I got into Glen Ellyn, IL where my Grandparents live at about 1:30 in the afternoon. I didn’t have to drive far so I had left later in the morning but didn’t really make much difference on the final arrival time. It was really nice to take an easy day of travel after having spent the two days prior driving.
I had planned to stay with my Aunt, so I headed over there. Despite contacting her before arrival and her assurance she would be around during the day she wasn’t. I hope I don’t make this sound like it was a big deal. It being a Friday and the middle of day I was not surprised she had found something to do with herself. When you have your days free to do what you will with them and people in your life know that, activities have a tendency to come calling you; I should know I also do not have a job.
Having gotten to my aunt’s house and not found anything there to keep me occupied I decided to try to go see a movie I’ve been longing to see. Hellboy II, had been out for a while and I wanted to see it in a theatre because it looked pretty cool. Despite having a demonic title it is not about anything very deep other then the usual bad guys versus good guys. So I found a movie time online courteous of a rogue wireless network and headed over.
I would like to predicate my next statement with saying I have been trying to adapt myself to military time, or the 24-hour clock, for the last couple of months. Well I serious miscalculated the time of the movie so I was over an hour early. A showing of Batman: The Dark Knight was showing far closer to my arrival time, so I decided to see that.
It was a gritty movie and overall an artfully crafted movie. I just didn’t enjoy the whole experience because the movie was too jarring. The picture was about “the Joker’s” psychotic nature, was more unsettling then enjoyable to me. I don’t understand why we are obsessed with the crazed killer in this country. CSI and Law and Order are both formulaic around a central theme of crazy people. Why as a society do we rightfully vilify these people and then make movies about them that glorify their tragedies? Why are some horrible acts usually more thoroughly covered then amazing acts of kindness? What does the media slogan still apply “it saying it bleeds it leads” always win?
When I got out of the theatre I had got a call from my Aunt and she was around to hang out. I headed over to her place and move a bunch of my stuff into her place for the night, all the while catching up with her. It had been a few years since we had seen each other and had things to catch up on. I really like my aunt and just talking about whatever. She’s super nice and often too generously laughs at my jokes. My aunt seems to be doing well and been enjoying the time off she has had since quitting work in March. Not liking what she was doing for a living as well as an interest to take some time off had spurred her to quit. It was cool to have the validation, that as long as you have the ability to pay the bills it's ok not to have your entire life figured out by 30.
My Grandma called while we were talking and so we headed over to restaurant rendezvous. It was a place I had been to before with my aunt, grandfather, and grandmother, but I enjoyed it and we talked for almost 2 hours about things. My Grandmother is ever the conversationalist and it was good to hear about what she and Grandpa have in their lives at this point. We ended up heading back to my grandparent’s house to see a news program she had extolled the merits of over dinner. It was a cool segment that is not broadcast in the Boston area, despite being one of the news programs on PBS.
After headed back to my Aunt's I pretty much went straight to bed, since I planned to leave early the next morning. Throughout this trip I have learned that “early” is a very relative term and due to having a schedule I pretty much set on a daily basis, I have a tendency to be a little lax about starting my day in a timely fashion. I didn’t end up leaving my aunt’s house until about 9:30 which is mid morning, but it as nice to have a full night’s sleep.
After leaving my Aunt’s house it did not take me long to lose an hour by crossing yet another time zone. Since getting the book on tape it has made the driving far less momentous and I find myself really not focusing on the length of but rather just the story and the immediate driving. It is a welcome mental distraction after merely having the radio and my IPOD for weeks. I don’t think it has hampered my alertness at all, to those who might be worried about such things.
It was a middle length day driving to Columbus to see my college friend Rich and I got there about 5pm. I got into a debate with the kid within 10 minutes from walking in the door; same old Rich. It was good to see him and see what he has been up to since he moved back from Cleveland to live with his folks. He has started his own business of rehabbing old houses to turn into decent rental properties. The houses he’s buying seem to either be under foreclosure or easily gotten cheaply at very reasonable in price. He showed me his first house and what he has done so far and plans to do for it in the future. I can’t say it would be a business I would want to get into, but I got to give the guy credit as having an entrepreneurial spirit. I got to see his parents ministry which was cool, they have had a huge influx of people into the program and it was cool to hang and talk to the kids who are involved in the program. Since I was there for both the Saturday night and Sunday services I got to see the kids that were around there the most, I forgot how rambunctious kids around 10 can be.
I had planned to stay with my Aunt, so I headed over there. Despite contacting her before arrival and her assurance she would be around during the day she wasn’t. I hope I don’t make this sound like it was a big deal. It being a Friday and the middle of day I was not surprised she had found something to do with herself. When you have your days free to do what you will with them and people in your life know that, activities have a tendency to come calling you; I should know I also do not have a job.
Having gotten to my aunt’s house and not found anything there to keep me occupied I decided to try to go see a movie I’ve been longing to see. Hellboy II, had been out for a while and I wanted to see it in a theatre because it looked pretty cool. Despite having a demonic title it is not about anything very deep other then the usual bad guys versus good guys. So I found a movie time online courteous of a rogue wireless network and headed over.
I would like to predicate my next statement with saying I have been trying to adapt myself to military time, or the 24-hour clock, for the last couple of months. Well I serious miscalculated the time of the movie so I was over an hour early. A showing of Batman: The Dark Knight was showing far closer to my arrival time, so I decided to see that.
It was a gritty movie and overall an artfully crafted movie. I just didn’t enjoy the whole experience because the movie was too jarring. The picture was about “the Joker’s” psychotic nature, was more unsettling then enjoyable to me. I don’t understand why we are obsessed with the crazed killer in this country. CSI and Law and Order are both formulaic around a central theme of crazy people. Why as a society do we rightfully vilify these people and then make movies about them that glorify their tragedies? Why are some horrible acts usually more thoroughly covered then amazing acts of kindness? What does the media slogan still apply “it saying it bleeds it leads” always win?
When I got out of the theatre I had got a call from my Aunt and she was around to hang out. I headed over to her place and move a bunch of my stuff into her place for the night, all the while catching up with her. It had been a few years since we had seen each other and had things to catch up on. I really like my aunt and just talking about whatever. She’s super nice and often too generously laughs at my jokes. My aunt seems to be doing well and been enjoying the time off she has had since quitting work in March. Not liking what she was doing for a living as well as an interest to take some time off had spurred her to quit. It was cool to have the validation, that as long as you have the ability to pay the bills it's ok not to have your entire life figured out by 30.
My Grandma called while we were talking and so we headed over to restaurant rendezvous. It was a place I had been to before with my aunt, grandfather, and grandmother, but I enjoyed it and we talked for almost 2 hours about things. My Grandmother is ever the conversationalist and it was good to hear about what she and Grandpa have in their lives at this point. We ended up heading back to my grandparent’s house to see a news program she had extolled the merits of over dinner. It was a cool segment that is not broadcast in the Boston area, despite being one of the news programs on PBS.
After headed back to my Aunt's I pretty much went straight to bed, since I planned to leave early the next morning. Throughout this trip I have learned that “early” is a very relative term and due to having a schedule I pretty much set on a daily basis, I have a tendency to be a little lax about starting my day in a timely fashion. I didn’t end up leaving my aunt’s house until about 9:30 which is mid morning, but it as nice to have a full night’s sleep.
After leaving my Aunt’s house it did not take me long to lose an hour by crossing yet another time zone. Since getting the book on tape it has made the driving far less momentous and I find myself really not focusing on the length of but rather just the story and the immediate driving. It is a welcome mental distraction after merely having the radio and my IPOD for weeks. I don’t think it has hampered my alertness at all, to those who might be worried about such things.
It was a middle length day driving to Columbus to see my college friend Rich and I got there about 5pm. I got into a debate with the kid within 10 minutes from walking in the door; same old Rich. It was good to see him and see what he has been up to since he moved back from Cleveland to live with his folks. He has started his own business of rehabbing old houses to turn into decent rental properties. The houses he’s buying seem to either be under foreclosure or easily gotten cheaply at very reasonable in price. He showed me his first house and what he has done so far and plans to do for it in the future. I can’t say it would be a business I would want to get into, but I got to give the guy credit as having an entrepreneurial spirit. I got to see his parents ministry which was cool, they have had a huge influx of people into the program and it was cool to hang and talk to the kids who are involved in the program. Since I was there for both the Saturday night and Sunday services I got to see the kids that were around there the most, I forgot how rambunctious kids around 10 can be.
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