And the Winner Is…

I don’t know. I don’t even know who is nominated. What movie? When did that come out? What day/month/year is it? (Just kidding, I do know this—but only because I still count my daughter’s age in months even though she’s two.)

I used to be the person you wanted on your trivia team. I could name that one person from that one movie that no one else knew. Today, I honestly don’t know what movies are out in theaters.

My lack of pop culture knowledge could win me an award.

It’s another one of those things people who already have kids tell you will be different: “See ALL the movies, because once the baby is here you’ll never see another movie again. At least one that isn’t animated or rated G.”

But I didn’t want to believe it, because they weren’t me. They don’t have the love and passion for films that I have—or thought I had, because recently I’ve been thinking a lot about how happy I am that movies go from the theater to on-demand so quickly. It seems like it’s a constantly diminishing timeline.

Yep. They were right. They all told me so.

People talked about the latest Star Wars. In turn, I avoided people so they didn’t ruin the third movie date I’d have at an actual theater with my husband since the kiddo was born two years ago. (We really did go to ALL the movies when I was pregnant, and we’ve now seen the latest Star Wars, so feel free to put spoilers in the comments.)

Sure, we could’ve hired a sitter to go to a movie at any point in time (or begged the in-laws). But I can rent something at home while the baby is sleeping and press pause when I need to pee. Plus, I don’t want to pay someone to watch the kid so I can sit in the dark and not talk about the kid. The kid is the only topic I can talk about with any certainty because I KNOW the kid. However, I don’t know who is at the top of the music charts. Music hasn’t changed since I graduated college. How can I be so sure? Because they still play all of the songs I listened to 15 years ago in every restaurant and grocery store I frequent. Time and referential pop culture stand still just for me. I also don’t know new music because I don’t see new movies with new soundtracks. (It feels like my kid does something new every day, though! Do you want to talk about that with me?)

If I decide to take an inkling of interest in this year’s awards season, I definitely know that I should time my bathroom breaks for the times when the live musical acts are onstage.

Old habits die hard, though, and I must stop writing because my husband wants to check out which nominees to root for based on on-demand previews before tomorrow’s Best Picture announcement. Enjoy the Oscars, everyone!

Are there things you did all the time that you don’t do as much? How do you fit them in these days? Share in the comments! 

Ariana
Ariana grew up in San Antonio but left home to attend the University of Florida (Go Gators!), where she met and fell in love with her best friend and future husband. Justin’s professional pursuits brought them back to San Antonio, via grad school for them both at UT Austin. Happily calling the Alamo City home for more than a decade, the new parents welcomed a baby girl, Anabel, into their lives this past January and are excited to share the city they love with her. Ariana works as a communications and marketing director for a local nonprofit and is already counting down the days to next year’s Fiesta! She occasionally maintains her blog Corkscrew Curiosity.