The Center Seat

So it's March 18. I'm not sure what March is like where you live, but in Minnesota it's like picking up the weather, rolling it up into a little ball, and throwing it on a giant cosmic roulette wheel.

Last Wednesday... March 11. I stayed home sick. Good thing, too, because the temperature didn't spend more than an hour or two above zero. That's air temperature. I think the windchill stayed at scary-below* all day.

Two days ago... Monday, March 16. I did not wear a coat. We hit the mid-to-upper sixties. I drove home with both car windows all the way down. I opened the windows at home... Zoe the Putty Tat finally got to breathe fresh air for the first time in six months. You know, you really forget how great ambient outside noises are until they're filling your apartment after a season of silence.

Today we're back to a normal March temperature... if there is such a thing in Minnesota. I guess it must be somewhere in the forties... all I know is that my insides seem to be thawing. And the big winter coat is still at home.

OK, I know it's a movie blog... and I'm essentially talking about the weather. It's really not meant to be bloggy small talk though. This is really the stuff that's guiding my psyche about now. In Minnesota it's ALL about the weather. We experience some pretty incredible extremes; actually, that's one of the things I love about living here. You see, it's really impossible to appreciate the hazy sweetness of the first spring rain if you didn't first go through an Arctic-ish winter. And the sound of a lawnmower... or a robin chirping outside your window. Or best of all... driving to work through a canopy of multicolored blossoms.

Now let's not get all crazy here. It is only March 18. That first rain hasn't quite happened... no lawnmowers yet, and only a few really brave robins. And those blossoms won't arrive till May. But I'm looking out the window onto a bare (read: no ice) road under a bright (not pale) blue sky. So all that other springy stuff can't be too far behind, right?

*scary-below: (adj) a blanket term Nayana uses to describe frigid, below-zero temperatures that are literally life-threatening (to any form of life stupid enough to be outside). ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.

So Captain Crash is off living with his mommy in Arizona. Greg is doing who knows what somewhere with a high school girl*. And Nathaniel and I broke up on Wednesday**. So it's back to just me and Zoe the putty tat. Ah, well. Maybe now I'll have time to catch a movie here and there.

*Don't really know, don't care to know.
**I hold him in the highest respect; we just couldn't agree on a deal-breaking issue.

Hey blogosphere,

I got your note. I miss you, too... sorry I've been out of touch for so long.

It wasn't you, it was me... really. I was swamped at work, and then I was violently ill, and then I had about four wildly busy days piled on top of one another. Anyway, I hope we're still ok.

In the last couple weeks I've:

• Caught Prince Caspian--twice. Yes, yes, I'll tell you how it was. (preview: KICKASS!!!)
• Had the perfect Minnesota day. I'll tell you about that too, if I get a chance. No promises, OK?
• Got caught up at work... finally.
• Ate at Mickey's again.
• Saw all three Indiana Jones movies. Belated, I know, but I got to them before the biggie this weekend.
• Reconnected with a gaggle of high school classmates. (I wonder if I'll like them any better twelve years later? Stranger things have happened.)
• Spent some quality time with Zoe the putty tat. She's a freak, but I'm utterly devoted to her.
• Figured out an amazing new recipe for homemade parmesan chicken tenders.
• Saw Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová in concert. (Mini-review: he's hysterically funny, she's gorgeously ordinary, and together they're sublime.)
• Watched The Office... the entire American series, from the pilot up through Thursday's episode.
• Continued to rock my dreads.
• Fell further in love with Metro Transit. And The Current. And MNSpeak. And my amazing city.
• Missed a blogathon that I was really looking forward to. (I am so sorry, Marilyn.)

So, there you have it. I've been living my real life, at your expense. I've been a very, very bad blogger. You still love me, though, right?

Your (mostly) faithful friend,

Nayana ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.

I hate Valentine's Day.

OK, granted, it is my first Valentine's as a single person in several years... but that's not the only reason I'm humbugging today.

When we're single, Valentine's just feels like "I'm a Loser Day".

When we're not single, it isn't much better....

Let me put it this way. When we were married, if Greg had gone all out with the romantic dinner and/or jewelry and/or chocolate and/or flowers--on January 27--I would have been absolutely thrilled. He would have been God's gift to women, and I would have been the lucky wife of the most romantic man on the planet!

But if Greg had done the exact same thing eighteen days later, on Val's Day.... meh. Even worse, if he dared to not do that stuff on February 14, he would have been a failure, an absolute scuzz.

Now this makes me sound like I was a shallow, demanding wife... but I'm just commenting on modern cultural expectations in general. And for the record, I think they're crap. What kind of a weird monkey dance are we putting our loved ones through?

I hereby have no expectations for any future Valentine's Day for the rest of my life. If the day is really about love, I'm going to spend it reflecting on the people that are important to me (ALL the people, not just a romantic partner), and to be thankful for them. Memo to all future lovers: no candy hearts, no diamond earrings, no teddy bears necessary on February 14! Just a kiss and an "I love you." Here's the catch, though... I need that lovin' every single day. And for real cheesecake points (I'm not huge on brownies), do the romantic dinners, sweet gifts, and general cherishin'.... ALL YEAR LONG.

Meanwhile, (at the risk of being the crazy cat lady) my Valentine this year is Zoe the putty tat.

...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.