Confessions of a One-Track Mind

GK picked me up Friday afternoon and we went to Bryan's memorial picnic. It was pleasant. (I should say that my morning was less so: I got a new battery, but it was an ordeal.) The weather was overcast, but not raining. Humid, but there was a breeze.

Not a huge turnout; There was GK, her hubby and their two boys, Doc, his wife and their two girls, NJ (Bryan's widow), their two boys and one girl, and a few peripheral friends. There was more than enough food, a good soundtrack going in the background, and GK had a bunch of family photos as conversation starters.

It lasted for several hours, after which time GK and I both elected NOT to go to the reunion. Neither of us cared to go hang around a bar (especially after the free drinks rumor was quashed), so we went back to their motel on the beach and everybody got into the pool. (Well, me and GK's and Doc's bunch.)

Floating on my back, watching the sky go from teal to indigo to black was the high point of my weekend. I wore the Goodwill swimsuit, which fit and looked good---I will try to get a pic up, although the one GK got wasn't optimal.

I ended up crashing on their couch over the weekend. Not a pullout, just a basic barely six-foot long couch with a pillow. Hey, a/c and wifi for the win! Also, GK gifted me something I'd mentioned wanting, a southwestern-style woven blanket. It's brightly colered and just the right length for me to snuggle under!

Saw Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter on Saturday afternoon and Brave Sunday morning. Liked 'em both. Considerable suspension of disbelief required for the former, but it was still entertaining. The later was charming; I now desperately want a wee stuffed Angus!

Sunday afternoon, GK got in a bit of thrifting at MI Goodwill. This was her first trip to the new location, and she was mightily underwhelmed. I got a giant ceramic mug of a style I like for soup and such. Then we met CF at New Century Chinese Buffet. She and I and GK and NJ all had a great time.

Currently, GK and BlueRoses are in Savannah, visiting a home-bound friend. There's more to tell, but it's late. I'm tired, and I'm looking forward to being in my own bed.

More later....

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Haircut is NOT what I asked for and I'm extremely unhappy about that. IDC if AI says she thinks it's cute and that it shows how much weight I've lost. It reminds me of the style my mom wore for my entire memory of her, and it looked better on her than it does on me. Grrr.

Dark Shadows: Meh. It was over the top camp. It would take itself seriously for a couple minutes, then go veering off into la-la-land. I expected a little tongue-in-cheek, which I would've been fine with, and I'm sure the cast had a great time making it, but I was massively underwhelmed. Tim Burton can do creepy---what happened?!

Which was why, afterward, I wandered into "The Raven". That was moody and dark, more like what I would've wanted DS to be. It reminded me of the RDJ Sherlock Holmes movies, aided by John Cusack. He's all broody and angsty as Poe, searching for his lost love, who's been kidnapped by a maniacal fan. The fan is committing murders out of Poe's stories with little touches of his own, and demanding new stories from Poe in return for the next clue. Not scary-scary, but nicely suspenseful.

Discovered to my extreme joy that I can now wear size 26 pants. Wept for joy in the changing room at Fashion Bug! Tried some 28s, which looked like I was off to ride my little pony, there was so much fabric flapping at the thighs. Woohoo! I remember being highly upset when I was stretching out size 32s and couldn't find 34s anywhere. And these aren't stretch pants, either---they're woven and have a button-and-zip waistband. Go, me!

Very small crowd at church yesterday---seven people!---but we all knew each other, so it was cozy. PJ gave each of the ladies present a red rose---mine is residing in a glass in my bathroom where I'll see it every time I go in there.

Was up til OMG!AM reading Locked In, the new Tom Clancy. Thankfully, he's gotten away from quoting tech manuals on the hardware at length, as in earlier books. Alas, now he's introducing eight thousand characters to keep track of, complete with backstories and subplots and so on. Me complaining about backstories?! You know it must be serious. Still, I enjoy following his recurring charactrs, which was why I was up til OMG---there was a hostage/torture situation with one of the RC's, and I was freaking out. Arrgh! Vry intense! Now I'm on pins and needles for the next one.

Otherwise, same stuff, different week. TTFN.

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We had welcome rain this afternoon. I, mad woman that I am, went out and stood in it for five minutes then came in and took a (cold) shower and washed my hair.

It cooled things down a smidge, by which I mean it's "only" 85F.

Talked to GK yesterday...she wanted to ask what I thought of EW's Johnny Depp/Dark Shadows cover this week, and I kinda went, "Whoops!" Because, although she got a subscription for me a year ago and renewed it for my birthday, the episode of the missing mailbox kinda screwed it up. As I mentioned at the time, the post office started sending things back, including EW, leading them to cancel my subscription.

I had so much other stuff on my mind at the time that it never occured to me to mention it to GK. (I hadn't really missed it, truth be told.) However, at her request, I dug out a back issue, read her my account number, and she's going to follow up. Meanwhile, I need to snag this issue while it's still on the stands. I'm really looking forward to the new Dark Shadows, campy as it promises to be.

YouTube threw the new Spiderman preview at me while I was looking at something else, which motivated me to look it up on IMDb. Some of the casting made me cackle aloud. Campbell Scott, for instance, whom j'adore as Boris the Billionaire on Royal Pains (Returning June 6th).

I am fighting the good fight---and the urge to call for a pizza....

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Saturday with the gals was good. Soup, salad and breadsticks, followed by One for the Money, which was better than I expected. They were fairly true to the book as far as plot. Casting...Katie Heigl wasn't bad, although she's *not* a real Jersey Girl. Their Morelli was okay, despite reminding me uncomfortably of Mel Gibson (YMMV). Ranger was hot, though. Pretty close to who I'd envisioned. Lula, Connie and Vinnie, all good. Debbie Reynolds isn't quite what I had in mind for Grandma, although Estelle Getty is dead, so it wasn't gonna happen anyway. The really irksome thing was Big Blue: subbing a 1970s Buick for the 1950s Buick it should've been---not cool. But anyway, I'd give it a strong B+, maybe even an A- if it was out on dvd and I could kickback and watch it at home.

Visited Bunny at the pawn shop afterward, and took advantage of their 10 for $15 table. ($2 each, otherwise.) Ogled bling, shot the breeze, went over to J's with my loot and we watched 48 Hours. I kinda nodded off in her recliner for a half-hour in the middle of it, but that's okay: I have it on dvd now. And I felt much refreshed, so it was good.

Then we saw something new to both of us: The Maiden Heist, a caper flick with an outstanding cast. Namely, Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and the always delightful Willian H. Macy. I'd seen a preview of it on The Accidental Husband, and it looked amusing. A museum is sending most of its contents to a museum in Denmark. Our heroes are guards, each of whom have been there for years, and who each have their own special favorite artworks. Walken's is a painting called "The Lonely Maiden", which gives the movie its title; the guards decide they can't bear to be parted from their beloved artworks, and hatch a plot to substitute forgeries and spirit away the originals. Quite fun! Also a B+. The cast is terrific, but the pacing is a little slow.

Wrote a ficlet Friday evening, but didn't get it posted til Sunday because ff.net was being a total bitch-up. Seriously, I liked it better when you could buy a membership, block ads for a month at a time, and things WORKED. *eyeroll*

Something to look forward to: CF drives a minivan. I may be able to get her to take a fieldtrip to ReStore so I can score a door or two. Remains to be seen....

TTFN!

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I've kept up with my f'list, but haven't been posting much because prolonged computing brings on The Headache. My glasses, which were supposedly going to be ready a week ago will alledgedly be here next week. Grrr. Sure do hope so, because driving is getting scary.

Next week, I'll be house-sitting for the C's---they're cruising, again---and went over this morning to check in, renew acquaintance with the doggies, the usual. Afterward, I *wanted* to go catch One for the Money, if only to see how badly they corrupted the source material. No such luck; I'd've had to wait two hours for the next show---so I went to see Contraband instead.

As the reviews suggest, Contraband is a solid, somewhat predictable action-thriller. I spotted one Mcguffin immediately, well in advance of its plot point status. I also guessed another trope a half-hour before it became obvious. That doesn't necessarily mean Contraband is badly written or executed, only that I view things as a writer, and understand the nuts and bolts of how that kind of smoke and mirrors works. Besides, it has Mark Wahlberg going for it; he's a good, solid actor, and he's likeable in this part. There wasn't as much Bill Lucking as I'd hoped---only two scenes, but at least he's getting work.

On the way home, I stopped by the pawn shop to see Bunny and snagged a few goodies. I saw Sweeney Todd when it came out in theaters, and have wanted to see it again purely for the Burton eye-candy of it all. Also grabbed Star Trek the reboot, which I've seen and like. Bunny made me a good deal on my purchases, and says we may be able to get together sometime after Valentine's Day.

I need to do laundry tomorrow so I'll have something to wear next week. I briefly considered just transporting it all and doing it over there, but I'd really rather use my own machine---they've got this space-age thing you practically need an engineering degree to use. I've never quite trusted it since the time it boiled one of my good bras to death.

TTFN.

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J took me over to where my car is sitting forlornly so I could post a note saying "Not abandoned! Please do not tow!" Tomorrow, she's going to call AAA on my behalf and get them to put the donut on for me.

My check *should* be here on Tuesday, so I can go cash that and get a proper tire. (I hope my fav used tire place has the size I need, under $30 a plus.)

The amount of time I've been spending with J in recent months has been enlightening. I've found out things about her that I never suspected, and that goes both ways, because I'll say something and she'll be all "Really? I didn't know you liked that!"

So far, she's remarked that she never would've guessed I love classical music. I like pretty much everything except rap---just because I flaunted a taste for metal back in the 80s doesn't mean that's ALL I like. Or Harry Potter: I'd read the books before the movies started coming out. I adore salmon---I was talking about the best meal I ever ate---and how salmon is probably my favorite protein. Today she commented that she didn't know I had a thing for Clint Eastwood. Dad and I sat through his westerns, especially The Outlaw Josey Wales zillions of times, and For a Few Dollars More was one of the first DVDs I ever got, before I even had a DVD player of my own. And I watch football on TV, which astonished her.

She loves Roger Moore as Bond, while he's my least favorite (We watched Casino Royale and had a spirited discussion about Bonds.) I don't count George Lazenby or Peter Sellers. Dalton ranks just above Moore for me, while she detests him and ranks him last. When I pointed out that we'd seen Daniel Craig recently in The Golden Compass, she declared that she liked him better bearded. Wait til she sees him in chaps! At some point, I *AM* going to show her Cowboys and Aliens.

Things like that. It's been interesting; for the last couple decades, she was my friend's daughter, and now she's definitely a friend in her own right. And while there's a 10-year gap in our ages, she's the same age as Mb. It's not THAT much of a stretch.

Speaking of her mother, the other day, I made it home to snag a few things. Included in that was my favorite dressy dress, which I'd snagged the last time I wore it. A nasty half-inch snag on a nearly new dress (only worn 3-4 times)---but I recollected the trick Susie showed me to fix things like that. I rummaged in my sewing box and grabbed my needle-threader. From the back of the skirt, I found the snag and gently pushed the wire loop through the fabric at the center of the snag. I tucked the snag into the wire loop of the needle-threader, and carefully tugged it through to the back. Voila! The dress was fixed, has been laundered and is ready to wear.

I'm hoping for clear but not broiling weather for Monday so I can clean out my car. At some point this week, I need to take my cans in to recycle if I want any discretionary fund at all for next weekend. Coz I swear, I *am* going to see Contagion.

TTFN....

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