Wilson
I had the supreme joy of seeing both Where's Teddy? & The Squeak this past weekend as the clan gathered in the District of Columbia for a joint celebration of The Squeak's first birthday (a few days late) & Christmas (a few days early, because none of the three family units that converged will be together on the sacred 25th). Presents—both physical & from the heart—were exchanged, a great many laughs were had, & a gay, grand, & jolly time was had in the company of nine people (six of them Wilsons by birth, two by marriage, & one surnamed McCormack) very near & dear to my heart. This is my family, distinct from my kin, which consists of my dear aunts, uncle, cousins, & sole remaining grandparent; my family once consisted of five members (yours truly included), but has now expanded to nine (same), with this weekend including much joyful conversation of when The Squeak & Where's Teddy? will have siblings. Being an uncle is astonishing, & I look forward eagerly to having even more nieces & nephews.

It is flabbergasting how much Where's Teddy? has changed in his nineteen months since birth, & how much The Squeak has changed in her twelve. Compared to his immobility o this time last year, Where's Teddy? seems more like a little kid & less like a baby. However, present at The Squeak's birthday party on Sunday were three of her cousins, three siblings, a four-year-old girl & two-and-a half-year-old twins, a boy & a girl, & compared side-by-side with their strength, speed, dexterity, & independence Where's Teddy? is skill very much a baby. The Squeak's development since I met her last spring boggles the mind. She's a baby, but she moves so well & is tremendously interactive, very much more then the adorable little lump I first met. These are rare & precious occasions, for soon, very soon they will be babies no more & never again. It is fascinating watching them grow, & their Uncle Mike cannot wait to meet the people they will become & are already becoming.

Damnatio Memoriae
I saw the stand-up comedy special Out of England 2 this weekend, & was appalled by the lack of hilarity therein. As a result, Ricky Gervais is dead to me. I've not yet taken the decision to divest myself of The Office & Extras, but never again will I support any of his endeavours, neither monetarily nor by word of mouth; it has been my habit, when mention is made of the American television series The Office to pipe in with a plug for the British original, but this is now at an end. There's no coming back from something like this, & to that rat bastard's ill-begotten work I say good riddance!

Project GLOWWORM
The Last Angry Mane has been growing wild for almost four months now, restoring it to much the same condition seen in the latter days of the Banzai Beard Bonanza II: Bonsai's Revenge. But it must soon be tamed, for two reasons. {a} The lack of ease of maintenance. One of the great benefits of growing a beard is an end to the tyranny of shaving. Yes, I must still abate the few misfit hairs on my cheeks that mock The Last Angry Mane's inability to provide full coverage, but this is as nothing compared to the wearying routine of shaving my entire face in the morning. But at its present length The Mane must be combed to look its best, & combed again & again throughout the day to keep it looking its best. Avoiding just that type of constant maintenance has been the paramount reason I've kept my hair as short as I have for the past decade and a half. I shall have to experiment to find the ideal length, but I know that it is shorter than the current state. I am curious to see what The Mane would look like with six or eight months of growth, but not so curious that I'm willing to endure the maintenance demands that would surely accompany such additional growth. {b} The untamed power of The Last Angry Mane is overshadowing the magnificence of The Last Angry Moustache. The handlebars are really coming into their own now, the natural curl is taking full effect, but The Mane remains the primary conversation piece. This cannot stand. In the immortal words of The Dude, "This aggression will not stand, man." So, The Mane must be trimmed back while The Moustache grows to preposterous proportions. Onward & upward!

The Queue
I ran into Ska Army last week whilst shopping at a local chain bookseller & was pleasantly waylaid for several hours as he treated me a hot chocolate & we talking about nothing at all & everything under the Sun. Despite my loud denunciations of the rubbish that is the Star Wars Expanded Universe, he insisted on purchasing for me Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn as a Christmas present. Ska Army vouched for Karpyshyn's powers as an author, citing him as the principal writer of the seminal video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Path of Destruction is either further subtitled or at least badged as "A Novel of the Old Republic," possibly to foster a connection to the game). I've no wish to read Path of Destruction, but I feel obligated by Ska Army's action; I cautioned him that the queue is quite long & it might be some time before I got to read his gift.

After the "Hook, Line, & Sinker" trilogy I'll take another break from Deighton before reading the third of his Bernard Samson trilogies. Already in line for after Spy Sinker is the third Tattoo Shop Mystery, Driven to Ink; possibly more Kipling (I've on hand two volumes of prose, The Jungle Books & a collection, The Man who would be King and other Stories), possibly some Saki (specifically, When William Came), possibly some non-fiction. There is so much to read & so little time, alas. Alas! Alas!

Recently
Len Deighton, London Match
Karen E. Olson, Pretty in Ink
Rudyard Kipling, Kim

Currently
Len Deighton, Winter: A Novel of a Berlin Family

Presently
Len Deighton, Spy Hook
Len Deighton, Spy Line
Len Deighton, Spy Sinker

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Aimee Mann, "Calling On Mary" via iTunes (Mrs. Skeeter, Esq.)

Commentary: Nominate an Advent/Christmastide/"holiday season"-themed song today & it might just be tomorrow's R.B.D.S.O.T.D.! Nominate any old song & it might be the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. once we return to normal programming after Epiphany concludes the Christmastide. Nominate early & often!