were some interesting moments in the first 10 minutes, some slam-bang editing that surprisingly reminded me of the other Moulin Rouge!, but I chalk this up to the Technicolor that was clearly part of the point of the movie.

This morning I woke up early to go to class at 9:00, but I had forgotten that the community college is on Labor Day break. On my class schedule it denotes that this class begins on 9/5. (I know that’s a Friday, not a Saturday, but that’s what the schedule says.) This left me some time for homework etc. (Conclusion: LOPT is going to be a gigantic waste of time.) BF and I ate an early lunch and went to the movies, and then I came home and went out to the garage yet again.

Today’s lesson from the garage was that I can’t save everything from uselessness, and hence from the garbage can (rather than the donation box). This is sort of a subtle lesson for me, and one that sort of clanged into place with all the other retraining of emotional muscles that I’m doing by trying to ditch my packrat habits. I cleaned out some of the boxes that Dad shipped to me (I didn’t have the courage to go back to the box full of papers that I need to winnow out), and almost everything in them went in the trash or the giveaway box. I was rooting around in the first box and I came across the cordless phone that I used from high school into college. I had put stickers all over it - foot-shaped stickers, cute little frog stickers, and a Mount Holyoke sticker that I remember getting as a part of some stationery. I was about to throw it into the giveaway box automatically, because I was sure it still worked and had some use in it, but I realized that no one, not at the Salvation Army or a flea market, would buy a ten-year-old cordless phone with worn stickers all over it. I felt terrible, because the phone was still technically useful, but I realized that it didn’t have any value. This is not a distinction that I’m very good at perceiving…at least not until today. So I threw it away. I threw away puzzles from my childhood that I remember doing many times, because the boxes were misshapen and I had no idea if they still had all their pieces. I threw away all the sheet music I had saved from middle school band class – I’m not altogether sure why I saved it all, but from the way it was stored, I saved it deliberately. Four bags of garbage today, as well as a massive box of clothes and a large box of stuff to give away.

I found baffling things in my work today. The first thing was a bright green acrylic clown wig, which I am utterly at a loss to recognize or understand. My parents could not ever have had occasion to own such a thing, and I have no idea how it found its way into the box. I found it inside out, like a Popple. The next thing was large, cut-up strips of gray car carpet upholstery. I’m sure it must have been part of a project of my father’s, but I can’t think why on earth he would have saved such a thing, especially in a box with all my old toys and puzzles. Finally I found a smallish Christmas tree stand - again in with my toys and puzzles - which I have no use for at all, and I put it in the giveaway box. I came and showed all these things to BF when I found them, and after the car upholstery, he said, “Next I expect you to come in with, like, a stuffed deer head.” I half expected it myself.

I found many velvet boxes with opal jewelry in them. My birthstone is opal, and my estranged grandmother sent me opal jewelry most years for my birthday. I appreciated the gestures, and I do like opal quite a lot, but most of the jewelry is gold and I don’t wear gold jewelry. I think I’m going to put it on eBay in a lot. I don’t know at all how much it’s worth and frankly I don’t really care.

BF has been playing Army of Two most of the day. It looks to this bystander like a surprisingly cool military shooter with some interesting mechanics, although listening to it from upstairs is dull: rat-tat-tat, obscene male groans, rat-tat-tat. I thought the name was terribly silly when I first heard it: “No, see, it’s like, the Army? Their tagline is ‘Army of One’ so it’s like that, except…you know…there’s two of them, so it’s Army of Two.” Laaame. But it turns out that while they are lamely riffing on that, the central gimmick of the game is about these two soldiers working as a team taking out half of the planet’s Arab-speaking population. So they’re like a whole army, but they’re just these two guys. Duuuuude. Deep.

If you are a new reader, welcome! I post entries pretty much every day, or twice a day, as you see. I hope this doesn’t make it too hard on you. If I only had less to say…we would probably all be happier.

Bisóia aí o site: http://www.popplespopp.com/
Bem, talvez você não os esteja reconhecendo. Claro, é que se passaram muitos anos, eles hoje são meio diferentes, e coisa e tal. Na verdade, é uma turma nova, recém-aprovada no “vestibular” deles. O fato é que os marsupiais mais coloridos (e estranhos) do mundo, estão de vuelta, os Popples, para uma nueva rreneración de pientêrros. Quando eles passavam na TV brasileira, Sílvio Santos ainda pensava coisa com coisa, todos os Scanimates ainda funcionavam, Mara, Bozo e Xuxa faziam sucesso, a leitura de muitos adolescentes era a revista Micro Sistemas e um garoto que tivesse um NES em casa era reverenciado por todo o bairro.
Bem, essa nova geração é mais voltada ao mercado de brinquedos do que o, digamos, audiovisual. E embora com todo o cuidado pra não fazerem os meninos (aquelas crianças com cromossomos Y) torcerem o nariz para essa nueva turma, na minha opinião os brinquedos são bem sem-graça comparados aos desenhos desses personagens, parecem meio “murchos”…
Os personagens são da American Greetings Corp., a mesma dos Ursinhos Carinhosos, Moranguinho e coisa e tal. Ainda escrevo alguma coisa a respeito da AGC, essa “quase Disney” dos Estados Unidos.

PS: Acabei de descobrir outro site de uma turma nova de personagens que, essa, a Desciclopédia vai cair de pau em cima deles. Se é que a Uncyclopedia já não o está fazendo. Imagine o cruzamento de Meu querido Pônei com o Clube das Winx (as Bratz são meio gordinhas, ainda…) Tire de cena as habilidades mágicas. E você terá… os Struts!!
Eu não consigo me acostumar com essa visão mas nem a pau, é chocante demais para mim…

Today I went paperless.

Not like before when I “went paperless” but only half assed it.  This time I WENT PAPERLESS!

All but one of my bills now come to me via email.  The only exception is my utility bill.  Unfortunately, the city of Beaverton is not quite with the times in this tree hugging movement, but I am sending encouraging thoughts their way.

It took much longer than I had expected to get my mailman to frequent my front stoop less often, but having today of to whatever I please left my afternoon wide open to visit the half dozen websites it took to make this change possible.  I highly encourage everyone to do the same, even if you do it as you receive each individual bill (which is MUCH easier, but uses more paper in the long run).

It really is a weigh your pros and cons situation

In other news, I rode my bike everywhere today!  I first cruised by the BeaverCity farmers market for some local fleurs for my newly cleaned off dining room table, but had no luck.  Most of the flower booths had only meager bouquets or were missing all together.  O well, there is always next week

After my walk through the market, I zipped up the back road (which has a fantastic bike lane) to tanning- which I know is NOT in any form going green, but I am looking pretty pasty and the lotion I use leaves me smelling like frosting and cake batter…

I then popped over to the local wine house for a couple of bottles of something crisp and white to restock my bare wine cabinet.  Speaking of wine… I need to look up a local cork recycling program.

Anyways…

A veggie sandwich and a soy chai at the coffee house down the street tied me over for lunch and gave me just enough energy to bike it to the garage sale on the way back to my house where I found Popples paper plates and a vintage decanter (which I am collecting to put bath oil in for my cottage bathroom someday). 

All in all, it was a very productive day.

Ah yes… Very bored today.  Still patiently waiting for the weekend.  And it’s only Thursday.  I actually have many things to do today, but all of them require me not being in work to do them.  So, in an effort to alleviate some of this boredom, I found some of those random surveys and decided that I would include on here for my own personal your entertainment.  Enjoy, gentle readers!

1. What time did you get up this morning?  My alarm went off at 5… but I hit SNOOZE until 6:30 am.
2. Diamonds or pearls?  Diamonds, duh!  Pearls are classy and all, but diamonds are very versatile.
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?  The Sex and the City movie… That was definitely a good one.  This has been a season of movies… So I’ve seen at least one movie every weekend for the past few months.  To include Iron Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, What Happens in Vegas, 88 Minutes, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian… etc.
4. What is your favorite TV show?  Wow… that’s a loaded question.  It’s definitely Buffy the Vamire Slayer, with many, many, many close seconds.  Bones, House, Prison Break… How I Met Your Mother… and the list goes on…
5. What do you usually have for breakfast?  Sometimes poptarts… sometimes evil corporate company food… somethings nothing.
6. What is your middle name?  Roseanne.  And if you breathe a word of that to ANYONE… I WILL kill you.
7. What food do you dislike?  Anything containing onions…peppers…mushrooms… ewww
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment?  Umm… I don’t listen to “CDs”… the better question is what is in my iPod…  The soundtrack to Sweeney Todd among other things.
9. What kind of car do you drive?  Mustang.  But not for much longer.. with the gas prices being so high… it’s insanity.
10. Favorite sandwich? Umm… don’t know… I like them in the form of a sub, with steak, cheese and lots o’ pickles!
11. What characteristic do you despise?  In myself, or in others?  I LOVE myself!!! 
12. Favorite item of clothing? Shoes/sandals… not that it’s “clothing” per se…
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?  Italy, maybe….
14. What color is your bathroom?  Umm… blue?
15. Favorite brand of clothing?  I like Old Navy… Actually, I love getting bargains at Target, too.
16. Where would you retire to?  California
17. What was your most recent memorable birthday?  25th.. which was last November… it was the hardest, and 3 days later, my fiance decided to break up with me.
18. Favorite sport to watch?  Baseball, when it’s exciting.
19. Furthest place you are sending this? … ummm, the whole Internet is pretty far…
20. Who do you least expect to send this back to you?  umm.. no one, really. 
21. Person you expect to send it back first? see above
22. Favorite word? LEGENDARY…
23. When is your birthday? the 3rd of November
24. Are you a morning person or a night person?  a Little of both
25. What is your shoe size? 8 and a half
26. Pets? a Kitty.. his name is Tiny… and he’s rotten
27. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share with us? Nothing new OR exciting, I’m afraid
28. What did you want to become when you were little?  a Teacher, or a Marine Biologist
29. How are you today? Doin’ alright.  At my “real” job, we had a money machine, where everybody goes in and gets to grab as much as possible.  $128 bucks… Money. For. Nothing.
30. What is your favorite candy?  At the moment, I’m enjoying Skittles
31. What is your favorite flower? I like Roses… Daisies…
32. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Umm… June 32nd?
33. What is your full name? You already know my middle name… that’s enough…
34. What was the last thing you ate? Skittles
35. Do you wish on stars? Not really… I used to think that new, bright, shiny stars were souls of the recently passed.
36. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?  Green
37. How is the weather right now? Cloudy, kinda rainy
38. Last person you spoke to on the phone? A customer, asking some silly question, and preventing me from doing something REALLY important
39. Do you like the person who sent this to you?  I’m not sure… I got this from some random website
40. Favorite soft drink?  Dr. Pepper
41. Favorite restaurant?  mmm…. Chili’s
42. Hair color?  Dark Brown, with blonde hilights
43. Sibling?  I’m the middle child… with an older brother and a younger brother
44. Favorite day of the year?  Any Monday holiday that I get to be off from work
45. What was your favorite toy as a child?  Rainbow Brite, My Little Pony… OOH!  And Popples!
46. Summer or winter?  I like Summer better… I hate the snow, so Winter is out of the question.
47. Hugs or kisses? They both tug at my heart strings
48. Chocolate or Vanilla?  Kinks Vanilla with a dash of chocolate
49. Do you want your friends to email you back?  Typically, yes
50. When was the last time you cried? Ummm…. a few days ago… I was having a rough day.
51. What is under your bed?  Boxes, mostly.  Sometimes the cat likes to play under there.
52. Who is the friend you have had the longest?  Actual friends..?  There are a few that I would consider good friends, and there are people I’ve known for a long time.  My friends know who they are.
53. What did you do last night?  Watched The Office and cleaned.
54. Favorite smell?  Good food cooking… mostly when I’m doing the cooking and it comes out EXACTLY the way I’d planned.
55. What are you afraid of?  Spiders.  And other Booglies.
56. Plain, buttered, or salted Popcorn?  Umm… buttered, and salted… Ooh, and that Kettlekorn stuff is great.  It’s the perfect mix of sweet and salty.
57. How many keys on your key ring? 3… No, wait!  There’s 5.
58. How many years at your current job? Less than a year.  But enjoying it, no less.
59. Favorite day of the week? Thursday… It’s close enough to Friday, but far enough away from Monday
60. How many towns have you lived in?  Only 3… well 4, if you count the city that I spent most of my time in, but didn’t actually LIVE in.
61. Do you make friends easily?  I would have to say “yes.”
62. How many people will you be sending this to?   The whole freakin’ Internet!

Well… if you’re feeling brave, gentle readers… You can post one of your very own

1. Do you like blue cheese?
YES I DO

2. Have you ever smoked heroin?
NO

3. Do you own a gun?
NO BUT I’VE ALWAYS WANTED ONE

4. What flavor do you add to your drink at sonic?
I DON’T TEND TO ADD FLAVORS…I USUALLY ORDER THE STRAWBERRY LIMEADE OR A SHAKE OF SOME SORT OR ANOTHER

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
THERE WERE A FEW THAT I DID FOR GOOD REASON BUT AS A GENERAL RULE, NO

6. What do you think of hot dogs?
THEY USUALLY DON’T CROSS MY MIND AS I JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE BUT I’LL EAT THEM OCCASIONALLY

7. Favorite Christmas movie?
WHITE CHRISTMAS WITH BING CROSBY

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
COFFEE USUALLY BUT I LIKE ORANGE JUICE TOO

9. Can you do push ups?
NO…WHY LIE?

10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry?
MY PROMISE RING, WHICH I’VE HAD FOR OVER TEN YEARS

11. Favorite hobby?
WHO HAS TIME FOR HOBBIES?!?!?! PHOTOGRAPHY

12. Do you have A.D.D.?
WELL, CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT A.D.D. IS A MADE UP DISORDER CAUSED BY BAD PARENTING, I’D HAVE TO SAY, NO, I DON’T HAVE A.D.D.

13. What’s one trait you hate about yourself?
I HATE THE WAY MY FLESH BATTLES MY SPIRIT BUT GOD IS TAKING CARE OF THAT.

14. Middle name?
ANN

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment:
(1) I SHOULD HAVE MADE UP A MIDDLE NAME (2) MY SHOULDERS ARE ACHY (3) I’M THIRSTY

16. Name 3 things you bought yesterday?
A. A BUCKET FOR THE DOGS WATER SINCE THE HAMMER FELL IN THEIR OTHER ONE AND BROKE IT, A BAG OF PRETZELS BECAUSE I HAD A HANKERING FOR PRETZELS AND 2 BOTTLES OF WATER

17. Name 4 drinks you regularly drink?
WATER, SPRITE, COFFEE AND GREEN TEA

18. Current worry?
NONE, BELIEVE IT OR NOT. IT IS SO VERY WONDERFUL TO HAVE GOD TO HAND EVERYTHING TO, KNOW HE’S IN CONTROL AND TRUST HIM TO BRING EVERYTHING TO A TIDY LITTLE END, EVEN THOUGH I FAIL, AS LONG AS I AM SURRENDERED AND OBEDIENT TO HIM.

19. Current hate right now?
NONE

20. Favorite place to be?
WHEREVER GOD HAS ME AT THE MOMENT

21. How did you bring in the New Year?
GOT TOGETHER WITH MANDY, JESS, MARY AND JULIANA AND RANG IN THE NEW YEAR PRAISING GOD! THE BEST WAY I’VE BROUGHT IN A NEW YEAR EVER!

22. Where would you like to go?
JUST ABOUT EVERYWHERE. MAINLY, THOUGH, I’D LIKE TO GO BACK TO NYC, TAKE A CRUISE TO THE GREEK ISLANDS AND VISIT SCOTLAND OR IRELAND.

23. Name two people who will complete this?
NO ONE SEEMS TO BE CONTINUING THE TRADITION SO I’D SAY NO ONE

24. Do you own slippers?
I OWN TWO PAIRS

25. What shirt are you wearing?
BIG DOG ‘SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED’ THAT WAS GIVEN TO ME BY CATHY AFTER WE WERE CAUGHT IN A RAINSTORM WALKING HOME AFTER CHURCH

26. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets?
I NEVER HAVE BUT COTTON IS THE BEST, I THINK.

28. Favorite color?
I DON’T REALLY HAVE ONE BUT I GUESS REDS, ORANGES, YELLOWS AND SUCH ARE THE FAVORITES OF MY LIFE AT THE CURRENT TIME

29. Would you be a pirate?
NO. I USE TO SAY YES BECAUSE, LET’S FACE IT, JOHNNY DEPP AS A HOTTIE HOT PIRATE HOTTIE MAKES IT ALL WORTHWHILE BUT I KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT PIRATES AND THEIR COLD-HEARTED EVILNESS AND SO I MUST HONESTLY SAY, NO, I WOULDN’T BE A PIRATE AND I WOULDN’T MARRY ONE, EVEN IF IT WAS JACK SPARROW HIMSELF.

30. What songs do you sing in the shower?
EITHER PRAISE SONGS FROM CHURCH OR PRAISE SONGS I MAKE UP AT THE TIME AND CAN’T REMEMBER LATER, NO MATTER HOW IMPRESSED I AM BY MY CREATIVENESS

31. Favorite girl’s name?
ALEXANDRIA OR RILEY

32. Favorite boy’s name?
JON OR BRYAN

33. What’s in your pocket right now?
NOT A THING SINCE I’M WEARING MY PAJAMA BOTTOMS AND, THOUGH THEY HAVE POCKETS, I TEND NOT TO PLACE THINGS IN THE POCKETS.

34. Last thing that made you laugh?
THE PAIN IN THE ARCH OF MY RIGHT FOOT…I KNOW THAT SHOULDN’T MAKE SOMEONE LAUGH BUT IT MADE ME LAUGH AS I MUMBLED, “THAT’S JUST NOT GOOD.”

35. Best bed sheets as a child?
I KNOW THAT I HAD POPPLE’S AT SOME POINT…REMEMBER POPPLES?

36. Worst injury you’ve ever had?
I FRACTURED MY RIGHT FOOT AND I’VE HAD A PIECE OF GLASS WEDGED TWO INCHES INTO MY ARCH…THE FRACTURE WAS WORSE, I GUESS, BUT THE GLASS DID A LOT OF DAMAGE

37. Do you love where you live?
NO BUT I DON’T HATE IT EITHER

38. How many TV’s do you have in your house?
A LOT BUT NONE OF THEM ARE MINE…I DON’T WATCH TELEVISION ANY MORE

39. Who is your loudest friend?
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, WE’RE ALL PRETTY LOUD…EXCEPT JESSICA.

40. How many dogs do you have?
TWO DALMATIANS

41. Does someone have a crush on you?
NO

42. What is your favorite book?
SONG OF SOLOMON

43. What is your favorite candy?
SKOR

44. What is your favorite sports team?
PHILADELPHIA SOUL

45. What song do you want played at your funeral?
WHY WOULD I CARE? I WON’T HEAR IT BECAUSE I’LL BE IN THE ARMS OF MY BELOVED AT LAST AND HEARING HIM SAY, “WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, ENTER IN, THIS IS HEAVEN, COME UNTO ME, WELL DONE.”

46. What were you doing at 12 AM last night?
YAHOO! ANSWERS I THINK

47. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up?
SNOOZE BUTTON…MUST GET TO THE SNOOZE BUTTON!

Was haben mein Mann und ich nicht mittlerweile für Unmengen an Zeug angesammelt. Okay, zugegebenermaßen ist einiges wieder ausgezogen weil wir ja unsere Wohnung von Deutschland nach Frankreich verlegt haben, aber es ist nicht unbedingt besser geworden.

Es folgt also eine Liste der Spielzeugreihen, die wir gesammelt haben und die ich nach und nach, aus nostalgisch-verklärten Weißtdunoch-Gründen hier vorstellen werde.

Barbie
Lady Lockenlicht
Keypers
Lego
He-Man (New Adventures, Masters of the Universe, 200x)
She-Ra
Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstone
Galaxy Adventure Girl
Glimmerlinge
Cherry Merry Muffin
Mighty Max
Polly Pocket
Bravestarr
Thundercats
Mein kleines Pony
Regina Regenbogen
Turtles
Cupcakes
Knuffelbunt Familie
Wuzzles
Gummibärenbande
Dino Riders
Moon Dreamers
Jem
Popples
MASK
Monster in my Pocket
Playmobil

Have fun ^^