Shut Up, Like, New Moon is Sooo Good!

It's true. We sat in Friday night traffic. We ran through the mall, two pregnant moms, to get to the theater on time. We stood in line with a bunch of tweeners, and nearly screamed like they did when the doors finally opened. We elbowed and rushed to the theater, where the hormonal energy level hovered near frantic. We desperately scanned the theater full of thirteen-year-olds saving whole rows of seats, and luckily found the last two together. We rolled our eyes at the teenagers, though we felt like two ourselves. We secretly snickered at the other moms, especially the ones that seemed even slightly older than us. I pointed out two big middle-aged black men sitting together, obviously sore thumbs, and my friend pointed out a couple of 80-year-old grandmas - good for them!

Then 25 minutes of previews started, including 5 minutes of straight screaming during the trailer for another Rob Pattinson film. I almost screamed myself, I was so caught up in the mood, and that was only the first time.

Then there's a black screen pause. The title appears. Bella starts speaking. And we all enter two hours of total, unadulterated and unapologetic adolescent fantasy. The audience screamed. I reservedly clapped. My friend and I did a lot of elbow-nudging and shoulder-slapping. Girls in a swoon yelled, "I love you, Jacob!" Stick-in-the-mud moms, who made me ashamed to be one, yelled for people to shut up. If I'd been able to tear my eyes from the screen I would have rolled them at both.

Thank goodness the first movie, which was ok, was such a success, warranting a much bigger budget - and a new director - for the second, which was honestly, seriously, like SO GOOD! Better acting and directing, awesome special effects, excellent storytelling and frankly way better than the book, which I just read to get me from Twilight to Eclipse, not because I liked it. By the end, it even had my friend switching from Team Edward to Jacob, which I could understand but never do myself.

I am so totally going to see it a hundred more times! With any any anyone who wants to go. And then there will have to be a DVD release party. Love love love it! And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Nailed on the Head

This morning as we were rushing around, Ed casually mentioned, "There's an article on the front page [of the Washington Post] you should read - it's about 'Twilight' fans and the new movie."

"Whatever. I'm not one of those 'Twilight' fans." (Even though I got pre-sale tickets to "New Moon" tomorrow night with some friends.)

"No, it's about women who love it but don't want it admit it. It's about you. Just read it."

On the front page? OK, I guess I can spare the time...

"'Twilight', the love that dare not speak its shame" is about older women (like older than 17) who got sucked into the black hole, loving and hating every minute of it. Wow. Very, very, embarrassingly accurate. Go read it if you care; maybe it applies to you, too. If not, here are a few choice quotes:

1)...they thought "Twilight" could not come for them. They were too literary. They didn't do vampires. They were feminists.

"Prior to 'Twilight,' my favorite books were by Anthony Burgess" and Ayn Rand, says Jenny West, 32, who had never heard of the series until she saw ads for the movie last year. "I bought 'Twilight' [the book] with the full intention of ripping it apart." Then she read it. In one night. Bought "New Moon" the next day. "I was kind of horrified with myself, and I had to keep going." When she finished the last book, she reopened the first one and started again.

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2) One minute you're a functioning member of society, the next you're succumbing to the dark side, wondering how deep you're willing to go -- and what that longing says about you.

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3) The women who have succumbed to "Twilight" have heard all of these arguments before. They wrote those arguments. This self-awareness is what makes the experience of loving "Twilight" a conflicting one, as if they had all been taught proper skin-care routines but chose instead to rub their faces with a big pizza every night.

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4) Men feel perfectly comfortable slathering their chests in greasepaint and screaming like half-naked ninnies at football games, but women too often over-explain their passions, apologizing for being too girly or liking something too trashy.

The grown women of "Twilight" will no longer apologize. They will go to those midnight "New Moon" screenings.

But as for telling them how silly they're being, how Edward is not real and neither is Jacob, how their brains are rotting and their sense of reality is being distorted and this obsession is crazy, just crazy? There's really no need.

They already know.

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Yeah, ok, so I did resist for a long time, scorning the popularity and obvious pathetic-ness of it all. I did read all four books in a week, staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning and neglecting every adult responsibility in my life. And yes, I immediately went back and re-read books 1 and 4 when I was done, and then part of 1 again and then 'Midnight Sun' on Stephanie Meyer's blog. Yeah, ok, so I admit it made me feel 17 again, emotionally intense and alive.

But since I'm grasping for things in my favor, I'm going to the 7pm Friday show, not the one on Thursday at midnight. I have not visited Forks, nor do I have immediate plans to. I own no 'Twilight' paraphenalia or clothing. I have joined no Twi-hard fan sites or blogs, much less started my own. And if our baby is a girl, neither Bella, Rosalie nor Renesmee will be in the name.

However, if it's a boy, and the middle name happens to be Edward, well that would be after his Dad, and not the books, wouldn't it?

Expecting Someone?

I am. Or, to be politically correct, we are.

That's right, sports fans, we're switching to zone defense. Little Hickman #3 will be joining us around - or hopefully before - the end of April.

Which should explain an entire month of no blog posts in September and October, when any free moment I had was spent lying down, and the idea of sitting in front of the computer forming rational thoughts was abhorrent. The last two months are pretty much a blur of survival, fatigue, nausea, seltzer, and Blow-Pops but since I know so many others that have had it worse, that's all I'll say about that. Except that I've been going to bed early and only re-reading favorite books - I just can't spare the focus required to follow something new.

But crossing into the second trimester has cleared my mind a bit. Enough to enjoy food smells again - sometimes -, to think about the nursery and to start a baby registry on Amazon. You'd think by a third baby a family would have all they need. But you would be wrong, very wrong.

Around New Year's we can find out what kind of kiddo we've got in there. No question - I want to know what I'm dealing with, and do as much planning and preparing as possible before the little bundle of screaming disoriented nerves arrives, and the work starts all over again. Besides, finding out at the end if the ultrasound was actually correct is almost as surprising as not having one.

It's also never too early to think about names. If you know me well, you know that I consider naming one of the main reasons to have kids in the first place. If it's a girl, she's all set. I've got a couple of great ones that have been waiting in the wings for just the right time. If it's a boy, he's also all set. The Boy List has been whittled and honed with each pregnancy, and any of the top three or four contenders would make a boy - and his Mom - proud.

In the meantime, for the next few months it shall be known as...Superfly. I heard it in a song on the radio one night when I was having profound thoughts about the baby. I knew it would never pass a committee vote as an actual name, but gestational nicknames don't even go to vote, so it's set.

We told the girls the other morning and they already have their own ideas about names, needs, and how they will "help." I will have to do another post on the girls' names; they're awesome in a cute-but-we-would-never-actually-use-them way. Hazel has decided her job will be to hold the baby as much as possible, and Ginger would like to tickle it and put the bath toys in.

You can probably expect several pregnancy and baby related posts in the upcoming months; I've got a few composing themselves in the old noggin, but I promise not to obsess. Lots of other stuff going on, too, to write about. I just wanted to officially announce. And although I know as well or better than anyone how hard, uncomfortable, exhausting, inconvenient, and sometimes embarrassing pregnancy, birth and new babies can be, I am deeply thrilled in a way that is impossible to explain, to have another one. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Rainbow

A happy little discovery while playing outside yesterday!