I’ve been wanting to change the name of my blog for some time now but, like so many things I’ve been wanting to do—painting the living room, eating healthfully, cutting down on my white wine consumption—I haven’t done much about it, mainly because I can’t think of anything else to call it.

Naming anything has always been a challenge, from offspring to cats. Well, that’s not completely true. I’m fine at coming up with names but getting other people I live with to agree to my suggestions has been the kicker. For months I campaigned to name our first son Ponyboy, the name of the lead character in the novel The Outsiders, a character I’ve had a literary crush on for decades. I still think that would be a mighty terrific name but my husband insisted on what he termed a “normal” name. Although a blog name doesn’t have anywhere near the power that a misguided (but well-intentioned) offspring’s name might have, it’s still a little daunting.

As usual, when faced with a decision I turned for guidance from the vast encyclopedia of old movies that resides inside my head. Surely one of the movies I’ve loved and learned from over the years would help me come up with an interesting blog name.

One of my favorite movie quotes is from one of my favorite movies, the 1980 film “Ordinary People.” For some twisted reason I love the scene when the beautiful but cold mom, Beth (Mary Tyler Moore) , takes a stack of the most perfectly made French toast ever away from her handsome but troubled son, Conrad (Timothy Hutton), when he has the nerve to announce that he’s not hungry. Within seconds Beth has that gorgeous French toast down the garbage disposal while her good looking but befuddled husband, Calvin (Donald Sutherland), protests in the background.

“You can’t save French toast,” Beth calmly, if rigidly, explains as Conrad’s breakfast disappears.

That sentence has resonated in my mind ever since and over the years I’ve tried to ponder its deeper meaning. Did Beth mean that once something is reheated it’s never the same? And can that logic be applied across the board, metaphysically speaking? Because I’d have to argue with her since I think a lot of things taste a whole lot better once they’re reheated including pizza, spaghetti and anything with cheddar cheese in the recipe. Flavors need to mingle for awhile to really come to the surface. The same thing is true about all other kinds of relationships. I have friends/acquaintances/relatives that I enjoy one day and really am not too fond of the next. If I applied Beth’s logic and smushed all those relationships down the garbage disposal every time somebody irritated me, well, let’s just say I’d be eating lunch alone for the rest of my life.

Another favorite movie quote of mine comes from “Saturday Night Fever” when Tony (John Travolta) wants an advance on his salary so he can enjoy his Saturday night. His boss tells him no. I’m paraphrasing here but this is how I remember that particular scene:

Tony: Why can’t I get my salary early?

Boss: You get paid on Tuesdays so you can save a little money for the future and not throw it away on boozing and broads.

Tony: F!@# the future!

Boss: No, Tony, you don’t f!@# the future. The future f!@#s you. It sneaks up on you and f!@#s you if you’re not ready for it.

Wow. Truer words were never spoken and if you don’t believe me, just ask any 50 year old to weigh in on that one.

So those are two interesting possibilities for naming for my blog: You can’t save French toast and F!@# the future. Hmmm. Maybe I should just rename it Ponyboy.