August 27, 1998
Dear Everyone:
One of the things I like best about August is:
“Back To School”. The
thing I like best about “Back To School” is:
I don’t have to do anything about it.
No picking out Mead notebooks and those old manila folders with
the pockets inside. You
know, the ones with the sports figures on the outside.
Do they even still make them?
No shopping for new clothes that it will be too
warm to wear for at least 6 weeks.
Ditto for new shoes.
No dashing from one end of the school grounds to the other, trying to
take care of everything that absolutely required attention, during a
five minute break between classes.
When we were kids, and moaned about how adults had
it so much easier, the grownups always told us we were wrong; that
adults had so many more responsibilities (yada, yada, yada) and to enjoy
childhood while you could.
And I do have a mortgage to support and bills to pay and a job I have to
go to every day; but the truth is:
Every August, I love not going Back To School.
In other news...
So, there was “Jeannie”, a couple of weeks ago,
house-sitting for the very nice lady who feeds “Jeannie’s” cats when
“Jeannie’s” out of town. And
the very nice lady had a very nicely appointed kitchen.
And there were these bananas.
So “Jeannie” decided to bake
banana bread as
a “welcome home” for the very nice lady and her new husband when they
returned.
It is important, at this point, to remember that
“Jeannie” is not noted for her culinary skills.
In point of fact, when “Jeannie” took
Home Economics
in Junior High,
she celebrated her final exam by setting fire to her “kitchenette”.
So, “Jeannie” decided to make banana bread.
She did manage to buy all the correct ingredients (there was a
moment of doubt over
baking soda
versus baking
powder). The recipe
called for blending the ingredients together with a
cake mixer,
set to medium. “Jeannie”
couldn’t find a cake mixer.
(In her words, “I couldn’t find the beater things.”)
No doubt, the very nice lady had a very nice mixer somewhere, but
“Jeannie” couldn’t find it.
So she decided to use the blender instead.
She figured, “beaters, blender, they both start with a ‘b’.
How much difference can it make?”
Visions of banana bread batter covering the walls.
However, the oven didn’t explode.
The house didn’t burn down.
No reports of sudden trips to the
Emergency
Room. Presumably, the
banana bread was greatly appreciated.
Movies...
Both “Jeannie” and I had a lot of work to do last
weekend, but I did manage to sneak off Sunday to see
Snake
Eyes, which was playing at the theater about a five minute walk
from my place. This is a
kind of
Rashomon,
in which the same sequence of events is seen through the eyes of
different people, each with their own interpretation.
Nicholas Cage
plays Rick, an
Atlantic City cop who’s not above looking the other way as you slip
money into his pocket.
Gary Sinise is
his best friend, a naval officer in charge of security for an important
politician. When something
happens to the politician, Rick springs into action, determined to find
out exactly what happened.
But everyone he talks to tells a different story.
As he slowly unravels the truth (which, unfortunately, is obvious
to everyone in the theater within 15 minutes), Rick starts to realize
just how far he won’t go to “look the other way” this time.
Interestingly, the entire story takes place in one evening, and
in a single, albeit very large, building (thus avoiding any of those
pesky, and very expensive, car chases).
It’s completely predictable, except for a very
clever ending, a kind of epilog to the whole story.
Worth seeing if what you’re really looking for is air
conditioning; or for renting when it comes out on video.
Love, as always,
Pete
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