Day 14-Friendship

Make new friends

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But keep the old

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One is silver

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And the other’s gold

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Does it matter if the mother is dead? YES IT DOES.

A couple of weeks ago, I read multiple posts about the theory that the mother on How I Met Your Mother is dead at the point when future Ted is telling his children the story. (If you are a fan and have somehow avoided this theory? Congratulations…)

I was not, and am not, okay with this.

Part of what’s fueling these theories, apart from clues and odd moments in the show, are the tweets and posts and comments from cast members regarding the series finale. Cobie Smulders, apparently, said in an interview that she “immediately started weeping” after reading it. Alyson Hannigan tweeted a photo from the table read, consisting of her script surrounded by used tissues.

Today, I read an article on TV Guide.com titled “Does it Matter if the Mother is Dead?” The authors thesis is, of course, that it does not.

I am not okay with this.

I was okay with the finale of Six Feet Under being what it was, because this was a show about death and mortality. I was fine with the end of Breaking Bad, because really…how else would a show like that end? But How I Met Your Mother is a sitcom, and at its heart, a love story. A romantic comedy, if you will. I have certain expectations from a story like this. Yes, the show has had moments that were heartbreaking and poignant, but ultimately, I will feel betrayed by an ending that tears Ted’s true love away from him…one that we have all waited SO LONG to meet. (and don’t even get me started on how I’ll feel if that happens and it leads to him somehow ending up with Robin after all. No.)

In the aforementioned article, the author says, “…sitcoms tend to feel forced to wrap up with a neat bow and rainbows and kittens because God forbid what would’ve happened if Rachel never got off the plane…”

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 She got off the plane.

Yeah? So what? I will fully admit with zero shame that I would have been upset and disappointed if Rachel hadn’t gotten off the plane. As I said, these are romantic comedies. In a romantic comedy, Rachel gets off the plane. In a romantic comedy, the mother doesn’t die.

I get that there’s a place for tragedy. I do. I get that people don’t always get to live happily ever after, and that in real life, loved ones die. But I respectfully disagree that all of our art needs to reflect reality. I know where to go for reality; I want stories that offer hope. I want Ted to get married and raise his children and grow old with the woman he loves. I want Ross and Rachel to find their way back to each other and finally make it work. I want Harry and Sally married and talking about their wedding cake at the end. I want Lloyd and Diane holding hands on the plane, heading off to England ready to defy the odds against them. I want Westley and Buttercup literally riding off into the sunset together.

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Wuv. Twoo wuv.

And I just don’t get what’s so terrible about that.

I don’t know if this has always been the case, but there seems to be this persistent idea that what makes for good writing is subverting expectations. (In this case, the expectation that the audience expects Ted and the Mother to have the happy ending I described above.) There’s also a persistent idea that the best love stories are the most tragic ones. I’ll bet you aren’t surprised by this, but most of the time, I kind of hate tragic love stories.* 

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I’ll never let go, Jack…

(Side note…don’t you dare even try to bring up Romeo and Juliet. If you think “tragic love story” is the point of Romeo and Juliet, well…that’s a whole different rant.)

My bottom line is this: we have enough heartbreak and sadness. In this sea of portrayals of bleak desolation, of horror, of darkness, of anti-heroes, and of tragedy, this show has been one of my bright spots. Over the course of this season, I have fallen in love with Cristin Milioti and her beautiful portrayal of the mother, and I have forgiven Ted for his past douchebaggery. Over the course of the past nine seasons, I have laughed and cried and loved with these characters…

Is it really to much to ask for it to not break my heart at the end?

*I still harbor some resentment over the way the movie Once ended. Seriously, ask my husband. 

Week in review, part 1

Wow, it’s been kinda crazy around here this week. I spent the early part of the week mostly recovering from the wild weekend of two weddings. Wedding #1 was in Syracuse–we drove out Friday night and hung out with my family. There was a Tully’s right across the street from the hotel, so we spent a lot of time there, eating and drinking way too much.

I wasn’t in a great position to get decent pictures at the ceremony or the reception, but my dad got some good ones. He’s been uploading them to facebook, so perhaps I will snag some of them there.

I did get to wear my awesome vintage dress:

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(looking at these pics, I really need a haircut.)

We left the reception at around 10 to head home to Buffalo so that we could get some sleep before waking up early Sunday morning to drive to Cleveland for wedding #2!

We made it there in good time, and enjoyed our first Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony. The bride, as she had always promised, walked down the aisle to an arrangement of “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” played on the organ. Most of my pictures are up at flickr (except for some reception pics that I didn’t edit yet).

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Stephanie looked fabulous in her RED wedding gown! I had a great time catching up with some people I hadn’t seen in quite a while. And even though we were exhausted, I stuck it out until the very end of the reception and the ceremonial playing of “American Pie” (it’s a sorority thing). I’m glad I did–even though that song seems so much longer than it used to!

Oh, and Stephanie’s reception had a photo booth. Way cool, and lots of fun. 🙂

Congratulations and best wishes Niki and Josh, and Stephanie and Brent!

Like sands through the hourglass

So this weekend, Rand and I went to PA for my cousin’s graduation party. I made him a gift, in addition to a bit of cash, of course. 😉

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This, along with a couple of other new items, have been posted in  my etsy shop, although it’s probably a bit late to get any sales on it now! I also made some new bookmarks, posted to flickr, that will be posted in the shop this week. (Oh, and last week, I got a pretty new banner for my shop courtesy of etsy seller the photospot. I think it looks great!)

In addition to the graduation party, Rand and I were able to hang out with my friend Anita, who lives on the west coast. She happened to be in town visiting her parents, so yay!

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Before we left for PA, Rand and I noticed that the stuff in our refrigerator wasn’t really as cold as it should be. I turned up the temp a couple of notches, and we decided to wait until we got back to worry about it.

Sure enough, there was no improvement when we got back. We did a little bit of research, and determined that it wasn’t worth trying to have it repaired. This morning, Rand went into work a bit late so that we could go to Sears and look for a new one. It’ll be delivered tomorrow. (It’s a Kenmore, in white…nothing fancy. Because our space is limited, we didn’t really have a whole lot of options. The new one is much better than what we have, and is Energy Star rated.) In the meantime, everything perishable is either in the freezer, which is still pretty much working (not 100%, but enough), or in coolers.

So today, other than dealing with that, I’ve been cleaning up the kitchen, reading submissions for Toasted Cheese, taking care of some stuff Rand and I are selling on Amazon, and getting my car inspected. The inspection wouldn’t have been bad, but my check engine light was on, and so I had to pay for the diagnostic so they could figure out how to get it to shut off…but still, relatively painless. I’m good for another year, by which point we will probably have gotten a new car.

Hmmm…was that all? The excitement of my life knows no bounds…

What I’ve been up to

It’s clear that I’m never going to get around to writing about all of the things I’ve been up to recently, so here is a bullet-point list in no particular order:

  • Went to see The Dark Knight. I didn’t like it as much as the rest of the world did, but neither did I dislike it. Rand thought Heath Ledger’s Joker voice was a little too Al Franken, and Christian Bale’s Batman voice drove me, um…batty. I thought the ending monologue was kind of stupid.
  • Visited with the Huths in Houghton, which was lovely. You can see my most recent flickr photos, which are of their yard/garden, and their adorable daughter.
  • Attended the wedding of Rand’s cousin.
  • Went to a family anniversary party out near Syracuse.
  • Watched some movies (and other fun stuff) with the nifty new Roku, from Netflix.
  • Survived a whole week of school, including schedule changes out the wazoo, broken copiers, and other mishaps.
  • Added a bunch of books to my “to-read” pile, but made little progress.
  • Also saw Tropic Thunder–hardly brilliant, but quite amusing.

There’s probably more, but that’s all I’ve got for now…

Overwhelmed

And a teeny bit weepy…

Rand and I were the recipients of a virtual shower, organized by Jen. We got lots of awesome virtual loot, as well as heartfelt wishes, silly cartoons, and lots and lots of love.

Many thanks to Jen, Thomas, Debbie, Eden (aka Sallie), Jam, Deoris, Theryn, Shannon, Jen, Sonya, Luis & Alisa, Jen’s lil’ brother and SIL, Stephanie, BuffaloJenn, Tony & vixy, and khaosworks. I think that’s everyone.

You are all amazing. We love you guys. 🙂

How not to write a short story

Last night, I watched a random episode of Friends that TiVo kindly “suggested” for me. The episode was “The One with the List,” which (if I’m remembering correctly) was early in the second season.

Setup: Rachel and Ross have kissed. Ross has a girlfriend, but is in love with Rachel. Joey and Chandler suggest that Ross make a list of pros and cons to help him decide what to do.

Chandler has typed the list on his new laptop. Rachel sees the list (only that is something about her) and insists that they show it to her. What happened next had me laughing so hard, I was nearly crying. I took it back and watched it again, and then made Rand watch it. I don’t think he thought it was quite as funny as I did. 😉

Rachel: Chandler wrote something about me on that paper and I want to see it!
Ross: Chandler isn’t that the short story you were writing?
Rachel: Short story? And I’m in it? I want to read it!
Ross, Joey, Chandler: NO!
Joey: Why don’t you read it to her?

(this is the part that had me in tears…)

Chandler: It was summer… and it was hot. Rachel was there… A lonely grey couch…”OH LOOK!” cried Ned, and then the kingdom was his forever. The End.

Is this as funny as I think it is? I’m still laughing. I think the next line was Joey saying Chandler was the worst writer EVER. 😀