Strange Angels Kicks Ass!

OK, I must admit: I HATE Twilight. No, I started out loving it (just the first book) and then when I went back and reread it, I hated it.

I hate how mushy it is: Edward + Bella = major gag factor.

I hate what a complete bungling useless damsel in distress Bella is.

I hate the way the darned 'love triangle' is played out. Sam (werewoll) + Bella (human) + Edward (vampire). Makes Bella looks like an indecisive bitch.

I hate how noble Edward seems.

I hate the later plots; the story just gets weirder and weirder.


So after reading the series (shamed to say, I actually have all four books; I should just burn them or give them away), I went all out in search of other similarly themed books but with heroines who could kick ass because Bella just makes me want to slap her silly (though how much sillier and dumber she can get, I dunno).

I found other heroines who rose up to the task of kicking ass but I think none kick ass as well as Lili St. Crow's Dru Anderson. If you haven't read St. Crow's Strange Angels, go pick it up NOW. There's a heady mix of werwulfen, loup-garou, djamphir, nosferatu, magic and ammo, romance and angst (not the icky skin crawling, gag-reflex inducing Bella/Sam/Edward kind), suspense with some delightful Russian (Polish? East European?) endearments thrown in.

Dru's no Bella, thank gawd!  She's got her issues but next to Bella, her issues look way more realistic and one can at least empathise with her. And she KICKS ASS! Not just with ammo but with the touch as well. I just want to slap Bella upside on the head for being indecisive and wishy-washy. Oh, did I mention useless? Never met a more useless human being to appear in a book.

And Christophe? Aaaaaahh...he makes Edward look like a young pansy of a flower. Now THAT'S a MAN, or rather, djamphir. The foreign endearments help (moj maly ptaszku, moja ksiezniczko, etc.), the slight accent too. You could learn a thing or two from Christophe, Edward. Maybe like, not saving Bella's ass all the time. Girl's gotta learn to stand on her own two feet.

How can I not like a book which has a half-Asian Goth boy as the other leading man? In fact, Graves started out seemingly as somewhat of a doughboy but wow, did he turn out to be the most awesome, kick-ass, and dependable loup-garou. Score one for the Asian leading man!


The series is currently at book three and keeps getting better with each book. Sigh, and now I have to wait for the next book in the installment, Defiance, to find out what happens to all three of them. Sigh...more waiting.

In the meantime, those phrases are sticking in my head...

Straight From The Horse's Mouth

I'm constantly reminding myself and remarking to the small fry that she has too many toys and that we are not getting her any more. Her toys litter the living room, take up half the closet space in the guest room and occupies many corners and walls around the apartment.

While shopping for her friend's birthday present at Toys R Us today, small fry came upon some hula hoops and promptly took one down off the hook and started playing with it. Or rather, she tried to shake her booty while hanging on to a much-too-large-for-her hoop.

I spied her in action and got daddy to look. He then said that maybe we should get her one. I wondered aloud which one to get. 

Overhearing us, small fry quipped, "I have too many toys, Mummy!" and dutifully put the hoop back. 

Looks like the child is reminding the parents about their resolve. 

Note to self: remember what you keep telling yourself. 

Gimme Some Love

Tonight, on our first night back in Singapore, I was told that while I was out attending a concert, a certain brown cow got into bed with small fry.

That's a first. Not only did he get into bed with her, he stayed at her feet till she was asleep. Then promptly went up to her face and sniffed her, his whiskers tickling her awake.

To her credit, small fry resisted the urge to bully fatty, instead taking it all in stride and giggled happily.

I guess brown cow and small fry are starting a new phase in their relationship.

A Ride In The Clouds

On our way back to Singapore from Subang, the ATR 500 turboprop aircraft sailed over a pocket of air and we felt a little pull of gravity like we'd just gone over a speed bump.

Small fry giggles and says, "Ooh, Mummy. That tickles!"

We hit another air pocket and my stomach drops again. 

Laughter from the small fry, "Another tickle!". Giggles.

Small fry's take on flight turbulence makes us adults look boringly prosaic by comparison.

Harassing The Cat

Don't be fooled. She looks like she's being tender towards the brown cow. But it's all for show. The cheeky grin on her face says it all: she just loves harassing the boy. He just takes it like a punching bag. I keep telling him to grow some claws and fight back. I tell her that he can only take so much and one day, she'll experience those claws. But they both ignore me. And so it continues...

My cat, my pillow.

Enduring the 'loving'.

My World For A Brown Cow

In general, small fry and the brown cows get along well enough. Especially when she's not trying to take him out by thumping her fists on his back or yelling at him just so that he'll leave the couch.

Pixel may be fat and somewhat stupid but he's fiercely loyal and will let the small fry do almost anything to him. So far, he hasn't extended a claw or tooth in her direction yet.

Small fry greets brown cow. Don't let the claws fool you. He's a softie.

"Even though you torture me to death, I still love you."

"If I bounce hard enough, he'll be my horsey?"

Moments like these make my day.

Failed Social Experiment

A couple of weeks back, I thought I'd take small fry to the cinema.

We were going to watch Babies since she'd thoroughly enjoyed the antics of the cross-continental babies in the trailer. In order to prepare her for the experience, I explained to her that the cinema would be dark and that it may be quite loud but that it was OK, that i she didn't like it, we could leave.

"Mmm...it's going to be loud and dark, Mummy."

So we headed off on a weekend for the 11 am show. As we were on the way, small fry kept repeating, "I'm going to the cinema with you, Mummy! We're going to watch the babies!"

When we got to the ticket counter I told the lady what show we wanted tickets for. She looked at me then at small fry in her stroller and asked if she was going in too. I said yes. She said she couldn't let us in as the show was rated NC16.

Oops. Someone forgot to check the restrictions.

Fearing the worst (small fry had so looked forward to this as I'd told her a few times that she was going to the cinema with me prior to heading there). Her facial expressions promptly screwed themselves up and she bawled on the spot.

"I want to watch!" Bawl. Yikes.

The aunty at the counter tried being helpful, saying that there was another show - Alpha and Omega - that she could watch. I wheeled her to the poster so she could look at the cute dogs wolves but she would have none of it.

In the end, I placated her with a lunch of onigiri and noodles and that we'd go right away. And that if the DVD ever came out, I'd make sure to buy it and we could watch it at home together.

Till this day she remembers the route we took to get to the cinema (it's a little offshoot from her regular route to playgroup) and she points out that, "That's where we go to the cinema. I wanted to watch the Babies but the old woman at the counter said I couldn't watch, then I cried and cried and cried."

Square Peg

On the last day of term a couple of weeks back, small fry's class had an end-of-term party.

When I went to pick her up from playgroup, I found most of the kids decked out in face paint; the boys were mostly animals. There are only three girls in her group; two of them had a rose each painted on one cheek.

And the small fry?

At first, I thought she'd had a major sunburn: her face was all pink! On closer inspection, I thought it looked like a jellyfish, but she doesn't have a jellyfish among her toys. Instead she has a couple of beloved octopi. So I said, "Oh hey! You're a pink octopus!"

"No, Mummy. I'm a jellyfish na!"

Yup, the small fry is a jellyfish among the roses.

What's All The Fuss About?

On a recent visit to the bookstore, small fry convinced Gong-gong to get her a magazine. On the way to the cashier, small fry took her own sweet time to get to the counter, stopping every once in a while to check out the rest of the merchandise on display.

She ambled on so slowly that a line was starting to form behind her and afraid that she'd hold it up any longer, Gong-gong promptly told her, "Hurry up, Sophia! There are other people behind you."

She retorted, "Don't make a fuss, Gong-gong!" and casually strolled up to him at the cashier counter.

Needless to say, the people behind her had a good laugh. Including the guy manning the cashier.

Died People Congregate In Water

Small fry is into her Lego blocks in a big way these days. She likes constructing 'fountains' and giving them away to me.

Tonight, after her storytelling session with Dad, they proceeded to build more stuff with the Lego blocks. When it came my turn to take over with book reading, small fry declined in favour of her blocks.

She promptly made me a few 'fountains' and made the following proclamation:

"Mummy, this is for you! It's a fountain. Say 'thank you'."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome! See, this is a fountain with died people inside!"

"Dyed people? What do you mean, baby?"

"Died people. Like the died people in the water? With their eyes closed? In Daddy's movie?"

Scratching head and racking brains. Bewildered as to what she means by dyed people. Dike people? Diet people? Could she possibly mean dead people? Why's she talking about dead people?! And where did she learn that word - died?

"Remember? In Daddy's movie, mummy?"

Click. Lightbulb goes on. Yikes.

"Oooooh! Where the man fell into the water?"

"Yes! And he couldn't get out? And the died people were all in the water!"

Said died dead people that small fry means is in direct reference to The Lord Of The Rings where Frodo falls into the bog and Gollum snatches him back up. The bog holds all the dead souls who were sorta calling out to Frodo.

Small fry was with us in the living room when Daddy turned on the DVD and surprisingly she didn't flinch. And apparently remembers the died dead people from the bog in the movie. That was two days ago.

The kid is a sponge. What a morbid sponge.