one (dinner) leads to another, yeah, yeah, yeah

Rosa, Take 1, Tuesday, 28 Feb, a little after 8 PM:
Cue visual:

me: Salmon and capers pasta with asparagus and Rosa

bfe: That looks so good!
bfe: And with Rosa! I've missed her so much!
bfe: Would you give her a kiss on the cheek for me?

me: Hey man I will lick her wet self clean!

bfe: That sounds very dirty Faustina!

me: I had been saving her for a flight but i don't want her to languish any longer.

bfe: Wait... Rosa... that's not a person is it?!?!

me: :-) thought you might get a tickle out of that
me: Not a person. 4 sure.

bfe: That's smart of you... and you do not want her to go bad... when girls go bad!
bfe: Hey I listened to your cd Saturday! It was like evey famous jazz song that you knew but didn't know!

me: I know! really good tunes.

bfe: Ha ha!
bfe: So what nights do you teach?

me: M and W

bfe: Do you have plans next Tuesday?

me: I seem to be free. I just checked my schedule.

bfe: Your secretary let you know?!?!? That's what I always joke with my students! ;)
bfe: Well how about you come over Tuesday and I will feel you and we can watch the found footage festival DVD you got me a year or so ago? Would you be up for that?

me: Sho nuff.
me: You're going to 'feel' me? lol. Make that 'feed' and can do.

bfe: That sounds awesome. I will check with you on Sunday that the meal will be ok with you. Does that sound good?

me: :-)

bfe: Ha ha. Autocorrect you are so funny. Sorry, feeling you requires payment of service and I only do that behind the dumpsters at Forsythe!

me: Hey, what you do on your time is your biz. So a flight on Tuesday it shall be.

bfe: I look forward to Tuesday and sorry how you had to learn about my part time job to make ends match :(

me: :-) easier and more money than hawking wares on ebay.

bfe: :) just you lose a little more dignity with each passing blow. *ahem*

nice lunch! nicer dinner!

Today, the university treated me to a free lunch. Well, actually, they had invited me, and 49 others, for the Estate Planning Seminar, as I am on the list of alumni who have expressed an interest in leaving some money to the school.
The lunch was very nice: moist pork loin topped with mushroom gravy, roasted new potatoes, crisp salad greens with some yum dressing... and lemon cake. I made sure to eat my cake with my meal, as pork likes a little sweet, and sweet with a bite is even better!
Afterward, I went home and settled in for the ice storm to come.
Brrr!
For my pre-storm dinner, I decided to open up a bottle which had been languishing in the wine rack for a year.
Which bottle, you ask?
Yes, I am aware that I have several bought in December of 2012 for a flight with the bfe - a flight which has, sadly, remained grounded.

Very well!
San Sebastian's Rosa would dine with me, to remind me of sunshine!
And there would be no soup tonight, oh, no!
This fine wine calls for
a much nicer meal than that!
Time to saute that aging asparagus
with a little evoo.
Then to combine flaked salmon
with petite diced tomatoes
and capers and allow the flavors to meld in the oven while the corkscrew pasta becomes al dente.
And here it is, a meal fit for a queen!
Then to watch a little Matthew Broderick in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" - I do so enjoy that movie!
Hey! I may even make it a Broderick mini-film fest! I could watch "Ladyhawke" afterward!
Nice plan for a stay at home evening!

Beaufort? Charleston? Bluffton? No, Tybee.

bfe: Hey, Faustina. I have a question for you... do you remember when we went up to Beaufort some time back? Why did we do that?

me: I cannot recall. Which is odd. I clearly remember the trip to Charleston and Bluffton. Hmmm...

bfe: You know what. I was wrong, why was [it] we went to Bluffton... I remember we found a bar that was open and we went inside and had a drink. It must have been an early Outting in our friendship.

me: I had to take a nap after the mini golf. Def fun but I was flagging badly afterward.

bfe: We played mini-golf? I remember playing mini-golf up at Lake Winnie.
bfe: Damn my memory. Too much of the r&r? ;)

me: We went to a bar in Bluffton??? Do you mean the bar at Tybee?

bfe: I remove [remember] going to the beach late one night with you after the muse... once again very very early in our friendship.
bfe: I wish I could down load the images to your brain. But I haven't the technology!

me: "I" played mini golf TODAY.

bfe: Oh yes you said earlier you were going to do that!
bfe: Oh yes I wanted to take a nap today too. I was so tired.

me: After we saw No Exit.

bfe: Yeah. That evening I clearly remember.
bfe: bday celebration!
bfe: Oh btw happy birthday to my sibling unit out there!

me:Thats right. With Kristin.
me: Very nice. Kristin's birthday was Thursday.

bfe: I remember Kristin.

me: :-) of course you do. Silly rabbit.

bfe: Would that rabbit be Harvey?

me: Am trying to wake up. slept too long. Probably should have coffee.

bfe: Go get energized!!! Vroom!

me: Lol!

bfe: Yeah that's the problem with the so-called nap.

me: :-) i just foot [don't] want to be up all hours of the morning. Trying to resist the dark forces.
me: I had the alarm set for less than an hour. Then i slept longer.

bfe: I know that story...

me: I know you do.
me: You have to jump up and down too.

bfe: I've done it!

me: I even blogged about you oversleeping. :-)
me: But i really want to see the movie at the J E A. Their film fest has started.

bfe: Wake up! Wake up!
bfe: Take a hot shower!
bfe: Spin around!
bfe: Stick your left foot out!

me: If I spin around i will hurt myself. Not awake enough for dancing. Not for this much texting either. :)

bfe: But wait I thought you slept?

me: I did. TODAY.

bfe: Go wake up and head to the JEA!

me: You can't tell me What to do. But i think i will do that very thing. So thank you.

bfe: That's what the bus driver says when I tell him to have a good day!

me: LOL!
me: The movie tonight is a comedy called Putzel.
me: Kristin wants me to in [go] to Rocks on the Roof after. Jim Reed's band is playing there.

bfe: He seems to play there a lot.

me: I love dancing to their music! but i don't know about tonight though.

bfe: The magic rocks?
bfe: I saw Jim last night too I think but I didn't talk with him.

me: Yes he was at the Lucas.
me: Yes. Magic Rocks.
me: They may have a regular gig there.

bfe: That makes sense why his band plays there a bit! :)

me: :-) Got to jet. Film at 8. Later Gator!

bfe: Have fun!

me: You too dude.

happy anniversary of... what?

Dear Tony,
I had not thought of putting funds into your account until I received your letter.
I've put $90 into your account, but will not have more until after I get paid - which will be 28 February.
So you might want to keep that in mind and plan accordingly.
By the way, I think somebody hacked my JPAY account.
Every credit card I have used on that site has had fraudulent charges run on them.
Every card.
It usually takes a month for the false charges show up.
This has been going on since March or April of last year.
I may have to switch to money orders, though.
I wonder if anyone else has had that happen.
The credit card companies have been very good about canceling the charges, so that's good, but sometimes the case drags on for several months. Very sad that someone is doing that.

Tomorrow is the Science Bowl at the school.
A bunch of high school students will be there to compete!
I'll be a reader,
which is what I've done
for the last few years.
They've tried to make me a timer or a scorer,
but I do best at reading the questions to the students.
I like that best, too!

with my love!

- And of course I wrote on the back of the card! I sent this joke to him!
Funny, I just noticed what anniversary this is: Four years since I blogged that panda joke!
Coincidence?

i was in the right place

Tonight, I watched the 1978 Science Fiction Film Awards, hosted by William Shatner and Karen Black.
No, that's not a typographical error.
1978.
The Psychotronic Film Society brought that in, copied to dvd from a scratchy VHS cassette, from some guy in England, for the lucky few at the Sentient Bean for the weekly Wednesday night offering.
I am so glad I was there, instead of fleeing from the cold after school to my nice warm house.
I have to thank my friend the librarian for that.
You see, her birthday will be tomorrow, but she has had birthday celebrations all week. I had attended the brunch on Monday, at The Original Pancake House, a favorite of hers. The good folks there had marked her table with a Hello Kitty birthday balloon - very nice! She decided Jim Reed, master film wrangler for the PFS of Savannah, should receive the balloon, as he is known for being a fan of the Japanese feline. As she knew she would not be attending the Wednesday screening, she had tasked me with taking the balloon to him.
But today was brutally cold. If I could have canceled class, I would have. I had almost left the balloon at home, as I was thinking I would not be going to the Bean, but I finally relented and put it into the trunk, "just in case I went downtown."
Good thing I did.
As luck would have it, Jim was in the parking lot at the same time I was, so I immediately transferred possession of the balloon to his hands.
Mission accomplished!
And I was already downtown, so I might as well stay, right?
Good thing I did!
Not only was I treated to William Shatner's amazing spoken-word performance of "Rocket Man" - performed with himself as three characters, but I saw him receive the applause he wanted, from an audience of science and fantasy nerds who totally "got" his performance. In the middle is the reflective older man, smoking a cigarette as he sits and ponders at the start of the song. Then enter the rightmost character, a younger man, looking toward the future as he stands. The guy on the left, though, is a goofy party guy who dances and emphasizes that he is the "rock it, man". Very cool!
Like I said, good thing I was there for that - right place at the rght time!
Being at the coffeehouse for this night's PFS offering was the right place at the right time, too. Sure the "Eat Your Grrens" soup was fabulous - tasty and colorful with its wide array of vegetables. Sure, I saw some friends there that I don't see very often (except on fb these days).
But I realized what a fortunate life I have had, being born when I was.
In 1977, when the films honored in this awards show were first screened, I was 19 years old.
19.
A very impressionable age, when the world is wide open, change is in the wind, and life is an adventure.
The films which hit the big screen in that enchanted year are, of course, some of my very favorites, curiosity-driven science and fantasy girl-fan that I was (and pretty much still am). I'm talking about "Star Wars", which I saw that summer, sitting in the front row at the cinema, at the end of its first week, with a guy who had already seen it seven times. The tale of good versus evil, with Han Solo falling somewhere in that gray area, caught my imagination and was imprinted on my psyche.
Then there was "Wizards", Ralph Bakshi's animated tale of fairy folk tyring to quell the evil propanganda machines driven by war. Good versus evil, fantasy style. Being an avid reader of all things Tolkien at the time, of course this film became an instant favorite, singing my song as it did.
While we're talking fantasy, 1977 also brought to life "Pete's Dragon", a film that blended live action with animation for a tale that appealed to the kid in me and the woman I was becoming. Sure, it was a Disney movie, but I loved those, and still do! Plus, it starred Helen Reddy, the woman whose song "I Am Woman" came out the same year I turned 14. Oh, yes, hear me RAWWRRRR!!! That song, and my strong mother, helped me become who I am. So, of course I saw the movie!
Then there was Richard Dreyfuss. Nerdy guy with great sense of humor - of course I had a crush on him. I had seen him a few years earlier in "American Graffiti", with Wolfman Jack and Ron Howard. Now, here he was again, in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", emphasizing that we are not alone. That type of science fiction is, to me, hopeful about what lies beyond Earth's atmosphere. Hopeful always works for me.
That ties right in with "Oh, God!" Featuring George Burns, a wizened little guy with a fabulous sense of humor, in the title role, what's not to like? Having John Denver, too, another singer who soundtracked my middle and high school years, was just icing on the cake.
And let's not forget about "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger"! I had already seen the first two films, so this end of the trilogy brought the fantasy tale to a fitting close. Growing up in a seaport, as I did in this lovely hostess city, I naturally followed the adventures of sea-faring men. Fantasy sailors are even better, starring in tales in which evil creatures are conquered and right restored!
So, thank you, Jim Reed, for reminding me tonight of the blessed youth I had, living in the right time, at the right time.
And thanks for the fabulous memories brought to mind tonight!

since you've been gone, away

This morning, I was grateful when my ringing phone awakened me from a bad dream.
No, let's rephrase that.
It wasn't a bad dream - it was an incredibly sad dream.
I had been dragged back into the darkness, into the depths, into the deep, deep sadness of the world.
By my mind.
By my mind.
Heartbreaking, sobbing sadness, that I couldn't shake.
I wrote the dream down, needing to get the words out of my mind, set them free, release their hold.
Andy asked me if I knew where he could locate... some odd thing. I told him, "if it's anywhere, it's in Sam's locker." We then went to Sam Johnson's locker (full-length type, with a couple of shelves in it) and I opened it and we began pulling out items from the messy stacks on the middle shelf (the area where normally you would have hooks to hang stuff). At some point, I lost track of Andy - I was caught up by the smell of Sam still in the items. I pulled out a gymbag stuffed full and, holding it against my chest, placed my nose near it, inhaling deeply - and realized how much I still missed him. I wandered off, still clutching the gymbag to me, unaware of the locker or anything else. - Then I was home, still clutching the bag close so I could breathe in his scent. I knew it wasn't - good? healthy? sane? - so I called Hai, to ask him to come over. I knew he would understand. He knew Sam, too.
I cried as I wrote, as I reread the words. I just couldn't seem to stop...
Then, my first niece called.
Not texted.
Called.
And I answered, knowing she would hear the tears in my voice, trying to disguise them, failing. She knows me, knew I would tell her when I was able, knew to wait for it.
In the meantime, would I like to go to brunch with her and the baby? She was just coming from the church. Would I like to ride with them or meet them at the Atlanta Bread Company?
I want to ride with you, I said.
I didn't think I would leave the house on my own.
So she came by and I threw on clothes and escaped the dream.
We had a long visit together, talking and talking and talking. At one point, I tried to tell her about the dream and almost started bawling again. She understood and just let me be for a few minutes. Then the baby stirred and life slipped back on track.

Almost two and a half hours later, I was home again.
Home.

the ins and outs of marketing

(One of my karaoke buddies forwarded this to me. Thanks, Sandy!)


MARKETING.....

One buzz word in today's business world is MARKETING.

However, people often ask for a simple explanation of "Marketing."

Well, here it is:

* You're a woman and you see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and say, "I'm fantastic in bed."
That's Direct Marketing.

* You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a handsome guy. One of your friends goes up to him and, pointing at you, says, "She's fantastic in bed."
That's Advertising.

* You see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and get his telephone number. The next day you call and say, "Hi, I'm fantastic in bed."
That's Telemarketing.

* You see a guy at a party; you straighten your dress. You walk up to him and pour him a drink. You say, "May I?" and reach up to straighten his tie, brushing your breast lightly against his arm, and then say, "By the way, I'm fantastic in bed."
That's Public Relations.

* You're at a party and see a handsome guy. He walks up to you and says, "I hear you're fantastic in bed."
That's Brand Recognition.

*You're at a party and see a handsome guy. He fancies you, but you talk him into going home with your friend.
That's a Sales Rep.

* Your friend can't satisfy him so he calls you.
That's Tech Support.

* You're on your way to a party when you realize that there could be handsome men in all these houses you're passing, so you climb onto the roof of one situated towards the center and shout at the top of your lungs, "I'm fantastic in bed!"
That's Social Networking.

* You are at a party; this attractive older man walks up to you and grabs your ass.
That's Management.

* You like it, but twenty years later your attorney decides you were offended and you are awarded a settlement.
That's America!

worlds colliding, jerry, worlds colliding!

(Above photo is titled "The Colliding Spiral Galaxies of Arp 271".)

Last night, I felt like George Costanza did on one episode of "Seinfeld". As I recall, George was having a rare run of luck and had two girlfriends and there was imminent danger of them running into each other. Oh, but wait! With GoodSearch, I have found the very episode, the entire script! How cool is that?
So it turns out the problem was this: George is in a relationship with a woman who has not yet met his friends. His concern in the episode was that if Susan, the girlfriend, started hanging out with the gang, Relationship George would kill the fun-loving Independent George. It was a funny episode! Look for "The Pool Guy".
Thank God that is not the issue here!
No, it's a bit quirky, really. Two of the three Jeffs in my life were both texting me at the same time.
I'm absolutely serious.
It was wild!
If not for the totally different trains of thought, I don't know that I would have been able to keep up with which one was getting, or sending, which texts.
Of course, if either had bothered to call me instead of the texting, then the issue wouldn't have arisen at all.
I guess I should accept the fact that more people in my life text than talk with their phones these days. My friend Roy actually called me this morning (about a party!) and we were discussing this lack of voice communication, even amongst us "older" (i.e., past the age of 30) folks.
With no further ado, here is last night's trialogue, so you can share in the surreality of it all.
Enjoy!


15 Jan, Wednesday, juggling 2 Jeffs, simultaneously, as of 10:16 pm:

ex: I just got a letter from the cardio doctor - test results "satisfactory"!
me: That is VERY good!
ex: I'll call the GO doctor tomorrow and see what he says.
bfe: Hey you wanna go see Harvey? That would be awesome! You wanna do movie + dinner? Let me know...
me: Yes to both! i very much like that movie AND Jimmy Stewart.
me: Thats good, Jeff. I do appreciate you keeping me posted. I don't know if I can be of much help but i will gladly give moral support!
bfe: You know my mom used to watch that movie when I was a little kid. She liked that movie and "the ghost and mrs muir".
ex: Thank you dear.
bfe: I remember watching those two movies so much. That's nice.
me: It really is. :-)
me: Any time. Really. I hope the surgeon will agree and things will move along now.
ex: I know :-)
bfe: Ok so Harvey is on! :) I'm looking forward to this!
ex: I'm not looking forward to being on my ass for 2 weeks.
me: me too!!
me: Not with that surgery. Don't you recall the four little scars I have?
ex: Yes but other people I'm talking to who also had this surgery said they were out of work for 2 weeks.
bfe: Sweet! let's do like sakuraras? Before the film? I have been itchin to go back there.
me: beautiful idea! i haven't been there in ages!
me: That's wild. It isn't being done with a robot is it? make sure your doc is not using robots.
bfe: Awesome possum!
ex: He didn't mention the robot just a laparoscopic. Do the robots suck?
me: You crazy cat man...
me: Yes. From all i have read, the robots have not been that reliable and have turned short surgeries into lengthy ones and caused physical damage.
ex: F*k.
me: But the laparoscopic is what i had. Very safe and quick recovery. Some folks are wimps though.
bfe: :) a friend of mine posted a video game online called cat-eral damage, it seemed cute. I look forward to seeing this on the "big" screen.
ex: I remember. You were out in less than 24 hours.
me: I think it was day surgery.
ex: Yeah but we took you in the night before I seem to recall.
me: I thought we went in early in the morn. Beats me. It was six years ago.
ex: yeah, ask me what I had for breakfast that day.
me: What did you have? :-)
ex: Coffee and biscotto, like every day :-)
me: Riiight..how could i ever forget THAT? :)
ex: I can count on one hand how many biscotti I've had since then. A double chocolate one in downtown Chicago. One made with real pumpkin string in Traverse City.
me: Have to cut this short but i have the fasting blood work for my annual exam early in the morn. Catch you on the B-side!
ex: Goodnight dear.
me: Happy dreams to you. Love you.
ex: Love you too.

news from Michigan

As I mentioned before, the ex is going to have to get his gallbladder evicted in the near future. I had requested to be kept in the loop and he's been doing a great job of that, I'm pleased to say.
The following are our "talks" (textings) for the past few days about the topic, as well as ramblings about others.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Thursday, January 2, about 1:30 until 2 in the afternoon:

ex: Chemical stress test set for two days next week. Back on the high blood pressure medication, too.
me: My my. You have a busy schedule. Wish it was for better things.
ex: At least there are generic versions of the medication now, 4 bucks a month, not $70.
me: Def a better deal! Which one is it? What about cholesterol meds?
ex: Lopressor. That and baby aspirin. That's all he gave me.
me: Thats good. Those are the only ones you take these days? i guess your blood work has greatly imporved. That is good.
ex: Um...this is the first time I've seen a cardiologist, or any kind of doctor, since I left Savannah. My life has been pill free. maybe not smart, but it is what it is.
me: THAT is what I thought. Playing with fire. Seriously. At least you DID go to the doctor now. You must have been really hurting.
ex: This is all fallout from the pancreatitis. The GI specialist wanted me to get a stress test, given my background, before the cholecystectomy.
me: I realize that. I just looked up that word - i hadn't remembered the gallbladder removal having such an odd name.
ex: It IS weird, isn't it?
me: Yeah. sounds super scary. Not that nay surgery isn't scary.
ex: Yeah, I'm not looking forward to it.
me: Great website is www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus - great data.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Thursday, 9 Jan (about 1 pm)

ex: My first stress test today. Injected with radioactive dye, told to go out and get a greasy burger and fries and then come back to go into an MRI. Doing it again Monday.
me: What a dream come true: the doc sanctioning that meal! lol.
ex: It actually made me angry and confused. "This is the shit you have been trying to get me off of." I've been eating whole wheat toast, yogurt, and hard boiled eggs for a month.
me: I would have thought they would say more vegetables.
ex: That too. Broccoli primarily.
me: Well, keep me posted, please.


*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Friday, 10 Jan (starting about 9:25 AM, going about 40 minutes)

me: Did you know that pimiento is a type of red bell pepper?
ex: That makes sense. Pimenton, a kind of smoked paprika, is quite peppery.
me: And the same bacteria that makes penicillin also makes bleu cheese?
ex: Funny then I'm not alllergic to blue chees. If I was, just kill me.
me: Things I learn on Cash Cab. :)
ex: G_d damn it I miss that show. I used to hang out at a bar at happy hour that used to watch that show.
me: I try to make sure I am up at nine AM so i can watch with my coffee. Did the fatty meal upset your gallbladder?
ex: I weren't right that day. I'm not sure why. That burger didn't agree with me but it wasn't a gallbladder episode. I felt a vein in my head throbbing for a while off and on but I doubt it was the burger and felt more like it could have been that radioactive dye.
me: Could have been. Did you call the doc to report it?
ex: I didn't really notice it until after hours.
me: Well, it is good to let them know so they can keep a record of it. You know, when I was having the gallbladder issue, a meal like tat would have had me up at two AM throwing up and diarrhea. Remember?
ex: All I remember from the later years is broccoli slaw as sir fry :-)
me: I am talking about the Buddy's pizza incidents when we visited your mom.
ex: This was before you had it out? I have to admit, all I remember is being with you in the hospital post surgery.
me: Well you do sleep like the dead so i guess my repeated trips to the bathroom didn't wake you.
ex: You may be right.
me: Like Billy Joel says.
ex: I thought about singing that!
me: :-)


*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Monday, 13 Jan (just before 3 pm)

ex: hello dear. I just got back from the dctor's office an hour ago. The doctor will discuss the test results with me in about a week, the technician said.
me: Wow. The bad thing about working with specialists is all of the wait time involved. How are you feeling?
ex: I feel fine. Remember, this is just a precaution that the GO doctor thought might be prudent before going after the gallbladder. It wasn't brought about by any pain I was feeling.
me: I was thinking more about gallbladder pain. :-)
ex: No more flare ups. I wonder if I should go this alone and say f*k the surgery.
me: NO. You need to know what your body is doing. Seriously. Please.


*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Tuesday afternoon (14 Jan, from about 3:30 to 4:15 pm)

me: Knock knock.
ex: Who's there?
me: Irish stew.
ex: Irish stew who?
me: Irish stew in the name of the law!
ex: You have to sound it out and think about it for a second but it's good!
me: I thought so too! I heard it in a Jacki Chan movie today and had to rush and write it down.
ex: It makes me think of Sean Connery as Malone in The Untouchables.
me: The movei was The Spy Next Door. Guess you could stretch that into a link with Sean!
ex: No shit. Which one? One of his older ones or one of his newer ones?
me: It must be old. It was on the tv guide channel this morning.
ex: I don't know that one.
me: It was very funny and brought to mind Adventures in Babysitting.
ex: Or was it on TV quickly becasue it was awful. IMDB, Rotten Totatoes, and metacritic all agree that this was a real stinker. Was it straight to video, I wonder?
me: That i do not know. Lots of kid time in it.
ex: I'm seeing the term "family film" attached to this. Not much of Jackie's famous chop socky?
me: Oh yeah! He is the spy who is newly dating a woman with three kids.
ex: I see also that the two biggest stars besides him are Billy Ray Cyrus and George Lopez. Nnnnnnnnn.
me: Oh! That's who that was! Billy was Jackie's sidekick spy. Looked like he was wearing a bad wig.
ex: He's always looked like he was wearing a bad wig. :-) I should talk. I was rocking the "Billy Ray with a perm" look for our wedding.
me: :-)
ex: I don't recall that you went with me to Claxton for that itty bitty circus. Who took the picture of me on their elephant? Did I have a camera at one point that I would have given to somebody to use?
me: That was me. I was there too!
ex: Because I remember that that was in the early evening of a weekday. Unless I'm wrong.
me: Not sure about the time of day. But i recall you riding down the street on that elephant. :-)
ex: I wasn't about to get myself into another situation like the one with Ringling Brothers. :-P
ex: Are you sure? I;m thinking that the only reason I consented to ride another elephant was because it was only going to be a few dozen feet from where I started to the tent.
me: Well... I may be confusing the two times.
ex: Ringling Brothers was early morning, up Louisville Road. You actually wrote a caption on the picture with the name of the other circus. Wow, I'm confused on how all of this could have come about.
me: Beats me. Maybe someone at the station took the pic.
ex: We may never know.
me: 4 realz. :-)


Well, enough of this for now!
One of the nice things about texting is this: I can look back at the conversations, mush like reading a letter, remember things I might have missed in the frenzy of response.
However, my phone only allows so much storage of old texts and saved voice messages and memorable photos. And I have found, in the past, that if I don't take care of deleting some things, my phone will arbitrarily clear out a block to make way for new stuff. Or I will hit a wrong key and lose some important items. Yikes! That's how I lost three text messages I had been saving from Sam.
Perhaps that is my reason for leaving these scribblings in the sand...
Thank you, my dear beach.

well, i thought i knew what i was going to say

This afternoon, I threw myself out of the house, at what I thought was nearly too late, and ended up on time for most of the previews at the cinema. I had determined that I would go see "Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas" and compare the attitudes there, in these modern times to those Ron Woodruff faced in yesterday's film (during the years between 1985 and 1992). In other words, I wanted to compare how differently society today views a black man who cross dresses to share his philosophy of life with how society reacted toward a white heterosexual man who was diagnosed with HIV in the mid-1980's (only 28 short years ago).
Well, I'm here to say that I've changed my mind.
That sounds like it would be a fine topic for Philo Cafe, on some Monday evening when I might be able to make it to that group again. It would also make for animated discussions in literature courses dealing with sexuality and society mores.
But I'd rather talk about the movie I saw today.
My stepmom and I had loosely planned to go see Madea in her latest flick on the Saturday after Christmas. Concerned that there might be a blue language issue, and knowing her distaste of such, I suggested "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" instead.
That turned out to be a good choice for a couple of reasons.
First, we had the cinema to ourselves. Very nice! Especially as there were projector problems which delayed the movie's start, but that allowed us more time to catch up with our chats.
Second, when the film did finally start, they jumped right to the movie we were there for, with no previews slowing things down. Good! We had slunch plans with my eldest brother and his wife, so we would still be on time to meet with them!
Third, the movie was beautifully shot, though all the scenes of snow and ice eventually had us taking shelter beneath my shawl. Cool! (All puns intended!)
Fourth, the story was excellent, so much so that my stepmom said she was going to search out James Thurber's short story and read it again. Hello, library!
All of which brings me back to today's movie choice. I had putzed around and missed all of the earlier start times of the pricebuster films at the Carmike and Madea's was the last on the cheap seats of the day. That's okay; given the gravity of the film last night, something decidedly light was in order. Then I had the bright idea of the comparison and out the door I went.
And so, now, here we are.
And the reason I continue to write is this: I heard one of my favorite Christmas songs in today's movie. That song? "Mary, Did You Know?" As Christmas songs go, this one is very recent, having been written in 1984. One of the women in my church (Jamie Kelso) sang it beautifully for the Christmas Eve service.
At the tail end of the Tyler Perry movie, that song was featured. Sung in its entirety by a young man I was unfamiliar with, a 12-year-old named Noah Urrea. What a nice surprise!
And that is what my message is: be open to surprises.

he's just on morphine now

I was sitting in the cinema, with a large group of fellow cinemaphiles, intently watching "Dallas Buyers Club". When that line was uttered in the hospital setting, I was not the only one who drew a sharp intake of breath just before the wave of sadness washed over us.
Far too many times have I heard that phrase for those I love.
There's a reason I had not seen this film a month or so ago when it was over the river and through the woods away from me. I had resolved to not deliberately go to those movies which would - notice, I did not say might - make me sob. I did quite well at maintaining that resolve, too.
There are quite a few films with Oscar potential which debuted on the screen this fall. The only one that I attended, "Gravity", I had postponed seeing, concerned that it might adversely affect my mental state. I need not have been concerned. Those who have been saddened by that film must not have lost six family and friends since July. I thought the film was beautifully done and did not shed a single tear.
"Captain Phillips"? Not yet seen the death on the high seas.
"The Wolf of Wall Street"? Sadness from the money-mad? Not interested.
"Nebraska"? A bit too cold for me, I fear.
"12 Years A Slave"? Old sadness, rehashed? No, thank you.
"August: Osage County"? The only reason I might is for Meryl Streep.
"Philomena"? So much sadness, even with Dame Judith Dench as a draw.
"Before Midnight"? Love gone wrong for two pretty people. No.
And then there are those which have not yet, or only recently, graced the big screens here in town: "American Hustle", "Inside Llewelyn Davis", "Her". And one critical choice, the all-Redford, all the time, "All is Lost" has yet to appear in Savannah.
That's not to say I haven't seen some contenders. "Blue Jasmine", in particular, was very, very good and I just loved the ending! Two young men in the audience with me didn't "get it", but hopefully they'll get more life experience to better appreciate the wry twist.
"Saving Mr. Banks" was a spur of the moment, post New Year's Day dinner, option which I might not have taken if my first niece hadn't been so eager to go see the backstory on Mary Poppins. But it made me miss my Daddy and made me cry, just as it did Emma Thompson's character.
"Lee Daniels' The Butler" is this year's "Forrest Gump". You know what I mean? A film that serves well as a history primer, mostly. Forest Whitaker does a fine job with his character, but I would have liked more of the volatile patriarch and less of the stoic-faced political servant. Then again, don't we all have at least two faces we use as we traverse the plain between private and public personae?

shotgun on a Wednesday afternoon

Woohoo!
I got my car back and still had some off-time before the start of classes on Monday! So, my zombie-killing, huggable Hai went with me southward to slay the undead. Oh, yeah!
That's me, holding my pump-action shotgun, got my gun at the ready, gonna fire at will, 'cause I shoot to thrill and I'm ready to kill, and I can't get enough and I can't get my fill - oops! You caught me jammin to AC/DC! Hey, it seems appropriate and the music ROCKS!

And here's Hai, blasting away at those oozing, rotting, bloody, brain-seeking creatures. That THAT!, foul creatures, and THAT! Bwah ha ha!!!

Yeah, it was a really fun day! We ate buffalo bites and philly cheeseburgers! We drank beer and raced fast cars! We rode throbbing motocycles in the snow and grabbed 1000 tickets from the pirate treasure chest!
And we killed zombies in the II, III, and 4 Houses of the Dead!
Oh, Yeah!
Then we made it back to town in time for the PFS Wednesday Night Flick at The 'Bean! The title immediately lets you know what lies ahead: "Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man".
Wow! It was a good one, too, a 1976 action movie, shot in Italy, starring lots of foreigners, and dubbed in English. What a schlockfest! I kept thinking about the Ambiguously Gay Duo every time the two male leads hopped on the motorcycle - very funny! It didn't help that they were too pretty to be cops and had perfectly coiffed hair the whole time. Like I said, very funny and great fun!
Thanks, Hai, for an awesome day!

and it only has 142,000 miles!

Woohoo! Today I bought a new car!
Um... it sure looks like the one you already had...
Oh, but looks can be deceiving, dear! I can assure you I bought it today.
Ohhhh-kayyyy. I'll bite.
How much did you pay for it?
Only $1088.88 - what a deal, right? And the mileage is only 142,076. Not bad for a thirteen-year-old car. That works out to only 10,929 miles per year. That's well within the average annual mileage range, so that will make my insurance company happy.
Yeah. Right. And what has the insurance company done about insuring the new car?
Well, you know, it's the strangest thing - my rates didn't change at all. Not at all! I did have some concern about that, you know, to have to juggle car payments with higher insurance - but I need not have worried. What a relief!
I'm beginning to think the extreme cold has perhaps affected your brain today. Fahrenheit 29, at 1:30 in the afternoon at latitude 32N is certainly unusual for this town. AND for you. We all know how much you loathe the cold.
Oh, pish posh! I bundled up real well before the shuttle picked me up to take me to my new car and, I must say, it wasn't nearly as bad outside as I had feared it would be.
Then again, maybe cabin fever has set in. You are accustomed to to coming and going much more often than you have of late.
Pish posh, again I say! On Saturday, I drove to Port Wentworth for my great-niece's seventh birthday. I even stopped at the grocery store on my way home. Sunday, I ..
let me stop you right there. Sure, you drove out to Port Wentworth, I'll grant you that. But then you had to get your brother and the Parker to give your car a push-start so you could get back here. Oh, and that bit about "stopping" at the grocery store? That was nice. You may have parked the car, but you didn't dare turn it off, knowing you wouldn't be able to get it started again by yourself.
Hmphf.
Hmphf.
Are you going to continue?
Hmphf.
You and I both know that THIS is your truth: If you cannot come and go at will, you get stressed and feel trapped. And with your car not reliebley starting whenever you needed it to for the past - how long has it been now? six weeks?
I don't think it's been quite that long -
No, I just looked it up. You blogged about it, remember? That was the Monday after Thanksgiving.
Shite.
I guess you're right.
Damn Skippy I'm right.
Damn Skippy.
(smile)
And, yeah, yesterday made six weeks that I've been dealing with the issue about the car sometimes not starting. So, I've been working around it, planning my trips and how long I would be somewhere, to give the engine time to get cold again so it would start.
lately, the deal the car gave me was one start a day. Any other starts would have to be push-starts. Period. So I better be traveling with someone or going somewhere that a friend could help out or hoping that a stranger would respond favorably to my plea for a push.
Sigh.
At least I really know now how to pop the clutch to start the car.
I always knew it in theory, but I've had plenty of practice these past weeks. Well, ever since the Christmas party on December 15th in Beaufort with the Mensans.
That was the first time.
I had stopped for gas - and the engine was good and hot - and I couldn't start the car after filling up. I waited there for twenty minutes before another woman, noticing me sitting forlornly, enlisted the aid of two men from her church to give my car the push it needed.
I didn't quite understand how the push-start and clutch-popping worked, so they had to do it twice. And I thanked them nicely and locked the technique into my brain for later.
Thank God.
Because I have needed to use that technique just about every time I've gone anywhere for the past three weeks.
But no more!
I have a new car!
No. You have the SAME car!
Listen to me. I've done a bit of research on the prices of cars and I've found that I cannot afford to be committed for 60 months or 72 months to the cost of a 2013 or 2014 vehicle. Given my present work situation, and no idea of the future status of that work, if I were to actually sign a contract and then have to default on it, I would lose the car and my credit rating and the money already invested in the car.
Not good. Bad, bad, and ugly.
However... since August of 2012, I've outfitted the car with new transmission cables and bushings, new tires, and new brakes. Today, she received a new starter, a power steering flush, a cooling system flush, fuel induction service, and her regular synthetic oil change. (So that last part is a regular item and not included in the "new" category.)
Altogether, I've invested about $2000 into her and a lot of NEW bits that should be good for at least another 30,000 to 40,000 miles.
I look at it as another three to four years of good use from a car that has served me well.
And paying off the repairs is equivalent to car payments.
So, I have a new car!
Yes, dear. At least you're putting a positive spin on it.
Yes, I am! Damn Skippy!
Damn Skippy!
(smile)

and the world will be a better place

What a wonderful way to begin the new year: in the company of family and friends.
To think I almost didn't have this gathering this year.
But the first niece had texted me this morning to ask what time she should be here at my house, how many others were coming, could she bring pineapple upside-down cake?
Time to make some quick decisions, before I'd even had coffee and breakfast.
Was I doing this today?
The clock pronounced the time as 10:41 AM.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
So, in response, I told her 1:30 PM, I didn't know yet, and yes!
Okay.
I had already determined, a week or so ago, that I would make Hopping John and brown rice. After all, black-eyed peas were a staple for good luck in the new year. This year, I would add crowder peas, too, and use the recipe on that label (as a guide, of course).
I had also decided, a few days ago at the the grocery store, to add macaroni and cheese to the menu.
Now I thought that green beans would be good, too. Nice color palette.
And she was covering dessert.
Well, alrighty then. Sounds like a party! Now to invite some guests!
I knew she was coming. That's one.
Her sweet husband would hopefully be joining us, if he wasn't working.
That would be two guests. With me making three in the party.
Hmmm. Pretty short notice, but let's send out some invites.
The beachwalker Barbara? Yes, yes, she would come, and she'd bring salad, too!
The librarian? Kristin and Barbara knew each other and she's the same age as my first niece. And yes, she would come, too, and would bring iced tea!
My outlaw Bunny's mom? No, Bev was feeling under the weather and would stay home this year. (She had come last year to my better-planned first day's dinner.)
The always huggable Hai? He didn't know what Hopping John was. Say what? So, I told him, "it's white folk food" (hey, it's an inside joke). When I asked "Are you in?", just like they do on Cash Cab, his reply was that he was "all in".
Coolness. He knows the librarian, too.
And justthatfast, I had a party going on for the first day of 2014.
I love these people.
They are ALL family to me. After all, friends are the family you choose, right? And even though my first niece and her husband are family by blood, I would still choose them to be my friends.
A few years ago, I'd gone to Augusta to have Thanksgiving with my cousin Sharon's family. I made it an extended visit, as we had not seen each other for more than two hours in better than ten years, maybe longer. It seemed the only times we were together were funerals, right? So, I had resolved to do better about that and I had.
At the end of my stay with them, she had told me that "even if I wasn't family and she had met me on the street, she would choose to be friends with me". Isn't that nice? I still think that is one of the best compliments I've ever received.
And now, I've started my new year with a first day of feasting with family.
Life is very good.
Very good, indeed.
With nice cake, too.