Weekend blog

On Friday I saw Million Dollar Baby. I thought the acting was fantastic. I hate him, but Clint Eastwood is good. I like Hillary Swank, and though some of her dialog was creaky, she was a completely believable character. You felt the pain of these characters. And, did I mention Morgan Freeman? Outstanding. The only thing to criticize in this film was the ending, which was something less than believable, some of the dialog and the transformation arc--but still, there was a good deal of humor, some touching pathos and those really fine performances. I didn't love it, but I sure liked a lot of things about it. I would recommend it.

Before the movie, I got a burger (the small one) and I ate all the fries (small, which is not an accurate description of the enormous number of fries in the order), which was a bit much. I was stuffed and satisfied. When I got home, I fiddled on the computer, watched a little tv and fell into bed. My real estate guy never confirmed our Saturday morning outing, so it didn't happen, which was fine. I thought I would get out of the house for coffee and blogging, but that didn't happen either. I lazed around, snacked, and just barely got out in time to make lunch with the long lost relatives. Lunch was fine, though not exactly a barrel of laughs, as might be expected with complete strangers. The relatives were distant enough to be unrecognizable (no family resemblance—I look more like my father’s side of the family actually). The parties were my mother's second cousin, who is the same age as her (64), the second cousin's husband and two nephews, brothers, who were close to my age. These two guys are my third cousins. Who knows their third cousins? I found it bizarre and amusing. The husband was a nice guy who was sort of in charge and who paid for lunch, no questions asked. The conversation turned mostly on politics, with the younger of the two brothers expressing disgust with the leadership, or what he would have called mismanagement, of the Democratic party. The older brother was not so angry or strident and only got frustrated with his brother, remaining calm otherwise. The husband tried a few times to change the subject, unsuccessfully. He was sitting next to me and finally said, "I'd really like to change the subject." I said, "You can't just say that, you have to actually introduce a new subject. Like, what are your plans for this visit?"

"Not much, just see the grandchild."

"Oh, well, that will be fun. He's what, a year old?"

"Yes, he's a lot of fun."

That did the trick. Photos were pulled out and discussion of grandchildren began.

I walked out with the brothers and we chatted pleasantly for a bit. I told them a story about Peru. We discussed the family connection. The younger one said, "To be honest, this is about as much family as I do." I though that was pretty hysterical, because he then asked me for my card. I had cards and gave them both one, wrote my number on the back and also my address and the date of my party. Hey, what's a party without a couple of third cousins there? No fun at all, that's what. They may not be able to make it, but they were interesting guys and I may see them again. (No, I don’t think there is dating potential there, but I think it is legal everywhere to date one’s third cousin, so if I wanted to, I could.)

After, I met MB and we went to see Hitch, which was a heck of a lot of fun if not exactly the deepest thing I ever saw. It made me laugh hard several times and that alone was worth the price of admission. We grabbed a bite to eat after the movie at the only Burmese restaurant in Chinatown. The service was outrageously bad, probably because the place was packed. And, while, I didn't expect much from the décor, the place reminded me of a Soviet era café. I have never been to a real Soviet era café because when I visited the USSR we only went where they told us to go and that meant meals in mostly in nice hotels. Still, I really liked one of the dishes we ordered, green tea leaf salad, but I don't think Meena was crazy about any of it.

Ah, sweet, lazy Saturday, how I love you (yes, I am grateful). Although, it could have been lazier. Still, it wasn’t bad.