musings a go go

I watched a very interesting film this weekend, "8 Femmes" or en anglais, "8 Women". Now on a background note, I swore to myself back in college that I'd never watch another French film again after taking a very extensive French cinema class, but this just sucked me in and I had to watch it from beginning to end. It is about 8 women who are trapped in a manor house by a snowstorm--the phone lines are cut, the car has been sabatoged, nobody can come in or out and there is a dead body upstairs. This is very Clue-esqe and intriguing. The only way for the 8 women to find out who the murderess is is for everyone to tell the complete truth no matter how tough it is. It turns out that the wife of Monsieur (the murdered man), who is Madame, was planning on leaving him that morning with his partner that drove him to financial ruin. Their daughter who showed up the night before reveals that she is pregnant with Monsieurs baby, and Madame reveals that Monsieur wasn't her father after all--she was pregnant by another man when she married Monsieur. It also turns out that one of the maids was Monsieur's lover who he had employed there to satisfy his affair. Madame's mother (who lives in the manor along with her caretaker daughter) has been in a wheelchair this whole time, reveals that not only can she walk, she poisoned her husband and her virgin daughter (Madame's sister) who has totally devoted her life to care for her poor widowed mother, breaks down. To make things even more juicy, Monsieur's exotic dancer sister from Paris turns out has been there since the night before getting 500,000 francs for Monsieur to give to her lover (also Madame's lover) so they can run away and go to Mexico together. This exotic dancer is also the lover of the other maid, Chanel. To get to the bottom of the murder they have to be completely honest with each other and everyone finds out so much about everyone else. Another French twist to the movie is that the youngest daughter has staged her father's murder so that he can see for himself how greedy and manipulative all the women are. As soon as they find out they've been tricked by the younger daughter, they are furious, she opens Monsieur's bedroom, and he holds a gun to his head and blows his brains out. FIN

Thank God for the long Memorial Day weekend....I am feeling a little better--not "discombobulated" like I have been, but the only problem I am having is that my eyes are still dry and swollen, BUT on a lighter note, the thunderstorms have started! It is a little late for the rainy season to start, but better late than never. The rains have cleared the air somewhat to where I am normal feeling, but since this is the lightning capital of the world, the lightning is striking trees and starting more wildfires. Also, we are about to start hurricane season again....Let's see, this weekend, Jared and I cooked steak quesadillas with black bean salsa from a recipe from Everyday Foods. It is a digest sized magazine that you carry to the grocery store and check off the list of ingredients as you get it--it is amazing, and of course from Martha Stewart. I recommend everyone to subscribe or at least pick one up and buy it at the store--it is very handy. We also grilled filets and had baked potatoes. Very good! We also went looking at other apartments. Where we live now there are a lot of professionals that live in the complex, and during the evenings, all their kids play in the parking lot (over 30). I wish these poor kids had a park or a play area, but they don't--they ride their bikes in the parking lot, skateboard, ride their scooters, and play ball. This wouldn't be a problem but they ride their bikes in between the cars in the parking lot and there are several scrapes, dents, and scratches on the new car, especially from their bike handle bars . So, we looked at a complex called Grand Reserve which is a gated complex and you have your own garage that leads up to your apartment. Jared and I fell in love with these apartments. Our lease is up at the end of October--I hope we can keep our sanity until then. It really sucks to have a nice car that already has dings and scratches on it. Jared has lost it a couple of times on the children and has even pleaded with their parents, but to no avail. I will keep you posted!

// posted by andy @ 10:56 AM 5 comments

I sometimes feel that nobody around me can understand the sinus pressure and "discombobulation" associated with this malady. Sure, people here are discussing the drought and the rain shortage, and yes, the nation is watching this state burn with all the out of control wildfires, but because of this lack of rain, the allergens have gotten out of control to me. I have missed work this week a day and a half. Yesterday morning, I woke up with my eyes swollen shut, and for the next couple of hours, had to do all kinds of treatments to get rid of the swelling, puffiness, and redness so that I could actually come in to work at noon. This is Florida--we should be in the "rainy season" now--there should be thunderstorms daily by now that last only 15 minutes, but for some reason this hasn't happened yet. I am taking Allegra and Flonase, and this is just not working for me. I can't think straight, I can't work properly, and it seems nobody understands how out of it I am and nobody understands the severity of the situation. As a child I used to have to have weekly allergy shots. I had an allergy doctor in Pine Bluff, AR. Maybe it will come to this again. Please excuse my grammar and punctuation and lack of posts this week. I hope and pray nobody has to go through this......

Your senior year in high school is supposed to be the best year of your life. Let's see how much you remember:Year: 1993


1. Who was your best friend? Stephanie, Chris, Lyndie, Misti, Susan
2. What sports did you play? Nothing my senior year, but was on the tennis team earlier in high school
3. What kind of car did you drive? 1988 Black Ford Taurus with the left side severely scratched up due to a wreck in 1992 that Steph and I were involved in
4. It's Friday night, where were you at? Going to Bastrop—getting booze or going to the movies
5. Were you a party animal? Yes, but on the down low--LOL
6. Were you in the "In Crowd"? No, but I got along with everyone
7. Ever skip school? No
8. Ever smoke a cigarette? Yes
9. Were you a nerd? Yes
10. Did you get suspened/expelled? No
11. Can you sing the Alma Mater? No
12. Who was your favorite teacher? Mr. Owen Johnson
13. Favorite class? Government/History
14. What was your school's full name? Crossett High School
15. School mascot? Eagles
16. Did you go to Prom? Yes with a girl named S, who wanted more in a relationship than I was willing to give—After the prom we went to First Baptist for breakfast and then hung out at an alcohol-free event sponsored by them and played volleyball all night L
17. If you could go back and do it over, would you? No way
18. What do you remember most about graduation? The tassle on the hat kept hitting me in the eye
19. Favorite memory of your senior year? Seeing Bill Clinton win the presidency
20. Were you ever posted up on the senior wall? We signed our name on something
21. Did you have a job your senior year? No, I guess my job was to improve my ACT score--after graduation worked at GP for three summers
22. Who did you date? Didn’t date
23. Where did you go most often for lunch? Andy’s, KFC, McDonald’s
24. Have you gained weight since then? Yes, 120 when I graduated, now I’m 165
25. What did you do after graduation? Went home with my all my family and ate dinner, ice cream, and cake, and then my friend Chris picked me up and we went to the party that Stephanie went to

// posted by andy @ 8:04 AM 4 comments

LOL....I have showed this to Stephanie before, but the blonde in this ad looks like Stephanie to me and the man, I guess her husband, looks like our old church music director.....PLUS, it looks like Elizabeth Dole is giving them the loan. Bro. Mike was very goofy and we thought he was very old fashioned and out of touch with the real world--LOL, but I guess he was a good man, even though he didn't let his wife or daughter wear pants--LOL. This picture is so ironic, I just had to share it.......Double click on the picture to make it larger....

It took me a while to see the film "Brokeback Mountain". Everyone was pushing me to watch it when it was out in theatres, and wanted me to watch it before the Academy Awards, but I didn't. It isn't because I find the premise of the movie objectionable--not at all, it is just that movies that I put in this category, SAD, such as Terms of Endearment, Beaches, etc., tear me UP. I mean, I cry horribly at movies like this and that makes me a WRECK for at least a day or two. So, that is why it took me so long to watch this film. I got it through Netflix and kept it for five days before watching it. Even though it was a beautifully shot movie, with great characters (I was a little shocked seeing ex-Disney Princess Anne Hathaway showing her boobies, but I digress..) it was a beautiful and tragic love story. I think Heath Ledger did an AWESOME job playing Ennis--Great movie, very very good, but very tragic and very very sad......That said, I'm so fortunate to be in a place and time that I am allowed to be open with who I love and can be free to be with that person.....

Anyone remember the old ABC health/nutrition ads that came on during Saturday mornings with this character named Timer? He taught kids to eat healthier, taught us how to make "Sunshine on a Stick" (orange juice in an ice tray with toothpicks), making wagon wheels (a healthy snack), and of course after watching these ads, we had a "hankering for a hunk of cheese"..LOL. Also, one included a guy on a motorcycle (chopper) telling kids to "excercise your choppers while you chew, chew, chew...." about eating healthy crunchy veggies such as carrot sticks and celery. I will always remember these little ads like I remember the Schoolhouse Rock ads that taught us about verbs, adjectives, and even how a bill becomes a law ("I'm just a bill on Capitol Hill..."). Just another random musing I am sharing.....
Click on this link to actually see and hear in real audio "Sunshine on a Stick".....

http://www.toontracker.com/timer/timer.htm

Why oh why did Chris of all people get voted off last night on Idol? He is the only one this season I voted for. I was disappointed when Mandisa left earlier, but this was definitely a shocker. At this point, I don't care who wins---I think Katherine is a boring old Scientologist, but she is pretty, Elliot has really improved and I have enjoyed some of his performances, and Taylor is comical and a performer, so we'll see......Two seasons ago, I thought LaToya London was out of this world and could sing perfectly all kinds of music, and she got voted off too early, but I also liked Fantasia, so I was pleased with the end result. We gotta worship the Idol--the show that is!!

We got a new car May 1. It is a Volvo S60. I have never been into Volvos before, but after test driving this one, I am hooked! It is so safe--it has about 8 airbags, 12 speakers, sunroof, cd player (this is the first car I've ever had with a cd player--LOL). It is an amazing car--I am proud of it--Jared has his key remote that adjusts to his settings and I have mine that will scoot my short self in and raise the seat and such. We got it at Ocala Volvo and yesterday when it was raining, it was driving weird--I thought something happened to the engine, but it has traction control, so the wheels will never spin, and it automatically adjusts to different driving conditions and you can even drive on flat tires! Here are some pictures of it--Jared likes flashy things and cars and I like unpretentiousness, so this is a good compromise.

Isn't this an ironic picture? This is Karen Carpenter with Miss Piggy.

My brother got engaged this weekend. He proposed to Lindsey while she was teaching her students in the 2nd grade. He had her favorite little kindergartener go into her classroom and bring her the ring and then he came in the classroom and got down on one knee and proposed. Lindsey and Jeff called me and told me about it--Lindsey said she was so excited and shocked that she got down on one knee herself--LOL!! Anyway Lindsey and Jeff have been dating since they were in high school, so I have known her and loved her like family for a while. She is going to send me some pictures of the proposal and I will share with y'all (if I get permission). Just so you know what we all look like, here is a pic of us at Christmas (at my grandmother's house in El Dorado). From the left, it is me, (looking very gay, I might add), my sister Liana, Lindsey, and my brother Jeff.

Excuse me for getting baby Cameron's middle name confused. It WAS going to be Alexander but Rob and Sabrina settled on Joseph, so here is a picture of the little red headed cutie!

Rob and Sabrina Abbott (dear friends of mine here in FL) welcomed their baby boy Cameron Alexander Abbott into the world yesterday. Mom and baby are doing fine and he has red hair (just like his parents). More news to follow and perhaps some pics, if I get permission, of course!