More Random Weeks...in July
Various things continued to happened to and around me...film at 11. Not really. The highlight of the month thus far was a splendid FIVE day weekend over the 4th of July holiday. I need more of those!
A Movie Report
Lenore took Friday off with me to see the third Harry Potter movie. It was...OK. It did not, IMHO, warrant the four stars my local paper gave it. For some reason, I was particularly distracted by how bad the acting was, and the screen adaptation this time seemed pretty lame. It seemed like a lot of time was wasted on special effects (such as the Quidich match, which really didn't add to the screenplay version of the story) and the whole womping willow scene. But I would still recommend seeing it to anyone already drawn into the series. I would also recommend J.K. Rowling's new web site for a bit of fun diversion. According to one article, "The site is designed to encourage dedicated viewers to click like mad, looking for those elusive goodies known to DVD users as Easter eggs. Interactive graphics include a number of Portkeys -- hidden links to bonus facts, which Rowling calls Potterania. When you find a Portkey, Rowling says, it could whisk you to news about what is to come in the next book. Or, if you stay up much too late looking for Portkeys, and your eyes begin to go crossed, you can try this: Don't click on certain screens for 10 minutes, and just see what happens."
Week of July 12th
A 4-day weekend is almost as good as a 5-day weekend.
Concert and Kitties
We went with Kelly, Linda, Linda and Carol to see k.d. lang at Ravinia Sunday, and it was an excellent show. She was accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, so the music was great, the weather was perfect and we enjoyed a very bountiful picnic, people watching and visiting. We almost escaped the rain, but the train and Lenore�s bladder prevented us from making a timely getaway. But the up side to that is we didn�t carry the umbrellas for nothing.
As for kitties...
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| This is Tommy, who is named after Tommy McDonald, because he is a bit of an imp. |
As noted on the main home page, we were recently adopted by a teenage unwed mother, now named Hoops. She's extremely sweet and has three adorable kittens. They are living in the halfway house under Lenore's shed. Anybody want a kitten?! View some photos here.
Later That Same Month...
Activities included a mime act (in which I was an actual mime...I had a hard time remembering my lines), making reservations for Key West (wahoo!) and Lenore�s triathlon (see below).
And They�re Off...
Lenore�s triathlon is finally over...for this season anyway. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures this time, but here are some bootlegged ones from the triathlon web site (below). I thought she did great (especially compared to me in my lawnchair...haha) and, as usual, she left all but two swimmers in her wake despite the fact that many of the women did not seem to understand that you were supposed to swim in the actual *water*, not on top of fellow racers. There was this massive churning of arms, legs and bright pink swim caps, but then Lenore surged ahead and away from that scary squid-like monster. The next time I saw her, she was trotting along the tree-lined path to the transition area where we exchanged high fives.
Coming out on her bike, she hopped aboard with ease. (Unlike many who tipped over, ran into cones or each other...it really was kind of a comedy of errors. One woman was so focused on battling her bike that she forgot about the Power Gel pack she had gripped in her hand and...splat...she popped it and squirted a nearby volunteer). Lenore sped off, pausing, as expected (muttering �I hate these things!�), to get her feet into uncooperative toe clips. Her bicycle dismount was also poetry in motion compared to the skids, crashes, endos and half-on-half-off attempts at coasting in while the crowd dove for cover. I never realized stopping could be so difficult! It was like they forgot how...haven�t we done this after every ride people?! Many of the woman with clipless pedals wrenched their feet out of their shoes, leaving the shoes attached to the pedal, and came in bare foot. Lenore, by comparison, looked like a pro.
Next came the most dreaded portion...the RUN. This is the point where time seems to stand still...but it doesn�t, because that clock keeps ticking! I spotted Lenore along the final path to the finish line and she was still running her race at a consistent pace. Others were not faring as well, including the woman just in front of Lenore who had apparently stopped at a bar along the way because she was weaving all over the place. She probably added an extra mile just because she couldn�t run in a straight line. I would like to add that all of this was accomplished after a night of very little sleep (nerves?) and getting up at 5 a.m. FIVE...as in before the damn birds are even awake. I�m still recovering. Haha. Lenore, she�s fine of course. That�s her normal getting up time. Anyway...all of the women get gold stars for competing, regardless of their age, size, or ability level. The crowd was very supportive of everyone, and the racers were supportive of each other. It was a very inspirational day and fun to see so many people come out to support a good cause (ovarian cancer research). Lenore asked if I would ever do a triathlon, and I said I would...if they changed the swim to pogo stick (I rock on the pogo stick) and the run to rollerblading. I think it has a nice ring to it...Bounce, Bike and Roll.
The Last Weekend in July
Lenore took a three day weekend with me since this was my last Friday off for "summer hours" at the college. We made two HUGE pans of pasta for a party at Merri's in LaSalle. We were celebrating her getting tenure at her college. One of the pans got eaten or otherwise distributed, the other one was well traveled. I brought it and a container of leftover cookies to work for my department to consume (they are like locusts). This was my first experience making such a large batch and also using a chafing dish with sterno. I'm happy to report that, thanks to Trader Joe's canned plum tomatoes and multiple cans of "Chunky Marina Sauce Starter," it all went off without a hitch. Lenore helped chop zuchinni from the garden along w/onion and garlic for the sauce.
We also saw De-Lovely, which was very enjoyable, but also quite sad for various reasons on multiple levels. It gave me a rather hopeless feeling to think of all the people sitting around me who had *no idea* (and didn't care) what kind of emotional pain and turmoil both Cole and his wife (and countless couples like them) must have gone through as they struggled to figure out their own relationship and love for each other. But I guess you can't really understand that kind of thing unless you've experienced it. While cleverly done, it seemed like a pretty Hollywood-ized version of the story. A big issue within the story and his life (his homosexuality) was actually kind of downplayed while at the same time played a central role. It was odd, really, how they did that. But not unexpected. Cole Porter came across as shallow and self-centered at times, which was a contrast to his (mostly) upbeat music complete with universal themes of being all giddy in love in a straight world. Then again, he wrote some of his best stuff when he was in the most pain physically and emotionally, so maybe that was his real muse; everyone just thought it was Linda. The music was great with several cameos by modern-day recording stars. Elvis Costello sings "Let's Misbehave," Alanis Morissette sings "Let's Do It, Let's Fall In Love," and Diana Krall takes on "I Get A Kick Out Of You," to name just a few. In all, parts of nearly 30 tunes are scattered throughout the film.
More Mice!
I won't go into great gory detail, but I have reduced the mouse population by four now. All of them had their last snack under my bathroom sink. I can't figure out where they are coming from, because so far I haven't caught any in the basement. Mouse #3 seemed to be nesting, because it was shredding my toilet paper and towels, *not* a good sign. Um...make that five.
Just Because
These are my new shoes. I got them in the kids' section because they were $10 cheaper than the grownup shoes. 
This is Ryan, with whom I share a cubicle wall. He is very entertaining to have around. Recently he thoughtfully declared, "If I were I dog, I would totally drink out of the toilet." I support such hypothetical ponderings.