Crikey

So, I’m watching the tribute/memorial service they had for Steve Irwin last night on Animal Planet. It was held at the big “Crocoseum” at the Australia Zoo. We let the kids stay up late to watch and I can’t believe how moved I was. His little daughter, Bindy got up and read something she wrote and I was really crying. This little girl was so into the animals just like her dad, and I thought “what a legacy to leave here – a child that is so in love with animals and nature and wants to do right by her dad looking down on her.”

When Steve Irwin first came out years ago, I thought he was off his rocker. And annoying as all get out, too. But he started to grow on me, especially after I saw what kind of connection he had with my kids, from so many thousands of miles away. And loud and obnoxious as I may have thought he was at first, his knowledge and fervor for the animal kingdom as a whole just completely won me over.

Here was this guy who was SO passionate about what he did. I’d never seen that before. Sure, he took risks, and yes he had a “strange” way about him, but what truly made it strange? The fact that I'm just not that passionate about what I do and seeing someone so alive and so into his work may be unsettling for me? I think that deep down, I'm saying ‘Why can’t I find something I love just as much and make a go of it?’ And actually make a difference? That really hit home for me last night, watching his legacy unfold in front of all those people in that coliseum. They talked about all the accomplishments he did even off camera to really try to work with conservationists, scientists, researchers and make us realize we need to take care of the earth better.

They had celebrities around the world come on and say what Steve Irwin meant to them, to the world conservation community, etc…but mostly to kids everywhere. I had a conversation with a friend of mine last week where she was asking if anyone else thought the hoopla around his death was a bit much. I told her I didn’t think so, and she might not think so either, if she could have seen the look on my son’s face when I told him Croc Hunter had died. He was in tears. We talked about it for days afterwards – the connection he had to kids was unparalleled. And not on a dumbed-down, Barney the Dinosaur scale. On a “respect nature and love all God’s creatures” kinda scale.

Yes, he took risks. Many would say unnecessary risks. And maybe he bugged you, or you made fun of him, or you just “didn’t get him” but love him or hate him, I think the world would be a much better place if we all had the passion in our lives that Steve Irwin had.

HATE IT!

I have decided that I really hate cooking. All forms. Baking is semi-tolerable, mainly because it involves orgasmically-good smelling things like breads and cookies. Yummy vanilla and banana and chocolate chip cookie smells. But other than that, I really HATE cooking. Not a good example to set for my kids, but we eat NOTHING homemade. Ever. Well, rarely ever. If the hubby decides to cook something, he will usually do a very good job, although we'll never be able to have it exactly the same way again, cuz he just goes with whatever he feels like putting in, god forbid we have recipes for stuff.

This is not a call to send me recipes! (unless it's UBER easy and takes less than 30 minutes with less than 5 ingredients) This is just me complaining that I wish I didn't hate cooking so much.

I need to do one of those marathon cooking sessions where I cook an ungodly amount of meals, then freeze them and can just pull them out and warm them up when I need to. Of course, it would help if 2 of my 3 freezers weren't on the kibbitz. Yes, I have 3 freezers. I should just shut up and be thankful 1 of them is working, right? I know, I know - but you know how you get used to excess? Yes, you do know. I got used to being able to store a whore's amount of food in my freezer section at my house. Now I have to figure out how to cram all my frozen foods in my little half of a freezer and it stinks.

my favorite words

My favorite words, either because A) I love the way they sound when I say them, B) I love their meaning or C) both:

Luscisous
By Proxy
Epitome
Reciprocity
Dichotomy
Juxtaposition
Megalomaniac
Vortex
Nefarious (thanks, susan)
Dastardly
Archipelago
Salivate
Aficonado
Transmogrify
Sassafrass
Malevolent
Bombastic
Torrid
Conquistador
Smote
Panacea (thanks, lorne)

Cable Show Segments

My friend and I have decided to have a "wayne's world" type show in my basement, pathetic obssessions, rantings and all. This of course is tongue in cheek right now, but our brains are on overload anyway to fill the show with the stupidest, funniest, weirdest "segments" in order to make it a real show. The subjects will be regarding the book/movie/tv/theater world and what we are currently obsessing about at the time. Obvious topics will be: harry potter, star wars, 24, lost, hugh jackman, christian bale, carlos bernard (affectionately called the holy trinity) as well as old alias, x-files, lord of the rings, and anything else we are currently "in to" including celebrity hunks we are currently lusting after.

Wanted a space to keep track of all the "ideas" for this - i'll just use this blog: may not make sense right now to anyone reading this, but it's for my benefit more than anyone else's.
--Theme song will be "All Fired Up" by Pat Benatar. Name of the show "All Fired Up" or "AFU" because we are acronym-a-holics

--Every week we'll have different segments such as:
Book titles (fun times at toshi station by luke skywalker, hacksaw techniquest by jack bauer, etc.)

Watching certain episodes or movies, and making comments MST3K style.

Analyzing whatever in an in-depth way. Harry Potter questions, 24 questions, Lost questions - anything that is "hanging" with no concrete ending, we'll theorize it to death.

HOTM list (hunk-of-the-moment...who they are and why they deserve to be on our list)

People we hate list (need a cool acronym for this. Halle Berry, Antonio Banderas, Rosie Perez...dont' use "hate" but annoying would be more appropriate.

Famous HOTMs and the products they SHOULD be pushing (and why)

Acronym/Abbreviations List Update: SBM, FHTMA (credit to AIG site), ROTK, ESB, Voldy,

Agent Malone/Missing Persons update

Drinking games for 24 (and other shows as appropriate)

Favorite Drink (Amaretto, Mojito, where to get the best drinks PF Changs)

Holy Trinity Wannabes (and whether or not they may ever dream of qualifying)

Pagan Gods Prayer (please put Carlos and Davenport in a movie together, i.e.)

Big Obnoxious Word of the Day (and using it correctly)

Dream Interpretation (Han Solo & Deo / Lucas Mafia / 24 Nina's not really dead

Poem/Rhyme tribute to one of the HOTMs or wannabes

Doll Alterations (24 style)

Obviousness-es that we feel are a GIVEN and SHOULD've Happened in our fantasy world: Twins should've been born on Dagobah; Everyone knows Tony didn't deserve prison after S3; Tony & Michelle shouldn't have BOTH died; Padme should've kicked ass in Ep3; Antonio Banderas is the devil spawn; Benicio Del Toro is our general kickaround guy for "ugliest man alive" etc etc.

Lesbian Opinoin (have susan on show)

Guest Stars!!! (best part! oh we can dream.)

Wheel of Filler (whatever we feel like to fill the last few minutes)

We can also have a ticker running across the bottom to inform the viewers of any obviousness-es we feel they should just *know* so we aren't repeating ourselves.

Call-In Segment/Q&A: When the dork from Newark calls in and tries to give us coherent examples of why Emma is such a well-devloped character, we'll give him the what for. Also, tie in to dream-analogy. Callers can tell us their weird tv/movie dreams and we'll try to interpret it for them. Need someone to screen the calls? Or do we take them blind? Could be dangerous.