Sociology Without a License

Wow! 6 days without a post! You might think this means I have a life. But no, my friends, no; it’s just the end of the quarter. This means I have three papers due all at the same time and two finals to get ready for, which means no life for me and no time to post. Actually, as I’m writing this, I am skipping my Prophets class, but that’s not so bad because I’m just auditing it. But anyway, I’m glad this quarter is almost done.

Of course, it’s not like I’ve actually been doing any school work either. I’ve been dutifully procrastinating with Muppet movies, Lord of the Rings and reading books that are unrelated to school. I’ve discovered that ignoring your school work doesn’t make it any easier the night before it’s due, and the resulting depression just makes things even worse.

But through this procrastination I have made some interesting sociological insights into my family.

1. Evie cannot comprehend Muppets. (Heck, she can’t even say Muppets. She keeps talking about Muffins.) She was introduced to the Muppets via the Great Muppet Caper. We were at a Hebrew class party at Jessica’s house and, being good parents, we were downstairs playing Trivial Pursuit while she was upstairs watching a DVD by herself. Well, not really by herself, because she kept yelling downstairs “I need you!” and one of us (actually mostly Jessica) would run upstairs to support her in her Muffin watching. During one of these “I need you times” we had a touching father-daughter talk about Muppets.

Evie – “I scared.”
Me – “They can’t get hurt. They’re just puppets.
Evie – “No, them like cartoons, but them real . . .
Me – “No, they’re puppets; people’s hands are inside moving them—like this (insert very well done impression of moving a puppet)
Evie – “But I can see all of them. I can see them legs.”
Me – “Well, they’re puppets, they’re not real, so you don’t have to be scared.

(Here’s where I can’t explain something so, after a little more comfort time, I just pat her leg and walk away. How can you see all of them move anyway? Jim Henson, that evil wizard!)


2. Moira doesn’t like Muppets. Something deep in the core of her being says that talking animals are weird, just weird. She was close to being won over by Miss Piggy’s synchronized swimming scene. And she was sucked in by the escape from jail and showdown with the bad guys stealing the Great Baseball Diamond. But still there are lingering doubts. She just needs time.


3. Although Jaime likes Muppets, she does not like Fantasy. No one should ever watch a fantasy movie with Jaime. Perhaps she was scarred by her obsession with fantasy and science fiction in her early years, I don’t know, but I do know that watching Lord of the Rings with her was NOT fun. Some comments included “This is so stupid--It’s just a ring, people!” “Why can’t wizards fly? What’s the point of being a wizard if you can’t fly?” “I thought elves were little. Aren’t elves supposed to be little?” “This movie is so racist. All the “good” people are white and all the evil things are dark skinned. What is this—some sort of Nazi propaganda? Aryans conquering the evil less than human indigenous monsters who would take over the world if we don’t stop them?!?” (Actually, I was starting to think the same thing before she said that. I was a little worried that we were on the same wavelength.)
She basically talked through the whole thing. Now we have the next two of the trilogy and I think I’ll tie her up and gag her. (And, yes, this is the FIRST time we have seen Lord of the Rings. This is also due to Jaime and her everyone-else-is-doing-it-so-why-should-I attitude. This is usually something I love about her, but when I want to watch a movie, it gets annoying.)


Wow, after all that I just realized that when I’ve run out of movies and books to procrastinate with, I can always write an overly long, pointless post for my blog. Life is good.