Sunday, March 30, 2008

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 :)

9 comments:

Don Mills Diva said...

How cool that she met Jason Lee!! Sad about those kids though - what is she hearing at home to make her talk like that?

Anonymous said...

So sorry to hear there's condo drama again. I know it's always there in the back of your mind but having it stuck right out in front of you during your weekend down time is hard.

Am shocked to hear what those young girls were saying...

Jeff and Charli Lee said...

I took my daughter to see the Chipmunks movie. I was prepared to hate it but surprisingly I didn't. That was nice of Jason Lee to pose for you!

KG said...

I feel your pain with the condo drama . . . *sigh* though I'm the one selling the place where I live and not kicking out somebody. But I'm doing renovations to put it on the market . . . and it sucks!!!!

Tara R. said...

Jason Lee... officially jealous. Aside from the little civics lesson (can't believe that!), sounds like fun was had by everyone.

Melissa said...

Wow...it is crazy to think of kids being aware of different races and that they them selves are subject to be pulled into racist conversations. They seem so innocent I wuoldn't think of them being aware of that. But hey our country has come a long way....a woman and black are in running for the presidency. That is pretty good. Grandted that the country didn't accept a Mormon as president and harped on him. But still....this country has come a long way. Make me conforted that some day we can make it there

Anonymous said...

I've thought about extending Earth Hour to once a week, too. My son had to have his dimmer slightly on, plus his radio and fan. I guess I didn't realize the extent of his nightly "must haves," so I made sure to unplug a lot of appliances to compensate!

Awkward comments from those kids. YIKES!

Mama Smurf said...

I'm responding to "don mills diva's" comment...

Several days ago my daughter came up to me with the case for her "Bratz" movie and said..."Mommy, I like all these Bratz the best (pointing to 5 of the 6 Bratz pictured) but I don't like this one" (pointing to the only African American Bratz doll in the photo). I asked her why she said that (in my naivity I was thinking maybe she's not a nice girl in the movie...maybe she was portrayed as a bad guy or something). Her response mortified me...she said "because I don't like her dark skin". Saying I was mortified is an understatement. The fact that this just came from my 5 year old's mouth broke my heart. We've never discussed racism in our home and have NEVER made racist comments because like you April...it's just a non-issue in our house. Obviously we had a LONG talk about this....

My point is....my daughter did NOT get that from this home...be careful what you assume.

Anonymous said...

Firstly, I LOVE Jason Lee. Been in love with him (to a certain degree) since his days with Kevin Smith, but he clinched it for me in Almost Famous.

and no doubt you were horrified by the comments by those kids. Never mind the clearly racist implications but why on earth are pre-tweens even thinking about boys?