I have, on any given day, about 12 drafts waiting to be finished and posted on my blog. The number only goes down significantly when I’ve been on a huge posting binge. It only goes up significantly when I’ve been too bummed to write much.
The number of drafts currently stands at 23. It is probably the highest the count has ever been, and it is indicative of an unrelenting bad mood. I can only hope that by finishing Draft #23 (this post) that I will somehow set off a posting binge, which will in turn somehow usher in a better mood.
Bogga the Bug is a fictional character who came into being when the kids and I were working on a book-writing project. We needed a theme for our books, something the kids would find interesting. I suggested we all write stories about bugs. I titled mine “Bogga the Bog Bug.” In my story, a dragonfly named Bogga woke up in the morning, flew into the swamp, landed on a stick, smiled, and then went home. The kids must have loved the name Bogga, because they both used it, too. But, as you will see, their Boggas are different. Marshall’s is a firefly. Livia’s is most likely a ladybug. Neither is a bog dweller.
Marshall’s Bogga Story: “Bogga was sleeping. Some lava was in his house. He woke up. He rushed through his house. He saw a mountain. Then he turned on his glow. Then he raced to a volcano. Then he fell in by accident. He was inside the hot lava! He saw some hot lava. He was dead because he jumped in it. Bogga came back to life with Marshall’s help. Bogga went to bed. Bogga’s babies came home because of their big journey. And two of them were named Marshall and Livia.”
My favorite thing about this story is how Marshall changed it. It originally ended with Bogga’s death. When I mentioned that I like happy endings, Marshall decided to extend the story. He brought Bogga back to life, making the bug “un-die,” as he put it.
Livia’s Original Bog Bug Story: “Bogga was climbing up a mountain. She was climbing the lava mountain. And she got lava on her. Bogga climbed the mountain again. Then Bogga fell in the volcano. Then Bogga got more lava on her. She got rescued by Livia. Then she fell down in the whirlpool.”
My husband says the great thing about these Bogga stories is that the the kids regard them as light-hearted adventures, as if lava is not dangerous and falling into it is just a silly thing that Bogga does. He loves seeing how happy they are when he reads their stories back to them.
Livia has already written two sequels to her Bogga story. A third one is on the way. With Christmas coming up, it seems fitting to share the one called “Bogga’s First Christmas.”
Bogga’s First Christmas: “Bogga was at her house. She wanted to go out of her house to play in the snow. Bogga told her mom and dad, `It’s almost Christmas!’ Mom cooked earthworms. Daddy cooked earthworm eggs. Then they ate turkey for winter.”
Marshall originally wanted to be a bat for Halloween. Bats weren’t “in” this year, so I figured I’d have to make the costume myself. Still, I thought it couldn’t hurt to check the stores, so I took him on a costume-shopping trip. There were no bats to be found. He almost went for a banana costume, but suddenly, and for no apparent reason, he chose to be Spider-Man.
Marshall took his Spider-Man costume to school on Halloween so that he could wear it in the kindergarten costume parade. The mask was uncomfortable, so by the time we went out trick-or-treating, he had decided not to wear it anymore. Going maskless seemed wrong to us. Another parent even jokingly commented on the fact that Spider-Man had revealed his identity. But Marshall was too busy enjoying himself to care about what he was wearing. He was totally focused on the moment. The costume may not have been complete, but its wearer’s happiness was.
Livia wanted to be a Butterfly Flower Princess for Halloween. I decided to make her costume using one of her princess skirts, a leotard, a crown, a pair of wings, and various fake flowers. I thought I’d be able to sew some of the flowers to the leotard. I had forgotten how difficult sewing is. I gave up on that project after just a few feeble attempts. Instead, I made a couple of floral bracelets and attached three of the larger flowers to the waistband of her skirt using safety pins. That went well. My husband then glued LEDs to the center of each flower. The LEDs changed colors and the effect was quite pretty. We also had one big, long flower to which he attached three LEDs. This became her wand/scepter. It was a cute costume, and she was happy with it. But Halloween night was so chilly that she had to wear a jacket. Most of the leotard was concealed by the jacket. So it was a good thing that I hadn’t spent more time trying to sew those flowers on!
After a few people mistakenly assumed that she was a fairy, Livia began announcing her costume theme at every house. She’d walk right up and exclaim, “I’m a Flower Princess!”
One woman held out a bowl of assorted candies and asked Marshall what his favorite was. He said, “I like candy!”
Both of you had an enthusiastic “Trick or Treat!” and (usually) a “Thank you!” for your candy-givers. Your energy was contagious. A few people even commented on your politeness.
Marshall suggested that you should say “Boo!” to all the other children, and you did.
We weighed your candy when we got home. You had between 9 and 10 pounds combined!
Walking around in the cold weather made my bad knee ache. I was limping by the time we got back. It was worth it, though. We only get so many Halloweens. I remember trick-or-treating when I was a child. In my memory, those nights loom so large that it’s as if there were a thousand of them. But there weren’t, not even close. There were maybe ten, certainly no more than fifteen, just those Halloweens that occurred between toddlerhood and “too old.” So Halloweens are rare, and they are precious. I want you to enjoy yours as much as I enjoyed mine.
Today Marshall informed me that he was going to be King of the House. Livia, never to be outdone, said that she would be Queen of the House. And in keeping with your noble aspirations, you decided to make crowns.
I gave you some art supplies. The crown project kept you busy for a while. I should probably be horrified by the amount of tape you used. Is there any better way to use tape, though, than in the making of royal accouterments?
You looked the part in your finished paper-and-tinfoil crowns. The time had come to start acting the part. Marshall proceeded to dictate new rules for the house.
You can watch TV all day.
You can go to bed whenever you want.
You can eat whatever you want.
These sounded like good rules for you, and I thought you were done with your list. But I was wrong. You both agreed that you would need at least ten rules. Marshall continued dictating.
You have to do videos, any kind you want, including “booming tank videos.”
You can eat cookies any time you want. And candies. But not everyday, so you won’t get too much sugar.
Alas, the list of rules was never completed. Lunch hit the table and you got distracted. I’m not surprised. I’ve heard before that royal whims come and go.
You’ve both told me several times today that I’m supposed to do whatever you say. I’m not always good at obeying authority, though. So I haven’t given you all the cookies that you wanted. And bedtime will no doubt occur at the same time as it usually does. But you’re watching “Curious George” on TV right now, so royalty does have some privileges.
I was once so in love with a piano piece that I tried to learn it by ear. It was a tune called “Sonatine” from one of my favorite albums, Ryuichi Sakamoto’s BTTB. The letters BTTB stand for “Back to the Basics,” and it’s a fitting title for an album of simple, beautiful piano pieces. But though “Sonatine” is fairly simple, my ear is only so-so, and one section of the piece completely eluded me.
This half-learned tune has been a little thorn in my side since. Unfinished projects are a serious problem in my life. But more importantly, I just want to be able to play it. I love its unexpected dissonances. My mother would probably hate it for its dissonances, a thought that makes me smile every time I play the parts of it that I know.
I knew the solution to my “Sonatine” problem. What I needed was sheet music. I had looked on-line for it several times and found nothing. But, as hope springs eternal, I searched again last month. And this time I discovered (hooray!) that there are several collections of Sakamoto’s music available from Japan. None of them listed “Sonatine,” but since some of the song titles were in Japanese, I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t in there. One collection contained just enough other pieces from BTTB to make it a reasonable gamble. I ordered it.
It takes a while for a package to travel all the way from Japan to New England. The estimate arrival date was late September, but I hoped the book would arrive before my birthday. And it did! It arrived yesterday. Happy Early Birthday to me!
Stamp from Japan This package shipped from Aichi Prefecture. Do you suppose the person who prepped this package thought that Rhode Island sounded as exotic as Aichi sounds to me?
And here is the book itself. I love the juxtaposition of Japanese and English.
I flipped through the music eagerly. Alas, while one of the Japanese titles did turn out to be a piece from BTTB, it was not “Sonatine.” Still, I enjoyed playing “Energy Flow” and a few other pieces that I recognized.
Then I went on-line yet again. I thought that maybe if I dug deep enough into the Google results that I would find another sheet music collection, or maybe a transcription by a fan. There were some promising hits, but they didn’t pan out. I was almost certain that the sheet music existed, so it was very frustrating to be unable to locate it.
I also stopped by Sakamoto’s official website to see if there were any links to sheet music there. There weren’t. But there was a letter from Sakamoto. It started with this stark announcement: “In the end of June, I was diagnosed with throat cancer.”
Oh, no.
The news made me so sad. I don’t know what kind of prognosis he was given, but he did also say, “I promise to return after a full recovery.” I hope he will be able to keep that promise.
While the news made me sad, it also made me even more determined to learn to play “Sonatine” as a sort of homage. Perhaps it will have greater symbolic significance if I can manage to learn it on my own, because I’ll have to work for it. So that will be my musical project for the next few weeks. I’ll also make good use of my new sheet music by learning to play “Energy Flow” by heart. With every note I’ll be sending the composer my best wishes for recovery.
