supermarket soundtrack

Apples_supermarket You know what? I love the music they play at my local non-chain supermarket. I always sing along to it as I get my kale (please, I’m in Bk. We eat kale.) Turns out it is a soft-rock-80s station. Lord help me.

also

high-resolution-vector-iphone-screen-applefriend I hate touch screen technology. Yes, it is incredible that someone invented this almost-magical technology, but I do not have the dainty fingers required to text and email people. Tonight, I wanted to thank a friend for being a good listener and I typed “Thank you for your rear.” Ugh.

no strings attached

No Strings Attached This may because I have the I.Q. level of a spud potato right now, but I rather enjoyed “No Strings Attached” when I caught it on cable tonight. Thank you. I’m not afraid to admit it.

Two reasons to not have kids

italian-bullet-train-freccia-rossa
1. My friend Kara has spent tons of time in Europe and told one story about her and her friend getting harassed all night on a train in Italy by a group of soldiers. She had some fitful sleep, and in a daze, panicked they had missed their stop, she jumped out of a moving train and got a concussion. Her friend, not knowing what to do, jumped after her. When she came to in the hospital, the Italian police said sternly “no jumping off moving trains.” Ugh.
2. I saw a play called “Hangawi” a few years ago, where a family gets together for their dad’s 60th birthday and it was like a series of depressing monologues of how the kids were disappointed by their dad. There was one actor who did such a great job playing an uptight Wall STreet lawyer type, and when he finally broke down about feeling abandoned by his father, it was so awful because it was like this broken-paced outburst of man weeping that was like horrible to witness. Afterwards, I was like: this is why you don’t have kids, so they don’t grow up and write plays about how you disappointed them.

This is why you have parents

Head_in_the_clouds_by_Wings_of_dust Note to self: You cannot win an argument with your dad who has dementia. You. Just. Can’t. And you are an idiot to even try to go down that road. It so doesn’t matter if you are right. The dad in question is your dad, and he is rocking the kasbah as hard as he can, to the best of his ability. On occasion, he may unfairly lash out – there is much beyond his control, and sorry, but you have to eat it and apologize, because that’s what you do for rock star parents.

Bonus: He will not remember that he got mad at you, so you get to start over with no weirdness. Silver lining, people.

This is why you have kids

ku-xlarge I called home, in a somewhat cranky mood when I got to work. I think the Wonder Twins answered the phone, because whoever picked up, it was like a bevy of baby voices. Boy Twin said “hi ma” in a marbles-in-the-mouth kind of way, First Son told me about a robot, and Girl Twin waved (according to Husband). And that alone made me laugh so hard, I lay my gigantic Korean head on my desk and let it all go.

p.s. when the Twins sing along to a yo gabba gabba song, it sounds like a pack of wild dogs howling at the moon. It is spectacular.

this is 40

this-is-40-poster2 Finally saw Judd Apatow’s “This Is 40,” courtesy of the library. I do not return just any DVD late, only the ones I really like. I watched it 30-minute increments over the week, because that’s what I have time for (rock star life style), and I really dug it, because it is so angry. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a story about real people (typically, the few times I go nowadays, I see flicks with models shooting zombies, because that’s all I can take in. I don’t want stories that ask you to grow as a person right now.) The story does revolve around a couple who are fairly affluent, caucasian, etc. but perfectly captures how at this age, you’re tugged between your spouse, your children, your job, your aging parents, your financial obligations, your disappearing (or gone) youth (and with it, the dreams of your youth) — and how you feel like you’re not pulling any of it off. There are several scenes where the protagonists just lash out at each other, their kids, strangers when they’re feeling under the gun that I felt rang very true. Being 40, at least in this generation/gen X, you have adult responsibilities, but are still a kid in a way, both a little disappointed at how how things turned out but also incredibly lucky. (I would not say this is true of people from the “Greatest Generation” or the WWII crew — they seem born serious, capable and adult from the start.) Totally loved this movie, completely related to it. It has a lot of gross-out humor (watch out, emo, you will not like that part, but really, that’s not my thing either) and cursing (which…I like.)

There is one scene where the parents discuss their hormonal teenage daughter’s haywire ways and convince themselves she has gone off the deep end because she watched all the seasons of Lost in a row. Leslie Mann, through tears, cries “I hate J. J. Abrams, that f*ng geek!” Is that not the best line?

That Judd Apatow can really write.

fred armisen

Gabba I am quite taken with the acting of Fred Armisen in an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba . He plays like a North Pole elf or something, his eyes are so innocent during the entire episodes, he so believable. Husband is tired of hearing me analyze this performance, so I’m posting here instead. (“Ugh Fred Armisen again? Why don’t you just marry him,” etc., etc.)

Mono, best diet ever

MV5BMTM4OTg3MjcxOF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMjg1OTQ5._V1._SX274_SY475_ Sick for four weeks, no appetite, no booze, juiced for breakfast for five days – all that led to a slimmer me. I told myself not to get too attached, practice the buddhist concept of detachment because my middling middle would most likely come back and it did. Hooray! Love ya babies!

c-h-r-i-s-t-m-a-s alphabet

download Sad. First Son was singing the “Christmas Alphabet Song.” The song lyrics spell out the alphabet — there are lines like “C is for the Candy on the Christmas tree, H is for the happiness around the family…” out of alphabetical order. I listen to him sing this over and over again, and think “oh that’s sad he doesn’t know the alphabet but I shouldn’t be too hard on him. I just realized last night he’s spelling out the word “C-h-r-i-s-t-m-a-s.” Uh….yeah.