Flawed Hereos and Other Characters

I'm been catching up on a lot of new television shows lately, and I love the trend of having flawed good people where the character's flaw is not their downfall - so much more like real life. After hearing about the show "Mad Men" because it was nominated for so many Emmys, I watched a lot of last Sunday's marathon and recorded the rest. The era in the show is during the period I was growing up, just before I was a professional. It brings back so many memories - the clothes, the smoking, the drinking, the role of women, especially smart women, but that's probably another blog.

While there are a number of good flawed characters, the one who caught my attention is the new young, ambitious account executive who wants his boss's job. He tried to blackmail the boss into nominating him for the position, and it didn't work. Yet he wasn't fired, just put on notice. Isn't that more like real life?

In the same week, I saw an episode of "The Closer" in which one of Brenda's detectives, who is particularly overzealous about an old case, acts rude and obnoxious to anyone who doesn't take his side. He harasses the guy who served time for the crime and who is killed in this episode. And he delights in that man's murder and doesn't work very hard on the investigation. You expect the detective to be canned or put on suspension. But the more human response of his superiors is to question him and try to distance him from the more important aspects of the investigation, but to UNDERSTAND where he is coming from. Wouldn't that probably be the outcome in your workplace?

Immediately after "The Closer", Holly Hunter stars in the fascinating "Amazing Grace". I'm not sure what I think about her. She's definitely flawed, but boy, is she good and ethical with her job. And her best friend is wonderful - also a little rough around the edges, but good at her job and a dedicated friend and mother. The two friends had a run-in on these week's show about how long it took the friend to tell Grace her dog was missing. But the response was so human, anger at first and finally forgiveness and understanding. This one had a happy ending so you expect the forgiveness to hold. And that's the way I think it would be in real life as well.

Playing with kids

Yesterday, I was fortunate to have two invitations to New Years Day parties scheduled at different times, so I was able to make both. Both had good friends as hosts, Traci & Linda, an interesting assortment of people to talk to, and great food. But my real joy, and apparently a surprise to my office friends at the second party, was playing with the kids.

I pulled out my repertoire of kid songs to entertain and distract when the kids were getting a bit rambunctious. "In a Cabin in the Woods" probably tops the list. I remember when I was a babysitter, one of my frequent clients used to beg me to sing this "lullaby" to him every time I sat with him. It's also a song I use frequently when I'm showing houses to parents with small kids.

It's a great mystery to me why I never had my own kids. When I was a kid, I loved the movie "Cheaper By the Dozen" and planned to have 12 of my own and to run an orphanage. I guess I mistook the message from that movie, and rather than adopting a life with a lot of kids, I've adopted one with a lot of systems.

So one of my new systems for 2008 is try to spend a little time at least five days a week reflecting on the good in my life and posting it to my personal blog.

Learning to teach

I'm setting up a blog on Google so I can learn how to do it and then teach my manager how to do her own blog. That's her goal for her 70's. So here goes.