I need you to agree with the next sentence, for what it's worth. Even if it's a lie, agree with me, okay? Okay.
Everyone has had a moment when they've opened Facebook or Classmates or whatever hellmouth to high school they made the bad choice of opening and been caught off guard by a photo of someone's mom or dad, only to moments later realize that's the someone. Whether it was an actual friend or a unfortunate acquaintance or whatever, you see that person you knew decades ago and mistook them for their parental unit because OMG THEY GREW UP TO BE A TWIN OF THAT PARENT.
Right? We've all done that? (You have your instructions. JUST AGREE.)
That moment is followed by the realization that CHEESE AND CRACKERS, YOU ARE AS OLD AS THAT SOMEONE LOOKS. I'm not saying I can still pass for someone in their 20's, but I'm not over here looking like I'm Mrs. Olsen's age either. Polyester elastic-waisted pants are still FAR in my future, thank you very much. Or are they? In that moment, it's impossible to know because you are definitely getting older.
So, now that we've framed that moment and taken a moment to acknowledge that IT SUCKS SO BAD, I'm going to seem like I"m changing the subject, but don't worry, it will come into focus in a few paragraphs.
ANYWAY. I have this jobby-job thing where I do grown-up stuff all day every day. And clearly I am the age of someone's mom because I"m in charge of a group of people and have a budget and all kinds of scary adult stuff. It can't be all serious and professional all of the time because that would be lame, so a fairly frequent conversation topic at our daily standup is recommendations for what terrible Netflix series I should binge watch next. For just a tiny bit of context, I have informed my team that the greatest movie ever made is 10 Things I Hate About You, so I do expect some questionable suggestions. I prefer questionable suggestions, even. My team has made some truly outstanding recommendations, but a few weeks ago, they TOTALLY screwed up.
Two of them swore that Jupiter's Legacy was worth a few hours.
1. Meh. It was okay. It needs more seasons to be sure.
2. WTAF, people. I won't be watching more seasons because WTAF.
Ten seconds into the show, Josh Duhamel's dad/grandpa came on the screen and THAT is where we can loop back to the first part of this blog post because SON OF A MOTHERLESS GOAT, IT WAS JOSH DUHAMEL. AS IN THE DORKY GANGLY KID WHO WAS A FEW YEARS AHEAD OF ME IN HIGH SCHOOL AND GAAAAHDAAAAAAAM HE'S OLD NOW AND SO AM I.
It was the EXACT feeling of seeing a high school person on the internet and thinking they are their parent, except somehow worse? I don't know why it was worse, but in my head, Josh Duhamel has stayed 18 years old because that's how old he was when I saw him most frequently as I passed him in the halls on my way to Poltiical Science. Like, I know he has aged and I'm sure I've suffered through a movie or two that he's been in over the years, but I managed to ignore the passing of time right up until he turned into his dad/grandpa and uuuuugh. Between the scenese with him aged to a really old man and the scenes of him still being an old man ... ugh.
All of the ugh.
So, new rule! I need all of the recommendations for Netflix binges, but anything with Josh Duhamel (or, for what it matters, anyone else who went to Minot High School in North Dakota) is COMPLETELY off the table.