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For those of you unfamiliar with it, Screen on the Green is DC’s foremost opportunity to illegally drink alcohol on the Mall. And there’s a movie, which is nice too.
I want to like it, but usually I spend the entire time alternating between freaking out about insects that hop onto our blanket and sneezing uncontrollably because I’m sitting in the grass.
Unfortunately, my husband loves it, so he gets cranky every time I manage to wheedle my way out of it. This past Monday, as part of some misguided attempt to be a good wife, I agreed to go. Also, they were playing Twelve Angry Men, which I hadn’t seen since high school social studies class. The same teacher also had us watch Anatomy of a Murder because he had been an extra in a ballroom dancing scene. When he screened that one for us, he leapt up during the crucial second when the top of his head appeared on the screen and shouted, “Look! I had hair then!”
But I digress. On Monday, about 60% of the way through the movie, I just happened to look up at the sky.
“Um, what the f**k is that?” I asked my husband.
He looked up and said, “I don’t know! Wait. WHAT THE F**K IS THAT?!”
The people in front of us looked up too and said pretty much the same thing.
Then we all went back to watching the movie, because it was at kind of a good part. We had to wait until it was over to compare notes, so it’s possible a little something got lost, but here's ...
It’s hard to imagine how we could have had such different experiences, but we were both pretty insistent. I’m usually good at googling, but searches of “UFO+DC+screen on the green” and “UFO+DC+alien abduction” didn’t turn up the right sort of stuff.
So after all that research, the best explanation I can come up with is that my husband and everyone else were probably abducted by the aliens and had their memories replaced with obviously ridiculous substitute images.
I guess the aliens somehow forgot me, but I’m kind of small, so it’s understandable. Also, I think that they may have already decided that when they land and establish alien hegemony, they want to install me as their puppet dictator, and are thus hoping to keep my mind kind of fresh.
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
- Mark Twain
Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman. Especially when you’re expected to listen to other women talk about giving birth. I’m pretty sure men are never subjected to these stories, and it’s really unfair.
If there’s one thing that mothers and pregnant women love, it’s sharing horrifying stories in which they try to one-up each other in describing the various bodily functions and issues involved in pregnancy.
I remember going to a wedding once where the bride was pregnant, and almost all of her female friends were either recent mothers or about to give birth. I learned a lot at the pre-wedding ladies’ brunch. In fact, I learned so much that lost my appetite.
After that experience, I decided that the only way that I would be willing to have children of my own would be if science intervened. It was the beginning of an idea - one that just requires some minor R&D to make it happen.
But before I get to that, let me just address one common criticism. I know there are some people who think that it’s all magic and rainbows to carry a child. A few people I’ve run this past may have made comments like “cold” and “inhuman”. Well, I bet they said those things about the telephone and email. And I ask – how many of you have even met all 865 of your Facebook “friends”?
It's high time we redefine everything. Let's start with the womb. We’ve had years to endure v 1.0. Let’s make the next version with the users in mind.
I see a lot of benefits.
First and foremost, it’s never been fair that women have had to give up their favorite things for 9 months. Life may be nasty, brutish, and short, but being able to eat soft cheese whenever you want makes it a little more bearable.
The pain of labor may be fleeting, but the weight gain can last.
With the External Womb, you’ll never put on a pound and can even lose weight right up until your “delivery” date!
Based on my very rudimentary understanding, there are a lot of tests and doctor’s appointments involved in pregnancy. With The External Womb, you don’t have to deal with any of that.
Who needs an ultrasound when you can see the baby with your own two eyes?!
I understand that older siblings sometimes have a difficult time adjusting when a new baby arrives. With The External Womb, you can ease that transition by making your baby part of the family before he or she is even born.
Finally, a lot of parents to-be do silly things, like reading the classics to their babies in the womb. I mean - is there something that The Odyssey is going to teach your baby about life in the modern world?
With The External Womb, you can do a lot better than that.
I rarely decide to play because the "Next Blog" function so often disappoints.
But then sometimes you strike solid gold ...
There’s a lot of advice out there on how to be more interesting. The problem I’ve found with most of it is that it’s too difficult to implement. You’ll see stuff like “talk about topics that are interesting to people.” Yeah, but that sounds like effort, and everybody knows effort is lame.
Or you’ll get “helpful” tips like “make eye contact.” Well, gorillas rarely make eye contact – unless they want to rip you limb from limb – and they’re one of the most-visited animals at the zoo. And you know why? Because gorillas purposely cultivate a sense of mystery. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
I decided to put my bachelor’s degree in psychology to the test, did the hard work and distilled a sea of Internet wisdom down to five principles. I’ve also provided some tips and examples of how you can put these principles in action TODAY.
So. Do you want others want to be around you? Do you want others want to be you? Here goes …
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