Sometimes the bird who sleeps 'til noon gets the worm

So, I really like the Oscars. (Um, right, duh! But stick with me; I have a point.) And I've sort of come to like the idea that the Oscars are my winter/spring "occasion." It's like this: the path from winter to spring is sprinkled with occasions. The big holiday season ends after New Year's, but then you get through the winter and into the spring with one-day events that are cause for some celebration and effort at festivity. But, these occasions all resonate differently with everyone. There's the Super Bowl--some love it, some hate it, but pretty much everyone checks out of productivity for the day. There's Valentine's Day -- UGH -- I needn't go into my thoughts on that again at the moment. There's St. Patrick's Day, which is also not really a holiday and no day off work or anything but definitely a festive day that elicits much participation; you start out enjoying it as a child wearing green and pinching people and then you grow up and realize there's even more fun to be had that day! Even Easter, one could make the argument, is again not thoroughly holiday like (being on Sunday, never a day off work!) but definitely occasion-like.

Well, none of the abovementioned occasions are my end-all and be-all, though I like and participate in some more than others. (Interestingly, I seem to prefer the ones that also tend to be more about beer than the Church and saints and things. And how great is St. Patrick's for blending the two?)

But the Oscars -- that is my day! I love it. I look forward to it, I take the day off work (except when it was RGIS! Grrr!), I run home to watch between morning pre-school and the 3:30 class when I'm in Korea and it's Monday there already by the time the broadcast starts ... I, like many others, gather with friends and acquaintances to eat, drink, and make merry. It's my favorite winter-on-the-path-to-spring occasion!

I'm sure most people who read my blog already know this. But how exciting, people, it's a mere week away! And here's a funny thing. Today as I glanced at one of my Long Island Bus schedules, I noted that this particular schedule is through Feb 25, 2007. You know, they issue new bus and train schedules from time to time so one has to remember to pick them up each time the MTA puts out the new ones, and next week I will do just that. But I think it's funny that this one goes through Feb 25th, Oscar day! It's as if New York's transit powers that be even recognize the seminal eventness of the Oscars and mark their changing of the seasons by it! Ha!

I love to amuse myself.

What's that, you say? You still haven't seen all the nominees? Me either. I'm close, though. The only major ones I'm missing are Half Nelson and United 93. By major, I mean nominated in one of the "major" categories -- best picture, acting, directing, screenplay...and Half Nelson has just arrived from Netflix while United 93 is on the way. I've seen all the multiple major nominees, and a lot of the so-called "minor" nominees. Most recently I watched The Good Shepherd, which was surprisingly good. And it was about Cuba! Total Cubaness on my screen, I love that! It was all about Cuba and betrayal, which (as all the faithful readers of my book-in-progress will know once I ever finally finish and publish it) are two of my favorite issues, especially when they intertwine.

Before that I saw The Lives of Others, the German nominee in the Foreign Film category. I loved it! It was really witty. And it had layers. I like layers. Also, it had what I thought was one of the best endings of anything that I've seen in a while. Nicely done.

Oscar! Oscar! Oscar! Not to mention being so busy this week with The Vagina Monologues. Who needs studying?

Oh! And speaking of occasions, happy Lunar New Year, everyone! Don't forget what I taught you here on this blog last year: it's not just the Chinese New Year, as so many in the U.S. seem to have the tendency to refer to it. It's the year of the pig. But I heard that China is apparently not displaying pigs everywhere in an effort to not offend their minority Muslim population. Isn't that fascinating? I love China. And I hate that people here are so threatened by it, and also so all-fire clueless about it.

"Baby, I said, it's all in our hands,
got to learn to respect what we don't understand.
We are fortunate ones,
fortunate ones, I swear..."

-- indigo girls, 'fugitive'