The Informavore

"Come here often?"

Hey Guy,

I know the whole group technically introduced ourselves in class today, so I’m kind of a jerk for not remembering yours. I think it was Bill, but I don’t know. I hope you won’t be offended if I call you Guy.

Not gonna lie – I was really relieved to not be the only singleton in the class today. I was a little surprised at first that the other person flying solo was male – but hey, no gender bias. Okay, a wee bit of gender bias – but you were polite and sober and took notes on the pamphlets so it was cool. You were a good table-mate.

See, I had been dreading it since Breastfeeding 101 when I saw that 95% of the people in attendance were couples. After deciding that it was best that my husband miss the child birthing class so he’d have fewer graduate classes when the baby arrived – I was not looking forward to flying solo in what I knew was going to be a four-hour “couples skate” at the “Nightmare Fuel Roller Rink”. I mean, dude, let’s be real. We knew watching a baby being born was going to be horrifying. But at least when you hose that sucker down – there’s something chubby and cute underneath the gore.

But delivering the placenta?! SERIOUSLY?! You know what you get when you hose that down? A one-legged jellyfish that just got initiated and is limping out of the human body. Gross, right? I know you agreed with me, because we both made those sounds of revulsion and we both seemed quietly apprehensive about what the next 4 hours would bring.

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As you may have guessed, I’m not at Comic-Con International this weekend.  Thanks to the magic of the interwebs, though, I don’t have to worry about missing out on updates, livestreams, photos, and video from the hundreds of panels taking place.  Seriously, people.  DC and Marvel have a panel going on in just about every time block of the Con.

Better yet, I don’t have to worry about being stabbed in the eye by some crazy guy because I’m sitting in Hall H with 4,000 other people hoping to see the cast of the Avengers movie.

I guess we’ll just call it a break even situation.  That is until I stumbled across this little bit of awesome-sauce this afternoon: the newest trailer for the Sony Entertainment/DC Comics massively multiplayer online (MMO) game DC Universe Online.  Jim Lee, Geoff Johns, Marv Wolfman, and other major creators have spent the last five years working on bringing the world’s greatest super-heroes to life for the PS3 and PCs.

Check out the trailer and join me for a little chat, okay?

You know what? Just go ahead and watch it again…or five more times. I’ll wait.

Back again? Good. CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?  I’m not even sure where to begin.

Corey’s Top 10 Head ‘Sploding Things in the DC Universe Online Trailer

10.  Superman’s five-o’clock shadow.

9.  Cyborg looks awesome.  Please, DC. Realize this character has the potential to be a major player in the DC Universe and give him the respect he demands.

8.  Joker uses Harley Quinn as a human shield.

7.  Every hero in special armor means things are really, really bad.

6.  Wonder Woman with a delicious Kryptonite-filled interior.

5.  Deathstroke using Batman as a piñata thanks to Wonder Woman’s lasso.

4.  You can never go wrong with Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as Joker.  Seriously.  After twenty years of two fine actors playing the characters, you’d think audiences would want the producers to move on to someone else.  No…such…thing.

3.  Superman burns off Black Adam’s face with his heat vision!

2.  Black Adam calls down the lightning and destroys the entire city.  C’mon.  Why doesn’t the Shazam family get more love in the comics?

1.  A storyline that is good enough to be a movie.  Stop wasting time on these direct to DVD movies and simply make this happen.  Villains win.  Time travel.  The trinity.  Awesome animation.  Great voice acting.

At least I know what I’ll be doing at 3 a.m. this November when Elliott won’t sleep.

Not really.

Though, if you had called my cell phone at around 11:24 this morning she probably would have been going home with you. At least until Corey got home and talked me out of it.

Allow me a bit of back-story, if you will.

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Both Prince Zuko and Aang realize M. Night Shyamalan should have quit while he was ahead.

With Elliott on the way, I’ve had a lot of friends ask me if I wonder what it’s like to be Stephanie right now.  Seeing her belly wobble and having my hand occasionally kicked, I can honestly say I would not like to know what it’s like to have “a people” inside of me.  Steph recently put it to me this way: Imagine your stomach is a burlap sack filled with kittens.

Adorable? Terrifying? Both.

After getting back from a late lunch this afternoon, I can certainly tell you what it’s like to have a “food baby” inside my tum-tum.  Looping around campus, we crossed a speedbump.  The abrupt rocking sensation combined with the food baby made me want to yak.  In short, I realized the miracle of life is best left to the ladyfolk who endure with patience and kindness.

It’s odd when the shoe is on the other foot.  In addition to the trials and tribulations of carrying life, Steph has had to suffer through my rants regarding adaptations of comic books into television shows and movies.  She kindly listens as I rant about changes in continuity, missing story beats, and blatant misuse and abuse of engaging characters and series.  With that said, I should have picked up on her hesitation about seeing The Last Airbender movie.   When we began dating, Steph tried to introduce me to the Nickelodeon cartoon series Avatar: The Last Airbender (Netflix members can watch the entire series on demand!).  Given it’s scope, mythology, and overall sense of awesomeness, I should have clicked with it immediately.

From time to time, Stephanie would remind me about the series and how good it was.  With the film adaptation premiering, I pull the Book One (season one) DVDs off the shelf and started watching the series last week.  It was as good as Stephanie promised.  The series was smart and sophisticated while maintaining the fun and whimsy one would expect of a Nickelodeon program.  It made sense why Stephanie loved the show so much.  I couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t suggesting we go see the midnight screening in town.  Well, the 8% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes had something to do with it.  The attacks about the movie’s white-washing of the cast (better known as “racebending“) probably had something to do with it as well.

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No matter what you think about casting choices, there is a certain amount of thought that goes into why an actor is chosen to play a particular hero, villain, or supporting character.  Sometimes, that choice is based purely on the star power attached to the lead.  There’s one case where this has really gotten the in way.

We had our 28 week appointment. At 24 weeks, the doctor said I was measuring a bit ‘big’ and they wanted to do an ultrasound to check the growth. I also had the glucose screen which meant cutting back on my traditionally sugar-dipped diet for 2.5 to make sure I wasn’t at risk for gestational diabetes. This, actually, has been one of my major concerns. Albeit temporary, gestational diabetes has been cursed by many a mother I know. So, I went into the lab thinking sugar-free thoughts on Friday. We wouldn’t find out the results of the screen until later that day – after the appointment.

After the ultrasound technician did her thing, we met with the doctor. After some pleasantries (I love my OBGYN, btw) I asked how his measurements looked. Her response?

“You’re gonna have a BIG baby.”

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My oh my…what a busy three months it has been. In the (okay, I’ll admit it) hiatus since the last post, we have welcomed back shows we fell in love with (hey you and you and girl, we can’t forget about you), found out that our Baby Gaga does in fact have a penis (and we’re okay with that), wrapped up the spring semester (with graduation brings the sweet release of summer) while simultaneously wrapping up the second trimester (oh hello….you).

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It’s been a wonderfully whirlwind week for the Patterdices. We finally got to share the news of Baby Gaga with the rest of the world and our good friend Jenny, over at the Billman blog, got to interview a cast member from Glee. It’s as if in the middle of all this snow we’ve been swathed in sunshine. As I’m transitioning into the second trimester…I thought, “Wow. I may have had some nasty bouts of nausea, but I never threw up.”

Corey even asked on occasion. Inquired as to whether Mount St. Hormone had blasted forth at all during the first twelve weeks.

“Nope.” I replied. “Just nausea. Lots of heartburn, headaches, muscle pain, extreme fatigue and a chest that felt like a punching bag every morning. Other than that? Faaaaaan-tastic.”

But, o, was I fool.

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There are a lot of exciting things going on in Bowling Green these days. A massive snowpocalypse dumping virtually INCHES of show on the ground, a Gigi’s cupcake shop opening on Monday and a couple of new Redbox rentals being set up at the Krogers. It’s like New York City minus the cultural diversity, crime rate and bustling arts community. (Sorry, Capitol Theater – I don’t mean to undermine K-Ci and JoJo’s recent appearance) Boy howdy. Things have been outta control in this idyllic little college town.

And by outta control, I mean inna my belly. Yessiree – that extra little bit of lady padding I’ve been carrying around isn’t your standard, “Girl hit that turkey HARD over the holiday” weight. It’s more of that “Girl been swimming in baggy tees to cover up her baby bump” weight.  Which – there wasn’t much of a bump until about two weeks ago. But as of January 29th, I’ve passed the 12 week mark. This officially ushers me out of the first trimester “fear and loathing” period and into the second trimester “safer and more swelling” zone. Corey and I – we’re totally psyched. (Is that word still around?) Now we’re super freaking psyched to be able to share the news with everyone else.

So – a quick rundown of some thus-important dates:

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I was out of town on Wednesday during Steve Jobs’ big announcement of the iPad. Walking through the halls of the Capitol building in Frankfort–iPhone firmly planted in pocket with the sound off–I could only imagine how the world was changing around me. Surely the much-heralded Apple Tablet would affect all aspects of our lives from that day forward.

Not so much. At least not yet.

Upon returning to the office on Friday, the question everyone wanted to ask me was “Are you buying an iPad?” I’ve been an early adopter of the iPhone–twice sneaking away from camp to procure the new device. Despite the hype and the potential the iPad presents, I will not be giving Steve Jobs $500+ this Spring. Keep reading to find out why.

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