A New Favorite Thing

I don't watch much TV anymore, unless it is PBS--but even then is kind of "catch as catch can".  We have no satellite or cable and no DVR.  The Girl did leave her Netflix account logged in on the XBox here but I can't figure out how to use those stupid controllers.  It's like having a "mom-lock" built in.

But last night Genius Golfer shared a show that he likes and somehow records on his computer through the Xbox--again with the mom-lock.  Why have we never watched this before?

Yes, there is some yelling, and some name calling at times--but it is milder than the high school. And because it is set int he 80s, there are all sorts of pop culture droppings to make me giggle.

Last night we watch The Goldbergs.  A Cosby show of sort for the Jewish community?  No not really, but a family sit-com nonetheless.  I don't know what made me laugh so hard last night--beside the fact that the dad on the show enjoys the fact that he has no friends--as does Genius Golfer.  The mom is a little too involved in their kids' lives--sort of like here.  And the kids are great, just like here.  Except for Barry.  We don't have a Barry. And that is probably a good thing.

KissThisGuy(dot)com

There is a website, here (and see the title above), where people can record--forever, and everyone--song lyrics they have always understood WRONG.  For example, Jimi Hendrix never recorded a song called "Kiss This Guy" .  His song was called "Kiss the Sky".  This is the basis for the title of the site.

Anyhoo.  Genius Golfer and I ran away from home this morning to the "early bird" special at the movies to see "Rock of Ages".  It was a completely guilty pleasure--both being children of the 80s, and loving the now classic big-hair-band rock anthems of the age.

We we joined in the theater by one other guy, who left half way through and then came back in for the ending.  This is not a movie you will hear about when the Academy award nominations come out, but it was good for an embarrassed laugh and a few cringes and rolled eyes.  But Tom Crusie, if he is really doing the singing, did pretty well.  For a guy that is 50 next week.

Again, anyhoo.

On the way home we were laughing together about how when I was a kid and these songs were current radio fodder, I never heard the lyrics as that overtly sexual or racy or pro-illicit-drugs or anything other than just a 'good song with a beat you can dance to'.  But seeing them as a mom (and a YW leader) I sure hear the differences now.

Yikes.

But that beats GG's take.  He understood the lyrics to say something totally wrong, so they were never naughty songs for him.  He was surprised by the lyrics too as we watched this dumb movie today.  He heard these songs for the first time with their actual lyrics--sex, drugs and rock and roll!

You can't take us anywhere.

Nostalgia Can Be Dangerous

I watched 13 Going on 30 tonight. While the character, Jenna Rink, was a few years behind me in school, she wasn't that far. OK, they were really me about 20 years ago (give or take few). But the movie got me thinking.

Last weekend I went to a wedding reception for an old high school friend who at 40, was just about the last friend from my hometown ward that was yet unmarried. But, he found a delightful woman of 33, and was married. I spent the evening a the reception catching up with another old friend who was there. In HS, he was too cute, too out of my league, too interested in my best friend. We were friends because we were in the same ward, his mom was our YW president for a while. And you know what they say about Ward Girls: They "are just like sisters". Fast forward 20 something years and he is married to a woman that I might have been friends with in HS. We remembered fun times from back in the day. He reminded me of somethings that I had forgotten--I was HIS first date. (???!!!) We chatted about other old friends and what he knew of them. It was great getting reacquainted. The old "way-back-machine" was a great ride.

Today, I was visiting with a local friend and neighbor and she is getting ready for her HS Class Reunion. She was hunting the most fabulous shoes to go with her fabulous outfit. I told her how glad I was that she was going to the reunion. (I drove a couple of states over to attend mine last summer and there were classmates that lived in town and didn't bother to go. I would have loved to have seen them.) There are memories that will come back to her just from seeing someone, or hearing a laugh from 20 years ago, or listening to the DJ play some song that you can vividly remember the exact people and place you were in when you heard it the first time.

I'm lucky to have good memories that I enjoy revisiting from time to time. The Classic Rock station on the radio takes me there. Certain movies take me there. The small handful of friends that I still keep in contact with decades after our friendships began take me there too. I'm glad that high school wasn't the zenith of my achievements or the peak of my personal growth like it was for some people. It was just a few years of my life filled with good times, great friends, unmatched music, and unparalleled memories that come flooding back whenever I allow myself a trip down memory lane. I'm grateful for the 'way-back-machine' and the photos that captured those moments.

Well, I grateful for MOST of the photos. This one, well. You were probably young once. But were you young and stupid?!

This is why I'm serving in the Young Women. I learned a lot of lessons that HARD WAY. Maybe I can help these girls avoid some dumb things I did. Like I said, nostalgia can be dangerous.