A few days ago, XUP posted about a girl she knew in grade school who was pretty and popular, but who had totally fallen down the social food chain by the time junior high rolled around. XUP thought it must be pretty awful to have peaked in life so early, and that led to some musings on when she had peaked herself.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that post ever since. When did I peak? Or have I not peaked yet?

I think I’ve had peaks in certain areas of my life but I’m not sure I’ve been able to get it all together in one go to make for an overall life maximum, know what I mean?

Like, I could say that high school was my intellectual peak, in that I rocked the tests and projects and stuff, graduated top of my class, and did all the classic geek-girl stuff like debating team, yearbook editor, mathletes, and band treasurer.

And I could say that university was my physical peak, in that I was slim and my skin cleared up (sort of), and I wore contact lenses and had something approaching a flattering hairstyle. Being just one of eight girls in my hundred-person engineering class also helped up my attractiveness quotient.

I’d say that right after university was my career peak, to date. My first couple of jobs out of school were great, challenging and interesting and with tons of responsibility totally out of sync with my lack of experience. I rocked those jobs and got lots of praise and raises and respect. Then I had some crappy managers who didn’t like me, and then I blew it at one place when I had a bit of a breakdown after a miscarriage, and yeah. Now we’re here, where a “good performance review” means that the kids actually took five bites of dinner instead of the usual four.

Socially, I think my peak was in my early 30s. I was running Sidekick and I started blogging, which helped me meet tons of new people, both online and in person. I started a book club and I started playing ultimate and joined a curling club. FameThrowa moved to town and we finally found a close circle of friends to go to the movies with and have dinner parties with. Plus, while pregnant with the Captain I met a lot of other new moms that I saw all the time when our kids were babies and that I’m still good friends with today.

But you know, I really feel like I haven’t peaked yet. I feel like the best is yet to come, in all these areas (well, maybe not physical — those pregnancies did quite the number on my belly button). I’m still looking forward to the future, instead of dwelling on the past. I rarely look back and think, “Oh, I’d love to go back there.” I like where I am now, and I have plans, big plans, for the years to come.

So get back to me when I’m 80. I’ll probably be peaking around then.

I recently read in Entertainment Weekly that ABC has no intention of ever showing the last three unaired episodes of Pushing Daisies. Boo, ABC! I assume this means that they will also not be showing the last episodes, including a series finale, of Dirty Sexy Money.

Is it too early to make a preorder for both series’ Collector’s Edition DVD on Amazon.com?

In better news, however, Joss Whedon’s latest show, Dollhouse, will premiere on February 13th. I hope it fares better than Firefly did a few years ago (which, by the way, is totally worth getting on DVD). Reaper is returning on March 17th (yay!), The Amazing Race returns on February 15th, and the remake of Cupid, one of my favourite awesome-but-cancelled shows begins on March 24th. I’m also looking forward to Sit Down, Shut Up, a new animated show from the create/producer/writer of Arrested Development, and featuring voicework by several of the cast from that show. It starts on April 19th.

The other day, Sir Monkeypants and I were talking about The Princess Bride. We were wondering how old Fred Savage’s character is in that movie, because once the Captain gets to be the same age, we are tying him down to the couch and forcing him to watch it. Possibly several times over. You can’t be a Turtlehead and not be able to quote copiously from that film.

So I’ve been thinking of other movies that I would love to share with my kids. Number one on that list was Star Wars, and hey, mission accomplished! The Captain is a total convert. I also wanted to show them Mary Poppins and The Sound Of Music, both of which they’ve seen now. Both movies were a little long for their powers of concentration, but at least they loved the music and now we can listen to the soundtracks with shared joy.

After The Princess Bride, I think I’d like to get a copy of Ladyhawke, which was a movie we watched over and over and over again as kids. I think Ghostbusters is fun for the whole family, and probably suitable for about the same age group as Ladyhawke. At last, the kids will understand why I say, “Nice tootin’, Tex!” every time they break wind. And this probably goes without saying, but once they stop believing in Santa, I’ll be pulling out A Christmas Story to help them laugh away the tragic disappointment.

On the flip side, I remember being a tad obsessed with The Dark Crystal as a child — FameThrowa and I used to play Dark Crystal for hours. I think it’s really, really sad though. Better save that one until they’re old enough to not be permanently scarred.

Another one on my must-share list is Romancing The Stone, which I could probably quote verbatim from start to finish. Unfortunately, some swear words in it and implied sex means its a PG-13 as far as I’m concerned, so I’ll be waiting on that one for a while. Also in the PG arena is Speed, a movie I quote from so often that it’ll probably come as a shock to my kids that I did not, in fact, write that screenplay.

Now that my niece is fifteen, I’m finding it really hard to stop myself from running out and getting her copies of Dirty Dancing (SUCH a classic) and The Cutting Edge (SUCH a classic guilty pleasure). Both were beloved by me as a teenager, and I’d love to share them with the next generation.

Speaking of being a teenager, one of the seminal movies of my teenaged years was A Room With A View. I saw it in the theatre at age 15 with my grandparents. There was some sort of mix up with the timing and when we got there, the film had already been playing for half an hour. So we decided to just sit in the lobby of the theatre with some snacks and chit chat for two hours while waiting for the next show.

Yes, I was the kind of teen who went to the movies with her grandparents, then sat around chatting with them. I’ll leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out how many dates I went on in high school.

Anyway, about 2/3 of the way through the movie, the theatre exploded with crazy hooting and laughter. We couldn’t wait to get inside and see just what was so funny. And once inside…well, that scene certainly did not disappoint. Some respectable ladies come across three men skinny dipping in a water hole. Not only was it hilarious, it featured my first full-frontal view of a naked man — growing up in a house full of only females meant that I’d never actually seen a penis in real life. Talk about EYE OPENING.

And sharing that moment with my grandparents was totally not awkward at all!

Anyway, I’ll think I’ll leave A Room With A View off of the list, to save my kids the humiliation of actually watching it with me.

What movies from your youth do you want to share with your children?

Jo at Also a Talker made an interesting post today about “go-to” movie plots. A conversation with a video store clerk made her realize that her own go-to plot is, “Plucky, Independent Female Misfit Gets a Shot at Mainstream Acceptance But In The End Realizes That Her Original Life Was Much Better,” like Josie And The Pussycats.

The clerk claimed his was, “One Brave Man Sacrificing Himself in Some Gigantic Way For The Greater Good of The People Even Though He Knows It Will End Badly For Him,” like Braveheart or Gladiator. I have to say, I think Sir Monkeypants falls into this category.

So, I’ve been thinking a lot about my own go-to plot. It’s hard to get a handle on. I do like a happy ending. I like movies that show the kindness of people, despite the hardness of the world. I like movies with a sidekick who is unquestionably loyal. I like a little romance and a little heart.

I’m waiting for epiphany.

Two hours later…

Oh man! It just came to me. My go-to plot is Naive Young Man/Woman Learns There Is Bad In The World But Finds Maturity Inside To Carry On.

Also known as the Coming Of Age movie.

Cases in point: Almost Famous, Star Wars, Bend It Like Beckham, Dirty Dancing, American Graffiti, The Virgin Suicides.

And suddenly, I am having a second brain explosion — am I allowed to pick two? Because I also love The Family Holiday Movie. You know, where all the family gets together over some holiday and old sibling rivalries and parental conflicts come to a head.

Cases in point: The Family Stone, Dan In Real Life, Home for the Holidays.

What’s your go-to plot?

I was at the Toys R Us this morning, and I learned something.

Did you know that Jenga, the game where you make a stack of wood-coloured blocks and then remove them one-by-one, is a boy toy?

Lucky for you, there’s an exciting new version of Jenga! GirlTalk Jenga! The pieces are bright pink, and each piece has a discussion question on it. What’s your biggest wish? What’s your favourite activity to do with friends? You can chat about each one as you remove it — if you aren’t blinded by the colour!

Here it is:

I don’t get this at all. Maybe it’s because Gal Smiley isn’t a really girly-girl — she isn’t into the whole princesses/pink/sparkly thing. So, we don’t have a lot of girl-specific toys; we have dolls and some toy jewelry, but mostly we have gender neutral things like bowling sets and Lego and animal/superhero costumes and books.

And oh yes, board games.

I was not aware that we were not empowering our daughter by having only the basic versions of Jenga, Scrabble Junior, Candyland, and other classic board games. But apparently we are, because besides GirlTalk Jenga, you can also buy Pink Bling Bingo:

And Ouija — the Pink Edition:

And Scrabble — the Designer Pink Edition:

And even Twister — “The game that ties you up in knots — just for you girl!”:

And OH MY GOD, The Game Of Life!! Jesus!

And Monopoly, of course — this one doesn’t surprise me, there’s a specialty Monopoly for everything and everybody, but in this special pink version (which comes in a jewelry box!), girls can buy boutiques and malls instead of streets. JESUS.

I’m thinking that this was some sort of marketing idea — like, we’ve topped out sales of the basic game, so maybe we can sell more if we come out with a new version, and that new version will specifically be for girls. But I’m still thinking, who the heck is going to buy these girl versions? We have a mix of genders in the house — even homes with only daughters will probably have a dad or an uncle or a grandfather who comes around to play — so the basic version is good for us. There’s no way I have space for, or could justify the cost of, buying two copies of the same game, just so we can have the “boy” and “girl” versions.

Maybe there are girls out there who are SO girly, that they wouldn’t consider playing with a game unless it was all pink and frilly? Or maybe their parents just want everything to match the decor of their room?

I totally do not understand this at all.