Pablo is spending the night with Nana and Boo at the Kyoto Hotel downtown (formerly New Otani). Jo Ann and I are hanging at home with Fred and Polly, Pablo's nanny, watching "Singles" on Apple TV. It's a big night for Pablo. He's seen his big bro Grady go off to the fairytale land of hotel hot tubs and room service for years. Whenever Jo Ann's parents are in town, we know Grady's packing his bag. Now Pablo's getting a piece of the action. The little gremlin taking up temporary residency inside him tummy was not gonna squash his excitement for the hotel rendezvous with Nana and Boo. Under normal circumstances, we'd be just as excited to let the 'rents take over on kiddie duty for the night. Tonight was not so easy. I had a hard time agreeing to it. Our snuggly nights in bed with Pablo have become ever more important to me, and to Jo Ann. More than that, we just want to be with him all. the. time. I went for a bike ride today and didn't stop regretting leaving him.
Anyway.... soon, after the initial intensity and focus fades away, and we get into the swing of things, we'll be grateful to have had this night off. And we'll be glad that we green lit Pablo's away night with Harry and Patricia. It's just...so...different now.
Everyone keeps reminding us we're running a marathon, not a sprint. We just don't want this experience to turn into some 'Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' stuff. All the help that all YOU are giving us right now is helping to pace us as we get into this phase of life. What we're working on today and tomorrow is sorting out the house, particularly to make the areas Pablo will be in as comfy and clean as possible. Still, it's strange and odd and more than anything I keep thinking that any minute I'm going to get a glass of cold water in the face and somebody is going to wake me from the dream. I often don't know how I feel until I write. So this blog is helping to keep me sane and decompressed.
On 'Singles': Nobody has mentioned it, but kickin' it old skool is strangely comforting to all of us. I know it. This movie is a walk down memory lane for all of us. For a start, my bro Dean and I had hair like Eddie Vedder in the '90s. I was a music journalist back then and interviewed Ed twice before the debut Pearl Jam album came out. In fact, the first time I interviewed him, I walked into a sound check b-ball game with: Ed and Jeff from PJ, Billy and James from Smashing Pumpkins and Flea and Anthony from Red Hot Chili Peppers. That was ill. OK, back to the moooveee talk: Cameron Crowe is so cool; he nailed it in this pic. Dillon's character carries the angsted out ego blubber of so many singers. The soundtrack is flawless. Some of the best songs ever by Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins. The Paul Westerberg score and theme song still gets me. The script is a highly stylized version of how things really were back then. Seattle was a lot like Milwaukee. Lots of bands, lots of beer, lots of apartment building life. And lots of old time analog courtship. Picking up chicks before cell phones, text, voicemail, email, and–ahem–blogs. Those were the days. People actually had to tawlk.
And take it from me - none of the actors look any older nearly 20 years on. In fact, Jeremy Piven (he plays the drug store check out guy–remember?) actually has more hair now than in this flick. Matt Dillon has clearly made a pact with the devil. Oh, and now we know the guy who was viciously making out with the chick in the cafe: Paul Giamatti.
OK, with that Giamatti makeout image in your head, I have just two more words for you:
1. Gute
2. Nacht
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