Monthly Archives: November 2010

The Honky Dancing Convention

Posted on November 23, 2010 by unfinishedperson | 13 Comments

Today my wife and I celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary. In honor of that, I present this post from last year again about our wedding reception.

It commenced on the afternoon of Nov. 23, 1996 at the Salem County Sportsmen’s Club [1] in Deepwater, N.J. It wasn’t planned as a convention per se, but that is what the wedding reception for The Rambler and The Wife became that day.

Herself and Himself entered to the song Get Ready for This by 2 Unlimited that later became famous in the movie Bring It On. It also might better be known as The Spirit Fingers song (exhibited here by a high school student a couple of years ago in true white boy fashion).

The picture at right wasn’t taken when we entered, but later when we were in full honky [2] mode. I think I was getting ready to snap my fingers and The Wife…well, I’d best leave that one alone.

Needless to say, it went all downhill from there.

The man on the far left [3] “got the party started” when he tossed his coat aside reminiscent of Tony Manero. That was the signal for all the white people in the room to get on the floor and dance or do some semblance thereof. Of course, being that some of the folks in the room were septuagenarian didn’t mean they got out there too quickly or did the Humpty or anything.

No honky dancing convention is complete without The Train:

Or The Macarena:

That was the last straw for this honky. I think I just went to the bar and nursed a Captain and Coke (okay, two or three) the rest of the afternoon after this.

Can you blame me?

[1] Despite the note on the front page that “The Bar is looking fo a couple of experienced bar tenders.”, this place was as honky as they come. Did you not see the giant fish in the pictures and the flagpoles in the background? Only thing missing: a framed photo of Lee Greenwood.

[2] I have to give credit where credit is due. I couldn’t have thought up the name of this post if it hadn’t been for this post at Nanny Goats in Panties bringing the term to mind recently.

[3] It would be one of the lasting memories of our dear friend, Chris, who died of throat cancer less than three years after this photo was taken.

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Posted in The Wife, Unfinished rambling

Tagged anniversary, dancing, humor, marriage, wedding reception

Thankfully reading — and watching movies

Posted on November 23, 2010 by unfinishedperson | 3 Comments

So continuing from yesterday where I counted my blessings through the prism of the physical life, mainly that I was glad to be alive, I now will count my blessings through the prism of the mental life. Yep, you guessed it, I’m glad I have a mind, especially considering that I had a late great-aunt who lost hers in her teens and never regained it. But seriously, even though that part about my late great-aunt is true, that for which I am thankful mentally is that I have a mind I can use to read books and watch movies, to distract myself from the yawning abyss.

So far this year, I’ve read 60 books and watched 64 movies. Right now I’m reading The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler and next up on the movie front is Blood Diamond, which I’ve taken out of the library several times but never watched. Usually those are the best…for example, I remember taking this movie out several times and then finally getting to see it:

Out of the 60 books I’ve read this year, probably the one for which I’m most thankful to have read is Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese. Click through the link to read my review and see why. Meanwhile, out of the 64 movies I’ve seen so far this year, probably the one for which I’m most thankful to have watched is…argh, just one? really? ah, why did I do this to myself, okay, I’ll bite the bullet and say…

I don’t know about you, but Randy Newman gets me every time. Actually, it’s the perfect ending to a beloved animated series. I wouldn’t change a thing about it despite those three reviewers who gave it a rotten review on Rotten Tomatoes.

This weekend I hope to close the gap between books read and movies watched as I participate in Thankfully Reading 2010 this Friday through Sunday started by Jenn from Jenn’s Bookshelves (see previous link), Candace from Beth Fish Reads and Jen from Devourer of Books. My wife is working at her new job as a 9-1-1 dispatcher all weekend and I’m heading to my parents. I don’t have the books picked out yet, but I’m sure among them will be a few Charlie Chan mysteries by Earl Derr Biggers and a few No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books from Alexander McCall Smith. Beyond that, I have no idea.

So for what are you thankful mentally this year, including, but not limited to, books and movies?

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Posted in Books, Mind, Movies

Tagged Abraham Verghese, Books, Charlie Chan, Cutting for Stone, Earl Derr Biggers, Movies, Thanksgiving

Thankful for being here

Posted on November 22, 2010 by unfinishedperson | 9 Comments

Image via Wikipedia

Ostensibly the theme here on this here blog is telling the story of an unfinished person through three prisms or elements of who we all are: body, mind and soul. In attempting to keep with that, and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S., I am going to write three posts this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday about for what I am thankful using those three prisms: body, mind and soul.

About what I am grateful physically? When I began to think up this idea for a series of blog posts, I realized I haven’t kept to an exercise regimen very well (at all) this past year and have gained back much of the weight I have lost over the last few years. So I wondered about what I had to be thankful physically. However, after a little thought, it dawned on me that a few years ago, I was dealing with achalasia, a condition similar to acid reflux, and I couldn’t even eat or drink because every time I tried, it would “come back up” on me. While I occasionally still have problems if I eat too quickly, I don’t have the problems anywhere near to the degree that I did have and now, as evidenced by my paunch, I certainly can eat and drink.

Eating and drinking, as opposed to not being able to eat and drink, is always a good thing. Not to be too morbid but I volunteer at a hospice and I’ve seen bodies that are not able to digest food or take water, and not too long after that, those bodies die. I guess, bottom line: I’m thankful that I’m still alive.

Note: The original intent of the song was not as uplifting as imagined. However, later it changed for Vedder as he discussed in this interview with Billboard magazine.

So for what are you thankful this year physically?

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Posted in Body, Music

Tagged Alive, Body, Pearl Jam, physically, thankful, Thanksgiving

Trying to fall into The Big Sleep while not falling into it, if you know what I mean (TSS)

Posted on November 21, 2010 by unfinishedperson | 7 Comments

Cover of The Big Sleep

Today in between helping my wife getting ready for friends coming over for dinner later this afternoon and fantasy football, I plan on reading The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. At 234 pages, it’s just my size as almost all of the books I read anymore are under 300 pages, usually even under 250. I found it on our bedroom dresser this morning as I was considering what I would read, even though I have a bookcase in my office and a box of “nerd porn” that a friend sent me last month.

So far this month, I’ve read six books, starting with The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell and ending yesterday afternoon with The Chinese Parrot, the second Charlie Chan mystery, by Earl Derr Biggers. The other four books were Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell; The Patriotic Murders (aka One, Two, Buckle My Shoe) by Agatha Christie; The House Without A Key, the first Charlie Chan mystery, also by Biggers, and Evil Under The Sun by Agatha Christie. I plan on reading Children of God, the sequel to The Sparrow in the near future, and plan on continuing the other Charlie Chan mysteries: Behind That Curtain, The Black Camel and Charlie Chan Carries On later this month.

With today’s post, I will finish the week with four semi-book related posts. The other three are “Dolla dolla bill y’all” (where I see people as overdue fines), “Mr. It’s-Just-This-War-And-That-Lying-Son-Of-A-Bitch-Rendell” (another installment in my Patron of the Week series), and the most uninspiring title of the month, “Narrowing the gap between the number of books read and movies watched this year“.

Leaving you with the book/movie connection, here’s a trailer, set appropriately in a library, for the 1946 version of The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall: