Wilfulcait says five random things make an entry.

And you wouldn't call wilfulcait a liar, would you? Of course not. So let's see:

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is not good. Not at all good. Not even slightly. But it enchanted Robin, and therefore the outing was a success. And Robin is, as he pointed out to his mother before our departure, always good for Auntie mrissa. And always good at movies. And so there was no problem at all. (He was so excited he had to hop the whole way from his house to my car and from the car to the movie theater. And we had to stop to admire the poster of the movie we were going to see -- admire may be too mild a verb here, actually.)

One of the lyrics -- three words of lyric -- at the Richard Shindell concert gave me an idea for another short story no one will buy because the optimists will say it is too depressing and the depressives will find it too upbeat. So I'm not rushing to get it finished this very minute. On the other hand, I think it's going to be good, so I will get it written one of these days. Made notes, wrote scenelets, saved the file, went on with other things.

As usual, I went to buy birthday cards and couldn't find anything really great for the April birthdays of people I send cards to. On the other hand, I've now got a card addressed and stashed in my bottom desk drawer for December. After this many years of friendship, sometimes you just spot the thing that makes you giggle, and it has to go to its proper person.

There are some pieces of hopefulness that are far better for coming the day after April Fool's Day.

I am working on the theory that there are two kinds of Big Fat Fantasy: Places To Go, People To Kill and What A Lovely Night For a Pleasure Cruise Through Eel-Infested Waters. In the former, the fantasy is big and fat because there is just a heck of a lot happening in it. In the latter, it's because the things that are happening take their time to develop. One is not necessarily better than the other, but I think most authors who write BFF have a direction of leaning. The characteristic mistakes of each are different. The thing about the Pleasure Cruise school is that 1) you have to make the cruise actually pleasant/interesting; and 2) you have to show the eels often enough and to enough extent that no one is surprised when she does, in fact, get eaten by eels at this time.

That's five, I guess.

"You're from Japan? You must know Mr. Wu! He's from China!"

(Entry title taken, very sadly, from my Japanese professor's experience trying to explain to clueless Americans that East Asia is a rather large place. No, seriously. Someone actually said this to him. My grandpa always says, "Rissy, there's stupid laying around we haven't even used up yet.")

Robin explained to me that Big Bird had moved to New York to be with the Ninja Turtles. And it is, to the best of my recollection, true that in the Muppet Movie, the very first one, Big Bird moves to New York instead of going to Hollywood with Kermit and Fozzie. And in Robin's mind, people in New York know each other. Because they live near each other, there in New York.

I really love the fact that, in his little brain, Big Bird and his beloved Turtles are having pizza together. And maybe in a few years Edna St. Vincent Millay will join them. This just makes me happy.