Thursday, December 28, 2006

Life Ain't All Peaches and Cream

Hi All!

Randy Moss quoted that old line when he got in trouble for running a red light and hitting a traffic cop. The case went away very quickly. One can assume the traffic cop has no financial worries for life.

I'm retiring that quote from my masthead because it is too trite and too depressing.

Have any of you ever eaten peaches and cream? My Nana used to serve it to us as kids. Fresh sliced peach wedges bathed in cream (or whole milk at least) and buried in an avalanche of sugar. Best way to enjoy fruit, but perhaps not very healthy. Like a Cranberry and Vodka. Fruit and potato, good for a sugar buzz but not too good for one, at least if over-indulged-in.

When my eldest was home from college for a couple of nights he discovered that my Comcast cable has an "On Demand" feature that lets you watch free movies. Not only can you watch any of several dozen classic films at your convenience, you can stop, pause, forward and rewind. Comcast should tout this service more aggressively. It is really neat.

Last night after dinner, wife, youngest and me watched "Das Boot" for the umpteenth time.

There are three movies that have special meaning and strong memories for me.

When "Mary Poppins" came out, we kids and my mom got to join my dad "Downtown" to see it -- at the Strand I think, maybe the Orpheum. Whatever, the movie palace was magical. In our youthful haste to get to the show, my little brother smashed his face into a traffic sign as he sprinted to the theater entrance. He went down like a stone.

Whatever brain damage that he incurred from that or the time I knocked his teeth out by pounding him with my plaster-casted broken arm, certainly hasn't held him back from being an incredible success with all the associated rewards that are richly deserved. I am proud of him and, thank God, he is nice to me.

For my First Date, I invited a good looking Visitation HS frosh to a movie and dinner. The movie was the new film, "Night of the Living Dead" which was playing at the Highland. The dinner was a large cheese pizza at Carbones.

It was way south of zero degrees and the roads were snow packed and icy. I told my folks that we were "taking the bus" to our date -- what a bad liar I was (am?)

I "borrowed" dad's land yacht, a Ford LTD that was too long for our garage door to shut behind. The parents were having a cocktail party and the garage entry was screened from the house, so I felt pretty safe.

I didn't count on getting stuck in the DeVine's Men's Clothing parking lot after the movie was over. It was just a little patch of ice, but the rear-wheel-drive behemoth simply spun it's wheels helplessly.

So I taught Sue how to drive.

She was 14. I was 15. I showed her what to do. Press the right pedal slowly and I will push. Once free, push the huge brake pedal.

It worked. The car was an eyelash away from catapulting into Ford Parkway but Sue managed to find that God sent brake pedal.

Carbone's was the icing on the disaster of a date. I think she was in a state of shock after her emergency driving lesson and she just sat mute and watched me eat the whole pizza without taking even one piece.

Got her home safe and sound and never came near her again -- she DID look good from a distance, but up close.... She was a dog. She had the personality of a mushroom. The movie sucked.

My Dad, my bride-in-waiting and I shoved a few bottles of beer into our heavy winter coats and went to see the new movie, "Das Boot" I have always been a germanophile and this movie sounded pretty good, since dad like WWII movies.

Dad was ready to get up and leave as soon as we found out that the movie was in German with subtitles, but the smuggled beers kept us in our seats for what turned out to be the best movie theater experience we had ever had.

I don't know how many times dad, Laura and me have seen it again, but it has been many.

Last night was like seeing the movie back at the theater again. The fond memories flooded back, although the movie is quite dark with a typically "german" depressing end. The HD picture looked fantastic and the booming sound from my 1000 watt speaker array was better than even at the theater back in the late seventies when we first saw it.

PS. I got the LTD back into the garage and closed the door as far as it would go, leaving the back end sticking out, as normal. Despite the risks and near disaster, I pulled it off. I thought.

I was greeted the next day with the news that my baby sister had left her mittens in the LTD and dad had gone out to the garage to retrieve them. He knew he didn't need to report it stolen. If there is one constant in my life, it is that I NEVER get away with ANYTHING !

The punishment must not have been too harsh 'cos I think dad might possibly have admired my foolish guts.

Cheers!

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