Like me, do you love to pop sheets of plastic bubble wrap? Well now there is a poster sized calendar with a bubble to pop every day. You can mark off each day on the calendar by popping a bubble. Fun! Just don't pop the whole year in one day.

From Random Good Stuff:

The calendar is fully functional, with days of the week and all major U.S. holidays marked and weekends bolded for easy reference. The calendars make a big statement at 48" tall x 18" wide. The Bubble Calendar is appropriate for any design (and fun) conscious home or office.

Just make sure that jealous friends and co-workers don’t pop your bubbles!

More info: Bubble Wrap Calendar

Can't wait for the calendar and need to pop some bubble wrap right away? Indulge your compulsion. Pop bubble wrap online here.

Obsession (the vampiric kind)

My daughter could have used a bubble wrap calendar to count down to the theater release of the movie Twilight. Counting down to the movie release is something that  girls in her age group have  been doing feverishly.

According to a Fandango.com survey of more than 5,000 moviegoers, 92 percent of respondents said they planned to see Twilight on opening weekend. The heavy majority of the respondents — 95 percent — were female, 58 percent of whom were under the age of 25 and 85 percent of the respondents also said they plan to see the film more than once.

In case you're unfamiliar with the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyers, here's a synopsis of the book, Twilight, from Amazon.com:

"Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. 'Be very still,' he whispered, as if I wasn't already frozen. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. Then abruptly, but very gently, he rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat."

As Shakespeare knew, love burns high when thwarted by obstacles. In Twilight, an exquisite fantasy by Stephenie Meyer, readers discover a pair of lovers who are supremely star-crossed. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she arouses in him, because—he's a vampire. At any moment, the intensity of their passion could drive him to kill her, and he agonizes over the danger. But, Bella would rather be dead than part from Edward, so she risks her life to stay near him, and the novel burns with the erotic tension of their dangerous and necessarily chaste relationship.

Meyer has achieved quite a feat by making this scenario completely human and believable. She begins with a familiar YA premise (the new kid in school), and lulls us into thinking this will be just another realistic young adult novel. Bella has come to the small town of Forks on the gloomy Olympic Peninsula to be with her father. At school, she wonders about a group of five remarkably beautiful teens, who sit together in the cafeteria but never eat. As she grows to know, and then love, Edward, she learns their secret. They are all rescued vampires, part of a family headed by saintly Carlisle, who has inspired them to renounce human prey. For Edward's sake they welcome Bella, but when a roving group of tracker vampires fixates on her, the family is drawn into a desperate pursuit to protect the fragile human in their midst. The precision and delicacy of Meyer's writing lifts this wonderful novel beyond the limitations of the horror genre to a place among the best of YA fiction. (Ages 12 and up).

I'm taking my daughter this weekend and while I don't expect to be swept away in OME (Oh My Edward!) enthusiasm, it will be interesting to watch this with her — it will also present an opportunity to expand on the talk we've been having about some of the more problematic issues in the Twilight book series. Just two of which are: the creepy way that Edward enters Bella's bedroom and watches her sleeping unbeknownst to her, repeatedly, and the way his possessiveness is presented as just another facet of his personality, and worse, as a signifier of his love for Bella.

Possessive

Just in the news today, a story  about a young girl killed by her possessive ex-boyfriend.

A study sponsored by Liz Claiborne Inc and loveisrespect.org indicates that there is significant abuse occurring in many tween and teen dating relationships. This study may indicate a trend towards increasing abuse in teen relationships.

If you have a tween, or teen, educate yourself on the signs of an abusive relationship and then share them with your tween, or teen. Go to knowtheredflags.com or chooserespect.org for more information.

If you or someone you know needs help, you can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline or call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).


bogeyman
Annette Marie Hyder

by the eggs of your eyes
and the lone hair on your chin
i'm bolting the door
i wont let you in
you can say you have a package
a pamphlet or tract
you can say you have a warrant
and you're not going back
without entering and searching
looking through what is mine
by the hooks on your fingers
you are way out of line

some call you devoted
some call you my ex
but you are entirely in past tense
and i wont relent
entry's forbidden you
with curses and charms
i'm waving my garlic
my door's shod against harm
you say "just give me a moment"
you beg for an ear
but i shun you and shiver
nail my chest drawers tight shut
I know  the bogeyman
when i see him
in your expensive suit cut