Blow Ups, Melt Downs
and
Stuff

November 29 , 1999

You know, I don't get out much. On those occasions when I/we, get to go out, I/we opt for dinner at the kinds of places you can't/shouldn't take a toddler to.

I took a week off around the time of my birthday and in that whole entire time off I never managed to see one single movie. I can't even think of the last thing I saw in the theater.

I'm sure it'll come to me later. I can pretty much say though, without even remembering what it was, that I wasn't thrilled with it. If I was, I would have remembered what it was.

Chuck goes to the movies. A lot. His schedule is flexible and sometimes he's off in the middle of the day in the middle of the week and he uses that time to go to the movies.

When I'm off during the day during the week I use that time for other things: chores around the house, marketing, quilting, miscellaneous errands. Now I'm not complaining because it's my time off and I still choose to do those things. I think it's a woman thing though. Men don't see the laundry piled up, dirty dishes, or empty cupboards.

Before I start getting hate mail, I'm not male-bashing. I'm just pointing out the facts.

OK, there are a few men who are the exception to this rash generalization, but, frankly I feel pretty comfortable with it.

Anyway, today I took the day off (I'll go into that more later) and I went to not only one movie today but two. Yes. Two.

The first movie I saw was one I know I could have dragged Chuck to but every time I take him to a movie he doesn't like he bitches about it, relentlessly, after it's over. I wasn't up for that today.

Oh, what we last saw is coming to me. Slowly. All I can remember right now was that after the movie Chuck railed on for a good 25 minutes about how bad it was. He didn't like the woman lead in the movie. As I recall that was his key issue. Maybe with this tidbit he'll remember what it was.

Anyway, I went to see The World is Not Enough, the new Bond flickie. A lot of shit blew up in that movie. I liked it but only because I like all Bond films. I'm pretty much an easy target. Pierce Brosnan makes a delicious Bond. I think he's a fine choice--certainly better than Timothy Dalton (and speaking of him...where is he now?).

My chief complaint about the movie though is that there were fewer gadgets and more explosions. OK, now stuff blowing up is generally a good thing, but with Bond I want gadgets. I kept expecting his watch to do more than light up. I liked the bit with the jacket. They didn't use the car enough (my chief complaint about the last movie too).

This was the perfect choice of movies though. Total escapism and that's what I was after today.

On an exciting note, as I was leaving the theater I realized that it was on fire. No joke. A fire in the movie theater. And it smelled like some noxious chemical-type fire too. No one seemed alarmed. The lobby was rapidly filling with smoke and the ticket guys were still letting people into the theater. Letting. People. Into. The. Theater. OK, if that's not stupid enough, there were people, with small children, actually entering the theater.

Second film of the day: Toy Story 2. Absolutely adorable. Zoe and I went. I picked her up from school early today and surprised her with a trip to the movies. She's seen the commercials for it (like you'd have to be in a coma to have missed them anyway) and she liked the bit about the horse being embarrassed when the saddle falls off. So I took her.

I was a little nervous because I didn't think that the original Toy Story was a good children's movie. I don't remember when or why I saw it but I remember that the little neighbor boy who kept decapitating and otherwise mutilating the toys was a bit dark for small children. (Standard-issue Disney I suppose, and you know I hate all things Disney.)

Anyway, it is, for a change, OK for kids. I didn't see anything that was too scary or evil. The animation was amazing. The story delightful. The length--just right, 90 minutes. If you have children over about 2 1/2 I recommend it.

Everything was fine until the movie was over. Then my daughter had a major melt down. Not just a little tantrum, crying, upset thing. No. A MAJOR EARTH-SHATTERING, SCREAMING, YELLING, CRYING, MELTDOWN. I still don't know why. She wanted to see the horse with the horn. She kept saying that over and over and over and over and over again. I don't have a clue what she was talking about. Then, when I was uncooperative in providing her with the horse with the horn she wanted her daddy. In a big, bad, needdaddyrightthisverysecond, kinda way.

Here's the rub--Chuck was scheduled to work tonight so I didn't expect him to be home when we finally got here. I clearly made another withdrawal in the karmic bank because when we pulled into the driveway, daddy's truck was here. Thank the heaven's above. His second class was canceled and he was able to ride into the sunset on his white horse and make everything OK for his princess.

OK, now I remember which theater I saw the movie at, and that we went out for sushi afterward, but still, no title. You can tell it was memorable.

Crisis passed.

DOUBLE JEOPARDY. Chuck just walked in and said that. He said that the part about the lead woman annoying him was what triggered his memory. Do I know that man or what????

In other news, the reason I stayed home today is because once again, the rabbit will live to see another day.

I hate that fucking rabbit.

I had a feeling yesterday. The doctor said I could do a home pregnancy test on Sunday but that if it was negative not to worry. A positive test meant definitely pregnant, negative didn't necessarily mean definitely not, since with the drugs I was taking sometimes the tests can be unreliable.

OK, I had a feeling really on Saturday night. I started having cramps. Yeah, those kind of cramps. I knew it wasn't good.

Even though I knew, in my heart, when I left the doctor's office this morning, all dressed and ready for work, I was so devastated all I could do was drive home. And cry. And cry and cry and cry and cry. I thought I was all cried out yesterday. I guess not.

The thing is...this time I felt pregnant. I know what pregnant feels like. I've been pregnant. But I guess I was wrong.

Until next time. . .

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