Fired Up

Basket of Fun

Now that my Favorite Panamanian has edged the house into the leading verge of acceptability, cleanliness wise, she started looking around for things I should be doing. Since she is a typical Panamanian when it comes to cold weather (hates it with a white hot passion) she focused on the living room fireplace. It’s one of those gas fireplaces that can be turned on by throwing a switch. The prior owners of the house had shut off the pilot light for the summer so I had to figure out how to ignite that.

Fire + No Explosion = Win

It didn’t help that I saw a couple recent news stories about houses blowing up due to gas leaks and the instructions, conveniently tied to the controls, were laced with admonitions of the dangers involved in gas explosions if not followed explicitly. I’d like to comment here that the instructions should be a lot less obscure when we are worried about explosions. Somehow, against all betting lines, I was able to figure it out (though not on first try) and my wife spent a couple hours curled up in front of the fire catching up telephonically with the widespread Panamanian mafia.

We went on to see a movie; yes, I had a date for date night! We went to see The Edge of Seventeen which was very, very good. Looking from the outside you’d think this was another in the long line of teen coming of age dramedies which rely heavily on typecasting and formulaic, angst ridden plots. This was so much more. It felt very true, especially with the teen relationships, whether sister-brother or friends. It was also incredibly funny with each actor allowed her/his space without going over the top. Hailee Steinfeld continues her remarkable young career as the lead actress. She plays a self-centered brat who somehow comes across as truly likable. I’m still trying to figure out how she carried that off. Blake Jenner followed up his lead turn in Everybody Wants Some as the older, seemingly perfect older brother but again, with some true depth. My favorite supporting actor however was Hayden Szeto, as the bumbling nervous schoolmate who worships Steinfeld only to be blissfully ignored (been there, done that during my own high school years). I guess that’s what I really liked about the movie. I think everyone will be able to pick out a situation that resonates with them from their own experience. It wasn’t a caricature and it didn’t have to be to be funny and poignant.

So Cool

We returned home for a hasty FaceTime call with the granddaughter. We caught her just gearing up for bed following her bath and she provided the usual spark as her mother wrestled her into her sleep suit. I don’t know how grandparents survived geographic separation before the advent of video calls. I’m so glad I don’t have to suffer without seeing her as well as the Cali-Daughter, Wingman, Favorite Son and ABFA regularly.