What a day. In between a trip to the bank and my weekly IVIG session, I hung out with a couple of friends discussing life, love and having babies. One friend is pregnant; the other would like to be. This is the first kid for friend one, while friend two has no kids. In the midst of all this blabbing, Zoe sat oblivious, typing away on a mini-laptop that K got for her with a ton of educational games.

My pregnant friend and I had got together first and she spoke to me for over an hour about getting her first sonogram, and seeing her little one hide from the ultrasound wand. She had broke into tears at seeing her shy baby, while her husband beamed with pride. I shared with her about my experiences with seeing Z via ultrasound. Just discussing all these new life made me cry (I am a crier, but true story, I did not cry when I first held Zoe. As I explained to my friend, I was so overwhelmed, I just stared at her in amazement).  

By the time friend number two arrived, I was feeling a little giddy. It was excitement, expectant happiness. I was full of hope. Friend one quickly cued two in on her big news. My heart hurt a bit for friend two. 

Over the weekend I started watching the cancelled Fox show "Dollhouse", available for streaming on Netflix. It came highly recommended by my brother Joe, who didn't even have to "Sherlock" me into watching it. If you're unfamiliar with it, here's a quick primer from Wikipedia:

The show revolves around a corporation running numerous underground establishments (known as "Dollhouses") around the globe which program individuals referred to as Actives (or Dolls) with temporary personalities and skills. Wealthy clients hire Actives from Dollhouses at great expense for various purposes. The series primarily follows the Active known as Echo, played by Eliza Dushku, on her journey towards self-awareness...

...

(Source)

As a kid, I just couldn't understand the Israelites. Why, after God delivered them out of slavery in Egypt, would they so quickly turn to making a golden calf to worship as a god? And then, as if that wasn't bad enough, the minute they get their first real challenge, they started complaining "Oh, we were better off in bondage" and "It would've been better if we had died in the wilderness". I asked my parents, Sunday School teacher (who happened to be my grandma), and finally, my brother Joe, "What was wrong with them? How could they forget so quickly all that God had done?"

 Zoe in 2013. The pout is strong in this one.

Around Zoe's second birthday, we took her for a check-up at the pediatrician. She wass weighed, measured and given shots. Thankfully, she didn't scream while receiving the inoculations. She was clearly unhappy, and cried a bit, but it was in a "Hey, that HURTS! Stop it!"- kind of way. When it was done, the doctor instructed us to go down the hall for blood to be drawn to be sent to a lab for tests. This had happened around her first birthday, so it was a surprise.

(People)

Kanye's missus revealed new platinum blond locks in Paris yesterday while attending Fashion Week. Kim is styled by her other half, and he seems to like her looking very edgey. I... I... well, I hate it. Like majorly. But my opinion is irrelevant. People reports that,

Will Forte as Phil Miller in Fox's "The Last Man on Earth" (Source)

Today I watched the new Fox show "The Last Man on Earth". It stars Will Forte as Phil Miller, a guy who survives a massive epidemic in the year 2020. He's left in a silently creepy world, filling his time taking priceless paintings and other tchotchkes (Oscars, a Heisman trophy, Hugh Hefner's PJs) to his new home- an empty McMansion in Tucson, Arizona. Check out the videos below:

Drake (Billboard); cover art for his latest smash album (Time)

 From Forbes:

I snapped the picture above while out running errands this afternoon. I spotted what Zoe calls "The sad teddy bear on the ice" set out for trash. Filthy, wet and torn, I felt sad looking at it. Zoe had brought her stuffed Curious George along for the outing, and I couldn't help but compare the two. George, clean and dry in Zoe's arms, her favorite since Christmas, very much loved. I wondered if that bear was once some other little girl's beloved cuddly friend... now discarded.

I spoke to my good friend Kandi who lives overseas a few hours later via video call, catching up on family, career, and Zoe. She talked over the past decade of her life which has seen her move 12 (!) times, change jobs,  live in two different states, different countries, travel the world, and marry. A number of times she has wondered how she'd go on- laid off, owing thousands in school loans and having her heartbroken in a failed relationship. But in every situation, God always made a way. Actually, not just a way, but the best way. 

William Powell (JP Laffont / Sygma / Corbis)

In Harper's there's an interesting story about William Powell, who in 1971 at age 19, "published The Anarchist Cookbook, a guide to making bombs and drugs at home. He spent the next four decades fighting to take it out of print." (H/T: Micah Mattix)

Our poor little Civic. :-(

I started the week feeling frightened by my father's declining health. I'm ending it feeling shaken by a car accident.

(House of Cards, Season 3)

Photo taken by K.

Psalm 19 is an utter masterpiece. C.S. Lewis said "I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world." It was part of my devotional reading this morning, and in a month of arctic temps, icy sleet and far too many gray skies, it was like a lovely bit of Spring. 

The first few verses popped out at me (despite the fact I've read this chapter I don't know how many times in the past):

"No longer shall I paint interiors, and people reading, and women knitting. I shall paint living people who breathe and feel and suffer and love—I shall paint a number of pictures of this kind. People will understand the sacredness of it, and will take off their hats as though they were in church. I shouldn't like to be without suffering. How much of my art I owe to suffering!"

-Edvard Munch (as quoted in George Heard Hamilton, Painting and Sculpture, 1880-1940, 1967 and Joy Schaverien, The revealing image: analytical art psychotherapy in theory and practice, 2009)

Top, Chris Brown (source); Middle, Amber Rose (source); Bottom, Khloe Kardashian (source)

Another day, another stupid celebrity twitter tirade.

"My dad is dying."

H/T: My brother Joe

I use to watch Brian Williams most nights on NBC's Nightly News. I had started watching the program as a kid when Tom Brokaw was at the helm (I know, I was such a wild one). When Williams took over, I just kept on watching. He seemed to be cut from that some mold as Brokaw, and was like one of the last of a dying breed of news anchors. The days of Jennings, Wallace and Cronkite were over, and most people in my generation either skimmed through online sites for their news or tuned into The Daily Show. I did too, but I still liked clicking on the TV after work and having the nation's top stories told to me (relatively) straight with no chaser (but with too many commercial breaks).

(Marie Claire)

Last week, as Kanye West's post-Grammy rant went viral, my brother Joe sent me a simple text:

Last month Fox premiered the soapy drama "Empire", starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson. Howard plays Lucious Lyon, a rapper turned entertainment mogul (head of "Empire Records"), opposite Henson as his recently released from prison, loud-mouthed bossy ex-wife, Cookie. Together they have three grown sons, all who work for the family business: the oldest Andre (Trai Byers), is a married, college-educated accountman helping to make the company go public; the middle son, Jamal (Jussie Smollet), is a semi-closeted gay R&B singer trying to gain his dad's respect; baby brother Hakeem (Bryshere Gray) is a wild, rapping lothario who's clearly his daddy's favorite.

The show is growing into a television version of a wunderkind. According to Entertainment Weekly, 

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Those are the words typically spoken by the pastor, deacon or administrant while spreading ashes on the foreheads of the penitents gathered for Ash Wednesday services- at least at Episcopal Churches. 

My interview with Tray Chaney who played Poot on "The Wire" was so much fun, I wanted to keep it going. See, I've caught some flack from a couple friends over my enthusiasm for the show... and you know, I wear that as a badge of honor.

I do like a number of other shows, though (ask K about my borderline obsessive knowlege of all things "Simpsons"). As it turns out, some of those shows have writers who share my feelings for "The Wire", and quite casually work them into their episodes. So off the top of my head, here's some I've spotted over the last few years. If you can think of more, please comment below.

Speaking of "The Simpsons", in a season 23 episode, "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", Krusty lands a new adult-themed show on "HBOWTime" thanks to his new (and former) agent Annie Dubinsky (voiced by the late Joan Rivers). While the show airs, things go awry, and Moe, watching it live at the bar is left wondering why he pays extra for the channel.