Lifestyles of the poor and nameless

Happy 1st of May to all. Today I am trying to figure out what to get my mom for mother's day.

The card and flowers seem so cliche. The problem with getting a really great gift for mom's day is that dad's gift will always pale in comparison and you can't just go back to the card/flowers routine once you've done something really different.

Since my brothers are content to provide monetary support without creative input, it's up to me to pick the gift.

We almost always get my dad "just a card" for Father's Day. My dad isn't much of a socializer, a plasma TV is beyond our budget, he doesn't really wear ties, and I think he's got every tool known to man, so there's not much we could get him. I think last year we took him tothe movies....and gave him a card.

This year I wanted to do something that both my parents could enjoy. I thought of getting them a couples' massage in NYC. Deep tissue massages with hot stones. Hey, I think I want that for myself. In any case, after checking out a bunch of places, $200/person for an hour and a half is alot of money. I scrapped that idea.

I wanted to do something that would get them out of the house. I know that if my mom stayed home, she'd just complain about the fact that my brothers are slobs and didn't clean, and then she'd say "I'm not cooking today, I'm on strike", and completely undermine the lunch that I would have compelled my brothers to cook in honor of Mum's Day.

In the end, I found reasonably priced tickets to a Broadway play called "On Golden Pond", starring James Earl Jones. It is showing on Mum's Day @ 3pm. I know my mom will like it, because she's into theater, and even though there's no action, I think dad will like it because he likes J.E. Jones.