saturday night

i just watched Parenthood for the first time in, oh, a lot of years. (last time i saw it, i knew it wasn't an electric ear cleaner, but i didn't know exactly what it was.) anyway, i put it in my Netflix queue because it's turning into a TV series in another month or so, starring (among many others) Lauren Graham (who, if i haven't mentioned here before, is near the top of my list of People I Wish I Could Be or At Least Be Friends With—everyone has a list like that, right?). the show looks promising and even though it's just "inspired by" the movie, i thought i'd gear up by watching it  again. and this time i cried at the end. before the credits were over i texted Michael (who's stuck at the office) "i wanna have a baby."

ha ha ha ha ha!

i've been flying solo all day—someone called in sick so Michael is doing double-duty at work—and this is what happens. being left to my own devices this long is never good. the brain gets going and there's no one to stop it. 

for example, earlier, mostly out of boredom, i went to see Leap Year. predictably, i spent most of the movie trying to think of creative ways i could save money so we can get to Ireland this year (hmm—perhaps cutting back on $12.50 tickets to silly romantic comedies is a place to start?). then i was fantasizing about living in Ireland, living in lots of  different places (including that planet where the blue people live in Avatar). seems like a good option when you don't know where to live—live everywhere!

but then came Parenthood and i swear Michael is going to be—sort of is already—exactly like Gil Buckman. and so my thoughts were off in a very different direction. (holy jeez Steve Martin is a genius in that movie.) and so i'm sitting here on the couch with a looping brain on a Saturday night. questions: a million. answers: zip.

but i guess it's not a bad thing. it's like what Grandma said toward the end of the movie: 

"you know, when i was 19 grandpa took me on a rollercoaster. up, down, up, down. oh what a ride! i always wanted to go again. it was just interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited and so thrilled all together. some didn't like it. they went on the merry-go-round. that just goes around—nothing. i like the rollercoaster. you get more out of it." 

(a few seconds later, when Mary Steenburgen throws the Dopey ears at Steve Martin and says she loves the rollercoaster and thinks Grandma is brilliant? that's so me.) 

mbm