...contemplative...
Yesterday evening was rather nice. My snupin ficlet made a lot of people laugh and inspired one of the Lj artists to illustrate it! Heh, I have a gift-pic! It'll be hosted in the (other) Zone when I get around to posting the recent fics, which will probably be when I've written the sequel. I hadn't planned one, but one of the comments about the pic just cracked me up and inspired me...
Ken had committed to take a whole load of archaeological 'finds' along to the
Brislington Conservation and History Society's AGM for the 'show and tell' session afterwards: they're trying to encourage local residents to get involved in charting the history and archaeology of the area (kind of a follow-up to the
Big Dig of 2003), so we had dinner as soon as Kai arrived back from his after-school club (Punjabi Tikka Masala, which was really rather hot, but Kai was fine with it. I'm happy he likes curries!) We talked about what we'd done during the day and what he'd been doing at school, as we usually do (when he feels like sharing, which he doesn't always), and he commented that they'd been discussing corporal punishment, I think as it relates to kids, though Kai wasn't specific on that.
Apparently a small number of the class (unsurprisingly the bigger ones, I gather) thought it was perfectly fine; some thought it was OK; most thought it was a bad idea. And Kai? Well, while thinking that in general it was a very bad idea, there were occasions when nothing else worked, and on those occasions it was necessary.
Seems he was the only one who offered an opinion of both sides of the question. I think we're raising a very self-aware and thoughtful child.
After Ken left, Kai and I decided to watch
Sky High. It's a lovely feel good film and with Kai having exams all day today, he needed something pleasantly distracting to help him relax (he hasn't been sleeping very well this week, poor sprog. Not used to exams, and even though we've said that they're designed to check how much he knows so the tutors can gauge which areas and subjects need work, and therefore nothing to get too upset about, he's still nervous...)
Anyway... we settled down on our respective sofas, half-watching, half idly chatting: Argent jumped up on the sofa to be stroked, and while petting him Kai looked up and asked why humans don't have lots of body hair any more. My understanding (and I always stress it's just my understanding, not carved in stone!) is that a thick pelt makes it easier for disease-carrying fleas and parasites to grab hold, weakening the carrier and making them a less desirable breeding mate, so over time humans evolved to have smoother, less hairy skin (except where the heaviest pheromone concentration occurs, of course. Then I had to explain pheromones. Just as well I wrote
Perfume Power and could remember most of my research!)
Plus, of course, once humans started making and wearing clothing, it simply wasn't necessary for them to be so hairy!
Kai thought this all sounded very logical, and we went back to watching the film for a few minutes longer. Then he piped up again, asking why ancient people believed that they thought and felt with their hearts...
That one's easier of course: they didn't know about the workings of the brain, but they
were aware that emotions generate a physical response that you can actually
feel and in some cases see, like fear making your heart pound faster in your chest. And, I added, when you fall in love, it feels for a moment like your heart goes empty, then it floats upwards and you feel all happy and tingly...
Kai thought that sounded really cool - so I left it at that. Plenty of time to tell him about the downside when he's older.
He went off to bed at nine in a happy frame of mind, and it seems he enjoyed the evening, the film and the meandering discussions. At any rate, Ken tells me he woke up cheerful, having had a really good sleep, and went off to school feeling very positive. (Ken says he should go out for the evening more often!)
It'll be a bit tough for him today, a full day of exams - English all morning, then two Maths exams this afternoon, one with calculator, one without: he's going to be mentally knackered when he gets home. So I'm making quick tortillas and tiramisu for dinner, and then taking him over to the Showcase to see
Fantastic Four 2. Been looking forwards to that, Norrin Radd was always one of my favourites. Surfing among the stars? Oh yes please...
More later!
Labels: Fantastic Four, films, Sky High, sprogs
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Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor
pontificated this at 1:30 pm
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