Weirdness

I was fairly concerned earlier this week, Sunday to be exact, about this whole turning seventy bit. To review, I accumulated that prodigious amount of years this past Saturday. My concerns lay in the fact of how old I felt, seriously older than just last week. I voiced my worries to my Favorite Panamanian, who promptly laughed (not exactly the reaction I was looking for). She archly reminded me what I’d been doing on both Friday and Saturday. Yeah, I may have overdone the celebrating bit. It’s easy when you’re surrounded by heroic friends such as KHS class of ’73 and equally distinguished other friends and family. Okay that brought out a smile, sinking back into the memories of the past Friday and Saturday, such a good time.

That kind of dedicated effort would always require a couple recovery days, even back in my twenties. While the Monday exercise regimen (especially the pool) was difficult, by Tuesday I was back in the swing of things and the lethargy I initially assigned to my age (and not my beer consumption) was vanquished. I still find it extremely weird that in a week or so I’ll reach an age neither of parents did. I’ll have to consult with Great Aunt on how to handle that. I don’t know how many years I’ve got left but if each birthday can be as much fun as the 70^th, I’ll try to hang around for as many as possible.

Since my over-celebration sloth was conquered I started to address the “Honey Do” list. Today I was out on Deckzilla to winterize that vast territory. My Favorite Panamanian’s flowers finally succumbed to the weather. I was still impressed as they hung around even after the first snow (last Thursday). The intense cold of the last few nights though sounded their death knell. I felt sad having to put this area where so much fun is accomplished each year into hibernation, but it does serve to remind me I’ll be on a tropical beach in a little over a month. Things that make you go, “Hmmmm”.

Sad Deckzilla

I need to catch up on the movie going. Last Friday I saw The Running Man as part of my Favorite Panamanian’s intricate deception plan. The original Governator film was high camp but they played this newer one closer to a possible reality. That allowed some well thought out satire to inject itself into the plot. Glen Powell, once again, proves decisively that he has graduated from supporting roles. He plays an angry husband/father who enters the game to rescue his family, cue the evil corporation. Instead of a defined game arena, he must navigate through a future society where everyone, including a highly trained team of assassins, is scouring the info-nets to locate and kill him. This was a nice update to the concept and, again, Powell is a super-star on the cusp.

For date night we saw, Now You See Me Now You Don’t. This is the third movie in this franchise and there is a definite effort here to inject some new life into the series. That is done with three genuinely likable young actors who team up with the original magicians to take on the mega-corporation villainess. It was great to see the original Horseman back in the saddle creating their magic tricks but that seemed kind of stale. Luckily, they the three young illusionists to pick up the slack, which they certainly did. The only miss was Rosamund Pike as the villainess. She’s usually so good that I was genuinely surprised to find her lacking. Her South African accent came and went and she never appeared as dangerous as the plot called for her to be. Still, a mildly nice ride through the nostalgia of having the gang back together.

Nine(!) movies fell in the A-Z watch, seven keepers: Fantastic Four First Steps – new addition to the library, finally getting the iconic 4 right; The Town – awesome Boston based crime story, love this movie; Toys – bought this because I like the song, but that’s only in for a little bit and for some reason they toned Robin Williams down, eject; Toy Story 3 – best of the very good animated features, love watching with the granddaughters; Trainwreck – thought I really liked this but it hasn’t aged well and Schumer surprisingly just isn’t that funny here; The Transporter – when Statham proved he could carry an action flick solely on his shoulders; The Transporter 2 – Statham tearing up Miami just when it was needed; The Transporter 3 – Statham finds love while mowing down the baddies, some in Odessa, Ukraine; Transformers – at times extremely silly but non-stop action so there’s that.

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ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete – my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Czech Connection – Czech couple who’ve become good friends along with their daughter (the Czech Shadow); Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; 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; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course