Soul Sucked

The FBR - Inbound Today!!!!

Whooah – It’s friggin August, all of a sudden. I’ve spent all of this work week in what we call our community room involved in contract negotiations and for the past two days mandatory corporate training. That is where I’ve felt my soul be sucked out of the body through my eyes slowly but surely. I’ve been exposed to the training through the company literature over the past couple years and didn’t need to be beat about the head and shoulders by it for the past two days. I’m sure this was the idea of some REMF at corporate headquarters who thought this was made sense. Funny how the same kind of BS I saw in the Army in this regard is perpetuated in civilian life. By this I mean someone totally detached from the where the real work is being done always think their cubicle inspired ideas are worthy of pandering to by the people on the front lines.

Lion King Time

After Braving the Lobby Shark

FBR Drew Picture of the Family

There, that’s my bitch for the day and also to explain why I’ve been away from Frail Deeds for so long. The upside is that I have the best possible counter-agent to all of this inbound to my location. I will have not only one but two granddaughters and there assorted entourages under my roof tonight! We’re getting together tomorrow to celebrate someone’s birthday and to being together again. The winning streak will continue with the FBR remaining in residence with us for the following week. Color me extremely psyched.

Earlier this week, on date night, my wife and I took in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. This is a very long, heartfelt tribute to the late 1960s and Hollywood. Tarantino excels at creating memorable characters and does so again with Pitt and Decaprio. Pitt, as Decaprio’s stunt man, steals the movie and plays the everyman part saying what most of us are thinking when confronted by the perpetual self-importance Hollywood likes to immerse itself in. This is a very long movie but I truly enjoyed the trip back to my earlier days and the inevitable, what were we thinking? expositions. Decaprio, a has-been TV actor, happens to be live next door to Sharon Tate in 1969 and everything that means. Pitt runs across the denizens of the Spann Ranch in his travels which made for some really eerie scenes. Tarantino has always felt free to re-write history the way it should have happened and that makes for a truly sizzling climax. I haven’t always been a huge Brad Pitt fan but he is perfect in this part and well worth the very long wait to get to the fun stuff.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                            

BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt = my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog, surrogate grandchild while awaiting arrival of the BRS; PanaGals – female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Deckzilla Dude – senior citizen carpenter/contractor; Voices of Inappropriate Worth - members of public who come to every Worcester public meeting to complain, all are on public assistance along with demeanor issues