...enjoying the current daytime goof-fest that is the new life
I keep meaning to jot down the highs & lows of the journey here. I'll get to it someday (or won't.)
The new residence in Georgia is geling. People here are different from the Floridians I am used to. They're a lot friendlier here. I have to admit the first couple of times that a checkout employee at the supermarket said "good morning" and/or asked how I was kind of threw me. I don't mean to be rude back...it's just after spending the past few years getting regularly snubbed when I do that, you kind of stop after awhile. That's bad, to give in to the impoliteness of others I mean, but your surroundings do and will affect you in odd ways.
Case in point: The missus and I went to a restaurant last week. The guy in front of us held the door for us and then stood there as we walked in. He let it hang for a moment and then said "You're welcome." I stood there for a moment wondering why he said that, then he repeated it again. I then (quite dimly too) and said "..umm...you're welcome?" back. Then it hit me! I didn't say thank you. It hit the wife and I at the same moment and the guy probably thought we were idiots and walked off. I'm just out of the habit, and it's a good habit to get back in to.
The other thing I've noticed is the drivers. Whereas in the Sunshine State they all seem to subscribe to the "get out of my way or I'll kill you!" method of driving...here it's more of a "you've got time, I've got time...hey....we've all got time so there's no hurry buddy" method. It's a little frustrating when you see people moseying, yes, I said it, moseying along, below the speed limit and they're delaying you. It's like someone took that Countrytime Lemonade ad waaayyy too seriously.
Overall though, this is a pretty good area. We've had some HEAVY rain the past few days which I missed (yes, it rains in England (duh!) but not like this.) I've been taking it easy, too easy actually and I need to get my butt in gear and go get a job soon, but it's been nice to hang with the kids and get caught up on my reading.
Which reminds me...when we got here my MIL had been holding a book that I ordered last year and that arrived last Christmas. It's a 350+ page omnibus of Marvel's Secret Wars mini-series. OK, that’s cool I thought and figured I’d get to it soon. Well…the other day another book arrived...it's the 1150 page omnibus of Secret Wars 2! I now have almost 1500 pages of bad `80's super heroics to try and read. My buddy George says not to do it...and he WORKS for Marvel! So that should give an indication to the quality levels of all this. Yet child of the `80's that I am...I couldn't resist. And…well…I did buy the blasted things (fool and his cash blah, blah, blah.). When I'll get to it though, I have no idea. I had this idea about doing a LJ post while I read it (kind of like this thing that Empire magazine did when they watched all 6 Star Wars movies back to back and logged the experience.) I suspect though that my record would be fairly dull and I’ll probably have large gaps of time lost as I doze off while battling through it. Still it could be funny and/or painful. We’ll see.
Currently, I am catching up with some Hard Case books that I brought with me. Money Shot by Christa Faust was pretty good. The ending was a text book noir finish that you saw coming but the detail and description throughout was really excellent. I learned more about the porn industry that I have from watching those cheesy late night HBO quasi-docs that’s for sure…
…not that I watch those programs you understand. *ahem*
I’m also halfway though Robert Bloch’s two-fer Shooting Star and Spiderweb. Bloch is awesome. The prose is top notch and, I have to say, his descriptions are VERY original. Well worth seeking out. I’m also pretty chuffed that I have Max Allan Collins’ Ms. Tree book "Deadly Beloved" next. I frickin’ love Ms. Tree! One of the best fictional PI’s out there and someone should pick the rights up and let Collins & Beatty do their thing again. Too fucking cool!
While on crime…TCM (my new daytime best bud) was showing old noir films today. Gilda (yeah, she’s still up there…the hair over the shoulder moment *sigh*), The Big Heat (which anyone who loves film noir should know by heart and Lee Marvin rocks!) and The Bigamist (which wasn’t great…but Ida Lupino was in it so it had that going for it.)
Yesterday they were showing Mother, Jugs and Speed. I need to get that on DVD as I never get to see the end. Raquel Welch…kind of leaves you speechless. There is a DVD box set, that has that movie in it, pretty cheap at a store near me…but that set also contains Myra Breckinridge…and I think I’d be pretty embarrassed to own a copy of that.
Of course I was only just discussing that you can get Roller Boogie on DVD here. I really need to think about what films I bring into the house. I have children for God’s sake!
Ha!
Anyways…the times are fun right now. Soon it’ll be back to a new (no doubt soulless) daytime grind and all the joy that goes with that, but for now, it’s fun.
The new residence in Georgia is geling. People here are different from the Floridians I am used to. They're a lot friendlier here. I have to admit the first couple of times that a checkout employee at the supermarket said "good morning" and/or asked how I was kind of threw me. I don't mean to be rude back...it's just after spending the past few years getting regularly snubbed when I do that, you kind of stop after awhile. That's bad, to give in to the impoliteness of others I mean, but your surroundings do and will affect you in odd ways.
Case in point: The missus and I went to a restaurant last week. The guy in front of us held the door for us and then stood there as we walked in. He let it hang for a moment and then said "You're welcome." I stood there for a moment wondering why he said that, then he repeated it again. I then (quite dimly too) and said "..umm...you're welcome?" back. Then it hit me! I didn't say thank you. It hit the wife and I at the same moment and the guy probably thought we were idiots and walked off. I'm just out of the habit, and it's a good habit to get back in to.
The other thing I've noticed is the drivers. Whereas in the Sunshine State they all seem to subscribe to the "get out of my way or I'll kill you!" method of driving...here it's more of a "you've got time, I've got time...hey....we've all got time so there's no hurry buddy" method. It's a little frustrating when you see people moseying, yes, I said it, moseying along, below the speed limit and they're delaying you. It's like someone took that Countrytime Lemonade ad waaayyy too seriously.
Overall though, this is a pretty good area. We've had some HEAVY rain the past few days which I missed (yes, it rains in England (duh!) but not like this.) I've been taking it easy, too easy actually and I need to get my butt in gear and go get a job soon, but it's been nice to hang with the kids and get caught up on my reading.
Which reminds me...when we got here my MIL had been holding a book that I ordered last year and that arrived last Christmas. It's a 350+ page omnibus of Marvel's Secret Wars mini-series. OK, that’s cool I thought and figured I’d get to it soon. Well…the other day another book arrived...it's the 1150 page omnibus of Secret Wars 2! I now have almost 1500 pages of bad `80's super heroics to try and read. My buddy George says not to do it...and he WORKS for Marvel! So that should give an indication to the quality levels of all this. Yet child of the `80's that I am...I couldn't resist. And…well…I did buy the blasted things (fool and his cash blah, blah, blah.). When I'll get to it though, I have no idea. I had this idea about doing a LJ post while I read it (kind of like this thing that Empire magazine did when they watched all 6 Star Wars movies back to back and logged the experience.) I suspect though that my record would be fairly dull and I’ll probably have large gaps of time lost as I doze off while battling through it. Still it could be funny and/or painful. We’ll see.
Currently, I am catching up with some Hard Case books that I brought with me. Money Shot by Christa Faust was pretty good. The ending was a text book noir finish that you saw coming but the detail and description throughout was really excellent. I learned more about the porn industry that I have from watching those cheesy late night HBO quasi-docs that’s for sure…
…not that I watch those programs you understand. *ahem*
I’m also halfway though Robert Bloch’s two-fer Shooting Star and Spiderweb. Bloch is awesome. The prose is top notch and, I have to say, his descriptions are VERY original. Well worth seeking out. I’m also pretty chuffed that I have Max Allan Collins’ Ms. Tree book "Deadly Beloved" next. I frickin’ love Ms. Tree! One of the best fictional PI’s out there and someone should pick the rights up and let Collins & Beatty do their thing again. Too fucking cool!
While on crime…TCM (my new daytime best bud) was showing old noir films today. Gilda (yeah, she’s still up there…the hair over the shoulder moment *sigh*), The Big Heat (which anyone who loves film noir should know by heart and Lee Marvin rocks!) and The Bigamist (which wasn’t great…but Ida Lupino was in it so it had that going for it.)
Yesterday they were showing Mother, Jugs and Speed. I need to get that on DVD as I never get to see the end. Raquel Welch…kind of leaves you speechless. There is a DVD box set, that has that movie in it, pretty cheap at a store near me…but that set also contains Myra Breckinridge…and I think I’d be pretty embarrassed to own a copy of that.
Of course I was only just discussing that you can get Roller Boogie on DVD here. I really need to think about what films I bring into the house. I have children for God’s sake!
Ha!
Anyways…the times are fun right now. Soon it’ll be back to a new (no doubt soulless) daytime grind and all the joy that goes with that, but for now, it’s fun.