Last Man Standing: Be Adventurous

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I've never had any desire to drive a racecar, but I have gone skydiving, and I'll agree that you get quite the adrenaline rush from it! But I don't think that you need to necessarily get a huge rush in order to liven up and be adventurous. Sure, Vanessa's pickling classes and Mike taking the girls to buy socks aren't the most exciting things in life, but you have to work hard to play hard. If you haven't "gone crazy" in a while, you don't have to go out skydiving or drive a racecar to bring a bit of spring to your step! I bet that Vanessa was pretty thrilled after a pickling class or two - that's why she keeps going back. And we know that Mike had a pretty eventful life years ago (all those Africa and Kenya comments, anyone?), but I'm still under the impression that he does some things he finds thrilling... like working on his "classic truck." Now, I'm not saying that I would turn down white-water rafting or hot-air ballooning, but you have to learn to enjoy the adventure in cake decorating and gun maintenance as well. Do you disagree?

Last Man Standing "Adrenaline" (S01E17): Mike dreams that he and Ed are hunting a tiger, so when he wakes up, he wants to do something fun... like winter camping. [I've camped in the winter. three times. it's just not as fun as the summer. the cold is rough at night.] Vanessa has a pickling lesson, however, and it becomes clear that the aim of this episode is to get past the mundane things in life. This is supported by Mike telling Vanessa that she's less exciting now than she used to be, when she'd kayak naked and ski black diamond runs on one leg. [both of which are almost disturbing!] Mike does a video about guns jamming and the rush you get that makes you feel alive when you shoot something. [he looks like he's reading notes with as often as he looks down... weird.] Mike and Ed talk decide to get Tony Stewart and his NASCAR vehicle to promote the store. [if I cared at all about the sport, maybe this would be a big deal. I mean, I've at least heard of Tony Stewart, so he's gotta be like in the top 5-10 racecar folks, right?] It's the real car, not a show deal,

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so Tony asks Mike to make sure that nobody touches it. Well, since they have a few hours before the unveiling, Kyle decides to take it for a spin... only to get it stuck in gear in the parking lot. [shaking my head!] Mike says that they need to get the car back, and Kyle tries to get him to hotwire it and drive it, though Mike wants to just push it back. Mike ends up going for it, doing donuts while Ed stalls Tony. They make it back in time, though Tony knows that Mike drove the car, so he wants to do donuts in Mike's truck... which is a classic. [we don't know for sure whether Tony does drive the truck.]

Kristin asks Mandy to pick up Boyd from day care, but won't tell her why, until she offers a secret in exchange. We don't hear what Mandy has to tell, but we learn that Kristin is planning to go skydiving with some coworkers. Unfortunately, Eve also overhears, and the girls are worried since she normally tells Vanessa everything. [ugh. just like little siblings... they get an adrenaline rush from being good or something!] Eve doesn't want to tell Vanessa, but it's weighing on her and she gets it out without getting it out. [not super clever, but good enough for a thirteen-year-old.] Vanessa gets down there in time to stop Kristin, giving her a lecture about being responsible once you're a parent. [yep. That's why I went skydiving a good 10 years before I'll be a parent.] Kristin asks Vanessa to join in, and since she recently had a dream where she disarmed and shot a bank robber to liven up her life, she does. [whaaaa? hypocritical much??]