Susie Cupcakes

My plan to take some fantastic pictures this weekend didn't come to fruition, partially due to a cold that seemed to get worse each day. I felt like I was walking around with a blanket wrapped around my head, which is not only dangerous but foolish. After many doses of Advil Cold and Sinus, I am back to normal, except for a strange electric feeling that seems to be running through my shoulders and hands. Perhaps this indicates it is time to reduce my dosage of Advil Cold and Sinus. Or my dosage of gin.

The news has been pretty much, you know, hideous this week. Let's not even discuss it, my friends, or I shall burst into the internet tears (i.e. <cry></cry>). So here are some nice things to think about:

1. Kittens
I am rather fond of kittens.

2. Death Cab has a new album! And you can even listen to the whole album for free. And the timing of this new album is perfect because . . .

3. The OC is back tonight! And that means Seth Cohen will be back. Li'l Seth!
Although somewhere in the middle of the comic book storyline last year I became more interested in the oddly dashing Sandy Cohen.

Mmmm, eyebrows.

4. Lighthearted childhood games. I've been thinking lately about the games my sister and brother and I used to play, and I think that they reveal a lot about us, as a macabre people. Just a sampling:

• "Flood" required a full ditches (which happened pretty much every spring) and an old board. The board is placed halfway in the water. One person walks slowly down the board, closer and closer to the water, while the others wait nearby, in the driveway. The person on the board silently walks until the slightest bit of water touches his/her shoe, at which time a panicky "FLOOD!" is shouted and everyone runs up the driveway screaming. Repeat ad infinitum.
• "My Heart is Final" made good use of our backyard, which sloped up and then down quite steeply. To play this game, you sit down in the yard in front of the up slope, and one person stands on top of the small hill in front of you. This person solomnly addresses the crowd with the same verbal suicide note every time: "Now, my heart is final as I step into Doomsday Lake." The person then jumps off the top of the hill and down the other side, while the spectators enjoy the illusion of a drowning. Fun!
  
• "Blind Man in Charge" was a summer game, played in the soft-sided, 8-foot wide or so swimming pools that we used every summer. It was really a version of Marco Polo, except we were from North Dakota and games like Marco Polo hadn't reached us yet. The person who is it has to try to tag the others, but keep his or her eyes closed. Get it? The Blind Man is in Charge!
  

A fun time, my friends, a fun time indeed.

Well, that's enough nice things for one day, I think. Keep your spirits up--remember, we may be going to hell in a handbasket, but it's a new and surprising handbasket every day!