Hurray for the "B" Movie!

Admit it... You love "B" Movies. What other time can you sit and watch a horrid movie and just have to see it all the way thru hoping that just maybe... just maybe, the plot will actually make itself apparent. It's the safest kind of morbid curiosity that any moviegoer can pratice.

For instance...

The family had been invited to eat out with our neighbors. The gals (my Daughter and LT) decided to stay home, so the Boy and I went. When we returned, I found both of the Gals mesmerized, watching a movie. I asked what was on, "Snakes on a Plane", one of them said without taking their eyes off the TV. See... Morbid Curiosity...

This evening, we (my Daughter, LT and I) sat down to watch a movie. I was under the impression that we were going to watch Pulse. Instead the movie was Pulse, a 1988 movie about "... our wireless technologies controlled from a world beyond..." So I look over to LT and say, "Wireless Technologies? What did we have in 1988 that was wireless? Except for the phones that you had to carry a backpack to make it work..." Too bad she didn't spit out the water she was drinking at the time while laughing, it would have made a better ending for this anecdote...

Anyway-

So we watch the movie. It was the basic man versus machine plot. The technology we created to aid and entertain us, turns against mankind and wrecks havoc! Again, with morbid curiosity we sat and watched the whole movie. It had Joey Lawrence and his little brother Matthew. Come on... how much more "B" can you get, right?

I love "B" movies! We Gen-Xer's grew up on these films. Movies like Night of the Living Dead, Part II, The Toxic Avenger, Nuke 'Em High... AWESOME!!!

You know... Baby Boomers can talk all they want about how they changed this world and how great their generation is, but are they willing to admit that with burning bras and creating an evironmental awareness, they also perfected the "B" movie? Probably not... but thanks anyway, Boomers.

So, go find yourself a "B" movie already... and don't forget to give a Boomer a hug and a hardy "Thank You".

So... Yeah...

Summer in the Pacific NW Addendum

Just goes to show ya... I complain about the weather around here and we get two beautiful days in a row...

I should squeek more often...

Oh, by-the-by...

Just in case you don't believe how Gorgeous Green it is here, I posted some pictures I took on a day trip to Mt Rainier, Memorial Day Weekend.

Enjoy...

If you would like to see the rest, you are more than welcome to go check out my flickr posts.

So... yeah...

Summer in the Pacific NW

Downey, CA (where I grew up) 11:12 pm, 0'' of rain, 71 degrees F.

Salt Lake City, UT (where I grew up emotionally) 12:12 am, 0'' of rain, 80 degrees F.

El Salvador C.A. (where I was born) 1:12 am, 0'' of rain, 78 degrees F.

Seattle, WA (close to where I live now) 11:12 pm, .3" of rain, 55 degrees F. Rain tapering off after midnight. Chance of thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 40s to mid 50s.

Now, this just might be me, but does the weather here in the Pac NW sound like Summer never arrived?

Oh, and get this... I am very excited about July 4th... For the first time in the seven years that I have lived here, firework enthusiast may not have to take their rain slickers to watch the show!


I like to think that I don't live in a city that has about 36 inches of rainfall annually ("which is, by the way, less rain than New York City gets a year...", natives like to point out) and an average of 200 cloudy days (I really don't know if this is true... I just made that fact up). I like to think that I live an a city that is Sunshine Challenged.


When we do have Sunny Days, everyone frantically looks for the cool sunglasses they bought last year. Then we all stand around outside, with our heads looking up expectantly, as if some obscure knowledge will be revealed to all, while we bask in the glow of that weird Yellow thing in the Sky.

Well at least I do...

Seriously, the Pacific NW is a beautiful place to live. It may have more cloudy days than I would like, and not as many hot days as I would want (my parents bring their down jackets when they visit), but it is Gorgeous Green here. It's the first thing that I noticed when I first arrived... JUST BEAUTIFUL!

All Hail Dorothy and the Emerald City!

So YEAH!

My Baby got Mac!

So my better-half went and got herself a Mac. "No big...", some of you may say. Ah... but you have no idea of the process it took to get her there. She spent a couple of weeks reading magazines, checking out websites, looking up pros and cons, reading configurations, comparisons... If it dealt with a Mac, I'm sure she had read it, memorized it or at least skimmed through it.


If you're a Gen-X'er (and were a anime nerd) you'll remember watching Battle of the Planets. There was an episode where one of the G-Force members was just flooded in paper work, practically swimming in it doing some research on something Spectra... Pee Wee had a clip board in his hand and a pencil behind his ear, the lab coat on... the whole works. I can picture LT in midst of the same mess doing her research, clipboard, pencil behind the ear, lab coat and all...

You see... my Sweet is what I call a Research Junkie. She obsesses on getting all the info she can on a particular subject/object and just digs and digs and digs! Sometimes I don't know if she is trying to talk herself out of getting something, or just trying convince herself she needs it. By the time she's done, LT is very knowledgeable on the subject/object of her obsession. I admire her very much for this.


Must be genetics. Her Dad used to be the same way. He would read about a subject for a while, then one day he's tying flys, all self-taught. Again some may say, "So... nothing new, hundreds of people do it everyday". True, but the fact that someone will dedicate time to anything, trying to better themselves... this is where the admiration begins for me.


It takes self-discipline, patience - with yourself and those around you - intelligence and wisdom to learn something on your own. Many of us may have the intelligence, but not the patience or the wisdom to see it through. I start off OK, but then get impatient and just try to do it MY way. I'm a Gen-X'er, a member of the MY-WAY Generation... so it makes perfect sense to me, until I get stuck and have no idea how I arrived to where I am, let alone where to go next.


Luckily, the boy has acquired a little of both of us. He'll start off all teen-like, "I know everything and this will be a cinch to master, so you older feeble-minded ones stand aside", then when he realizes that he is way over his head (takes a while, but eventually he does get there), he starts being a little more methodological about his quest to learn how to master his subject/object of obsession. I'm hoping in time he will mature and see that the "tried and true" way is a heck of a lot easier then the "my-way"method...


Do you still battle with that notion? I know I still do... Maybe one of these days I'll finally be mature enough, then again, maybe not, 'cause the "tried and true" may be all fine and good, but MY WAY is better... Just another one of those "Do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do" things that used to irritate the living *%#$ out of me when I was a child, and now, I get to do it to my kids. And so the Cycle of Life goes on, young Simba...

So... yeah ;Þ

Rituals

Monday night. "Hey Ma, I need my haircut... Future Weapons is on tonight..."

Tuesday night. "Dirty Jobs is on tonight, Ma..."

Wednesday night. "Channel Eight please... Mythbusters is on."

Thursday night. "A new My Name is Earl and Office tonight, Ma..."

Friday night. "Nothing's on. Let's watch a Star Wars movie... Mind if I get on the Box (XBox 360)?"

Our nightly rituals. This is how my son and I spend time during the week. Some might think, "how sad... they spend time in front of the TV to spend time together." Yeah, but we spend that time laughing, sharing funny stories, developing our hand-eye coordination and teamwork skills as we kill three enemy soldiers in a row (a skill we might need just incase Evil Alien Monkeys from Alpha Centuri decide to invade the Pacific Northwest) but most important, we also spend that time learning. Learning more about each other, learning about our world, past, present and future.

My better half and I are of the mind that you can never stop learning, and these kids have been raised on that thought. The boy hears it every morning as I leave for work. "Learn something new today, boy..."

Brain wrinkles are wrinkles that we should all strive for...

Take on the personal challenge to learn something new tomorrow.

I dare ya... I double dare ya... I triple dog dare ya...

So... yeah!

Hello - I'm the boy's Mom.

I have been knocking around the idea of having a blog for some time now. My Partner has one, and I didn’t want to seem like a copycat (yes, I play in the sandbox and still have a hard time sharing), but I have a few things that are weighing on my mind and like any self-respecting Cancer, I want to be heard (be the center of attention).

So, I’m the Mom of a 16 year old boy. Thank you for your condolences…
He’s a good kid, never been brought home in a squad car. Athletic, good grades, does community service because he wants to, and not because of a court order mandate. Tall, handsome (biased opinion, I’m his Mom), amazes me how adult and mature he can be, and then dashes it all by telling me “I just ate a bug... hehehe.”
Like every 16 year old boy, he wants to drive, has his own computer and cel phone, he wants to be independent, but still be able to come to Mom if things get too rough.

I also have a beautiful 14 year old daughter that looks like she’s 17 (never mind taking an anti-anxiety pill once a day, just hand me the whole bottle). Musically talented, great grades, and a Mohawk (Mom's idea) that seems to change color every month. She's my Mini Me, which is frightening considering the things I've done.
This one has never been brought home in a squad car either (that I know of), but has had a few experiences that I pray she has learned from.
She has recently moved to live with her Father and his wife two hours north of here and blesses our home one weekend every other month.

I'll probably just chronicle my rants, raves, joys, annoyances and fears that come with being a Gen-X Mom trying to raise two teenagers with the help of a Baby-Boomer. She did/still does most of the hard work because she is at home while I slack off at work. I am eternally grateful, and I do hope the kids are too, that they had someone at home when they got back from school.

Anyway... I do hope you stay tuned...

So… yeah.