Post Number 200! That's Better Than A Frozen Fish Fight!

I had planned to write a nice little posting about the weekend, but then I noticed that this is going to be my 200th post! Wow.

To celebrate, I offer you some of my favorite moments from the past 10 months:

1) We've spent time getting to know John Barrowman (first in a post entitled Kicking John Barrowman out of Bed). I think I still owe you a post about him in a DVD production of "Putting It Together."

2) I survived being Historically Adjacent to the RNC in St. Paul, as well as dealing with the thrills and chills of installing a new garage door.

3) I've reviewed movies and shows and operas and restaurants.

4) You've hung out with me while I dealt with technology, you survived me coining the term Ponderances, and you haven't given up on me during the frustrations of my unemployment.

At the same time, I realize there are still some explanations and descriptions I owe you. In an attempt to clear up one of the things which I've been informed is a little odd, I offer you this new explanation...

You may have noticed that one of my post "labels" is "Better than a frozen fish fight." Here's what it refers to:

When I was in high school, the full student body would be gathered in the gymnasium for movies before the holidays. There would be pop and popcorn, and sometimes a short cartoon, and then a movie. But the movies had to be age appropriate (from at least 7th grade to 12th grade), and couldn't offend anyone on any level. Of course, this was the early 1980s, so people weren't as worried about this as they are today, but since this was a school-sponsored event, they were pretty careful.

One Christmas, the movie we were watching was some really bad action flick. Honestly, I haven't got a clue what it was about. I do know that, in comparison, watching "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" or "The Absent-minded Professor" in grade school was high class theater. Anyway... In the midst of this action movie, there was a huge fight scene where the guys were fighting onboard a freighter, where the available weaponry were, in fact, lots of frozen fish.

It was hilarious. Big strong guys whacking each other upside the head with mackerel. Dueling with swordfish. Beating each other with tuna. Flinging sardines. (Okay. I have no idea whether any of this happened in the movie. Except for the dueling swordfish. I remember that quite vividly.)

Suddenly, although the movie was really really bad, everyone in the gymnasium was laughing and enjoying the frozen fish fight. And, all these years later, I still remember it. So... If something is "Better than a Frozen Fish Fight" it is something fun, unexpected, interesting, and/or startlingly enjoyable.

And there you have it. Yet another clue into the strange and mysterious land of my brain. My own personal blogosphere.

Happy 200th posting! I hope you've been enjoying this rather odd ride which is, frequently, my life. And I hope we all enjoy at least 200 more.

Today is Not Wednesday

I've spent much of today thinking that it was Wednesday. Since I work both Wednesday and Thursday, that didn't screw up my schedule too much, except that I had a dentist appointment on Thursday... errr... today. 

Don't worry. I had told Christopher about the appointment, and I made sure to set the alarm last night before bed, but I still got up this morning double-checking the calendar and making sure that this was the 11th and, thus, in fact, Thursday.

** Sidenote ** For those wondering... My dental appointment was fine. Or at least fine-ish. No cavities. Only a small amount of calculus. And, well, a "microscopic fracture" in my lower right rear molar which is going to require a crown. So... "fine-ish." ** End sidenote **

Luckily, there was one thing that kind of shook me out of my early morning hazy humdrum for the day, just after I'd gotten to my appointment in St. Paul.

Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about the weirdness of toilet water almost always being blue? (It was in a post titled Ponderances on May 5th.) Well, when I stopped in the restroom before getting my teeth worked on, the water in the toilet was, rather startlingly, lavender. 

Honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I mean... The water was pale purple. In the toilet. In the dentist office restroom. It was a tad surreal for 8:02 in the morning.

When I flushed, though, the water filled in clear, and I noticed the handsoap on the counter was also lavender. I'm not sure how enough handsoap got into the toilet bowl to change the color of the water, but... well... (using a little Occam's Razor reasoning) that seems to have been what happened. 

Obviously, this would not have happened on a Wednesday.

Past Imperfect (Tense)

In the past week, I've seen three movies which, before having seen them, I would have assumed had nothing in common. Oddly, though, they all seem to have a very important thing in common: Imperfect Pasts. 

** Sidenote ** That's "Imperfect Pasts" not "Imperfect Pasta" which is what I've typed about 5 times, now. If you see any references to Pasta later in this post, please ignore it. Unless, of course, I actually start talking about Pasta. But you're all smart people. I'm sure you'll be able to tell the difference. ** End Sidenote **

Movie Number 1: The Reader. Okay. I fully admit that I got this from Netflix and did everything I could to avoid it for about 3 weeks. But I finally decided I needed to send it back, and felt like I really should watch it first. If you don't know much about The Reader, it stars Kate Winslet as a woman who is on trial for crimes committed during the Holocaust, but that is simply the easiest portion of the movie to describe. You see, the movie is also about how she gets there, as well as what happens after. Without what she does in her youth, there would be no reason for the rest of the movie. Her imperfect past forces her down a specific path. Or does it? Thanks to some really good film-making (and, apparently, an amazing book as source material), that question of "What caused this to happen?" is left without a solid answer. It's an absolutely heart-wrenching movie, and worth every wrench. Overall score: A

Movie Number 2: Duplicity. Not only did I see this in the same week as The Reader, but I actually saw it on the same day. Nothing like a little cinematic overload. Luckily, I saw the difficult movie first, and saved the mildly fluffy heist flick for second. So here's the deal: Julia Roberts and Clive Owen play... well... let's call them "experts in corporate espionage." They've known each other for years, and have developed a mostly-happy relationship throughout their imperfect pasts. Unfortunately, as you might guess from the title, there is a certain amount of duplicitousness going on. There's crossing and double-crossing. Faking out and faking out the fakers. It is funny at times, as well as being a little tense and serious. But, in the end, the ending is quite satisfying. (I know... I know... Where else would the ending be?) So... Worth going to the theater for? We found it at a $2 theater, so, yes. Satisfying enough if you keep your expectations a little low? Sure. Overall: B+ (it's long and a little slow at times).

Movie Number 3: Up. You wouldn't think that a Disney/Pixar film would fit into this whole "past imperfect" topic, would you? I was just as surprised as you probably are as I watched the opening scenes of the movie. There is a larger-than-expected amount of overcoming the past, though, that happens in the movie. Which is not to say that anyone's past in this movie was "imperfect," but, instead, the idea of the future which they had developed in the past may not have been quite right. (Did that make sense?) Here's the important thing you need to know: The movie is amazing... not quite as amazing as Wall-E was a year ago, but still evocative, emotion-filled, and downright thought-provoking. It also has some stunning animation (check out the fabrics in the curtains... or the way the dogs' hair moves) and a nice -- but not overly dwelt upon -- moral. Great for little kids? Maybe not below about age 5. Worth sitting through any screaming kids for? Even I would say yes. Overall: A

Three movies. Many imperfect pasts. A great week for film-watching. (And, for some reason, now I want pasta...)

Rainy Weekend (finally!)

Just a really quick posting to say that, after the 3rd driest May on record, we got close to 3/4 of an inch of rain over the course of the day, yesterday. And, tonight, it's raining outside again.

The golden-straw section of the lawn is actually shrinking. And I haven't run the hose since Friday morning. Granted, there aren't any standing puddles, but it's been amazing to see rain. 

It's supposed to rain off-and-on through tomorrow, and then be dry for the rest of the week. But at least we've had this weekend.

Cali-FOOD-ia

I feel I have been remiss in not talking about the places we ate while Christopher and I were out in California. In an effort to assuage that guilt, I give you the following...

Easiest place to order: In-N-Out Burger (Sunday night). Okay, so you could make it really really hard if you want, but the actual menu only has about 10 items on it, and they're pretty much either burgers or sides. Want a burger with nothing on it? Order a burger with nothing on it. Want one with everything? Order one with everything. Not exactly difficult. 

Longest wait, but great ambiance: La Golondrina on Olvera Street (Monday afternoon). Yes. There was a line. Yes. It was a little loud. But the staff were incredibly friendly, there was a strolling guitarist, and the food was good, to boot.

Most home-y meal: Memorial Day (Monday evening, obviously). Steaks off the grill were accompanied by homemade spoon bread (an amazing food, kind of like a polenta... or a soft cornbread... really, really good stuff). Dessert was a strawberry pie made the way we had them when we were growing up: Glazed strawberries on top of cream cheese in the crust. Yum. 

Best on-line recommendation: The Original Antonio's Pizzeria and Deli in Avalon (Tuesday lunch). Right next door to our hotel, this place is a hole in the wall, especially when compared to the much larger Antonio's Pizzeria and Karaoke. But everything online pointed to the Original Antonio's being the place to go, and -- wow -- they were right. We had a pizza and sodas and sat and looked at the memorabilia on the walls before going on with our day.

Best view, if a bit chilly: Armstrong's in Avalon (Tuesday dinner). The food was fine. The service was fine. The price was fine. But the view was great -- we were sitting out over the harbor and watching the clouds change color as the sun went down behind us. Nice.

Best unexpected find: Bravo Cucina on the 3rd St Promenade in Santa Monica (Wednesday dinner). I don't remember what Christopher had, but I had their signature dish "Rigatoni Farma," a dish with pasta, chicken, mushrooms, sesame seeds, and a teriyaki cream sauce. I know it sounds weird, but it was really tasty.

Coolest seating area: The Commissary at Sony Studios (Thursday lunch). My brother-in-law will probably think I'm insane for this, but it was truly a Hollywood-esque lunch. We ordered in the chic-er-than-most deli area, then went outside to one of the "streets" to find a table to eat. Now think about this: We live in Minneapolis. Eating outside is really only popular for about 3 weeks in the summer. At Sony, they eat outside all year, with almost no indoor seating. How cool is that?

Most surreal meal: IHOP down the street from Disneyland (Friday breakfast). Why surreal? Because we met up with a friend of Christopher's and spent most of our time talking about relatively serious topics (jobs, relationships, grown-up life stuff) while sitting at a table which was oddly in the center of a large room, surrounded on all sides by families with screaming, over-excited and over-sugared kids. 

Most fulfilling foods: Disneyland (Friday, variously). Christopher and I kind of ate like... well... kids, when we were in the park. Before we left the park, Christopher got a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone, and I picked up some cotton candy. It was great.

Best meal of the trip (a totally objective decision -- as if the others weren't): Take-out from Panda Express followed by Birthday Cake (Thursday dinner). In case I haven't mentioned it, the Friday while we were in CA was my birthday. But, since Christopher and I were going to be in Disneyland all day, my sisters opted to celebrate it on Thursday -- and they planned the meal just for me. 

I know it's odd, but I really love the Orange Chicken and Kung Po Chicken from Panda Express (the fast-food-chain-ish Chinese restaurant which is found in shopping malls in most of the country, but actually has standalone stores in LA). It was wonderful. We took the food home so that we could hang out with the amassed families and I got to spend time hanging out with my niece and nephews. As if that meal wasn't good enough, we capped it off with a White Bakery Cake with vanilla buttercream frosting (imported all the way from Palos Verde, apparently). I know... a lot of people find that boring, but it's my absolute favorite. How much better could a birthday meal get? 

And, no suprise, nothing to write about from the airport on Saturday morning. Although Northwest/Delta is (are?) now serving peanuts, again. Which seems like an odd choice considering how many people have peanut allergies. Why did they switch from pretzels?

Sallying Forth... Sailing Back

There are vacations you take so you can go back to places where you've been to relive the past. And there are vacations you go on specifically to make new memories. It is the rare vacation which enables both to happen at the same time.

As you may have gathered from my last couple of posts, the week Christopher and I were in Los Angeles was one of those lucky rare trips. 

It's strange, though. As much as I knew we were going to be tramping around in many of the same places I'd been to when I was a kid, I figured that -- since I've been out there a bunch of times in between -- I'd just blunder forward and enjoy myself like I usually do. I really hadn't expected my past to play any real part in it except for some "Oh. We go that way" or "We ate there when I was a kid" comments I figured I'd make to Christopher. 

Okay, so I was fully expecting to spend a lot of time saying "My grandparents liked this ride when we were little because it was a cool place to sit down" while we were at Disneyland. I knew I might be reminded of something while we were walking along Olvera Street. Heck. I was even contemplating a meal at Der Wienerschnitzel, just because there used to be one down the street from their house. (We did pass a couple Der Wienerschnitzels while we were out there, as well as on of my old favorites: an H. Salt, Esq. fish and chips shop!)

Strangely, though, I think I got hit hardest by memories on the trip to Catalina Island. That trip was something we only did a very few times when I was growing up and we were out in the LA area visiting my grandparents. I don't remember much about those trips to Catalina, except that we would sit on the top deck of the ferry in the spray and wind, wander around the island, have a picnic lunch, then come home. 

When Christopher and I boarded our ferry, I found myself watching as a couple of women helped their parents onboard. They settled in and then waited for the trip to begin, commenting on their good seats, the view of the Queen Mary, and the proximity to the bathrooms. As we came closer to Avalon Harbor, people got up to move toward the front of the ferry, and I saw them banding together to get that first real glimpse of the island. There was something both personal and universal in what they were doing, and it made me wish I could have taken my grandparents there as an adult, and not simply been taken there by them as a child.

Another boat, another memory. Christopher and I were sitting and watching the schools of plaid Carp and orange Garibaldi swim back and forth under our Glass Bottom Boat, and I found myself also watching a multi-generational family grouping on the other side of the viewing windows. They were oddly disconnected, but also obviously together. When we were almost back to the dock, the Mother/Grandmother turned to the Grandmother/Great-grandmother and asked "When we get back, will you want a nap?" The response came quickly and familiarly: "Oh, no. I'm fine. But maybe you'll want to lie down for a while." She smiled through the years of sunlight-tanned wrinkles and went back to watching the kids. There was something in the older woman's tone of caring and "pish-poshing" which drew me back to my own family.

You know, I've actually heard of people who simply won't vacation in the same place more than once because they feel it's a waste of time. (I'm not sure if they feel the same way about not going to the same restaurant twice.) What I do know is that some of the strongest memories from my last trip were actually created about 30 years ago. And that, without taking that most recent trip, I never would have been lucky enough to find them.

California Re-cap, part 2

I realized, while speaking to a friend of mine today, that I've been home for almost as long as I was gone. And I haven't been at all good at writing it all down. Tonight I'm going to give you as much of my trip as possible. If it feels overly packed in and busy... well... that's kind of how it felt last week, too.

Tuesday - Christopher and I had our first solo car-driving day. Luckily, we only had to go a little way, then hopped on a ferry to go 26 miles west (yes... that's across the water)  to Catalina Island. We spent the day enjoying what it's like to wander around a tourist destination when it's off-season. We walked up around the Casino building, took a very 1950s "Glass Bottom Boat" tour, and generally lazed about. After drinks and dinner overlooking the harbor, we turned in. Oh. We stayed at a place called the Glenmore Plaza Hotel. It's an old hotel about a half block off the beach, just a few steps from an ice cream store, a pizza place, and an art gallery. The staff were wonderful. The view was great. The floors were... well... they certainly weren't level. But the place was nice and easy to get to and from. 

Wednesday - Back from the Island, we headed south down Highway 1 to Mission San Juan Capistrano. I'd seen the mission referred to as the "Jewel of the Missions" but had never been there. The Mission exceeded any of my expectations. The buildings are interesting and the gardens are gorgeous. We traded the Mission for the Pier later in the evening when we went to dinner in Santa Monica at a restaurant on the 3rd Street Promenade, then walked out to the end of the famed Santa Monica Pier.

Thursday - This was our day on the move and on the freeways. We started our day meeting up with one of my brothers-in-law where he works at Sony Studios in Culver City. He gave us his insider's view of the lot, although he kept pointing out that there wasn't anything overly spectacular to see, just being there was amazing. From there, we headed up to the movie-picture-iconic Griffith Park Observatory, with its amazing view of the Hollywood Sign and the LA skyline. We drove home half on surface streets (passing parts of the Walk of Fame, as well as the LaBrea Tar Pits), and half on some of the most notorious stretches of freeway (the 405, southbound, at about 4pm). That evening, we collapsed with the whole family, take-out from Panda Express, and -- after eating Chinese food and some really good birthday cake -- we enjoyed a nice quiet evening.

Friday - Our last full day in Los Angeles was, in fact, quite full. We had breakfast with a friend of Christopher's, then headed into Disneyland so that I could celebrate my 42nd birthday with a free day at The Happiest Place on Earth. Appropriate for Christopher's first time in the park, as well as for a day celebrating both my past and my future, we wandered the park and rode on all of the "old standbys." We started at the top of the Matterhorn, adventured with Alice and Snow White, and even spent time in the Enchanted Tiki room. Much like the trip to Catalina, it was a day where I was flooded with memories, while also celebrating the present and future. 

Saturday - Packing finished, we returned our rental car and headed for the airport and home to Minneapolis.

Yep. It was a whirlwind week. Tons of fun. A little exhaustion. And the perfect way to transition from one year into the next.