Years ago, when I still worked at the Sprocket (ptooey) one of the first non-science movies we showed at the IMAX was one of the Spider Man films. It was also the first movie they let me decorate the theater lobby for, so I went all out and strung white string all over everything, created a big spider web in the center of the balcony, and I even opened the Darth Vader costume that we kept on a dummy in a sealed display case and tied its hands together and added a note that it was "Courtesy of your Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man." I was clever. You know this.
Darth's hands were fisted on his hips, in a way I'm sure anyone would recognize from pictures of him from the movies. He was in a total power stance, so I had to pull his hands off of his hips to tie them together. No big deal. I didn't unbend his arms or anything, just pulled them off of his hips and loosely tied them in front him. Everyone thought it was funny.
The problem is that someone else cleaned up the lobby. They opened up the case, removed the ties, and closed the case again without replacing his fists on his hips, so his hands remained bent, but slightly in front of him, as if he was flexing his biceps. At the time, I kept meaning to reopen the case and fix him, but I got busy and completely forgot to do it.
I just saw a picture of the suit in the case and his fists are still off of his hips. Ol' Darth is still flexing those biceps 11 years later. I wish someone would fix it, but I don't know if anyone else notices. It looks stupid like that.
Oh, well.
via GIPHY
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Monday, May 14, 2018
RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING
1) Ok, I'm going to say it. I think I'm getting paranoid. Yesterday, after church, I drove from Huntsville to my mom's house to see her on Mother's Day. While still in Huntsville, just as I'd turned from an access road to a highway, a white car got behind me. I don't know why I noticed it, but I did, and it stayed close behind me. I didn't think much of it at first, because traffic was kind of heavy and I was behind a slow moving truck, but when traffic thinned out and I passed the truck, the car passed it too and stayed right on my bumper. I thought, "OK, this isn't weird yet, but I have to turn up here and the car probably won't be going the same direction." I was wrong, I turned, the white car turned. I thought again "OK, this probably isn't weird yet, I have to get into this turn lane. That car probably won't turn here." Again, I was wrong. The car followed me into the turn lane and onto the new road. I thought that was odd, but once again, people live out that way, so it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that this person knew someone on the road we were on, but they didn't turn anywhere. They stayed right behind me.
Now, the road to my mom's place gets more and more rural and spread out the farther you go, and unless you know someone, or go to the high school, driving out that way doesn't make sense. The white car was still behind me at what I realized was the last reasonable place that person could be going without actually going to my mom's house and the car didn't turn off. I decided that if this person was actually following me, I wasn't going to go to my mom's house, I'd go someplace public. I actually floored it and squealed (accidentally, I wasn't channeling the Dukes of Hazzard on purpose) away from the white car and down the road as fast as I could. The car was still behind me. I did a no-signal "bat turn" onto the road that I used to live on, which literally no one drives down unless they live there or are visiting someone who lives there, and thank heaven, the car didn't turn. I kept driving until I made it to a gas station where a lot of people were and got gas while scanning the street ahead of me, just in case.
I'm not completely unreasonable. I know that the person could very well have family out that way, but it seemed so strange to have the same car so doggedly behind me the whole freaking way, when that drive was so very specific to where I was going. I kept thinking I had pissed someone off in traffic and they were going to have a road rage incident or something. I was unnerved, but ultimately unharmed. Also, I was kind of embarrassed, because...I mean...I could have been someone I went to high school with going to visit their own mother. Oy.
Oh, and this morning as I was leaving for work, a black car that didn't belong on our street parked in front of some houses just up from us and just sat there. So I sat there and watched them. The people inside eventually got out, but I didn't know them or what they were doing. My best guess is they are garbage pickers or the like, but I don't know. I should have taken pictures of them just in case, but it felt rude to do that. I'm, like, a pair of binoculars away from becoming Gladys Kravits, aren't I? :)
Seriously, though, I've got to get it together. I don't want to be a paranoid person. There's this man at our church who is a paranoid schizophrenic, and he drives me ape-poopy because he's constantly asking me if he's going to jail or thinking that people are wanting to steal from his family. If I devolve into that kind of mess, I need someone to kill me. Not even kidding. Poison me, shoot me, hit me with a car, I don't care. That is not the kind of life I want to live.
2) Steve and I had a fun Saturday. He got a wild hair and asked if I'd go to Six-Flags Over Georgia with him. As you know, I do not enjoy theme parks, but I said I'd go because...well, you do that kind of thing for people you like, I guess. Also, we had a new Doctor Who audio series that we needed a long drive to listen to and that sounded like a good opportunity to do that.
I unexpectedly enjoyed myself, though. I'm still not a huge fan of theme parks, but it wasn't that crowded. The longest we waited to ride anything was about 30 minutes, that was because the ride had closed for a bit and was reopened in the middle of the day, so everyone who wanted to ride it got there at the same time we did. We didn't spend the whole day there, because Steve has a season pass and will inevitably go back with his buddy a couple of more times this summer, so he didn't feel it necessary to do everything. We rode a few rollar coasters and such and left. It was hot AF though, and I made the bad decision to wear jeans. I don't really have casual shorts that fit, and I didn't think linen ones would fare well at a dirty theme park (plus they would look terrible with my walking shoes.) So I was sweaty, but not angry about it like I usually am! Haha!
Afterwards we drove down to Senoia, Georgia, which is this neat little place where movies and TV shows are filmed. I mean, it's a legit town, but lots of stuff has been filmed there because it's quaint or something. Currently, it's where the set of (and you'll have to forgive me if I misspeak, because I don't watch the show) the walled town in The Walking Dead is located. I assume they still film there, because the set is there and they sell TWD merch in the stores on main street. It was a very cool place, though, even beyond the sets. Where we were there was a main street lined with shops that you could wander down and go in and out of. I love places like that. We ate at a very good Irish pub and left there. Steve wanted to show me Pinewood Studios, which is where a lot of movies have been shot, and so we drove forever until we found it. It's out in the middle of nowhere, but I suppose if you're going to have a massive 18 or 20 sound stage complex, then you need lots of room. It was very cool though, and since I'm fairly sure Thor (my imaginary Marvel boyfriend) filmed some scenes there, I was practically hanging out with him. :)
It was a nice day.
3) We had some vandalism at church the other day, unfortunately. During worship services, someone drove into the parking lot, busted the windows of a couple of vans and stole some stuff out of them. The weird thing is that the people who's cars were vandalised were from the same family (who was here celebrating the dedication of their baby.) It isn't clear if their cars were targeted or not, but we did get footage of the car and people (although you can't see the tag, and the people weren't clear) who were responsible, so hopefully the ass-hats who did this will get caught. One of the things stolen was a wallet (and no, I don't know why the wallet was in the car to begin with) and the dumbest thing the theives did was to take one of the stolen debit or credit cards to a grocery store a mile away and try to spend $1000.00 on gift cards which triggered the protection on the card to tell where the money was being spent. The police have seen the footage and hopefully will catch the jerks who would do a thing like that.
I spent that afternoon combing security footage so that we could make copies for the investigator, as I am one of the few people who know how it works. Do you know how boring it is to watch security footage of a church parking lot? No? It's pretty darn boring. Now I just hope they catch the people resposible and make them sorry they'd do a dickish thing like that. I wish I could find out who they are and...make them feel very, very bad for their actions in a non-violent, certainly non-vigilante type of way.
Now, the road to my mom's place gets more and more rural and spread out the farther you go, and unless you know someone, or go to the high school, driving out that way doesn't make sense. The white car was still behind me at what I realized was the last reasonable place that person could be going without actually going to my mom's house and the car didn't turn off. I decided that if this person was actually following me, I wasn't going to go to my mom's house, I'd go someplace public. I actually floored it and squealed (accidentally, I wasn't channeling the Dukes of Hazzard on purpose) away from the white car and down the road as fast as I could. The car was still behind me. I did a no-signal "bat turn" onto the road that I used to live on, which literally no one drives down unless they live there or are visiting someone who lives there, and thank heaven, the car didn't turn. I kept driving until I made it to a gas station where a lot of people were and got gas while scanning the street ahead of me, just in case.
I'm not completely unreasonable. I know that the person could very well have family out that way, but it seemed so strange to have the same car so doggedly behind me the whole freaking way, when that drive was so very specific to where I was going. I kept thinking I had pissed someone off in traffic and they were going to have a road rage incident or something. I was unnerved, but ultimately unharmed. Also, I was kind of embarrassed, because...I mean...I could have been someone I went to high school with going to visit their own mother. Oy.
Oh, and this morning as I was leaving for work, a black car that didn't belong on our street parked in front of some houses just up from us and just sat there. So I sat there and watched them. The people inside eventually got out, but I didn't know them or what they were doing. My best guess is they are garbage pickers or the like, but I don't know. I should have taken pictures of them just in case, but it felt rude to do that. I'm, like, a pair of binoculars away from becoming Gladys Kravits, aren't I? :)
Seriously, though, I've got to get it together. I don't want to be a paranoid person. There's this man at our church who is a paranoid schizophrenic, and he drives me ape-poopy because he's constantly asking me if he's going to jail or thinking that people are wanting to steal from his family. If I devolve into that kind of mess, I need someone to kill me. Not even kidding. Poison me, shoot me, hit me with a car, I don't care. That is not the kind of life I want to live.
2) Steve and I had a fun Saturday. He got a wild hair and asked if I'd go to Six-Flags Over Georgia with him. As you know, I do not enjoy theme parks, but I said I'd go because...well, you do that kind of thing for people you like, I guess. Also, we had a new Doctor Who audio series that we needed a long drive to listen to and that sounded like a good opportunity to do that.
I unexpectedly enjoyed myself, though. I'm still not a huge fan of theme parks, but it wasn't that crowded. The longest we waited to ride anything was about 30 minutes, that was because the ride had closed for a bit and was reopened in the middle of the day, so everyone who wanted to ride it got there at the same time we did. We didn't spend the whole day there, because Steve has a season pass and will inevitably go back with his buddy a couple of more times this summer, so he didn't feel it necessary to do everything. We rode a few rollar coasters and such and left. It was hot AF though, and I made the bad decision to wear jeans. I don't really have casual shorts that fit, and I didn't think linen ones would fare well at a dirty theme park (plus they would look terrible with my walking shoes.) So I was sweaty, but not angry about it like I usually am! Haha!
Afterwards we drove down to Senoia, Georgia, which is this neat little place where movies and TV shows are filmed. I mean, it's a legit town, but lots of stuff has been filmed there because it's quaint or something. Currently, it's where the set of (and you'll have to forgive me if I misspeak, because I don't watch the show) the walled town in The Walking Dead is located. I assume they still film there, because the set is there and they sell TWD merch in the stores on main street. It was a very cool place, though, even beyond the sets. Where we were there was a main street lined with shops that you could wander down and go in and out of. I love places like that. We ate at a very good Irish pub and left there. Steve wanted to show me Pinewood Studios, which is where a lot of movies have been shot, and so we drove forever until we found it. It's out in the middle of nowhere, but I suppose if you're going to have a massive 18 or 20 sound stage complex, then you need lots of room. It was very cool though, and since I'm fairly sure Thor (my imaginary Marvel boyfriend) filmed some scenes there, I was practically hanging out with him. :)
It was a nice day.
3) We had some vandalism at church the other day, unfortunately. During worship services, someone drove into the parking lot, busted the windows of a couple of vans and stole some stuff out of them. The weird thing is that the people who's cars were vandalised were from the same family (who was here celebrating the dedication of their baby.) It isn't clear if their cars were targeted or not, but we did get footage of the car and people (although you can't see the tag, and the people weren't clear) who were responsible, so hopefully the ass-hats who did this will get caught. One of the things stolen was a wallet (and no, I don't know why the wallet was in the car to begin with) and the dumbest thing the theives did was to take one of the stolen debit or credit cards to a grocery store a mile away and try to spend $1000.00 on gift cards which triggered the protection on the card to tell where the money was being spent. The police have seen the footage and hopefully will catch the jerks who would do a thing like that.
I spent that afternoon combing security footage so that we could make copies for the investigator, as I am one of the few people who know how it works. Do you know how boring it is to watch security footage of a church parking lot? No? It's pretty darn boring. Now I just hope they catch the people resposible and make them sorry they'd do a dickish thing like that. I wish I could find out who they are and...make them feel very, very bad for their actions in a non-violent, certainly non-vigilante type of way.
Tuesday, May 01, 2018
RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING
1) We went to see The Avengers: Infinity War a couple of days ago, and it was really good! I was not expecting how it ended, and for once, most of the Internet decided against being jerkfaces and I didn't get spoiled before going (although I did avoid as much as I could online.)
I'm not going to spoil it here, because you may still go and see it (you really should) but I do want to mention something that has me a little befuddled. I have been reading about the movie and people's reactions to it, and I'm wondering if I'm...weird. Again, not going to spoil it here, but the ending had some unexpected, um, occurrences. I've read a LOT of comments where people said they cried and I saw pictures of my niece with smeary mascara tracks after seeing the movie. I was confused after the movie was over, but I certainly didn't think it was sad. In fact, I didn't think it was sad at all, but the popular consensus is that people were basically in tears during the last 15 minutes or so.
I wonder if something is wrong with me. Should I have been sad? Are my emotions malfunctioning?
Seriously, though, if you haven't seen it...go see it. It's quite good and funnier than I expected. You might cry, even. You know, if you're into that kind of thing.
2) I get to eat food again! Granted, I'm still limited as to how much and what kind, and it's only one meal a day, but actual FOOD! I'm so excited that I might cry. I am also going to have to be careful, because I'm afraid I'm going to eat too much. Even though I didn't hit the 60 pound loss mark they thought I would, I have still lost a (allegedly) noticeable amount of weight and I never, ever, ever, EVER want to have to do anything like this again. Ever. Please God no.
I'm still on the "transition" part of the program for a few more weeks, and I still have to attend classes, although they are on Wednesdays now, and I still have a few weeks left of those classes, but that's ok. This has taken a heretofore unknown level of self control that I was unaware that I had. Sure I slipped up a couple of times, although not enough to sabotage myself, but for the most part I stayed the course. Now, let's see if I can just keep doing well for myself from here on out so that extreme solutions such as these will never be needed again.
Also...I still can't tell a difference as to what I look like, except that none of my pants are the right size anymore. I look exactly the same to myself. It's weird.
3) Speaking of what I look like... The other day I posted a picture of myself on a thing. It wasn't a good picture, and it really wasn't meant to be one, but a bunch of people liked it, even people who normally don't engage with me on the particular platform. Did...did I get "Bless Your Heart" liked? Good grief, social media can make you paranoid, can't it?
4) You guys, I think I'm almost ready to get another dog. I'm not sure, because the loss of Butler and Bear still sting a lot, and I tend to hold on to feelings like that for an insane amount of time, but I think I might almost be ready to think about talking to Steve about perhaps getting another dog. We can't do it anytime soon, due to traveling and whatnot, but maybe in the next year or so. Maybe.
I don't know, though. It's kind of like...oh, yes, let's get a dog so that I can be completely wrecked again in another few years when it dies. Loving someone and then losing them is hard. The heart can only take so much, and I don't know how much of mine is left.
5) We're still doing the virtual races and I'm still having fun with it. If Steve ever says that he's finished more races than me (and he has, to be fair) it's because he chooses short ones, where I have chosen longer ones. That's practically cheating, right?
Also, I think I actually want to do some real, live races as soon as I figure everything out. Well, right now I feel that way, so who knows? Probably stick to 5K ones, though, but that's nothing to sneeze at. I'll leave the longer ones to people who know what they're doing! :)
I'm not going to spoil it here, because you may still go and see it (you really should) but I do want to mention something that has me a little befuddled. I have been reading about the movie and people's reactions to it, and I'm wondering if I'm...weird. Again, not going to spoil it here, but the ending had some unexpected, um, occurrences. I've read a LOT of comments where people said they cried and I saw pictures of my niece with smeary mascara tracks after seeing the movie. I was confused after the movie was over, but I certainly didn't think it was sad. In fact, I didn't think it was sad at all, but the popular consensus is that people were basically in tears during the last 15 minutes or so.
I wonder if something is wrong with me. Should I have been sad? Are my emotions malfunctioning?
Seriously, though, if you haven't seen it...go see it. It's quite good and funnier than I expected. You might cry, even. You know, if you're into that kind of thing.
2) I get to eat food again! Granted, I'm still limited as to how much and what kind, and it's only one meal a day, but actual FOOD! I'm so excited that I might cry. I am also going to have to be careful, because I'm afraid I'm going to eat too much. Even though I didn't hit the 60 pound loss mark they thought I would, I have still lost a (allegedly) noticeable amount of weight and I never, ever, ever, EVER want to have to do anything like this again. Ever. Please God no.
I'm still on the "transition" part of the program for a few more weeks, and I still have to attend classes, although they are on Wednesdays now, and I still have a few weeks left of those classes, but that's ok. This has taken a heretofore unknown level of self control that I was unaware that I had. Sure I slipped up a couple of times, although not enough to sabotage myself, but for the most part I stayed the course. Now, let's see if I can just keep doing well for myself from here on out so that extreme solutions such as these will never be needed again.
Also...I still can't tell a difference as to what I look like, except that none of my pants are the right size anymore. I look exactly the same to myself. It's weird.
3) Speaking of what I look like... The other day I posted a picture of myself on a thing. It wasn't a good picture, and it really wasn't meant to be one, but a bunch of people liked it, even people who normally don't engage with me on the particular platform. Did...did I get "Bless Your Heart" liked? Good grief, social media can make you paranoid, can't it?
4) You guys, I think I'm almost ready to get another dog. I'm not sure, because the loss of Butler and Bear still sting a lot, and I tend to hold on to feelings like that for an insane amount of time, but I think I might almost be ready to think about talking to Steve about perhaps getting another dog. We can't do it anytime soon, due to traveling and whatnot, but maybe in the next year or so. Maybe.
I don't know, though. It's kind of like...oh, yes, let's get a dog so that I can be completely wrecked again in another few years when it dies. Loving someone and then losing them is hard. The heart can only take so much, and I don't know how much of mine is left.
5) We're still doing the virtual races and I'm still having fun with it. If Steve ever says that he's finished more races than me (and he has, to be fair) it's because he chooses short ones, where I have chosen longer ones. That's practically cheating, right?
Also, I think I actually want to do some real, live races as soon as I figure everything out. Well, right now I feel that way, so who knows? Probably stick to 5K ones, though, but that's nothing to sneeze at. I'll leave the longer ones to people who know what they're doing! :)
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