WAG - Adios Again
I’m rearin’ to hit the trail again.
My Christmas vacation (not “Winter Break!” This is my blog and I can be as politically incorrect as I want) is coming to an end. I shall return to Columbia tomorrow.
As is my usual custom, everybody else has gone to bed and only now am I starting to pack up. I don’t know why I always wait to the last minute to pack up. If I wanted to play pop-psychologist, I could say I postpone my packing because doing so signals my sabbatical is about to come to an end.
I could also be plain lazy.
I wager it’s somewhere in between.
So, as I camp out in the basement waiting for loads of laundry to go through, I start to review how I spent my final last few days in Sullivan.
My initial summary is “not too much.”
I’ve gone out shopping a few times. I’ve picked up a few “new” clothes at the local Agape House (our local version of the Salvation Army Store). I’ve picked up all the supplies for going back to school (notebooks to microwavable popcorn to toilet bowl cleaner) besides my textbooks. I’ve bought and watched my first “back to school DVD,” The Blues Brothers: Collector’s Edition. (Note: Usually I spend about $30 on DVDs to soften the return to the grindstone. Since it was a $10 purchase, I figure I can squeeze out one more).
There are two more two major items, but they will take more than a sentence length explanation. They are a movie night and a progressive dinner.
Last night, my sister and I went to new “Sullivan Six” movie theatre. Our expressed intent was to see the movie Big Fish, but upon arriving at the theatre, we found that the paper had printed the times wrong. Even worse, the projectionist has started the movie even earlier than revised time that wasn’t in the paper.
Now you could miss 5, 10, shoot, 30 minutes of some films and still not be missing much, but with Tim Burton movie, that is not an option.
Thus the “reluctant” decision was made to see two movies.
Paycheck, the new Ben Affleck/Uma Thurman manhunt movie with a quasi-Total Recall plot wasn’t bad. It was a pretty good Affleck flick, though it was a sub par John Woo (director) movie. I mostly kept my attention; though the couple next to us, who talked constantly, made it even more difficult.
First, my major complaint was the thought that that Matt Damon wouldn’t get into this mess like this. Then I was reminded of the Bourne Identity. That being pointed out, I’ll stick to my “okay” review, with the qualifiers that I wont’ be buying Paycheck when it comes out on DVD.
Big Fish, however, wow! Heaven forbid I jump on the bandwagon praising this film, but I believe all the accolades are well earned. It’s not just the gently flowing plot, or the carefully crafted characters, thought both are fantastic. I personally loved the little details.
The cursing that flowed out of kid’s mouths when it was pointed out to them that a “lady” was in their presence, the tears on Mr. Soggy Bottom’s (the clown/lawyer) face as he prepared to shoot the silver bullet), the wooden dummy act as the Communist USO show. Minor things like that added so much more scope to this modern classic.
And the ending, well… Part of me hesitates to reveal it, but the truth will get out so…
It has been many years since I cried as a movie. No joke, I think it might have been The Fox and the Hound. Part of that is how sitting in a movie theatre can make people more emotionally involved than watching it on the television. Anyway, I’ll admit that tears were shed.
First I told myself it was allergies, but later the story was so powerful I couldn’t deny it. So I softly cursed myself and Tim Burton for my emotional outburst as the story came to a close.
My sister cried a lot too, but it wasn’t until talking to a friend, who works at the movie theatre, who admitted that he cried too, that I felt better. If you go see the movie, and I suggest you do, be ready for some hilarious scenes, but pack tissues.
The last major activity, which is the acting capstone of my holiday season, was my Sunday School class’s progressive dinner.
Being in the young adult class in Sullivan, there is more talk about social security, back pains, and death. That can be depressing. But when most of the members have a larger disposable income at their disposal, as compared to the average teen, the class activities can be a bit broader.
Thus, it was decided to have a progressive dinner where each course was served at a different house. Entries at one place, main course at another, and deserts at the final stop with lots of pauses in between.
Also the Rams were in the playoffs, so that had to be figured in as well.
The food was good, the company great, though the double-overtime loss to the Panthers could have been better. It held up the meal over half an hour, because people didn’t want to leave the television when the Rams could rally at any time.
Still, it wasn’t all about football. The conversations were interesting, if you sat near the right people, the few games we played were fun, and it was more productive than an evening spent before the computer.
I’ll be on the road in less than 12 hours. In final analysis, I find I haven’t gotten everything done that I would have wanted to. Books were left unread, movies unviewed, projects unstarted (or abandoned), and lots of time squandered too.
Still, I would say my vacation was “not too much, but not to little, either.”
I feel rested up and have many grand expectations for this next semester. Of course, even if I didn’t, I’d still be starting work tomorrow.
Since the end result is already determined, I guess I might as well have an optimistic nature about the whole thing. Things could always be much worse.
For example, I could have had money riding on the Rams.
'Let_it_ride'
