luncheon with science nerds and a*list

"You mean 'with chem nerds', right? You said 'science' in the title."

'Science' is what I meant! There was a physicist in our midst! Donna Mullenax was actually in town and able to make our little soiree at Troy Mediterranean.

"How very nice! We haven't seen her since the retirement party for Yvonne and Cathy Mac, over at B&D Burgers. How is she doing?"

She's looking at retiring in another few years. Suzy Carpenter was there today, too, briefly, but left shortly after I arrived. That's my bad, though. I wrote the time down as '11:30', but it was supposed to be '11:00'. Drats!

"Oh, no! How did you do that??? I do hope they went ahead and ordered."

They did, so that was good. I wasn't there long before their food started coming out. I'm glad I checked out the menu online. I was able to order the tabouli appetizer and it came out so quickly that I was able to dine with them.

"That looks very good, too! It's been awhile since we had that Middle Eastern salad."

Probably a few years. I really like it, too, but not many places have it. 

"So, who all was there?"

Besides Donna and Suzy, it was the usual bunch: Yvonne, Leah, and Nicole. Suzy stayed only a little while, like I said, then Lea had to jet by noon. Donna left about noon30, leaving me and Yvonne getting to know The 'Cole better. That was actually really nice. I knew so little of her and her family, so I am quite enlightened now. Between her mom's fainting spell and all those doctor visits, then her brother's hospital stay and the care of his 4-year-old son in the middle of a messy divorce, plus her own divorce from the bfe, she had quite a stressful final six months of 2024.

"Damn. I had no idea."

Exactly. Me, neither. If Yvonne had not opened up that line of questioning, I still wouldn't have a clue to anything about that strife. I'm sure that Nicole saw that I have a new appreciation of her now as a person. See, I never really knew her when I was teaching at Armstrong, and I certainly didn't get a chance to know her while she and the physicist were dating and then getting married. It's been nice to have a reboot of that situation.

"A reboot, eh? That seems to be your favorite fix for things."

(Shrug.) Hey, I'm just doing what works, n'est-ce pas?

"Sure, sure. I was just making a comment. Next topic: movies?"

Movies! Yes! My AMC A*List is d-o-n-e! Since I have Hinesville duties tomorrow onward, I wanted to go ahead and get my trio of dances out of the way. Success! I had a double header yesterday and just barely caught the last one after our 2 1/2 hour luncheon. Whew!

"What a hodgepodge assortment!"

You're telling me! That's just the way it worked out, given the movie times available. So, I started out with "Dog Man", which I expected to be targeted at middle-school kids, and it was. Still, it had a few gorgeous surprises. Like Dog Man's favorite album being the Hank Williams' one with "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" - with him howling along after putting the needle on the warped record. I just loved that!

"Very sweet touch, that."

Right? That sweetness made it pair well with "Love Hurts", an action film that takes place around Valentine's Day.

"Oh, cool!!! Did it have the Nazareth version of that song in it?"

Sadly, it was not, which was a missed opportunity, I think. Then again, not everyone has the same mental jukebox working for them, so, there's that. I totally enjoyed the movie and found its kung fu action right in keeping with this being the Year of the Snake! I do hope I get a chance to see it again.

"Very nice! Maybe you could schedule it with that Keke Palmer flick, too."

Perhaps, if I ever get to the point where there are no more new movies to see. Maybe that will happen after this week. AMC has been trying to run the Oscar-nominated films by us. I think "I'm Still Here" is the last of those. Set in Brazil, it opens in late 1970, in Rio de Janeiro, in December. You want to know the scene I like best?

"Sure! Hit me!"

It was the family celebrating the holiday season on the beach. On the beach! Playing in the Atlantic Ocean! Playing games on the sand!

"I understand. People have some misconception that Christmas and the New Year have to be in cold weather, but that's not true at all. Not at this latitude of 32 degrees North, nor at their latitude of 22 degrees South."

That's right! The movie was about the disappearance of the husband after he was taken away for questioning by the military regime. Shortly after, his wife and one of their daughters was also taken for questioning, but later returned home. The rest of the movie followed the efforts of the wife to find out from the authorities where her husband was, as well as find out from men he worked with why the authorities would have taken him. Rather a sad film, but it certainly highlighted her strength in keeping the family together.

"I wonder if Tomasz had a chance to see it, too?"

I sure hope so. I told him which movies were playing, as I don't think he keeps on top of the local cinema listings like I do. Foreign films are certainly his faves, especially dour ones it seems, so my guess is he made a point of seeing this one.

"Very good. Now, you need to get ready for tomorrow. You need to be the greeting party when Miyah and Chloe get home from school, you know."

I do. (sung like Keegan-Michael Key, for the song "Sweet Tooth" in "Wonka")