Frosty Ruminations

You can't really see it, but there was some leftover frost on the back window of the Sherpa-mobile when I pulled into the office parking lot this morning. The radio this morning said it was minus-1 outside, just before I left the house. There was a nice layer of frost on the windows... once I heard the temperature, I used the remote starter to get a little warmth in the car before I got out there. After laying in the warm comfort of bed, being toasty was sort of a priority this morning. I wrapped myself up in another blanket at 5:30am this morning when I had a little shiver on that woke me up. Eek. I don't think Jen was in a big hurry to get up either, since I was the first one in the shower this morning.

Yesterday, I ended up going to see Little Miss Sunshine at the Globe. I had to go by myself, 'cuz Chris was being pretty lazy and Jen was gonna be heading out with Natasha to go shopping or something. But once I got outside again, the cooler air had a great briskness to walk through.

To me, Little Miss Sunshine was again one of those pictures that made me all introspective again. It was that and the autumn air that reminded me of the days of going back to school and some of those depressing thoughts of being lonely and such. Not one of my finer memories of life, but being introspective does give me a great deal of learning and it's also one of those lessons in the movie.

I couldn't really relate to all of the characters and I'm not really a big Greg Kinnear fan... but Alan Arkin was phenomeonal. I thought the Grandpa character, despite the hard edge, was a great character, not to strive to be yourself, but to listen to. There was an infinite wisdome about him beyond his habits and swearing. Everyone in the film that their role to play and each of them gave a spectacular performance. I thought I'd laugh just a bit more than I did, but maybe that was because I was watching it alone.

When I got back outside into the crisp air and the hamster was running on his wheel, looking back into the deep abyss, it wasn't setting myself up for a wonderful evening. I walked back to Kensington, trying to pry Chris out for the football game that was on TV at the Yardhouse, but that wasn't working. The realization of being alone again was not doing me any favours. When I walked in and sat down at the Yardhouse, it was pretty quiet there. Not long after I got my beer, another gentleman sat down a couple chairs away, also looking to watch the football game and also seemed to be up for a chat... or six. I couldn't say I was quite in the mood for chatting, so before the game started, I finished my beer and took off. It was about all I could do. I thought it would be better to stick around at the house and just deal with it all... let it consume me a little bit more than it would whilst being in public.

I picked up a bottle of Pepsi as the liquor store was closed (no beer for me) and Safeway was busy... I mean, really busy... so I went to the Shell station and picked up the Pepsi. I sucked myself up and got myself to dial the phone to call Ash... maybe trying to arrange a meet would make me feel better. To no surprise, her phone wasn't on and I was left with leaving a message. I did... short and sweet... nothing major. No real optimism was left, however, after leaving the message.... I'm pretty sure I was "breezy" on my message, but I don't think that really mattered.

At home it was just TV night. I flipped around during the Cowboys/Redskins game, watching some series and trying to find something else that would entertain me and dissolve some of this ill feeling that I have been describing. But it wasn't really to be. Other than football... it was pretty much crap until around 8pm... when the Simpsons started again. I still had to wait 'til 9pm for all the new episodes to air, but I managed to sit through it all and be done with it.

The new Simpsons episode was pretty decent. The whole White Stripes bit was stellar. I busted a gut through the entire Hardest Button To Button bit... even the chase scene. It's really sort of a shame that the writing of the show hasn't improved the dialogue in the last couple seasons. As much as I enjoy the comedy... and I do... the repetitive nature does seem to wear on a bit. I know it's been around for oh so long, but the movie will be hard pressed to impress, especially if their on the same track as they are on now.

I actually sat through and watched the new episode of American Dad... it was actually kind of funny. That show does get a little easier to watch, the more you get to know the characters. The new Family Guy was also quite good... I could listen to Dingo and the Baby all day long. Once the cartoons were done though, it was bed time. 10:30pm was late enough for me.

And that brings us pretty much full circle, back to the beginning of our story with all the frost and stuff. It may actually reach +12 today... but it's really reminding me of the turn in weather about this time of year. Damn school memories.