Worm Catchin’
Oh, I was the early bird this morning, rising at 6a before the rest of my crew woke. When I say “the rest of my crew” that means only Scott and Torie, since Jesse spent the night at Charles’s. I made avocado on toast for breakfast, and indulged in a cuppa coffee. Sigh. I hope I have the willpower to indulge only occasionally; I really don’t want to get into a 3-4 cup daily habit again. My heart can’t take it; it rebels with wild palpitations and dull aching pressure. I do love coffee so; it just isn’t right to have to give it up. Makes me feel my age.
Scott’s sick; he thinks he may even have a kidney stone. He never has before, so he’s just guessing, but his symptoms fit all those he’s heard of before. Poor guy; he looks terrible, and seems to feel even worse. I check on him occasionally to see if he’s still breathing and/or wants something, but there just isn’t anything else I can do. I’m not the greatest nurse at the best of times, but I’ll keep trying to help in my own meager way. I hope it doesn’t come down to a trip to the emergency room, it being Sunday.
After I ate, I spent about an hour writing the first draft of Jesse’s AFJROTC graduation report. I need to talk to him to fill in the details, and to get a couple extra color items to make it more interesting, but the bulk of it is done. Starting any piece of writing is daunting, to say the least. The only time I’m eager to is when that perfect starting sentence comes to me. It usually takes several hours of turning various options over in my mind until I find the right one though, unless it comes as an epiphany, which is rare. Minus the perfect sentence, all one can do is just launch in. When I have to launch in, I usually end up throwing at least the first paragraph away, since it’s bound to be a rambling jumble of nonsense just to get my fingers used to typing and my mind unstuck. Unfortunately, I came up with nary a perfect first sentence today; only the facts, ma’am, fairly uninspired as yet. I’m hoping some inspiration will come during the second (or third) draft.
For fun, and to get myself jump-started, I added Boot Camp Chronicles I and II to the site. These are my journals of our trip to see our oldest, Van, graduate from boot camp last year. It was quite an experience.
Speaking of experiences, we finally got over to Jonesville to see War of the Worlds. Folks, it was the most terrifying movie I’ve ever seen. I was rooted to my seat, and believe me; I’m not a rooter. I’m a fidgeter. From start to finish, I couldn’t take my eyes from the action; I was there. It was well-acted and riveting, and in its own clearly superior 21st century way, kept the overall feeling of the original (which Jesse and I had just rented a couple weeks ago). One of the things I liked especially was that Spielberg didn’t dwell interminably on any one scene, especially during the action sequences (which comprised nearly the whole film). He conveyed what he wanted to, and moved on. There was great character development in the short time devoted to it, and pretty realistic dialogue. Crazy Tom Cruise was terrific, I actually like Dakota Fanning now, and Tim Robbins takes a memorable turn as well. Now, I did start out the day in an inexplicably good mood, so we must take the happiness factor into account (which backfired after I raved about Oscar to all my friends, only to see it later and squirm in shame at my misguided enthusiasm), but I think I would still feel the same about War of the Worlds on a bad day. Even if nobody twisted my arm, I would endure the theater to see it again.
Ooh, lazy lazy. I figure I did my work for the day: only a couple hours ago I spray-washed the poop off the outdoor kennel pad, and cleared the dining room table of piled-up bills and assorted frickerfrack (an equally tedious and disgusting task). Now I want a reward. I might have cereal for lunch, and get back to my book after I check in on Scott again. Later, we’ll watch The Machinist. Hope you all have a restful day. xo
July 3rd, 2005 15:15
How ’bout decaf? My hubby has those palpatations if he has too much coffee, so he keeps it to 1-2 cups a day. But decaf is really good now, and you could always mix it half-n-half.
Thanks for the heads up on War of the Worlds. I’d about made up my mind not to see it. Guess I’ll give it a try. I’ll make sure I’m in a really good mood, though.
July 3rd, 2005 16:12
I’ve been thinking of decaf, but have been put off because in the past, it’s given me headaches. However, it may be better now than it used to be, as you said, and I can always look for something naturally decaffeinated.
Oh man, don’t hold it against me if you hate the movie, though. Make sure you’re in a really, really good FORGIVING mood, okay?