Valentimes is serious times.

You know that clip where Spanky is trying to kill flies and babbling to Petey? The really painfully awesome one? Well, I haven't been able to stop watching it. It cheers me up like you would not believe. It doesn't even make sense, really. I mean, other than the lady at the end with wonderful dictation, this is the only dialogue that I can vaguely understand:

• "Petey, I will shoot that fly!"
• "I know baa-baa-black-sheep!"
• "HAH-HAAAAH!"
• "Oh look at the big bug!"

Of course, then there's the lady at the end whose diction is so precise it's funny, especially when it's followed by Spanky in his little baby bonnet responding "Mmbuggah!" or something of the sort. I do have to say, though, that when I first saw the very beginning where he cries and tries to swat the flies away from his face with his stubby little fingers, it almost brought a tear to my eye, the poor thing. But then he resumed his precious little giggly face, and all was well. Seriously, his laughing makes me LOL as well. What a darling, darling child. It's pretty sad to think that he's dead now. Well, that's a downer.

But anyway, so I can't stop watching this video, and I thought, what am I going to do if this one disappears like all the Little Rascals clips on YouTube did? OH THE HORROR! So I did a little bit of haxxorzing (actually, it was just a single Google search, I'm not that badass), and downloaded it to my computer. And not only that, but I happen to have this nifty little device called a video iPod. And if it can play videos, I thought, why not? So now, if ever I am traveling, or in class, or in bed, and I get a little sad, it's okay, because I have a portable Spanky and Petey for some instant cheer. And I don't even think it's sad that I'm watching this clip several times a day, because things this adorable don't really get old, and this is just how I am dealing with a painfully long disappointment of a summer. Okay, I don't actually spend all my time watching Little Rascals. I start a new job on Tuesday (working at the family business - oh lohdy!) and have been working on a few projects at a time, besides cold turkey/hot pastrami. Most notably, I've been doing lots of musicky things, like writing out piano arrangements to songs I can't find sheet music for, which is very gratifying, and it's pretty much convinced me that I need to bring my keyboard to school next year - if our closet is big enough, we can set up a little music station next to wherever we sit and talk on the phone, it'll be adorable, and I'm all about adorable things.

For real, I am looking forward to go back to school. I've decided it will be awesome, so I am excited. Maybe I'm excited a year too late, but hey, better late than never, I think. But anyway, I will deal with summer too, because all I need is my music, and my ducks, and a trip to visit Monica, because her phone call was wonderful, and my Little Rascals. Because Spanky and Petey are the only boys I need. Psh.

I'll baptize that piece of calamari!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPHdBuXrNFI

Watch this right before you have dinner with your family, then try to explain why you have orange juice coming out your nose. Todd Packer can do anything.

Where's the rent go?

There's a good chance I'm way behind on this, but I just discovered it, and it's probably my new favorite video ever. Unless I like this one better. I can't decide.

Well, I don't have any good stories about raccoons, or any animals for that matter, really. My ducks are gettin' big already. And two of them got eated by some douchebag animal. Unless it just, you know, thought they were so cute that it had to kidnap them and is raising them as baby foxes or hawks or whatever. But seriously, nothing makes me happy quite like baby ducks do. I've been sitting outside to keep an eye out for other hungry douchebag animals, and sometimes I bring out duck food, and all the ducks, including mommy and daddy, will come up and eat out of my hands and peck at my feet and step all over each other trying to get their share, going "cheepcheepcheep", which is duck speak for "ZOMGFOOD". And they're just these precious little fuzzballs climbing into my hand and letting me pick them up and tilting their heads to look up at me with their little duckbilled smiley faces and it's just like, Holy jebus, you guys rock.

So, let's see, what have I been doing. I'm still jobless and I think I might take an art class or something so that I don't feel so bad for doing nothing with my life this summer. 'Cause, you know, I kinda like drawing. I have also been reading and kicking ass in Final Fantasy III. Socially, it's been a combination of having nice hangout time with nice friends, trying to talk sense into silly friends, and being boisterous at the beach with crazy friends. Which is good fun, believe me. (You know you loved my phone call.) And I love summery weather. So, it's a good summer for the most part. Maybe not like, ideally ideal - y'know, bickering family members, frustrating people, confusing situations...but other than that, thumbs up. Like, last week I snuck out at 11:00 to go to the diner with a few pals (as for the sneaking out, it was more like...not waking up my parents to tell them I was leaving). And I got the most amazing chocolate milkshake I ever had, but that's not the point of the story. I could not explain to the pals why I was cracking up over the following: Basically, two pals were arguing over how much salt should be put on fries. Pal 1 gets his fries and puts a little salt on them. Pal 2 says: "Haha. Salt 'em more." And that's...all I'm going to say about that.

And now I will leave you with a very thought-provoking fortune cookie I got last week: ":) A nice cake is waiting for you. :)"