Ushered In

So Much Fun Partying with this Lady

Definitely exploring the intricacies of recovery operations after a very fun time ushering in 2016 last night next door with the Panamanian Mafia (Worcester Chapter). So cool when the drive to the party consisted of walking out the front door and arriving thirty seconds later. I went to see a couple movies over the past couple days (more on that below) and had just returned from one to take up residence in Couch Potato Position #1 to watch some of the college football playoffs when my wife informed me the party started in five minutes.

The Mafia Ladies

Their Escorts

Given that she was still in pajamas at the time I knew there was no need for me to rush. I rubbed it in a little when I told her that I would be ready in ten minutes. I got ready while she charged around the house for the next hour and a half getting ready. She had misinterpreted the time the party started. When we finally did arrive we had to field a number of good-hearted jabs about the long drive we had to endure to get there which had to be the reason we were late.

It was a nice gathering of friends, most of which we knew from prior parties. As with any collection of Panamanians on New Year’s Eve the food came in waves. Everybody brought a couple dishes and the time flew by as the conversation rarely waned. There was of course the other tendency anytime Panamanians gather, regardless of the occasion, dancing.

I got to practice my grandfathering technique with the two year old granddaughter of the Mafiaso’s sister. She started out a little shy but adopted me by the time dancing started. My wife and I were the only ones she would venture out on the dance floor with.

My Practice Granddaughter

Cutting the Rug with my Favorite Panamanian

I would periodically disappear for the quick walk next door to check on the Wonder Pooch and I might have walked by the television to check on the progress of the playoff game. We reached midnight and the obligatory but always fun round of well wishes. My favorite son surprised us with a phone call right after midnight while we were in the process of calling him. We then reached out to FaceTime California where the First Blog Reader was snoozing while a small group of friends gathered to assist the Cali-Daughter and Wingman with New Year’s celebrating. I could tell it was fairly subdued, what with the whole sleeping baby in the other room, and it was still only 9pm out there. I may have been a little over the top in my professions of well wishes. I was definitely in a celebratory mood.

Great Time!

There were some great pictures of the granddaughter yesterday as she squired her parents out for her first ever visit to a restaurant – as with all things – she over achieved.

We went to see the Will Farrell/Mark Wahlberg comedy Daddy’s Home the other night. Farrell is an acquired taste and some of his most recent offerings were cringeworthy. He returns to form here as the likable yet completely inappropriate step dad competing with the recently returned super-capable biological dad – Wahlberg. There’s some real chemistry between the two actors and Wahlberg more than holds his own in the comedy department. The escalating one upsmanship is not a new theme but it’s well played here, culminating in one of the funniest NBA sequences ever.

The movie I saw yesterday was Quentin Tarantino’s 8^th movie, the Hateful Eight. This was vintage Tarantino with singular characters that he somehow weaves together for an interesting narrative as well as the obligatory blood and violence. Each character is fully formed and the movie doesn’t lose its way trying to tell everyone’s story but by the end of the film you know them all. Kurt Russell can’t do anything bad in my book and he dominates as a grizzled bounty hunter who reluctantly teams up with counterpart Samuel L. Jackson back to chewing up scenes for Tarantino. They are escorting Jennifer Jason Leigh to the hangman and she is sneakily the best character in the outstanding cast. While this isn’t Tarantino’s best work I walked out amazed that three hours had passed because it was mostly conversation with the odd head being blown off.