Goodbye to the British! Hello Conservative, Religious, Militants... I mean Americans!
Saturday, May 21st
It was because of the fact that Mike and I were on the later flight, that our morning was a very easy, lazy morning. Neither of us showered; we were both already packed; and we had plenty of time at breakfast to sit and relax. I wished that every morning was like that last morning... it was wonderfully relaxing.
When we got to the airport, Mike and I did some last minute shopping. I actually got my sister something and my dad a couple things at the airport. I know it might sound tacky... but there were some things at the airport that I thought my sister and dad would really like (and they did! So in your faces, kids!).
We all soon boarded the plane and, here, I'm going to toot my own horn a bit. Shelby realized that she was in a middle seat, and she gets airsick. I realized that I was on an aisle... and that I can sit anywhere (as I am an Olympic-class sitter). So I let Shelby switch with me... and ended up in the middle seat of five, in the very middle of the airplane--arguably the most undesirable seats on the plane. That's how nice of a guy I am. And I was such a nice guy that the couple from Toledo next to me just absolutely loved me. I even had the wife insisting that I finish some of her food, as I was a "bachelor." I must also state that I am such a champion-level sitter that I spent the entire flight in that seat... not standing or leaving my seat once in the 8/9 hour flight. I am so totally awesome.
When we landed, the goodbyes were awkward and scattered. I said goodbye to a few people and ended up having to stand next to them in customs or at the luggage claim or wherever. And, in all honesty, graduating from high school AND college makes one an expert at not really saying goodbye to people if you want to see them again. It's not goodbye to them... and the other people aren't important enough to worry about saying goodbye, in all honesty. That comes from being too old to care. Isn't that great? I'm great.
And the Bohne's are great as well. I went to their house to pick up my car... and ended up being asked to stay for dinner, so I did. We had Chinese food, and I spent some time hitting on Mike's oldest sister, Karen. What? I mean, hitting on Mike's sister. Oh, that was the same thing... why would I do that? I wasn't actually hitting on Mike's sister... I just want all my friends to know what it's like to have friend date their immediate family. So Mike is lucky that there's a young lady I like a lot more than his sister, or else I'd be movin' hard on that. Oh Snaps!
I left their house far too late at night, and had a very long drive ahead of me. I arrived at my house very late, but both my parents were still awake. And, even though it had been a very long day already, I ended up staying up with them until about 2 AM (my voice coarse, my throat sore) talking about the trip. They were very interested to hear everything I had to say... and I had missed them terribly, so I wanted to stay up and talk. But, at around two, after being up for a million hours straight, it was time to finally get some sleep.
Sunday, May 22nd
I'm not going to say much about this day. I spent a lot of it sleeping and jet-lagged, actually. I gave my parents a full-picture slideshow of my England trip, complete with boring slideshow commentary. That was fun. Then my mom prepared a nice meal, which was all-the-nicer because it wasn't bar food. I also ended up watching Desperate Housewives with my mom. I think it was the season finale and, if I was writing this in May instead of almost July, I'd have something interesting to say about it. I'm basically done with that show... as it seems like they are going to continue to manufacture 'mysteries' by adding new characters on the street. How forced is that? "Ooo! There's a new family who just moved in and they're MYSTERIOUS!"... That's bullshit. It's just bad writing. So, yeah, I'm done with that show... particularly since Family Guy is back.
Monday, May 23rd OR Genesis
Monday I was not going to drive back to Chicago. I decided, instead, to head to Grand Rapids to see Miss Chelsey. Yes, Emcee Dubs and I decided to lunch at TGIFridays on Alpine. We were treated to a very animated waiter named Caesar (AKA Mr. Dog), who ended up talking me into buying dessert by the clever use of Caesar: "What was your favorite cookie growing up?" Me: "Chocolate Chip?" Caesar: "How about Oreo?"... Very well done, indeed. He loved Chelsey and I so much that he told us that he bartends on weekends and that we were welcome to stop by for free drinks whenever he was working. Oh, how I loved Caesar!
After lunch, we headed to Best Buy to kill some time before a movie. We were going to see Star Wars: Episode III with... my parents. Yeah, my parents were in GR Monday because my mom had a doctor's appointment in GR that day... so we were going to meet them for a movie. I think Chelsey was nervous... but I don't think she was as nervous as I wanted her to be. What do I mean? Well, I get really nervous when meeting parents... and I want everyone else to feel the same way. But, she didn't... she handled herself magnificently. But moron the movie! Caution: Spoilers! I must say I enjoyed Ewan McGregor's performance. After his portrayal of Obi-Wan, and because of the movie Big Fish, I must say he's becoming one of my favorite actors. And, despite the SUPREMELY WHINY portrayal of Anakin, Hayden Christensen is better in this movie than in Episode 2. Plus, it must be said that, upon seeing Episode IV: A New Hope again, Luke was also a big whiner-pants. We only give him some leeway because he's the hero. Finally, because of the way the first two Episodes were constructed, and because of the way the story ends in Episodes 4-6, the plot of Episode III unfolded as it should have. Okay, having said all that, let's get into all the problems of this movie. Problem 1): Like Jim mentioned, these movie have a big problem: people dying like bitches. His list consisted of: "Boba Fett in Episode VI, and Mace Windu, General Grievous and Count Dooku in Episode III." Now, it should be mentioned that Boba Fett does not die in the Sarlacc Pit, but in fact gets out while the pit is still digesting him and goes on to continue his bounty hunting (see the books post-Episode VI *pushes up glasses*). But let us add to that list my favorite Star Wars character: Darth Maul... who dies like a complete bitch in Episode I. And so, back to Episode III, we get Count Dooku's death--the main antagonist in Episode II gets defeated far too easily in Episode III; General Grievous's death--a robot who can wield four light-sabers at once should have taken both Kenobi and Skywalker to defeat; and Mace Windu's death--can beat the Emperor even though Yoda can't, but is electrocuted and flung out a window. I will, however, give Windu one thing... at least he went out with some style. But all the villains--Maul, Dooku, and Grievous--die too quickly and too wussily. It's almost as if (and this is from a fellow writer's perspective) Lucus got to the point where he needed them to die to further the plot, but didn't really want to write their death scenes... so he said in the script "And he dies," waiting for the fight choreographer to come up with something brilliant. Well, the choreographers didn't come up with anything brilliant... and probably felt pressed for time as well (I assume Lucas wanted to get on with the rest of the movie and gave little room for anything elaborate to occur).
Problem 2): Hayden is better, but I didn't say he was good. My new favorite personal impression is of him in this movie: "I will be the most powerful Jedi EVER! I will learn how to stop people from DYING! *whines*" Good grief.
Problem 3): And this one is the biggest... the ending is TERRIBLE. Absolutely awful. We've got Padme giving us the great lines like "Luke... Leia" when the twins are born... we've got Vader's "Noooo!" which is the height of ridiculousness... and we've got boring exposition at the end of a movie! That's got to be a huge screenplay no-no. The audience KNOWS where Luke and Leia end up... the audience KNOWS about Vader and the Emperor--the movie SHOULD end when we get "The Emperor: Lord Vader, can you hear me? Darth Vader: Yes, master" END CREDITS. BAM! That would be powerful shit... but, instead, we get this awkward try-to-tie-everything-together montage which is just plain boring.
DONE BITCHING ABOUT THE MOVIE!
Okay... so, having said all THAT, it must be said that I still enjoyed the movie. And after the movie, my parents took both Chelsey and I to Outback for dinner. The food was good... my mom likes Outback a lot more than I do, I think. I'm not much of a steak person, actually. And like I said earlier, Chelsey handled herself quiet well. So well, in fact, that I think my parents really liked her right away.
And then my parents promptly left right away... leaving Chelsey and I in GR to do as we pleased. We pleased to head to Rivertown Crossings and walk around. She and I walked together for a while, just talking and looking into stores... until we decided to see another movie: The Interpreter. My parents had raved about it... and I was semi-interested, so we went. It was not a great movie... it wasn't a bad movie, but I didn't really find it to be a thriller. (Caution: Spoilers!) For one to believe this movie a thriller, one must believe two things which I did not: 1) Nicole Kidman's character was in danger; 2) Nicole Kidman's character had more to do with what was going on than she let on. At no time during that movie did I fear Kidman's death... and, furthermore, I had no reason to distrust the main character of the movie. Had the movie seemed to be focused more on Sean Penn's character, then I might have believed that Kidman was lying and she was expendable... but the movie is ABOUT Kidman's character, and I didn't buy that they were clever or bastardly enough to give us a huge twist at the end. If you want to see it, don't think of it as a thriller... think of it as an exploration of two characters, particularly Sean Penn who plays within himself in this movie. This is the complete opposite of him in Mystic River, where he plays a character so over the top emotionally that he's not believable as a human being. Yeah, I said it. And I meant it. But I like him in The Interpreter because he's very believable and likeable.
I dropped Chelsey off at her house that night. It was such an amazing day... and an amazing time in England... I really wanted to be in a relationship with her. So I asked. And she thought it would be a pretty good idea too. So Chelsey and I started dating that day. Hooray for me! Hooray for us! This blog is going to get unnecessarily cute and gross and I'm not going to bore you with details. Or excite you with details... *smile*