Overdue and Crossover Supreme

I’m not exactly sure how many of my personal habits acquired or drilled into me during my nearly three decades in the Army I’ve taken with me into civilian life. One that I am sure of is the length of my hair. I thought one of the first things I would do upon retiring form the military was let my hair grow long again. I was mildly disappointed to find it came out almost all gray and reminded me how unmanageable a curly mop it had been prior to being shorn for all those years in uniform. After a couple months I decided I missed the convenience of really short hair and have had it ever since. I remark upon this because this morning I finally convinced my wife to give me a very overdue haircut. We’ve discovered during the pandemic that my haircut is so simple that anybody could do it. This is not to cast aspersions on my designated barber, my Favorite Panamanian, though. She’s done a bang-up job ever since taking over responsibility for it early in 2020.

The FBR is Ready for the Holidays!!!!

It was overdue because of an old Panamanian wife’s tale. This is how I describe it at least. I should have had the haircut a couple weeks ago but she refused because I still had that cold I wrote about. She said it was very unhealthy to let the metal cutters touch your hair when you’re sick. Is it just me or is that just plain weird? At any rate my hair was the longest it had been since that time, mentioned above, directly after retiring. I used to get annoyed when elementary school teachers used to crow to my parents about my beautiful curly hair. I longed for straight hair and I learned when it’s really short it is, for all intents and purposes, straight. So there.

The Before Picture with Really Long Hair

Another habit that thankfully stuck with me was the need to stay in shape. One of the last things my mother ever said to me was the advice, “never get fat”. Of course, the Army, had a vested interest in seeing that I followed that advice with monthly weigh-ins to confirm everyone still met standards. When I got out I found I also missed the workouts and have been doing them in some form ever since. However, I managed to acquire a lot more weight than I was comfortable with when I worked full time. I’ve found in semi-retirement I can devote a lot more time to exercise, mainly because there are fewer excuses to miss workouts. I reached a goal with today’s weigh-in, maybe because of all the hair that I lost, as I now weigh the same as when I commanded an infantry battalion in 1999. I’m kind of proud of that. It will be a short-lived achievement as Christmas cookies will emerge from cold storage tomorrow and the Christmas weekend beckons with non-stop hedonistic pursuits of food and maybe a few beers. Oh, and the grocery store finally had whoopie pies again today. It just means the ten pounds I’m sure I’ll acquire over the next few days will give me something to work off when I hit the beach in a few weeks. A good problem to have.

And After - Blessedly Short Again

Keene Friend stopped by the house yesterday to drop off presents for the family, including a huge one that he conspired with my son as well as Great Aunt/Soxfather. I’m most worried that they let him wrap it because he has a well-earned reputation for excessive wrapping. We’re talking layers and layers often and other obstacles. So much so that whenever a package arrived from him during my military career my kids reveled as they watched me try to pry the package open, a true family legend. Anyways, I’ve got that to look forward to. He also accompanied us to see this week’s movie, Spiderman, Far From Home.

This latest Marvel effort is fantastic. It lives up to the Marvel standard which is lofty and cements Spiderman’s legacy in the Marvel Universe. It will also go down in movie history as the crossover event to end all crossovers. While the movie is excellent in its own right, with a tremendous amount of heart, the crossovers from prior versions of Spiderman were incredibly funny and in a couple of situations, painfully poignant. It will be hard to describe without revealing too many details but if you’ve seen the prior incarnations of Spiderman than you have to see this, just for a well made walk to memory lane. Tom Holland can be a bit annoying but it’s hard to not fall under his spell as a truly young Spiderman. He’s faced with his secret identity being outed by the last movie’s villain and that leads to some very funny moments. He teams up with Dr Strange, who predictably steals every scene he’s forced to deal with the teenagers in. Speaking of scene stealing, Zendaya is pitch perfect as MJ teaming up with Peter and Ned to thwart a veritable legion of reincarnated bad guys. There are some tough moments and it will be interesting to see where Marvel takes this character next but if this is Holland’s last turn, at least he went out on top. One of my favorite movies of the year.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3, 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; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; 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; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; 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; 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; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn