Author: marylowd

Oh no… I ran out of Yellowjackets episodes again.

My plan for coping with running out — namely, watching it over again — has failed me.

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Spouse: *shows me a picture of a chair for sale*

Me: “It’s all scratched up.” Continue reading “Our Aesthetic”

I’m proud of myself: given a choice between writing and playing Hades just now, I willingly chose to work on my novel, without pressuring myself to make that choice at all.

This is real progress from a month or so ago when the mere thought of trying to write made me want to cry. Continue reading “Recovering from Burnout”

Hot take: if you don’t love the epic scene where Indiana Jones hides from a nuke in a refrigerator, you probably take the franchise too seriously (or just don’t like it at all, I guess).

The Indiana Jones movies have always been ridiculous. That scene just turns it up to 11. Continue reading “Indiana Jones 4”

The Sheltie feels it is deeply wrong for people to jump on a trampoline and barks at us constantly whenever we do.

Shelties don’t approve of flying. This is fundamentally the inspiration for Otters In Space. (I mean, of course, also otters.)

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Spaceship log: the anti-gravity chamber has been successfully installed and trial runs suggests it will be significantly beneficial for the crew’s health and morale, in spite of the junior canine officer’s officially logged and repeated concerns.

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As soon as I started up the latest Boba Fett, I IMMEDIATELY recognized Young Natalie from Yellowjackets in the recap shots from the previous episode. So, I can tell I watched ALL of Yellowjackets between these two episodes of Boba Fett, or I’d have recognized her last time.

Apparently, Young Natalie from Yellowjackets stars in a sci-fi thriller called Prospect, so I may have to check that out. ‘Cause I feel like “Young Natalie + sci-fi thriller” is a pretty solid starting point for a movie.

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I know it won’t happen, but I’d really love to see them bring Short Round back for Indiana Jones 5.

As a kid when I first fell in love with the Indiana Jones movies, having a kid as one of Indy’s sidekicks in Temple of Doom just really popped, and he’s such a good character.

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Honestly, I’d also love to see Indy run into Willie Scott again and have her say snarky things to him. She has such excellent comedic timing and really brightens up Temple of Doom with her humor.‬

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I’m watching a whole battalion shoot arrows at Indy in Temple of Doom, all of them missing, and thinking about Storm Troopers’ notorious inability to actually shoot anything… And maybe Harrison Ford just has a built-in deflection field.

This afternoon we started setting up a giant trampoline in our backyard, and this evening we’re re-watching Toy Story 3. My inner child (who is most of me) is very happy.

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I know the end of Toy Story 3 is supposed to be heartwarming, but all I can see is Andy on eBay fifteen years later trying to buy back copies of all those beloved toys he gave away and still misses.

My process…

Write: “If she were a porcupine, she’d be shooting quills.”

Google: “Do porcupines shoot quills?” (They don’t.)

Add: “Even though porcupines don’t actually do that. She’d have found a way.”

Me playing most video games: “You could not pay me to bother with reading the story text. Must kill things!”

Me playing Hades: “Gotta go gather more nectar so I can buy more story text.”

My heart: “Look at Jupiter, look how pretty, all those clouds… what if there were DINOSAURS UNDER THEM?”

My brain: “Wait… you expect me to write seriously about dinosaurs living inside the clouds of Jupiter? HOW? It makes no sense!”

Heart: “I don’t care. Just write it.”

The Bengal cats are outraged that I’m making cucumber sandwiches, instead of something sensible like tuna.

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Working on Otters In Space is such a strange experience… the prose oscillates wildly between dumb dog jokes and sharp observations about society… and that’s just always been the voice of this series. Continue reading “Tidbits of Writing, Sandwiches, and Wishing to Be a Rat”

There are so many videos little videos these days on Facebook showing how people make all kinds of things, especially food, arts, and crafts. And they always make me think of the videos Mr. Rogers used to show, like I’m pretty sure there was one at a crayon factory. Continue reading “Little Videos About Making Things”