Weekend Wrap-Up

The ugly beast of the condo problems reared its head again on Friday, and I've been in a funk ever since. I've been dealing with a realtor who seems to be under the impression that I have either $500 a month more to spend on housing than I've told her, or $100,000 more hiding in some savings account somewhere...and that I'm just not willing to be "flexible." On top of that, the people who want to sell the roof over our heads wanted to come in and interrupt our Sunday, our one day home this week. Call me inflexible, but I just wasn't willing to give that up.

So I gave myself most of yesterday to just veg - reading, watching TV, and hanging out with the girls. It didn't solve any problems, apart from the one about me obsessing about something over which I have little control, but it was a welcome escape. Sometimes, reality is overrated.

Friday night, I went to the theatre! I don't get to go nearly as often as I would like, but I couldn't miss my old theatre company's world premiere of Dickie & Babe. It was so well-done, and of course, as captivating a true story as any. Truth is always stranger than fiction.

I watched No Country for Old Men last night. I know everyone focused on Javier Bardem's performance, but to me, it was all about Tommy Lee Jones. By this time, I've heard all extremist opinions - people loved it or hated it. I thought it was extremely well-done, and clearly darker than most Coen brothers, but personally, I missed the dark humor that usually accompany their films. I still prefer Fargo.

Sylvia had an awesome week. On Thursday night, she got to go (and I accompanied) to the DVD release party of "Alvin and the Chipmunks." I was very afraid, not being a fan of the Chipmunks myself (their uncle took them to that one), but I couldn't help but smile as I watched all the kids so excited to be there. It was a mini-Hollywood event, with a red carpet and some star sightings. My favorite was Jason Lee:



There was one quite disappointing moment, though. I was sitting near some kids (who weren't from KIPP) for a while; the boy was around 12 or 13, and he was Mexican, and the girls were 6 & 8 and not. At one point the 8-year-old started teasing her little sister by telling the boy, "she likes you! She likes you!" The 6-year-old answered back angrily, "no, I don't! I don't like Mexican boys!" To which, the 8-year-old tried to make up for it by saying, "aw, don't worry about it. I like my men Latin." Eight! Eight and six! I was totally dumbfounded and aghast by these remarks. The fact that I also happen to be Mexican is just a small part of it. The fact that they were African-American only made it worse for me.

It's not like I live in complete naivety over the fact that racism exists in this country, or even this city. Yet it always seems to take me by surprise. Not to mention, where in the world does an 8-year-old get the notion of liking "Latin men"? I know I shouldn't spend too much time dwelling on this, but at least it made me appreciate my own kids all the more.

I have to thank Lis Garrett for letting me know through her post about last night's Earth Hour. I don't normally consider myself so ill-informed, but I heard nothing of this in advance. The girls were happy to participate, although it did bring up Sylvia's fear of the dark, so we just spent the time talking. We made a decision to continue our own Earth Hours once a weekend from now on.

This week, I have much fodder for posts to come, thanks to Tara, Don Mills Diva, and OhMommy for providing inspiration, not to mention CableGirl for Flashback Friday. I know, you're all just on the edge of your seats now :)