Yesterday was Halloween! I must admit, I love Halloween. Costumes and candy…what’s not to like?
For work, I didn’t really get all that creative. No one in my work group seemed overly enthusiastic about dressing up, but I couldn’t NOT wear a costume. I have a small box with some wigs and other Halloween attire and as I rummaged through it a few days ago I came up with my old Grocery Outlet apron, which still had my nametag in the pocket. I worked at Grocery Outlet as an after-school job in high school and for a little while in college. It was actually a really fun job that I enjoyed. I decided to resurrect the outfit and went to work as a grocery store cashier.

My costume was cute enough, but I admit I got trounced by the call center admin who came as Honey Boo Boo. You can read about her Halloween adventures here.
After work I headed to Zumba, where the stakes for a good costume were much higher as the winner of the Zumba costume contest would get ten class passes. My friend Angela had constructed a really creative costume for herself and two others during work, and she brought the costume along to Zumba and asked me to join in, along with our other friend Kate. The three of us were Rock Paper Scissors.
 

The costume was really cute and fun! We haven’t heard who the winner of the costume contest was yet but we are very hopeful!
Halloween, in my opinion, was a great success. I had a blast!

Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that I’m no stranger to changing my hair, and often do it to alleviate boredom. This year I’ve had very long hair that fell halfway down my back, a shorter collarbone-length style, and currently have it in lots of choppy layers. The color has been brown, brown with blonde highlights, entirely blonde…and now that fall is here, I’ve decided it’s time to go back to my, er, roots and dye it red again.
I know that every hairdresser on the planet is cringing when I say that I’m an old friend of box dyes. Yes, yes, you’re not supposed to color your own hair, you’re supposed to go in and have your stylist do it….yada yada yada, blah blah blah. I KNOW. So really there is no one but me to blame for what happened on Saturday morning.
I got up early, watched some tv while munching breakfast, then headed into the bathroom to begin my transformation. I’d chosen a box of copper red, because I wanted a more dramatic change than just blonde to strawberry blonde. I pulled on the little plastic gloves, mixed up the dye, and went to work. I finished up, set the timer, and went off to fold a load of laundry until it was time to rinse my hair.
Fast-forward to me, post-shower, staring at my still-wet strands of hair. I could already tell this wasn’t going to be good. I’ve never actually had a botched dye job before, so I tried to take deep breaths and tell myself it’d be okay once I dried my hair. Determined to prove my nervousness silly, I whipped out the blow dryer and meticulously dried my hair.
Yup, it was orange. Bright, circus clown orange.
YIKES.
I debated what to do. I called my friend Maggie, who colors her hair just as frequently as I do, and asked her advice. She recommended coloring my hair again, this time using a medium brown, but warned me to lay off until tomorrow if I could.
Well, I couldn’t, so I booked my orange-headed ass to Fred Meyer for more hair dye.
Approximately forty minutes later, my hair was colored, rinsed, and dried again. To my relief, it looked normal. A lot darker than I’d originally planned, but it was at least a color found in nature. Now that the shock’s worn off, I actually really like the new color.
I’ll probably wait a couple months before coloring again, to give my hair a chance to recover a bit from the recent assault of dyes. And next time, I may just fork over the cash to bring in a professional to get the job done right.

Last Monday was the bf’s 30th birthday, so we decided to celebrate with a weekend in Seattle. I booked a room at the Paramount Hotel for Saturday and Sunday nights, and we spent the weekend enjoying one of our favorite cities.
Saturday, we got checked into our room (we had a corner room with a nice view of Pine Street) and went to dinner at Dragonfish, an Asian restaurant inside the Paramount. If you haven’t eaten there, you should…it’s delicious! We had planned on going to a different place after dinner to have drinks, but our usual spot was beyond crowded so we ended up back at Dragonfish. They have a fantastic happy hour and we had several drinks that we really enjoyed…my favorite was the Singapore Sling.
Sunday morning dawned sunny and beautiful. We got lattes at Starbucks (after all, we were in Seattle…we had to have coffee!) and then ventured down to Pike Place Market for a breakfast of freshly made mini donuts. After splitting a dozen between us (and vowing that next time we’d split a half dozen, as the donuts were delicious but VERY filling), we wandered around the market. I spotted a series of cat pictures done by artist Frank Coble, and bought one that made me think of my fat orange kitty, Oliver.
 

We continued to wander along the waterfront and ended up at the Seattle Aquarium. I’d been to the aquarium once before last year, and Paul had been as a kid on field trips and such. I really liked looking at all the colorful fishes, but my very favorite were the playful otters. They are so cute and lively! They seemed to be having the time of their lives and we watched them for quite awhile.
After a nice lunch at the Crab Pot, we wandered along the waterfront, up through the Sculpture Park, and over to Seattle Center (where the Space Needle is, for those not familiar). We had planned to take the monorail back to Westlake and walk the small distance to our hotel from there, but the line was uncharacteristically long so we decided to just walk back.
For dinner, I took Paul out to Ray’s Boathouse.  I knew it was on the water, but I wasn’t prepared for how stunning the view would be. We arrived right as the sun was setting, and it was breathtaking. The restaurant itself is fabulous and the food was delicious. Paul had scallops and I got a sampler with salmon, sablefish, and a crab cake. Everything was mouthwateringly good.
On Monday, we went to the Pacific Science Center to see the King Tut Exhibit. Paul had of course been to the Pacific Science Center many times, but I never had, so I enjoyed wandering around and looking at everything. We saw King Tut at noon, and that was amazing. If you live in the area or can get yourself here before January 6th, I highly recommend going to the exhibit (it’s leaving North America after that). The exhibit is wonderful and I enjoyed brushing up on my ancient Egyptian history (I had a history teacher in school who focused a lot of his curriculum on ancient Egypt….we even reconstructed Tut’s tomb as a class project and led tours through it) and seeing in person the things that were found in the Valley of the Kings was amazing.
We finished out our weekend with Paul’s delicious homemade steaks and a fire in the fire pit (may be our last one before the cold weather sets in). We sat in the backyard, warmed by our fire, toasting marshmallows for s’mores.
All in all, I think the 30th birthday celebration was a great success.

It’s election year, and a big focus has been over whether abortion or even birth control should be allowed. As a woman, it pisses me off to no end to listen to a bunch of middle-aged male politicians talk about what I should and shouldn’t be able to do with my uterus. There’s no equivalent: I can’t say to a man, “Well how would you like it if you weren’t allowed to…” because there’s nothing to compare it to. It’s such a personal issue. To tell women they shouldn’t be able to choose abortions for themselves, to say that I can’t decide how to deal with an unwanted pregnancy in my own way, makes me feel like a second-class citizen. There’s no feeling quite like being told you shouldn’t be allowed to choose the best course of action for your own body and your own future.
It bothers me enough listening to middle-aged male politicians banter on about how my rights to make my own health decisions should be taken away. It makes me angry, sad, and afraid. It terrifies me that there really are these oppressive and stupid men in this country, in 2012 no less, that are trying to push women a step back . Then there are the women who also cry out in agreement for suppression of their own rights. I want to slap those women.
Yes, all of this pisses me off. But what truly brought it home and led me to finally write about it and take a stand is being told, to my face, by a peer that he supported taking away my rights. That he knows better than me what I should do.
When I say I’m pro-choice, I’m not even talking about circumstances. Some say there should be exceptions to the no-abortion stance, like rape or for the health of the mother. But really, to me the only explanation needed is, “This is what is best for me.”
I’m not saying these things to have those that disagree with me try to tell me why I should change my position. My position won’t change, so save your breath. I’m writing this because the whole issue became a whole lot more personal to me when I felt the discrimination first-hand, when it wasn’t some idiot on tv but someone whom I wrongly believed valued me equally as a person. I’m sad, I’m hurt, and yes, I’m angry, and I feel driven to say so.
I don’t believe that abortion will ever be illegal in this country, and that comforts me. I’m further comforted by the fact that there are good men in the world, men that are my family and my friends, that stand with me and all other women and will fight alongside us to help us keep our rights.
To those people who are trying to take my right to choose away, you are a villain in my world, make no mistake. You are someone who believes that you know better than I do what choice is right for me. You are trying to position yourself to tell me what to do and I really, really hate being told what to do. The fact that you think you should be able to dictate to me is disgusting.
This is all very simple. If you don’t like abortions, don’t have one. But don’t try to tell me what to do.
In short, keep your nose out of my vagina.

So I haven’t written in awhile…after finding the options for enhancing my blog to be rather limited, I opted to switch to WordPress. At the recommendation of my fabulous friend Kate Retherford, I asked her very awesome friend Jon if he would be willing to help me with my site. He agreed, and has been beyond amazing in the process of switching over my site. I’m really excited with how everything looks! Please feel free to browse around my new and improved site and let me know what you think!
So what have I been up to since I’ve last written?
A few weeks ago, I traded in my Elantra on a Prius. I am in serious Prius love. The new car is dark blue, has all the nice features I like, and is getting a consistent 50mpg. I couldn’t be happier with my purchase and maybe, just maybe, I’ll keep this car a little longer.

 
Earlier this month, I went with Kate and some other friends from Zumba to the Puyallup Fair. I had never been to a big fair like it before (although my mom did tell me afterwards that she and my dad did take me to the small fair in Victorville once) so I was really excited. We had tickets for the rodeo and for a ‘Dancin’ in the Dirt’ concert after that. The rodeo wasn’t until the evening, so we arrived around lunchtime to have some fair food, wander through all the booths, and watch a round of Mutton Bustin’ (little kids riding sheep).The day as a whole was spectacular. The weather was phenomenal, the friends I went with are some of my favorite people, and I looooved the rodeo, especially the barrel racing and bucking horses!
Yesterday, Paul and I went out kayaking for the first time this year. We always rent kayaks at the Agua Verde Paddle Club in Seattle. When you paddle out, you have the option of going over to Lake Union or staying on Lake Washington. We chose the latter, and spent a blissful hour paddling around the Arboretum, seeing the plants, the lily pads scattered across the surface of the water (Paul sweetly gave me a beautiful lily), and watching the many ducks swim, play, and fish.

My lily.
 
It feels great to be back to blogging, and now that my new site is up my goal is to get back to at least a couple posts a week. Welcome to the new, very much improved V in the Northwest!

It was October. The weather was just starting to cool off, and I was a month into my new job as a 411 operator with Verizon. I was on my break, and when I walked into the lunch room, it was empty except for one guy. He had light hair, an earring in his left ear, and was wearing a leather jacket. He was sitting at a table, staring at the TV, which had the movie “Interview with the Vampire” playing on it. I didn’t want to interrupt while he was watching the movie, but he was so cute, I couldn’t resist the urge to talk to him. So I said something about liking the movie, he agreed, I said the book was even better, he nodded in agreement (I would later find out that he’d never read the book at all and was just going along with what I was saying). Cute guy had to leave, he was new and in training, so I smiled and said goodbye to him.

I found out that cute guy’s name was Paul and he had recently come to California from the Seattle area. We’d run into each other from time to time on the floor of the call center while we looked for workstations, or in the break room. Then one chilly night, Paul and I got off work at the same time and walked out to the parking lot together. He’d just gotten a new car and offered to show it to me. It turned out to be a really great luxury sedan, with more features than I’d known a car could have. It was late so he had me climb in and drove me across the large parking lot to my own car. We sat there for awhile, getting warm and talking. I really, really liked him. I felt so comfortable with him, like I could tell him anything.  When I climbed out of his warm car and into my own cold one, I wondered if there was more to that than just a nice guy showing off his new car.

Time passed. One beautiful, warm spring day, I left the office after the first half of my split shift (back then I worked four hours in the morning, had a several-hours-long break, then went back for the last four hours of my shift). Paul was leaving at the same time as I was, and we walked to the parking lot together, talking. He was so smart, so funny, so interesting to talk to. Before I knew it I was due back at work. I’d stood in the parking lot talking with Paul for the entire break in my split shift. Later, when I saw him in the office, I could tell that the sunburn he’d acquired while standing in the parking lot matched my own. A few people raised their eyebrows at us, since it was apparent we’d been together that afternoon.

Spring moved into summer, and the weather went from warm to scorching hot. One day when I was off but Paul had to work, I dropped by the office to give him a bag of chocolate (Hershey’s Treasures, the caramel ones). Another night, I was bored at home so I dropped by work to see if I could catch him on break. He teased me a little for voluntarily being at work, but he ended up asking me out to dinner. I didn’t hesitate to say yes.

Our first date was on August 20, 2004. Paul was off that day but I had to work. I wore a black and white wrap shirt, black slacks, and black sandals.  I spent time that morning getting ready and was bouncing off the walls with excitement all day.

Finally work was over and I went out to the parking lot, where Paul was waiting in his car.  He wore an orange button-down shirt and looked amazing. He took me to the Roadhouse for steaks, which was far nicer than anyplace I’d been taken on a date before. Maybe I was easily impressed, but he accomplished impressing me nicely. Dinner was great and I had a blast with him. After we ate, I invited him back to my apartment to meet Angel, my spoiled Siamese cat. He played with her and petted her, which delighted her. I watched them play, grinning, knowing that this guy was someone very special.

It’s been eight years since that first date. Paul and I have since been through some of the best and worst times of our lives together, and at times I wondered whether we’d make it together. Always, we found our way back to one another, and today our relationship is fantastic and I love him to pieces. I can’t imagine my life without him.

My parents spent the last week visiting Paul and I. It was a vacation for everyone – them to a cooler climate, Paul and I from work. August is a great time to visit Washington. The weather’s warm and the sun is shining, we get a break from our trademark rain and everyone can get outside.

I picked Mom and Dad up from the airport on a sunny Saturday afternoon. We drove north, passing through Seattle and ending up in Everett for a lunch of fish and chips at Ivar’s (side note, Ivar’s has the most fabulous fish and chips that I believe exist in the entire world. Delicious!). Then we made our way back to my house so they could unpack. Paul got home from work and grilled hamburgers for everyone, which we ate along with chips and watermelon slices in the backyard. As the sun set, Paul built a fire in our fire pit and we roasted marshmallows for s’mores.

Sunday we decided to spend downtown in Seattle. Our first stop was Agua Verde Paddle Club for a light Mexican lunch. Paul and I like Agua Verde both for its food and the kayak rentals offered there. After lunch we went over to the Ballard locks (officially known as the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks). The locks were built as a way to link Puget Sound with Lake Washington. Boats from the lake enter into the locks and are lowered as much as twenty-six feet to be even with the Sound, and boats from the sound rise up to the lake. The grounds are beautiful, too. Leading up to the locks is the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden, which was beautiful with all the blooming flowers as we walked through. 

After the locks we went up to Kerry Park, which looks back on Seattle and also gives a great view of the ferry boats leaving and coming into Seattle from Bainbridge Island and Bremerton. We sat awhile in the late afternoon sun, then decided it was time to pick up things for dinner and head home. We stopped first at Pinkabella Cupcakes at the Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood to pick up some cupcakes for our dessert, then went on to Central Market in Mill Creek for steaks. Paul makes the best espresso-rubbed filets that I’ve ever eaten, and they’re a huge treat for us. He made them for my parents last year when they visited and my mom confided that she had wished for steaks again. Back at home, Paul prepared the dinners, along with mojitos to drink. The meal was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

On Monday, we all piled into Paul’s Chrysler Aspen (it’s huge!) for a trip around the Olympic Peninsula. We took the ferry boat from Edmonds to Kingston, then had lunch at a very crowded Subway in Port Angeles and drove over to Lake Crescent for a hike to Marymere Falls. The hike back to the falls is beautiful. The trail is shaded by the tall trees all around it and the ground is covered with gigantic ferns and other plants growing free. We came to a clearing where a stream ran by, and Mom, Dad, and Paul gathered stones to skip rocks along the stream. 

                                                 Mom, Dad, and I at the stream



We continued on up to the falls, and it was beautiful! We stood for a long time, admiring the water cascading down, feeling the spray on our faces. 

We got back to the car and continued on our drive around the peninsula. We went through the Twilight-made-famous Forks, WA (none of us had read the books, so we weren’t all that excited) and then stumbled upon Ruby Beach. The name sounded familiar and I was pretty sure I’d been there before. As we walked down the cliff to the sand we confirmed it: Paul and I had been to Ruby Beach back in 2009, when we came to the peninsula on vacation. Back then it had been gray out, threatening rain, but this time it was sunny, clear, and beautiful. We walked across the sand, admiring the beach. Paul snapped photos as we went along. 

Ruby Beach was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. Already I can’t wait to go back. 

Tuesday, everyone was a little tired from our adventures on the peninsula, so we packed a picnic lunch and drove to Lake Padden near Bellingham. It’s a great place to relax with a book, take a walk (we walked around the entire lake), or swim. The weather was fantastic again, sunny and warm. We set out chairs and towels on the grassy shore, under a tree for shade, and read into the afternoon. After our walk, we decided ice cream sounded good, so we gathered our things and drove into town for some Dairy Queen. 

We were so close to the Canadian border, Paul and I couldn’t resist driving up to the Peace Arch to show my parents the pretty gardens around the border crossing. We wandered around, Dad snapping photos of the Peace Arch and Mom pointing out to me the names of the different flowers. I’ve been to Canada, but I’d never actually taken that much time to explore the park. Now I realize how beautiful it is. 

On Wednesday, we saw history.

I’d gotten tickets for us to
go to the Mariners game with my cousins, so that my dad could see some of his extended family. I adore my cousins, and we all love baseball, so it was a perfect activity to share. Paul and I like to park at Pacific Place and walk to the stadium, which worked out great this time because we got into Seattle early and walked with Mom and Dad down to Pike Place Market. The market is famous for its fish throwers, and it also has great fresh locally grown produce and other things. I love wandering through the market and discovering all the different things at each stall. Paul bought a bag of freshly made mini donuts, still warm. We ate those along with fresh fruit as we looked out over the water. 

From the market we walked through the city to Safeco Field, where we met up with my cousins. We found our seats, got our hot dogs and sodas, and relaxed for a game in the afternoon sun. Since it was a Wednesday, the seats around us stayed fairly empty for the whole game, and it was warm with just enough breeze to keep us from getting too hot. 

Anyone who follows baseball knows the rest: Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez pitched the first perfect game in Mariners history, the 23rd perfect game in baseball history. And we were there. We got to see it. Around the eighth inning, the energy in the stands hit an all-time high in my experience. Everyone was on their feet, clapping, cheering. And when the final pitch was thrown, the final out was called, there was an eruption of cheers and excited noise. I was grinning from ear to ear. Getting to witness the moment, surrounded by people I loved, was beyond anything I’d expected for the day.

Thursday promised to be the hottest day of the year on record in the Seattle area…well, until Friday, that is. Paul had to go back to work, so Mom, Dad, and I headed down to have lunch and get away from the heat at the Kirkland waterfront. We discovered this great place called George’s, that I will definitely be back to. Our food was delicious and the portions were more than generous. We ate and then sat on a bench looking out over Lake Washington until it got too hot to be in the sun, then we headed back to the car. I stopped at Lighthouse Park, which is in Mukilteo by the ferry terminal. We stood by the seawall for awhile, watching the ferry boats load and unload (and enjoying the sight of a seal frolicking in the waters!) and then Mom found us a bench in the shade. It was too perfect. We sat there, nice and cool, occasionally seeing the seal, watching some divers get suited up, and laughing at a couple that kept trying to get their reluctant dog into the water.

Friday was just as hot as promised, so we decided it was a good day to do some shopping. We had lunch at Bellevue Square and browsed the stores, then made our way back north to Marysville. We cooled off further with Blizzards from Dairy Queen, then ventured over to Tulalip Casino. We are used to the casinos in Vegas, so Tulalip was a bit smoky for us, but we stuck around to play for awhile. Dad gave me a twenty-dollar bill to play with, and I had pretty good luck on a penny machine and cashed out at fifty dollars. I gave Dad back his twenty, put five more dollars into the slot machine (which I promptly lost) and kept the remaining twenty-five. After gambling, we went home to clean up and get ready for dinner at Anthony’s. As soon as Paul got home from work, we were off. Anthony’s is my favorite seafood restaurant in the Northwest and probably my favorite restaurant in the Northwest of any kind. It was peach season at Anthony’s. I got a peach Cosmo and a peach salad to start, Mom and Dad sipped peach iced tea, and Paul had a peachy drop (like a lemon drop, only with peaches). For dinner we had halibut, which was perfection. Even though everyone was full, we ordered and managed to eat our entire desserts (key lime pie for Mom and me, Bailey’s chocolate mousse for Dad, and peach ice cream for Paul). We went home and I’m not sure if I slept or lapsed into a food coma.

Saturday came all too soon and it was time for Mom and Dad to go home. We all went to Starbucks, where we sipped coffee and talked until Paul had to leave for work. Then Mom, Dad, and I loaded up and drove to Tacoma for one last visit with my cousins, as well as my aunt. We all met at BJ’s Brewery for lunch and catching up, then we headed to the airport. I dropped off Mom and Dad, and after many hugs, thank-yous, and love-yous, I pulled into traffic and made my way north.

I got to revisit the airport much sooner than I anticipated: when I was just about into Seattle, I noticed Dad’s sunglasses sitting in my cupholder. Luckily I was able to reach him by cell as I got turned around, and I swung back into the airport so he wouldn’t have to leave without his glasses. We hugged again, and this time I merged into traffic and drove home.

I had a fantastic week with my parents and I love it when they come to visit me. They treated Paul and I to many meals, snacks, and activities, and I really appreciate that. We had a week full of fun and I have tons of great memories now. I love living in the Northwest, and I like showing my parents some of what makes this place so special to me.

On Sunday, Paul and I finally went to see The Dark Knight Rises. I am a fan of pretty much all things Batman and had been looking forward to going to the movie, but we’d had other things to do and just hadn’t gotten to the movies yet. But Sunday was scorching hot (at least by Pacific NW standards) and temperatures soared into the mid-90s, so we sought refuge from the heat at the theater.

The thing about going to the movies is, it isn’t cheap. By the time you buy tickets and popcorn and a Diet Coke, you’ve spent a small fortune on the cinema experience (Well, except for that one time that my friend Kristy and I sneaked in boxes of candy we’d gotten from Fred Meyer and chicken sandwiches off the Jack in the Box value menu. That time wasn’t all that expensive). If I’m paying good money to watch a movie, I want it to be in a nice, quiet theater with no interruptions from fellow audience members.

The previews were finishing up and the lights were dimming for the beginning of the movie when a man walked into the theater, wheeling a stroller. “Oh, no,” I muttered to Paul. A stroller-sized child was NOT old enough for this sort of movie. The man parked the stroller by a handicap chair and walked back out of the theater.

“It’s ok,” Paul whispered back sarcastically. “He was just leaving the kid here.”

I wondered at this for a moment, and then the man returned, leading a little girl by the hand. She was probably three or four. AWESOME. I was already getting cranky. I don’t hate kids, but I do hate adults who don’t know what venues and situations are and are not appropriate for their small children. Kids that age were not going to appreciate the movie. They weren’t going to understand anything beyond that there was Batman, and bad guys. The plot and goings on were going to sail right over their heads.

Just when I thought I couldn’t get any more horrified, Parent of the Year plunked the older of his two small children in the seat next to me and took the seat at the end of our aisle, holding the smaller child on his lap. I was not about to spend thirty bucks to be irritated for two hours and forty-four minutes. Knowing I was being rude, I leaned over and said to the man, “Could you please not sit there?”

“Why?” he asked, clearly surprised

I should’ve lied and said I was saving the seats. That our friends had those seats and would be right back, or not, or whatever. But instead I was honest and gestured to his children and said, “Because your kids will be loud.” I’m sure I offended him, but I didn’t care. He faced the screen, not bothering to reply to my request to sit somewhere else. I kicked myself for not lying about my reasons. Damn truth gets you nowhere.

The movie started, and I sat back in my chair and munched some popcorn. I’d been upsold to the gigantic tub size for a few cents more, so we had plenty and I decided that for every sound those kids made, I was throwing a piece at Parent of the Year.

I needn’t have worried, though. Within five minutes, the older kid was asking questions and making little squealing noises, and Parent of the Year grudgingly gathered up his children and headed out of the theater. Victory! I was a little surprised he gave up that easily though, and began wondering if he’d even bought tickets for this movie or if he’d just ducked into the theater. Either way, I was glad to see him go, both for my own benefit and for the benefit of the little girls that were now spared Bane nightmares. The rest of the movie was excellent and I was able to view it sans distractions.

Parents, come on. Little kids don’t belong at violent PG-13 movies. They belong in the next theater over watching Ice Age. I’m fine with the interruptions that come with being in a place where children are expected to be, like fast food restaurants, parks, these types of places. But when I go to see a movie that is not meant for kids, I expect that there will not be kids. I am childless for good reasons, one of which is that I like being able to decide on a whim to go see a movie on a Sunday afternoon without having to arrange a babysitter or pick something child-appropriate. To those who made a decision to be a parent, BE ONE. Accept that by choosing to have children, you’re going to have to sacrifice some things for awhile. I urge you to make these sacrifices. If you can’t do it for your kids, do it because if you don’t, the childless people in movie theaters are going to throw food at you.