What to Watch Part I

The big day approaches: Romy turns two on November 1, which means Matt and I will finally allow her to watch TV.  Not like, sit around and watch it freely, but selectively.  By us.  We've read from various studies that say it's best for children not to watch TV until after age two, in terms of brain development.  I'm sure there are many studies that say TV altogether is evil, but I was probably too busy watching TV to read those.

Now comes one of the biggest decisions of my life: what should we show her first?!  Matt and I ate dinner at a new Indian restaurant in our town last night, and I made us create a list of options.  This week, I'll share with you clips from the list, and along with considering all of your comments and suggestions (bring 'em on!), I'll have a poll at the end of the week for you to vote on your choice for Romy's first TV show!

Today's options: The Muppets.  We love us some Muppets in our house.  But which episode?  Which songs?  Here are some of my faves:

Really Late Twilight Thoughts. And Some Shirts.

I've been watching "New Moon" whilst on the treadmill this week.  The previous week, it was "Paranormal Activity" (pretty good!).  Before that: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (hardcore!!!!).  I chose "New Moon" because I gave "Twilight" (the movie) a second chance recently and didn't hate it.  To rewind, my history with "Twilight" began when TWILIGHT was the only book out by Stephenie Meyer.  In fact, Stephenie and I had a little email friendship going for a while.  We discussed how I was afraid of the revision process for GET WELL SOON, and she told me how she was working on her revisions for NEW MOON.  Crazy, huh?  She was sweet and super nice.  Admittedly, I only read the first book in the series.  I read books as a librarian, not for my own pleasure, so once a series is super popular, I generally move on to other books.  Harry Potter and Georgia Nicolsen books, not included.

Because I haven't read more than the first book, my opinions may be a little off from those who read the novels.  But I really don't get the appeal of Edward AT ALL.  What does Bella see in him?  What does he see in Bella?  They don't even seem to enjoy each other's company.  It's all stupid stares and brooding looks and PAIN and longing.  Ugh.  They are so BORING.  Now, Jacob, he seems like a nice guy.  Not the brightest bulb, but at least he makes Bella laugh.  They can talk.  Fix up bikes together.  Something more than looking at each other with constipated looks on their faces.  And I'm not just saying this because of Jacob's buff bod; that's not my thang.  Edward does nothing for me, though.  Nothing.  And I don't like the other vampires, either.  They are so snobby.  What makes them better than the werewolves?  At least the werewolves are born that way, part of a tribe.  The vampires are at the mercy of other vampires who have to turn them.  I don't know.  I'm having trouble focusing on writing this blog post while I watch "Cake Boss" at the same time.  Plus, I can't stop thinking about this taffy apple I have in the kitchen.  The post was waaayyyy funnier when I wrote it in my head yesterday.  Sorry.  But it's a Sunday post, so I don't think many of you are reading it anyway.

Now for my favorite Sunday activity: the hideous newspaper clothing ad.  Today's ad is for all you dudes out there looking to bring back the grunge look.  With snaps.

How can you go wrong?  I bet Edward would think he was too cool for these shirts.  And Jacob wouldn't bother wearing one.  Or he would be all, what's a snap?  Neither could resist the multiple offerings of free postage, though.  Such a deal!

TV Time

This morning I was up at 6:45 because that's when my body decided to get up.  I could have worked on the typing of The Sequel, but I wasn't in the mood.  So I tried to set my DVR up with a number of new programs that Entertainment Weekly had listed in their TV roundup.  Naturally, the cable was acting wonky and none of the programs were showing as listed.  Sad.  Here is what I want to record:

• Sherlock  -A new, modern version on PBS.  Sounds interesting.  Could be one of those things I tape and never watch, though.
• Dead Set  -This looks crazy good.  It's a play on a British reality show where zombies attack the people!  Love me some zombies.  Which also explains my next recording...
• The Walking Dead -Based on the comic I was into for a little while.  I think I like my zombies in film form a little more than book form.  They scare me more in film.  Or is it less?  I think film does such an incredible job of creating nastiness in zombies, and I appreciate that.  But when I read about them, they're in my head.  I don't want them in my head.  Zombies are sooooo scary.  Scary awesome.
• Kevin Smith: Too Fat for 40 -Not sure about this one.  Have always had a love/hate with Kevin, but I'm usually interested in things that he does.  We'll see. Let's just hope he's not too fat for my DVR.

The next big TV list I need to make is a very important one.  Romy is turning two on November 1, and she will finally be allowed to watch television.  Not a lot, but one program a day or so.  But what will she watch FIRST?  This week, I'll offer up some ideas, and feel free to offer some up, too.  At the end of the week, I'll give you a poll.  Right now?  I'm trying the DVR again.

I Don't Feel Glee

For a while now, Matt and I have been waffling about whether or not we want to watch Glee anymore (was that the correct use of waffling?  I'm really hungry.  I waffle sounds soooooo good right now).  At first, I LOVED it.  After episode number one, I downloaded "Don't Stop Believin'" and listened to it twenty billion times.  I never do that.  Or haven't since eighth grade.  When we didn't have downloads.  So it was probably like I rewound my Glass Tiger cassette over and over again to hear "Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone".  What a pain in the ass that was.  Although, it probably taught me a lot more patience than the "get it now" attitude of people today.

Enough of my old lady lesson.

About half way through the first season of Glee, except for maybe the relationships between Kurt and his dad and Rachel and her mom (I particularly loved when those two sang together), I felt like the show had no real emotional resonance.  I talked about this with my friend, Joyce, and she said the show wasn't supposed to be realistic.  The problem with that, for me, is that they keep throwing in plotlines that are supposed to be emotional (Kurt and his sick dad, teen pregnancy), and it doesn't work to make those cartoonish.  I can't go back and forth between the lame, reaching "theme" of each week's assignment to someone almost dying.  It doesn't work.  The songs aren't very interesting to me anymore, and how many times can everyone turn against Rachel?  How many times can Sue Sylvester like, then hate, then like Mr. Schuster?  Yawn.

Here is what helped make my decision:

The spread (a perfect name, considering the positions these women are in) is extremely trashy.  Who the hell are they kidding with "Gentlemen's Quarterly?"  Is this magazine only out four times a year?  And every cover is just a step away from Playboy.  Not very gentlemanly in my book.  The issue here is that Glee is a show about people with talent.  Lea Michelle has an incredible voice, and Dianna Agron, the blond, is decent, too.  She is now saying that she is sorry about the photo shoot.  Too late, dear.  Because the magazine is out there.  Young women need to respect themselves more than this.  What you're showing them is that even though you have the gifts of singing and acting (TBD), you still have to pander to the pervs.  Who are disguising themselves as gentlemen.

I'm over it.  My DVR is full enough with shows I know I want to watch, and my time is worth more than a waffle.  If you'll excuse me, I'm going to have some breakfast.

Fighting Orcs Makes You Smarter

Yesterday I went to visit my school (the one where I normally work as a librarian but am taking a year off to be home with my daughter).  Not because I missed the school (not yet, anyway) but because one of my graduated members of the Dungeons and Dragons Club set up a reunion.  We ended up having several last minute cancellations, but we had a great turnout of current freshmen and sophomores, guys and gals.  Did we play any D&D?  No.  But there was enlightening conversation.  And pie.  And brownies.  And something sparked a HUGE idea for a new book in my brain.  So it was a wonderful experience.

It got me thinking (again, because I already knew this) how kids who play Dungeons and Dragons are so freakin' cool.  I can confidently say that I believe that that are even cooler than kids who don't.  Because they are smart.  And funny.  And quick-thinking.  And well-read.  And full of ideas-- constantly full of out there, brilliant, mind-bending ideas.  Dang, I love them. 

For anyone out there who has ever pegged someone a dork or a loser or a freak because they play Dungeons and Dragons, I have this to say to you: You don't get us.  And we could care less.  We have more important things to think about.

That's funny!

I am rarely one of those writers that leaves gaping holes in my book while I write.  I know some writers like to say, "I'll just write that part later," and skip over sections of their book that they don't want to write at that moment or can't think of what should go in that place.  If I do that, it makes me feel like I didn't finish my assignment.  And that when I go through this painful process of typing up my longhanded manuscript, I not only have to type what I wrote, but I still have to create what I type instead of just edit it.  With GET WELL SOON 2: ANNA'S DILEMMA [do you think anyone believes these are my actual title ideas?], I did have to leave a few spaces for technical reasons, mainly that I was planning on visiting several classrooms for research, but I had already reached the scenes where I needed to write about what I hadn't yet researched (huh?).  Today, I found one of those scenes.  It actually wasn't a difficult one to write, only a paragraph or two was needed, but here's what I had written in my notebook to come directly after the newly written portion:

"My laughter was rudely interrupted..."

What the hell was so funny?  Did I think I'd remember what funny things I wanted to write?  Now I'm all annoyed with myself and haven't typed more than a page this morning.  Stuck, and it's my own dang fault.  Maybe the laughter to which I was referring was my real life laughter at what a tool I was for writing that.  Maybe I was making a joke for me!  To come back to as a surprise!  Like a private joke that only me, myself and I would get!

I don't get it.

Might As Well

I should totally be typing up my manuscript for GET WELL SOON 2: The Walk of Life [if I keep making up stupid sequel titles, maybe one of them will actually be good].  I'm 62 pages in.  Out of 397.  Poop.  It's so slow-going and gives me great anxiety.  I have chewed six pieces of gum in the last hour.  The gum loses its flavor and texture almost instantly.  If I'm not chewing gum, then I'm chewing my fingers.  So it's pop another piece or my fingers turn into nubs.  It's also one of those days when I was actually quite productive, but I still feel like I'm being a bad girl.  I woke up (naturally) at 6:30, worked on my book for an hour until Romy woke up.  Then I took Romy to gymnastics class and to the grocery store.  We had lunch, she made a big poo (hurrah!), and she went down for her nap.  I called and refinanced my mortgage with a decent, but not as great as I'd hoped, rate.  They claimed I'll save $59,000 if I pay it off in twenty years.  That will probably pay for one month of college by the time Romy's of age.

So I guess I've been busy.  But 62.  That's it.  And here I am blogging and checking my (pathetically empty!) email over and over again.  The only motivation I have is the idea of finishing, but that's so far off that I'm not inspired by it at all.  Instead, I keep hoping some magic email is going to come that will announce a fabulous book deal or film adaptation or something else ridiculously unexpected. 

Time for another piece of gum