Hurling Pumpkins and Launching Books

I didn't have preschool choir last night because it was the Halloween carnival, so instead I helped run the "pumpkin bowling" game at the carnival. This involved using mini pumpkins as bowling balls. There were some bowling pins, but they were very lightweight plastic and wouldn't stay up, so they drew ghost/pumpkin faces on toilet paper rolls, and we stacked those into a pyramid. It became a weird cross between a softball throw and bowling, depending on how each kid threw the pumpkins. I must say it was highly entertaining to watch. There is something rather satisfying about hurling pumpkins at things.

I now know to be flattered when my preschool girls call me Rapunzel. I think half the girls were wearing some kind of Disney princess costume, and Rapunzel was this year's favorite. Some went all-out with the long wigs, and they were proud that their hair was longer than mine. We also had a surprising number of Darth Vaders and Jedi Knights, especially considering that some of these kids weren't even born when the last prequel came out.

Speaking of throwing things, I keep forgetting to mention this … At WorldCon, there's a newsletter every day listing events, parties, etc., and there are a lot of book launch parties mentioned. On the last day, they do a joke newsletter, and in that one, there was an article announcing the results of a book launch party, giving the winning distances.

I immediately thought that sounded like more fun than the typical book party. It was a pity I didn't have anything coming out. But then I thought, why would I want to do that to my own books? If you're having that kind of book launch party, it should be for the wallbangers, the ones that deserve to be hurled with great force. Unfortunately, I'd have to find some other place to hold it because I don't have enough lawn to really go for distance, and I live either within or dangerously close to the airspace of a major airport, which would affect how high we could go. And with my friends, yes, yes that would be a potential issue. Mentioning "launch" would start a discussion on the best way to achieve orbital velocity. But we really must have a book launch party someday.

Today is my favorite kind of autumn weather, nicely cool and grey. My (hopefully non-homicidal) Crock Pot is busily making dinner (and possibly plotting against me -- but I know which circuit breaker to flip if it gives me any attitude), I've made a pot of tea and since I still don't have that work that needs to be done, I may declare this a research reading day. I need to provide stimulus input for my creativity.