Leveling Out

Someone's Ready for the Pat's Season Opener Tomorrow!

Yesterday was spent trying to achieve some sort of equanimity after the obvious high of the weekend spent with the FBR and her parental units. That is not an easy task. The distance between each of the “kids” and us as they pursue adulthood is the real downside of the empty nest. While life remains so busy that time flies at unacceptable rate as I get older I regret not being in the same place as both of them. I blame their gypsy Army brat upbringing which bequeathed them with a heightened sense of independence and mobility. It’s why I treasure the small interludes we do get to spend together and realize what a jerk I was to my own mother, usually seeing her only once a year while I wore the uniform.

She Decided to Take Control of the Song Class Yesterday

One of my coping techniques on the downhill slide from a sublime weekend is to stay busy. That meant I was back out at my cosmetically challenged fire pit last night, adding another level of stones. I covered it up with a tarp in anticipation of today’s rain before I remembered to take a picture. You’ll have to take my word that the stone layer is helping. I no longer think neighborhood children should be kept away in fear on inducing nightmares from seeing it.

Since it was date night my wife and I ended up at the local cinema to see I Do Until I Don’t. This film isn’t getting a lot of love from the critics but both my wife and I enjoyed it a lot. The message is pretty superficial – marriage is hard and requires communication, but the actors lift the mundane script. I also liked the way the film was shot, in a wide screen format that added needed depth. A snooty British media maven enlists three interconnected and failing marriages to prove her point that marriages should be limited to seven years. The first third of the film is a tough slog as we meet the pretty unlikable subjects. The funniest lines aren’t the obvious jokes and caricatures but the sly, almost throwaway lines that you must be paying attention to catch, such as a counterculture type extolling his off the grid lifestyle only to mention it is made possible by his father’s hedge fund. Mary Steenburgen has yet to disappoint at any point in her long career and she’s fantastic as a damaged older wife whose façade is gradually cracked. Maybe you need to be an old married couple like my wife and I to truly appreciate this movie – we certainly did.

Returning home I retreated to the Man Cave and started on another personal project related to my movie mania. For months I had a stack of newly acquired movies that I hadn’t got around to seeing. I finally killed that off yesterday and was free to launch on this new project. I bought a collection of 100 B-movie quality sci-fi films dating back to the 1950’s and later. I found the collection on Amazon (that damnable marketing algorithm they use to confound me) and since I could get all 100 for less than $20 I thought it would be interesting. Understanding going in that these are bad movies. Keene Friend and I have an ongoing procedure whenever we see a truly deplorable movie – by lightly clapping and exulting in “bad cinema”. This collection might just be the mother lode of same. I started with Disc 1, Movie 1 which was The Incredible Petrified World which was every bit as bad as I hoped. I figure this exercise may take years to complete and look forward to luxuriating in the worse cinematic notions of pre-blockbuster Hollywood sci-fi. I know it’s weird but what is an old time Drive-in Theater aficionado supposed to do.

Finally for some reason that I’m still trying to understand I checked in on the Red Sox last night as I prepared to exit the Man Cave. They are in the middle of one of their trademark September swoons and were losing in the 9^th inning to the last place Blue Jays. Against all odds I stuck around and I saw them tie the game in the 9^th inning to send it into extra innings.  This induced some truly unwelcome insomnia as I stayed up to watch the game for another ten innings. It turned out to be the longest game in the MLB this year with the Sox winning in the 19^th inning well after 1am. This morning came extra early. I’m such an idiot.