St. Patrick's Day In Chicago

I love my new t-shirt.  It's from the same people who brought me one of my other favs - the bayside tigers shirt:

Where is this goodness from, you ask?  Strange Cargo.  (They owe me a free shirt for this one.)  I love their stuff.

Anyhow.  I'm really looking forward to St. Patrick's Day in Chicago.  I'm booked on a trolley! 

Halloween Preview.

Pics to come later, for sure.

Traditions I Don't Like....

When the guy asks the girl's dad for her hand in marriage.

Now, don't get me wrong, this tradition is fine for others. I'm not criticizing other couples for having done it this way. However, I will not be having it.

First off, if I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with a guy, that's my decision and my decision alone (I get it that the asking of the dad is in addition to, not instead of asking the woman, but still). I know a lot of girls who have said they will be very upset if the guy does not ask her father. They feel it's tradition and it's cute and charming and will make the whole family happy. Fine for them. Not for me.

Second - the Jessie Spano in me does feel there's a slightly sexist component to this tradition. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing this originated in a place where dowries were the thing and a man's wife was considered his 'property'. Why the father? Why not both the parents?! What is the old-fasioned thought at the base of this? One man has owned me thus far, now another man is asking to take me over, in a business-like transaction (in the same way one would buy or sell of a piece of a company to another)?

Perhaps a man sitting down both my parents asking them for my hand in marriage is a little more settling to me, but still, I am not a minor. It is my decision to make and their vote in the matter, is, in theory, moot point. Sure, if my parents really didn't want the guy I was dating in our family, it might affect my opinion, but if I had my heart set on him, it would not.

Anyhow. I know there's a lot of room for debate on a lot of these points and that some people just see this as cute/traditional/harmless. And, I suppose, it is all in the eye of the beholder. However, for me personally, as I said earlier - I will not be having it. If a guy were to ask my father, it would be an automatic no on my end. It would show to me that this guy doesn't really know me. It would also say that he cares more about following some soceital tradition than making me happy, which is a red flag to anyone. Actually, it would pretty much say he doesn't care about flat out pissing me off at a moment when he is supposed to be going out of his way to charm me and win me over.

However, as I said earlier, I know several girls who will be very upset/disappointed if their guy does not ask his future father-in-law's permission. Your thoughts? Does anyone else feel the same way I do on this tradition? Are there any other Jessie Spanos out there?

Box Office Winner

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this weekend's box office winner was the one and only "Paul Blart: Mall Cop". Not Slumdog Millionaire, not Marley and Me (go ahead and argue that these movies have already been out whereas the former was just opening). In this rough, hurting economy and torrential weather, we Americans went out to the theatre and spent our hard-earned ten bucks on a movie about a mall cop.

I didn't even know there was a market for movies about mall cops. Although, if there is - let's face it, this movie had a monopoly of it. Now, granted, I know Kevin James has a fan base and I've seen him on tv doing some good, humorous work across from Stacey Carosi, but seriously, the trailer for this movie LOOKED mind-numbing for your average stoned ape. (I have not actually seen said movie, so I cannot give a fair and balanced critique. I say this only as my reaction to the first impression.)

Anywho - I can't help but think this says something about the mindset of the American people. Has our taste been so dumbed-down by everything in pop culture that this is our new brand of humor - or - are we so down in the dumps and depressed at the current state of affairs that we need some good low-quality slapstick humor to put a smile on our face? Maybe it's that, no matter how sorry our own current state of affairs are, well, they look pretty good in comparison to those of a mall cop.