Cthulhu ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Popcorn Press donated to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. But Cthulhu insisted on being doused anyway…

Kuto~urufu to Bejitarian Sushi

Jamie Chambers meets me for dinner to fulfill an old Cthulhu Haiku II Kickstarter promise. His performance really seals the deal.

Kuto~urufu to bejitarian sushi

CREDITS: Lester Smith as Cthulhu, Jamie Chambers as Jamie Chambers, Karalyn Smith as Voice of Server, Filmed by Karalyn Smith, Edited by Ralph Faraday, Music by Kevin MacLeod

A Promise Made . . .

…is a debt unpaid.
          —Robert W. Service

Cthulhu Ski MaskLast fall, for the Cthulhu Haiku II project, I promised to buy or make a Cthulhu ski mask, wear it to a sushi restaurant, order in Japanese, and have photos taken.

Yeah. I made that crazy promise.

Nor have I forgotten. Just been working up the nerve. So this weekend, while at Quincon, I ordered the Cthulhu Knitted Ski Mask pictured above.

I’ve located a good candidate for the restaurant. Time to call and make a reservation (he said, cringing).

I Take It Back, S&S

Pimsleur 50th Anniversary

Back in the ’60s, in grade school, in Central Illinois, none of my classmates were anything but Caucasian. Fortunately, our tiny town’s school principal was a forward-thinking woman devoted to exposing us to the larger world. Somehow she found enough money to erect a TV tower tall enough to capture the distant signal from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign station. Then she gave us an “option” on Thursday afternoons: either remedial spelling classes, or (if your spelling was okay) kids’ Spanish via TV.

Being a good speller, and having a low tolerance for the boredom of repetition, I chose Spanish. And I loved it! During middle school and high school, I took Spanish again every year. I carried a Spanish Bible to church to practice further. Much later, during my thirties, in college, I gained a Spanish minor (along with a semester of French). And I continue to practice Spanish today (via Duolingo.com), convinced of Charlemagne’s statement that “He who has a second language has a second soul.”
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