stupid is as stupid does

last night i watched a movie that i used to like a lot. i hated it. i sat through the entire thing wondering why i liked this movie. i've had the same thought about other movies, but normally those movies where childhood favorites that didn't stand the test of time for me or movies that i've just watched over and over again until i can't tolerate another viewing, at least not for a long time. the movie i watched last night, i have only seen a handful of times and was released in 2004. i'm not naming the movie, because well, the title just doesn't matter. whether other people like the movie or not isn't the point. the point is that i don't like it anymore. or at least i hated it last night. it could be that it was just the wrong movie for me last night. i had started to watch something else on my DVR, but turned out that only the first 14 minutes of it had recorded for some reason. so i did settle for watching something different. i picked the second movie because two of the four main characters were played by the same actors as two of the main characters in the first movie.

anyway...i hated the movie. and it got me thinking. how can a movie i liked so much in the first 4-5 viewings become something i can hardly tolerate sitting though on the next viewing? my first thought was that the plot of the movie was hitting too close to home for some reason thus making me evaluate aspects of my life. nope. nothing that happened in the movie comes anywhere close to my life. nor do i want anything that happens in the movie to happen in my life. the movie is full of drama and dysfunction...two things i try very hard to not have in my life. my next thought and the thought that has stayed with me was that since the last viewing, i've changed in some way. well, yeah, of course i've changed. that's what people do. they change. i'd be stupid to think i'm the same person i was when i first saw the movie. but this morning i figured out why i hated the movie so much.

my tolerance for stupid people has shrunk to the point of near non-existence. and this movie was full of stupid people. stupid people making stupid decisions and on top of being stupid, they were weak. they couldn't figure a way out of their problems just making the problems bigger. how i managed to get through 2 hours of their whiny-ness i'm not sure, but by the end of the movie, i just wanted them all dead...or at least more miserable than they already were. it makes me appreciate the people i have in my life. i've managed to find people to surround myself with that have very little drama, but aren't afraid of fun. people who aren't stupid either intellectually or socially. people who allow me to be me and don't wish i was 'more' of anything.

while i wish i had the two hours of my life back i wasted watching the movie, i'm thankful it allowed me to evaluate my life and publicly say 'thank you!' to everyone in my life who help keep the stupid and drama out of my everyday life.

'may the force be with you'

children amaze me. their little brains are like sponges. the amount of information they soak up in their early years is mind boggling to me. most of it is necessary and expected...you know skills like walking, talking, potty training, etc. but then there is the information they soak up because they find it interesting...song lyrics, jokes, the names of all the 'cars' characters, etc. it is the latter information i find the most fascinating.

i spend my work days with a 4 year old and a 2 year old...both boys. they both love music and can sing entire songs by michael jackson and katy perry as well as the regular songs all kids learn. they are both very proficient in naming dinosaurs. but the skill they have both obtained at an almost alarmingly early age is their knowledge of 'star wars' universe.

i am a 'star wars' fan. i couldn't begin to tell you how many times i have seen the original trilogy and i have seen episode 1 and 3 numerous times as well. but here i am, watching episode 2: attack of the clones for just the second time. it is, in my humble opinion, awful. seriously george lucas, what were you thinking? padme and anakin rolling around in a field of wild flowers? anakin using the force to feed padme fruit? it is sappy, sentimental cliches. and the rest of the movie isn't any better.

i digress. i'm watching this movie because the two boys i nanny have never seen it. it is the only 'star wars' movie they haven't seen yet so as a special treat tonight as i'm spending the night with them, we are watching 'star wars episode 2: attack of the clones.' or at least we were since i just put them to bed. i have a feeling they are going to dislike this movie just as much as i do though. too much time watching anakin and padme fall in love and not enough time spent watching lightsaber battles and other forms of action. i think they'll find it boring. at least that means, they won't make me watch it over and over.

these boys are a fount of 'star wars' knowledge. i used to think i knew my stuff. i would never consider myself a 'star wars' fangirl, but i knew a decent amount about the original trilogy, enough to be impressive in most circles anyway. then i met these boys. i don't know who introduced them to 'star wars' but these boys love 'star wars' like other kids their age love 'cars' or 'toy story'. while i still have them beat when it comes to knowledge of places in the 'star wars' universe, they can tell me the name of every character that comes on screen. yesterday we were having a lightsaber battle. when i asked the 4 year old who he was his response was 'ki-adi-mundi'. i had to look him up in order to know who he was. i had never even heard the name. after looking him up, i recognized him, but i still didn't remember ever hearing his name mentioned in any of the movies. obviously it must of been as he remembered it, but man, did i feel stupid.

now if i could just get them interested in soaking up knowledge about the alphabet.

adventures in snow

everywhere i look there is mounds and mounds of snow. while sitting inside those mounds are pretty...at least until at least until the dirt starts to show through. in general though, i hate snow. i hate the cold that comes with snow. and i especially hate having to be outside in it. but i love to drive in it. for me, driving in the snow is the perfect combination of winter sport and warmth. i'm sitting inside with the heat blasting while enjoying the adrenaline rush that is winter sports.

yesterday i woke up to a LOT of snow (around 16 inches) and the need to drive 40ish miles in it in order to get to work. see, as a nanny, i don't have a job i can necessarily call in with the excuse of 'snowed in.' if my employers can get to work, i need to get to work. lucky for me, my favorite winter activity is snow driving.

my neighbor and i spent an hour yesterday morning not just digging out our cars, but digging out our road so we could get down to the main road and off to work. living on an alley that is one of the last streets in the city to be plowed can be a bit of a problem after heavy snowfall. we're left to our own devices if we want to get to work on time. so we shoveled. a lot. for about 100-125 feet. let me tell you, i'm feeling all that shoveling now. after all the shoveling, we had to re-dig out my car because i had decided to try and plow through some of the snow without shoveling first. sometimes i'm not very bright, but i really didn't want to have to shovel my entire road if it wasn't absolutely necessary. finally i got on the road.

here is where i have to give props to the great city i live in. with the exception of tiny dead end roads like mine, the streets were clear of the 16 inches of snow that had fallen over night. city buses were up and running. other than the stupid businesses that decided to close for the day before the snow even started to fall, the city was up and running. you seriously wouldn't have known we had a near blizzard the night before if it weren't for the giant mounds of snow everywhere. go GR! i honestly can't figure out why all the area schools are still closed.

the drive to work went well for the first two thirds. the roads were clear, the traffic was very light and i was able to just do my thing. then i got outside of the last town before hitting the lakeshore. now i drive a very small car so it doesn't take more than a couple of inches on the road before my car starts to struggle through it. but i drove the last 12 miles to work in snow that was as high as my bumper while the lane going to opposite direction had been plowed clear. luckily i was not the only car who decided to drive that direction so there were some tracks for me to get into otherwise, i'd have been stuck. but the deep snow didn't stop me from traveling at 50-55 mph. man was it fun! as i was getting to the end of my drive, the roads were clear of cars with the one exception of the guy about 1/2 mile behind me. i decided to have a little fun. i sped up to about 60, stepped on the brake, turned the wheel and just allowed my car to slide. i let it go around a couple times, pulled out of the slide and was heading back in the right direction without ever having left the road. the guy behind me caught up to me just as i was coming to a stop. he passed me and i started off again. he and i met again at the gas station down the road where we shared a laugh and i jumped in my employers car for the rest of the trip to her house. at that point of the drive, the roads were no longer plowed at all so i needed her tahoe to get me the rest of the way.

by the time i drove home yesterday afternoon, the sun was shining, the roads were clear (some completely free of all snow and ice) and everything around me sparkled. it was beautiful. today is when the drive will suck because all the other drivers will be back on the road going too slow for my happiness and being general pain in the behinds on roads i drove just fine on yesterday. i'm SO looking forward to it.