loralees-freshed-over-noodles

This post is for Sharon. I can't have her worrying about me. Everything is all right.
Just overwhelmed. A lot on my plate. Too much to do and not enough time to do it.
I WILL post something soon.

One of the most hilarious things, that will get me to laughing incredibly hard (we're talking doubled over, tears in my eyes laughter), is when my ten-year-old, comes out of left field, and does a spot on impression of me saying something completely senseless or inane. It's incredibly funny every time.

Of course, he dosen't get to do too many of those impressions because everything that comes out of my mouth is completely enlightening, wise, educational and prophetic. Say, if you believe that, perhaps I can show you this little piece of swamp land that I have for sale in the Florida everglades?

Okay, I had last night all to myself. Small child and his dad went to visit Nana and Granddad. So what should I have been doing last night? Last night I should have been studying for next week's exams. Last night I should have been working on my Sociology project. What did I, in fact, do last night? I rented movies. Yay! I NEVER, EVER get to rent movies.

I was thrilled with a few of my selections and thought I would pass on to you other movie go-ers my two-cents worth. I highly suggest . . . NO . . . I insist that you go out and rent "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Stranger Than Fiction." Both are incredibly well written, well cast, well acted and well directed movies. I, also, enjoyed the documentary "Shut Up And Sing" based on the Dixie Chicks and their ordeal.

"Little Miss Sunshine" is about the dysfunctional Hoover family making their way to California for an adolescent beauty pageant. This movie is funny, hilarious at times, poignant, and touching as well. You really like and care about the characters, flaws and all. It is rated "R," for Grampa's (Alan Arkin) problems and his, every now and then, colorful mouth, but if you can deal with that you are going to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this film.

"Stranger Than Fiction" is a wonderful film with a very original plot. The cast is great. The story is great and very clever. Will Ferrell does a fine job in his first major (not jumping around being freakily funny) movie role. Again, another movie that is funny as well as poignant.

"Shut Up And Sing" is a terrific documentary about the turmoil and problems that faced the Dixie Chicks after Natalie Maines made her infamous comment at a British concert. If you don't know what the comment is, this movie will enlighten you. If you love the Chicks, you'll end up loving them more. If you hate the Chicks, you'll still hate them after this movie.

Go. Rent. Watch. You will NOT waste your money or time. I promise.

You're driving towards the toll booth. You've just had a session where you sang two songs for a really, really nice man. It's been a full day. You're singing along to the radio at full volume. You feel content. Then you see the sign, "Approaching Toll Booth. $4.00." Oh no. You purposely left $3.00 in your wallet for the toll. The OLD toll. The sign says it right there, "Toll $4.00 beginning January 1, 2007." Crap.

You pull off onto a dirt road. You turn the radio off. The content feeling has slowly mutated into a sort of panicky feeling. You're thinking about the time that you accidentally left your wallet on your desk and when you got to the Golden Gate bridge you told the toll booth collector your predicament. You remember him explaining to you how you'd get something in the mail and him waving you through. Then you remember the "something" you got in the mail. Yeah, it was a letter telling you how you were a toll evader, how they wanted you to pay the toll and a $30.00 fine. But you wrote a letter to the transit authority and they let you off with just paying the $5.00 toll. Hah. You beat that one. Whew.

You're not feeling like you can pull that off again. The odds just aren't in your favor. Okay, okay. You've got the $3.00 over there on the passenger seat. Coins, coins, see how many coins you have. Eighty-eight cents. You have eighty-eight cents. That's it. Well. It's just going to have to do. You're going to have to go for it. You pull up to the toll booth. You explain your problem. You tell the toll collector that you really, really, REALLY don't want to be a "toll evader" and that you really, really, really, really, REALLY don't want to be fined. You look at him. He looks at you. The tension mounts. He looks pretty serious. What's it gonna be?

"Awe, you're only short twelve cents. Go on ahead," and he waves you through. Life is good again. You turn the radio back on, you start singing at the top of your lungs again, and you're grateful for people like the toll booth collector and their small but generous acts of kindness.

I am always tired. Always. I'm tired when I wake up in the morning. I'm tired during the day. I'm tired after a nap. I'm tired during a nap. I'm tired during dinner. I'm tired when I crawl into bed at night.

I'm tired of being tired.