Hit by a Pitch

Curling. I love watching the Olympics because, like dim sum, it gives me the opportunity to try things I might not have otherwise discovered (although I’ve never had dim sum because it doesn’t seem like it would really work for vegetarians). During the 2008 summer Olympics, I learned that I really like boxing, which was a shock. During the 2010 winter Olympics, I discovered my new sports love: curling. I’m sure it’s predictable that: (1) I’d get fished into a weird, obscure little sport; (2) I visited the website of the company that makes the Norwegian men’s pants (if I had more disposable income, I would’ve ordered the women’s version); and (3) I’m already looking forward to taking a “learn to curl” class in a couple months.

The one bad thing about liking curling is that I’m very annoyed by people who make fun of it (which is not the same thing as people saying they don’t understand curling). If I had $1 for every sports person who has made fun of curling in the past two weeks (blah blah you might as well put bowling in the Olympics blah blah it’s so stupid blah blah boring WTF), I’d have ordered those $90 pants by now. Here’s the thing about being a sports fan (I realized this the other day when I was about to make fun of NASCAR): if you’re a fan of any sport, you really don’t get to make fun of any other sport. For example, I was going to say something like, “Whooo boy, NASCAR is so stupid. Who wants to watch a bunch of cars driving around in a circle all day?” Aside from the fact this already has been said 10,000,000 times and just isn’t funny, all sports are pretty much pointless. I’m happy to watch guys run up and down a field trying to get a ball into an end zone or guys running around on a court trying to put a ball in a hoop; these pursuits are no more interesting or meaningful than watching cars drive around in circles all day. So if you’re a sports fan, please don’t make fun of curling.

Soren’s new activity center. Before Soren was born, I was the special kind of pretentious, fuckwad parent who thought I’d give my child only rustic, wooden toys lovingly handcrafted by the Danish women’s curling team during the off-season. We ended up with a bunch of plastic stuff, some of which makes noise. The first shock came when I realized I really like the music the pack ‘n play plays (awkward sentence!). The second shock came when I realized I’m a lot more laid back about this shit than I thought I’d be (which is good, because otherwise I would’ve been a very tedious, humorless hippie parent). I wasn’t sure about getting an exersaucer-like thing, but I ordered this guy the other day, after reading tons of stuff on the internet about how much babies like exersaucers. It arrived yesterday and, holy hell, the little guy loves it. He’s still a little small for it and can’t play with everything yet, but he can spin the little spinny things and I’ve never seen him laugh as much as he does while he’s in there. It’s so freaking cute you can’t even stand it.

Cheesecake. I never had a big sweet tooth until I got pregnant. I thought it would go away after Soren was born. It didn’t. The biggest, most delicious object of my affection has been cheesecake. (Like pizza, I prefer cheesecake in its purest form, with no additives or toppings.) I even bought a cheesecake cookbook and a springform pan, but I still haven’t made one. (“Make a cheesecake” was one of the items on my early labor to-do list; I ended up being way too much of a wuss during early labor to bake or do much of anything but sit on the couch and watch football.) I have to do this soon, while I still have the excuse of being a lactating mom who needs the extra calories.

People having babies. I just found out that a blogger whose work I really enjoy is working on adopting a baby, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me tear up just a little. Of course I’m all about babies these days, and I love the idea of new people entering this crazy little world. (Also surprising, from someone who never liked babies and imagined she’d like her own baby but nobody else’s: I like other people’s babies. I think babies are awesome. WTF?)

New IPAs. B and I both really like IPAs. In the past few weeks, we’ve tried new IPAs from New Belgium (Ranger) and Left Hand (400 Pound Monkey). Both are good, and we’re always excited to find new beers we like. (Sorry for being annoying and saying “we” here like I’m speaking for B, but we’re both beer dorks.) Oskar Blues has a new imperial IPA (Gubna), but we haven’t tried it yet (they had some at the Big Beers Festival but ran out before we got any). I love Oskar Blues and think their Gordon is the best beer in the entire universe, so I can’t wait to taste this one. It’ll be out (in cans, of course) on March 1.

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