Well, that's confusing.

WHAT??!!! OMIGOSH JOEL AND JULIA!! You signed the divorce papers and then you KISSEDDDD??!! I mean, I knew it was gonna happen, but still! YESSSSssssss. (Those P.Hood writers try to trick us--)

Okay but let's talk about Mark Cyr. DUDE. Stop teasing us with him, I'm sick of it. I don't want to hear about his marriage and his baby on the way, ugh. I want him back. I want him to be with Sarah. But he can't be, and we're supposed to be good with, "This is gonna sound weird but I'm glad I knew you." "I'm glad I knew you too." Well, I'm not.

I mean, it was a very cute moment between Sarah and Hank with the whole "I'm happy. There's nowhere else I want to be" blah blah, but still. Gosh, I can't even remember what happened with Mark or why she chose Hank, did she choose Hank? I don't think I was happy about that then either. But anyways, it's just weird to see Mark still so in love with her while he's having this supposed whole other life going on. I'm really waiting for the episode where he's like, "OKAY!! I'm gonna tell you the truth. I have no wife, no kid, I made it all up so I wouldn't look like I'm desperate for you, and now I want you back." But that would be really weird, and Parenthood would never do something so crazy, but still.

Okay but on to the basics:

Drew. I just love you. I don't know why. You're so simple. Helping your grandpa find that place in France, being caught between him and your grandma and figuring out how to be helpful but not lie. And everyone keeps acting like school's not important. (In their defense, it does seem like you're hardly ever doing school work lately, but anyways.) I'm just really glad to see on IMDB that you have a couple movies wrapping up because you're getting really good and I hope you take off in the movie world. What's your real name anyway? -IMDB CHECK- Miles. Miles Heizer. That's sort of a weird name. I may call you Drew forever, but anyway, I hope you go far.

Oh, and that was a great conversation Adam and Kristina had with Max, awwwwww. - "I don’t feel like we really gave you the full picture of what can happen in relationships. Remember when we talked about the number scale and how things can change? Well sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they’re stuck because the two people want different things." And then Max goes, "Well, that's confusing." Right??! And the rest of the talk was really good too, and then he did such a good job apologizing to her at her house, but it was so sad too! - "If you do decide to come back to Chambers Academy, I promise to never come near you again in any capacity." Aww.. but then Dylan shakes his hand, "See you at school tomorrow, Aspergers." So good!

A few good lines at the beginning:

• Hank's ex-wife to Sarah - "Oh, um, were you waving to the hot English teacher?" 
• Hank and Sarah - "You're not just my girlfriend." "I'm not? What am I then?" (I don't think that ever got answered.) 
• Oh and then when Hank's talking about the high school play and he's like, "Let's be honest, some of those kids... I mean, Ruby's good you know, but.." HA ha ha ha. 

Well I was really tired trying to watch this one, and my computer's being weird from playing music all day so the mouths were a little off from the sound (so annoying!), but I had to get this done because there's like three other blogs I still have to write about things, and I'm getting so behind!

LOVE IT

Wow. Okay so it took me a minute to get into this one, but omiGOSH. So many good moments, and lines. (I wrote some of them down during because I just had to.)

First of all. MAX. Oh Max, oh man, that scene with him in the cafeteria with Dylan. I got teary-eyed. And then when Kristina followed him outside and encouraged him about showing his feelings and told him that one day he'll do it again and he'll know it's the right girl because she'll like him back? I cried. I did. I seriously cried. (Well not like seriously, but like a little.) It was just so touching because Kristina hasn't been encouraging to Max at all through this whole thing, but the fact that this kid that can't show emotion, really lays it all out there for this girl, it's like a huge accomplishment, and her saying she was proud of him instead of trying to teach him to not do that to a girl in front of her friends cause it's weird blah blah, wow, Bravo Kristina. I love you right now. And I just loved that whole double scene.

And Crosby! Wow. It's not like I didn't like your story line before, but I just didn't really believe your acting before. But tonight was good. I felt your failure, I felt your frustration, I felt your vulnerability. And dude, the door guy kept your weed? Not cool, ha ha. JK. Crosby was way out of control about the weed, but even that was such a good scene because it showed how out of control he's becoming, reminded me of my brother a little bit, sheesh.

I'm still not a big fan of the girl that plays Ruby, but Hank, HANK, you're so awesome, I love you. You and the ex-wife, I love you guys! I barely even missed Sarah really. Can we please replay the scene after the party?

"We could discuss it over a drink. Did the kids bring anything good?"

"I feel like getting drunk."

"Oh yeah, that tastes like high school."

I also loved Ruby's mom's line to her before she throws the party: "I don't think you're an idiot, Ruby. I think some of your friends are idiots, and I think those idiots are gonna end up at my house."

Oh, and Drew. DREW. I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU. I mean, not like for real, but I just love your character, and your acting has grown like exponentially I can't even take it. Can you teach me your method? Anyways I loved his conversations with Amber, especially when he tells her he can't go out because he has to study and she's like, "Yeah I know, school sch-school school school." HA. Love it.

Oh, and skipping back, it was so beautiful with Ruby and Hank at the end, when he's surprised she's not going straight to her room, and she's like, "Well I can't watch TV or go online or talk to my friends, so... I hope you're prepared to entertain me." LOVE IT. And then he teaches her poker and says she's not supposed to show any emotion and she's like, "So then you're really good at it then." HA. (And I do wonder how much better we'd be getting to know the people around us if we couldn't watch TV or go online or talk with our long-distance friends. Probably WAY better. But I just don't really like cards, or puzzles. But maybe cooking? Yeah, maybe I should cook with people more. But I really just like cooking by myself. Hmm..)

Anyways, ParentHOOOOD. What WHAT.

You love her. You fight for her.

Oh man this was such a good episode! I haven't seen an episode this good in a while now, so it was much needed.

Best story lines -

• Omigosh Amber! Amber, you're going to make a great mom, don't be sad! I love seeing her with kids all the time lately, it's really changing her and making her pretty awesome. Stupid Max, ha ha, and why on earth did they plan a trip to Alcatraz, what were Adam and Kristina thinking letting them do that. LOVED the scene between Amber and her mom where she reminds her that babies start out tiny and all they do is poop, HA ha ha. So true. And baby poops are cute anyway. 
• The Drew and Zeek story. Omigosh I LOVE Drew's girlfriend. Not only is that girl a great actress (thought so from the beginning), but I love how her character pushes him to do the right thing and stop being selfish. SO great when Drew comes back and tells his grandpa they're going somewhere and it's on a "need to know basis." And he shoots a gun for him! Oh man, I need to live my life more like this. Oh yeah, and best dialogue between Drew and Natalie.. "Maybe it wasn't about you." "I know it wasn't about me." Ugh! Love it. We get so mad when stuff isn't about us or when we can see someone is just doing something for selfish reasons, so blind to ourselves and how we are being selfish as well. So I'm glad Drew saw the truth and made a change.
• JOEL AND JULIA!! Omigosh guys, you're gonna get back together, right? Joel gave her the house! Her heart is being warmed. She sent Old College Lover home, and Joel came back to fight for her. SO good. I hate that victim mentality.. "Well this is what Julia wants, so I'm just gonna let her go blah blah sob sob." Thank goodness for Zeek and waking Joel up, that needed to happen. 

Whew. Okay, so this was a great episode full of great truth and acting. Oh wait. Actually I'm not a big fan of Hank's daughter's acting, her fake crying and whining is sort of making me nuts, but I did really like that story line anyway, even if it is bringing Hank closer to his ex-wife. Loved how Sarah handled the Ruby situation with the guy, so funny, and it was great how concerned she was when Hank so casually mentioned her actual daughter had been crying. "Why was she crying?" "I don't know." "You didn't ASK her?" HA ha ha. Oh Hank, you're learning, and we're rooting for you.

Okay so I guess this was the episode Kristina, Adam, Crosby and the Crosby peeps were not on, but hey I still really liked it and didn't really miss 'em that much. Interesting how some missing characters are more obvious / missed than others. I'm being mean now. I should be done. 

Can't wait for next week! 

Let's hear it for Max's (almost) girlfriend.

Mmmm... This was nice. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, some of the acting and writing is not as up to par as usual, but there were still some really nice moments.

I love Max's girlfriend's character, it just gets better and better, and even though I love and miss Haddie, I like her as the Haddie replacement. Omigosh when she wanted to watch the movie with Kristina and she put her head on her shoulder, oh man! I could just feel that moment (from Kristina's perspective - even though I've never been a mom, but maybe it's all the babysitting and/or working with teenagers).

Also Drew. I just love Drew all the time lately, and that scene towards the end where he tells his girlfriend that trying to help his sister IS his life, oh MAN. For real. Can we all just become like this, where we don't have to change our lives to help other people because helping other people is our lives?

And Amber helping Hank's daughter, that was a good scene - the first time I liked the daughter character, but I guess that makes sense. Oh but that "celebrity" game they played, that was SO well written, I totally know that feeling because I'm usually on the side where I don't know anyone famous's name or about pop culture and it feels awful. I sort of hate that game for that reason.

I guess this was the episode Joel and Julia didn't get to be on (every character this season I think has to miss two episodes so the show's less expensive).

Oh, and Max's girlfriend, gosh what is her name -----IMDB check----- Dylan, right.. when she's playing with Nora with the doctor set, omigosh she's getting so into it, and it inspired me to be better at that when I'm babysitting. I just get so bored with that kind of stuff, ugghhhh, but I need to not and start taking better interest, so that was a little moment for me.

Fluid Affection Scales

Omigosh everyone is dating on this episode! I actually thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'm too tired to talk about a bunch of details though. This has been a crazy week for me - I mean I didn't even watch the latest P.Hood till today, and I can't believe it's almost two in the morning and I'm still up. - And I didn't really eat today either, which is weird. Like I ate so little that I was shaky and then there came a point when I passed some kind of hunger threshold and wasn't hungry anymore and the thought of food sort of weirded me out, so yeah, that's a new experience.

Oh man though, when Joel shows up at the barbecue, I was like, F#@$^#&&@. But I didn't feel bad for him. The writers are doing a good job of making us like Chris I guess, and I was definitely shocked by the kids' initial response to him, it's like the first time I've seen Sydney happy in a while, so that was cool.

What else. Oh man something, some line made me laugh really hard and I always think about writing it down but I don't want to ruin my TV-watching experience so I say if I don't remember it at the end then it wasn't important enough. But I want to remember it! Ugh. What was it? I don't know. I'll have to come back and add it.

The fluid affection scale thing was funny, and I was like, Oh man SERIOUSLY, we do need to have that scale and just ask each other, that would make things way more clear when you're at the beginning of a potential relationship. Omigosh and I love how you both have to be at a 5 for marriage to work out but then Kristina starts saying it's still fluid after you're married and that Adam was going down to a 3.5 HA. Oh man. I have no idea what it's like to be married, but I imagine the scale goes down all the time for each other, and that just sounds terrible. Or not. I mean maybe it doesn't. Or maybe by the time it does you just don't even care anymore anyway. I don't even know. Life is crazy.

I need to go to bed.

Aspergers is only negative when you give it a negative connotation.

I was a little bored at this one, but I think it was mostly because I'm tired. I went on a spontaneous vacation to Arizona to meet some friends a couple days ago and left at 6am this morning to make it back here in time for my acting class, and yowza I'm tired.

I like the Max and Dylan story. I like that girl. (I like her lines anyway.)

And man, every time Syd starts to cry about her parents, it really, really gets me.

Besides that I was kind of like, Is this almost over, I need to go to sleep.

Oh no, wait! I really did like the scene when Hank talks to his x-wife. WHAT is that woman from?

--IMDB check

Ohhh, she's in a billion things, but I know her from The Michael J. Fox show back when I was trying to get into that.

Omigosh I'm so hungry!

Tell that truth.

Oh MAN the scene with Drew and Amber was SO good. Like so good. I was like, "Drew you tell it." Tell that truth.

Seriously. I just love truth. Goes back to one of my first blogs, I don't know, something about a truth mocha. (By the way I haven't had a mocha in like a week because I'm trying to give up sugar, but anyways..)

Also I'm glad Sarah and Hank are now just together so the plot line is no longer about their potential romance but about other things. Man, that daughter is annoying. I feel like I was probably like that a little in high school though, not the stealing part but the attitude. Oh man and her mom! I mean, the writers are obviously really trying to make us not like her now and I guess it's working, I feel a little bad for characters when that happens because it makes them so one-dimensional, but what are you gonna do, the show's gonna end soon, and we need everyone to be on the same page.

CROSBY!! Oh Crosby. It was a little funny when he first got on his bike because it felt a little overdramatic, but I like how his whole big accident thing turned into him saying hardly anything about it, that was an interesting surprise.

And Oliver Rome! Oh man, Ashes of Rome (is that their name I forget), I miss them! I want to see them again not just hear about em.

I was just about to be like, Kristina wasn't even in this episode, but then I remembered that that was the deal, like each main character can only be in eleven of the thirteen episodes or something so they can save money? I don't know, every show, every job has weird things and drama. My restaurant just closed down without giving anyone any notice, but I've been thinking about it, and it's not like this type of thing is going to change when my career is acting. There's weird stuff and bad stuff that happens everywhere. I think it's when you think no bad stuff can ever happen once you have _________, that you start to turn to drugs and stuff because you realize there's no answer. No worldly answer anyway. (The answer is Jesus.)

But anyways, back to Parenthood. Actually, no I don't think I have anything else to say about Parenthood. If you want to know about me though, I'm taking the next couple weeks to edit and update my reels and IMDB page and resumes and everything and then I'm going to hopefully start getting more auditions and an agent which I will be looking for pretty actively pretty soon here.

For now, I'm about to meet a friend at Whole Foods (across the street. Whole Foods is across the street from my new apartment in case you were wondering about if my apartment is awesome or not). So I must be off to go drink my carrot / orange / ginger drink. I hope you have a fantabulous day.

Zeek and Amber

Omigod I love this SHOW.

How beautiful that nobody can convince Zeek to have the surgery, but then when he hears from his granddaughter that she's pregnant, that is what makes him want to live longer. And all she needed was someone to encourage her and be happy for her, and Zeek was that person. They were both exactly what they needed to be for each other, just by being themselves.

Gosh, so much of our lives we spend trying to take control of things: fix other people, fix ourselves, fix our circumstances, when really when we just get our eyes off all that and be fully present as ourselves in our situations, that might actually be what's the best thing to propel us and others forward into our God-given purposes.

And it's funny that we could do that even in our messed-up selves. Maybe we got pregnant in a way that's not ideal. Maybe our health's been bad and we're suffering the consequences of that now. We all have issues, none of us is perfect, and yet we can still be used to love and help one another if we can just settle into the moments we've been given.

Life is made up of beautiful moments. We don't have to have a perfect family like the Braverman's to realize God has given us people to listen to and share with, and He places these people in our lives at exact, specific times, and it is such a beautiful thing once we really begin to embrace it. So take the time today to look around at who's around you: ask them how they are, share with them about you, really connect, and watch what can happen when we start living life for more than just ourselves.

Season Premiere, but hey, let's talk about me

Max Braverman! Welcome to Chambers Academy! Omigosh, seriously the scenes with him are almost starting to annoy me, but I can't help but get caught up in his story, and the part where Adam tells him to go to school not for him but for his mom. Oh MAN. I love it. That is what life's about: doing things for others. And then in the end, we usually get fulfilled too. (How can I learn to remember this when I'm making decisions?)

Lately I have felt very far from God. This has nothing to do with Parenthood, but I just feel like a mess. I guess there's just been a lot of changes going on lately - mostly because I just moved into a new apartment but also because I've been going back and forth about sharing my room with a roommate or not and been meeting with different people for that and also I'm feeling old and not married (because I'm not) and I've been working a lot of jobs which has been great for money but also makes me feel a little bit all over the place, and I really just want to be acting, but I don't have a lot of money or time for it right now which is probably why I should get a roommate, so I can stop feeling like a slave to all these jobs, but also it's not like acting opportunities are flying at me either, but I do have a strategic plan about it for October but it'd probably help to have a roommate by then so I can have money for my strategic plan but also I really like having my own room because I really like having my alone time. (Let's be honest though, my alone time is probably not really helping me that much.)

So anyways it felt good to get back into Parenthood, a constant in my life the past few years, and it also consistently helps me reflect on my own life and think about things I'm trying to suppress, which is what I think all good TV and movies should do.

My brother's in prison, and my dad never called me on my birthday. These are things I end up thinking about when I'm watching Parenthood. So maybe the show doesn't have any crazy fantastical things happening on it, but the people and situations remind me of things in my life, and all of a sudden just when I thought I was escaping my busy-ness to watch a show, I'm now thinking about things I really should be pausing to think about. And it makes me want to write, as all good stories do.

So anyways, I'm going to be sad when it's over, but hey, it's just the beginning.

Well, good things are expensive.

So that was just the season finale. (I emailed my mom about it but I guess I forgot to tell you guys.)

There will be one more season, the sixth and final season (glad they know for sure now so they can wrap it exactly as they like). However apparently each of the principal cast only gets to be in 11 of the 13 episodes so that they can cut costs because I guess it's a really expensive show.

Season Finale? Or Series Finale? (Dun, dun, dunn.)

Was this the Series Finale of Parenthood? They really seemed to wrap everything up, almost in a too wrappy kind of way.

And Haddie's back! But she's.. gay?? I guess that would explain why nobody heard from her for so long.

The only thing that wasn't wrapped up was like.. Is Amber pregnant now? Does nobody remember that Amber is the one that cut things off with Ryan? Does Amber remember that she's the one that cut things off with Ryan, and that there were legitimate reasons for her to have done that? But now that he's been gone forever, she can romanticize all the good stuff and be "madly in love" again just because she cares about him so much when he's hurt. You know, you can care about someone without wanting to have sex with him. I think this is something our world in general needs to realize.

Ah well. Cool I got to watch the final episode while it was actually airing and that I got to watch it with my mom in Chicago (I'm visiting for Easter), so it feels pretty full circle. Still, what am I going to do about this blog now?

I need to Google to see if it's really over.

Oh, I guess Season 6 is still uncertain. So here we go again--

Crosby you're everywhere!

Omigosh so I was watching the latest episode of About a Boy (another Jason Katims masterpiece), and Crosby showed up! Like, as the character Crosby, ha! And with his baby! He came over to poker night at the main guy's place, and it was so perfect.

Reminded me of the old school days of Full House / Step by Step / Family Matters, when characters used to sometimes cross over to another show.

So anyways if you're a Parenthood fan and haven't found a good half-hour comedy show you like yet, check out About a Boy. It's not the movie, but they've certainly done the concept justice. (PS I loved the movie too, so if you haven't seen THAT, you really should. Hugh Grant and the kid that plays the boy are phenomenal, and I love Nick Hornby, the author that inspired it. You should check out some of his books too! Like How to be Good, that's one of my favorites.)

Is it ending soon or something?

Okay so I'm really happy Joel is coming around, but now I'm really pissed because that means Julia's going to have to eventually tell him about her slip-up and OMIGOSH Joel couldn't even handle a kiss so how's he going to deal with this, is he going to run away again, DON'T DO IT JOEL DON'T DO IT. Just learn to forgive, so we can all move on.

I'm also very happy about Natalie and Drew. Is today the season finale or something? And Hank's being all perfect-man-perfect-dad type, and pretty soon he and Sarah are going to get together.

And Kristina and Adam are going to get to buy the school.

Oh man there was a funny line again that I forgot! I always do that!

I just like watching Joel be his normal self, he's so likeable! Dear Joel, I am so sorry for what the writers tried to do to you. We all hated you for so long, but it wasn't your fault, you were just doing your job. And you probably didn't like you either.

So who is the school teacher going to get with then because I do like him you know? He's going to start flirting with Amber now, isn't he? No Amber has Ryan again. What was that? So much weird stuff is happening. This has to be nearing the end.

I liked Sarah when she brought the cupcakes to Drew. Mmm.. I want a cupcake right now!

I don't know what else. This one was actually a little slow, but I think it would be impossible for every single episode to be phenomenal. Only Freaks and Geeks can do that, but that's probably also because it was only on for one season.

Haddie? Did someone say Haddie?

Ashes of Rome is back, woohoo!

But I think my favorite scene was the one with Drew and his roommate and the beer cans, ha ha ha, I love his roommate, (what's his name?).

And I really enjoyed watching Julia become herself again. Not sure how I feel about her making out / about to have sex while she's married, but Joel is a jerk and he sort of was the one that started it.

Adam brought Haddie up! Wow. It was almost a joke to me at this point, like oh sure now that it's convenient to the plot line, you're going to bring her up, that's just fine, just use her and abuse her but don't ever show her. (I realize I'm being overdramatic here, but stay with me. I miss Haddie!)

What else? The Ray Romano thing is starting to bore me a little. That really was a tease last week with Mark Cyr, I'm still a little hung up on that.

Oh, I am SO glad Sarah finally found out about Drew, and that was really funny how Amber was like, "Thank God" under her breath at the end of that scene. I want to see some new stuff happen with Amber. And with Drew. When Sarah was like, "You two," in exasperation, I think that was pretty accurate.

Zeek and Camille are going to buy a new house that looks like the Full House house, so that's cool.

I liked the boy band and that they're waiting for marriage.

And that's it! Excited to see what happens next week.

Oh and Joel wasn't even on this episode, and I can't say that I missed him. I also can't say that I'm sad Julia said no to Ed. I mean he was the one that messed it all up in the first place, and also did everyone forget how he got really drunk and crazy at that thing?

Okay now I'm done.

Rude.

Oh man I was so diggin' this episode. Even though an earthquake happened in the middle of it and it's the first earthquake I'd ever experienced where I actually got scared. It was just really long. I'm used to them being super short, but it was like.. I was on my bed watching P.Hood on my lap top and all of a sudden the bed starts moving and I see the mirror moving, and I freak out and pull my headphones out and jump out of bed and just stand in the middle of my room like Omigosh I don't actually know what to do during an earthquake. And it just kept going, like I just felt like I was swaying, and swaying, and swaying and I mean it was small but it was long and I actually thought it might start to make me sick. Then I ran out to the living room to check on the dogs. They were totally chill, just laying there like always. I'm like, "Did you feel the earthquake?" (They didn't answer.)

But anyways, back to Parenthood.

Mark Cyr came back but what a TEASE. You GUYS (Parenthood writers). I'm a little annoyed at you for that. I got SO excited at that first scene with him and Amber. Actually I got so excited when they showed Jason Ritter in the beginning part where they show what happened last week (and what happened a billion years ago, apparently). Serious tease. And RUDE. Mark Cyr, Mr. Cyr, that was rude. And deceptive. I don't like you anymore. (No I'm just kidding I still do, come back to us! Come back to Sarah and be on the show again I miss you!) Whatever. Over it.

Everybody's walking in on everybody having sex.

Okay so something I don't like is how they show a preview for next week's episode before this week's one is even OVER. What is that? It's rude. You guys are all rude, you writers / marketing people.

Omigosh there was something really funny in the beginning of this episode and I can't remember what it was now. Kristina was really funny in the meeting when she's like, "You guys are useless. You, and you, are useless." And then she turns to Adam and is like, "Don't laugh at me." That wasn't it though. Oh man I think I need to watch the beginning again so I can remember what made me laugh so hard ugghhhhhhhh. I knew I was going to forget it even right after it happened I was thinking, I need to remember this part. Was it something with Drew and Amber? Speaking of, though, how is Drew still not at school? Is nobody knowing about this? I would imagine some big thing is going to happen with this soon when people find out.

Ugh! I have to watch it again now. Hold on.

Oh maybe it was the part where Amber shows up at her mom's apartment to tell her she ran into Mark but then Hank was there, so Sarah cuts her off so she'll stop talking but then when she walks her back out the door, she's like, "Text me from the car." That was funny, but I still don't think that was it. UGH. Stupid earthquake.

And really, is everyone going to start having affairs now? (And by "everyone," you know who I mean.) Dear Joel, what do you see in Pete? Dear Julia, go, have your affair. I give you permission at this point.

I need to go walk the dogs.

__

Okay I just remembered! (It's the next day by the way.) The part I thought was really funny was when Drew doesn't want to babysit and he's like, "I don't want to do it. They hate me.. We have no common interests.." And Amber goes, "No common interests? This isn't E-Harmony Drew, they're children." AHHHHH ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Huh-larious.

Jason Katims, I love you.

Oh, this was a good one. I don't even know where to begin.

The scene with Sydney screaming at the table at Victor about how mom and dad didn't fight until he came. Gut. Wrenching.

Amber and Drew in the first half of the episode when Drew smokes weed in the morning. I actually can't remember exactly what happened that made me laugh through that whole thing but it was just funny.

Amber is so sappy though! I love Mae Whitman, but she's just getting so sappy right now. Whatever happened to her "purpose" she found at the recording studio and finally doing what she "loved" and "is good at?" Isn't that what started to break her and Army Guy up in the first place? But then he leaves and now she just spends her life sad about it? People are strange.

Max. MAXXXXXXXXXX. I love you. We all love you. You are not a freak. Go start your own school. Whatever happened to that? Is that still happening? (Just a side note though, I had to rewind and play back, "Trevor peed in my canteen" like four times before I could understand what he said.) Kids are mean though. Especially junior high. Is he in junior high? Kids in junior high are so mean, whether you have asperger's or not, for real.

Didn't we make progress with Joel last week? Are we still? I'm not sure, but Julia was phenomenal at the door with him, like, "Okay Sweetie just text me later to say goodnight." That made me want to cry. (That's weird though. I'm crying about everything today so this whole blog might be a little warped.)

Hmm.. what else. Oh, Camille and Zeek! Yay! Scene at the fire pit, yay! You guys do love each other and can share nice moments, woohoo!

Oh, and Everybody Loves Raymond. I love Hank. Sarah will love him soon too. He's getting bold, and thoughtful, and girls can't say no to that stuff. I'm guessing Sarah got good feedback on her project, but I sort of wanted to know why he did call her in and see exactly what happened with it. Maybe they'll mention in it next week, or do a flashback! (J/k. Parenthood doesn't do flashbacks.)

Okay well I want to watch About a Boy now. Jason Katims, why is everything you create so awesome? Can I please act for you sometime, PLEASE??!!

Family as Religion

Sometimes I think that "family" is the Parenthood family's religion, and that's a nice idea and whatever, but it doesn't really answer the question about why we're here and what's going to happen after we die, and shouldn't it be sort of normal even for people that "aren't religious" to ask those questions?

You sort of have to believe something, even if you're not religious. Family isn't a replacement for religion. They're two totally different things. The former was created by something, and the latter is the creator, so whatever you want to believe, but worshiping anything that was created by something else doesn't really make sense.

Also I like Christianity because it doesn't glorify your birth family. It allows you to be reborn into the family of Christ, and that is a huge source of hope, especially to those of us that didn't come from perfect, Parenthood-style families.

Jesus said it: "For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother" (Matthew 12:50).

I guess I'm going off on a tangent here, but I'm sort of bored of just regular blogging. It's nice that Joel came to the church, but I want to know WHY fighting for his marriage is so hard for him, that's what I think the show should explore. We get his brooding facial expressions, but I want to see what's behind that. Also Amber and Drew's relationship is sort of funny, but I want Drew to stay at school because his roommate is hilarious, and I want the Natalie thing to play out anyway. I do think Sarah was more in the right than Max. Maybe she could have handled the situation better, but her brother and sister-in-law should have had more grace with her, though it was nice for her to take the higher road in the end to establish peace.

Anddd those are my thoughts.

Digging Deeper

JULIA. What are you doing. I thought you were gonna "dig deeper," I thought that was the point of "Ed" being in this episode again. I want you to dig deeper. Someone needs to dig deeper because I have no idea what's going on with Joel. I'm pretty sure that a bunch of episodes ago he was about to cheat first but then you accidentally did, and now he hates you and wants to be separated forever and is giving you no chance of hope. DIG DEEPER. Why is this happening? Find out. Or Joel give us something more than angry stares, or something!

Did Drew ever accomplish his mission? Did that plotline just end with Natalie leaving, I can't remember. Best part about that whole thing though was when Amber was told the party starts at 10:30, and she's like, "The party starts at 10:30? Okay, so we'll take a nap first." Omigosh Amber is getting old, and that is totally me. I don't even like things that start at 8.

Crosby calling his mom selfish is classic, though I feel it was sort of unfair of her to play the "I've been a mom forever" card when she really has been selfish for quite a few episodes now (not in relation to Crosby but in relation to her husband, who's been pretty supportive of all her crazy endeavors as of late).

I like the troll teacher, though I personally would not want to stand up the whole time during class.

Oh, and I like Hank and his honesty and boldness and YAY, I'm glad Sarah didn't go. I knew she wouldn't after that, but then it was weird that Carl immediately inferred they were probably breaking up, and she was like, "yeah." Why? He's just going for a week, and things were going well before that, right? And he usually supports her in her career endeavors. So he was having a weak moment of wanting her with him, that doesn't seem so bad. (I don't know why I'm sticking up for him. I want her to be with RR, but just as far as story is concerned, it seems weird they're trying to axe him so quickly.)

Anyways I didn't cry about anything tonight. I'm annoyed about Ed being back (if you didn't get that). And really I think the writers need to dig deeper and figure out what they think happened between Joel and Julia so we can move somewhere interesting instead of random points on the surface forever and ever. (I wish I could send this to them instead of the anonymous internet world. Hmm.......)

Just a Little Post

I'm not really in the mood to blog about Parenthood.

The episode was good, but they've been on some kind of break the past four weeks, and it always takes me a little while to get back into it.

I especially loved the Amy / Drew situation. It was so good for him to tell her the truth and then help her do the right thing.

I also liked how everyone cared for Julia so much. And the poor kids! Joel, what is going on, why are you being so selfish?

Adam and Kristina were funny. I kept laughing through the mud bath scene.

I miss Haddie again, and I want everyone to stop pretending like she doesn't exist.

That's it for now, I need to go check the mail and switch the laundry.

Julia!

Oh Dear Lord.

Julia! I'm so, so, so, so, so, so sorry.

But I am really glad that Camille is finally being needed again, and their house too! They are totally not going to sell it.

Oh man but seriously the scene where Joel and Julia tell the kids --- It reminds me of when I was seven or eight and my mom talked to me on my bed about how she and my dad were getting divorced, and I just cried and cried, and she told me that it would be better because there wouldn't be all the fighting. But I cried and said I would rather have them stay together and be fighting. She told me I would see though, that it would be better this way, and actually I eventually did.

Other great part of this episode - When Apartment Guy tells Sarah that she's not in over her head, she's just out of her comfort zone, and it's different. SUCH TRUTH. It's the way I feel in my life right now: ending old jobs, starting new jobs, acting in better films. Sometimes I wonder if I can actually do it. Can I really be a professional organizer, making decent money and having flexibility for auditions and films? And more importantly, can I really be a real actress one day, getting paid for it and enjoying my job and its challenges and the people I meet? Or is too much? Is the whole dream too big? Well, I don't think so. I think I'm just very often out of my comfort zone, but that's the only way we grow, right? And the only way we get to someplace new.

Amber wasn't on today and I feel like there were others missing as well, but I don't care. It was a really good episode. I love these writers. I love the actors. I only hope that one day I can rise to that level.

Oh, abortion.

Omigosh Amber and her dad! This one made me cry for personal reasons, but still, so crazy how such a devastating thing like an engagement being broken can lead to resolve in other areas.

I also really liked the scene between Adam and Crosby where Adam confronts him about not wanting to invite someone that's different. And I like that he didn't right away talk about the Asperger's thing because I do really think that concept applies to more situations than if someone has a diagnosed disorder.

Is Zeek ever going to confront Camille? I'm impressed by his approach with her, but I'm starting to be like, Okay man, be a man, you know? Tell her what's up, and let's resolve some things.

Does anyone else think that Dr. Pelikan looks like Mr. Rogers?

And did anyone else think at first that Amber's dad was Sarah's apartment lover?

Missed Tyson Ritter tonight but only cause I was looking up some things on Parenthood IMDB (i.e. how to spell Dr. Pelikan and to see if he actually is Mr. Rogers), and I saw his name and was like, Oh yeah he wasn't on tonight!

I like the Drew / Amy / Natalie story. I'm not even sure who I'm rooting for anymore, but it makes me go, Oh college. And Oh abortion. (J/k. I know I shouldn't make a joke about abortion, but did people forget that happened because that's sort of a big deal and I wonder if some philosophical talk about it will come up.) 

Joel and Julia, I'm not even going to give them a paragraph, just this one sentence to say, Joel leave, we don't want you anyway, go be perfect somewhere else.

I am in love with Tyson Ritter.

I've pretty much loved every Ashes of Rome scene since they got on the show and especially all of the lead singer's lines and his attitude, he's been cracking me up for a while now.

This episode took it all though. I was like, Dude where did this guy come from? Why is he not only a good singer but a great actor? And he's hilarious? What is going on.

So I looked him up, and did you know he's the lead singer of The All American Rejects? Omigosh I used to love that band. So I looked up the Swing Swing music video (wow, it's been a while), and I'm like, Omigosh it's him!

I like him better on Parenthood though. He's all older and worn looking. And the way he moves in with Crosby. "Crosby, Mrs. Crosby, Spawn of Crosby," AHHH ha ha ha. Love it. (Course this is probably just me being in love with the Parenthood writers, but still.) And his song for Jasmine! "Jasmine all the Time." What? I'm so glad he played it because I almost thought he wasn't going to. And I'm so glad Jasmine talked to him about her dancing career, I almost forgot she ever even had one, that was great.

I wonder what happened to the guy that was trying to get in on Amber.

And Max.. poor kid! That can happen to any kid you know, I feel like most kids go through a season where people don't like them and they think they're weird. It's so sad though every time, in real life and on shows. I hope he makes a new friend. Screw the wheelchair boy (ha ha, j/k, he seems nice normally).

Julia and Joel are just painful to watch - Joel what is wrong with you and when did you become so innocent?

And how's Camille doing? I guess I don't care.

Oh and we didn't see Drew either. Did Amy become a college drop out just to beat out the slut girl, because that doesn't seem like the wisest of decisions in a long-term way.

And Sarah and Hank and the apartment guy.. I don't know about you three, maybe you should all just live polygamously together, I don't even care anymore.

Dear Ed, you're a good actor, I'm not saying you're a bad person in real life, but please stop ruining my favorite show.

This episode was way too short. I seriously felt like there was still half left when all of a sudden the credits came up, like wha??

Love the Max / Hank stuff.

Love the girl drama with Drew, and it was really cool how Amy used the word "forgive" in her apology, you don't hear that as much these days.

Julia and Joel and Ed omigoodnessgracious. I like Crosby though. When Adam asks him to look out for her, and he's like, "I accept." AHH ha ha. He gets more and more awesome every episode.

Omigosh where was Amber? Amber was not on this episode I just realized. Maybe she's visiting Haddie. Ha! -->joke

I met a bunch of people tonight that are at least as obsessed with Parenthood as I am, and one of them at one point was like, "And where's Haddie?" THANK YOU. I was like, "Well I found out, she's at college," and they're all nodding their heads, and I'm like, Wow they really are as into these people as me, but then the one girl goes, "Oh you mean like in real life?" Yes. I guess I forgot she's in college on the show too.

What else.. Joel needs to fess up to his inappropriate relationship with Pete (sp?) so he can quit playing the angel in the relationship. Then maybe they can actually get to some truth.

Loved Adam's pep talk to Julia, and she is such a good actress I can't take it! (I used to say that if you're thinking about someone being a good actor, then they're really not that good because you're more caught up in their acting ability than in the story, and I still think that's true, but whatever. Julia can't help it her story's lame right now, so I'm thinking about her acting, and it's good, especially considering her story sucks.)

I'm really glad I went to this party tonight so I could think about the fact that I may have missed the latest Parenthood episode. It was just not on for so many weeks that I forgot about it a little. Course I'm going to bed later than I had planned now and no time to read my CS Lewis book - I got his space trilogy series for Christmas, and I'm still at the beginning, and I really want to know why they need that guy in space for their experiment, but I guess I'm going to have to wait.