Why do we have Netflix?

(This will not be a post bitching about Netflix pricing. I maintain that if the leap from $12 a month to $18 a month hurts your finances that much... then you, my friend, have bigger financial problems than your DVD/DVD+streaming/streaming subscription(s).)

No, instead, we have it so that I can start watching the old TV show thirtysomething! I remember my parents always watched it, and I thought, heck, I'm 30 now. Let's see what it was about in the 80s instead of in the 20teens. Two episodes in, I notice:

• the clothes are amazing;
• Timothy Busfield is shockingly less handsome as a young man than as an older man;
• sound mixing has evolved leaps and bounds;
• the conversations are more realistic, and about more universal subjects, than on any sitcom I've taken in in a long while. Hmm.
  

So, I got an iPhone...

... and some people may have noticed I am doing even LESS phone-calling than I was doing before. (Bill, I know you think this is impossible. Turns out it is not!) And I think the iPhone promotes this. It's such a handy little personal computer, such an intimate little screen all customized for you - that the actual phone call feels like nothing but an intrusion. Conspiracy? Or maybe Steve Jobs hated talking on the phone, too, and he just brought us all along with him. You never know.

2 Things to Love

About Being an Adult.

One: I can stay out late on a school night, ahem, work night, and sure, I might be tired the next day, but no one yells at me for staying out, no one tells me I can't go to bed at 8 the next night, and the bartender will happily serve you till whenever! (Take a cab, friends. Last night was not truly late enough to need one but you know those nights. Last night was just a reminder that I get to do what I want!)

Two: I love being able to say, "You know what, BFF, we should go to New York City someday! We should go out to eat, see the sights, spend too much money, try to learn the Subway lines and watch the leaves fall in Central Park."

And then your bestie, who is also an adult, says, "Yeah! We should! How about this fall?"

And then you get on a plane and take the trip. It's the kind of thing I dreamed about doing when I was a teenager and said to myself, "I"ll be the kind of adult who does this." And now I am. Hello, Big Apple!

Unexpected

So here's a funny one. When you are on Weight Watchers, you have NSVs... non-scale victories. This would be something like losing inches, fitting into an old shirt you loved, or truly feeling satisfied with a very small dessert.

An NSV in our house this week? I had to get rid of two belts.

And now they fit John.

Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!

Answer.

Last week, my phone rang at 5 AM sharp. It was one of my oldest friends, from high school, whom I just celebrated my 30th with in Texas on a girls' trip (four of us met up, from all across the country and time zones - yeah Class of 99!). This friend has three small children, and sometimes crosses wires about said time zone changes, understandably. I immediately thought, it's 8 AM there and she just dropped the kids at preschool. I know they start at 8:15 and go until 11:15 AM. She probably forgot it's only 5 here.

So I hit the silent button, and stopped John from putting on his gym clothes and heading to our elliptical machine. "That was my phone, not your alarm, babe," and he confusedly went back to sleep. I sent her a text, "its 5 am you woke us up". I was thinking about the olden days of ten or twelve years ago, when a drunken phone call was not uncommon from my friends or myself, and hilarious voice messages or conversations ensued.

She texted back immediately: "[name of her brother] died".

I leapt out of bed and called back, profusely apologizing and hearing the story of a car accident that happened 3/4 of the way across the country only a few hours earlier. "I'm sorry I called so early, I was sitting here waiting, and I just couldn't wait anymore."

So this is a reminder to answer my damn phone when it rings.

And it's been a reminder all week that you can't live every day like it is your last - you can't say goodbye to those you love like you'll never see them again after every cup of coffee, every dinner out, every phone conversation - but you can be present with them each and every time you see or speak to them, and be sure you never miss an opportunity to listen to them, to love them, to be right there with them and not halfway on to the next thing.

In the age of technology...

Some things, like handwritten letters, are nearly extinct. But, there are new things to enjoy - you do get really awesome text messages for your birthday instead! Including these top two:

• Kaa! Kaa! Swoop! Here comes the thirty bird!
  
• Ever since I've met you, you've been the perfect age. True story.
  

No bounds.

As you know, I hate throwing out consumables - namely, food. Anything that can be used up entirely SHOULD be used up entirely. And tossing a little sour milk, wilted veggie or uneaten leftover causes in me a level of anxiety inappropriate to the amount of food being thrown out.

So, it is with a laugh I share with you my delight at discovering that our bottle of Robitussin Adult Nighttime Cough, Cold & Flu has about 3 doses left in the bottle - AND it expires 11/11! It makes me so happy, even as I am sick, to know that we'll use this up before it expires, and won't have to throw out a single drop.

(And hey - I was raised by a father who put a little water in the ketchup or salad dressing bottle, to get out every last bit. At least I'm not that far gone (yet) since the gross memories of watery Ranch dressing still linger.)

Where did the series go?

The series of pre-30 posts was walloped... by a cold! I have to say, though, if what M says is true - which is "No good, no bad, all wonderful", then the thing that is wonderful about this really badly-timed head cold is that I'm thinking, 30? Sure, whatevs. I just want to be back to health!

The countdown begins.

This is the first in a series of "I'm about to turn 30!" posts.

I need a pair of jeans that fits... and I have a great pair from a ladies clothing swap, a.k.a. Naked Lady Party. They're awesome, but getting way too big. So I went to the Levi's store in the fancy part of town and realized, oh hmmm, they don't make women's jeans in the numbers-style anymore (you know - 501s, 550s, etc).

But I had parked, I was there, and so I thought I'd let the salesgirl help me out with their new Levi's styles.

Alas, my friends, I am getting old. The jeans were all either skinny-leg-style (which doesn't look good on anyone who can vote; sorry! I'll tell you they look good when you ask me, but they don't) or were so low at the waist to be obscene in the back AND the front.

Plus, they give you extra things in the dressing room to possibly try on. I hate this. I hate it at Nordstrom and I hate it at Levi's.

And a $64 sweatshirt with a screenprint of a wolf on it is not for me. I was there the first time those were cool, and THAT is the real sign of aging in our pop-driven world.

Coda #2 - ! ! ! ! ! !

Ok, the plot thickens.

We've now found out this group of kids pulled a dine-and-dash this week at the 1 of (only) 3 restaurants in my neighborhood.

And the ballroom where I dance? There is a church group that meets there on Wednesday nights. They were stolen from by the same group.

It is on.