I've stepped in it now!

Yesterday, after bowling MY BEST GAME EVER, we meandered over to the arcade. Over in the corner was Dance Dance Revolution so I headed that way to give it a go. As I stepped over the machine to put in the money, I either slipped off the top or tripped, either way I came down sideways on my foot. I didn't fall, but it hurt, so I sat down right away. I thought I had just twisted my ankle, but a few little points and flexes didn't seem to go so bad. Then I tried to stand up. Big mistake. And then the pain got much worse.

So, a little bout of shock where I almost fainted, almost threw up, couldn't hear anybody or focus. A little scene with the firemen who came to my rescue and carted me away. A very long scene in the emergency room where I received most likely the worst medical care possible in a civilized country and Voila! I have what is know as a Jones fracture or a fracture of the 5Th metatarsal of my foot. My first broken bone ever.

Today it was a short trip to my doctor who wouldn't even touch me. Seems I need to go to a specialist for this. Why didn't the hospital tell me that last night? Like I said, worst medical care ever! So tomorrow, I go and see the foot guy who is actually a doctor whom I know and like a bunch, so I'm hoping I'll finally get some medical attention for my boo-boo.

But let me touch on the scene in the emergency room. First off, you know it's going to go badly when you get in as fast as I did. Registered right away and taken into the MedExpress in probably less than 10 minutes. That kind of service has to be balanced out somehow and it was.

We were there for three hours. In that time I got an X-ray which probably took about 10 minutes. Dr. Seuss came to talk to me for about one minute the first time and maybe 5 minutes the second time. A very clueless looking nurse wrapped up my foot in gauze and elastic bandage (less than $10 at Drug Mart), put me in one of those blue shoes ($15) and gave me a short lesson in how to use crutches (How much are crutches at Drug Mart? $30). And oh yeah, I said Dr. Seuss, that was his name and he introduced himself thus. I got to spend the other two and half hours making up funny rhymes to go along with the freak show that moved around us. And Dr. Seuss was wearing Crocs. Matter of fact, most of the hospital staff were. It was so disturbing!

So I'm on crutches here people and I'm very unhappy. I missed a play rehearsal. I'm supposed to go on a leader-only overnight at Camp T tomorrow. The family reunion is on Sunday. We were going to go to Cedar Point on Monday. And I have play performances Wednesday through Sunday next week. All out. All shot to hell with one little slip. Any and all sympathy will be greatly appreciated.

Walking on Sunshine

I'll get right to the point: I would like to see the return of the parasol as an accessory. And not just as a fashion piece, even though possiblitities abound, but also for its original use. Look at the word: Parasol. Para meaning partial and sol which is French for the sun. Parasol= Partial sun. Protection from the sun. In these days of slapping on SPF 50 in a non-stop manner to prevent skin cancer, doesn't the re-introduction of the parasol make sense?
Well, it does to me. I love to be outside, but I sneak around from shady spot to shady spot in an attempt to avoid the sun. I'm sporting a lovely half-healed sunburn right now from a trip to the beach last week. Granted, I deserve this sunburn, but I'm certain if I had any kind of tan one should have by August, it wouldn't have been so bad. But the fact of the matter is, I burn pretty easy. I've gotten sunburned at a particulary long flag ceremony. I've been burned on recess duty. I've been burned standing in line for french fries. Lots of things in life happen in wide-open spaces on very sunny days. And yes, you should have sunblock on, but I know I'm not the only person in the world who hates the feel and smell of that stuff!

So, back to the parasol. And I'm certainly not talking those lacey frou-frou things that four year old girls hold smiling for their Easter picture. And I'm not talking one of those delicate painted paper ones, a life-size version of the one in your tropical drink. No, I'm talking a modern, classy shade umbrella. Here's the one I like the most so far. It's just lovely. Simple and goes with everything. Everything that is except the world at large.

The problem comes with the girl. She like the parasol. But the idea of me carrying it around, let's say, at the county fair, is a little more than she can handle.

"Do you want to be known as the crazy lady with the umbrella?'

"Is that what you'll think of me, too?"

"Yes."

Hmmm. As much as I want a parasol, I equally don't wish to mortify my daughter in public. What is your suggestion, my three loyal readers?

In other news, here's the boy in his eyes. *huge sigh*

And then it was over

So that's it. Four shows is all you get for 8 weeks of rehearsal. Saturday night's show had some technical problems, but the crowd was a good size. Sunday's show had the most energy and the crowd was fantastic, but small. Everyone in the cast said they would love to do another week of performances and I know that we would get bigger crowds, just on word of mouth. But the set is already just a pile of wood and the costumes are turned it. It's been a wonderful experience and I couldn't imagine a better way to spend the summer. There's still a month of summer to go though and I'm not quite sure what we are going to do with ourselves now!

Right, left, right, left

Here's a shot of Andy and I last night during the show. We finally got it right and nailed the whole number. A big thank you to all my friends and the man who came last night for support. It means more to me than I can express. And to those of you who are coming tonight, I'm afraid there are no guarantees on the dancing. It's an iffy business, but we'll try!

Opening Night Opps!

ACK!

It doesn't matter at all how well something goes, when all said and done all you're going to do is dwell on the part you messed up on. And last night the hoe down dance was a complete train wreck for my partner and I. And we have been killing that number all week! I just started bad and then spiraled out of control for the rest of the dance. We were completely disgusted with ourselves. But other than that, the show went very smooth. The audience wasn't very big, but they applauded loud at the end. Tonight will be better. (I hope!)

Poor Callie wasn't much for getting up this morning and going back to camp. Even knowing their was horseback riding today wasn't enough to motivate her. I'm guessing that after tonight's performance, she is going to completely crash!

The Time Has Come

This is it! Opening night tonight! The preview last night was a big success. Being whores for applause, the whole cast really cranked it up. It helped a lot that it was an audience of mostly other actors who laughing, clapping and whooping it up at all the right times.

The girl is home now, just for the night. We have to return her back to camp before breakfast tomorrow morning, because they are going horseback riding right after breakfast. The camp director decided that it wouldn't be worth her going back tonight, so we get to keep her.

I'm going to remember to take my camera tonight and get some shots. Remember, you never wish an actor "Good Luck", you tell them "Break a Leg"!

One More Day...

Last night's rehearsal was pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. My veil behaved itself for the most part and the band is improving. Tonight is the preview, the big test. We'll see how it goes.

In August, we are doing a One-Act Theater Festival and I am in a David Ives piece called "The Universal Language". This play is mostly nonsense words and gibberish. So now I've stopped freaking out about "Joseph" and started severely freaking out about being in a play that makes no sense. Exactly why have I stepped into this arena again?

The eye appointment for the boy had a surprising twist. The previous announcement of one far-sighted and one near-sighted eye is no longer true. He actually had one near-sighted eye and one perfect eye. We've been joking that it's a shame that monocles are no longer in style, because that's all he needs. Since that fashion is out though it will have to be glasses, but not all the time; just for watching TV, movies and school. For running around, sports and reading he can go without them. The frames he picked out make him look very grown-up. *sigh*

2 more days...

The rehearsal last night would have been great, except that it was the first time we had to perform with veils and head coverings. It was terrible. Bobby pins everywhere! Every turn of the head loosens the barely attached piece of cloth and eventually it falls and you have to dance on it because there's no time to kick it away. The casts was very grumpy and everywhere you went there was someone mumbling "I hate this thing!". It also makes you sweat more, which I didn't think was possible. And what does our director say? "You have to wear it. Pick it up and figure it out." Okay. Today the veil and I will be having long involved obedience lessons, after I go and pick up more bobby pins. I also ripped my sleeve almost clean off the the dress in one number. And all I did was lift my arms! Lovely. I'm certain the repair job will be a looker!

Tomorrow is the preview performance, which is the freebie so we get practice in front of an audience. Freaking-out-factor is no longer mounting, but holding steady at just below panic. I dream the show all night long.

Today, Ethan is going for the big eye exam that will finally put him in glasses. There's no escaping it this time. He's got this funky thing going on with his eyes: He's near-sighted in one and far-sighted in the other. Doesn't that make you queasy just thinking about it? I can't even imagine what the world looks like to him! So far his brain has been able to make adjustments and make it work, but things have gotten beyond that point now. I'll put up pics with his new look when they come in. He'll still be killer handsome no matter what though!

3 Days Until Opening Night

Does this sound like confidence?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Yeah, I thought not. It's three more days and the freaking-out-factor is growing with every passing moment. It doesn't help at all that yesterday was the first big dress rehearsal with the band, lighting and mics working. We were supposed to be there at noon, but we didn't get working until 2 PM. I could have been cool with all that waiting around if it weren't for the fact that the girl and I had to leave at 2:30 so she could get to camp. We got to rehearse one and half songs before we had to bolt out of there. Not cool, not cool at all.

So the girl is off for a week of Girl Scout camp and spending it sleeping in a big teepee. That's right, sleeping on the ground (on a mattress) in a teepee with eleven other girls. It's a neat looking thing and I'm sure it will be a hoot to sleep in it the first couple of nights, but by the end of the week I'm wondering if the magic wears off. And I know for a fact that those bullfrogs can make a deafening amount of noise when they get going. I'm sure she'll have lots of stories when she comes home.

But now you're thinking "How can the girl be at camp for the week? What about the show?" Ah, believe me, this whole situation has been hashed to death. The final solution is that since she can not, WILL NOT, miss opening night, so we are running out to camp to pick her up, do the show and then run her back after. The show is fairly short, so she could potential be back in the teepee by 10:30, just in time for lights out. How Thursday will actually go is up to the fates now.

Sham-Poo-Poo

I was just counting how many bottles of shampoo and conditioner I have perched on the rail above my shower:

There's twelve.

Twelve bottles, ranging from almost new to technically empty. How has this happened, this ridiculous situation?

The build-up has been gradual. Over the last year my hair and I have been bickering with one another. It just feels, and then looks, crappy all the time. My hair, with which I have always had such a happy-go-lucky relationship, has turned high maintenance and finicky. In desperation to bring peace back to the situation, I would do the only reasonable thing and ditch the current hair products for something that promised more of a commitment to my happiness. But a few weeks later (sometimes not even that long), the same betrayal and the whole process would start again. The result is this wall of bottles standing shoulder to shoulder over the shower door. The family is left to scrub up with whatever is leftover and right now they have an impressive department store of choices.

I recently got a bunch of hair cut off because long hair and heat-to-murder-by don't mix well. As the poor woman fought with my angry tresses she asked which brand of shampoo I was using. All of them, would be the most honest answer, but instead I just picked one.

"Yeah," she mused as she tore, not so nicely through a tangle, "You can't use that anymore. Actually, you're done with anything from the store."

This wasn't news to me, because as you've probably guessed, I've been through everything "from the store", except the stuff that smells fruity, because bugs chase me like I'm walking cotton candy. But even so, I braced myself for the pitch. I would have to buy some super-special and by the way, very-expensive and while were at it, only-available-here, type products which would miraculously solve all my woes.

Ah, but this hair professional has a bit of drug pusher in her. What she does instead is ply me with enough samples to last literally for weeks. "Here, give this a try. And it's 40% for the rest of the month, if it works out. It should help a lot."

Free samples? Designer goods on discount? Baffled, I stuffed my purse and then pockets with the multitude of samples, mumbled my thanks and wandered away. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. How lovely!

The long and the short of it is that this new stuff, so far, seems to know all the lovey-dovey words my hair needs to hear. But this is still the honeymoon phase. I can feel those twelve bottles up there, smirking down. "Whatever sister", They seem to say, "That little guy will be with us before you know it". I tip my head back in the water to drown out their predictions and hope, hope, hope they are not right.

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday today to this very diverse group---

John Calvin, Camille Pissarro, Marcel Proust, James Whistler, David Brinkley, Alice Monroe, Arthur Ashe, Jessica Simpson and Ronnie James Dio!

(Thanks for the idea Weaver!)

Weird Al in Concert

Last night, after months of waiting, the kids finally got their birthday present-- A Weird Al concert! The weather was perfect and our seats were great.

Here's the gang who went:

And here's Al! He changed outfits constantly...

Amish Paradise...

Fat...

And the encore, Albuquerque!

Suzette's Dinner Theater

Well, hello there again folks! You all remember me, Big Daddy. A whole lot of you were big fans and customers to my Fix 'Em Up Shop and I thank you. But don't you know the dangest thing happened? One day a big old twister, or something, came and ripped my shop up all to bits! I mean there wasn't two bricks attached to each other by the time it was done! Anyway, I'm not the kind of man to let something like that get me down. I was able to take all that debris and create my newest establishment. Here, let me give you a tour.

This here is Suzette, in the hat, and that's Stephanie, with the hair. Suzette is a chef and boy-oh- boy can she cook up a storm! When I met Suzette, she was looking for a restaurant to cook for. And I was looking for a business to start. Well, to make a long story short, we came up with this. But I didn't want just any old greasy spoon. I wanted something with pizazz! I remember that in all the great western movies, in the saloon, there was a stage with pretty dancing girls. So that's where Stephanie comes in. She runs the entertainment part of the operation. What we've got here is a high class dinner theater! I named it after her because she threw such a fit when I suggested "Big Daddy's Food and a Show". I still like that name better.


You remember this guy from the Fix 'Em Up Shop? Thank goodness he survived that disaster in one piece! We call him Dishwasher-Bot now! You never saw a guy wash dishes like he can! Keep up the good work, fella!


I love my dishwasher guy so much, I went totally modern on the rest of the help. Here's my droid wait staff. These guys are so much better than any human waiter! They never mix up orders, they're always polite and they don't need paid! Go ahead and be rude to them. They'll never spit in your food!


These big guys are my greeters, bussers and occasional bouncers. Some folks might think that they're a little scary looking, but when it comes to heavy lifting, you can't beat them! And they work for free, that's the best part! I like to have them here by the door. It keeps the riff-raff away.

Since this is a dinner theatre, everyone pretty much shows up at the same time. Here's the parking lot filling up.Nobody, and I mean nobody gets in without a reservation. These guys make sure of that.

This kitchen has all the most modern appliances. To set it all up, I gave Suzette carte blanche (that's French for spending my money like water). Looks pretty swell, doesn't it? It better! Stephanie lends a hand in the kitchen when she's not dealing with whatever crisis those actors come up with.

Suzette is a little sensitive about who comes in her kitchen. Whoa, girl! I'm leaving!

Because she's so sensitive, we've got this pick-up window for the droids. They are NEVER allowed in her kitchen!


This is what is called a Green Room, but as you can see, it's not green. Stephanie tells me that it doesn't matter what color it is, it's always called that. Whatever. This is where those good for nothing actors lay around and wait to go on stage. Suzette sends them back food, I just know it! It is just a crime what I have to pay these people to stomp around and act like idiots. Ack! But since the customers seem to like it, what do I know!





Here is tonight's performance. Looks like it some kind of murder mystery...again.... That guy isn't really dead, don't worry. I've seen this show about 20 times now! Heck, I could act out all the parts myself! I've got to talk to Steph about getting those dancing girls...





Here's my office. I'm up here where I can keep an eye out on the whole operation. Especially those good for nothing, free food grubbing actors. Maybe we could get some robot actors. Robot dancing girls? Hmmm...


Thank you all for coming to the show. Drive home safe!

Camp, dancing and dead things

A week of day camp is once more behind us. This was by far the BEST week of day camp ever. Yes, it was disgustingly hot on Monday and Tuesday and yes, the field trip was to the dump (not kidding!) but the fact remains. Why? Because this year, myself and my partner in crime were the business managers instead of unit leaders. This meant we got to run around and spend money that didn't belong to us and buy outrageous amounts of stuff. We're talking over-flowing, multiple carts. We could up and leave camp during the day (go out to lunch!) instead of broil in the sun while whiny girls sing the same song for the fiftieth time. Sure we had to oversee the making of the tie-dye shirts and I'm still a little green around the nails, but that's nothing compared to boo-boos, tattle-tales and constant bathroom trips. It was heaven!

I truly thought that posts about play practice would be a daily thing, but so far I haven't felt like it. Mostly because we don't get home until after 10 and I'm dead exhausted. Let's see... how to sum it all up... The average age of the actors in this show must be around 19, so I'm usually swinging between feeling young and being a part of them or feeling like I'm way too old for this shit. I'm holding my own with the singing, but it's the dancing that's kicking my ass. I'm come home some nights feeling like I'll never walk right again. By Thursday, my feet are just plain crippled! And it's so hot in the auditorium! You just stand there and sweat and then have to go stand way too close to other people who are just as sweaty. It's a charming society! All that said though, I am having the time of my life. This has been a terrific way to spend the summer. And the kids are loving it too. They have a much less physical job to do than I, but their part is much cuter than mine. This show is going to rock and EVERYBODY BETTER COME! July 26th - July 29th. No excuses!

I have an agreement with the man around here: I clean up all the body fluids (barf, etc.) and he cleans up things that are dead. Yesterday, when I went to change a load of laundry, beside the dryer was a chipmunk who had seen better days. I only took the briefest of looks before I ran out, but he was basically drawn and quartered. And the man is not here. I scurried across the street where I found the kids and three friends and explained (probably screaming) about the problem. The five of them bucked each other up, grabbed shovels and took off. About five minutes later, they all came out of the house screaming, but the job was done. Their descriptions of the poor creature were way more than I could handle, (especially the parts about the maggots!) The deceased was bagged and taken out and the boy didn't barf, but came very close. They even cleaned up the floor. My heroes! As a reward I built a fire and they all got s'mores.

The boy leaves for Boy Scout camp in the morning for the week. One week from today the man will be home. How will the girl and I survive this week with just the two of us? Stay tuned!

Blogging and Me

67%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Addicted is such an overused word, but I think the percentage is about right...

The green mountains call

The man is off again to the land of cheese, syrup and higher education. This is his second to last trip! Hooray! I know he would appreciate any messages, if you were so inclined to send one. The lad gets a bit lonely up there. Of course, I would appreciate a message too. It's more than a bit lonely around here.

The Actual Worst Movie is...

The last post brought about such a reaction--- 3 comments! Anyway, many of your points were valid, but I'm not actually the expert in the world of comics, more like a tourist. So to elaborate and set to rest some of your concerns, I am bringing in a guest writer on the blog today. So let's have a warm welcome for his first appearance-- The one, the only.... the man!

Yes, I am the man, indeed, and while I am not an expert, I have spent more than a few hours of my exceedingly manly life reading comic books--or, as I like to call them, the Starter Drugs of the Reading World.

Of course, reading comics has put quite a strain on my life in a number of ways: pelted by insults from athletic children and other non-geeky kids? Check. Shelled out big bucks for assorted back issues I now can't allow myself to touch? Mmm-hmm. Forced to explain to my angry daughter why it's necessary to store my comic book collection in her closet? Suffice it to say, I've paid my dues.

Such is this love of all things super-heroish that I have willingly led my family into various shady comic shops, conventions reeking, quite frankly, of that insidious mix of moldering paper and B.O., and--alas--movie theaters to see sub par superhero movies. And all of which leads us, Dear Readers, to this discussion of the Worst Comic Book Movie of the Modern Era.

Why just the Modern Era? Well, friends, is there really any need for us to discuss the virtues of David Hasslehoff as Colonel Nick Fury? Or any of those awful Superman endeavors (I'm sorry, you fans of Christopher Reeve; there's no way to explain away Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, or Richard Pryor as a sidekick, or how, exactly, making the world spin backwards would reverse time. Whoever made those decisions--and you can quote me on this--was an idiot)?

No, readers, we shall remain safely in the realms of the comic movies as they've appeared post-X-Men 1, or as I like to call it, God's Payback for my Tortured Adolescence. This is the point where the technology of making movies finally--after years of clear-plastic Captain America shields and goggles--GOGGLES--on Spider-Man--caught up with everything superheroes are about: mainly, really cool superpowers. Eyeglass wearers or the world, now at last we are able to see Cyclops lift those symbolic shades of his and let loose those even more symbolic laser blasts....

Okay, I'm getting all wound up here. On to the movies, and boy have there been some bad ones. How bad, you ask? How about Daredevil?

Here we have Ben Affleck, who hasn't been good in a movie since his two minutes on screen in Shakespeare in Love, trying his best to pretend like he's a blind lawyer. Here we have the remarkably attractive Jennifer Garner doing a remarkable job of rendering Elektra, the comic world's hottest villain/hero, with all the sexiness of, say, one of those androgynous mannequins one sometimes sees discarded in a department store's dumpster (to see more of the same, check out Garner's continued performance in the Elektra movie. Or swing by Dillards). We have a convoluted plot, an opening sequence with a CGI-spawned rat scurrying around, and--god help us--a fight/dance sequence on a playground between a blind lawyer and a ninja-girl and not one of the people walking by on the sidewalk seem to think it's anything to get excited about. The whole movie, though, is nearly saved by Colin Farrel's great work as Bullseye, an assassin who's basically really good at throwing things.

Well, what about Ghost Rider, you ask? Here we have some talented actors--hey, I don't mind all of Nicolas Cage's work, and Eva Mandes is truly beautiful, and Sam Elliott...well, what's not to like about Sam Eliot?--once again under what must be the truly torturous direction of Mark Steven Johnson--you guessed it!--the lurking monster behind both the Daredevil and Elektra movies. Here, Johnson ups the ridiculous quotient and gives us a scene were Cage jumps a football field covered in running helicopters, lands on a ramp and drives out of the stadium to chase down Mendes, who's stuck in traffic on the highway. Ugh. And what's this movie saved by? Ahem. Umm...let me see. Hmm. Ghost Rider is really cool looking?

The first Fantastic Four movie? Don't get me started! The Punisher? Doesn't count; he's not a super hero. Superman Returns? He picks up an island, people, proving once again that if there really were a Superman, there would be no limit on the stupid things he'd try to do. Hulk?

Ahhhh, Hulk. The Incredible One. At long last, all of us who grew up under the yoke of Bill Bixby's portrayal the mistakenly-named David Banner would have our revenge. No more Lou Ferrigno covered in green body paint. Oh, I know; some people love this show. Some people--or so I'm told--also love cigarettes, heroin, and anything involving NASCAR. Those people, forgive me, aren't so bright. The Hulk does not go from town to town weeping and moaning because he just wants to live his life in peace; the Hulk goes from town to town smashing everything in his path.

And for those few minutes where the Hulk is smashing things, Ang Lee's film is very, very good. Unfortunately, I've actually timed those moments and they account for a grand total of .0076% of the movie's total running time of nineteen years and two days. Good God, in some parts of the undeveloped world, this movie is still running. But this is Ang Lee, my friends, Oscar winner both before and since the Hulk's release. And the cast? Eric Bana, a very cool guy and a good actor (he's even good in Troy, people, and that ain't easy). Sam Elliott? What's not to like about Sam Eliot? Jennifer Connelly...okay. I've never actually managed to stay awake for a whole Jennifer Connelly movie, but they keep putting her in films so she must be doing something right. And she's won an Oscar, as has Nick Nolte, who is usually pretty good but here, as Bana's father, he's in one of the worst scenes in movie history. The next time your children come to you and ask, "Mommy or Daddy, what does it mean to be a scenery-chewer?" show them the climactic scene between Nolte and Bana. And then smack them on their little hands and say, "Never, ever, ever make me show that to you again. Bad Child! Go to your room!"

Alas, my friends, there you have it. What should have been the best has become the worst of them all. All of the elements--a great director and a fantastic character and the ability to make the Hulk look omigod real--seemed perfectly aligned, but in the end all we're left with is a cure for insomnia.

I mean, really, did you honestly expect to have your life meaningfully illuminated by anything involving Mark Steven Johnson? Or Daredevil and Elektra? Or Ghost Rider? The best of the superheroes show us ways in which we both fail and aspire to be better human beings, just as the best movies offer us a glimpse into a world that manages in some way to mirror our own. In some ways, the Hulk is a quintessentially American character; despite all his promise and power, he somehow manages to wreak havoc despite his good intentions. Yet, somehow he also usually manages to save the day in the end. There's something to be said for that.

To Me, My Board!

We went to see the new Fantastic Four movie yesterday and here's the news: It's a pretty good movie. We really enjoyed it. It's surprising since the first movie was SO terrible. Most people won't give this movie a chance based on the first, but I say give it a try. It's certainly not the best comic book movie ever made (the first "X-Men"), but it's not the worst ("Ghost Rider"). I've read the reviews and they are not glowing, not in the least, but I'm sticking to my guns here.



But there were two things that I didn't like. First, they gave you almost the entire movie in the ads and previews. Almost every cool shot or snappy line in the movie was played out before the movie ever hit the screen. They gave too much away. The second thing is that NOT ONCE did the Surfer say "To me, my board!" and that really irks me, because I love that about him. There were two times when it would have fit in perfectly and I sat there holding my breath waiting...waiting... no. Very disappointing.



You've got to understand the the Silver Surfer is my favorite comic book character. I didn't know squat about comics until I started dating the man and we started our weekly trek to Parma to buy comic books. Parma. That was the closest comic store around. We went there every Wednesday; that's when new books come out. Spending all that time around comics and traveling to acquire more, I got a good education in DC versus Marvel, who the writers were, the artists, the best story lines. Comic books are everywhere in this house. Barely a surface exists without one on it. You know the little fact that you are never more than 3 feet from a spider at any moment in your life? In this house, it's spiders and comic books. Okay, you get the idea. Anyway, with all the this reading material around, you can't help but pick them up. And consistently, it's always been the Surfer that I enjoy reading the most. How can you not like a guy with the Power Cosmic and who looks so cool?



I was really worried that this movie would blow it by him in some way: Give him a squeaky voice or a terrible temper, maybe not make him shiny enough. But he is perfect in this movie (except for lack of the catch-phrase.) But I promise, it's not just the Surfer that makes this a watchable movie. It's an all around better piece of work than the first.

In other news, I won $2 on a scratch card yesterday and then I won a BINGO on "National Bingo Night" winning a $5 Quiznos gift card. I'm surprised the man hasn't skirted me off to Detroit yet with this hot streak!

For Love of Donny

I suppose it way past time to mention that the kids and I are doing summer theater this year. We've already had a week of rehearsal and it's going extremely well. Being that it's the biggest thing happening this summer, I'll fore go talking about the show just now and go into a related story about this guy:

Opps! Too grown up. Hang on, I guess it should actually be this guy:

No, no, no. Too young. Must be this guy:

Oh yes! There he is- My Donny Osmond! "The Donny and Marie" show Donny. The guy who made my little schoolgirl heart go thump thump thump! Singing, dancing and wearing purple socks. And how many pairs of purple socks did I have? You'll have to ask my mom, but I think all of my socks were purple at one point. I didn't embed the video (out of courtesy to you who may not have lovely childhood memories of Donny Osmond) but if you'd like to see some of the show, this was the best clip I found. There's even ice skating! I loved when they would skate on the show!

I had this album and played it until it was worn out. I'm so pleased that I found this shot of the front and the back of the album. I remember staring at all those little pictures on the front!

I had this one too. *sigh* It's just too much!

All of this does relate to summer theater, because we are doing "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" which once starred the aforementioned Donny. * Big sigh* But I didn't know that when I heard that was the show that summer theater was putting on. We rented it so we could see what it was like and if we wanted to try out. The movie starts, these smoky doors open and out he walks and I scream (or pretty close to a scream) "That's Donny Osmond!". I scared the kids with this outburst and then I was pretty much jelly for the whole rest of the movie. The man has aged ever, ever so well.

Okay, that's not the best picture, so instead you should watch this and see him looking quite yummy. I should mention that I had the same reaction when Donny was in Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" video, the screaming reaction that is. Those first loves are hard to get over I guess!