Not Now Kid / Mysterious Force

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

There’s a trope in YA and children’s entertainment that drives me up the wall. Parents not believing or not trusting their kids.

You know the scenario. Something bad happens and all the characters are yelling about it and the kid/protagonist tries to get their attention but no one listens. Normally it ends up that the kid is right.

It’s a trope that was immensely popular in the 80’s and 90’s and has, thankfully, fallen out of favour. The idea behind it is that if the parents knew, they’d be able to fix it and if they couldn’t then why would the kids. Or if the parents knew then the kid would never be allowed to fix it because it’s too dangerous.

The only example of this trope that I enjoy is Candace from Phineas & Ferb.

The problem I have with the trope is that it promotes the idea that parents are obstacles and not resources. It also makes the parents look really stupid.

It’s a difficult balance between supportive parent and irresponsible or negligent parent. Especially when the kids/protagonists in question are battling monsters or other terrible things.

 

What do you think? What YA trope pisses you off?

Later Days,

Éric

Cuba…in Canada?

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Do you like the atmosphere of Cuba, but don’t want to leave the country (assuming you’re Canadian)? There’s a new campground in Quebec that brings Cuba to Canada!

Image from the home page of www.clubhavanacamping.com

Camping Havana Resort is a regular campground with Cuban flair. There are activities, dancing, and a resort-sized pool to enjoy, and (according to their website) all the people who work there are from Cuba.

So pack up your tent or rent a cabana and drive on over to this new camp!

Are you interested in travelling to Cuba (in Canada or not)? Jen has retired from working as a travel agent. Hope you’ve enjoyed Fandom Travel . 

Being an Adult

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

I’ve been thinking about being an adult. Not actually being an adult, but what it means to be an adult.

There are multiple kinds of attitudes about what it means. Doing your own laundry, groceries, taxes, or finances. Some say you’re not an adult until you have kids, a car, or a mortgage.

Once, a long time ago (when cell phones were still dumb and Facebook was still sorted by time-posted) a co-worker saw my geeky office stuff and said, “I used to be into all that, but I had to give it up. It’s not right for an adult.”

I smiled and nodded. They had decided that Pixar movies and Disney were not something adults should be interested in and there was nothing I could do to change their mind.

It’s an attitude I’ve heard a lot since I was young. People telling me that I was now too old to read Goosebumps or Babysitter’s club.

Most annoying are the people who complain about having to watch animated movies with their kids. They’ve made up their minds that they are boring and stupid. Meanwhile, I’ve seen, in theatres, most of the animated movies to come out in the past fifteen years.

Here’s the two-part secret of being a real adult:

First: Respect other’s tastes and opinions and let them enjoy what they will.

Second: Let yourself enjoy those things that make you happy.

Don’t let anyone make you feel bad for enjoying the things you did as a child or that are targeted towards children. Now excuse me as I go re-watch Gummi Bears with my wife and daughter.

 

Later Days,

Éric

Devices of Desire (Serial Story) Chapter 3

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Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Chapter 3: Special Deliveries and Warnings

Leaning on the counter, Ezekiel let his legs dangle off the stool. The act made him feel like a child again. People often asked if he ever forgot about having an artificial leg and he’d often open his eyes wide and ask, “What artificial leg?” It was a mean joke, people were well-meaning, but they always acted like he was broken when he was just different. His artificial leg sometimes itched and it sometimes hurt, but so did his flesh one.

The changes that Didi had made to his leg let him tap rhythmically. It was going to make things really different tonight if she could get it working. The girl was an absolute genius but she always seemed preoccupied.

Not that he was all that much better. He worked for his father and mother at the Apollo shipping company because that’s what was expected. He was a decent bookkeeper, supervisor, and had a knack of motivating employees, but most of the time he sat at the counter waiting for someone to have a problem. It was boring, but it gave him time to think about his music.

That night he was going to be headlining at the Greasy Cog, the coolest music club in Cillian. His parents hated that he played music but tolerated it as long as he didn’t play in public. He, of course, disguised himself and went by Zed. He’d been playing on street corners and pubs for years until the owner of the Greasy Cog heard him.

If things went well tonight he could be playing for the Princess at her coronation.

“Hey Ezekiel. What’s new?”

As if on cue, she walked through the door to work on her infernal glider cycle. It was an idea that people had been trying to perfect for years. If she could actually make it work it would mean two airships could exchange goods in mid-air without docking or using a complicated anchoring procedure. She’d been working on it, as a side project, for the past two years.

He told her about the leg and she promised to look into it. She was always chipper with her catchphrase of, “Perfection through persistence.”

As she left towards her workshop, she said, “Arty here was looking for you. Take care of him, he’ll be a master soon.”

Turning towards the newcomer, he tried to ask how he could help but it just came out as a strange croak. The man in front of him was dressed as a fighting monk and was quite possibly the best looking man he’d ever seen. His strong cheekbones were made more prominent by the tight bun fashion that the monks put their hair in. The man was attractive beyond the face; his arms, legs, and chest were well muscled in a way that looked sculpted instead of bulky.

“Hi. How can I help you?” he finally managed.

“I was told I have a letter.” There was something in the way the man stood and talked that was familiar.

Ezekiel nodded and headed to the back. It took a little searching but he finally found the letter.

“I’m going to need proof of identity.”

The good looking man blushed and fished in his robes for something. Pulling up a crumpled paper, he smiled crookedly and said, “Sorry. It got wet.”

The paper had an official seal from the Hero Johann Haus but all he could read was an A and some blurry ink stains. Sighing, Ezekiel said, “I’m really sorry, but I can’t accept this.”

“The letter is a replacement for this paper…” the man paused and his brow furrowed. “Please!” It looked like it took a lot of effort to ask. As a fighting monk, Ezekiel assumed Arty didn’t need help very often.

“How about this. I’ll open it and if it’s identification papers I’ll give them to you. If they’re not I’ll call the guard?” It was an empty threat. The man hadn’t done anything illegal.

“Okay!” the man nodded enthusiastically and smiled. The smile and enthusiasm made Ezekiel’s heart flutter.

The envelope held a paper similar to the one Arty had given him and a letter. He checked the paper and it was genuine so he handed the whole thing to Arty.

Instead of leaving or putting the papers away, Arty started to read the letter. Not wanting to intrude or stare any more than he had already, Ezekiel busied himself with some random paperwork; mostly shipping invoices.

“Oh no!” Arty’s voice quavered and he looked like he was trying to decide between panic and joy.

“What’s wrong?”

“She’s coming here.”

“Who?”

“The Oracle of Espenson.”

Ezekiel groaned. The Oracle was nicknamed the Prophet of Doom. When she left her home she always had prophesies that meant terrible things for someone. Worse than the predictions was how accurate she was. It was said the more you fought her prophesies, the more you’d suffer.

“This might give me my Act,” Arty beamed.

“Act?” Ezekiel was wondering if he should maybe take a long vacation.

“In order to become a Master, I have to pass all the tests and perform an Act of Heroism. This could be it.”

The man’s passion was impressive. Between the passion and the panic, Ezekiel didn’t think before he spoke aloud, “You’re hot when you’re passionate.”

Read Next

If you’re enjoying this year’s serial story why not check out those from past years?

Blush: Infant foreskin

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I don’t have a penis. I have only rarely dealt with (read: changed the diaper of) an infant with a penis (and don’t remember doing it, so it was a really long time ago). So when an article about infant foreskin crossed my path, I opened it, because, “Hey, new thing I don’t know much about!”

And wow did I learn.

Ovate Mushroom from wildflowerfinder.org.uk.

If the foreskin is still attached to the penis of the infant – you don’t have to pull it back to clean inside it.

Not only that, but you should NOT pull it back.

In an infant, the foreskin is attached to the head by a membrane called the synechia. The membrane dissolves (not unlike the hymen), but this takes time (2-6 YEARS is normal, although earlier or later than that is not concerning), and should not be rushed. The first person to pull back the foreskin should be the child – they will stop if it hurts or if there is resistance.

If the membrane is pulled back, severe pain, bleeding, tearing, infections, and permanent damage could happen to the penis.

Once the child does this the first time, you can teach them how to wash underneath the foreskin (pull back, wash under the folds, rinse away all the soap, push forwards again…references below). But until then, the foreskin protects the head of the penis from all bacteria – including poop! (If I had thought about infant penises before having read up on the subject, I would have assumed that you would have to pull back the foreskin to clean out poop – you certainly have to clean EVERYWHERE with an infant vulva! But nope!)

The only time you should be concerned about the foreskin of the infant is if it gets red, sore, or inflamed. If the child can’t pee, that is definitely a problem. Bring them to a doctor.

The human body knows what it is doing. Let it take care of itself, and don’t pull back an infant’s foreskin!

References

https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/foreskin-care

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/bathing-skin-care/Pages/Care-for-an-Uncircumcised-Penis.aspx

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/phimosis/

If you’re enjoying the Blush blogs, consider learning more with Blush: The Card Game from Renaissance Press.

Top 5 Word Processor Mistakes

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Hello Writers and People who use word processors,

According to Wikipedia: “A word processor is an electronic device or computer software application that performs the task of composing, editing, formatting, and printing of documents.”

You’ve certainly used Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, Google Docs, Open Office, or one of a million different variations on the theme. There are also WYSIWYG variations for blogs and website programs.

These programs are pretty universal in how they work and unfortunately so are the errors people make while using them.

5. Tabs

They can be useful in formatting spaces to a certain extent but they shouldn’t be used in the place of indents. If you want indents find out how to do it through text properties.

4. Spaces

Modern programs compensate for the lack of space in between sentences. Because of this you do not need to add two spaces.

Beyond that, do not use spaces to place, align, indent, or move an object or word in your document. Doing so is unreliable and there are much easier ways to do it using various features in the program.

3. Paragraph Marks

There are two kinds of breaks. Soft and Hard. Soft ones break a sentence and should be used sparingly.

Hard returns break a paragraph. A common mistake is to use breaks or Paragraph marks, as they’re also called, to create space between paragraphs. This leaves you with three paragraphs where one is empty. That space can be controlled much easier and more effectively in the settings of the paragraph.

2. Styles

They might be called something different but basically they’re pre-formatted templates for a piece of text. Styles let you apply all the same formatting to your headings, paragraphs, etc.

Using styles means you have a consistent look. In all the programs, you can customize them for font, size, indents, spacing, paragraph spacing, kerning, alignment, colour, etc.

Using Heading styles allows you to auto-generate table of contents and internal document links.

1. Table Layout

Tables should be used for tables. Nothing else. They are not a layout tool, they are not meant to be used to control the look and flow of a document. If you want columns use the columns feature.

Use tables as a last resort and only if you absolutely must include data.

A bulleted list or headings often convey the same information.

 

Knowing what the Word Processor can do and using the proper feature will save you huge amounts of time.

Keep on Processing,

Éric