Classic Film Friday: The Little Shop of Horrors

This movie is from all the way in 1960, I know pretty much everyone will think of the 1986 musical. It is still funny and strange however and not a musical. In his spare time Seymour develops a new hybrid of a venus flytrap and a butterwort which he names Audrey Jr. because he is in love with co-worker (that they both work for) Audrey.

Seymour accidentally discovers that this plants thrives on human blood, first he feeds it his own blood, but not having enough, the murders, and hilarity begins. It is kind of like low budget B movie meets comedy, in this dark humorous film. All the while trying to keep a straight face, because people are dieing after all. And to beat that, imagine our surprise when we see a young Jack Nicholson appear as the very strange undertaker who just loves pain begging for the dentist to work on him.

Same Problems

My oldest daughter, the 13-year-old (about to be 14-year-old) was going to Mexico with her mom, my ex-wife. I say was because something has happened, and she is no longer going. Now normally this would be no sweat off my ass, what she does or does not do with mother is really none of my business.

Well that is until she involves me, which she did, because I had take take her to go get a passport, which means I had to take off from work, take my daughter out of school, go to the post office, wait in line, and get a passport. Yeah I know, I wasn't really asked to do that much, but it was something. Not to mention her mother sent money for my daughter to go shopping for her cruise. I really though this was happening.

But suddenly it wasn't happening, suddenly I was transported to 10-15 years ago, to when I was married to her, and it was me not getting to go. Which sucks, especially when we went to Disney without my daughter, and we thought "well, it'll be alright, she is going on a cruise to Mexico after all". Now I don't feel sorry for my daughter, she got what she got, and if she wanted she could have told me "Hey dad, I don't want to go to mom's this summer" but she didn't and thus, put herself in the path of her mother's inactivity or incompetence or whatever. They say divorce is forever, like a diamond or a stain that you discover after you dried your clothes. Yeah like that.

Garden Update: Week 22

So the garden didn't have a week off. It also didn't have a break from weeds. Luckily we spent an evening getting rid of the weeds, and we also got our first cucumber. Lots of peppers are fixing to come off as well.

Huh???

I mean really? What is this shit? It is right on 278, and they want everyone to know what it will be called. Imagine if they had a sign like that when the Mayflower arrived...

The Neighborhood...

So in getting back to the swing of things after a long vacation (it has been 4 years since my last one) I find my neighborhood in a kind of disarray or actually... abandonment. Of the five houses on the lake... mine is the only one that is occupied. And you know since there are so many houses for sale, it brings everyone's home value go down. That is never good, but with the economy the way it is, well nobody is selling unless they are offering big discounts. And that is another problem, because I think my neighborhood was bought up by people looking to cash in on the real estate market... and now that is gone, but the mortgage is not, and so people get in this mode of not wanting to take less than what they paid, or break even. But the property sits empty, and the grass keeps growing, and mulch needs to be spread, and on and on. It looks grim.

And that is just from their point of view. For me and my family, this is where I live. What I'm saying is, I didn't buy in my neighborhood to sell it for a profit, I mean I'm sure when I do sell it, I would like to see a profit, but I didn't buy it just to flip it two years later. And it really looks like everyone else (mostly) just bought it to flip. And now you have some less desirable renters and abandoned/foreclosed houses.

My neighborhood is not the only place that this is happening. Heck it is probably everywhere, I just can't help thinking that this was a relatively small development, and the amount of house flippers, etc. is worrisome. What me worry? Yeah maybe...

The Vacation

Yes I know, I planned it differently, but this is what I got, so there. We all made it back ok, and we had a great time, here is how it played out.

The first day: my wife and I were talking… we wonder if the people going or coming from vacation feel like we do (we think this a lot since we live in a tourist town)
And then I thought, maybe they are glad to be off of vacation… because you really don’t relax much when you go on vacation.

Day Two: Man what a let down Epcot was to me. I thought Mexico would have the beloved sopaipilla but alas no. They didn’t even have a great beer selection in Germany. Basically, Epcot stinks, but I guess you have to go at least once.

What I can say is taking a boat ride from Fort Wilderness to the Magic Kingdom is awesome. The bus everywhere else is a bit of a drag. We went to the night parade and fireworks show… I don’t think I have it in me to go through that again. Honestly, you think you’re doing good by getting a spot early and such, but in reality no, that is not the case. Because you will be walked over and pushed and basically wish you never even came there in the first place. I won’t dwell on it, but it really does suck to be a person that arrives early or prepared, when others around you can just be otherwise.

Day Three: We checked out the Animal Kingdom and saw lots of animals. I like it because it is not so “Disney” as the other parks. Or maybe it just wasn’t as crowed as some of the other parks as it rained all morning. We finally ate at a place that I liked, not saying that it was very good, but it was palatable, and within Disney that is saying something.

Day Four: We went to the Magic Kingdom for the “extra magic hour” Which in one way is cool, because you can actually get to and ride some things; the bad part is there is all these other people that want the same thing. And it makes you get up early, which on vacation, is not all that good. We finished the evening off at Hollywood Studios. Which has this kind of night time show “Fantasmic” but it was so crazy, and so many people were there, an hour and a half before the show started, we opted out of it.

Day Five: We went back to Animal Kingdom and finish up the park, the 45 minute Nemo show and ‘Dinosaur’. And then we went back to the hotel took a dip in the pool, and went to Downtown Disney. Let me tell you, don’t do this. Don’t take the bus to Downtown Disney unless you like long, long bus rides. It took 30 minuets from the time we got on the bus (another 20 waiting for the bus to come), and the worst part is, it will only take 5 minutes if you take your own car. There is plenty of parking, so I say, skip it and just go in your car. (Add to that our 3-year-old convinced us not to take the stroller and once we got on the bus, conched out, and basically slept through dinner, in fact when we tried to wake her up for dessert, she cried and screamed so much we wound up leaving, with some good dinner I think, but otherwise empty handed.)

Day Six: We stayed at the hotel, but honestly we all felt like we were somehow missing out on something… that is the curse of this place. You really can’t “relax” because there is something new and exciting waiting for you. In the evening we went to the Crystal Palace to eat with Eeyore, Tigger, Piglet, and Pooh. Which was fun, I mean you need to have a reservation weeks in advanced but if you know you’re going, I would definitely do it. Afterward I took my 3-year-old on Tomorrowland Speedway and then on to a “loller caster”, The Barnstormer (A Goofy ride) roller coaster, and for that I am truly impressed. My 13-year-old would not ride a roller coaster so it is really saying something. After all of that fun, we waited in line for an hour to meet the princesses and though I don’t think it was worth it, my daughter would argue differently.

Day Seven: We went to Hollywood Studios to checkout some stuff we missed previously and then went to Downtown Disney to do some shopping (by car instead of bus) bought everything for everybody (which really wasn’t much) rest that night and headed for home in the morning.

Give me a "Y"

Give me an "E"

Give me a "K"

Give me an "C"

Give me an"I"

Give me an "M"

Off We Go

And so I am leaving early in the morning, to go to Disney World. I will have posts, sorta you'll just have to come back and see now won't you? I will be at the Wilderness Lodge, in case anyone wants to send me a beer or a sandwich. I won't have internet access while I'm there, because they want some ridiculous amount of money that I'm unwilling to pay. I will bring my laptop just in case they or I change their mind, and I no doubt will have delightful and/or stupid stories to bring back and share... why do I feel like this is the end of an episode of Mister Rodger's Neighborhood all of the sudden?

Anyway, I hope everyone has fun, I'm pretty sure I will, and I'll "see" everyone when I get back. I'm not really closing or saying goodbye, just pausing for a week...

Classic Film Friday: Vacation

How could I be going on vacation and not do this film? It is a classic in every sense of the word. Chevy Chase is Clark Griswold, a dumb, goofy kind of guy. He is all about bringing his family together via a huge road trip. Watch as he and his family see the country and adventure together.

I know there is the whole "Clark is an idiot" thing of the movie, and I know everyone has likely seen this film but give it another look. It is the voyage of a lifetime and everybody should take it, though painful and not always pleasant, at least once.

My trip was from New Orleans to San Diego. I was a kid then, but I could remember it like it was yesterday. We were picking up my step-dad from the Navy, as the Navy was not for him (long story, for another time). My mother and I went across country, I saw San Francisco, I went to the San Diego Zoo, was almost eaten by a bear in Yosemite (don't leave food out, idiot), saw my uncle in Phoenix, and got really, really bad service in Texas. Looking back on a trip like that now, I have only good memories from it, and the bad is turned in to the funny. Life is like that. So laugh a little huh?

The Alligator... Part IV

I really thought that we were though with the whole alligator thing, but the gators thought otherwise. This time I didn't get so close, but the gator was way out of the water, and I let my dogs go to the bathroom, and whoa there is an alligator there.



This is/was not the same as the one before, this one is a bit smaller and not nearly as aggressive. But he/she did come up rather close to the property. So my dogs were not harmed, they didn't even see the animal, and he/she got up and left, and eventually left the pond. When does mating season end again?

Garden Update: Week 20

Well everything is trucking right along. I even got me a tomato out of it. I also got a few tomato horn worms to boot. And more likely than not, some of my tomatoes are going to be ripe while I'm on vacation. That's life I guess.



Here you can see my first tomato, planted from a seed... The cheap seeds that they have at Wal-mart. We will eat it in a salad or make a sandwich or something. You can also see some of the damage that the horn worms did.

Goodbye, Stevie

I got a phone call last night.... And it was my mom, and it was late, around 10pm, she called to tell me that a friend and family member had died. It was the son of my cousin's husband's wife. In writing that I know it is weird. But in reality it is even stranger than that. See my mom was an accident, her brother and sister are almost 20 years her senior (18 and 19 respectfully). So while she was growing up, it was her sisters kids that grew up with her. Unheard of in the 50's right? Well I don't know, but anyway...

I grew up around my cousin's kids (so they're my 2nd cousins) and the guy who died, Stevie, was my cousin's nephew. He was a couple of years older than me, and his death is kind of a shock. Though I hadn't seen him in 15-20 years, he was under 40-years-old, he died a drug addict. For that, I really can't blame anyone except him, it happens, and well, we all make choices and his were clearly not the right choices to make.

But when death happens, it makes one think about things that you normally don't consider or think about. I remember Stevie as a beach blond boy with a Mississippi accent... and simpler times. Well, they probably weren't all that simple, but I didn't worry about the times because I was a kid. I also came to terms with my own mortality. Nobody gets out of life alive. That was what my father told me when he had cancer a few years ago.

So rest in piece, Stevie. I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch, and even sorrier that you made some bad choices in your life.

Walter Battles Incontinence...and Loses

Never a Dull Moment

My daughter came down with Fifth Disease. No big deal really, unless you happen to be pregnant. And even then, it only affects 10% or less of the unborn fetuses. The problem is, my wife knows someone who lost a baby because of this, and so there is a bit of worry there.

It is probably nothing to worry about, but the odds of this happening are strange. Even weirder still, my daughter (who is doing fine) was home the past few weeks. Usually it is spread by kids going to school or daycare. But there was none of that. So who knows. Just another moment in this so called dull life...

Jack Johnson is Vacation

I like me some Jack Johnson. It is music you can just leave on, no matter what else is going on. Plus it makes me feel like I'm on vacation, even when I'm not. So I'm pumping my blog full of Jack Johnson, because I soon will be on vacation. I hope you enjoy...

Where am I Going?

Ok, Sunday is finally here. My wife's parents are gone now, in fact my wife is away too, on some kind of training thing that she wanted to go to. It is just me and the 3-year-old. And the dogs and cat and fish, but still. In a week, we will go to Disney World. Yeah I know, not exactly my place to be, but my wife loves it, and the 3-year-old loves it too. This is the last time they will be able to go for a while as we will have a newborn with by Thanksgiving.

And there are plenty of reasons for me to be happy anyway. Like I have actual vacation time and I'm not dead... enough of a reason huh? And we will take it, relatively easy this time around. Since we'll have a whole week, we won't need to rush around. We're staying at the Wilderness Lodge, which is apparently a "moderate" hotel. And I won't have to worry about anything once we get there. It is kind of like being on a Cruise trip (where I wanted to go, but it cost more so we settled on Disney World).

But for now, it is just me and a 3-year-old for 3 days. Life will move a little slower I think, and I'm glad for that.

Trouble Away From Home

My daughter, the 13-year-old, got "tangled" in a mess the other day. See she is in Mississippi visiting her mother, and my father lives down there too. Something happened, something about my dad's pool, and a boy... Now I really don't know what happened, because I wasn't there, but it looks bad for my daughter.

Which makes me laugh, because she has been giving me headaches for years. Her mother should share in my pain don't you think? In the meantime we might have to consider getting my daughter on the pill. And bit of prayer. I mean, what else can I do? I can't keep her locked up, and even if I could, I wouldn't, I need to have a life too.

I'm not saying I'll just give up, but I can't afford to be a grandpa yet. But I do love to see my ex get a little more gray, a few more wrinkles... Bwahahahah!

Garden Update: Week 19

Yeah I know, I'm kinda late. I have family over, what can I say? Plus it has been raining, so it is a bit late. Anyway, there is no movie this week either, because family has kept me entertained.

Well all I can say is "Wow" the garden has come along nicely. The tomatoes are good, you can seen one beginning to turn red, the peppers have boat loads of blossoms on them and the cucumbers have all of the sudden taken off. I have to take the picture from a different angle, otherwise you really can't tell...

Fleas

Ok so, my dogs have been driving me nuts. It turns out, they have fleas, yes even the hairless one, though not as many. Now before anybody gives me advice, I've tried just about everything. I put the stuff on their necks, put poison in the yard, gave them a bath (multiple times) and they keep coming back.

This is the first year I've ever had trouble with fleas. And I am about to pull my hair out dealing with them. I just don't know what else to do. Maybe I need a multiprong attack. Maybe. I treated the yard (again) my wife got some kind of stinky carpet stuff to take care of anything that might be in there, and we gave the dogs yet another flea dip. All at relatively the same time, and that may be why I failed before and how this time I will succeed.

I can hope anyway right?

I took the dogs down to the dogwash on Bluffton Parkway. Basically it is a place to wash your dog much like you wash your car. I took them down there, in the hopes of flea elimination. I had mixed results there. While you can wash your dog there, and it is a bit easier, because you aren't chasing your dog around the tub, instead you can stand right next to the dog, but you wind up as wet anyway, except with not as hurt in the back as you would bending over chasing your dog around the tub.

From here it is an exorcism. Because there is no more chemicals I can add to the yard and/or my dogs skin. Right?

I Think They're Done

The What

I posted who was here in my last post but I didn't really talk about what we did. Friday we went back to Splash in the 'Boro. Saturday the men went golfing, and I can honestly say I cannot and really don't care to learn golf. We finished off with fireworks at "the Sands" which was at Port Royal.

The one thing that bothers me about fireworks is, you can't really ever relive the experience. I mean what can I say about the fireworks other than they were there? They were pretty? They were colorful? They were loud? I can't really even remember a specific one or time that one went off. There was a problem with the fireworks. You see Port Royal's is first, then Parris Island does theirs (for all the Marines) but because of some snafu, it had to be switched and Parris Island went first, and then Port Royal. A good time was had by all.

Lastly, Sunday we went to the beach at Hunting Island. Nothing much happened other than that. I mean nobody got maimed or killed or sent to jail. Pretty boring huh? I would like to go back to the Splash at the 'Boro part for a minute...

A lazy river is it for 1.) To travel in, lazily or 2.) To hurry by pushing everyone around you and thus not be lazy at all, and in the end, it goes in a circle, so you eventually wind up exactly right where you started? There is various reasons why some might feel the need to be very un-lazy in the lazy river, but for me, I just get in the tube, and relax. Even if there are some people pushing and whatnot, I don't budge, because I'm busy... being lazy. Just sayin'.

Family...

We had my wife's side of the family (her brother, his wife, and their almost 4-year-old, plus her parents) over for the 4th of July. What a troop. I won't go into details, but her family doesn't operate the way my family does, and I really don't know why. Her brother and his family leave today, her parents are here for a another week.

My family would help do the dishes, or help with money as far as, buying food when they are here and that kind of stuff, her family, not so much. And the funny thing is, if we don't have something, well we better get it. This is all very bizarre to me. But I try to maintain an even keel, because I really only have to put up with these people once or twice a year. And beer helps too....

Feeling Sappy?

My 3-year-old can sing this song almost in its entirety. It's funny, because she doesn't get every word right, but still... she tries. It's things like this that make me smile.

The 4th

Well, I hope everyone is having a fun and safe 4th of July. We are having my in-laws over the weekend. Which is not a bad thing at all. Though I do wonder, this is the cleanest I have ever seen my house. I know you have to go through the cleaning process whenever people come over, and I understand why, but still it does make me wonder.

Happy Independence Day!

Classic Film Friday: Lassie Come Home

What better way to celebrate independence than watching a Lassie movie? I can't think of any. Watch how much a dog means to a boy, and how much a boy means to a dog. I will say that my 3-year-old watched all of the movie, and asked to see it again, so that is something right?

This classic originally came out in 1943. Come see what all the commotion is about. Watch on the Roku...

The Alligator... Part III

So I go let the dogs out, it used to be my 13-year-old's job, but in her absence for the summer I take the reins. Anyway I left the dogs out for a potty break, and I notice that there is another alligator in the pond. No big deal right? This is South Carolina after all, you are going to have "critters" everywhere.

Then my dog runs in front of me and Mr. Alligator decides he wants a closer look. And he proceeds to come out of the water. I start to get a little worried. I'm used to alligators, but back home, they quickly run away when people come near, not so much with this guy. So I keep one eye on the gator, and wrangle up my two imbeciles, because one is completely clueless about the alligator, the other thinks she can take him on. I eventually, with lots of yelling at one dog who wants to be a hero, get the dogs back inside.

I come back out to take pictures, and I actually take a movie, it might as well be a picture, since he didn't move, but anyway, he is about 8 ft long, and has a very bad disposition. It turns out that there were two gators in the pond, and they might have been, "he'in and she'in" and thus why he was so aggressive. But it was a bit too much for some of my other neighbors, they called animal control, and they should have, because this guy was off the hook crazy. I've never felt that kind of scared before, I don't have a gun or a knife, or really any kind of weapon. And here I was, standing and watching as he came out of the water.

So Where are They?