back to the future

The Celtics face the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

Indiana Jones is the box office hit.

Tina Turner and Madonna have the hot concert ticket of the summer.

Everyone is wearing colorful rubber shoes.

Maternity-style shirts and dresses are loved by skinny teenagers.

Apple's Mac gains popularity on account of its user-friendliness.

A female politician from New York aims for the presidential ticket.

Um, haven't we been here before? 

anyone for tennis

We just enjoyed a weekend of tennis.  Yes, that's right - we enjoyed it... every (well almost every) minute of the 15 hours we spent watching the Davis Cup world finals.   The Kenobis (Mr's family) got tickets to all three days of competition (a feat in itself, as the event sold out in 11 minutes!)  I should have been elated, but instead I was worried about my 2 and 4-year old boys.  Each day's play started around noon, which translates to "nap time" in our house, and as I mentioned, it was 15 hours over the weekend!

Much to my surprise, they both really enjoyed it.  They quickly got the hang of tennis and followed our team.  They were silent when a point was played, and joined everyone in screaming, hollering, clapping, and dancing with the pep band and cheerleaders.

You heard me right.  Cheerleaders.  With a pep band (think drums, tubas, and cowbells - I just gotta have more cowbell - hee, hee.)  It was very loud!  When the crowd got excited by pivotal points, you'd have thought we were watching a sport where crazy, face-painted fans are normal.  This was not the serene gentlemen's sport you might think when you hear "tennis."

This chaos is one of the reasons that some of my favorite memories are of each of the boys sleeping through play.  They fell sound asleep, in their nearly-aunt A-becca's lap and stayed right on snoozing through renditions of "Get Fired Up!" cheers and fans around us blowing horns and screaming.  And I was worried about them missing naps... silly me.  

It was also a patriotic place.  With the outfits and demographics, it could have been a Republican National Convention.  It was not, of course (we're in Oregon!), but it was very colorful.  It was, however, a fun place to cheer "U-S-A" with thousands of other people.

One piece of clarity from the weekend is the little time we have before organized sports are a bigger part of our life.  Obi-1 now wants to be just like "Danny Roddick."  Grandma & Grandpa are chomping at the bit to see the boys start sports.  With Uncle Bo-Bo coaching an eighth grade basketball game Saturday evening, we could have spent even more time as fans, but I pulled a Mean-Mama-Move and kept the boys home with me.  

While everyone else headed to see more sports, we watched the Rockettes' holiday show.  To my delight, they loved it - exclaiming in joy over the tap dancing and singing.  The boys dubbed the dancers "Rock Kets," so as to not confuse this fun holiday dance show with spaceships.  For me, it was a wonderful breath of arts and music, and special time with our boys.

So, there you have it: a wild, exhausting, wonderful weekend.  The best part was probably the dozens (and dozens!) of people who complimented the Obi's behavior.  Of course, I thought they were fantastic, patient, and wonderful fans, and I know they're amazingly cute.  But, you know, I admit I'm biased.  It's good for the little guys to hear those compliments for themselves, and we did hear it (over and over and over) from family and strangers.  

I started the weekend trying to pretend to be grateful, but worried about all the things that could go wrong.  I ended the weekend truly grateful - for the many, many things that went right.

television, schmelivision

Imagine you're in a room of friends - intelligent folk, people who have interesting lives and busy schedules - and the subject of TV comes up. What does everyone say? My experience is a whole-lotta people saying, "I don't really watch TV," and "I just don't have time for TV."

Do you think you need to excuse your TV habits?
Hide them?
Pretend you only watch intellectually-stimulating, informative programs?
Do you coyly say, "Reality TV? What's that?"

Yeah... me neither. I really don't watch TV. :)

However, last week, I watched TV with my mom, and it was a riot. We made the most of our time, watching the season finale of two shows that I cannot believe I've lived so long without seeing before. What in the world was I doing that was so important? They were riveting, I tell you. Must. See. T.V.

The Bachelor and Dancing with the Stars...

Mom & I sat on our sofa and watched these shows and ran play-by-play commentary throughout, while Mr. Kenobi sat helplessly bored and laughing with rolled eyes. Mom & I share a cynical humor, and those shows just provided so much material!

In case you're one of those 2-dozen people who haven't seen The Bachelor (now in its 700th season, I think), here's the main plot:

One guy decides it would be fun to date 25 women.... no, wait - one guy is chosen to date 25 women. Twenty-five women decide it would be fun to quit their jobs/school/social lives for a few weeks and live with each other while dating the same guy.

Two days into the experience, half of the women realize they've found the love of their life (the aforementioned starring guy). At approximately the same moment, the guy realizes he's having a lot of fun and these women will do anything for his attention. So he pretends not to notice them, and enjoys the antics. Six weeks later, starring hottie man has sufficiently made out with 25 women, sometimes on deeply romantic group dates, and other times on highly coveted dates that the women refer to as "alone time." (Women use "alone time" to pull out all stops and bare as much anatomy as possible, hoping the guy will remember them tomorrow when he has to give out roses.)

By the end of the show (the final episode we watched together), two women have found "The One" man who is right for them in the whole-wide-world. Each spends her time imagining wedding plans and babies with this guy. Meanwhile, Mr. Right is trying to figure out how to keep the multi-woman thing alive a bit longer. (It's so desperately difficult, as you probably know, to be making out with two people on a single weekend, trying to figure out who you want to french kiss for the rest of your life.)

So, guy takes girls home to meet the family, and a lively discussion about social work and sexual attraction ensues. Grandpa brings up random references to religious affiliation, and the guy leaves still not sure who should be his bride: the one his family likes, or the one they don't? To help him decide, he enjoys one final "fantasy suite" stay with each woman, then goes for a beach run (shirtless, of course) to clear his mind. On the run, he sees several desperate women who flirt from their beach blankets, giving him clarity: there is no wrong pick! Have
fun, and somebody else will be waiting if this doesn't work out!

Relieved at the inconsequential nature of his predicament, he picks one girl for marriage. Then, in a heart wrenching moment, he sends the other one packing with a "I love you, too, but I love another girl more" speech. Finally, he asks his true love's last name just in time to propose.

Funny show. Okay, yes, it's sad. However, with the background commentary my mother & I were able to provide, it was highly entertaining. My final analysis: the only thing more boring and pathetic than watching two people make out for an hour is watching them talk about the make-out session for another hour.

In comparison, Dancing with the Stars wasn't nearly as much fun. Great dancing, lasting about 90 seconds for three couples. The rest of the two-hour show is filled with people complaining about blisters on their feet and reliving the bikini-style costumes of past weeks. I'm a dancer, mom's a dancer, and the funniest part of the show was watching Mom pull out every phone within reach and try to dial in to vote for the speed skater.

Mom is gone, so back to our own reality.