From the Mouths of Babes.....

I organized an event last night at Dante's school for the 3rd and 4th graders.  It was an Pajama party/Movie Night and lots of fun.

I am the type of mom who likes to interact and get to know the kids. Last year, I knew every one of Dante's Kindergarten classmates (and I'm well on my way to knowing all of his 1st grade mates this year) and I can still see them today and say hello to them (and strangely enough they somehow remember me) <----#sarcasmfont

Anyhow, I sat down with some of the kids and chatted with them and this is what I discovered from today's 8 and 9 year olds.

• The Lorax is good but it's boring and nothing blows up
• My dad used to be a DJ in the olden days in the 90's.
• My mom is really old.  She's 32.
• We should turn off the movie and dance because I want to show everyone my moves and maybe someone will want to be my girlfriend.
• It's weird to see my friends without their clothes on. (The kids were wearing pajamas, not the required school uniform)
• My grandpa was a warrior in the Venetian War. He's dead now.
• In the 80's there were no cell phones so people couldn't call anyone unless they were home.
• In the 80's computers were as big as your house and only rich people had them.
• Girls are weird because all they want to do is hit you
• Boys are weird because all they want to do is hit you
• My dad has tattoos like you except his are nicer
• I like your tattoos. My mom won't let me get one yet.
• Is Justin Bieber your favorite singer?
• You like Star Wars?  But you're a mom!
• How could you have seen Star Wars when you were a kid? It wasn't real back then.

And my favorite of the evening:

• I love your hair and your lipstick.  You look like a goth lady, but old and with jeans on.
  

Harper Valley PTA, Not Really....

Well, it was inevitable in the grand progression of things. Since becoming a mother, I've watched my children achieve milestones in their development. But, I've achieved milestones of my own as well. I became a Soccer Mom; I became a Disney Mom, I sent my oldest son off on his first day of school; and now, I have reached yet another milestone: I have attended my first Parent-Teacher night at Dante's Montessori Academy.

I have to say that while everyone was really nice, I couldn't help hearing this song in the back of my head as I mingled and grazed over the hors d'oueuvre table.



Sure, it's not like I didn't expect to "stand out" from the other parents, I guess, but what caught me off guard the most was the fact that I did not feel as though I was a parent. In my mind, I was the kid. In my mind, I am still sixteen years old. In my mind, I was not the mother of two children. In my mind, one of the moms I met was forty years old and I thought she was "old" until I realized that I am 36 years old and closer to forty than to sixteen. I felt so strange because I forget that I am a grown-up. I really do. Don't get me wrong, I don't neglect my children and go out clubbing and have this delusion that I am really twenty years old. But, I tend to forget that I am a grown-up. I just think I'm sixteen and still "cool" and relevant. Something which slaps me in the face about how wrong I am when I see a group of alterna-teenagers looking at me funny as I try to "relate' with them about hair dye, tattoos, and The Smiths. Who the hell is My Morning Jacket, by the way and how come none of these kids know who The Misfits are?

True, I don't exactly look like someone who makes rice crispies treats and sends their kid to Montessori school and (soon) piano lessons, but we all knew that was going to be the case. Although secretly, I would have been thrilled beyond belief if, walking into the PTA meeting, I would have come face-to-face with a chunky 30-something alterna-mom who was stuck in the 80's and obsessed with VH-1 Classics. She wasn't there, but I did meet a very nice mom whose son and Dante seem to have "clicked".

It was fun being a parent at a PTA meeting. I got to ask about my child's progress, about his behavior, about him as a student. The most humbling slap back to reality was seeing Dante's "work folder" in which all of his art and writing projects are kept until they are sent home at the end of the month. Inside, I was greeted with the budding personality of my son, independent from me as his mom. I got to be "the parent", asking questions about what activity they were doing when this was made, that was made, and so on and so forth. And I got to be that parent who set aside a box here at home to put away the special art work my child produces throughout the years, so that when he is in his 30's I'll be able to give it to him to look at.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: I get it now, mom. I get it.

Demented and Sad......But Social

"Saturday, March 24,1984. Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois, 60062.
Dear Mr. Vernon,
We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did *was* wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us - in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct? That's the way we saw each other at 7:00 this morning. We were brainwashed."



Thanks for the memories........


John Hughes, pioneer of Teen Angst 1950-2009

"Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain...
...and an athlete...
...and a basket case...
...a princess...
...and a criminal...
Does that answer your question?... Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club."

---

A Remake I Can Approve Of

If you don't know from reading my past blogs (like The Curse of the Remake), you know that I don't take too kindly to people remaking things. Whether it be movies, or music, or toys or commericals, or whatever. When that stupid kindergoth band Orgy remade New Order's "Blue Monday", I about wanted to drop kick my radio everytime they played it. Then this douchebaggy 12-year old emo pop punk band The Ataris takes Don Henley's "Boys of Summer" (one of my all time favorite songs) and changes the lyrics from "I saw a Dead Head sticker on a Cadillac" to this oh-look-at-us-we're-so-cool, "I saw a Black Flag sticker.....". Puh-leeze. Like any of them knew who Rollins was before it was cool to know who Rollins was.

But I digress. I have found a remake that has passed my strict hatred of "the remake". Now, we all remember Depeche Mode's incredible album, Black Celebration, and this little ditty (another one of my all time favorites):

Stripped (Depeche Mode)


Fucking fantastic song, right? I mean, look how cute they were. All young and pre-strung out on heroin. Dave Gahan still had that fresh boy look and Martin Gore was rocking the bondage. Those were my Depeche Mode boys. LOVED them. Still do. And Stripped makes me tingle.

Then, I came across this recently by Shiny Toy Guns, whose album "We Are Pilots" is so awesome that I feel the need to dance everytime I hear it. I think we can agree that their remake of an already amazing song is truly, truly, amazing in itself. The video is lame (it's not the band video so bear with) You be the judge:

Stripped (Shiny Toy Guns)


I rest my case

It's Official..........

...........I'm old. I just saw a Payless Shoe Source commercial and the music was Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough". *sigh*