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What Dreams May ComePerhaps the only misplaced curiosity is that which persists in trying to find out here, on this side of death, what lies beyond the grave. |
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Thursday, October 8, 1998
One year ago: You Make It Happen
My entry from a year ago today is one I link to, or point people to, fairly often, along with "Between Art and Life," which is the first time I discussed this topic. It really does express some of my philosphy about what are useful things to do if you are in a situation (especiallly a group situation) that doesn't please you.
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At work today, I was wondering if one of those instant-messaging programs would be useful to us? I'm walking from one end of the wing to the other, conferring with team members or checking on this or that. Some last-minute problems are still blocking me from using this internal tool that will make everything wonderful and easy for me (I hope!). Once it is ready, I've got processing to do on every sample in the Internet SDK (which is the allied team to my own that I'm doing some work for now).
I had already decided to not go to my regular Thursday dance class, but instead to stay and work, since there are other things I can do besides this big task. I was rewarded for my dedication by an email from Jack, at a little after five o'clock. Was I still at work? He and his daughter were thinking of going to see the movie, What Dreams May Come. Would I like to go?
Ooo, I was psyched! Forget about working late; I drove off through the rain to Jack's house. I decided to try another route to get there. I figured that I could avoid "downtown" Redmond and go straight north to where the big field was where we were planet-watching, and cut across there. This worked out fine! (But I would have been bummed, if I'd already been at home and not able to get there in time. These last minute ideas!)
When I pulled up in front of his house, Jack and his daughter immediately came outside and started getting into his car (an older red Ford Explorer). The plan was to go pick up a friend of A---'s (Jack's older daughter), and then go get some food before the movie. There was a slight hitch when A---- had the wrong address written down for her friend, and was too shy to go knock on the door of the house she thought was the one she'd visited before. So we drove around trying to find the address that she'd written down, only to conclude that it couldn't exist anywhere in that neighborhood, then went back to the house where we'd been at first. It was, indeed, the correct one. A---'s friend came out, and we were off!
I didn't mention that it was raining (real rain, not a typical Seattle drizzle) all during this, did I? It was, and I was sitting in the front passenger seat of the two-door Explorer, so I had to keep hopping out to let A---- in and out all during this. I didn't get very wet, though, and A---- said she thought I was looking good (black short skirt and black ribbed knit v-neck top), so I was in charity with her and didn't mind.
We went to Pizza Hut (evidently not Jack's number one pizza place, but one where we could get served in the time-frame needed to make the show) and settled on two medium pan pizzas with different toppings. All four of us played a round of pinball (which I really do like much better than video games), on a machine called "Corvette". (Check it out in the Internet Pinball Database, with cool link-back feature!)
The movie was in one of the smaller theaters at the Bella Bottega, but Jack and I got good seats right behind the wheelchair area (in the center of the row in this theater). A---- and her friend sat separately from us, and A---- begged money for some candy. The trailers looked interested for a few of the movies, including one with Holly Hunter and Danny Devito. I've always liked him! The two girls were out of the theater for a while, but did show up just before the main feature started.
I liked the movie, but I wasn't bowled over by it. A mother-daughter interaction at the end did make me actually sob (I still miss my mom, of course, even ten years after her death), but for the rest, I was enjoying it but not swept away. Perhaps because it's so (necessarily so, being a movie) visual and literal? I think I do believe in an afterlife, but I don't picture it [!] as being so visible. I do think of my parents and my god-parents being together there, as they were in life.
It seemed like they could only show the adorableness of the Annabella Sciora character by having her laugh and giggle constantly during her happy times. Sciora did give her some depth, at least. I was trying to picture Meg Ryan in the part, and couldn't do it! Though Ryan did a good job as the tough military woman in Courage Under Fire. Anyway, I recommend the movie as worth seeing, and if you have any interest at all, do see it in a theater; the special effects are so much better that way!
We went back to Jack's house, and he and I watched an old "Almost Live" on TV. This comedy show still holds up! Poor Jack had a terrible cold (hope I didn't catch it!) but bore up pretty well all evening. It was great seeing him!
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