Saturday, 26 February 2011
Today Jennifer and Isla took off for a ladies’ afternoon with all of their female relatives. Owen and I stayed home. I was contemplating doing about five or six different activities (e.g., making good on an offer a chess master made to give Owen a free lesson, heading over to my friend Ryan’s house for computer assistance), but when the moment came, I didn’t feel like doing any of them.
Instead, we just stayed home. Owen played out on the deck, then we matched wits at checkers and chess. We organized some of his animal trading cards and did some dishes. Later, we drove over to Ray’s Mediterranean Restaurant and dined on some yummy comestibles.
While there, Owen asked me if John McCain was still president. I explained that McCain has never been president. “When will he be president?” Owen asked. I said, “Never. Well, probably not. I doubt he would try running for president again.” I then reminded him that Obama was currently the president and that a man named George Bush was president when you were born. He asked who was president when I was born. “Gerald Ford,” I said. Owen admitted to never having even heard of that man. “Yeah,” I said, resignedly, “he’s probably the most forgettable president of the last hundred years.”
Sunday, 27 February 2011
This evening, for the first time in three years, we watched almost all of the Academy Awards ceremony. I just felt like having it on, I guess, for old time’s sake. See, once upon a time, I loved watching the Oscars to get ideas of what films I wanted to see. Later, I made it a goal to see all the movies that won the Oscar for Best Picture, a goal that my wife shared with me. Later still, Jennifer and I would try to see as many of the Best Picture nominees as we could – from 1998 to 2003 that’s pretty much what we did.
It was a lot of fun to see all those movies. It made the Oscar ceremony that much more enjoyable, as well. Then, sometime around 2004, I kind of stopped caring about them as much. I still was curious to see who won what, particularly if someone I really admired was nominated, but I no longer made the concerted effort to see all the nominees.
This year, Jennifer and I saw three of the Best Picture nominees (The Social Network, Toy Story 3, and Inception). I was also rooting for Randy Newman – that perennial loser who, over the past 30 years, had won exactly one of the 19 Oscars he had been nominated for.
Jennifer, Owen, and Isla all went to bed just before the Best Song category. I stayed up for a few more minutes to see who would win. I was so thrilled that Newman won that I went in and disturbed Jennifer, then posted it to my Facebook status. Not only did Randy win, but he gave the best speech of the evening. Congratulations, Randy.
On the downside, I am once again unable to say I’ve seen every Best Picture winner. The King’s Speech…here I come.
Monday, 28 February 2011
Whew! Made it!
Yeah…February is a brutal month for us, and not just because it’s I Love to Read Month. Over the past several years, we’ve all seemed to get sick in February. We all got sick this month, but just mildly. Owen missed one day of school; I never called in sick to work.
February was a tough month last year – Owen was sick for weeks, and Jennifer and I were back in school for the second semester in a row. This year appeared a little easier, I’m happy to say. I’m still busy with my college class, and I’m pretty much done with the winter (a feeling I get every year around Groundhog’s Day).
Of course, I get sick at least once every March or April. It’s been that way for about 20 years. So, as I say good-bye to February, I say hello to a looming illness.