ladeda
I've finally found the solution to making it through road-trips with Dad and his wife: fully-charged iPod and laptop, complete with DVD. :) It's much easier to cut back snarky/bitchy replies to something she says that makes me want to scoff - if I don't hear what she says. ;) Just as well, she spent the better part of the way up to Missouri yesterday reading aloud from yet another of the many books they have that evidently tells them the correct way to interpret Scripture. And judging from my past experience with their branch of Christianity, I can imagine more than a few of the tidbits she was parroting would have raised my blood pressure. (I've never understood the point of those books, particularly the apparent need to have so many of them... if the Bible is as clear-cut as people like my stepmom claim, then why the need with so many other 'experts' telling them what it says? *shrug*) So I turned the iPod up almost full blast, and problem solved.
On the way back, I plugged my headphones into my laptop and popped in the Battlestar Galactica miniseries, getting to within about 20 minutes of the end before I had to shut down my computer, but that still took up the better part of the trip. BSG itself... it was entertaining, but overall I'm not sure if it was enough to keep my interest enough to start watching the series itself. We'll see, though.
As usual it was great seeing Grandpa, though. I'm very thankful that, his bad hip aside, he still appears in remarkably good spirits and health for 87 years old, and even on the hip side of things he's doing well in recovery. We spent the better part of the visit going over some old family pics Dad got from Grandpa's sister recently, seeing what new light Grandpa could shed on them. Grandpa's not typically an emotional guy, but the pictures that showed Grandma - who's been gone for 20 years now - when she was around my age, about the time they married (she was such a beautiful lady back then)... you could see his eyes start to take on a wistful look. And when you see the pictures of them together, you can tell how very much in love they were. <3 We were only able to stay a few hours, but it's always worth it to see him. Since my sister couldn't make it, I'm taking her up to see him next weekend, so I'm looking forward to that.
On a non-family note, on the TV in Grandpa's room I saw a preview for Hayden's new movie, Awake (I'd forgotten how soon that was coming out). I've said before that outside the role of Anakin HC really doesn't "do" much for me, but... man, he sure doesn't look bad in this one, if still a bit skinny for me. And very pretty on the poster, too.
On the way back, I plugged my headphones into my laptop and popped in the Battlestar Galactica miniseries, getting to within about 20 minutes of the end before I had to shut down my computer, but that still took up the better part of the trip. BSG itself... it was entertaining, but overall I'm not sure if it was enough to keep my interest enough to start watching the series itself. We'll see, though.
As usual it was great seeing Grandpa, though. I'm very thankful that, his bad hip aside, he still appears in remarkably good spirits and health for 87 years old, and even on the hip side of things he's doing well in recovery. We spent the better part of the visit going over some old family pics Dad got from Grandpa's sister recently, seeing what new light Grandpa could shed on them. Grandpa's not typically an emotional guy, but the pictures that showed Grandma - who's been gone for 20 years now - when she was around my age, about the time they married (she was such a beautiful lady back then)... you could see his eyes start to take on a wistful look. And when you see the pictures of them together, you can tell how very much in love they were. <3 We were only able to stay a few hours, but it's always worth it to see him. Since my sister couldn't make it, I'm taking her up to see him next weekend, so I'm looking forward to that.
On a non-family note, on the TV in Grandpa's room I saw a preview for Hayden's new movie, Awake (I'd forgotten how soon that was coming out). I've said before that outside the role of Anakin HC really doesn't "do" much for me, but... man, he sure doesn't look bad in this one, if still a bit skinny for me. And very pretty on the poster, too.