Isaac's Field Trip, and also I am dissatisfied with many things...

...first and foremost, my Norton antivirus software.

I think Norton should rename their software "Norton Mostly Kinda Antivirus."

As Isaac says (being completely influenced by Star Wars), my computer is malfunctioning--to the point that it will only let me upload three pictures to this post, no matter how hard I try to load others. And I called Norton when my computer alerted me to a major virus take-over, and they told me I should take it to Best Buy and have the virus removed for a couple hundred dollars...to which I replied (in my head, because I am spineless), "Then why am I paying you seventy bucks a year to prevent a virus?"

Sigh. Moving on.

Pictures of Isaac's field trip. Three pictures. Whoop-de-doo.

Beef #2. We went to the Englert Theater in Iowa City to see the musical "Are You My Mother?" (which was my FAVORITE book when I was a kid.) We were all excited. The kids, too. They had all read the book beforehand. Then we get to the theater and the play begins, and guess what? It was crap. Let me tell you why it was crap.

They changed the whole story. From the opening scene the snort was the bad guy trying to destroy all the trees. (Remember in the book, he was the hero who returned the bird to his nest?) So half the story was along the lines of "Save the trees, snorts are bad." The other half consisted of the baby bird trying to find his mother, and in the process he picks up a hen, kitten, and dog posse. At the end they burst out in a song that exclaims, "A family doesn't need a mom and a dad! A family can be whatever you want it to be!"

I'm sorry, come again?

All the kids around me were saying things like, "This is boring." "This is not the same as the book." "This is stupid." (I think I was the one who said that last line.)

Alright, in the playwright's defense, I know part of what he/she was trying to do was send the message that kids should know that their family is legit, even if they don't have a mom or a dad, that they shouldn't feel as though they aren't as important as the kids who have both a mom and a dad. I get that. But I kinda feel like there's this giant movement called the "Families Don't Need Both a Mom AND a Dad" movement and part of its message is that the traditional mom/dad family is obsolete. Like it is in society's best interest to get rid of the old family model and come up with a new one. Which gets me all sorts of mad.

Seriously, I paid five bucks to see that play and I want my money back. Then I could put it toward that $200 I need to pay to get the virus removed from my computer.

PS...I know this post is angry and grumpy, but I wrote this on two hours of sleep after staying up all night with a pukey kid. I'm sure I'll read this later and regret the tone.