All In The Details

Sorry it's been some time since I updated this, but last week was a bit crazy, and although I had a really good weekend, I didn't have any time to sit at the computer and type something up except for the couple of times I found a few moments.

On the home front, the princesses have a knack for making the Queen crazy. On the one hand, it's normal kid stuff, but on the other, at least Rock Girl should know better since she's old enough to do and know a lot of things the younger ones can't (though The Socialite is getting there). The biggest issue actually began last week when Rock Girl complained that she didn't have any clothes to wear primarily because the Queen isn't washing their clothes as soon as they bring them in.

Now, note that the Queen did wash their clothes as soon as they were brought in, but there was one main reason as to why she didn't have the clothes she was looking for. When the Queen was going through their room, she found a stash of clothes the Rock Girl had not brought in and within this stash (that Rock Girl had assured her was brought in there) were the clothes she was looking for.

So what is the price of crossing the Queen? Not good, let me tell you. You see, at the time the Queen discovered this little revelation, Rock Girl had procured herself some time on Guitar Hero and was kicking butt and taking names. I mean, she was downright impressive, and beat the game on easy. The victory dance for beating the game on any level is playing Through the Fire and Flames against the mountain spire background without fear of failing the song. It's pretty cool.

Well, discipline can suck sometimes. First, she had gone over the time allotted to play the game. Second, she had given the Queen a hard time over clothes not being washed that she had failed to take into the laundry room. The Queen does not being called lazy and stupid in this manner, so Rock Girl's elation over beating Lou was shattered by having to turn off the game before the victory song and going in to work on her room.

Now, we can be strict, but later, during dinner, the Queen was sure to give Rock Girl her props for beating the game and the assurance the she is loved.

She was also given the privilege yesterday of playing against Lou again, so we could all watch her kick his butt yet again. She didn't get the victory song, but she playing Through the Fire and Flames anyway off the bonus list, and got 83% through it before failing the song... and let me tell you, she did an awesome job before hitting that troublesome section that got her. I'm super proud. She's getting that game down pat.

Later yesterday evening, we watched Dancing With The Stars. They enjoy it, and if I want to spend time with anyone, I'm in there as well. What's interesting is the apparent reason each of them watch it. I know Rock Girl and the Queen enjoy the dancing parts, but the Socialite appears to derive more enjoyment from ooh-ing and ah-ing the dresses the women are wearing. She's declared that she has to have the pink one with the feathers.

Since I had to work the previous evening, I was getting quite tired by the end of the night, and so the Queen and I went to bed. The Queen usually asks for a story, and I've taken to telling her either Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. why such odd choices? They're very long and very invovled stories, so despite their interesting nature, it's easy to pass out in the telling.

What I've noticed, however, is how I tell her these stories. Star Wars is almost always linear. I talk about the plot and the characters going through it. I start at the beginning of one of the episodes, and rarely get very far before we both fall asleep.

In Lord of the Rings, by stark contrast, I rarely discuss just the plot. In fact, I often will center on individual characters or pieces of the story, and discussing just those parts takes us right out. Last night, for instance, I talked about just the One Ring. I went over its history, its owners, how it worked, its interactions with the other rings, and it occurred to me today just how much richer the story is for Lord of the Rings is than Star Wars.

Why the big difference? It has to do with the individual stories, I guess. With Star Wars, the only "official" stories are the 6 movies along with the animated series on Cartoon Network. While I've seen all of those along with reading several drafts of the screenplays, I still really only have the plot to run with, though I know much of the characters.

Lord of the Rings, on the other hand, has the novel, the Hobbit, and The Silmarillion, all of which I've read, and these paint the incredible picture of not only the story told in the movies, but what came before, what came after, and everything in between. Tolkien put everything into this world of his to the point that you could talk about one character for a whole evening and hardly get thru it. In the movie, Beren and Luthien were mentioned in passing in one scene, but their story is told in detail in The Silmarillion. Bilbo has a small part in Lord of the Rings, but is the central character of The Hobbit. And only one who knows the stories understands the ring that Gandalf is wearing at the end of the movie version of Return of the King (how many even noticed? Peter Jackson knew it needed to be there).

I haven't always told these stories. One of my best creations came out of her wanting a story. Someday, I must post the stories of "The Man and His Rabbit." But why would she want a story? To hear the sound of my voice as she goes to sleep. I'm ok with that reason.