Good night, Olivia. Good night, Rose.

Alaina Reed Hall passed away.

Here's the article.

I watched a ton of Sesame Street, as a kid. "Olivia," "Maria," "oscar," "Bob," "Mr. Hooper," and all the furry and feathered fictional characters kept this latchkey kid company and taught him a good deal.

Alaina Reed Hall, as "Olivia," was a part of that and so her voice and image are strongly tied to some of my fondest childhood memories.

Her transition from "Olivia" to "Rose" moved her from public television to the National Broadcast Corporation (or whatever "NBC" stands for) was surprising, but seemed pretty effortless. I liked the new show, "227."

Not much else to say. I liked the show. I liked "Rose."

I don't know anything about the actress, herself, but I still kinda liked her. So, I'm sorry to see her go.

Good night.

Weave Only Just Begun

Within the last day or so, I visited a local store and, as usual, drooled over the cute kids running around doing this and that. One of the kids that stands out in my memory was a little girl I'd guess to have been about six- or seven-years-old.

She was a cute kid, still young enough to have chubby cheeks, but looking less and less like a baby every day, I'd imagine. I also imagine that this has got to be a tough transition for parents. Just from my experiences with cousins and step-siblings, I'm sure it would be hard for me. I want the cute lil rugrats to stay that small and that young for as long as possible.

Maybe that's just because I don't have any children, yet, because a number of parents seem to feel differently. They seem to be trying their best to age their kids beyond their time on this Earth.

Or maybe they're trying to do something else, but either way, it bugs me that so many parents are willing to put weave in their little girl's hair.


That's one of the reasons I remember this little girl. Her hair was braided in a cute hairstyle that was somewhat age appropriate, I guess, but that said, to me, that the hair she had wasn't good enough or long enough or "white" enough or whatever.

Maybe this seems like a stretch to some of you, but I couldn't help using my crystal bal(d head) to look into this family's future. I saw a 14- or 15-year-old young lady trying to convince her parents to let her wear shorter skirts on her bottom, higher heels on her feet, ... and make-up on her face.

I imagined her parents putting their collective foot down, drawing a line, and telling her that she's too young for make-up and these other things that'll change her appearance, make her look older, and/or augment her under-aged assets.

I couldn't help wondering what made hair-weave the exception to the rule.

I'm not even getting into what it means when adults choose to push these up or fluff that out for one reason or another. When a child does it - with the encouragement and economic support of her parents - it concerns me.

Does this mean my future daughter won't be allowed to get a perm until she reaches a certain age... or for as long as she's a minor? I don't know, but I do know how I feel when I see little girls that can hardly speak clearly, doing booty-shaking dance, dressing provocatively, and wearing hair extensions.

I know they won't be kids forever, but can they at least be kids... while they're still kids?

A Special Laugh & A Forrest Quote

A couple of copy/pastes from a recent conversation:

WEST3MAN: Freshman year in college, some friends and I were laughing at someone's yearbook.
WEST3MAN: Laughing at the horrible pictures of folks.
WEST3MAN: Pix that really made'em look dumb or whatever.
WEST3MAN: We stumbled upon a photo of some folks in some club that looked ... well, they cracked us up.
WEST3MAN: After laughing looooong and haaaard,
B: lol
WEST3MAN: we realized it was a "special club."
B: that's messed up
WEST3MAN: They were all mentally retarded or something.
WEST3MAN: We felt AWFUL, but we'd already laughed so hard that we couldn't stop...
WEST3MAN: ...in fact, we laughed even harder.
B: heathen
WEST3MAN: The fact that we were supposed to stop made us laugh harder and we felt terrible as we cried and laughed and told each other to stop.
T: "where that bolt of lightning came from next, i'll never know . . "
WEST3MAN: the worst, best laugh i ever had.
WEST3MAN: indeed.
WEST3MAN: ever had that kinda laugh that makes EVERYthing funny, afterward?
B: yes
T: No
WEST3MAN: one of those moments, which was unfortunately followed by the revelation that we were laughing at the mentally challenged.
T: i always assumed that involved drugs of some kind
T: cuz i've seen it happen to people
B: alcohol
T: Alcohol is a drug
T: anyway
WEST3MAN: i don't drink or do drugs and it's happened to me many times.
T: i knew a guy who was proud of his personal motto "Hire the Handicapped, they're fun to watch" that he woudl wear it on a T-Shirt to Church
WEST3MAN: it's an incredible thing. i laughed, though, until i no longer sounded like a human-being - which is probably mildly appropriate.

And one more...

WEST3MAN: random comment (which'll probably end up on the blog):
WEST3MAN: perhaps my absolute favorite moment in Forrest Gump (one of my favorite movies) was when he tried to ask...
WEST3MAN: ...if his son was slow, like him.
WEST3MAN: he choked on the words and i choked on the frog in my throat.
WEST3MAN: that's all.

Feel free to comment on either.