Last night, I crossed another item off my unofficial bucket list and saw The Big Lebowski on the big screen with the blogger formerly and once again known as Crankypants. Upon leaving my apartment, an uneasy feeling crept into my mind as I got into my car, which I can only blame the Glass Broken & Filled w/ Poison Theory on. "The ticket window will read: SOLD OUT. The ticket window will read: SOLD OUT. I know I'm over-valuing this movie to the point of no return, but the frothing masses of college & high school students on summer vacation won't pass up this opportunity to see a cult classic in the movie theater."
To my delight relief, we were able to secure tickets + in a favorable location within the theater, to boot. Granted, it was a late-arriving crowd; but, the seats filled in a hurry as the coming attractions rolled. As a side note, I plan on seeing Burn After Reading upon release, and I suggest you do the same. As Cranks pointed out, the guest speaker asked for a show of hands from the audience if this was their first viewing. I expected very few raised hands; however to my surprise, I'd say a good 1/3 responded.
As for the movie itself, I'm always struck by the little things I continue to pick up with every viewing. For instance, I never noticed the picture of the large pair of scissors against a red background in Maude Lebowski's flat. Another example is the restaurant scene when Walter raises his voice in anger about "the Supreme Court rejecting prior restraint." When The Dude slams his money on the counter as he's leaving, he accidentally also takes an unsmoked joint out of his pocket which he quickly recovers. Of course this is sure to garner the usual, "You just discovered that now?" heckling. So it goes.
Saturday also marked my first limo ride, which probably has all of you picking your mouths up off the floor. What can I say? I don't necessarily live the high life. After we arrived at our destination, I decided to pass the time smoking my one cigarette for the year with a rather nervous groom. Those cancer sticks really do have an upside, compared to the 1,000 or so on the downside.
I applaud Doc & CV in making this ceremony as non-traditional as possible with no bridesmaids or groomsmen & no church to speak of. "You may kiss the bride" registered in at <10 minutes from commencement. That's what I like to see.
To my surprise, Doc exhibited some moves in a freestyle duet with one of the guests drawing a boisterous applause. It's a shame I didn't think to record the dance. All in all, a much welcome escape from my daily life which I have already returned to with the utmost disdain.
Tomorrow can't come soon enough because I'm just about ready to raise the white flag. What I'm referring to is my time in the exclusive spotlight. Lately, life has been tossing me around on the stage and kicking me as if I were a defenseless puppy dog.
The much-anticipated opportunity for me to close the door, for good, on my current job has closed the door on itself. And it all abounded due to the correct exercising of cell phone etiquette. A few days before, an ex-colleague of mine forwarded my resume to HR director of the company I was hoping to land a job with. The director left a message for me the night I was indisposed. Yes, I said night. Naturally, I returned his call the next day, ~10:00am, only to get his voicemail. I left my daytime phone number + my evening phone, and additionally specified the hours he could reach me at either number. It wasn't until the following day I arrive to work with a voicemail on my desk phone with the time recorded as 5:45pm! I'm sure you can gather I do not normally work until 5:45pm...and if I do, I'm normally in the laboratory finishing up an experiment, and not at my desk.
So, by this time I called the ex-colleague to acknowledge if I called the correct number to which he responded, "Of course! I know he's flying cross-country to the west coast. I would say try him again during the middle of the afternoon." Once again...voicemail. And not a word back, since. The logical conclusion to draw from this story is: it's not worth getting bent out of shape to begin with. If he's that negligible with setting up an interview, imagine the potential horror stories to follow. So here I am again working at the dead-end corporation on desolation row.
The next installment involves a well-known savings & loans company who set me up with a payment schedule to cover my major & COSTLY dental work from a few months ago. The company sent me monthly billing statements as reminders for what dates payment was due, with $32 as the minimum monthly charge. Since I wasn't keen on paying the bare minimum every month (are ya listening, Stan?), I wrote out checks for as much as 8x per month for the first few months. It had been a while since I received my last monthly statement, until today when the assfucks called me on my way home from work telling me I'm overdue on my monthly payment. First of all, I never received your fucking statement. Second of all, what I've payed in the last few months more than covers. In fact, I calculate I'm due a 5-month grace period, jerkfaces.
Er, well, sometimes it rains in Arizona. And sometimes Boris Yeltsin was sober. Oh, and sometimes U2 puts out a song that doesn't suck balls. But most of all, SOMETIMES I must formulate a list of chores to accomplish.
pick up suit from dry cleanerscall aunt about attending 2nd cousin's high school graduation partybalance checkbookpurchase present for thehappycouple- inform B&B about change in CC account
get drunk tomorrowBy far, the easiest to accomplish.send resume to ex-colleague I'm lucky to keep in contact with
It sounds like a tall order. But I know I can do it.
Score one for the little guys, because I was notified my salary will remain the same all the way through next March! That's right. Cost of living increase? What the fuck is that? Moreover, I spoke with a representative from the evil co. who is approximately on the same rung of the ladder as me, corporately speaking. Where were the big girls/boys to answer my fervent questions? I felt sorry for this one since she had to deflect everything I could throw at her.
If there's anyone out there in Voxland who knows a thing or three about writing macros in Excel, we should talk. Lately, as my occupational career continues to compartmentalize, I've gotten a sense I need to improve upon develop my software skills if I'm going to stay in this business. It's one thing to be able to work as a lab monkey - er - rat. But, it's quite another to apply outside knowledge into the realm of data analysis. That was the take-home message after my interview with the temp. agency on Tuesday, which left me at a 50/50 decision for leaving my current job.
On the lighter side, one of my friends from the college years drove down from Albany to spend the extended weekend here at Casa de Cappy. Last night, we suffered through 3 hours of non-stop precipitation to watch our respective baseball teams (New York Mets & Philadelphia Phillies) renew their rivalry. I will hand it to the scores of Mets fans who don't mind seeing their team repeatedly lose on foreign soil + receive the amount of verbal abuse reserved only for our country's fearless leader after the game. However, I'm sure they're used to it since they live side-by-side with Yankees fans.
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Vox Fantasy Football Updated: Oct 1, 2007
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