The Good, The Bad, and the Really Ugly

In my lonely state, with the wife and kids gone, what am I to do with my free time in this big city? Really, anything I want. NY offers an unlimited amount of entertainments, social experiences, and cultural events. The sky's the limit. And now that I have the time to soak it all in, what do I do with my free time? ............ go the movies.

Yes, I've been watching way too many movies over the last week or so. I've been able to do this, because I've had entire evenings or days free, and I love seeing movies in theaters. It's just not the same on the small screen. Also, the great thing about NY movie theaters, many of them are HUGE 25 screen, multi-storied theaters, perfect for doubling or tripling your experience. That's all I will say about that. Yes, I'm bad. But when you pay $12.75 for a ticket, I like to get my money's worth. And I don't mind sitting in a dark theater for 6-9 hours at a time. Before you judge me, remember, there are a lot worse things I could be doing here in the city while my wife's away. Right?

Here is a spackling of movies I've seen very recently - with grades. For the most part, the following are all typical Summer popcorn flicks with little substance, but there are a couple great ones as well. (note: some of them I only saw as time fillers until the next good movie)

• Wall-E - A
  Genius!

• Iron Man - A-
  Quality movie all-around
  

• Kung Fu Panda - B+
  Amazing animation

• Hancock - B
  Unique and fun, but hoping for a little more. Bateman is perfect.
  

• Indiana Jones - B
  Fun, with great visuals

• The Incredible Hulk - B
  Better than expected

• Wanted - B
  Too gory, but good

• Sex and the City - B-
  Too long

• Get Smart - B-
  Not terrible

• The Love Guru - C-
  Expected bafoonery

• The Happening - D-
  The Worst Movie in History!

RECAP

The past few weeks/months have a been a whirlwind, to say the least. Since baby Stella was born, the regular routine of life has really been thrown out of wack....in a good way.

Stella is now almost 5 months old, and getting cuter and cuter.

Margaret finished pre-school and the nasty sty is finally going away.

Cole is allowing his personality to really "blossom". (that's a nice way of saying he's testing his limits with us everyday)

At the beginning of June, we went to the Herrick family reunion in SoCal (or Southern California if you're uncool). My family (Mother, 7 siblings, 7 spouses and 35 children) stayed for 5 days in a cheap, but fun, motel about 5 blocks from Disneyland. We Disneyed two days, and beached two days, and generally hung out. It was very fun, but not very relaxing. When you have children in three separate categories for 'ride going' at Disneyland, it can get very tiresome and frustrating. Especially trying to coordinate with the other little cousins, etc... But Margaret and Cole had a blast.

Straight from California, Heather and the kids drove back to Utah with my family, as I returned to NYC with my Mother and 4 nieces. They had their "Grandma trip". So upon returning from California, I was thrust into touring them around the city for five days. Again, crazy, not restful, but fun. We tried the Wicked ticket lottery four times, and won three times. Very lucky. Everyone saw Wicked and 2 other shows, in addition to seeing the entire city and eating great food. I think they were a little culture shocked, but had a good time.

Back in Utah, Heather's brother, Jeff, got married last week. So she wasn't able to relax much either. The kids have had fun spending time with their other cousins.

Pictures of these events are forthcoming. Heather has the camera in Utah.

So here I am, in NY, all by myself until July 12. I really miss Heather and the kids. Mornings are the hardest. Waking up to an empty apartment, without little voices. Since I'm so used to being smothered with hugs and kisses everyday, being alone is really hard......but.......I can sleep in on weekends... and that's nice.

I will persevere. And for your enjoyment....

Consistent Dedication

Well, it's official.....I'm an obsessive, inconsistent idiot. Why you may ask? Because I REALLY fell of the blogging wagon. I wanted to make writing/blogging/journaling/declaring/punditing/sharing a routine in my life. And what happens, I disappear for three months.

I am disappointed in myself once again. You can ask my wife, I often go through phases or obsessions. I go gung-ho, then fizzle away onto the next phase or obsession. I didn't want my blogging to be that.....at least the fizzle part. And it did. If I had a picture of me feeling like a schlumpy loser, in blogging fashion, I would put it

HERE

(schlumpy loser)

In order to remedy my loseriness (good word, huh), I'm going back on the wagon, and not in an obsessive way, but a naturally consistent and moderately habitual way......kind of like brushing your teeth. Looking back at my few short months of good blogging, I came to appreciate the power of recording. And what better way than blogging, in our digital age, is there to record who you are, junk and all, for your future self and posterity. The info will forever float in the blogosphere and won't be lost forever, say...... in a freak house fire or tornado.

I think this is important. I wish I knew what my father believed and felt about the world when he was a young father. Maybe I would discover that he also had an inconsistent, obsessive nature. Then I wouldn't feel so bad about myself......because I could blame him. And doesn't displacing the blame make everyone feel better about themselves? Then 20 yrs. from now, my son, Cole, will feel better about his crazy neurosis, because he can blame me......or choose to be better than me, and take responsibility for his own issues.

Hopefully, this public(albeit small) declaration will keep me motivated and accountable for consistent entries.

"Let it be written, Let it be done!"
- Yul Brynner in The Ten Commandments