Oscar Race, Part 2

I'm officially halfway there. I've seen five of the ten best picture Oscar nominees. Tonight Brian and I saw "The Fighter," the first movie we've seen together in the theater since before Eamon was born. It was nice to get out with him and see a movie we both liked. We went a little nuts and got popcorn and a big soda - look out! - and now I think we both are a little nauseous as a result, though neither of us has acknowledged it out loud.

Anyway, the movie was good. The first 3/4 of it are a little tough to watch. Christian Bale is excellent as Dicky Ecklund, crack addict and former boxing champ. He gave a very Daniel Day-Lewis-ish performance, extremely believable, borderline disturbing, and a far cry from his raspy voiced turn as Batman (which I still don't understand - was he going for Clint Eastwood there?). What I really appreciated was the casting job they did with Micky Ward's scrappy sisters, whose ratted bangs and giant perms brought me back to 10th grade.

Atwitter

I got an e-mail from Twitter yesterday. And I fell for it. It said, "We've missed you!" Really, I fell for that. I'm back on, for now. Really it's a convenient way to get news. I'm following BBC News, Brian Williams, "The Daily Show" and a few other news outlets. (I know, Jon Stewart is not a "real" news anchor, but he is enjoyable and he sits at a newslike desk and his show has a newslike format, so...close enough.) And I don't mind seeing the Twitter thoughts of my favorite comedians and authors. So, Twitter is not all bad.

What's bad about it is all the Kardashians and Bachelorette's out there who use it to further poke themselves into the public eye by tweeting things like, "OMG i just found some fab shoes that make my hair look longer!!!!" Ugh.

Unpaid Internship

I get a few "how to raise your baby" e-newsletters in my inbox with links to one of the millions of mommy blogs out there. Normally I don't read them, assuming they are mostly, if not all, the same. Today, though, one headline jumped out at me: "A Stay at Home Mom's Regret." The blog post was about a woman who left her job as a journalist to care for her kids and her ailing father while her husband kept his highly demanding job. She was starting to think that she'd never get back to the same place in her career where she left off three years prior. There was a statistic in the article about how the average stay at home mom gives up $1 million in salary and benefits during her time away from her career. (What the hell does the average woman do for a living?) Anyway, it got me thinking about the money I'm not earning.

I love what I'm doing now, and I can't imagine paying someone else to take care of E, but I often wonder what it will be like for me to try to go back to work one day. I wasn't exactly married to my former job or even my so-called career path. I worked in public relations for a nonprofit. While it was nice to work promoting a good cause (as opposed to, say, Velveeta or some other consumable), I don't have a strong urge to go back to that. Nor do I want to attempt to work in an agency or corporate PR setting. After interviewing with a few, I'm not sure I have the passion for it. I guess you could say I don't have a great passion for PR anymore. I liked the challenge of earning the attention of a reporter, and I certainly enjoyed the writing aspect of it. The list of pros, however, stops right about there for me.

This blog post also mentioned how one should continue to either freelance or consult or somehow stay connected with the industry while on "leave." I've been doing some probono work for a local nonprofit, and attending the occasional networking event, but what do I do if I don't generally like my industry? I guess between diaper changes and washing my kitchen floor (again), I should come up with an industry I actually care for.

Misnomer

Skinny jeans do not make one look skinny. In fact, they have the opposite effect on me.

Red Letter Day

I just took a moment to appreciate the fact that the stars have aligned for me today.

The Bears beat the Seahawks today and are heading to the NFC Championship. I violated my screen time rule and had the game on today while Eamon played basically right in front of it, though fortunately he didn't stare straight at the TV like he does when we watch on the HDTV downstairs. He enjoyed my playing the Bears fight song at every touchdown.

Near the end of the game, he went down for a second nap and should be asleep long enough for me to enjoy some "countdown to the red carpet" coverage leading up to the Golden Globes. And, by the time Ricky Gervais takes the stage as host, Brian will be home and will likely be more than willing to put E to bed. I know the Golden Globes don't really mean much, since they are actually only the opinions of less than 100 foreign journalists, but there's nothing more fun than watching Gervais have his way with so many slightly drunk celebrities at one time.

Solo

This is the weekend of Brian's aforementioned combination work/ski trip to Utah, so Eamon and I have been a dynamic duo since Thursday afternoon. It's now Saturday night, and it's really been pretty easy. Yesterday we went to our friends' house for dinner and some play time for the kids and adult conversation for the moms (their husband/dad is on the same trip with Brian).

Tonight the five of us went to dinner at a neighborhood restaurant and practiced our 'out in public skills' - you know, made sure we knew how to ask for a table and communicate with wait staff. It was nice to get out of the house, and no one broke or spilled anything, so the night was a success. Other than those two outings, Eamon and I have pretty much been doing what we do every weekday: playing, eating, cleaning up, napping, and so on.

I'm sure if Brian traveled regularly for work, this would get old. And if his trip had been longer than three and a half days, I might be worn down. If we had more than one kid, it might also be hard. The fact that Eamon is a marvelously easygoing baby (almost toddler) really helps, too. So, no complaints here.

Having written all that, I really don't know how single parents do it. If I had to do all this every day with no end in sight aside from the occasional babysitter or using some sort of day care (so I could go to work to earn money to pay for said childcare), I would be exhausted. I admire anyone who can pull this off on a regular basis all on their own and still raise a good person, much less a successful one, but I know there are a lot of them out there.

Note: This entry was inspired by my viewing of the Ben Affleck movie "The Town," another Ben Affleck vehicle featuring a trashy, irresponsible single mom (see "Gone Baby Gone"). Then again it's also another Ben Affleck-directed crime drama set in a blue collar Boston neighborhood. Maybe Mr. Affleck should consider branching out a bit and film a movie on, say, Staten Island.

Why I Love 30 Rock

It's because of lines like this:

"...I'll swing by MSNBC. I have to talk to Rachel Maddow. Only one of us...can have this haircut."

- Jack Donaghy

Oprah OWNs Cable Like It's 1999

Oprah Winfrey launched her cable network, OWN, this week to respectable ratings. Surprisingly, her airbrushed headshot is not a part of the network's logo. What is a part of it, however, is a cavalcade of one-time celebrities featured on their own reality shows:

• Ryan and Tatum O'Neal on "The O'Neals" examine their rebuilding of their relationship as father and daughter. (Was this taped before or after he hit on her at Farrah Fawcett's funeral?)
• Shania Twain's show "Why Not?" is described as the country star putting her personal life on display. Ooh - I hope we get a sneak peak at her walk-in closet full of sports bras and yoga pants!
• Sarah Ferguson will star in a six-part series about ... trying to stay in the public eye?
• The Judds, Naomi and Wynnona, will examine their complex relationship.
• Rosie O'Donnell will host her own talk show.

What, was Kim Basinger too busy fighting for custody of her daughter with Alec Baldwin? Oprah, in what year are holding your programming meetings, 1997?