I just accidentally brushed against Isaac's toy train, which I had forgotten was behind me, and the dang thing cackled at me and then rang a dinner bell. I knocked it halfway across the room.
Toddler toys are creepy.
Yesterday was Super Bowl XLVI. (Once we get to Super Bowl L, I say we just stop with the Roman numerals, because Super Bowl L looks dumb) The Giants beat the Patriots after a gutsy come-from-behind game-winning drive with under two minutes to go in the fourth quarter on the strength of an amazing catch off a perfect throw in the face of certain doom! That doesn't sound like the sort of thing after which you could say, "Oh yeah, just like last time," but...yeah, it was pretty much like last time these two teams played in the Super Bowl. Crazy.
Up until about 4:00 yesterday afternoon, I didn't have anywhere to watch the Big Game. Now, I've finally managed to move past that thing where I'm constantly hurt that I'm rarely invited to game nights, parties, movies, etc with most of my former coworkers. That was pretty hard for quite a few years, but I think I'm at peace with it now, and it doesn't change the fact that I dearly love and miss my friends from my Players days. The Super Bowl, however...well, that's a bit different. I will be honest, I was pretty bummed about having nowhere to go for the game. It's not so much like I feel I wasn't invited to a party, it's that I always enjoy the sharing the event with others. Because really, the Super Bowl is an event, not a football game. Right or wrong, it's like Super Bowl Sunday has become a holiday in the U.S. And I do love holidays. So, with no party invitations, no sports bars or grills that I frequent, and no TV at home to speak of, it looked like I was just going to miss it all this year, and I was kind of sad.
Then, Kim went to her Sunday afternoon ladies' Bible study, held at the home of one of the church's deacons. I secretly hoped someone from the study group would invite her to come by their place to watch the game, but I was pretty sure she wouldn't bother to mention that we didn't have plans. As it turned out, Bible study had been cancelled since everyone was getting ready for the game in their own houses, and nobody told her because they didn't have her phone number. Kim did mention that we didn't have any plans for the night, and they did invite us over...and then Kim said no thanks. Fortunately, after she came home she decided that did in fact sound like fun, so she shot off a quick email to see if we could bring the kids, and suddenly we had folks to watch the game with.
Or at least, I did. Kim had other ladies to coo over Isaac with, and Robbie had a girl his age to run around a pretty spacious house and eat pretzels and fudge with. (In fact, at one point they were playing a game that bore a striking resemblance to the plot of The Pass-It-On Christmas. Which, in turn, bears a striking resemblance to the story of the song Do You Hear What I Hear?) We all had a good time. The game was fun and exciting, and I think the deacon who was hosting the party appreciated having another man to watch the game with. The rest of the crowd, aside from his wife and daughter, consisted of a woman from our church and her several teenaged foster daughters. It was unlike any Super Bowl crowd I've ever watched the game with.
It was fun, though. Watching the Super Bowl is always fun. Even that year when Carolina lost to New England and it felt like both teams spent the entire first half punting. It's always fun, because there's always a festive atmosphere. Some folks cheering for one team, a couple for the other, there's a bit of a friendly rivalry going on, and the snacks are good, and the commercials are entertaining, and the people who are just there to watch the commercials are goofing off in the back the whole time. It's become a social event, so as long as you have someone to be social with, you'll almost always have a good time, whether you love football or not.
Unless your team loses. Cause that always sucks.
And the Avengers trailer came one. Holy-freaking-cow, it was fantastic. And the full-length version on the web is even better. I haven't been this stoked for a movie since The Dark Knight. (Before that, it was probably Return of the King. Before that? Um...probably The Lost World. And before that, the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. So there you go. My "Most Hyped Movies of All Time" list, in reverse-chronological order)
There's really nothing about this trailer that I'm not completely thrilled with. Well, except for Black Widow being treated as a member of the team instead of another SHIELD agent, but I've never been crazy about that. I mean, you've got that awesome shot where they're circling up, back-to-back, with what is apparently an onslaught of alien invaders (or something) about to release hell upon them. And amidst the Super Soldier, the man whose entire body is a weapon, the freaking HULK, a thunder god, and a guy who somehow makes a boy and arrow look hardcore, you've got a five-foot-five redhead reloading....a hand gun? The world is being destroyed!!! It really does feel like they just threw her into this movie (and Iron Man 2) to have a token girl on the team, and I think that's a disservice to the character. (Plus, all her fighting in IM2 was just silly. Even for a superhero movie) But if you are gonna throw her in there with the heavyweights, give the woman a rocket launcher or something! *grumble grumble that tiny gun had better be the stinkin' Noisy Cricket or something...*
Um...rant over...anyway, the trailer is epic. Awesome way to start the summer/celebrate a birthday.
Let's see, what else was I going to talk about...
*Congrats to another Aero sticking with the big club. Bravo, Nate Prosser.
*Reading some great books lately. Check out my book blog soon for short reviews of Till We Have Faces, Just Do Something, The Help, and The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Yes, reading the Best Picture nominees again.
*Part of the reason I lapsed so severely in blogging was that my late night creativity had been going into my 365 project. It is a lot of fun. And I manage to get at least one pretty decent picture in there per week, so that's something for a guy who's never been very good with a camera. Hard to believe I'm already 92 days in. Also hard to believe that means there are 273 days to go. Acctually, 274, because it's a leap year.
*I love leap year. I'd say we should all have a Leap Year party of some sort on the 29th, but I'll be in San Diego that day. Not that I'm disappointed that I'll be in San Diego, but still. It would have been fun. Again, I like Events.
*A friend I worked with at Horsefeathers one summer lost her engagement ring in 2005. She figured it was gone forever. Today, it turned up on eBay. The seller is asking for $1,250.00. She doesn't have that, so she's asking for help. I'm trying to see if we can get this thing to go viral :-)
*Finally, I have a job interview for some part-time work with the Astros on Wednesday. I applied for this position last season and didn't get it then, so my hopes aren't too high, but we'll see. I gots to make me some coin, yo!
*Finally-finally, if you think Sherri and I should start making video reviews of musicals together, clap your hands.
