NO WHINNING
Sam: I did it, Mom! I ran really fast.
Me: You’re my Wally West.
Grace: And you look like the Flash, too!
(I didn’t mention that he actually looks like Wally West but not like The Flash, because I was so goddamn proud of her for knowing who Wally West is.)
So, Sam turned seven. I don’t really understand how that’s possible–but I also can’t really imagine how he’s still just a little kid, when I have known him forever.
Sam is a consumer.
I don’t mean that in the sense of purchasing merchandise, but he also does that. He’s been getting an allowance for several months and he saves it for the things he wants.
What I mean, though, is that he consumes television, video games, books…he watches, plays, and lives in other worlds. He recreates ideas from media with his toys–his many, many Imaginext toys become not only Batman and friends but Transformers (Hal Jordan is Optimus Prime; Kilowog is Bumblebee; Catwoman is Arcee) or whatever else Sam is interested in.
His favorite colors are blue and yellow. He always chooses the blue or yellow game piece when we play a board game. Oh, how he loves board games! For his birthday we gave him Catan Junior, which is not only a super-fun game but is also pirate-themed! Pirates are one of his longest-running interests, after Star Wars and Superheroes.
He loves to run in circles, play ball, and ride any and all wheeled conveyances. He has totally mastered his wheel shoes, can ride his freewheeel scooter in circles around you, and is ready for us to put the pedals on his bike. He plays tag and red light green light and an assortment of other playground games that as far as I can tell no one ever actually taught him.
He loves to play with his sister. He loves Calvin and Hobbes. He loves Mario, Luigi, and everyone else in Nintendoland. He likes ice cream and cookies but is still fairly unimpressed by cake and all other sweets. (He had an ice cream cake for his birthday.)
He has BIG emotions. Very big. As happens every year, I have had to remind myself that his period of disequilibrium happens in the months surrounding his birthday every year. (Remember 23 months? I don’t, but I guess that happens when you’re sleep deprived.)
I don’t always understand him, but I love him so, so much.
Happy day to all the mothers, all the ladies who hope to be mothers, and everyone who has a mother. (If you are none of those things, happy Sunday.)
A while ago, Grace told me that she really likes my blue necklace. I didn’t have a blue necklace, so much confusion ensued.
Now I know what she meant.
I was going to use one of these as the photo of the day, but she is so beautiful I couldn’t choose.
Sam just said this to me:
“So, Mom. If a spider eats me, that will make me be Spider-Man, right?”
Folks, talk to your kids about mutations before they learn about them on the street.
“Mommy, I drew a picture of Wall-E!”
Grace has not watched Wall-E in months. She loves to draw but her art is pretty abstract.
Uh. I mean was.
(Context: I was scrolling through Tumblr and she came and sat on my lap. Liz Miller posted a photo of the helicopter outside YouTube space.)
G: Can mine go in that red helicopter?
A: I wish we could. It is a very nice helicopter. I have never ridden in a helicopter, have you?
G: Yes!
A: Really? When?!
G: Soon!
My sweet step-Grandmother (my Grandpa’s wife) died last month. She had been unwell for some time, so I am not sad, but I wanted to commemorate her in some small way.
Here she is with Grandpa, my mom, me, and baby Grace, on the epic California road trip of 2010.
And here is a funnier picture, with Sam (who just wanted to play after two days in the car):
(Photos by my sister.)
I slept hard last night.
Backing up. When Will put Sam to bed, he called me in to listen to Grace’s breathing. She was making a strange sound, like panicked swallowing. When I put my head on her chest to listen, the noise stopped and she relaxed. A bad dream, maybe? She often cries out in her sleep. I do not know how to keep her safe from her imagination.
I dreamed that we were escaping. I don’t know what from. Will and I found the room where Grace was and I had to get her out while he went looking for Sam. We met in the woods after I woke up enough to hug Grace tighter. I don’t remember much of the dream–it seemed linear while I was in it, but of course it wasn’t. I know we practiced our shooting (bow) skills behind the house of some rich guy who pretended not to be home. I know we were terrified.
This morning I indulged Grace by allowing her to watch Brave despite a TV-during-the-week ban. I came upstairs to check out for a few minutes and discovered that Valerie, one of my long-time internet acquaintances, has died. It is all so fucking unfair (she had an unexplained reaction to medication, medication that I assume was supposed to be KEEPING HER ALIVE AND/OR SANE) and I can’t even think about it.
So I am going to talk about Scott Pilgrim and how much I hate that little shit.
I should first say that I have never read the comic book, so this is all based solely on the movie, which I have seen twice. And I also want to preface all of this by saying that I think the movie is incredibly well-made, possibly the best comic book movie of all time. It’s just that the story sucks almost as badly as the characters, 99% of whom are utterly unredeemable jerks.
Actually, Scott is the only unredeemable jerk. Everyone else exists simply to either feel or deliver pain. Scott is immature and selfish, with literally no concept of the fact that his actions effect anyone but himself. He treats everyone like shit and nonetheless feels entitled to whine about how hard everything is.
Ramona Flowers is totally someone I would have dated as a teenager. In fact, she reminds me of Mara, my not-quite-girlfriend for most of my teens. But she exists solely as the manic pixie literally-dream-girl of Scott’s fantasies and since he has no idea who she really is, her character is not explored in any greater depth.
As I said, the filmmaking is outstanding, but despite the fast pacing the movie just goes on for too long–and yet the story feels too condensed. This may be the most obvious thing I have ever written, but some stories are better suited to one medium than another. Because of my extreme distaste for the movie, it’s doubtful that I will ever read the comic, but I suspect I would enjoy it much more.
Interestingly, I think that the movie miiiiiight have won me over if the studio had not insisted on the theatrical ending. (SPOILERS AHEAD.) I realize that version has Scott ending up with the same girl he ends up with in the comic, but in the movie it is Knives he should be with (though he does not deserve her), and the alternate/original ending of the movie is just perfect. Ramona is his dream girl, not a real person (to Scott, that is–it’s not like she is imaginary) (probably), so of course she does not stay.
I don’t have an ending for this post. I thought talking about the ending of the movie was a logical place to end, but Will says it’s abrupt and unsatisfying. (Hmmm.)
This is my marriage:
Unfortunately, this is me whenever I drink enough to feel it:
(I found these GIFs last week, while hungover. I was looking for one that showed Nora ordering five martinis, then asking what hit her. It does not seem to be out there, which makes me sad.)
