Dawn patrol

It's Monday morning, quite early (5:20 AM). I watched almost the entire Golden Globes broadcast last night. It was kind of boring, but I was still on the edge of my seat, hoping that no one would mention Trump. I applauded every Trump-free acceptance speech. It was like talking about a perfect game during a perfect game; I didn't want to jinx it, but I was too excited not to say anything.

Christian Bale had me worried for a minute, but he stopped with Senator McConnell (of whom I share Mr. Bale's opinion). Alfonso Cuaron expressed love for his native Mexico, and someone else (maybe the "Assassination of Gianni Versace" people?) said something about creating connections between people, rather than building walls around them or blah blah blah; and I'm sure that Trump and his little media minions will find a way to interpret those speeches as attacks on Trump. But for the entire time that I watched, I didn't hear a single direct reference to the President or his tweets or his 16-days-and-counting shutdown. I hope he's really disappointed. I hope that a whole bunch of Fox producers are scrambling to fill airtime that would have been filled with complaints about Hollywood bias against conservatives (by the way, Trump is not a conservative). I'm vindictive when I'm sleep-deprived.

Other than the Trump embargo, the show was pretty boring, but there were a few highlights:

• I love Carol Burnett SO MUCH and was so happy to see her receive this well-deserved honor. My children know who she is now, and they know how much people my age love her. I never watched "The Office" when it first aired, but I'm a fan now thanks to my children (it's on Netflix now and extremely popular among teenagers) and Steve Carell was a great choice as presenter. I choked up a little when he said that presenting the award was the greatest honor of his life. And my beloved Bill Murray was first on his feet for the standing ovation. This five minutes made the entire show worthwhile.
• Lady Gaga was the style star of the night. Of course, lots of women looked beautiful, but they're so scared of the fashion police snark-pundits that they don't take any risks at all. Lady Gaga doesn't care, and I love her for it. 
• Mahershala Ali was lovely and gracious, and he was great in "The Green Book," which I saw with my sons. I wish that Viggo Mortenson had won, too, but I guess you can't compete with crazy Christian Bale. Satan? Really? Come on, man. 
• I haven't seen "Beale Street" yet, but Regina King has been so underrated for so long, and I was delighted to see her get the recognition that she deserves. And her speech was great, too. 

I fell asleep toward the end and missed the surprise wins for "Bohemian Rhapsody" (which I haven't seen yet, but will) and Rami Malek. And no recognition for "Can You Ever Forgive Me," which was a huge disappointment. Had it not been for Carol Burnett and Lady Gaga, I'd probably be mad that I missed a hockey game to watch this.

*****

Now it's Tuesday night (Day 18--I think my count was off last week) and I can't wait to not watch the President make his case about the "national emergency" on the southern border. I'm in the car on my way to Chinatown, where the Washington Capitals will face the Philadelphia Flyers at Capital One Center. Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov are the only Russians I care about right now.

This is the first time I'll actually attend a Capitals game against my hometown team. I liked baseball when I was young, and I followed the Phillies very closely. My grandfather was a huge fan, and I was the only grandchild who was interested enough to sit and watch games with him (or listen, more often--we sat outside and listened on the radio). He taught me how to score games, a skill that I have lost altogether; and he taught me how to watch a baseball broadcast, a skill that I have retained. I still like baseball. I love the sound of it in the summer. I still miss Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn. 

But even though Philadelphia was (still is) a hockey town and even though my grandfather also loved the Flyers, I didn't pay much attention to hockey. I remember the Broad Street Bullies, and I remember all of my neighbors pouring out onto the street to celebrate their 1974 Stanley Cup win (I don't remember 1975 for some reason). But for some reason, the game and the team didn't really speak to me. After the excitement of the Flyers' back-to-back championships, I don't think I gave hockey another thought in my life, until about 2010. 

My husband has been a Capitals fan since 1980 or so. So for as long as we have been married (since 2000), I have been hearing and seeing games. But for years, the Capitals faded into the sports background, along with the Maryland Terrapins and the Washington Redskins and the Baltimore Orioles (pre-2006) and Washington Nationals (2006 and after) and all of the other sports teams that my husband follows. 

Then in 2010 or so, I sat down with him to watch a Capitals game, and I found myself drawn in. Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin were a big part of the appeal. They reminded me of Harry and Rich. The broadcast team is a huge part of the culture of hometown sports fandom, and Joe and Craig are a delight to watch and listen to. I started to watch more games here and there, and by 2014, I was watching games even when my husband wasn't home. So even though Philadelphia is and always will be my  hometown, the Washington Capitals are my hockey team. And they beat Philadelphia on Tuesday night, after making the game more interesting than it needed to be, as they tend to do. 

*****

It's really early in the morning on Thursday (Day 20). My son, who is 17, has high school swim practice on Mondays and Thursdays. For his first three years on the team, my husband drove him to 5 AM practices, and although I would wake up when they turned the lights on, I'd usually go back to sleep. Now, however, he is driving himself to practice, and I can't go back to sleep knowing that my son is out driving in the pre-dawn darkness. I have gotten used to having a child driving, and it's fine when he drives at night, but 4:45 AM is completely different.

So for the past two months, I've been up at 4:30 on Mondays and Thursdays, and I actually like being up this early. I don't like GETTING up this early, but I like BEING up this early. Given the choice, I'd still be asleep, of course, but since I don't have a choice, I can at least use the time to write a bunch of stuff that ten people will read. Time well spent.

*****
Friday morning (Day 21), 6 AM. I have no idea why I'm up so early this morning. No one is out on the mean early-morning streets; they're all asleep. But here I am.

It's not only Day 21 of the shutdown; it's also the first federal payday for about 800,000 feds who won't receive their paychecks. At least that many contractors will also go without pay, and there won't be any congressional appropriation to restore back pay for them. If anyone can explain to me how it's reasonable to shut down the actual government of the United States for any political reason at all, I'd be interested in hearing it.

Meanwhile, one of my retirement accounts lost $2,000 in one quarter. So thanks, Trump! Yes, I know it's not fair to blame him for the stock market downturn because I didn't credit him for the gains of 2017 and 2018, but it's 6 AM and life isn't fair.

I still think that they should just give him his stupid stupid wall. A wall is just a thing. It's not a policy, and it's not an immorality in and of itself. Forcing low-wage TSA officers to work without pay is an immorality. Ruining business for contractors and subcontractors and every food truck that sits outside a shuttered federal building for no reason other than political showmanship is an immorality. I could list 20 things worse than a wall without even thinking hard. Taking a job (President, for example, or Member of Congress) and accepting pay for it and then blithely refusing to do the work that the taxpayers are paying you to do would be one example.

Speaking of jobs, it's time for me to go do mine. Until next week.