Month: October 2015

Jarring imagery

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We went to the Maryland Renaissance Fair on Saturday – we had a good time, as usual, but one thing stuck out from this visit.  Throughout the day, we saw this one guy dressed up in all black, kind of a leather armor sort of thing, with a black leather featureless mask that covered his entire head.  We’re not sure what he was meant to be (maybe one of the Nazgul or Sauron or something unrelated to Lord of the Rings), but he looked pretty creepy.  Kind of like this, but with fewer spikes:

Sauron cosplay

We bought in to the sinister vibe of this guy, and it lasted all day, right up until we headed for the exit.  Featureless face mask guys get hungry like the rest of us, I guess, but he lost ALL scary points when he bought a pretzel.  Not cool, dude.  You’re not scary when you’re eating.

How many times can I type Frankie Valli in one post?

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We watched Jersey Boys tonight.  I’m sure the Broadway show is fun and probably really good, but the move is decidedly not.  The actor playing Frankie Valli doesn’t do a very good Frankie Valli impression (well, he might do a great impression when he’s acting, but I’m just judging his singing), and so every song was a disappointment.  The thing is, it’s the same actor who plays Frankie Valli on Broadway. Are we just more forgiving when the show is live?  Is he better on stage than in the movie?  I mean, I don’t need him to be exactly like Frankie Valli – that would be tough. But he’s enough different (and not in a good way) that it took away from the movie.  Thankfully, the original recordings were playing over the credits.  The movie is…lacking and not just because we were unhappy with Frankie Valli.  Then again, it’s a movie adaptation of a Broadway musical based on the rise and fall of a boy band.  Our expectations may have been a bit unrealistic.

I fell down

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I fell down today.  Like, I landed on the floor with a big boom.  John admits responsibility, since it was his shirt dripping on the floor that caused the puddle I slipped in post-shower.  He’s very apologetic.  And I’m okay.  The only visible evidence is a scrape up my right forearm.  I will live.  I didn’t even drop anything.  (I’m talented that way.)  But I have to say, falling down like that is not fun.  It didn’t hurt that much – it was more shocking than anything.  If I were still three years old, I would have burst into tears, but once I caught my breath, I realized that nothing hurt – it wasn’t even as bad a stubbing a toe (which, to be fair, is pretty bad).

I still feel kind of stupid.  Who slips in a puddle?

I like TV

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It’s fall, and that means we get our TV shows back!  Yay TV!  I might be over-selling this a little bit.  I’m not that excited.  But I’m a little excited.  In the last two days, we’ve watched the first episode of the current season of Gotham, The Flash, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  We’ve found that we remember what was going on at the end of the last season of Gotham and The Flash, but SHIELD we somehow managed to completely forget.  The season premiere started, and we were both like, wait – what?  What’s going on?  Where’s [some character]?  We’re not really any clearer having watched the episode.  We might need to go back.  But with SHIELD we don’t really mind.

Until this week, we haven’t been watching much TV, but we’re likely to fall back into old habits.  Are we fighting it?  Not so much.  Winter is coming.  Why not watch TV?  And in support of that goal, we started a new show tonight called Blindspot.  Jaime Alexander stars in it, and we’re pleasantly surprised to see that she can act.  The only other things I’ve seen her in are the Thor and Avenger movies (maybe just Thor?) and one episode of SHIELD.  She’s doing a hell of a lot more acting in this show than she ever did as Lady Sif.

Brand new, totally original thoughts about TV!

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You know what phrase I have never uttered?  “Well, I’ll be.”  Also, “Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle,” or any  other variation.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say either of those things in real life, actually.  Just TV.    Something else that only happens on TV: big dramatic pauses after someone says “I did something bad,” when any normal person would be like, “Bad how?  What did you do?  Bad like illegal?  What are you talking about?  Stop looking all tortured and talk!”  “Never mind – I’m sorry I said anything!”  I mean, really.  No one talks to each other on TV.  Or when they do, it’s cloying and horrible.  Or maybe that’s just on CW shows.  And yet, I keep watching them.

Is it home yet?

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We’re back from Kentucky and a successful surprise party for Corey to celebrate his 40th birthday (very late – it was in July) AND his successful bar exam results.  Corey is an actual honest-to-god lawyer now!  Well, he will be when he gets sworn in, which I think happens tomorrow (Wednesday).  He’s got business cards and everything.  (You can’t call yourself a lawyer without business cards.)

It was a good visit (and I’ll be going back soon), and it was both good and super strange to come back to Annapolis from there.  On the one hand, it felt like coming home.  It’s familiar (BWI, the main roads – we’ve lived in the area for a LONG time), our stuff is here, the weather was super-nice (that always helps a homecoming feel good), that sort of thing.  But on the other hand, we’ve only lived here for 7 weeks.  Just how homey can it be?  And on the OTHER hand, does it need to feel like home?  We’re basically itinerants now.

We missed the torrential rain from the hurricane (since we were in KY), but it definitely came through the ceiling again.  The bowl we left behind was half-full. And the toilet has started leaking again.  One of the bathmats was soaked from the end near the toilet to about halfway across the sink.  Our landlady says there’s a window leaking on the third floor (she’s waiting for the replacement window to arrive), and she’s calling the guy about the toilet.  So maybe that stuff will get resolved.

Other than that, the apartment is in good shape.

We got home around 4:30, unpacked, picked up a little, and then went out to eat.  We picked another good one this time.  Vida (on Main Street) is a taco place, local food, and really good.  Yummy guacamole and really interesting tacos.  They have traditional ones (carne asada, avocado, that kind of thing) and non-traditional ones (ahi with kimchi, pulled pork, etc).  SO good!  And when they brought the check, they brought little hot hand towels doused in lavender water for our sticky hands.  (Oh, the margaritas were really good, too.)  AND today is Tuesday (Taco Tuesday), so we got 20% off the bill.  I’m happy.  We’ll go back.

I don’t feel any different

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I am officially a resident of Maryland now.  I was a Virginia resident for 12 years.  TWELVE.  So this is big.  My car is registered and titled in Maryland, I have Maryland plates, I have a Maryland license, and I have registered to vote in Maryland.  Maryland Maryland Maryland.  Maryland, My Maryland, which is apparently the state song.  (I had to google that.  Never heard of it.)  Maryland.   That is not my favorite state name.  Lacks imagination.  Even Virginia required a teensy bit of imagination.  (Sorry, Maryland.)  I do think, as far as state names go, that Maryland ranks above New York, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey.  At least the North/South states (and West Virginia) started out as one state.  Splitting and taking a whole new name might have been traumatic.

I thought this only happened in the movies

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A few weeks ago, during a very heavy daytime storm, we found out that our roof leaks right through the kitchen ceiling.  I told our landlady, but she didn’t seem too concerned.  She certainly didn’t send anyone over to check it out, and IF she sent someone to fix the roof, that person did a terrible job.

The other night, the rain started around 7 or so, and it was serious rain.  We could hear it against the windows, hear it on the roof, and, shortly after we went to bed, we could hear it on the kitchen floor.  We only saw the one leak, so John grabbed a mixing bowl to catch the rain.  Rain dripping on plastic is still pretty loud, so he folded a washcloth in the bottom.  That helped a little.

I couldn’t stop listening for it at first, but it must not have bothered me too much because I can’t remember if I the rain stopped before I fell asleep.  Luckily for us, it didn’t rain ALL night.  We didn’t have to empty the mixing bowl during the night, and it was only half-full when we got up in the morning.

I should try to remember to tell our landlady about it, though, even if she decides not to do anything.