Stir of Baby

When my Wife was laid off, we immediately made some cost saving decisions. We gave up our fancy Arrowhead bottled water with the nice cooler/heater combo water dispenser and we also gave up cable along with going out for dinner and other things. Where we drew the line though was with our Netflix subscription. Those happy red envelopes have done a lot to keep our spirits up and I love watch social documentaries using there "instant watch" feature. 

Watching movies is a bit of a juggling act though since the Baby rarely finds the movies that we rent to be the sort of thing he would like. The distinct lack of talking anthropomorphic trains and animals in the Wristcutters: A Love Story, for instance, meant that he was be bored to tears. And by tears I mean running around in front of the television finding out what new and interesting sounds he's capable of producing. This usually leads us to let him Cars or Thomas the Train with a bowl of Cheerios and a sippy cup full of milk. This diversion lasts for about thirty minutes and he'll come out of the room carrying three or four books which he'll demand to be read. Usually I'm pleased at his academic dilligence but having the oversized Thomas the Train book thrust into your face whilst watching Angelina Jolie curve a bullet around a room to assassinate a room full of assassins is somewhat distracting and the Wife will point out that watching Angelina Jolie curve a bullet around a room to assassinate a room full of assassins is of dubious value in the proper care and feeding of a two year old. So either one of us gives up on the movie to go be a parent or we both admit defeat and go and play with the Baby. 

But when it comes to watching movies, I'm a trooper. If I have to stay up till midnight so I can watch my movie in peace, then that is what I'll do. I'll wait till the Wife and Baby are asleep, lower the volume pop in my movie and enjoy two hours of Baby free entertainment. Such was the case the other night when I was watching Stir of Echos. If you haven't seen it, it's about Kevin Bacon being able to hear dead people. Yes, like in that other movie, but not as good. 

So there I was, the room darkened, only the glow of the TV while creepy images slowly seeped their way into my brain when I sneezed. I sneezed and from the blackness I hear, "Bless you...", at this point I'm not ashamed to admit I was a little scared. I'm completely startled by this quiet disembodied voice and then I hear it, "... honey."

"Aidan?" I cautiously call out into the dark hallway.

"Yeah." Comes the reply, the voice quiet and small.

By now I've put the movie on pause and I'm walking over to his bedroom, 

"You awake little guy?"

I see him in the doorway, the door opened ever so slightly his face still in shadow, a pinpoint of reflected light glinting off his dark brown eyes the only betrayal of his presence as my eyes struggle to adapt to the darkness.

"Yeah... I'm awake already" He responds and then after a short pause, he sighs and opens the door fully, his little arms outstretched, demanding a hug.

Romantic Tragedies

Valentines Day was never a big thing for the Wife and me, even when we were dating. A small gift and a nice dinner was our usual routine. It's not that we were trying to be anti-consumption or anything so noble, it's just that she's hard to shop for and she appreciates small sincere gestures over large ones... which is lucky for me because I'm horrible at the later. Having to plan and orchestrate a night out fills me with so much dread that I shutdown. By shutdown I mean I sit in my pajamas and watch TV. And by TV, I mean anime. Yes, Valentines Day sends me running to my geek safety blanket.

Since the Wife is currently between jobs and we're trying to save money, I decided this year I would rent her favorite romantic movies and spend the evening snuggling while the Baby sat in his room watching Thomas the Train and Cars. So I rented for her "The Notebook" and dug out our copy of "Serendipity" and we settled on the couch and started watching.

"The Notebook" is a favorite of hers and it's a real tear jerker. We finished it, had a small cry and I made her promise that if I ended up suffering from senile dementia that she wouldn't let me die in some home. After cheering ourselves up with some chocolate cake we moved on to "Serendipity". It was about half way through when it dawned on me... it dawned on me that these "other" in these movies are going through tragedies, the worst moments in their lives. While we're laughing and crying with the romantic leads, their "other" is watching the person they love most in the world plotting to cheat on them, leave them, at the altar, in front of their friends, their families, God. 

Sure, it's easy to cheer on the leads when their "other" is someone evil or manipulative. Or is it? Is it right to sit there and wish pain, loneliness, humiliation on someone, just because we don't like them? Because they have an annoying laugh? Or do we not even notice? In "Serendipity" we don't even see what happens to the other. The dumping takes place off screen and we laugh with Sarah as she finds out the good news. The good news that somewhere another woman just had her heart ripped out and that she's out being consoled by her family and friends. While her ex-fiance is doing what... feeling guilty over his callous betrayal? No, walking around in park, wistfully dreaming about that certain someone. 

So to all those "others" out there. The ones who did nothing wrong while the ones you loved most plotted and cheated on you and then cruelly stabbed you in the back, leaving alone at the altar all in the name of true love, I hope you too find yours. 

Randomly Disgusting Things

To the group of underage lesbians at the Fremont Barnes and Nobles....

Please, no wants to listen to you discuss your favorite masturbatory positions whilst catching up on the further adventures of Naruto or the X-men. There's a time and place for everything and the manga aisle at 4pm is neither. 

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Allergies

I have allergies. Just regular pollen and cat allergies. Sometimes I wonder if I have a wheat allergy but according to Jenny McCarthy a sympton of that particular allergy is autism and so far I haven't had a desire to line my toys up by size so I think I'm safe to continue to eat bread and ramen. I do take multi-vitamins and on occassion I eat my son's gummy-vites so the miraculous anti-autism properties may be offseting the effects of all those noodles I've consumed these past two weeks. 

But back to allergies, they've been crazy this winter. Mostly because it's been feeling more like spring than winter and the trees have beautiful little buds on them and the flowers are blooming. And I experience it all in a drug induced haze. I'm sure you've seen that commercial with the people saying live *** free. Where they extoll the non daze inducing virtues of their particular brand of snake oil. Well, they never considered people taking 8 of those little tablets at once.