Coupling

While I was babysitting for a friend couple, the wife mentioned, "We saw Ben and his new wife at the wedding this weekend, and I thought, we should have them over for dinner, but then I remembered that they live in LaCrosse."

And this gave me pause. It reminded me that couples do things with other couples. Obviously people keep friends who are single after they get married, but there's a greater emphasis on doing couple-y things. Especially in Christian community, couples outreach is important. And it's just not right to hang out with someone of the opposite sex who is married. But I must admit that it makes me sad. There are some really awesome people I know who are married, and I would love to get to know them better, but hanging out with married couples while you're still single and you don't know them super well is... well, awkward.

So I came to the logical conclusion that one of the perks of getting married is that I will get to hang out with all these awesome couples. And that's like a whole other thing to get excited about, you know, besides the marriage thing itself. So that's what I'm looking forward to in marriage: double dates.

(I still hold that it is very important for young people discerning marriage to be around good married couples. I've absorbed so much just from observing interactions of the people for whom I babysit.)

My Obsessive Personality

If you know me well at all, you know that I go through periods of obsession. All manner of entertainment are viable for said obsessive behavior. Video games. Books. TV series. CDs. Blogs. Occaisionally an activity. I have to tell everyone I know (whoever sits still long enough) about the Thing that I can't seem to get out of my head. The Thing haunts me in waking and dreaming. The Thing pushes all other thoughts away in my brain - a thought bully, if you will. But the Thing is always exciting. The Thing makes me squirm in my seat just thinking about It. I return to the Thing as soon as I am able.

I believe that most young people experience this behavior when in love. Very few people feel the same way about Lego Star Wars.

A few Things in past years:
Lego Star Wars
Pushing Daisies
Acting
David Crowder Band
Harry Potter
the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack
In the Heights
Soulemama.com
Harvest Moon
Arranging acapella music
The Phantom Tollbooth
Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

I can't even remember all the Things I've had during college. More than I could count. I'm sure my best friends could tell you how many there actually were. They hear about them most. The Things usually fade into simply being among my favorite things (general, intentionally not capitalized) in life. Some fade from my attention completely. And yes, I have some right now. Two, in fact.

Mad Men. And Julie & Julia.

I read the book Julie & Julia and enjoyed it. The author has a great gift for comparison and using foul language to optimal humor. I haven't seen the movie yet - waiting until it goes to the budget theater. This was a Thing that I couldn't stop thinking about, for some odd reason. It's already fading, though.

Mad Men is a Thing that I must tell EVERYONE about. It's an amazing television series - one that makes me believe in adult television as an art again (PBS kids shows are always an art). It's about the people who work for an advertising agency in 1960. The characters are... unreal, in a good way. I can't even find words to describe how well the characters are written and portrayed. The individual episodes are crafted so well - the stories are so natural, but they all work towards a common "theme", which is deliciously understandable yet not obvious. Now, I AM behind the times on this Thing. NPR was raving about it last summer. But I don't have cable, so I beg clemency. The third season just started on AMC, but I'm still in the middle of season two. Moving out of the house on Regent Street took me away from the roommate who has access to them (via boyfriend). Season 1 is on its way from Amazon.com, with which I will begin to infect other people. Everyone should be exposed to this Thing.