Silly Shit

So Thursday night Aly and I went to see a test screening of the new Jim Sturgess/Anne Hathway film One Day.  I enjoyed it.  I liked it but I didn't love it.  I've been fond of Jim Sturgess since Across The Universe and Anne Hathway has great tits...I mean acting chops.  Seriously.  I like them both.  And I liked them both in this movie.  And Rafe Spall was pretty damn funny too. That kid's got a future.  They asked us to stick around for the smaller focus group, I got a good laugh when I was asked what I thought of Jim Sturgess's character and I replied without hesitation, "He's a prick...but for the life of me I don't know why."

Friday work was pretty shitty, but not horrible.  Friday night I shot down to Bayonne for Rita Cummings' wake.  She as a nice old lady and she'll be missed.  Rita, my Great-Great Aunt Ruthie, and my grandmother formed the Holy Triumvirate of fucked up old women who half-raised me and now that they're all gone I feel a sort of empty spot in fabric of my character.  I hadn't seen Rita much, if at all, in the decade since my grandmother passed but the time I spent with the three of them in a haze of cigarette smoke, playing cards and booze will never be forgot.

After the wake I decided to pay a visit to my cousins who had just returned from another semester at USC.  It's tough to get them in the same place at the same time for all too long so the fact that they were both at home on a Friday night was a welcome surprise.  I'd already bought tickets for Alyssa and I to see the 10:45 show of Black Swan at Garden State.  It was almost 8:30.  It takes a half hour to get from Bayonne to home, another 15 minutes to get to the theater from Alyssa's house.  Figuring we'd have to be there a bit early to get seats I thought it would be prudent to leave Bayonne by 9:30 at the latest so that I could get Alyssa and get to the movie on time.  An hour visit should be plenty.  Where to start?

It was cold out and I know parking is always tough in Bayonne so I was pleasantly surprised to see several open spots together in front of the park across from my cousins' house.  As I pulled into the spots I saw a young woman walking her dog stepping off the curb into one of those spots.  This forced me to park past her, a little further down the street.  There's a rought looking middle aged man entirely too underdressed for the cold standing on the sidewalk talking to her.  He's being very very loud, but not nasty.  He's clearly drunk.  He keeps asking her if her boyfriend is coming because he doesn't want to get punched in the nose.  The girl seems nervous and uncomfortable.  Like she's trying to get away.  But the guy won't let her.  I'm thinking of intervening to make sure the girl is ok.  But then I realize I don't have enough information to know if my intervention would be welcomed.  So I decide to mind my own business.  I'm across the street and stepping on to my cousins' stairs when the guy gets louder.  I decide to act like I'm walking back to my car so that I have to pass them again.  Just give myself another change to get a better grasp of the situation.

I walk back to my car going directly past the pair.  I can tell she's upset, he's somehow got her cell phone now.  I decide to say something.  I circle around so the girl can see me.  She looks relieved to see someone else nearby.  I ask if she's ok and she nods.  I turn to the man...and realize he's my brother.

I should clarify.  Thomas is my half-brother.  Same dad, different mom.  He's nearly twenty years older than me.  I can go years without seeing or hearing from him and not even notice really.  I like the guy...but I don't mind that he's never really been a part of my life.  Both him and his brother Matty can just be too fucked up to deal with.

I get him away from the girl who heads off in the other direction.  It's cold and Thomas is clearly drunk.  He's also clearly hurting.  His mom just died.  The wake I just left was in Chapel A of Bayonne Memorial, Saturday I'd be at his mother's wake in Chapel B.  I suggest to Thomas that I give him a ride home so that he could get some rest.  He's insisting on walking.  He asks what I'm doing there and when I tell him I'm going to visit my Aunt and cousins he decides he'll tag along.  This was a very bad idea.  So I insist on giving him a ride home.  He only lives about 7 blocks away, it took two minutes to drive to his house.  It's about 8:45.  Still plenty of time to visit and get home.  Except Thomas won't get out of the car.  He's upset, so we just talk.  It starts out as an awkward but good conversation between two brothers who don't know each other all that well...and then it devolves quick.  I've heard everything about his mother's death and then he starts in on his entire life.  I figure it's cathartic.  Just listen.  Except when he gets to the part about putting the obituary in the paper, he realizes he doesn't have a newspaper to show me.  He insists I take him to the store for a paper.  So I do.  It's 9:15 now.

We get the paper and I touch base with my cousin to let him know what happened.  I drive the two minutes back to Thomas's house.  Still plenty of time for a quick quick visit.  Except Thomas...won't...stop...talking.
Over the next half hour I hear just about everything you could possibly hear from the man.  Some of the stories I hear several times.  The phrases "Dad loves the pussy" and "Mickey Rooney's Grandfather" are used entirely too many times for my liking.  Alyssa calls several times and I have to tell her I'll call her back.  By 9:45 I'm starting to get antsy.  I'm not going to have enough time to get home, get Alyssa, and get to the movie nevermind stop by my cousins.  I tell Thomas I really have to go.  He opens the door...but won't get out of the car.

He spends the next 20 minutes or so half in and half out of the car, never pausing long enough for me to interject, never giving me any indication that he's about to leave.  I love the guy...but he's pretty much restarted the conversation without even realizing it and this is now doing neither one of us any good.  Finally a a few minutes after ten he walks away from my car, I watch him go up his stairs and I take off.  I hear the next day that he was so tanked he couldn't get the key in the door and our other brother had to come let him in the house.  Wonderful. 

I end up having to meet Alyssa at the theater.  We go right in to see Black Swan.  It  wasn't brilliant, but it was really good.  And while I'm a huge Natalie Portman fan (and she did look amazing) she was outdone in the looks department and matched in the acting department by a surprisingly good Mila Kunis.  Plus they kiss.  And  Mila goes down on Natalie.  And let's be honest, at that point the movie deserves an Oscar...or ten.  Hell I'll even pay for the damn things.  Just give those girls an award.

Saturday I go down for the wake for my dad's first wife.  It was an odd affair, not because of anything that happened, just because it wasn't somewhere I was prepared to be.  I don't ever mention this but my half-brother Matty has three kids.  Two daughters and a son.  Technically I'm their uncle, not that I've ever been a part of their lives.  And no matter how much I encourage my father to get in contact with them he just doesn't seem to have it in him.  It's a shame.  They seem like real nice people.  After the wake I shoot down to visit my cousins.  It was good to see them, hopefully I get to spend some more time with them while they're back.  I head back up late in the afternoon.

I pick-up the Rookie and we shoot over to Michael's to do some picture frame shopping.  The thing about buying people pictures for Christmas is you need to have something to put them in.  $225 later I have frames.  Of course now I have to spend every waking minute between now and Christmas framing things.  Joy.

Saturday night we were supposed to attend several parties but Alyssa wasn't really feeling up to it so we ate pizza and watched House.  Good times.

Sunday I had to get some things done and then we had an early Antioch meeting.  Alyssa wasn't ready on time of course so we were a bit late getting there, but once we arrived things moved pretty quick and we were out early enough to grab dinner at Sushi X and make it to see Tron in 3D.  I have mixed feelings about the new Tron. I  loved the original Tron, not because it was a great movie but because I just loved it.  I liked the new Tron, but not because it was even a good movie.  It was sort of eh.  But I still liked it.  And holy shit Olivia Wilde looked hot.  I mean god damn.  Between the short black hair and the skin tight leather Olivia Wilde alone is worth the price of admission.

After the movie we got some more gift wrapping done.  Monday I worked late and watched the A-Team while I did payroll.  It was ok.  Between that and Tron the early 80's nostalgia fire was sufficiently stoked.  Headed home and watched some more House after eating dinner.  Stayed up to check in on the Lunar Eclipse at several points and then got ready for a meeting this morning.

And here we are...more later.  But for now you're all up to date.