gategrrl

Took Mermaid and Little Guy to the San Diego Zoo on Thursday, from 11am to 8pm. Nine hours of fun.

We saw the Panda Bears, which was a priority, since Little Guy loves those Eric Carle books like "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", "Polar Bear, Polar Bear" and "Panda Bear, Panda Bear". The pandas were sleeping as the line of us tourists filed past their compounds quietly, and in awe. Lots of Skytram rounds (the zoo has this gondola system that takes you from the entrance all the way to the back of the park). Lots of performing sea lion shows (we caught three of them). This was all punctuated by Mermaid getting picked to be a volunteer for the last Sea Lion show of the day, and afterward, Little Guy projectile vomiting on the pavement outside of a gift shop at closing time. He'd complained of an upset tummy all day. All I asked of him was to NOT barf on me, if he had to. What a good kid. After he finally barfed, he was bouncier than a beach ball.

We also spent a lot of time at local San Diego playgrounds and a beach. Got sunburned.

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Then home on Friday, in time to watch the season premieres of Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, and BSG. What is with these producers who feel like they have to throw the Big Loud Noisy Explosions at us all the time, or looooong character introductions, and more than multiple storylines?

Stargate SG-1: eh. It was fun in a shallow, oh, look, the new guy likes SG-1. Oh, look at the new sexbombshell who wants Daniel for his mind as well as his gonads (yawn). She was funny, but that's what I expect from Claudia Black. When Carter gets back, shit, the show is going to be boring as fucking hell. RATING: 4/10

Atlantis: Lots of angsty tiredness and silly "let's use the BIGGEST explosion of all!" with lots and lots of kewl effects and dumbdumbdumb bad guys who back off when a lame-ass female character sends them a "telepathic message" that the main characters are going to 'splode the city. So, what do the stupido bad guys do? Take the tiny bait and go 'way. I'm almost surprised they didn't have Rodney and Shep light up cigerettes after the big bomb went off. Or maybe have Weird fake an orgasm. That would have been fun, as well as in character for her. RATING: 4/10

Battlestar Galactica: What have they got going in this premiere? five plotlines? Two on two planets, two in space, one flashback series...am I missing any? Can one say, spread out your plots a little? One scene on Kobol is enough, thanks. Or one scene on Caprica, just to let us know that they're alive. and WTF was with the flashbacks with the Bad Hair From Kobol? Yikes! I suppose I, as a member of the audience, am supposed to be on tenterhooks about WHY Adama and Tighe were expelled from the Fleet...but amongst all the other storylines in the NOW, do I really care at the moment? Um...no. And I hate too many dangling plot-lines with unanswered "mysterious" questions. X-Files and fucking Lost have cured me of that. Give me the fucking answers, and you'd better do it fucking soon - more to the point, make sure it has something to do the major plotline or don't fucking bother. RATING: 6/10

Next on the summer viewing agenda: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Johnny Depp version, in the theater.

Oh, have I mentioned that our neighbor on the left (facing the street from our house) have for some inexplicable reason, gotten CHICKENS? And their dog is PREGNANT, and they don't want their dog pregnant even though they've done jack-shit to get her spade? And their medium small dog is pregnant by a fucking huge PITBULL? fucking hell. Honestly, the chickens clucking at 5am don't bother me that much. I'm used to it from when I travelled, and heard them everywhere. But spouse is noise sensitive, and I can tell, this is yet one more nonendearing thing they're doing. I've already informed Mermaid that we are NOT keeping one of the spawn...er, puppies...from this union. We already have a dog. And besides, I am NOT going to encourage irresponsible dog ownership.