The Joys of Rural Life (and Some Other Shite)
1. One of the problems with coming back to the small town in which I was raised to practice law is that I know and am related to far too many people in this town. Another attorney attempted to refer a client to me the other day, but when I saw the name on the card he passed me, I realized (out loud), "Hey, I think this is my cousin!" I'm also related to a sheriff's deputy and a DSS case worker. Additionally, I go to church with (and pretty much grew up with) a couple of other court-related personnel, including a DSS worker. Oh, and I spent years calling the husband of the DSS worker I work with the most "Susie" (he was best friends with my brothers and even lived with my parents for a while).
The most entertaining story I've got out of that is from one man's attempt to intimidate me outside of court a few weeks back. He tried the same stunt with several other court personnel that day, including the child's GAL, who told her husband what had happened. When she told her husband my name, his eyes grew wide and he said, "I know her dad. That guy's lucky he didn't try and hurt her." (A customer of my father's said, "He obviously doesn't know who your family is. You need to wear a t-shirt to court that just says 'I'm a Parton.'")
2. My family has a rather large pasture in which we always keep a small herd of cattle who, on occasion, have been known to find ways out of their pasture. Over the course of my life I have spent many an afternoon helping my father and brother chase the cattle back inside the fence. And yet, it was still rather surreal the other day to look out my parents' window and see a cow standing beside my pickup truck at my house. (It was still pretty fun herding them back into the pasture though. I don't know why I take such pleasure in that. Maybe it's just that it reminds me that I'm a country girl.)
3. One of the biggest problems with the rural life is a serious lack of people like myself. I'm afraid that I have yet to find another geek around my age. I know there must be someone somewhere, but I don't know how to find this possibly mythical person. People around here look at me funny when I start talking about Cylons or quoting Monty Python. It's depressing.
4. A concern I have about living around so many of my relatives is that there will be an increase in encouragements to date and even some meddling on that front. I have already had one aunt strongly hint that she had someone she'd be happy to set me up with. ARGH! Happily, it's only been the one incident, so maybe I'm safe. (Frankly, I doubt there are any guys around here who have enough in common with me to even consider the possibility of dating one.)
5. On a completely different topic, Watchmen was excellent. It stayed very true to the graphic novel, and I did not mind where it veered. Jeffery Dean Morgan made the Comedian likable, which is an amazing feat of acting! But I have to agree with most everyone else and say that Jackie Earle Haley stole the show with his Rorschach. He was absolutely perfect in every detail. I was just blown away. The only problem I have with his performance is that it was so good and the character is so memorable that I don't hear enough voices also praising the excellent work of Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl/Dan Dreiberg. And I was very impressed with Mr. Wilson's performance. He really captured some of the sadness and even the pathetic nature of Dreiberg's life post the Keene act.
My only complaint about the film is that there were times when the violence was so over-the-top it was cartoony, which always pulled me out of the movie.
The most entertaining story I've got out of that is from one man's attempt to intimidate me outside of court a few weeks back. He tried the same stunt with several other court personnel that day, including the child's GAL, who told her husband what had happened. When she told her husband my name, his eyes grew wide and he said, "I know her dad. That guy's lucky he didn't try and hurt her." (A customer of my father's said, "He obviously doesn't know who your family is. You need to wear a t-shirt to court that just says 'I'm a Parton.'")
2. My family has a rather large pasture in which we always keep a small herd of cattle who, on occasion, have been known to find ways out of their pasture. Over the course of my life I have spent many an afternoon helping my father and brother chase the cattle back inside the fence. And yet, it was still rather surreal the other day to look out my parents' window and see a cow standing beside my pickup truck at my house. (It was still pretty fun herding them back into the pasture though. I don't know why I take such pleasure in that. Maybe it's just that it reminds me that I'm a country girl.)
3. One of the biggest problems with the rural life is a serious lack of people like myself. I'm afraid that I have yet to find another geek around my age. I know there must be someone somewhere, but I don't know how to find this possibly mythical person. People around here look at me funny when I start talking about Cylons or quoting Monty Python. It's depressing.
4. A concern I have about living around so many of my relatives is that there will be an increase in encouragements to date and even some meddling on that front. I have already had one aunt strongly hint that she had someone she'd be happy to set me up with. ARGH! Happily, it's only been the one incident, so maybe I'm safe. (Frankly, I doubt there are any guys around here who have enough in common with me to even consider the possibility of dating one.)
5. On a completely different topic, Watchmen was excellent. It stayed very true to the graphic novel, and I did not mind where it veered. Jeffery Dean Morgan made the Comedian likable, which is an amazing feat of acting! But I have to agree with most everyone else and say that Jackie Earle Haley stole the show with his Rorschach. He was absolutely perfect in every detail. I was just blown away. The only problem I have with his performance is that it was so good and the character is so memorable that I don't hear enough voices also praising the excellent work of Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl/Dan Dreiberg. And I was very impressed with Mr. Wilson's performance. He really captured some of the sadness and even the pathetic nature of Dreiberg's life post the Keene act.
My only complaint about the film is that there were times when the violence was so over-the-top it was cartoony, which always pulled me out of the movie.