Pass the Munchupa
I didn’t sleep very well, last night. Sort of a hold over from Father’s Day. A detailed psychological evaluation of myself revealed a combination of no longer having my own father around (he passed away a little over a year ago) and the lack of any critical success of fatherhood on my own. Introspection is best avoided during certain times of the year. Valentines Day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and the Christmas holidays (for Christians – substitute any other main religious holiday where appropriate) come to mind. I think this is why Halloween is so popular. Not only do you get to face your fears, but you get to do it while justifying eating a lot of candy. Or giving it away – I like both. Anyway. I’ve always enjoyed writing the most when I’m depressed, so today is made to order. You’ll know if I become suicidal – my sense of humor will start to kick in. You should have seen me back when my house burned down in Yarmouth, Mass, back in the 80’s. Standing in the Red Cross office with girlfriend and her little boy, I was literally turning into David Letterman. I’m surprised they didn’t sedate me. I think it was looking out the window and watching the snow beginning to fall that really triggered me. Oh well, life is like that.
I did get a chance to watch “
The Last Samurai” with Tom “Call Me Crazy” Cruise. A fine actor best seen in the theater as opposed to talk shows (or anywhere else for that matter). The film was extremely entertaining to someone, such as myself, who has actually lived in Japan. But it still seemed like a slightly watered down version of the miniseries “Shogun” and a hugely watered down version of the 2 book set of “
Shogun” that I read many years ago. Except for the battle scenes, which were done well. With commercials, it ran over three hours and never really dragged at any point (that’s really saying something with the running time and historical setting). The acting was top-notch and locales were amazing. Highly recommended.
Well, time to get back to my life. This Sunday I fly to Albuquerque to see my mom, sister and various family members. I’m looking forward to my mom’s planned menus of lasagna,
munchupa (Portuguese) and fried codfish cakes. All righty, then...
I See Dead People
Life moves along as always. At the end of this month, I have tickets to visit my mother, sister and her family in Albuquerque. I lived in Albuquerque for about eight and a half years. It’s where my first wife went to school and I met her while selling Kirby vacuums all those years ago. I haven’t seen my mother or sister in over six years, so we should have a lot of catching up to do. Maybe not. After all, I speak to her on a regular basis by phone and after a certain point in your life, the changing tides begin to slow. At least it feels that way.
I saw “
The Sixth Sense” this weekend. It’s the first time that I ‘ve seen the movie from start to finish. Wonderfully creepy. Fantastic acting, for a child, by Haley Joel Osment. Bruce Willis was in top form, as well. If you’re one of the three people in Nicaragua who haven’t seen it, I won’t give away the ending – although it was telegraphed like Western Union on crack. It had lots of nice little touches like the sudden appearance of a boy who asks “Would you like to see where my dad keeps his gun?” then he just walks into another room and we don’t see him again. Just an odd footnote from a dead child but a strong reminder why it’s usually not a good idea to keep firearms in a house that has children. The story had an excellent balance between sentimentality and outright horror. It’s definitely one of those films you can watch more than once, like the original “
The Haunting”.
Other than that, I decided to spring for a pay-per-view Dish Network all day ticket for “
King Kong” on Saturday. Way over the top – but, then again, it’s fantasy from the guy that brought you “
Lord of the Rings”. So there you go.
Anyway, that pretty much sums up my weekend beyond hanging out with the wife, kids, pets, etc. My life used to be more interesting. Maybe I’ll write about some of that and hope no one from the pool of relatives and friends (well, maybe friends) reads it. Trust me, some of it’s pretty hair-raising (which is probably why I don’t have much hair, these days.
Oddly Enough, This is Post # 100
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written to my blog. Actually, that can be a good thing since I tend to write more when I’m depressed over some unforeseen negative change in my life. But give me sunny skies and a reasonable amount of prosperity and there seems to be no motivation to write. I think one of the difficulties I’m encountering is the actual focus of this blog. Therein lies the dilemma. Notice how I said “this blog” as if this were an actual attempt at material to be viewed by others as opposed to an actual diary. I’ve found that once I decided to write for myself, there really wasn’t all that much to say. After all, I chatter endlessly to myself throughout the day, so what’s left over to write? You know, that’s something I’m going to have to figure out in the next day or two…
