I'll take Potpourri for a thousand, Alex

 

I have a list right beside me of things I wanted to mention on here and tell you all about, and it's getting way too long. So I'm going to weed out some of the odds and ends in this entry and bring a bit of randomness to our little world. Let's get started, shall we?

 

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I had an email from Cousin Shane this week, and he was telling me about one of his pet peeves at work...when people come up to the counter at the Post Office, and they're talking on their cell phones. He wrote that there are some people that never end their conversations, and he has to try to speak loudly over their conversation. He said that one of his coworkers will stand there and wait while the person keeps talking. In the meantime, the other people in line are getting mad at the talker. We agree that while cell phones are very useful, people can be awfully rude with them. We've both experienced a couple of verrrrry interesting overheard conversations lately.

 

Mine was when we were in line waiting to board our flight out of L.A. A guy behind us in line was speaking LOUDLY on his cell. This was the conversation: "But that won't stop the diarrhea. [pause] You've had diarrhea for 3 days now. [pause] No, you need Immodium to stop the diarrhea!" Could he have said "diarrhea" anymore times?! Whoever was on the other end of the cell phone would have been really embarrassed if they knew that a terminal full of people was hearing about their diarrhetic bowels!

 

But Shane's overheard conversation takes the cake: "Oh, that's a bummer that you have cancer." I wrote back to Shane and said Oh. My. God. I said it reminded me of the movie "Better Off Dead," when John Cusack's character says, "Gee, I'm sorry your mom blew up, Ricky." How can anyone be so clueless as to call cancer a "bummer?" Amazing.

 

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I read something online the other day. Someone called Senator Obama a "fascist, Marxist, socialist, communist loving freak." Hee heee! I can't even get mad about that one, because that's just plain funny. Apparently someone missed that day in history class, when they talked about how fascism and communism are two diametrically opposed ideologies. Far right...and far left. And never the twain shall meet. I got the impression it was a matter of someone not really "getting" anything, and just throwing around some volatile words that are intended to get a rise out of people. It got a rise out of me alright, but probably not in the way they wanted. Yes, he's a Democrat and liberal, but he's far from a Marxist. No more than being a Republican makes John McCain a fascist. Sheer silliness, and focusing on labels and name-calling rather than on issues. I'm surprised they didn't throw in "kitten-eater" like my pal Dan over at Wisdom of a Distracted Mind.

 

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"And you, madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober in the morning." Winston Churchill, replying to Bessie Braddock who told him he was drunk.

 

Is that one of the best quotes ever? I wish I could think that quickly on my feet. Who knew that the Prime Minister had such a cutting wit?

 

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A quick movie review. When we were in California, Kristi and Dillon had rented several movies, and one of them was "30 Days of Night."

 

As a vampire movie aficionado, I was able to guess what was going on pretty quickly (it's revealed fairly soon in the movie, anyway). This is actually a very well done vampire movie, with a great concept. It takes place in a small Alaska town, where the residents are preparing for the long night--30 days. In most vampire movies, the humans just have to make it through the night and make it to dawn--a matter of a few hours--when all the vampires have to take a dirt nap. But what happens when dawn doesn't come for a month? What a clever idea! It made for some major tension and suspense.

 

The vampires are good and creepy in this one, too. There are no Lestat de Lioncourt French vampires here. These are ugly, nasty, bloodthirsty killers who want to rip your throat out. They speak a guttural, Klingon-like language, too, adding to the creep factor.

 

No spoilers, but it had a pretty cool ending, one that surprised me a bit.

 

We had a lot of fun watching this. At one point, they encounter a grade-school age girl vampire chowing down. I said, "I think someone needs a time-out!" Ha! I think poor Aunt Bea kind of wondered about us...we were glued to the movie and she was kind of shaking her head at the violence. Ken said, "Oh, we like horror movies. We watch 'em a lot." She said, "You LIKE this?!" We said, "Yeah." We watched "Saw IV" again, too. Dillon had never seen it (but he's seen the first three), and declared it was his favorite of the four. I think the first "Saw" still holds that honor for me, but "IV" is my second favorite.

 

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My pal LJ reminded me that she was still waiting for some entries about diseases. I told her I haven't forgotten, and was thinking just the other morning about an entry on bubonic plague. I'll start things off with the grand-daddy of 'em all, so stay tuned! I'll have to do some research first, so bear with me.

 

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I also haven't gotten my vacation pictures edited, and neither has Ken. We'll get there, promise!

 

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I think that does it, and that really chewed (just like a vampire) through my list. The other items are ones that will take more time and thought, but at least I got a few of the little things out of the way. Hope you're all having an utterly superb day!

 

 

Tags: cell phone conversations, 30 Days of Night